Confronting Shadows

Find Isra

Saira sat in the truck leading the weapons envoy to the Yazd and Adonai border. She kept trying Omar's number but it had gone to voicemail so far. he had spoken to her over text on his way to Aurang. She had told Omar it was a suicide mission, but he was adamant to see it through.

Saira felt her heart beat a million times a minute.

Did Omar do it?

was he hurt?

did they capture him?

Saira slammed her hand on the dashboard startling the driver Iraj.

"you're having me drive in the dead of the night with little to no light. please don't startle me," he said frustrated by the working conditions.

"Sorry," Saira muttered without thinking.

"damn it, Omar," Saira said under her breath after trying his phone for the 10th time.

Saira kept the phone and looked ahead at the dimly lit road. they were minutes from the border but no trucks were waiting for them. no soldiers or men waiting to transfer the weapons.

"what the hell" Saira snapped and took out her phone.

she called Jethro and he picked up after the third ring.

"yes," he spoke.

"what the fuck do you mean by yes? Where are the trucks and the soldiers? I'm at the border with the weapons." Saira yelled.

"didn't you hear the news?" Jethro asked

"What news?" she asked, impatient.

"Omar attacked King Shaheer and the bodyguards gunned him down. They are preparing for his funeral." Jethro revealed.

all she heard was that Omar was gunned down, preparing for his funeral.

at that moment Saira's breath ceased and her body froze.

"What?" Saira breathed

"Omar is dead Saira. we cannot go through with this plan. all eyes will be on us. go back to the fortress and blame it all on Yazd. the west is itching to invade and destroy them." Jethro advised and cut the call.

Saira sat with the phone to her ear till Iraj nudged her.

she looked at him, took out her gun and shot him in the head. she then pushed him out of the truck and sat in the driver's seat.

"we're taking the weapons back to the fortress. turn the trucks around." Saira said over the wire.

without question her soldiers did as they were told, nobody knew what was happening. yet they didn't want to anger Saira when she was in one of her moods.

the truth was, Saira wasn't in any of her moods. She couldn't feel anything and worked on doing what she was told. She wasn't thinking about the consequences of being caught, nor was she in her right mind. all she wanted to do now was find isra and run her over.

to Saira, it was isra's fault that Omar and Rashid died.

it was beyond her comprehension that King Shaheer could let his beloved son die. Omar had told her a million times that his father had a weak spot for him. that his father would never let him get hurt. Of all the years Saira knew King Shaheer, Omar was his favourite son. he took Omar to meetings to prepare him to be king. he turned a blind eye to Omar and Saira's relationship both times.

by now Saira was shaking yet she refused to cry. She refused to let the tears fall but they did regardless. She bit her lower lip in frustration but the trembling only got worse. the breath caught up in her lungs and refused to come out. the more she supressed her pain the more it bubbled up.

"it's your fault." a voice in her head whispered.

"fuck off!" Saira screamed at the void.

"You're the reason why rasheed died. you betrayed the kingdom and made isra believe it was Rashid." the void whispered back.

Saira slammed her fist on the dashboard again.

"it's not my fault, it's king Azer's' fault. Omar is King Shaheer's fault." Saira got angrier.

"no!" the voice in her head whispered.

"you led the men you claim to love into their death. you could have come clean to isra. you could have stopped Omar. it's your fault." the void screamed.

"no!" Saira screamed and stepped on the accelerator. her truck passed the others by, driving head-first into the barbed wire fence surrounding the fortress.

Her truck headed towards the main entrance. through which Sultan was running out with the hostages.

"watch out!" he screamed turning on his flashlight in Saira's eyes, causing the truck to sever off the path.

the hostages ducked, some ran left and others ran right. the few who ran back inside were trampled under the truck. The sound of screaming and crushing bones filled the air. yet she didnt stop. Saira kept going till she crashed the vehicle into a pillar.

"where is she?!" Saira bellowed jumping out of the truck with an assault rifle in hand.

the hostages ran towards the hashashins trucks waiting for them, and as they ran Saira opened fire at them.

"shit, isra you need to get out of there. Saira is here and she's pissed." Sultan screamed over the wire.

he ducked down behind a parked vehicle and fired back, hitting Saira on the bicep.

she stopped shooting and looked at herself bleeding. She threw the gun onto the ground and ran inside, away from Sultan and the chaos.

the first thing to hit her ear was a distant scream for help and banging. saira ignored it and ran inside. After searching several corridors full of her dead soldiers, Saira ran into Bashir and Jaffar.

Bashir was barely hanging on, there was a knife wound to his throat.

"keep him and follow me," Saira instructed.

"We need to save him. he can be saved." Jaffar tried to reason.

"I don't care. where is Yusuf?" she snapped.

"he's in the medical ward. isra injected him with an anesthetic." Jaffar answered still holding onto Bashir.

"drop him and follow me. NOW!" Saira ordered, and Jaffar followed like the loyal dog he was.

they ran through the hallways to the weapons room, checking every inch of the room but found nothing.

"When the hostages ran I didn't see her," Jaffar muttered.

"is Yusuf alone?" Saira asked

"Yeah he's slowly waking up," Jaffar answered.

they ran back upstairs and into the medical ward, but didn't find Yusuf.

"where is that screaming coming from?" Saira finally asked unable to ignore it.

"I don't...." Jaffar began but it dawned on them that it could be where Yusuf was.