Outside the Mumbai airport, Venkatesh glanced at his watch before raising a hand and stopping a taxi.
"Taxi!"
A while later, he arrived at his headquarters. The moment he stepped inside, his boss, SP Satyamurti, walked toward him with a wide grin and grabbed both his shoulders.
"My lion is back! How are you, my babbar sher?"
Venkatesh stared at him flatly.
"First tell me what this is."
He placed two files in front of him. One contained Veer's details, while the other belonged to Aarav.
SP Satyamurti let out a small chuckle.
"New recruits. And training them will be your responsibility."
Venkatesh frowned immediately.
"Aarav is only eighteen years old."
"Technically an adult," Satyamurti replied casually. "Besides, he's talented. And this was his own decision."
Venkatesh sighed heavily before speaking.
"They'll have to pass my test first. Only then will they be allowed to join."
Meanwhile, on the other side of the city, Anamika drove her car toward a massive mansion. Two guards stood outside the gate. The moment they saw her, both straightened and saluted respectfully before opening the gates.
Her car entered the luxurious estate.
The mansion looked incredibly grand from the inside. Ancient antiques, rare artifacts, and old maps were placed everywhere, giving the place the atmosphere of a private museum.
On one of the sofas sat an old man whose face carried a unique scholarly aura. His very presence reflected wisdom and experience. His name was Narayan Rao, one of the finest antique experts in the country.
Beside him sat another man wearing glasses and a checkered shirt.
Anamika glanced at the young man once before turning toward Narayan Rao.
"Good afternoon, Dadu."
Narayan Rao smiled warmly.
"Good afternoon, Anamika. Come, sit."
Anamika walked over and sat down gracefully.
"You called me, Dadu? Was there something important?"
Narayan Rao nodded.
"Yes. Meet him. This is Rukma beta. He's a very talented archaeologist."
Rukma immediately waved his hands modestly.
"Sir, you're praising me too much. How can I be considered great in front of you?"
Narayan Rao laughed heartily before introducing Anamika as well.
"And this is Anamika, my granddaughter… and also my student."
Rukma and Anamika exchanged greetings politely.
After chatting with them for a while, Narayan Rao excused himself to prepare tea, leaving the two alone.
Trying to continue the conversation, Rukma spoke first.
"So, Anamika… do you want to become an archaeologist too?"
Anamika simply looked at him and gave a faint hum in response without saying much.
Rukma continued with a smile.
"You're Rao sir's student. Of course you must already be an expert in this field."
As he spoke, he opened his bag and handed her a strange locket.
"Can you decode the symbols written on this?"
Anamika looked at the locket carefully.
It had engravings of a sun and a moon, while strange patterns and symbols surrounded the borders. At first glance, they looked like an ancient script.
The moment her eyes landed on it, the system inside her mind instantly deciphered everything.
Yet outwardly, Anamika maintained a calm expression.
"This looks extremely ancient," she said thoughtfully. "Even these symbols are unfamiliar to me. Though… the structure feels somewhat related to the Indian region. It's also slightly similar to Harappan scripts."
As she spoke, she picked up the locket and examined its backside.
There were several mysterious markings carved there as well.
To ordinary eyes, they appeared meaningless.
But her system had already solved it completely.
The words engraved along the border were actually clues related to the map hidden behind the locket. The drawing itself was a hidden route map, and her system had already reconstructed the entire thing perfectly.
Still, outwardly, Anamika acted as though she knew nothing.
A while later, Rukma took the locket back and eventually left the mansion.
Meanwhile, far away, Venkatesh finally met Veer and Aarav at Ghosh's military headquarters, where both of them were undergoing harsh military training.
The two young men were running endless laps around the ground under the scorching sun.
Only after both of them collapsed from exhaustion did their running finally stop.
Ghosh blew his whistle loudly.
"Half an hour break!"
He then walked toward Venkatesh with a grin.
"Venki, my brother!"
Venkatesh immediately raised a hand.
"Stop right there."
Ghosh clicked his tongue dramatically.
"One side I'm here working under this blazing sun, training your new recruits, and you can't even say hello properly."
Venkatesh narrowed his eyes.
"Stop hanging around SK so much. His influence is starting to show."
SK, who was standing right beside Ghosh, looked offended.
"What did I even do?"
Venkatesh smirked lightly.
"That's exactly the problem. You never do anything."
Then he glanced toward Aarav and Veer.
"So? Do they have potential?"
Ghosh folded his arms.
"Veer's physical fitness is already above an average soldier's. As for Aarav… it honestly looks like you never feed that kid properly."
Venkatesh rolled his eyes but didn't argue.
A little later, he walked toward Aarav and casually asked,
"Isn't Sakshi looking for you?"
Aarav glanced at him calmly.
"Looks like you haven't answered Mom's calls."
Confused, Venkatesh pulled out his phone.
The moment he checked it, his face stiffened.
More than fifty missed calls from Sakshi.
Aarav leaned slightly to peek at the screen.
"Wow. If you two hadn't divorced already, she would've murdered you by now."
Venkatesh took a sip of water and muttered nervously,
"That can still happen."
He quickly called her back.
The moment the call connected, he spoke cautiously.
"Hello…"
Sakshi's frustrated but controlled voice came from the other side.
"Where are you?"
"Uh… I came to Delhi for some work."
Sakshi sighed tiredly.
"Aarav told me he's with you. Put him on the phone."
Without arguing, Venkatesh handed the phone to Aarav.
"Yes, Sakshi?"
Sakshi immediately scolded him.
"Looks like you've learned all your father's bad habits too. Why is your phone switched off?"
"The battery died," Aarav replied casually. "Are you okay?"
"Yes, I'm fine. When are you coming back?"
"That depends on Rahul."
There was silence for a moment before Sakshi called out softly,
"Aarav…"
"Yeah?"
Her voice became quieter.
"Do you hate me… because I left your dad?"
Aarav took a deep breath before slowly exhaling.
"No. I can never hate you. It's just… there's something I need to do right now. Once it's finished, I'll come back soon. Bye."
He handed the phone back to Venkatesh and immediately returned to the training ground, starting to run once again.
Venkatesh placed the phone near his ear again.
"Yeah, Sakshi?"
"Does he hate me?"
Venkatesh sighed softly.
"No. I don't think so. Don't worry… Aarav is stronger than he looks."
Sakshi stayed silent for a second before asking gently,
"How are you?"
"I'm fine. What about you?"
"Everything's okay. I left my old job… and Kirti joined dance classes."
Venkatesh looked surprised.
"You left your job? Why?"
"I just wanted to try something new. I got an offer from another company. I'll start tomorrow."
"Wow… congratulations. Best of luck."
"Thanks. By the way, did you eat?"
Venkatesh glanced toward Aarav, who was still running laps around the ground despite his exhaustion.
"Not yet."
"Which means Aarav hasn't eaten either."
"Yeah…"
Sakshi immediately sounded annoyed again.
"See? Even if he's with you, at least take care of his meals. You know how weak he is. What kind of work are you making him do?"
Venkatesh quickly defended himself.
"I'm not making him do anything. He's just learning skills. Like how Kirti is learning dance, Aarav is also learning something similar… some foreign dance style. The name is hard to pronounce."
Sakshi sighed.
"Okay, okay. Just make sure both of you eat on time."
Venkatesh nodded lightly.
"Yeah."
The call finally ended.
Ghosh blew the whistle once again.
All the recruits immediately lined up in front of him, including Veer and Aarav. Beside Ghosh stood Venkatesh, wearing dark glasses while observing everyone silently.
Ghosh crossed his arms and spoke in a loud voice.
"Aarav and Veer, from now on both of you will go with Sir Rahul. Your training will continue under him, and from this point onward, you are required to follow his orders only. Is that clear?"
Both of them instantly saluted together.
"Sir, yes sir!"
Soon after, the two left the training ground along with Venkatesh and SK.
Inside the car, Aarav once again transformed into a complete chatterbox.
"Wow… are we really going to your headquarters? RAW's most hidden intelligence department, RAI? Are we actually going there? I'm seriously excited!"
Veer sighed tiredly.
"Kid, at least stay quiet in front of senior officers. What if they reject you?"
Hearing that, Aarav finally became silent.
The first rule of RAI was simple — nobody was allowed to discuss the secrets or personal lives of any officer. Because of that, Aarav didn't reveal anything about his own relationship with Venkatesh to Veer.
After some time, they arrived near a building that looked like nothing more than an ordinary municipal government office.
Veer looked at it curiously.
"Don't tell me India's most secret department operates from this building?"
The moment he said that, both SK and Venkatesh burst into laughter before walking inside.
Instead of using the main elevator in front, they moved toward a hidden corner elevator and all four entered together.
Inside, Venkatesh pressed an empty-looking button twice.
The elevator immediately started descending underground.
When the doors finally opened, another massive gate appeared before them. A fingerprint scanner was installed beside it, clearly requiring high-level access.
Venkatesh placed his finger on the scanner.
Click.
The gate unlocked instantly.
Veer's eyes widened in shock.
"Wow… this is actually very secretive."
As they stepped inside, both Aarav and Veer noticed multiple cabins spread throughout the underground facility. In the center stood a giant LED screen, while two operators continuously typed on keyboards in front of it.
Soon, Venkatesh took them toward another officer who scanned their fingerprints, recorded their data, confiscated their phones, and handed each of them a new device.
Venkatesh spoke calmly,
"From today onward, these are your IDs and phones. You'll be taught how to use them later. For now, just understand one thing."
His expression turned serious.
"Our job is to monitor social media networks, the internet, broadcasts, messages, photos, videos, and chats… so we can identify threats before they emerge."
He paused briefly before saying coldly,
"From now on, remember only one thing."
"Privacy is a myth."
A while later, Venkatesh told both of them to leave.
Veer walked out immediately.
But Aarav remained standing there.
"Where am I supposed to go?"
Venkatesh replied casually,
"How would I know? I'm in Delhi myself."
Aarav folded his arms.
"You said privacy is a myth… but even then you couldn't figure out Mom was cheating on you."
For the first time, Venkatesh fell silent for a moment before letting out a deep sigh.
"I'm not called India's top agent for no reason. I already knew about her cheating."
His voice had become unusually calm.
"But I also knew there was nothing left between Shakshi and me. Whatever we had… faded away with time."
Then he looked away slightly.
"And the mistake was mine. I never paid attention to her."
Aarav muttered under his breath,
"Without paying attention you still ended up having two kids…"
Venkatesh immediately narrowed his eyes.
"Did you say something?"
Aarav instantly shook his head innocently.
"No."
Venkatesh ignored him and continued,
"Anyway, what's done is done. I have some work now. If you want, you can go with Uncle SK. SK, take care of Aarav."
After saying that, he simply walked away.
SK immediately complained loudly,
"So now I'm working as a babysitter too?"
Venkatesh completely ignored him and disappeared.
SK sighed dramatically before turning toward Aarav.
"So then, Chintu Ram… shall we leave?"
Aarav gave a slight bow while extending one hand forward politely.
"After you."
Soon, both of them left on SK's Bullet motorcycle.
After riding for some time, they eventually reached a deserted road.
But suddenly, several bikes overtook them from the front while others surrounded them from behind.
The group completely boxed them in.
Seeing the situation, SK slowly reduced speed until he was finally forced to stop the bike.
The very next second, one of the men rushed forward and sprayed something directly onto SK and Aarav's faces.
Both of their eyes immediately shut.
Darkness consumed them.
Some time later, Aarav slowly regained consciousness.
The moment he opened his eyes, he realized he was tied tightly to a chair.
In front of him, inside another section of the room, SK was also tied to a chair. Blood was dripping down both of their foreheads.
Aarav looked around before sighing internally in frustration.
"I seriously can't believe people can still kidnap me this easily…"
But then his expression changed slightly.
"Strange… I can't sense any malicious intent from any of them."
"Something feels off here…"