Raabta

Chapter 9

"Bhaijaan aj aap Asim ko school chod de, vapas ate hue mai base gate se Naina se use le lungi", Shifrat is telling Naushad.

Naushad couldn't understand why Shifrat is insisting him to drop Asim today. Generally Irfan or Shifrat themselves drop Asim till gate and from their he is picked by school bus.

He took Asim along to drop when Naina came running behind.

"Please mujhe bhi drop kar dijiye, thand badhne ki vajah se scooty start hi nahin ho rahi hai", Naina said panting with efforts to start her Scooty.

He gestured her to take a seat and left to drop both of them till school. Asim is excited going to school with her Naina Mam and Mamu.

But Naushad felt Naina is a bit lost. He thought of asking but restrained himself. Might be some work thing he decided.

He left for hospital immediately and got caught up in work. It's a perk of working in such a big hospital, that now he have fixed shifts and plenty of colleagues to share the work.

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Naina is feeling restless today. While struggling with her Scooty she saw Shifrat and Irfan having a big argument.

Then within minutes Shifrat came to Naushad to drop Asim. Naina is finding this really fishy. She spotted some strange people on the street early morning handling some stuff to Irfan.

They made it seem like it's a casual visit and they are just showing some things to Irfan but Naina spotted a bag missing while they are uploading again in the vehicle.

She immediately informed Gunny about this and he asked her to be on alert. They are planning something or Irfan is up to something.

During recess she is clearly distracted and playing with the food when peon informed her that she had been called to principal office.

The principal office have a secured line installed where Naina will get instructions. When she reached it was empty as expected. Col. Bakshi was on the line whom she explained her observations.

Col. Bakshi took a pause and after few seconds said, "school ke bad Shifrat ka peecha karna. Make sure to wear a burkha and try to public vehicles".

"Ok Sir", Naina said understanding the assignment.

"Aur Naina, please take care. We can't back you up in interior areas with disclosing the mission. Be careful", he said before disconnecting the call.

Naina is feeling perplexed. Not because of the assignment she needs to carry out but because Asim is involved. She have now grown attached to the boy and getting a premonition that Shifrat is going to take Asim along.
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Naina dropped Asim to Shifrat till gate and they left. Naina pretended to say bye to Asim until he is within her line of sight.

Then she immediately took a cab and put the burkha on. Cab left her till Chowk, from where Naina can see Shifrat getting inside a shop.

Naina stayed at bus stand waiting for Shifrat to come back as a centrally located shop hardly felt like her destination.

Shifrat came back after sometime with a bag. She is wearing a burkha now too, but Asim is there with her and her sandels still same.

She saw her mobile and spotted a black SUV. She went inside it along with Asim. They took a route towards bada bazar and Naina took the bus.

SUV dropped them till bada bazar from there Shifrat is on foot now. Naina now have to be really discreet. She can't afford Shifrat to spot her.

They went inside a narrow lane which presented a challenge for Naina to follow Shifrat. To maintain distance, Naina lost her during her last lap.

Now she needs to simply follow from voice. What she last saw she entered a house with maroon door. Problem is there are three maroon door's in the lane.

Naina now have to take a chance. Two of those houses have their door open and Naina decided to try them first.

First one was empty with just a old man and second one also felt like the same. Naina decided it's the closed door one when she heard Asim's voice. Her legs froze and she spotted his school bag there.

Suddenly she heard some whispering from the adjacent room.

She hid herself to listen the conversation.

"Subhan Allah.....Irfan miyan ke kahiyeg ki tohafa bahut pasand aya hai hume. Hum jis jalse ki tyari kar rahe hai usme bahut kam aayega ye sab"

"Hmm", came the voice of Shifrat.

"Aap to behad zaheen nikali. Bacche ko bahana bana ke yahan tak bina kisi shaqo Shuqbe ke pahuch gai. Vaise kaise hai Irfan miyan? Kafi waqt se mulaqat nahin hui"

Then a casual conversation followed which don't gave a clue about the stuff delivered.

Naina has to wait inside the house now. Shifrat left and Naina found a desolate corner to hide and wait.

She kept waiting for that person to leave or move to another room. But he is still inside.

After 3 hours he left the place taking a shawl. Naina waited fir few minutes to let him take a head start, then moved into the room.

She checked the things via a cloth to avoid fingerprints. Also keeping everything the way it was when she spotted the bag. She opened the zip and found a white powder. She took a small sniff and her head gave jerk.

"It's Heroine", she realised.

But before she could make a move, she heard the door opened. She closed the bag hurriedly and hide herself under the bed.

The Guy came inside the room and checked the bag.

"Yahin par to hai. Iska matlab Shifrat humare sath wafadar hai", he said taking the drug in his hands.

He left then closing the door and Naina let go of her breath. She stayed put for a while then quietly left the house through roof.

But their is another challenge waiting for her. Night has fallen and she is on strange territory with no help.

She walked back from the lane swiftly but now everything felt eerie. It's past 12pm and the entire area is shut down. She remembers, Col. Bisht's words, "they can't help her here".

She need to figure out something and she can think of just one way out.

Naushad, she thinks bitterly.

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