Chapter 7: Following the lead
729 Words
### Sofia
I hadn't slept.
Not even for a minute.
Between the murder investigation, the fake death records, and Amina Khan's kidnapping, my desk looked like a battlefield.
Empty coffee cups.
Scattered files.
Photographs pinned to a board.
And somewhere in the middle of all that chaos was the answer.
I could feel it.
I just hadn't found it yet.
The digital image on my computer screen stared back at me.
A blurry photograph taken from the university parking lot.
Most people would've ignored it.
The reflection was barely visible.
But I had spent the last three hours enhancing it.
Zooming in.
Adjusting contrast.
Cleaning up pixels.
And finally—
There it was.
A partial license plate.
My heart pounded.
I quickly entered the numbers into the police database.
The loading symbol spun.
Once.
Twice.
Then the results appeared.
My eyes widened.
"Got you."
The vehicle had been registered under a fake company.
Not surprising.
What was surprising was the address attached to it.
An abandoned warehouse district on the outskirts of Karachi.
I immediately grabbed my phone.
"Commissioner, I found something."
---
Thirty minutes later, I stood inside the conference room at headquarters.
The atmosphere was tense.
Several officers had gathered around the table.
A city map was spread across its surface.
I pointed toward a marked location.
"The vehicle linked to the kidnapping was traced here."
The room fell silent.
Everyone studied the map.
Then the door opened.
I didn't need to look up to know who had arrived.
The sudden tension in the room told me everything.
Zayan Khan.
Of course.
I continued speaking anyway.
"The warehouse has been abandoned for almost two years."
Footsteps approached.
"Meaning?"
I glanced up.
Zayan had taken a position across from me.
His expression was unreadable.
I resisted the urge to roll my eyes.
"Meaning it's a perfect place to hide someone."
The commissioner nodded.
"Any activity reported there recently?"
"Minimal," I replied.
"Which makes it even more suspicious."
Javed Sheikh stepped forward.
"If Amina is there, we're wasting time."
I agreed.
But I wasn't about to say that out loud.
"We don't even know if she's there," I said.
Zayan's gaze locked onto mine.
"My sister called me."
The room became quiet.
I hadn't known that.
"She what?"
His jaw tightened.
"Briefly."
That explained the urgency.
Still...
"We need to be careful."
"And we need to move."
"There could be armed kidnappers."
"There probably are."
I blinked.
"You're proving my point."
"And you're proving mine."
For a second, neither of us spoke.
The commissioner rubbed his forehead.
"Enough."
Neither of us looked away.
Finally, I broke eye contact first.
Mostly because I was tired.
And slightly because his stare was annoying.
Very annoying.
The commissioner pointed at the map.
"We move immediately."
Good.
Because I was tired of talking.
---
An hour later, our convoy entered the warehouse district.
Dark clouds covered the night sky.
Rows of abandoned buildings stretched endlessly in every direction.
Most were empty.
Silent.
Forgotten.
The kind of place people avoided after sunset.
Our vehicles stopped a short distance from the target location.
I stepped out and examined the structure.
Three floors.
Broken windows.
Rust-covered walls.
Nothing unusual.
Yet something about it felt wrong.
The commissioner approached.
"Thoughts?"
I narrowed my eyes.
"It's too quiet."
Beside me, Zayan was already studying the building.
Like a predator sizing up prey.
I hated how calm he looked.
"Stay behind the officers," I told him.
His eyebrow lifted.
"No."
I stared at him.
"No?"
"No."
I took a deep breath.
Patience, Sofia.
Patience.
"My job is to keep people alive."
"My job is to bring my sister home."
Infuriating.
Absolutely infuriating.
Before I could argue further, movement caught my attention.
I froze.
A faint glow appeared behind one of the second-floor windows.
A light.
Gone as quickly as it appeared.
But I saw it.
And so did everyone else.
The commissioner lowered his voice.
"You saw that?"
"Yes."
Every instinct in my body screamed danger.
I slowly reached for my weapon.
The warehouse suddenly felt different.
Not abandoned.
Not empty.
Occupied.
I swallowed hard.
"We're not alone."
Every officer immediately turned toward the building.
The second-floor window was dark again.
Silent.
Watching.
Waiting.
And for the first time since arriving, I had the uneasy feeling that we weren't walking into a rescue.
We were walking into a trap.
- Writer
