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BLACK SQUAD – EPISODE 106: "Countdown"
Scene 1: AFTERMATH
Smoke still lingers in the air. Sirens blare in the distance. The first bomb has already changed everything.
Black Squad's command van is set up on-site, operating as a mobile HQ. A.C.P. Sulaiman Qazi, shaken but collected, looks over the damage zone with grim focus. News of 12 casualties and 30 injured has reached the Ministry.
Qazi (low voice):
"This was just the beginning. There's more coming."
Dr. R.P. Gupta, the newly joined forensic head, scans the blast residue collected. His seasoned eyes spot inconsistencies.
Dr. R.P. Gupta:
"This was a high-velocity fragmentation bomb — but improvised. This isn't military-grade. Someone's replicating old bomb schematics from past terror modules."
Scene 2: THE SECOND CLUE
Senior Inspector Imran Wani and Senior Inspector Arjun Rathore trace a lead from the bomb site — a broken delivery van's tire mark outside the radius. Traffic CCTV shows it parked for 7 minutes, and then vanishing. The number plate is a dummy.
Zoya Khan and SI Shreya track the van's last known route. The GPS ping ends at a closed chemical warehouse in Bhandup.
Scene 3: STORMING THE WAREHOUSE
Black Squad regroups. Inspector Sachin leads the outer perimeter with a Quick Reaction Team. Qazi gives the green light.
Inside the warehouse: a chilling sight — four more IEDs rigged with synchronized timers. 2 hours left.
A scrawled message on the wall:
"A city built on lies must burn. Tick. Tick."
Scene 4: BOMB DEFUSAL
Dr. R.P. Gupta begins examining the circuit design. He's joined by Arjun, who has some basic bomb squad experience.
Gupta notices a failsafe — cut the wrong wire, and the other three bombs activate instantly. They need to defuse all four simultaneously.
Qazi (to control):
"Get me the Mumbai Bomb Disposal Unit. And patch us to National Forensic Counter-Terror team. Now!"
Imran tracks the origin of the message: it matches a manifesto published five years ago by a domestic anarchist group called "Janmaandolan." Their leader, Manan Pathak, was never caught.
Scene 5: TICKING CLOCK
The bombs are now under 20 minutes. Gupta coordinates with specialists remotely via drone feed. Each team member is assigned a bomb.
Imran and Arjun take Bomb A
Gupta and Zoya take Bomb B
Sachin and Shreya take Bomb C
Qazi himself, reluctantly, takes Bomb D with a rookie explosives officer.
Tension is suffocating. One wrong move, and half the neighborhood will go up.
Gupta (on coms):
"At 1-minute mark, we cut together. No deviation. Follow every wire, every switch as I say."
Scene 6: THE CUT
Time: 00:01:10
Sweat drips from every forehead. The red wire is not the one. It's a trap. Gupta changes plan last second.
Time: 00:00:30
He gives the signal.
Gupta (calmly):
"Blue. White. Pause. Yellow. Ground pin. Now."
Silence.
All four bombs power down.
Zoya (breathing heavy):
"It's done… it's done!"
Scene 7: FINAL MOVE
Police arrest Manan Pathak, found in a nearby safe house coordinating through encrypted radio.
Qazi enters.
"You killed innocents to make a statement. You failed."
Manan:
"You can't kill an idea."
Qazi:
"But we can silence its voice."
Scene 8: DEBRIEFING AND RESOLVE
At Black Squad HQ, the team is bruised, but alive. The commissioner arrives, personally thanking the squad.
Commissioner:
"Without Black Squad, today could've been a catastrophe."
Qazi:
"It still was. But we stopped it from becoming history."
The episode ends with the team walking out into the dawn light. Another day, another war averted.