*4*

"See this pattern," Amira told Richa as they were walking back home. Haseena is also accompanying them to keep her sister safe. "This zig zag pattern on the neck matches exactly with the pattern on this dead body," Amira added showing another newspaper clipping. "So does the writing, Jhonny was murdered by Salaar."

"Just yesterday you said that someone might've framed Salaar to avoid getting caught," countered Richa.

"Dude, I don't care about what I said yesterday," said Amira, "I just need to get CI Vikram off of my back."

A sudden thought struck Haseena when she overheard this conversation. What if Salaar got the idea from Amira? What if he had a bug installed in her school?

Amira turned back when she noticed her sister was not walking with them.

"What happened, appi?" she asked.

"I..uh..need to make a quick trip to the market," said Haseena, "You go ahead."

Amira nodded and continued walking with her friend and Haseena turned back. Sandeep was walking at a safe distance from them. She signalled him to keep an eye on her sister and rushed to to the school.

***

Amira dropped Richa off and continued walking home. When she turned to the next street, she noticed something strange. All the houses were closed and the road was very empty except for a few suspicious looking men. Elsewhere Sandeep was stopped by a bunch of goons who demanded him to go back.

Amira knew something was not right. She quickly turned around to find more goons. They soon surrounded her. Amira tried to call CI vikram but he did not lift the phone. Meanwhile the leader of the gang snatched the phone from her hand and threw it away.

"You killed my brother," he said angrily.

"Jhonny? No no, I have nothing to do with his murder," Amira tried to convince.

""He loved you," said Jhonny's brother, "and you killed him."

"I did not," said Amira, "It was...it was Salaar."

"My brother has nothing to do with Salaar," said the man, "You and Vikram made this plan to kill Jhonny."

"What?" said Amira, "No I...."

"Shut up," shouted the man and Amira remained silent in fear.

"I am going to kill you now," said the man with a sadistic smile, "Save yourself if you can."

He stepped away and Amira began to run while the men chased her. She was quick but not quick enough and to her misfortune she tripped and fell. Death seemed inevitable. Jhonny's brother was running towards her from the distance. It looked like everything is going to come to an end when a round object flew over her and chopped off the man's head. The head bounced off like a ball. The rest of the body took a few steps before eventually collapsing on the floor.

Amira turned her head to find Salaar!

(I think it would be great if this bgm played in the background. It has lyrics that say he is both lord Ram and Demon Ravan which would be perfect for the situation)

As she tried to wrap her head around what's going on, Salaar walked towards her and gave her his hand and helped her up. He looked at the rest of the goons. The anger in his eyes showed them how big of a mistake they made and the dead body infront of them showed how they are going to pay for it.

When Salaar took a few steps and picked his weapon back up, they knew they were all gonna die and running away seems to be the only reasonable move. They immediately ran and saved their lives, according to Amira but Sandeep who was right around the corner finished the job.

In the meantime, Amira found her phone and called CI Vikram again. Salaar pulled out the phone from his pocket and looked at Amira. Amira cut the call and Salaar's phone stopped ringing.

"Police?" asked Amira.

"No," answered Salaar and started dailing a number on his phone.

Amira looked at the weapon hesitantly and looked back at Salaar. "Salaar?" she asked obviously terrified.

Salaar nodded his head still engrossed in his phone and hit the dail while on speaker. Haseena lifted on the first ring.

"What do you want?" she asked angrily.

"Appi?" said Amira surprised.

"Amira?" said Haseena concerned, "Beta are you okay?"

"Jhonny's brother tried to kill her," answered Salaar. "I am taking her to a safe place. Sandeep will bring you there," he added and cut the call.

"Let's go," he told Amira and walked to his car.

"Why are you helping us?" Amira asked as she got into the car with him.

"Seatbelt," reminded Salaar. Amira put on the seat belt and turned towards him again.

"Did you kill Jhonny? How are you..."

"We have a 3 hour journey ahead," interrupted Salaar, starting the car, "Think of all the questions that you want to ask. You'll have the answers once we reach home."

*** 3 hours later ***

"Amira,"  called Salaar and Amira woke up from her sleep and looked outside the car. One side was a long walk way to seemingly no where.

The other side was a huge house.

Haseena walked towards Amira's side and opened the car door.

"Appi," Amira hugged her sister.

"Are you hurt?" Haseena asked checking her hands.

"No," Amira shook her head.

"You must be very hungry, right?" asked Haseena.

Amira nodded. "Am also very thristy," she added, "I feel light headed."

Salaar opened the car door to get the water but, to his slight surprise, Haseena already pulled it from her bag.

Salaar closed the door and turned to enter the house.

"Prabhas sir," Amira called, "....sorry...Salaar...you said you will answer all my questions once we reach home," she reminded.

Salaar looked at Haseena who very subtly shook her head.

"Ask your sister," said Salaar, "It will be her call."

Amira turned towards her sister, waiting for the answer. "Eat something first," said Haseena, "and then we will talk."

"I thought you would reveal everything to piss me off and prove your power," Haseena whispered to Salaar as they walked inside.

"That was the plan," said Salaar, "but I changed my mind."

"Why?" asked Haseena.

"I have my reasons," answered Salaar.

Why did Salaar change his mind? 🤔