Life is a collection of moments and every moment is as important as life itself. It would not be wrong, therefore, to say that a man lives many lives in succession through his lifespan and it takes nothing but a single moment, or life, to change everything. One wastes time waiting for the right time when time wastes him until there is no time, or so he believes and death comes as silent as time itself to encapsulate him into nothing but despair for every second that passed unheard of the voices in his head.

As Khalid looked back at Saleem after he had just fired three bullets in his cellphone, he felt as if he had set himself free- As if this very moment had changed the complexion of his life. What he did was absolutely unethical, but he could not help but feel the humility in Saleem's eyes when he saw him down in the Khan's cellar a few days ago. He had been utterly perplexed about what his next move should be when Detective Shaam had asked him to take on this case. He was up against the person who he had loved like a brother, and although he knew Saleem was into wrongdoings, something within kept stopping him from acting against Saleem.

But as soon as he saw his brother tied to a pillar with a torn kurta and a scraped leg, he could not bring himself to handing Saleem over to his death. He had lived his whole life with bad people, his father being one, but he had learned to see the good in them, or so he wanted to.

Khalid guided the Prado back to the road that wound where he drove with a light chest- one that seemed just to have made some extra room for fresh air to inhale. He knew, by the look on Saleem's face that he had made the right decision, but also the hard one.

Once Khalid told Saleem the whole story of his recruitment for this case, millions of more questions popped into his head.

"So, the detective, what was his name again, Shaam?" Saleem inquired.

"Yeah,"

"He brought you in for this case just by judging my past?" Saleem looked quizzical. Khalid knew it wasn't pointless of him to react this way. Nobody knew about their peculiar relationship.

"Yes... and that comes to show how good he is at what he does. He is one case short of perfection, he says. Only one case that he couldn't crack. He has become a bit of a sensation in the Pakistan Police, if you ask me."

Saleem clucked his tongue. Pakistan's best detective was trying to find him and they had had the audacity to trick him.

"How far is Bahawalpur from here?" Saleem asked as they turned onto a wider road with a blue sign reading 'Hasilpur Road' in English and Urdu.

"Exactly 95 kilometers. We should be there in 80 mins if we hurry." Khalid stated with his eyes still on the road. In the distance, they saw the famous mustard fields of Hasilpur swaying drunkenly in the soft breeze.

"And Bahawalnagar is 80 kilometers in the opposite direction." A small smile made its way on Khalid's lips. "The best we can do is hope that he actually heads to Bahawalnagar and increases our distance from him before starting the chase. It's only a matter of time when he does."

Khalid spared a look at Saleem who sunk back in his seat and shut his eye lids. Saleem reached for the air conditioner's button and turned it on. Soft cool breeze hit him square in the face as he let sleep take him away. They were safe... for the time being.

The immediate rush of apparent success wore off after half an hour of aimless waiting for Detective Shaam. He held his cell phone in his hand, thinking of dialing Inspector Khalid's number but he knew that a single mistake could blow everything up.

With every passing second, Shaam became more and more agitated. He needed to move. What if Saleem had realized what had happened and held Khalid hostage? Shaam swiftly pulled open the lid of his laptop and typed hysterically on the keyboard that clicked softly under his fingers.

Logging into the the Police database, he typed the number that Inspector Khalid had used to communicate with him in the search bar and tapped enter. Seconds felt like minutes as Shaam waited for the window to load. Once it did, the following words flashed up.

"Location not found."

Inspector Khalid was in trouble... he had to help him.