The final battle was under way when Sandy reached the hotel. The guests had been evacuated and the terrorists were being taken out. Half an hour later, Sheoran informed Sandy that all terrorists in the Taj attack were dead, barring one, who was missing.
‘Has he escaped into the city? . . .what if . . .?’ a worrying thought crossed Sandy’s mind. He, along with other commandos, began a search of the premises. The hotel had been set on fire earlier during the attack, and there were firefighters and commandos everywhere – walking under collapsing beams, broken furniture, ruptured ceilings and burnt interiors.
In the Harbour Bar, located in the north wing of the hotel, firefighters had been clearing the rubble when Sandy noticed a rifle barrel sticking out from the debris. He pushed it aside to discover a tiny fragment of a body buried in the rubble. ‘Two kilos of flesh – that’s how a monster is remembered at the end of a mission,’ Sandy thought.
The count was complete. The terrorists were all dead. Both hotels had been cleared. On 29 November, the city had been won back.
Outside the hotel, Sandy stared at a signboard – Ramchandani Road – named after Flying Officer P.R. Ramchandani, a gallant air force officer who died in the war against Pakistan in 1965. Many years later, Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan laid down his life fighting terrorists from Pakistan on Ramchandani Road. Two individuals, separated by time and different conflicts, but linked by their sacrifices on the same road. A poignant coincidence, Sandy thought as he, Sheoran and others sat alongside each other in silence.