Dragon Fire

Indian military HQ, Karwana, Haryana, India

Prabhu Purie, the Foreign Minister, and Chandra Reddy were on the line from Delhi with Hari Dixit and Chief of Army Staff, Unni Khrishnan. ‘We have to kill his command and control centre,’ said Hari Dixit.

‘That is Chaklala, sir. Hamid Khan’s bunker,’ said Unni Khrishnan.

‘Then we must strike it.’

‘You could only be sure of success with a nuclear weapon.’

‘Mani, what is your view?’

‘Can’t we bring in the Americans or the Russians and keep our own slate clean?’

‘Chandraji?’

‘He’s made big blunder. My guess is he didn’t intend to use multiple warheads. That was a cock-up. The missile we shot down was heading for the airfield. The one we failed to get was heading for the military headquarters. He would not have targeted the market. He has killed his own people. He could go one of two ways. Admit it and surrender. Or carry out another strike immediately to dampen the impact of this one. My guess is he’s going to strike again.’

‘Inside or outside Kashmir?’

‘Impossible to say.’