Collateral Damage...

“Elham is clueless about what Humzaad is saying to him. All he is concerned about for the moment is Ira, who is lying motionless in his arms…”

Yuri’s attention is diverted toward the beep sound of his mobile. He checks his phone and finds a message.

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Entregue com sucesso!!!

Hora de agir...

“Can you come down to the office...? Need to have a word with you.”

Yuri looks at the screen of the phone, thinks for a moment then replies,

“Oh… Hello Mr. Sharma, yes, I’ll be there in half an hour… See you soon!”

Ira, who is very furious with Elham, gets alarmed when she sees a hand coming from the window and trying to open it up. She quickly picks up a cricket bat lying behind the couch and hits the hand like a tennis shot.

“OOUUCCHHHHH!!!”

Ira finds the voice familiar and is surprised to see Elham outside the window screaming with pain.

“What were you trying to do…? Are you hurt?”

“Nope… getting hit by a bat doesn’t cause pain…”

“How would I know that it's you… besides, why were you trying to enter your own place like a thief?”

“Actually… leave it. Will you please open the door?”

Ira opens the door, and Elham enters the room, followed by Humzaad, who is laughing his heart out.

“Actually, I have some important work to do before going to the office.”

“I wanted to tell you…”

Elham ignores what Ira is saying and heads straight to his study. Ira is surprised but prefers not to say anything, and she quietly follows Elham to his study.

Elham & Humzaad are seriously examining Yuri’s diary. Ira, who is unaware of Humzaad’s presence, is annoyed once again when she finds Elham talking to himself.

“I cannot tear any page from this diary.”

“Look carefully, there are 3 pages missing. Someone has already got away with the pages… It could be possible that some vital information was there.”

“You may be right, but still!”

Humzaad then enters Elham’s body and tears off the page after the three missing pages.

“What the hell… don’t make me do what I don’t want to do…”

Elham yells at Humzaad, and suddenly he notices Ira standing at the door.

“You know Ira, talking to own self is the key to Moksha… Salvation… it brings you closer to your own self… I suggest you also start talking to your own self.”

“I don’t want your suggestion O Great Elham…”

Ira walks away, Elham tries to stop her, but to no avail. He looks at Humzaad, who winks at him and asks him to relax. Humzaad then looks closely at the page, thinks for a while then heads towards the door and asks Elham to follow him.

Elham, who is still in a confused state as he has no idea how to pacify Ira, decides to stay back. However, Humzaad enters into him and makes him walk.

The moment Elham reaches the door, Ira arrives.

“Where are you going now?”

“Got to finish some work. Will join you in the evening. Take care of yourself and don’t let anyone enter from the window.”

Ira looks confused while Elham tries his best not to laugh but fails to control it.

Ira gets angry seeing Elham laughing, but Elham hugs her.

“I know you are annoyed, trust me I can explain, but you’ll have to wait for the right time.”

Elham then winks at Ira and steps out of the door. Ira waves her hand with a smile on her face.

Yuri picks up his bag and is about to leave but gets alarmed by the knock at his door. He waits for a while then there’s another knock, this time a bit louder.

“Who’s it?”

“Police… Open the door”

Yuri gets worried and is wondering why the cops are at his door. He slowly moves towards the door and opens it only to find Elham smiling at the door.

“You scared the hell out of me man… and before you say it was a joke, let me tell you it was a very bad joke.”

Yuri is looking angry, while Elham is still smiling.

“What? Asking to open the door is a bad joke… huh?”

“…but pretending to be a cop is…”

“Who said I am a cop?”

“Didn’t you say that it's ‘cops’, I mean ‘police’.”

“What… you heard ‘Police’…?”

“Elham… I’m pretty sure about it… now don’t tell me that you said ‘it’s Elham… open the door.”

“I didn’t say ‘Police’, I said ‘PLEASE’… please open the door.”

Yuri looks furiously towards Elham, then starts laughing. Elham also laughs.

Their laughter is interrupted by the ringtone of Elham’s mobile phone. Elham looks at the phone and finds ‘Uncle Sharma’ flashing on his screen.

“Yes sir… ok… I’ll be there soon.”

Elham tells Yuri that the boss wants to see him at the office. Yuri tells him that Mr. Sharma had called him too. Without wasting any time, both leave together.

Soon, Yuri and Elham reach the parking lot, where Elham has parked his MG Hector. The moment they get inside, Elham hands over the diary to Yuri, and Humzaad, who is inside Elham, notices Yuri’s facial expressions and overall body language. He finds Yuri a bit disturbed, and soon Elham breaks the ice.

“I found it the other day at the food court near our office. I saw you there, but by the time I reached your table, you were gone. However, I found this diary and assumed it to be yours because it has your name written on it.”

Yuri looks at the diary, then in a very calm tone replies to him.

“Yes indeed. This is my diary, and I was looking for it. Thanks for returning it.”

Elham continues to examine Yuri, then revs his MG Hector and starts driving.

“Time is ticking like a sleeping bomb; we should rush to the office before the boss loses his cool.”

The word ‘sleeping bomb’ grabs Yuri’s attention, but he prefers not to say anything.

“Yes, we should rush. I’m sure your MG Hector can race against the time.”

Elham smiles & winks at Yuri and races his way to the office.

Elham parks his MG Hector and heads towards the lift. He soon notices that Humzaad is standing near the car parked next to his MG Hector.

Before he can ask him anything, Humzaad enters into him. Soon they reach Sharma’s office.

“You both are on time guys… come… have your seats.”

Sharma then calls the pantry and asks to send 3 cups of coffee.

“So, are we all set for the big day?”

Elham & Yuri look at each other, then both reply at the same time.

“Yes sir!”

Soon, the guy from the pantry brings three cups of coffee for them, places the cups on the table, and leaves.

“Good! Now I want to brief you guys with some important information & key instructions. Or you can call it standing instructions…”

While Sharma continues briefing them, Humzaad roams around the cabin.

“… so any questions?”

“No sir. And you don’t worry, the event will end as planned.”

“Ah… great.”

Sharma then looks at Elham, who is looking towards Humzaad.

“Elham…”

“Yes unc… Ah… I mean, Yes Mr. Sharma. Tell me.”

“Convey my regards to Ira. Tell her that we’ll catch up over dinner post this summit.”

“Sure sir… will tell her.”

Humzaad then again enters into Elham and while leaving, he slyly picks one of the diaries prepared for the summit.

Elham then drops Yuri to his hotel and heads to his place. While driving back home, Elham notices that Humzaad is looking a bit serious.

“What’s the matter…? Why so serious? Hmmm.”

“There’s something wrong…with Yuri… with your office… with Sharma… something connected to this Peace Summit…”

“I understand that you have some doubts as far as Yuri is concerned… Even I am suspicious of him, especially after that incident in the parking lot… But what’s wrong with Uncle Sharma… I think you are overthinking…”

“No… since you mentioned the ‘Parking Lot’ incident, do you remember the car which passed by when you entered in your car with Ira that day…?”

“No… why?”

“I saw the same car in the parking lot of your office today… Also, Yuri’s body language had changed when we handed his diary to him… there’s something amiss in this whole scenario… and I’m going to find it out.”

Humzaad then looks at the diary that he had picked from Sharma’s cabin. It is a custom-made diary, with the branding of ‘Global Hour’ on it. And inside the diary, there’s a pen placed in it. Soon they reach home.

“Can we go out for dinner tonight?”

Before Ira can reply, Humzaad enters into Elham.

“… Or you have cooked something special for us?”

“Very funny Elham… For your kind information, I haven’t cooked anything, nor I am interested in cooking. Yes, I would love to go out for dinner. But give me some time, I have a call with one of my professors, it will take around 30 minutes.”

“Fine with me Ira. I’ll have a quick shower, by the time you finish your call.”

Elham then takes the coffee mug from Ira’s hand and takes a few quick sips and hands back the mug to Ira.

“Nice coffee…!”

Elham then keeps his bag on the table, places the Summit’s diary near it, and heads towards the bathroom.

After having a shower, Elham gets ready for dinner.

“I’m ready for dinner Ira… Are you done with your call…?”

Elham comes out of his room while wearing his wristwatch and is shocked to see Ira lying unconscious.

“Ira… Ira… Help… Humzaad… are you there…?

Humzaad appears immediately and is equally shocked to see Ira lying motionless.

“What happened to her?”

“I have no idea, but I don’t want anything happen to her…”

Humzaad looks all around the place and doesn’t find any signs of forced entry. He looks around and finds the coffee mug on the table. He takes a closer look at the mug but doesn’t find anything suspicious.

Soon, Humzaad’s attention gets diverted towards the pen in Ira’s hands.

“The pen…”

Elham looks at the pen but is clueless.

Humzaad then finds the Summit’s diary kept open beside Ira’s tablet.

He picks up the diary and asks Elham.

“What was she doing the last time you saw her?”

Elham looks at Humzaad with his eyes filled with tears.

“Look here… in this diary… Ira was trying to write something before she collapsed…”

Elham looks at the diary and finds something scribbled. Humzaad sniffs at the diary and finds some peculiar smell.

“I don’t know anything… I just want my Ira back… do anything Humzaad… anything in your capacity… but please save Ira…”

“Hold Ira very tight…”

Elham hugs Ira very tight, while Humzaad enters his body. After being in his body for a couple of minutes, Elham gets up and carries Ira in his arms.

“What are you making me do…? Where are we going…? Is Ira going to be all right…? WILL YOU ANSWER ME…”

“Keep your mouth shut and rush towards your MG Hector. You have an unsettled business to finish…”

Elham is clueless about what Humzaad is saying to him. All he is concerned about for the moment is Ira, who is lying motionless in his arms…

(*Successfully delivered… Time to act…)

Yuri reads the message, thinks for a while then types the reply.

antídoto?

(*Antidote?)

He waits for the reply for quite a while, then keeps his phone in his pocket. Yuri is feeling a bit uneasy & restless as he is just a couple of days away from accomplishing his mission. Soon, his phone rings and Yuri quickly answers the call without even looking at the number.

“Olá...”

(*Hello)

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