“Do not jump to conclusions,” Samar clipped. “All is not lost.”
“No, but we cannot trust you to do anything as per plan.” Sufiyaan cooled down. “I will have to finish Atharva while I have him.”
Samar’s hackles rose. But before he could dig deeper into that comment, Sayyid Butt flicked his gaze to Sufiyaan — “Call it off.”
“Sayyid Chacha…”
“Whatever you have done, call it off. Now.”
“All a waste!” Sufiyaan muttered. “Every time! Every time!”
“If he is trying to kill Atharva in jail…” Samar threatened.
“Samar sahab,” Butt’s menacing voice echoed. “We gave you KDP on a platter. You couldn’t even digest that.”
“We did not agree to this… if Atharva is harmed…”
“Nothing will happen.”
Even as Samar accepted Butt’s word, he couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable. Sufiyaan Sheikh didn’t look like he wanted to budge today.
“Remove Iram. Get on top of Atharva’s party.” Butt ordered.
“It is not Atharva’s party.”
“Prove it. Use your power and remove her. That much you can do, right?”
Samar sighed, sitting up in his chair. He pulled off his specs and blew lightly to clear a speck. Replacing them on his nose, he nodded. “Scare Iram away. That’s her weak spot. She easily runs away. That is the only way to keep her off party proceedings.”
————————————————————
“Atharva Kaul chh?riw!” Atharva Kaul chh?riw![98]”
Samar pierced the crowd of KDP members protesting outside the police station, climbing the stairs two at a time as they recognised him and made way for him.
“Adil.” He met him outside the door. “What’s going on?”
“The interrogation will start soon.”
“Did you do as I asked?”
“Yes.”
“Water?”
“The lawyers have taken it all in…”
One of the junior lawyers from their team walked out, a bag of food and water in hand. “It’s against the rules. We will have to ask him to eat what they provide.”
“No.” Samar cut in. “We will not. Find another way. I am a doctor, let me write a medical note…”
“Won’t work.”
“He has to take his… BP medication. He needs to eat home-cooked food to take his BP medicines. Tell them that.”
“Write a prescription, they will order it. Food will not be allowed.”
Samar ground his teeth, his eyes meeting Adil’s. He shook his head.
