On top of a small hill, along with his team, Sajed was waiting for the confidential message. He had twelve fighters in his unit. Only a few days back they hardly possessed any weapons. But somehow, an Arab patron managed arms and ammunition for his unit. They also received the first installment of financial incentive. Once they had achieved the stated objective of their mission, the rest of the cash incentive would be sent to them.
Even Sajed had no idea about the actual strength of the rebel force he had joined. According to his speculation, it would be in hundreds if not thousands. Three years ago, this armed rebellion was born under the leadership of a man named Kashem from Buthi Daung district. Sajed was given the command of a unit comprised of twelve men. He and his unit were to be sent out on a highly sensitive mission. Sajed didn’t know anything about the objective, or the venue of that mission. However, before the mission could commence, the high command told them to perform a rather minor task of retrieving a classified massage. The message would contain information as to where the highly sensitive mission would take place or what the objective of the mission was. Accordingly, at four in the afternoon, Sajed and his men had been waiting on a designated hilltop at a remote spot, somewhere in Arakan. They were not informed about the delivery method. Sajed suspected, it might be delivered by air.
At quarter past four, the noise of a drone flying in the area proved, Sajed was right about the delivery method. The hill where Sajed and his men were waiting, there was a strip of flat land next to it. The drone flew over their heads, and down the hillside towards the flatland. Over the flat land, it dropped a black pouch attached to a parachute before flying back where it had come from. Sajed sent out two of his men to retrieve the pouch, while the rest kept an eye on the surrounding area. They found two bundles of kyat and a white envelop in the pouch. The envelope wasn’t sealed. It contained a piece of paper with numbers on it. Sajed couldn’t figure out what the numbers represented. His responsibility was to pass to Kashem, the Kyat bundles and the white envelope with the piece of paper in it. Kashem knew how to decipher the meaning of those numbers.
By five o’clock, the relatively minor mission of retrieving the message was over. Soon afterwards, the new recruit of his unit drew Sajed’s attention. They still had plenty of time before sunset. Till then, Sajed was going to utilize the time to test the combat readiness of his new recruit. Sajed’s fighters carried seven AK-47s and three outdated Chinese rifles. A nine-millimeter luger hung from Sajed’s hip. It had been over a month since Karim joined the rebels. Not until they were clear about Karim’s motive, the rebel leaders preferred that Karim didn’t have any external link. Apart from that, random use of mobile risked detection by Tatmadaw. So, mobile was not generally used unless it was urgent. Even when the use became imperative, it was allowed only for a very brief period.
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For two weeks straight, Karim received training on how to use the Chinese rifle most effectively. Even after the short training course, from the way he carried his rifle, it was obvious, he was a greenhorn in the art of handling firearms. He had been told numerous times to have the barrel of the rifle pointing towards the ground, but he had the tendency to ignore this instruction. Sajed looked at him and said, “Please do not carry your rifle in that manner, there might be accidents.”
Karim smiled shyly, and said, “I forget. For the time being, let me carry it this way. Later, I’ll try to develop the habit of carrying it properly.”
“Nope, once someone becomes habituated in doing something, it’s very hard to give up the old habits. You’ve to carry it the way it should be done.”
This time he held the rifle properly, and once again, politely he smiled at Sajed. Everything he faced in his life, he would not take them as a problem. It was because of this incredibly positive attitude of Karim, Sajed was so fond of him. There was always a smile on his round face. He was in his early thirties, but already, the hair over his head had thinned out. In a few more years, he would have baldness to deal with.
Sajed smiled back, and asked, “What do you think, can you manage to hit the enemy?”
“When things will start happening, only then you’ll be able to tell.”
“Nope, way before that we have to be sure, who can do it and who can’t. Okay, I’ll test your ability to hit the target right now. Shoot the palm tree in front of you. Let me see if you can hit the target. The distance between Karim and the palm tree was roughly fifty yards. He raised his rifle, took aim and then stood still for a while. As he pulled the trigger, the push back from the outgoing bullet jerked his shoulder, and the loud bang could be heard from quite a distance. Everyone had been staring at the tree. No one could see any sign of the bullet hitting its target. Where did the bullet go? Everyone was puzzled. When they came closer, they noticed it. A wood apple tree next to it, was hit by the bullet. Right at that moment a magpie flew to the tree and perched at the top. Sajed asked Karim to shoot the bird. This time everyone watching him shoot burst into laughter as he hit a wood apple a foot from the bird. They showered him with praise for his targeting skills. Karim smiled at them, shyly assuring them, “In time I’ll fix it.”
“Of course, but I’ve an earnest request to you. During battles, kindly do not shoot at our enemies. You are to shoot at whatever is next to the enemy. If you try it, I’m sure your bullets will find our enemies,” Sajed remarked.
Very softly Karim responded, “Alright, I’ll do just that.”
Sajed felt pity for this innocently greenhorn fighter, so he sought to raise his spirit. He said to Karim, “We’ve mobile network over here, would you like to talk to your family?”
For the last couple of days Karim had been waiting for this opportunity. The grin on his lips told Sajed the story. Sajed took out the mobile from his trouser’s pocket and turned it on. Within a minute, the device detected the signal. After handing over the mobile to Karim, he lit a cigarette, while remaining close to Karim. He wanted to hear Karim’s conversation over the phone.