One Tablespoon War

Chapter 4

'Are you okay?' Maria asked, walking into Ali Zain's cabin. He was hunched over papers that lay askew all over his desk.

'What?' he asked, distracted.

'I said, are you okay?' Maria repeated slowly, as if he was hard of hearing.

'Oh, yeah, I'm brilliant,' he replied. 'Why do you ask?'

'You seemed worked up,' she said, smiling at him. Ali Zain looked at her, smiled back, and then returned to the messed up case that lay on his desk. He did not want to spend any time talking to this girl. She was an excellent lawyer, but that was all he could compliment about her. Not to mention her more than acceptable relationship with her father. She was the reason Ali Zain could not stand to be around his father without wanting the ground to swallow him up.

'No, it's just this case,' he said, smiling slightly. 'Plus I'm leaving for Islamabad in an hour. I'll be back tomorrow.'

'Have fun,' Maria said, waving. She exited his cabin with a performance worthy of a ramp model. He stared at her for a bit before returning back to his case.

He had never been befuddled by a case. Sure, he had had several before that took a while to comprehend. This one, however, was driving him mad. It was labelled the Religious Fanatic case. David Ammar Khan, a forty-eight year old convert, had been convicted last month of killing his wife. The case was based upon the fact that David had forced his wife to convert along with him, and she had refused, leading to her ultimate death. She hadn't just died, she had been murdered, brutally. She had been found dead in her room, her throat sliced open, her white nighty soaked in dried blood. She had died some six hours before the police had arrived to the crime scene. 

The country's constitution, as well as their religion, did not support forceful conversion, and therefore had held David guilty of his wife's murder. The problem was, David had said that he had been with a friend at a memorial held for the soldiers of war. That memorial had maximum media coverage, due to which David's alibi had been checked out easily. The twist in this case, however, was brought upon by the fact that the knife used to slice open Pansy's throat had David's fingerprints on them. Every evidence that they found in this case seemed to contradict itself. He was being driven crazy by this particular case.

Frustrated, Zain collected all the papers and placed them carefully into the file labelled Religious Fanatic Case, 2012. He didn't have time to ponder over this, anymore. He had a plane to catch. 

**

Ahmed stiffled a yawn as he settled down comfortably into his recliner. Stretching out his legs and cracking his fingers, he let his mind wander off to the newest case he had. The businessman's wife who had come to him that day was the wife of the infamous Afaaq Yousuf. The man was an important asset to the government of Pakistan, and was well known for his secretive ways of obtaining black money. Ramna Yousuf, his wife, was a gorgeous woman. Even at her age, she still managed to turn heads whenever she walked into the room. She had jet black, silky straight hair that she left hanging loosely down to her waist. Her eyes were the darkest shade of ebony, and they seemed to sparkle everytime she spoke. She always dressed in whatever was the most trendy outfit at that particular time. Not that it mattered, though. Ramna would look amazing even if she dressed up in a potato sack. Ahmed had known Ramna for as long as he remembered. After all, she was the sister of his best friend.

Ramna seemed to have disappeared over the past few years, however. Ever since she had married Afaaq Yousuf, her family had disowned her. Ahmed knew that the President had done it to maintain the integrity of his position, but Ali Zain had done it because of disgust. He couldn't imagine having a sister who was married to that piece of filth.

Anyhow, Ramna had reappeared this morning in Ahmed's office, looking as beautiful as ever with her glowing face and her pouting belly. Ahmed suspected she was some seven months pregnant, but he though it better not to let their personal relationship come in between of this strictly business meeting. Under that beautiful face, adorned with makeup, today, Ahmed could spot dark circles under her eyes. Wondering if it was the pregnancy, or something else, he had offered her a seat.

'Hello, Mrs. Yousuf,' Ahmed had said, politely shaking hands with her. 'What makes you come here?'

'Call me Ramna, Ahmed,' she had said, dismissing any air of formality that may have been between them. 'I want you to investigate something related to my husband.'

Ahmed raised his eyebrows. This woman was ratting out her husband to him? He hoped it was more than some sordid affair. Everyone knew he didn't do affairs. 'What is it?' he had enquired.

'This is all strictly confidential?' she had wanted to confirm.

'Absolutely,' he had assured her, smiling his best smile at her. That smile would have melted the strongest women. Ramna, however, looked unmoved.

'My husband,' she started, and then coughed. Ahmed noticed that she was choking back on tears. Whatever had that bastard done to her? 'He is planning to take down the government, Ahmed. He is planning a mass assassination. He is not the only one involved, but I don't know who else is. I just heard him talking to a friend of his a few nights before, and you were the only one who I could turn to.'

Ahmed felt shocked. Infuriated by what was coming out of this woman's mouth, he clenched his fists together and banged them on the desk in front of him. Ramna jumped.

'What do you expect me to do about that?' He had asked, nearly spitting at her in his anger. It was her actions which had managed to bring Yousuf so close to destroying everything.

'I know you are the only one who can stop any of this, Ahmed.' Ramna said, struggling to keep her voice straight while a tear rolled down her cheek. 'I would have asked my dad, but you know he won't listen to me. Hell, he won't even reply to my greetings.' More tears followed.

Ahmed didn't feel any pity for this woman. Whatever was happening to her, she was responsible for it. He offered her a tissue, nevertheless, and carried on.

'You expect me to clear the mess you started?' Ahmed asked, ruthlessly. Ramna looked a little taken aback at his accusing tone.

'If you can,' she said.

'I don't know if I can, Ramna,' Ahmed said flatly. 'But I sure as hell am going to try.'

As Ramna left the office, Ahmed couldn't help but feel furious. All this secrecy was driving him up the wall. He generally took two or three cases at a time, his partner Fahad Aslam helping him out every step of the way. The two were an excellent team. The two cases that he had just received, however, were top secret ones, which meant that he could not let Fahad be in on them. It was just too bad, Fahad might have had a take on them. Even though Ahmed was totally confounded at the moment, he couldn't help but think that the two cases were interlinked somehow.

Then he remembered the third one. The letter.

That case was the strangest thing. He was expected to solve something that had not even occurred yet. Ahmed had thought, at first, that all these cases were way below his calibre. As time passed, however, he thought differently. They were driving him nuts.

Very honestly, he had admitted to himself, while sitting there on his recliner. He had no idea what was happening.