Madam Sirr 2

Chapter 55

55. The Ultimate Showdown

Haseena crawled around in the dirt, her uniform soaked with blood as she desperately searched for a way out. She crawled around, ignoring the burning pain in her leg, her eyes closed in the pitch darkness. Suddenly, she fell down, her hands clutching her wound as sticky blood soaked through her fingers.

AHHHHH! She screamed, her vision dimming with each second.

Haseena gripped the wound in one hand while she struggled to stand, her limbs flailing widely. She falls again, much to her disappointment as she punched the ground, her hand seeping through the sand.

Her eyes closed, the darkness inviting her to the other side.

Was this the end, Haseena wondered.

She floated in and out of consciousness, her organs shattered beyond repair. Haseena felt suffocated, every breath drawing the life out of her. It was a battle to remain alive.

Perhaps it would be better....she thought as her eyes drifted, a strange sense of comfort washing over her.

AMMI!

Haseena's eyes flashed open as she gasped for breath, the electrocuting pain flaring through her limbs. She clenched her jaw, a steely resolve claiming her eyes as she set aside her pain. She screamed, not in pain but in defiance. She was Haseena Malik, she reminded herself.

She searched her uniform until she found a napkin as she ripped it into length-wise pieces, wrapping it around her leg, making a temporary tourniquet to stem the bleeding. Haseena dragged herself on the ground, unable to stand as her back hit a wall. It felt cold and hard. Metal, she thought. She pressed her back hard onto the surface, her breath drawing in ragged wasps as she trailed back to her moments that had led her here.

A dire awakening gripped her, squeezing the life out of her.

She had been misled, her information had been false.

Haseena Malik had been lured.

She had fallen straight into the hands of a trap.

Somewhere in a distant corner, KS screamed, trapped in a hell of her own. She clutched her hand, pressing it to stop the bleeding. Her fingers felt numb, her nerves paralyzed. She gritted her teeth, squinting her eyes to scan through the darkness.

Yet she saw nothing. Darkness surrounded her. Silence invaded her.

KS fell down to her knees, clattering in a dejected heap as she glanced around for one final time. She bandaged her hand with a cloth as she collected her thoughts; a dire awakening churning in her mind.

Her informant had been wrong.

KS had been captured.

*********************

Aliya and Jhaanvi scrambled in haste tracing every lead, activating every informant in hopes of searching for KS and Haseena. Puspha Ji had stepped out of retirement, pouring incessantly over old case files, her mind ransacking for a lead. SS and CC had rejoined the team, helping in every possible way as they moved through heaven and earth unable to locate their seniors.

A whiteboard stood in the middle, their recent case pasted in it. In the middle, an empty square with a question mark shined, almost as if mocking the officers. It had been over a week since Haseena and KS had started investigating the cold case of the "Phantom" serial killer yet apart from having their two seniors captured they had found nothing. Photos of the phantom's victims trailed across the board, each connected with red wires and dots.