"You are a madman." Demir shakes his head.
I shrug. "You kept pushing me, next time I won’t let anyone stop me from what I do next.”
Arman remains hyperfixated on his laptop, typing away like an absolute madman. I pull a chair closer to him and hear him mumbling under his breath, "I will not let her down. This has to be an in..."
I refuse to feel hope, especially after Cyrus immediately noticed we were trying to hack into his system and find his location. He’s likely already moving himself and Zahra to another location to ensure we won't reach them. My only hope is that Cyrus's arrogance continues to build, leading him to make a careless mistake that would lead me to Zahra.
Arman continues to mutter over and over again, and eventually, I crack. "Are you going to tell us what you're working on so we can try to help?"
He lets out an exhausted breath. The dark black circles under his eyes inform me that he's gotten as little sleep as I have the past few days—none. Of all the words to come from him, I never expected, "Zahra was wearing a necklace."
It's official, we’ve all lost our sanity without Zahra. Why the hell does he care about a damn necklace?
Azula snarks. "She was also wearing a shirt and pants, but I don't see how discussing her outfit choices at a time like this is helpful?—"
"Her necklace may have a tracker in it. When she was born, Farah, her mother, had a farvahar necklace made just for her and asked me to include a small tracker embedded inside the gold. No one besides myself and her parents knew about it. They didn't want it to be used for nefarious means or have her refuse to wear it in a rebellious phase. I recognized it the second I saw it on her neck. The question is whether I can hack Naser's code and pinpoint her location."
"Holy shit," Azula exclaims. "Arman, are you serious?"
Arman grunts as he continues to type on the computer. From the expression on his face, he isn't convinced this is anything other than another glimmer of light that would be crushed out by a midnight of darkness.
Every second that goes by feels like a year. We're all crowded around Arman, looking over his shoulder and holding our breaths, and he tries again and again to remotely access the tracker in Zahra's necklace. My mind is racing with thoughts I'm dying to ask him, but I know it will only slow him down. So instead, I let the questions run in my mind. Is the tracker even still working? What if the battery is dead? How would we attack if we did get her location?
Eventually, our hovering gets to Arman and he snaps at us to give him space so he can focus. Demir and his cronies call it a night, leaving the rest of us in his living room.
By one in the morning, only Arman and I remain awake. His typing speed has dramatically decreased, and every now and then, I swear I catch him falling asleep only to startle back awake.
He never stops for more than a minute. As much as I appreciate his tenacity, I'm starting to wonder if this will be another dead end. I refuse to let Zahra remain in Cyrus' clutches for another day. She already looked dehydrated and beaten, and I can't imagine what other level of hell they’re putting her through. I’d give Arman until the morning to try to find Zahra, and if he isn't successful, I’ll contact Cyrus and tell him I plan to renounce my position immediately in exchange for her return.
Zahra would eventually understand why I'd given up everything for her. Even though she begged me not to. Even though the mafia life is all we know. She would understand because I saw the love in her eyes when we were reunited. She would do anything for the people she loved. Which is why she would understand the sacrifice I chose to make?—
"Declan. I think I may have something." Arman swallows, exhaustion written all over his face.
I snap to attention, rushing to look at the computer screen, sucking in a breath, "Are you sure about this?"
"Not completely, but it's the only lead we have."
I nod, banging my fist on the table to stir everyone awake. "We're going to need all hands on deck for this retrieval. Zahra is our number one priority but I also want Cyrus captured. He will suffer as we have before he dies."
"And you'll be the one to ensure his suffering?" Arman asks.
"No. I'll leave that honor to my wife."
47
ZAHRA
The cool concrete of the room has started to give me a strange sense of comfort. If nothing else, the dark bareness of this room allows my mind to wander occasionally to better moments and better days.
My eyes flutter shut as I let the exhaustion come over me. I send out a silent prayer, asking for a night where my dreams don't come so I can sink into the empty darkness. Because that is better than my countless dreams of death.
Someone is in the room with me.I don't hear the door creak over, or a flush of light from the security room door, but I can’t shake the instinct that someone is here. My eyes flutter open slowly, vision so blurry at first I'm convinced that I must be hallucinating. I rub my eyes once, twice, and finally a third time, but the face of the man sitting next to me doesn't change—my father's face.
"Baba?" I whisper, as if saying his name louder will make him disappear.
The wrinkles around his eyes form as he smiles at me. "My sweet Zahra, I can't tell you how happy I am to see you again."
Tears of joy fill my eyes. It’s really him. He’s here. But if I could see him...
