"Are you ******* mad? Have you lost you mind? How can you bring her here? How can you actually trick the intelligence and bring her here from right under their nose? Do you know the consequence of it?" Mr. Singhania shouted to express his anger at the decision taken by Sultan.

"Calm down, Colonel! It's not like I am deaf!" He said.

Singhania ran his hand over his face to calm his temper. It was useless to raise voice at Sultan as he disliked noise. 

"What are you upto?" He asked.

Sultan raised his eyes at it.

"Just because you are helping me in my mission, does not mean that I would tell you my reasons!" He said and the threat was clear in his voice.

"We are in this mission together! And we had planned that you and Shreya won't contact until the mission is complete! "

"Well! You can see it as a change of plan, then."

"Why did you not even consult me?" Singhania asked furiously and in a flash, Sultan had him by his collars.

"That's because you couldn't fulfil your end of deal! You promised that she won't be dragged into my mess. Then why is it that she had to spend two ******* days in the cell? Tell me!" He asked, his voice slicing through the air and he left his collars roughly.

"I...I tried. I had everything in my power but my superiors changed the plan at the last moment. And I could not reach you on time. But I informed you as soon as the info reached my ears." 

"You 'tried'? Colonel, I have never seen such a failure like you in my life! The last time you tried, you ruined my family. And this time, because of your trying, I could have lost the love of my life! Why should I even include you in my plan?" Sultan asked with stress.

The comment made Singhania lower his eyes. Sultan was right with every word. He was involved in ruining his family and this is why he wanted to help him in the mission... Sultan's mission. 

"Because of my ******* conscience." Singhania replied.

"No, Colonel. You are wrong. You are not in my plan because you want to or feel like it. " He turned around and drew his phone to open the CCTV app. Without even looking at him he said. "You are in with me because I am allowing it. As much as I hate it, I need you and the power that comes with your rank of being Colonel. " He said and swiped through cameras to see where his Shreya was. A sly smirk came as he spotted her doing something she shouldn't be doing. But, what could he do? Nothing. She was his weakness.

"I am doing what I have to do, Sultan. But I am warning you. That girl will be a hurdle for you in your mission. She is a distraction." He suggested.

"Oh no, Colonel. You are wrong again." Sultan turned around to face him again. His fingers played with his phone. "She is not a distraction nor is she a hurdle to the plan. She will act as an accelerator. She will help me in completing the mission sooner than I had expected. " He said.

"How?" Singhania asked, curious to know.

Because the closer she is to me, the closer I would want to be to her. And the closer I want to be with her, the sooner I would want to finish the mission. Because, I want to start my life with her soon. I have had enough days of loneliness. No more. He thought. Ofcourse, he did not voice it loud for the fear of sounding desperate. But, loneliness can do that to anyone. After all, human is a social being.

"That you don't have to know, Colonel. You are only expected to follow my orders and not question them. I hope we are clear, aren't we?"

"Yes. I also had to give you new info. the seniors are planning to defame Shreya for being associated with you. Now that she has disappeared with your guard and they have CCTV footage of it as proof, they are going to create a big issue of it on national level. Meeting with the media is scheduled for tomorrow and you know what will happen then."

"Hmm... I knew they would steep this low. It doesn't surprise me anymore. Don't worry I will take care of it." Sultan said and they knew the discussion had come to an end. 

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.

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The very first thing Shreya did after entering the lift was to press the ground floor button on the screen. And as soon as the doors to the lift opened, she ran out towards the exit door. But when her eyes fell on the guards with guns, she slowed down. Immediately, she remembered what Sultan had said.
'Not everyone knows you here. They might mistake you as prisoner!'

She obviously did not want to get shot because of some misunderstanding. But looking at the deeper sense, she was indeed a prisoner, as she was held here against her choice.

Looking frantically here and there to find something, she noticed few people going towards their destination inside the building. She calculated if she could trust them to ask for help or not. What if they were Sultan's men and seeing her asking for  help, they might send her back to his room. And God knows what he would do to her then. She wondered.

She took a moment to calm her breathing. Her heart was beating at an unknown pace. Ofcourse she was scared. It was as if she was playing a game of life and death.

After she controlled her breathing she walked towards a man who was standing behind a large desk. On the front of the desk was written in bold and italics, 'May I help you?'. It almost sounded sarcastic to her, especially at this moment when she actually wanted help.

"Umm... excuse me?" Shreya called for his attention as he was busy in his laptop.

The man looked in her direction and she prayed for him to not recognize her. Well, her prayer was answered this time. Being new to the place he did not know who she was.

"Yes ma'am? How may I help you?" He asked.

"I...I wanted to know a.about the nearest bus stop?" She asked trying to sound as casual as she could.

But the receptionist looked at her weirdly!What kind of question was this! He wondered.

"Well! Ma'am! The nearest bus stop is about five kilometres from here. " He said.

"Five! " she gasped. It wasn't possible for her to walk that distance especially after having hardly something to eat.

"Why do you ask about it? Is there any problem with your car or ....transport?" He asked trying to search for a suitable word.

In order to not cause suspicion, she quickly shook her head negatively.

"Oh, no! I was just asking. It's never bad to know about such information. It could come handy anytime. " She gave the lamest excuse in the world. That ofcourse gained another weird stare from the receptionist.

She turned around and walked slowly towards the exit. Seems like she will have to walk five kilometres today. Then something struck her mind. And she got an idea.

She took a U-turn and approached the receptionist again.

"Well, do you have any idea about how I can call for a cab? It's true that my car isn't....working. And I have somewhere to go urgently. " She lied.

"Yes. Ofcourse. Give me a moment. I'll call for a cab. " he said and she nodded with a smile.

Even though, she knew she had no money to pay for the cab, she had a B plan ready for it. She praised herself for thinking so logically. She had planned to ask the cab driver to take her to the police station where she could ask for help and tell everything about Sultan and the little truth about his real identity. She wasn't going to keep quite and let a terrorist ruin her nation.

After some two minutes, the receptionist informed her about the arrival of the cab. She was dumbstruck about the speed with which he had arranged for the cab. Nonetheless she thanked him and asked for the direction. After being directed to the main exit of the apartment premises, Shreya walked towards her destination. Passing through all the guards wasn't easy. They had such serious looks in their eyes as if they would grab her any moment and interrogate the hell out of her. But apart from looking at her, they did not do anything.

She sighed in relief when she finally stepped out of the majestic premise of the apartment. Indeed the place was beautiful and powerfully protected. And once stepping out, she couldn't believe her luck. It was all so easy! And there she had thought of it as a game of life and death. She came out of it like butter.

Recognising the yellow coloured cab, she entered and when asked about the destination, she quickly asked for the nearest police station. She had expected the driver to look at her with narrowed eyes, but he looked the least interested. And she had to praise his professional nature. Without a question he drove out and away from the premise.

After some fifteen minutes of drive, she had actually laid back on the seat, resting comfortably. She could actually feel the breeze of freedom....freedom from the terrorist who claimed to love her.

She was enjoying the music that was playing in the cab and hummed lowly so that only she could hear it. But all the peace flew out of window when she noticed the surroundings becoming familiar.

"Aa... excuse me? I think you are mistaken! Why are we going back?" She asked the driver. Her voice shaking with obvious fear.

"Orders, ma'am!" The driver replied simply.

"What? What orders? I had asked you to drop me to the police station and not here! Please! Turn around. You don't know what and who these people are! I am in real danger. You don't understand. They will kill me!" She said on the verge of crying.

"Calm down, Ma'am. Sultan would never hurt you." The driver said.

The name froze her. How?

"W.who are you?" She asked.

"I am sorry, ma'am. I work for Sultan. " he said.

Frantically, Shreya tried to open the door of the moving car.

"Thi.this can't ha.happen! I can't go back there. He. He had warned me already. I can't go back. Please stop the car! I can't go back there! " she shouted trying to open the door with all the strength she had. All in vain, though. In her state of panic she couldn't think of any idea of running away from this situation. She just wanted the door of the car to open magically so that she could go out. But ofcourse the door was as stubborn as her will to get out.

Soon, the car came to a screeching halt and the her eyes fell upon the man from whom she was running.