THE SILENT ECHOES OF LYALPUR

UThe Anonymous Phone Call at Midnight

The internet cafe was a crummy place. The neon sign outside made this buzzing noise that gave me a headache. It cast a green glow over the old wooden desk. Ahsan sat in the corner his back pressed into the booth looking at Zaryabs diary and a piece of paper that had fallen out of it. The clock on the computer said 11:45 PM. There was anyone in the cafe just a kid playing games and the attendant sleeping behind the counter.

The air in the room was thick and smelly like cigarettes and cheap cleaner. Ahsans fingers were tracing the ink on the paper. The phone number was local. It didn't look like it belonged to any important people or companies. It was a bunch of numbers.. Under it someone had written 12:00 AM in big messy letters. They are listening.

Ahsan pulled out his phone. It was an one, not one of those fancy smartphones. He had bought it months ago for security research. He was always worried about people tracking him online like Zaryab. Tonight that worry felt like the thing keeping him safe.

He stared at the keys his heart beating faster as the clock ticked closer to midnight. If he made the call he would be in trouble. If he didn't he would never find out what happened to Zaryab. The police weren't doing anything to help. The news wasn't even talking about Zaryabs disappearance. It was like The Untold Echoes never existed.

Ahsan looked back at the diary. There were a lot of numbers and codes in it. One name kept coming up: Alpha Holdings. According to Zaryabs notes this company was buying up properties and setting up warehouses for online shopping.. The money didn't add up. Millions of dollars were coming in from countries way more than they needed for a simple business.

11:59 PM. Ahsan picked up the phone. His hand was sweaty making the phone slip in his grip. He punched in the numbers from the paper. He rested his thumb over the call button watching the computer clock.

The numbers flipped. 12:00 AM. He pressed the button. The phone made a hissing noise, like static. There was no ringing, a loud clicking sound. Ahsan held the phone to his ear his breath catching in his throat. "Hello?" he whispered.

No one answered.. The line wasn't dead. Ahsan could hear someone breathing heavily and a faint echo in the background like a clock striking midnight.

"Is this Zaryab?" Ahsan asked, his grip on the phone tightening. "Zaryab if thats you I have the book. I found the hidden panel under the desk."

"You shouldn't have opened it Ahsan," a voice said. It wasn't Zaryab. The voice was low and rough like it was being filtered through a machine. It sounded cold and mean.

Ahsan froze. "Who is this? How do you know my name?"

"We know everyone who sat at that table Ahsan " the voice said. "We know the producer Bilal's in the hospital and we know you're sitting in a cafe looking at a diary that doesn't belong to you."

Ahsan felt a surge of fear. He stood up looking around the cafe. The kid was still playing games. The attendant was still asleep. The windows were black reflecting the lights inside.

"Are you watching me?" Ahsan demanded, his voice shaking.

"The system doesn't need eyes on the street when your phone is pinging the tower " the voice said, laughing in a mean way. "You think a burner phone protects you? You think a registration matters? You're just an amateur playing a game you don't understand."

"Where is Zaryab?" Ahsan yelled, forgetting to keep his voice down. "What did you do to him?"

"Zaryab was an asset who forgot his place " the voice replied. "He thought he could change things with his microphone. He wanted to talk about June 2021. He wanted to expose the logistics ledger. Now his voice is an echo that nobody will ever hear again."

"I have the ledger " Ahsan lied, trying to sound brave. "I have the routing numbers. If anything happens to me the entire file goes to the press. Zaryab had a key."

The line went silent for a seconds. Then the voice spoke up again. "You don't have the ledger, Ahsan. Because if you had the ledger you would know that the international press outlets you think you can trust are funded by the people listed in the diary. Who do you think owns the servers where your backups are stored? Who do you think controls the data pipelines leaving this province?"

Ahsan felt his chest tighten. He looked down at the circles in the diary. The names of the directors... The foreign investment entities... It all began to make sense in a way. Zaryab hadn't just uncovered a scandal; he had stumbled into a massive global network that used the citys infrastructure for something much darker.

"Then what do you want?" Ahsan whispered, his bravery gone.

"We want the layout " the voice said. "Zaryab hid the core source drive before we reached the studio. We know he left it with someone or somewhere in the sector. You have until midnight tomorrow to find it and leave it in the locker at the railway junction. If the drive isn't there the police will find a suicide note in your apartment. Your research files will become state evidence."

"I don't know where it is!" Ahsan panicked. "He didn't tell me anything about a drive!"

"Look at the diary, researcher " the voice commanded. "The answer is in the script. Find the basement under the foundation. That's your hint."

"Wait—"

The line went dead. The phone screen said Call Ended and the backlight went dark.

Ahsan stood frozen in the corner booth the phone still pressed against his cheek. His breath came in gasps. The room felt smaller now the green neon light like a trap.

They knew where he was. They knew about Bilal. They knew about the diary.

Ahsan realized that if he stayed in the cafe longer he would be in big trouble. He grabbed the diary shoved it into his backpack and dropped a hundred-rupee note on the counter. He ran out of the cafe into the cold midnight air.

The street was dark the fog from the textile mills rolling in like a cloud. Ahsan jumped on his motorcycle kicked the starter and sped away from the curb. His headlights cut through the fog as he thought about the callers words: Find the basement under the foundation.

Zaryabs research notes hadn't mentioned a basement in the office.. Ahsan remembered an old radio archive building, in the historic heart of the old city. It was a brick structure built over a colonial vault.

Ahsan held the handlebars of the motorcycle tight and turned it into the dark alleys of the old town. The call from that person was not just a warning it was like a timer. Ahsan had twenty-four hours to find a secret basement that he did not even know was there or he would be the next person to disappear in the city. The old town was full of secrets. Ahsan had to find this basement really fast. He was running out of time. The city was a big place to search for something that might not even exist. Ahsan had to be careful the city was not a place, especially for someone, like him who was looking for something that someone else wanted to keep hidden.