Operation Silver Screen

Chapter 12

"Why are you doing this?" Karishma whispers so low that she can barely hear herself while her mind screams so loud.

Before Brian gets to answer the question, it's his phone's turn to ring. To everyone else, his partner is missing along with the girl she was assigned to protect and he wants nothing more than for everyone else to keep thinking that. Brian turns his phone towards Karishma so that she can see the caller ID that appears on the screen. It is no one other than their captain. Brian clears his throat and puts the call on speaker; knowing that the drug he gave Karishma doesn't grant her enough power to intervene the call. "Yes, Captain Lanna."

"Why do I get calls that Karishma and Miss Malik have gone AWOL(missing)”? Captain's voice doesn't seem to be too worried. From the encounter she had with Karishma, she is not entirely surprised that Karishma would pull this. She thought Karishma might have just intentionally go along with whatever Haseena wanted to do again. "And... I can't seem to pull up any footage on her cam."

"Yes, ma'am. I'm also looking for her." Brian fixes his eyes at Karishma and smiles with the degree of satisfaction of a devil. He lies through his teeth and makes his words stand so tall that no one can bring them down. "I've checked with a patrol. He said he saw Miss Malik's car left the garage. He couldn't say if it was them or not."

"You have 15 minutes to locate them. If not, start checking the traffic cams." Captain orders without any hesitation in her voice. "If you find her, tell her to quit playing and see me in the office ASAP."

"Yes, ma'am." Brian responds and hangs up the phone. He puts it along with Karishma's and Haseena's before looking at Karishma again. He crosses his arms on his chest and sighs. "One of the undercovers should find the smashed cam by her garden gate by now. That will give the captain the explanation of why she couldn't pull up any footage."

Karishma furrowed her eyebrows and lets her eyes travel around in order to find some answers to this mystery. Her brain is losing the battle and is about to shut down. "You're making me a scapegoat."

"You know, I love how everything just falls into place so easily." Brian starts to wander. He knows he has to leave soon in order to have his plan run smoothly as it has been. "You ran off with Haseena in New York. You fell for her. You ranted Captain Lanna. Think about it. With a very good storyline to back it up, no one would question it. You could easily plant the bugging devices on her and at her house. You could easily take her from the elevator shaft. I mean, why not? You were trained for those kinds of things. You know. I was so concerned at first if I was going to pull this off. Who would have thought that the case would fall right into my hand?"

Karishma still looks so confused; not by the things Brian has said. It is just that she can't understand the reason behind this grand plan of his.

"Singh, come on. You've seen it first-hand. The LAPD is rigged. The Miller case. All the clues. All the traces. They were all you. Suddenly, everything was ripped away from you. There were people putting different name tags on your work, man... We should have gotten all the fame and glory. Do you know the Gregory case? That was all me. All. Me. And once I blinked, 'someone from above' wanted me off the case to train a new partner. If I were to close that case, Singh..." Brian shakes his head and smiles. He is getting frustrated but his experience takes control over his emotion. He is instantly calm again as if he has a switch for all of his emotions. "You and I. We can be heroes. She is a superintendent's daughter. Our names will be heard, kid. Will Hughes will take the fall if you're down. He'll do what I said. We can arrange something for him."

"What?" Karishma tries to keep up but the information gets overloaded in her head. "Will Hughes?"

"Oh yeah. That bastard thinks he is in a blockbuster spy movie or some shit. Maybe thinks that he is 007 when he is just a plain idiot. Couldn't plant a bug. Couldn't stall you from the freaking elevator." Brian stands right in front of Karishma before squatting down to her eye level.
He needs her to hear what he says. He needs her to do what he says. "She won't say a word if you ask her nicely. I mean she is clearly falling for you. Why wouldn't she want your name to be heard as much as hers? I'm sure you can talk to her. It could be you and me, kid, saving her from this bad bad man."

"No."

"No?" Brian chuckles in his throat as he walks back to the boarded-up window to get his phone. He needs to send his two accomplices to Haseena's house to buy him some time. Karishma is still persistent and if she keeps this up, it should be him who makes sure that she can no longer be like that. "This is a big case, Singh. Who knows? You might end up being the youngest sergeant. Or this might go south very fast. We both know how terribly kidnapping could go wrong. Someone could die and you know it is often the victim. Choose wisely, Singh, don't die for someone you met last Tuesday."

The creaking sound of the old wooden door brings Haseena back from the journey in her own mind. She turns and gradually breaks into a smile when the person she wants most at this moment appear at the door. Karishma puts a little smile on her face and slowly takes her steps towards the girl. It is a solid ground but somehow everything shakes for her. She can barely take one steady step without feeling so weak at the knee. Haseena meets her half way and throws her cuffs hands around Karishma's neck. As soon as she does so, Karishma falls on her knees. It will take a little more while for Karishma to be fully recover. It will take a little more while for Karishma to have enough strength to stand on her feet.

"Are you alright?" Haseena whispers to Karishma's ear as she is also on the floor without removing her arms from around her. She starts to break into tears when she starts to realize that Karishma is finally here with her. She was scared when she was alone. She is still scared when Karishma is here.

"Yeah." Karishma whispers so low that it feels like a breath forming into a word.

"You're okay. It's okay." Haseena tightens her embrace and hopes it will bring Karishma back her power and will.

"Yeah." Karishma responds again with her eyes closed. She closes her eyes in order to let the scent, the sound and the feel she is getting from Haseena burying themselves into her memory. She wants to remember everything and make sure that she has experienced everything.

"We'll get out of here." Haseena fills Karishma's system with her assurance but when her assurance is not getting any response, she begins to realize that she is the only one giving out the comforting embrace. Karishma's arms stay stranded by herself as if they don't know where the home is anymore. Her silence used to be frustrating but now it becomes so frightening. Karishma used to be the one who handed out comforting words but now she is just there without anything that can sooth Haseena's soul. "Right?"

Haseena slowly looses her embrace and is about to remove her cuffed hands from
Karishma's neck. That's when Karishma throws her arms around her. She doesn't let her leave although she has failed to ensure her that they will leave the place. Because there won't be a 'we' in this scenario.

"Haseena." Karishma whispers so low to her ear to make sure that no one else hears what she has to say and to make sure that this appears like a persuasion that she has promised Brian that she would try on Haseena. She is not lying as she is about to persuade Haseena of something although it is not exactly what Brian has told her to. "I have a gun behind me. I need you to use it and I need you to shoot me."