It was nearly nine in the morning when he was slapped and pulled out of slumber. It was Pasha, gaping at him with red eyes. Despite the pleasant flight journey, he could not sleep and he felt exasperated on seeing Yasin in deep sleep. Holding a big mug filled with coffee, he was pulling Yasin up by his hair. Yasin cried in pain and shock. Pasha pushed him down to the floor and kicked him in the gut. Clutching his stomach, Yasin cried out loudly and the local Chief rushed in. Seeing his man rolling on the floor crying, he pulled Pasha back and shouted at the top of his voice, “Stop this, Colonel! He is neither an enemy, nor a traitor. It was a genuine slip. I cannot and will not allow you to treat him like this.” He pushed Pasha into a chair and bent to help Yasin get on his feet.

Pasha yelled, “I don’t allow this type of shabby work. And I was not expecting an inept workforce here to carry out the most important mission of the nation. If you can’t keep track of an old man, what are you people here for?”

After guiding Yasin to another chair, his boss turned to Pasha. Keeping his cool, he asked the Colonel, “Could we stop the professor from being taken away for lunch? No. A big no. For all your military might, you may threaten some old farts at home. Not here. Not in Beijing. You knew this very well.” He paused to catch his breath. “Now, don’t tell me that you don’t fear the Chinese. Or don’t tell me you don’t understand how things work in foreign nations. We could not stop this professor from walking away to some Ling. Still, you chose not to take him back the same day. If you felt he was uncontrollable, but decided to continue with him, it suggests your options were limited. My friend, in such a case, it is of no use to antagonise your own people. After all, you need them, for your own sake. And mind you, I am not bound to help you by any official means. I simply was returning a favour to an old friend who happens to serve the interests of my nation.”

He handed over two glasses of water to both Yasin and Pasha. He instructed Yasin to go home and not to come out for the next one week. He told Pasha to rest in some hotel or stay in the embassy, if it was comfortable, and think about the future course of action. Pasha got up and said, “I’ll go there and camp before the office. Send this joker with me.”

After two hours, Yasin found himself in the driving seat of an old taxi parked diagonally opposite to the office into which Qadar entered and hadn’t returned from. He pushed his seat back and lit a cigarette in a relaxed manner. He had already decided to provoke Pasha and to return his painful gifts. His stomach muscles were still paining. Pasha immediately objected, “Don’t smoke in the car. It suffocates. And, I hate smoke and smokers.”

Without even bothering to turn back, Yasin simply rolled down all the windows, exposing them to any possible scrutiny from the Chinese. Pasha immediately said in a concerned voice, “Roll the windows up. They can see us.”

“They have already seen us. If we don’t go in ten minutes, we will be forced to go. If nobody forces you to leave this place, you may infer that it’s not worth waiting for.”

Pasha got down and started walking along the road on the footpath. The road was wide and clean. Few bushes with some wild flowers were planted at the edge of the footpath. There was a fifteen feet high wall along the footpath. The office in which Qadar had disappeared was a building with modern architecture. He could not see any security guards at the main entrance. He walked along the road past the building. The building next to the one under watch also looked same. For a moment, he thought whether Yasin took him to wrong building for observation. With a doubt in his mind, he strolled straight till he reached an intersection and then turned back.

He saw a small Chinese boy walking towards the parked car and quickened his pace. The boy went to Yasin and said something, and then turned his head towards Pasha. Keeping one hand on the car, he tried to impress Pasha as a man of equal height. When Pasha reached the car, Yasin shouted, “Get in, Colonel. We need to move,” and started the car.

“Why?” Pasha questioned with a little annoyance.

“Are you coming or not?” Yasin shifted gears and asked.

Pasha turned to the boy, who didn’t even have a uniform. Before he could say anything, the boy pulled out a small gun from his pants pocket and aimed it at Pasha. Yasin released the clutch and zoomed off.

Pasha was stunned at the turn of events. He didn’t expect a gun with the boy who appeared at the most, like any college-going teen; now, he didn’t have time to take out his gun. The boy smiled at him. “Turn back and walk. Don’t come here again.” Though his face was smiling, the voice was low and menacing. Pasha realised that it was not a smile but a vicious smirk like the way a cat leers at the cornered mouse. He guessed the little one was a trigger happy idiot with no concern for other’s lives. He slowly turned back and walked away.

He walked nearly three miles, rather roamed after he failed to recognise way back to embassy. He didn’t have a cell phone nor did he know the numbers of the embassy. Confused and irritated at the experience he had, he walked till his body sweated and cooled. Even his head had cooled; and when Yasin pulled his car at his side indicating for him to get in, he smiled at him. After getting in the car, he even thanked Yasin for coming back. When they got down at the embassy, he touched Yasin’s elbow and expressed regret for his behaviour in the morning.

Finally, Pasha decided to return to Pakistan, believing that Qadar had not ditched him. He left in the evening after ordering a wait and watch system at the embassy.

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