“I do. Sayyid sahab?”
“Yes?”
“Why don’tyoubecome the CM? Why Sufiyaan?”
“He has to.”
“And why is that?”
“Kashmir needs a young face right now,” Butt replied smoothly. Something in his casual tone told Samar this was the farthest from the truth. But today he wasn’t in a position to pursue it.
After hanging up, he ejected the SIM card and pocketed the phone. He tucked a cigarette between his lips and lit it up. With every puff, his shoulders relaxed. He started shutting his brain, trying to not think. But Amaal’s window was still in front of him, beckoning his thoughts.
A hard fist connected with his jaw and he winced as his cigarette butt burned his neck. That momentary sizzle was nothing on Atharva’s next punch. It made contact with his solar plexus.
“How dare you?” Atharva whispered-shouted, holding him up by the collar. Samar gasped, trying to breathe right. He knew he was paralysed for the second. He just had to keep going until he could breathe again.
“How dare you come and do this drama in Hajan!”
Samar let his muscles loose, relieved Atharva hadn’t overheard his phone call. He waited. And the moment he was able to breathe again, he pulled his arm back and punched Atharva in the face.
It was like a hand-to-hand drill session all over again. Except, this time, they weren’t pulling any punches. Atharva sure wasn’t, as he doubled down on him. Samar pushed, ramming his shoulder into his torso to pin him to the wall. Atharva somersaulted over his back like no years had passed and caught him by the neck just as he toppled down. Another punch came and Samar felt his head explode. Even as it exploded, he reached back, clawed the face behind him and pulled Atharva down in the dust over his shoulder. Samar grunted, climbing atop his chest and pummelling him.
“Fuck you! Fuck you! You brought the enemy’s daughter into our camp!”
“You handed her over to my enemy!” Atharva blocked his blow with a forearm and toppled him back, climbing atop his chest, spitting into his side. Their hands, fingers, skin were slimy, bloody, sweaty. Samar opened his mouth but Atharva pinned him down by choking his neck. “You tried to kill Adil!”
Samar gurgled, feeling what his victims felt when he pressed on their carotids.
Hold your breath and use your knee,Atharva’s lesson to break a carotid chokehold rose to the fore of his mind. Samar struck his knee into Atharva’s back. The bastard moved, anticipating it. The movement brought him hovering up in the air and Samar pushed his torso up into his groin, decapacitating him long enough to break the chokehold and push him to his back.
“I did not…!” Samar coughed, his voice grating as he lay there panting. “Kill… Ad…”
“I don’t believe you,” Atharva was panting beside him.
“Why would I?!”
“I don’t know anymore!”
Samar finally caught his breath and sat up, feeling blood trail down the side of his mouth. He turned his head and spat — blood and saliva. He wiped the back of his hand across his mouth and turned to Atharva — “You left me no choice.”
Atharva let out a bitter laugh — “Still defending yourself.” He braced one palm on the ground and sprang to his feet. Samar kept staring, turning his head up as Atharva hovered over him in the dark. “I am ashamed to have known you.”
“It was my job to protect your back.”
“From whom?”
“Her.”
“She is not my enemy!”
“You don’t know that.”
“Listen, Samar.” He bent down to his face — “If you ever have a hope in hell of walking back into my circle, you do with respect for Iram.”
He stared, without blinking.
“I have indulged you enough. This stops right here. Grow the fuck up, learn to identify the grey in life, and stop swinging from your poles.”
