Trapped

Chapter 20

Zayn has always been a good friend to Alina, helping her overcome fears when her own close friends were out on missions. She remembers saying goodbyes to this very man and his partner, Martin for she was the IT specialist in the team. They worked their minds together to crack every code to get to the mafia boss through this very gang that Zayn has been undercover in but one single mistake lead to another and Martin was exposed while their mission was on a critical point on the field. Seeming to get caught to be tortured for information, Zayn had to follow the unsaid rule of abandoning his team mate in a situation like this. There was no way he could have saved him, so he shot him, straight through the heart. This was the only way to save his partner from getting tortured to no ends because he knew what these people did to get information so important and how gory it can be.

Alina had been in a shock for almost a week and then shattered when they announced both agents as dead but after hearing from him has not only relieved her but also has brought her hope that she can save him. The thing she was cursing moments ago has brought her this relief: she so wanted to leave work early today hoping to have some rest but all the extra work was suddenly dumped on her table and fortunately, Zayn decided to call on the perfect moment. She needs to gather people for her team and she needs to do it confidentially. She already has two agents she can trust, her closest friends, Harry and Kevin. She knows they will never turn her down for this, after all, Zayn has been friends with them too and she can definitely rely on them. The problem is to carefully choose few others and carry out this mission without letting the agency know. They will never support or permit a mission like this.

Zayn has been planning on how to get that disc before Alan while Alan has been wasting his days on trying to woo Alisha by insisting to drop her home every evening after work or showing up at her house with a flower for her or some days, its a whole bouquet with an excuse to surprise her. He sure has access to her house now but finding something as small as that 2 centimeter disc is proving to be difficult for him, more than he thought. It is like a race of who finds it first while Alisha is still oblivious to these happenings. The more the two think, the more it gets complicated considering it could be literally anywhere in that house's structure or even buried under the small front lawn or maybe, it is not even here and somewhere else and there is only one way to find out, searching the whole place with no interruption that Alan has with her around.

"Alisha, I have a special announcement for your company," Alan blurts out over excitedly while driving her home, again. She gestures him to continue, watching him with a slight frown on her face. "We are celebrating our success in achieving our high profit margins and since we just made large deals with your company, we would like to celebrate that partnership as well. So, we would like to invite your company, FastLane Productions to the success party. I will be mailing them a formal invitation, thought should let you know first," he finishes smiling wide and taking a few glances at her. 'And here he goes again,' she thinks to herself, probably irritated by his antics but she can't just say no to him for he has given her the taste of companionship at her work and she just can't ignore that fact and leave him be. Everytime she thinks of refusing his offer to drive her home and then she sees his face glowing like a child on the Christmas Eve, every thought of saying no goes out of the window.

She tries reaching Rachel after she's home but there is no response on her mobile so she decides to postpone the task of calling to next day. She sees her working in the cafe every morning she leaves for office but they rarely talk and it feels to her as if Rachel might not want to keep her friendship anymore. She will be moving sooner to her new job that is farther away from this place. Obviously, she broke the news to Alisha over a call which was very brief. Now, that Alisha thinks about everything and how she was fussing over loneliness few weeks ago, it seems like nothing has changed. The people at the office just want to be in the eyes of great people for their personal gains, though Peter tries to be good but he has got his life settled and that is not going to keep her loneliness away neither has Rachel got time for her. While Alan tries to get closer to her, she knows he is being too clingy and assumes he must have some monetary profits with the company. Amidst all these chaos, there is only one person who has been actually normal with her, even within those abnormal circumstances and she knows: if she had to call him in the middle of the night, he would receive her call on the first ring. The doubt is slowly dissolving away from her mind with a slight hesitation of trusting him. She will find out, soon. Its just a matter of a mistake he makes which will lead her to find out if he is to be trusted or not. Right now, he has his guard up and she is curious of what makes him so different when he is not with her.

~~~

The announcement of the success party has got everyone excited in the office. Everybody seems to be prepping about that evening with enthusiasm and well, who doesn't love grand parties except Alisha here. She is not a fan of those extreme grandeur and glamour leaving her appearing out of place because she prefers simple parties where one is comfortable but formal events in multinational companies are hardly simple. Unfortunately, she can't escape this either with Alan and her own manager making her promise to attend it. "It is for the company's profit," said her manager and on the other hand, Alan has asked her to be his date for the evening which reluctantly she had to agree to. Poor lady has got herself stuck in amidst the chaos and telling the truth won't work now for Alan will keep making special requests to her company if she denies any of this.

She's walking home through a different route, preferably a longer one to miss his appearance which she has been compelled to look at for more than a week now. She sighs heavily wishing if she could have just asked for Zayn's contact number. This street is a slightly silent affair compared to the main street she usually took for her way home and yet soothing with all the unwanted noise making her mad back at her office has left her ears. She reaches a bus stop scattered with few people and waits for the bus keeping an eye on either side of the street to avoid running into that clingy man. Soon, the bus arrives and she climbs in trying to find herself a vacant seat when her eyes land on one. The moment she settles down, she finds Alan's black car slowing down nearby as the bus resumes its journey. She quickly turns her face the other way to escape his eyes and prays with all her heart that she is able to outrun him. Fortunately, the car is left behind and she feels relieved for the moment. She feels more thankful to God when he doesn't turn up at her door, leaving her alone and this is the first time in a while that she prefers her own company rather than having anyone else to evaluate her actions that has landed her in this trouble, working out some solution if there is any except spilling out the truth. Though she knows this is going to hurt everyone involved badly and she will definitely end up losing her acquaintances that she had found herself but this is the only right thing to be done.

It is not only Alisha who is suffering but Zayn too, only his intentions are different than her's. While she wants to avoid the whole grand parade to the great halls, he is definitely working on getting himself invited the party. He needs to be present at the event to find out the unusual for it is obviously not for the said reasons but some hidden intentions of the father-son duo. This time, he is all alone in the planning, excluding Max from it. Few things need to be done confidentially and this is the only way because, after all, Max is a part of the gang. All these years, having Max by his side has only helped him, even after not knowing Zayn is an outsider to this mob and he has that guilt of cheating Max but this is his job and he swore to protect his nation first. This is hard for him to keep reminding himself about how Max is not a part of his team but on the one he is secretly fighting.

Its not too late when he gets a call from Alan inviting him to the party, just to be his wingman. How much ever Zayn despises to help Alan, this is the only way to get inside the party and he is not going to to turn this offer down at any cost. This is like a lottery he won without buying any ticket and so, he needs to take full advantage of this situation. Thinking about all the possibilities that can happen at that foresaken party, Zayn plans out everything, in case things go wrong and she lands herself in trouble, like every other time. Why does she has to be in trouble everytime, is out of his understanding. Alina has mailed him about the progress of the given plan; assembling people is a difficult task and if this has to be done quickly, she will have to arrive with a team of three men because right now, the risk of agency finding out about this operation is restricting her to make the offer to other agents. There is still time for Zayn to execute this perfectly and even the gang is taking things slowly to not let anyone know of their plan to overtake Mafia head.

Everyone is waiting for the right time to strike and its a matter of time before its already the right time for either of them.

*****

Okay readers, the updates are going to be slow, thanks to my first job. So bear with me.

Also, if anyone has read my previous book, The Viral Chase, they will notice the introduction of few characters from that book, that is, Alina, Harry and Kevin. Its okay, if you haven't. You won't need to if you don't want to. I will not connect the two books.

Thank you for loving this book. Already crossed 2k and I just realised it now. Massive Thank you!!

Regards,

A.R.