Chapter 5

• In a state of panic, Mahnoor immediately dashed towards the ground where she left Hammad. She didn't even bother to ask who informed the boy about her brother. She was almost completely out of breath by the time she reached the ground. Her feet halted and her eyes widened at the view before her, as relief wash over her. Mahnoor could see her brother teaching Alina how to handle a flying kite, with the same fresh expression he always held on his face.
• For a moment, she stared at their happy faces, until the image of Ahad and Kanwal flashed back into her mind.
• Ya Allah Kanwal...!
• And once again, Mahnoor starts running back to Kanwal.
• ~*~
• "What do you want to talk about?" Kanwal asked, looking back at the crowd. She starts getting worried about Mahnoor and the others. They might possibly be searching for her.
• "Marry me, Kanwal... Upcoming Saturday." Kanwal's head snapped towards Ahad as her mind registered the words he said.
• Not a single word came out of her mouth, as she stared at him in utter disbelieve.
• Ahad sighed, before stepping closer to Kanwal and called her, "Kanwal?"
• She snapped out of her daze on hearing her name and abruptly took a step back to create distance, which didn't go unnoticed by Ahad. A scowl formed on his face but he refrained himself from commenting. He may have forgotten within these past months of how much distance he should be maintaining with women, as he was continuously being surrounded by women who don't share the same cultural values as him. But surely Kanwal is different from those girls and Ahad shouldn't be expecting anything less from her, yet he didn't like it even a bit. He didn't like the fact that she stepped away, nor does he like the fact that he is still a stranger to her.
• "Kanwal,... I know it's too much to ask. You might think I'm hasting and that we shouldn't be going against our parents, but we don't have other choices. I often leave the country for work and it will take days, weeks or sometimes mont-"
• "What work?" Kanwal didn't let him complete his sentence.
• "My business... I own a huge business and it is spread within various countries of the world.""Is it legal?" Kanwal asked, looking into his eyes.
• "What?" The question caught Ahad off guard. He never thought that the shy Kanwal he was engaged to could be so bold. 
• "Tell me that your business is legal, that your money is Halal, and that it has nothing to do with the Black Eagles." Kanwal said in a single breath. She is about to hear the truth from his own mouth, on which her whole life is depended on.
• Their relationship depends on it...
• Ahad didn't reply instantly. He averted his gaze from Kanwal's face and looked the other way, as though he is gathering his thought on something.
• "I... am a part of the Black Eagles, Kanwal. In fact, I am the second in command." After a sigh, he broke this news to Kanwal. Her face paled, and once again, she felt the loss of words. Being a part of the Black Eagles is understandable, doing illegal business is understandable, but being second in command is something she never thought of, even in her dreams... and then it suddenly hit her.
• Ahad...
• Second in command... 
• He is the second in command...
• Means all the killings, kidnappings, and everything; it happens under his watch. He is aware of it. He must be... Means he... also approved the law by which they take Shareefabad's graduate students. Kanwal's head starts spinning. It was too much to take in. Suddenly, she feels disgusted with the man standing before her. She tried to take several steps back but was dragged back in place by her sleeve which is still in Ahad's hand.
• "Leave me." Kanwal barely manages to choke.
• "Kanwal, you don't have -"
• "I said leave me, Mr Ahad Murtaza." This time her voice was firm, it even startled Ahad for a moment but he quickly regained his composure.
• "I won't. Not until you say yes."
• "Yes? To what? About marrying you?" Kanwal frowned. She was losing her calm, "Never, Mr Ahad. I will never marry a criminal. I will never marry you."
• The scowl on Ahad's face deepened, "You realize what you are saying?"
• "Yes, our engagement is broken off by my parents. Finally, I am able to understand the reason behind it." A tear rushed down from her eye, "And... now I accept it wholeheartedly."
• "What do you mean?" Ahad's voice becomes deadly, as he stepped closer.
• Kanwal gulped and say, "I will not go against my parents," She paused before saying, "I trusted you because my heart convinced me that you are not such a person. That's why I refused to believe others, but now... It's clear. I won't disobey my parents for you... for a person who abandoned his morals and humanity for power." Her voice may have come out monotonous, but her body is badly shivering from fear, unable to make eye contact with him.
• Ahad never came this close to her. He stared into her face for a while, before leaning in, "You were mine, and you will always be mine, Kanwal. Keep this in your head... Do whatever your parents say until I get my hands on you." He whispered before leaving her sleeve and disappearing into the darkness.
• Kanwal stared into space where he stood seconds ago. His voice made her tremble with fear. It wasn't the voice of Ahad she knew.
• She breathed out loudly and turns to the direction where he went, hoping to see him one last time before they go their separate ways. But he was long gone.
• "Allah Hafiz." A whimper escaped her lips and she made her way back to Mahnoor. 
• ~*~
• "We need more men, Moosa. We need more people who can work as our source of information from different fields of life." Ahad said in a very low voice, as he puts aside both his and Moosa's phone after taking out their batteries. It is to ensure the chance of their conversation being traced is lessened.
• This was the time when their villa in Dubai wasn't constructed, so taking precautions are their first priority.
• "We can use our sweepers for this purpose too." Moosa suggested.
• "That's exactly what I don't want. Sweepers are our field workers, Moosa. Their training takes months of hard work and we have spent a huge amount of money to make them proficient in handling weapons. If we assign them this sort of work, their whole training will go to waste. Besides, it will get a lot of riskier if their background is disclosed." He paused for a moment. Taking a hint when Moosa didn't say anything, he continues, "We need people with a clear background. Who has no question marks in their previous lives. Such people can easily be sent to any field and any place of the world for job purposes and to collect the information we need."
• "I don't think they would be helpful to us without being trained to trace information and if we trained them, they will have a question mark on their profile." He said, leaning back on the sofa.
• "Yes, so we have to collect information without their knowledge, by bounding them to give us a monthly or weekly report and confirm that information from our experts."
• "But how can we find this much manpower?" Moosa asked the question of which had been bugging his mind since Ahad mentioned about the need for more men.
• "Shareefabad!" Ahad answered, looking into Moosa's eyes.
• "What?" Moosa frowned.
• "The people of Shareefabad aren't loyal to us. They can be useful for other parties which are working against us. So we silence them by taking their children."
• "Ahad, this does not make any sense." Moosa said while frowning.
• "Listen Moosa, right now Shareefabad is divided into three groups; families of our members, our workers which we hire, and the original residential families. We don't need to be worried about both first groups, as they are a part of us, but people of Shareefabad are not. According to the analysis, around fifteen students from the residence graduate from the college in that area. We can pick the students from there. It will make our hold on their lives stronger and it will keep their mouths shut for sure. Their loyalty will eventually be with us when we have their kids."
• "This is absurd." Moosa shook his head.
• "Oh! So you are going to beg them to support you?" Moosa's head snapped towards Ahad, but he remained silent.
• Ahad sure has a good brain in his skull, but his choice of words can really piss people easily. Especially when he is eager about something.
• "By picking students of that age will be more beneficial for us rather than looking for grown people. They can easily be moulded into our environment and there would be many other benefits too." Ahad went silent. He knows Moosa will have a hard time of rejecting his proposal, not only because he is aware of the need of more people in the gang, but for the responsibility of sweepers is asking him to accept it. The responsibility for the safe future of their families, that's why he started to expand the area of Shareefabad, so their families can live directly under their protection.
• Being in charge of the Black Eagles' business, he comes to understand that the big post comes with bigger responsibilities. He also realizes that having a strong network of information is better than risking their men in direct missions. But above all, Ahad's proposal has a selfish reason too.
• He wants to make sure that he is able to use every option he has to make sure that Kanwal wouldn't slip out of his hands.
• "The satisfied look on your face implies that you are sure that I won't reject your idea, Ahad. Why is that?" Moosa asked.
• "Because you won't, as we have the same reasons. ALL OF THEM." Ahad answered and Moosa only cocked an eyebrow, which made Ahad laugh.
• "You think I will forgive you for throwing all the business work and second in command work on me?" Ahad smirked and continued, "As the second in command of Black Eagles, I am taking my job very seriously and keeping a very close eye on the leader."
• "And you are referring to?" Moosa narrowed his eyes.
• "To a certain person in Shareefabad who caught your attention." His smirk widened and Moosa quickly averted his gaze.
• "How much do you know?" Moosa asked after a moment of silence.
• Oh???
• It surprised Ahad that he didn't try to deny him or give him an explanation.
• "More than anyone I guess."
• "Hm!"
• "So you agree that my information is true?" Ahad couldn't stop himself from asking.
• "Denial of truth isn't my style." Moosa got up and said before leaving, "I will give you my answer tomorrow with regard to the matter we discussed."
• ~*~
• Sitting in his home office, Ahad recalls the day when he puts the proposal before Moosa. Yes, it was Ahad's idea to take students from Shareefabad for their work - the easiest way to gain their obedience.
• Following his plan, Black Eagles have spent heavy funds on building an educational institute in Shareefabad and with help of Nats' sources in Ministry of Education, they even managed to transfer the kids of Black Eagles members into these institutes. But it wasn't enough. Those kids were put into isolation by transferring here. So, they spend more money in this area. Providing enough facilities in Shareefabad so no student would go outside the area for studies. It not only helps their gang to keep an eye on the youngsters' activities to assure that they are not being used by the enemies, as well as helps the gang in choosing the people they want.
• But to Ahad, it was something personal too. Not only does he want protection for his little brother Ayan who is a few months younger than Kanwal, but to also keep watch on Kanwal. To keep her away from other boys and from the reach of the gang's enemies, which he did. They hired staffs in Kanwal's college, made sure that no one could approach her. Ahad thought of everything carefully before doing it, so his family wouldn't be ashamed of him, more than they are on his joining of Black Eagles. It's not that he wasn't able to anticipate how his family would react to it, but he never thought that Kanwal would reject him.
• The person he loves more than himself rejected him just because he joined the gang?
• The thought was maddening.
• Was this the extent of her love? How could she pass her judgment so easily about me without giving me a chance to explain myself? Is this even love?
• Did she ever love me? Or was it just a crush?
• A simple liking, which died down with time?
• Ahad kept asking himself these questions the whole ride back home and now, it just suddenly hit him, giving halt to his every assumption.
• A few minutes passed, he kept staring into space. Taking in small smokes from the cigarette, his mind replayed the whole conversation with Kanwal. Her choice of words, the tone of voice, body language, he recalled it all, along with the feeling she gave him.
• When his cigarette ends, he ran a hand through his slightly curly dark hair and exhaled a deep breath, letting out all of his frustration with it.
• "You shouldn't have done that, Kanwal....." Ahad mumbles, looking at the ceiling.
• One thing is clear in his mind - he is not going to give up on her. Whether Kanwal likes him or not, she will become a part of his life. And now, when Ahad has Kanwal's decision, it is his time to make his own.
• He grabbed his phone and makes a call to a man named Hasseb, who is working as his right-hand man here.
• "Find where Moosa is and arrange a meeting with him as soon as possible. And also, make preparation. I am going back." Without hearing his response, Ahad hung up and throws his phone on the sofa beside him, before getting up.
• Striding towards his kitchen for dinner, Ahad glanced at the garden he specially ordered to be prepared for Kanwal. His anger resurfaced and he quickly averted his gaze.
• I will get you, Kanwal. No more playing Mr. Nice guy...
• ____________________________