Broken and Lost

Chapter 5

By dawn, Sara had made her decision. She was not going to let the past with Aryan contaminate her judgement and thinking now. The next few days she used all of her sources and gathered information about him. If he was guilty she would be more than glad to bring justice to him but what if he was innocent? This was the question that was haunting her mind. Although it was their code not to kill an innocent person, but it was also true that they had never come across such an assignment. They had not properly decided what to do if such a time came if ever. For her one thing was sure: if she would not kill him someone else would do it. It was the rule of the crime world that if someone paid for other person's death one way or another the other person would be dead. If one assassin did not kill the man someone else would do it certainly. This was how the system worked.

Fifteen days after she got the assignment the results were in front of her. Aryan was not involved in any kind of illegal activity. His criminal record from police department was also clear. He was innocent according to all her principles of being a criminal. The outcomes had increased her frustration.

On the 16th evening after getting the assignment she was in front of her partners to introduce them to the situation that had come across their way.

"16 days ago we got an assignment to kill a person named Aryan Sikander.", she started. "He owns a construction firm so I had to investigate him."

"According to my resources the person is clean." She said and exhaled.

"You mean to say he's innocent and that we are being asked to kill him? Right!" Zaviyar asked.

Sara nodded her head in agreement and there was silence for a few moments in the room as everyone was absorbing the situation.

"So what now?" It was Umar who broke the silence.

"Well! What can we do now? We have to return the amount that was paid for the job," Zaviyar answered.

"Is that all we can do?" Saniya asked.

"Yes, Saniya what else do you want to do? We can't kill the man since he does not fit the criteria for being a criminal." Zaviyar replied.

"But are we not supposed to do something about the man?" This time it was Irum who asked.

"What do you want to do about him if you can't kill him?" Hassan asked.

"Who is the client for this job?" Finally Sara inquired. This was the question that she was eager to know. She wanted to know who was so much pissed off with Aryan that they wanted him dead.

"Sara, you are not thinking about..." Zaviyar was cut by Sara.

"Yes, you are right. I am thinking about saving him." As soon as Sara spoke those words her inner self asked her "Are you sure about this?"

"Look Sara we don't need to do this. You know pretty well that he has been marked for death. It's best for us to stay away from the matter." Zaviyar replied.

"I agree with Zaviyar. Our job is to kill people who are involved in crimes not to save lives." Umar said flatly.

"And secondly Sara what do you think we can do about this matter? We can't save him. All we can do is leave him to his own fate." Saniya interrupted.

"What's the point of making that damn rule if we can't save an innocent person?" Sara said in a tone higher than she actually intended.

All of them were shocked at the sudden change of her tone. They had rarely seen her in this tone, only at times when she was annoyed by the society or by unfair law and order situation. At that moment she seemed like a different person. They had never witnessed her raising her voice while talking to them.

As if realizing her tone Sara composed herself and said "Sorry, it's the work load at the office and then this case. I'm just a bit tired," she explained herself.

"It's okay Sara. It happens to everyone. You should take a day off from the office," Saniya said in a comforting tone.

"Yeah, right you hardly ever take leave from work. When was the last time that you took a holiday just to relax?" Irum asked her in a normal tone.

"I'm planning to take a day off," Sara said and continued, "Guys, I understand that it's not our job to save someone and I'm not asking anyone to do that. Its's just that I want to know who is behind all this."

"Well, firstly it's not about whether you are asking us to save him or not. As a team we all have to agree on one thing. We have to work together," Hassan started saying "and secondly the client of this job is anonymous."

"How do you know that?" Sara questioned.

"Because I contacted the handler about the job payments and details regarding the client, so that I could enter them in the data base. That's when he told me that the client had not given his name," Hassan replied calmly.

It was not new for them to have an anonymous client. They had worked many assignments before in which no name of the client was entered to the data base of their own, which they made to have a record in case they needed to contact anyone other than the handler. It had clients ranging from ordinary business men to mafia renowned men.

"So, this client's information is a dead end. We can't do anything about it now. Its better we return the money tomorrow," Zaviyar said while standing up from the couch.

All of them agreed with Zaviyar. They looked towards Sara who was clearly in some deep thought.

"Are you agreed to this Sara?" Umar aksed.

"What? Oh yes. I agree." Sara replied.

"Were you even listening what I said?" Zaviyar said while looking closely at her.

"Yes, definitely. Why won't I be?" Sara said in a defensive tone. "It's just that I am a bit exhausted. I think I should go and get some rest." Without waiting for any reply she walked out of the room and went to her room.

"What's wrong with her?" Zaviyar asked with concern in his voice.

"May be she's tired and it's just too much for her to take in," Irum tried to sound reasonable.

"She will adjust to the situation. We all know she does not get along easily if something bothers her," Saniya said.

"Let's hope she gets adjusted soon," Umar said in a genuine tone.

"She'll be alright. We know she is the strongest among all of us," Hasaan sounded hopeful.

"Strongest and the most stubborn too. She is hard headed when she decides something she just does it," Zaviyar said with a worried tone.

"Relax buddy! She's not a fool to do something like interfering in matters of other people. She minds her own business." Hassan spoke without knowing that for Sara it was her own business to save that man.

Zaviyar apparently became satisfied with all the explanations but deep down he knew that it was not like Sara to give up that easily. He had a doubt that she had something else in her mind. He was absolutely right about that. In her room, Sara was figuring out how she could find more information about the client. For that she could not ask the handler because he would straight away refuse to tell her client's whereabouts. She was also thinking what she would do after knowing about the client. There was hardly any chance that she could convince the client to drop the idea of killing Aryan. And for the time being she did not want to think beyond negotiating with the client. Thinking of Aryan she came up with an idea about identifying the client. Why can't I ask the soon to be victim who is after him? She thought to herself and with that thought several other thoughts came rushing to her mind until she fell asleep.