Teri Lakeerein

17. The bank robbery

"Aapne abhi dekha hi kya hai!" Haseena challenged and added, " Agli dafa jab aap se mukhatib honge toh itminan se aapko khalis urdu ki taalim denge".

Karishma halted her inspection midway and blinked in bewilderment. "Ye kaa bol gayin aap! mukhabit ka...aur kalesh? Kaa tha ye!"

"Asli urdu ka namoona tha ye, hamari mukhiya JI".

Karishma, who was drinking water from a bottle, suddenly inhaled in surprise and choked as the water went down the wrong pipe.

*Cough* *Cough*

'Hamari mukhiya ji'

"Ms. Singh? Aap theek hain?"

Collecting her thoughts, Karishma gave a nod, "Ji, hum...theek hain".

"Acha, abhi hum rakhte hain. Hamare juniors sab andar jaa chuke hain".

"Ji, ji, hum bhi yahan kaam nipta lete hain".

Having said that, Haseena ended the call and returned to the police station, a smile playing on her lips. It was always entertaining to tease Karishma Singh.

Lately, their conversations over the phone had become frequent, and Haseena noticed her attachment growing quickly. The playful jabs slipped out before she could stop them, mostly because of the way Karishma indulged her with affection. Karishma was attentive, proactive, and had an undeniable allure that was captivating Haseena.

But Haseena resisted these feelings. She knew the fresh excitement of their friendship would eventually wane, as might Karishma's interest. A time might come when their talks would be filled with more silences than words. The mere thought pained Haseena.

"No, Haseena. Stick to the mantra," she reminded herself.

Expectations lead to disappointment.

Yet, a tiny voice countered, 'But hope leads to miracles,' prompting Haseena to shake her head, trying to dismiss the thought.

For the next two hours, Haseena finished some pending files while the rest of the station worked in silence. And around 1 PM, Pushpa ji's phone began to ring. As she answered, her expression turned into a frown. "Hello, Malaika?" she said.

Instead of a greeting however, distant shouts were audible, followed by a threatening 'I will shoot' that made Pushpa ji's eyes widen. She quickly switched the phone to speaker mode and gestured urgently to Santosh.

"Santu, jaldi aao aur ye suno aur Cheetah, maddam sir ko bulao".

Santosh could hear the distressed shouts in background and turned to Pushpa ji. "Kis ka no. hai ye?"

"Malaika, hamari househelp ka"

Nodding she hurried to her desk with the phone in hand and began tracing the call immediately.

Haseena reached her desk as well and listened intently to the voices emanating from the other end.

"Phone de do sab apna..hoshiyari nahi!"

"Mummyy!!"

"Please!"

"Ye tu kya-

The call disconnected abruptly.

Haseena looked anxiously at Santosh.

"Was it traced?"

Santosh grinned, confirming, "Madam, the location is Syndhi Bank near the mandi".

Haseena stepped back and addressed Cheetah, "Cheetah, get the car out, and Pushpa ji, please come with us. And Santosh, there will be CCTV in the bank, so I need you to hack into the server to access the live footage. Is it possible?"