The boat slowly started to return back to the coast, bouncing every now and then by the conflicts of the water. The ringing of Ishar's phone disturbed him from his thoughts.
General Aarush Verma? At this time of the day?
He received the call in a haste and said, "General, are you all right sir?"
Aarush Verma's deep voice held a slight tone of panic.
"Ishar, are you with Naren? Get on the phone, both of you now. Wait no, first tell me where you are."
Ishar mouthed Naren to come and sit near him, while he told the others to distract Nivedhan.
"I'm here sir." Naren spoke. "We're on a boat, outside, investigating."
They heard a sigh of relief from the other end. "Listen,"
Aarsush said, "You MUST NOT go back to the house I gave you in Kerala. It has been compromised. Our enemies somehow got hold of the confidential information and attacked the house. I assume you didn't keep any important instruments or documents inside?"
Ishar replied, "No sir. We transferred them to the car before leaving the house."
Naren said, "Sir, where should we go now? We need to lay low for a while, since the enemies could still be trying to track us, and a bustling city like Kerala isn't exactly hiding material."
Aarush stopped to think for a minute and then spoke, "Ask the locals for spots where the population is low and non-suspicious. Somewhere where our enemies wouldn't think of looking first. I look forward to listening about the success of your mission. Jai Hind."
"Jai Hind sir." Ishar and Naren spoke, lingering in the same position for a minute after hearing the 'beep' of the lingering call.