Salma's P.O.V
Salma sat huddled by the rock, bawling her eyes out. She kept asking for forgiveness for her severe lapse of judgment, while at the same time, she willed herself to get a grip before Zayn would notice her sorry state. Salma did not want him to ask her anymore question. She knew it was inevitable, and dreaded Zayn would bring her impulsive behavior up, but she just hoped that when he did, she would be ready for the worse. That if he taunted her with it, she would be strong enough to bear the brunt.
After praying, Salma stayed on her rock.The ritual had calmed her down significantly. Although fragile, she wanted to keep the composure she had managed to built. Fishing her phone out, she started reading all the texts she had received upon getting service on the road.
*James: Sallabae! Hw r da Monkeys??!! found any1 of dm hangin upside dwn ;D?
Salma's throat constricted upon reading the text. Thinking of how she found Zayn, if she could, she would have replied with a 'Yes!'
*Dean: Just told James AG10 is a better player than him, he's giving me hell for it :P. Pray that I'm still alive when you come back.
*Dean: Sally, please be safe :(. We are so worried. If for nothing else, then comeback for Asim's sake. The kid is getting killed by James's brutal attacks.
*James: Miss uuuuu :'(! Com bck alredy!
"Miss you too, James!" Salma blinked back tears. "I miss you so much!"
She opened a few more texts from the brothers, Asim and Sarah. All of them saying they missed her, and prayed that she was fine. Asim's texts, the ones he sent after the accident occurred, showed just how much pain he had gone through. It was heartbreaking to read her little brother's texts, he was not even sure she would ever get to read. Not able to read anymore without breaking down again, Salma turned her attention to the voicemails. She checked the first one.
"Sally, it's me, Will!" William's distressed voice filled her ears, making her heart skip a beat."It's important! Listen, go back to your hideout! Like now! I know you are still on the phone with Asim. I don't know what the two of you are up to, but Sally please, as soon as you hear this, go back to your hideout!"
Crying at the urgency in his tone, Salma heard the next one.
"Salma, leave and run! Don't stay outside after it's dark!" William practically screamed. "There are criminals out there in the forest that operate after it's dark. Stay somewhere safe. Please Sally! Listen to me. Go back!"
Salma was stunned after William's frantic voicemail ended. The silence was ringing in her ears. Mechanically, she opened the last voicemail.
"Oh My Allah! Salma, I totally forgot! You should not be out right now. It's getting dark. Go to the shelter and stay there!" Asim paused for breath. "Heck, I'm so sorry! I hope you are not too late already. Please go back! Will just called, he's going ballistic. Be safe!"
Putting her phone away, Salma put her head in her hands. They knew. They knew, and they tried to warn her but she thought it was just Asim doing what she had asked him to do. Hoping they were not worrying over it too much, Salma wished she had a way to get back to them, to let them know she was fine. Traumatized, attacked and messed up, but fine.
How she wished she would have check the voicemails ages ago. Maybe she could have avoided all of the mess? Maybe she would have gotten back to them, to tell them she got their message and that she was going to be fine? Maybe, just maybe, Zayn wouldn't have been stranded in the forest, and she would not have needed to go after him after it was dark? Maybe -
A startled gasp escaped her lips, when out of nowhere, she felt a hand grab her shoulder.
Niall's P.O.V.
Niall was about to go to bed, when he realized the door to the back yard was open. Placing the glass on the counter, he went outside to check.
He sighed and scratched his neck when he saw Claire curled up on the swing again. Rubbing his face, he walked over to her.
"Hey," he said as he sat beside her.
Claire lifted her head. The moonlight played over her face and Niall's heart sank to see her brilliant, blue eyes watery. She had been crying again. She wiped at her eyes and sniffed.
"Hi," she replied simply, turning away from him.
"Couldn't sleep again?"
She bit her quivering lip hard and her eyes filled with more tears.
"I can't," she cried, "I just can't, Niall! I missed him so damn much, it hurts -"
"I know," Niall put his arms around her, guiding her head to rest on his shoulder. "C'mere,"
"I - I sometimes think if it would have been better if I would not have let him in," she cried, "It took me years to get over him. To learn to live without seeing his smile again, and just when I thought I could finally live with that space, that blankness that was there after he left, he made me forgive him, and now . . . "
Niall rubbed her shoulder gently, letting her cry it all out. This happened every night. Every damned night following Zayn's disappearance without a break.
"I can't do this anymore, Niall," Claire sobbed, "I can't! It hurts. I won't be able take it a second time if he - if he . . ."
"He'll be back, Claire!" Niall told her firmly, "He'll be home and everything will go back to normal. He did not leave intentionally this time. What happened is not his fault. We know he's alive and the team will get his ass tomorrow, you just wait and see."
She looked up at him, tears streaming down her cheeks.
"What if -"
"Nothing!" Niall interrupted, "No 'what ifs'! Zayn is coming back tomorrow, Okay? FBI has finalized the plan and I heard that Asim got a map from his sister that will be great help. He's fine and now that we know where he is, we're gonna get him back, yeah?"
Niall did not know if he was doing the right thing by promising something so unpredictable, but he did it, anyway. He prayed the search operation succeeds the next day. Otherwise, Claire won't be able to take it.
"And don't think forgiving Zayn was a bad idea. You wouldn't have met a super awesome cuddler like me otherwise, now would you?" He smiled at her.
"You're such an idiot," Claire gave a watery laugh, nuzzling into his chest, "I don't know what I would have done without you."
Niall's heart skipped a beat.
"If you are going to keep this up, I'll make sure Zayn disappears more often," he smiled.
Claire laughed again. She looked up at him, her blue eyes searching his.
"I think I love you just as much as I love him,"
Niall swallowed, feeling his heart race in his rib cage.
"Maybe I'll have to do just a bit more to get ahead of him then," he murmured, still smiling.
She grinned.
"You cheeky leprechaun!"
"Hey!" Niall protested, "Did Zayn teach you that!"
"Maybe," she teased, and sat back.
Niall was a bit disappointed when Claire pulled away. She wiped her eyes again, tucking the lose strands of her hair behind her ears.
"I think we should go inside," she said, standing up.
Niall nodded in agreement.
"You'll be alright?" he asked.
"Yeah, thanks Niall," Claire smiled at him. Before leaving, she bent down and pecked his cheek. Niall froze at the contact. "Good night."
"Anytime," he whispered, after she had entered the house.
He raised his hand to touch his cheek where her lips had brushed against his skin. The spot was still warm and tingling.
"Goodnight Claire."
Asim's P.O.V.
"You okay, Mr. Rahman?" Agent wickfield asked without looking at Asim. Her eyes were fixed straight ahead on the man who was talking about some specie of a bird.
Asim took in a deep breath and exhaled slowly. His ever increasing heart rate accelerated further, beating at a crazy pace against his chest. He had this venomous gut feeling that something was about to go wrong. Very, very wrong.
"Yes," he breathed out, closing his eyes for a second, "And it's Asim, by the way."
From the corner of his eyes, he noticed the agent smile. She looked unnaturally calm. Occasionally and quite subtly, her sharp eyes did a quick search around them. It was almost hard to notice. Other than that, she was completely at ease and it was slightly unnerving.
The rescue mission was following the plan Asim had suggested, which was to conduct a search operation under the guise of another science students' trip to the forest. Supposedly, the group was searching for a few endangered species of birds and plants. Asim looked around at the group. There were about sixty officials dressed as students, professors and scientists. The plan was to infiltrate the enemy territory undercover in large numbers, pretend to study the flora and fauna till they could find Salma and Zayn. Get them, and get the hell out of there. It was hoped that the X-RAW had no defensive mechanism in place to take out about a sixty people, and make it look like a 'natural accident' without raising suspicion.
They were sitting on a grassy patch on the side of the road. An FBI agent, dressed as an Ornithologist was giving them last minute pointers on the species they were supposed to look for: No, not Salma and Zayn. The birds.
"Can't we just skip this part?" Asim asked Agent Wickfield, jerking his head at the grey haired man briefing them about the bird. The young boy was starting to get restless.
"We can't. It is essential that we act genuine," she replied, eyes still on the pretend professor, "We are being watched, remember? One of their men claimed he was attacked by some girl in the woods last night. I checked with the base, none of the agents did it, so my best guess is, it was your sister."
Asim's gut twisted painfully. He was worried sick ever since this news was related to them. The previous night was horrible. He and William were too late to get back to Salma. They left voicemails but there was no confirmation that she actually heard their warning and ran for her life. He had the urge to throw up every time it occurred to him that Salma may have ran into the vile men from X-RAW the night before.
"Don't worry," Agent Wickfield said, sensing Asim's misery, "The X-RAW member was probably hallucinating about the attack like his side believes. However, they have doubled the guard just in case he was right. And so this show becomes necessary,"
"Miss White!" the pretend- professor suddenly shouted, looking straight back at the pair
"Yes sir," Agent wickfield replied.
"If you are here for gossips, you may as well leave," The man - who was most likely her subordinate in reality - glared at her, "I want some serious, focused research here. Do you understand!"
Casting her eyes down, feigning shame, Agent Wickfield mumbled, "Yes sir, I apologize, sir."
As the rest of the students snickered, Asim almost forgot these were all agents and police officers. Had he not known who was sitting next to him, he would certainly have missed the almost undetectable smile playing on the agent's lips.
For another half an hour they sat there, pretending to listen. Some of the people asked questions, seemingly interested in the research. Asim could not help tapping his foot nervously. He had wormed his way into the operation by withholding the map Salma had texted him till he was granted permission to join them. They forced it out of him, but he informed them Salma would refuse to show up at the stream if her brother was not there. Wickfield decided to allow Asim to tag along, much to his mother and Anne's disappointment.
"You know what to do, in case we have company, right?" Agent Wickfield asked Asim, as they navigated their way through the trees, using Salma's hand drawn map to guide them.
Knowing she meant the X-RAW, Asim nodded in reply.
"I stay out of the way, and follow orders," he replied, his eyes searching through the trees.
"Which are?"
"Not to engage in the fight until I have nowhere to run." He answered against his will, "To escape as soon as possible, and save my behind."
"Good." She smiled,
Asim gritted his teeth. The things he had to agree to, to be allowed to tag along really hurt his ego. In case they encountered the brutes, he was to act like a coward and his first priority should be to save his life.
He let out an unsteady breath, his heart still hammering at an abnormal pace.
"This should be the rock," Agent wickfield said, "This is where I was attacked. I wonder if I will ever get the chance to settle the score with that scumbag again?"
When Asim looked over, he found her taking snapshots of some bug. Everyone around him was taking notes and pictures of the one thing or the other.
"To your left," she said, sensing Asim's confusion, "The rock Salma wrote upon is to your left."
Sure enough, to his left was the rock on which Salma had written his and Professor R.K.'s name. Asim felt his throat tightening. They were close.
Please Allah, keep her safe!
They walked away from the rock, towards the stream that was mentioned on Salma's map.
"This is Alpha to base. We are out of the danger zone," Asim heard wickfield mutter into the mouth piece partially hidden out of sight by her thick muffler and beanie. "Over."
Asim heard a muffled noise on the other end and Wickfield listened, her pen scribbling a quick sketch on the notepad, drawing a bug she was observing.
Gosh! Asim shook his head in disbelief. They were taking this acting thing a bit too seriously.
"Roger that," she muttered, and stood up.
"What was that?" Asim asked.
"Informing the base we made it out of the territory without getting killed by a sudden volcano or something," Agent Wickfield replied, lifting her camera.
"I thought you said Salma and Zayn were in their kill circle," Asim asked. She did not answer. He watched impatiently as she snapped a picture of the bug, "You know what, you can pass for a true biologist. Are you sure this is not some bug you are obsessed with, agent wickfield?"
"Positive. I'm more into reptiles," she smiled, "And the name is Alex,"
Asim shook his head in amusement while she snapped a second picture from another angle.
"And to answer your question, I did say that," she said as she finally started walking towards the next landmark, which was the stream, "but we were wrong. Your sister's map is a huge help. It shows that we've been searching in the wrong area, entirely."
"The kill circle ends a hundred yards away from the stream near that rock," she explained. "That is where we drew the line. If you look at it from the road, this is where the door of the bus was blown off its hinges. We never really got the chance to explore the possibility that they might have moved so far away from that point."
Asim nodded his head in agreement. It must have seemed a bit illogical to search for Salma and Zayn in an area, which they supposedly crossed safely seated in the bus.
"She's really clever you know, your sister." Alex smiled, "I'm looking forward to meeting her. She seems hella person to have climbed that mountain without a rope and stuff,"
"She'll love you." Asim laughed nervously, ignoring the shivers that ran down his spine as he remembered the slope they had just climbed down, "Salma is really adventurous."
"I can tell," Alex stepped into the clearing. Asim was feeling excited at the idea of finally see his sister.
With his heart thudding madly against his chest, Asim stepped out of the trees behind Alex. The stream was exactly as Salma had explained. It was beautiful. The flowers, the shimmering water, the tuft of soft grass, the bugs - everything was in place.
"Now where is our little hero?" Alex asked, as Asim's panicked eyes swept the empty space of the clearing once more.
If anything was missing, it was Salma.
Author's Note:
Dun dun dunnnn! Looks like someone's late to the meeting. Do you think the rescue op would go as planned and will it succeed? What do you reckon happened to Salma?
Vote, comment and share!
Lots of Love!
J.