365 DAYS 365 TALES

The Rescue

''Be careful! There are hostages inside,'' the man with the dead eyes told her as the carbine in his shoulder was slung carelessly. The man was pointing to the first floor of the broken down building before them, as they were hidden behind a huge pillar in the next building. 

''We frankly did not think you would make it so far,'' the man told her bluntly, as the people around him - young people with guns in their hands looked around with anxious eyes, watching for anything out of the ordinary.

There was machine gun 'rat-tat-tat' at least a kilometer away and the man and his people were looking very watchfully, fearfully.

And the woman knew that once these young people started shooting, nothing was going to stop them. They were not yet much experienced in the art of the waiting war. None of these people were even meant to be in a place like this. They were meant to be in colleges or even in schools, homes and they were meant for laughing, playing pranks on each other and learning.

The woman had traveled from her own place to get here for this particular hostage situation or rather one of the hostages here. And as she was getting to that place, she had to go through the war-ridden streets of the city. And the woman frankly did not know what to say. Because as the woman was escaping from one gun totting group to another in the city, trying to be unobserved as she ran through what was once a home, a garden, a.... the woman sighed as she made a depressing observation....This was once a city. A living and thriving city. With normal people. People who had ambitions in their mind. People who had love in their heart.

It was once a city....

''Are you sure you want to go inside?,'' the man asked her in the same listless voice. The firing of the machine gun could still be heard. But it was further away and almost dying out.

''Yes,'' the woman replied quietly.

''Fine,'' the man turned nodding to one of his people. ''One of us would guide you to the entrance. After that you are on your own,'' he said flatly.

The woman shook her head. ''I can take care of myself. I do not need help. I just needed to know which was the building, they were keeping him....,'' the woman fumbled. ''...the hostages,'' the woman corrected herself, as she removed her backpack and looked into it. As she seemed satisfied with what she saw inside the bag, she nodded to the man before her.

The man watched the woman keenly and the woman was sure that this was the first time in many months, there was an expression other than sheer listlessness in that man's face. But apparently the man did not know what to say as he just nodded.

He watched as the woman was running in quick steps towards one of the pillars. She was fleet footed and ran with perfection keeping to the shadows and making almost no noise as she ran. Almost, as if the woman knew how much energy to spend for what. The man then sighed shaking his head realizing that the woman was no longer his problem as he nodded to his people, who were slowly dispersing from there. Their work here was done.

The woman did not go directly to the entrance. She was already running into the next building, to get to the roof of the other building. The woman was sure that, from that building, she could see exactly how many of the bad assholes were there.

And the woman knew why they were having the hostages. Especially, the one man she had come here for. To put in one word it was money and put in many words it was a ransom demand. That were the reasons, these assholes had kidnapped the rich man and his team who had come here for no reason other than to provide some medical relief for the war-torn people.

The woman got on the roof and hanging dangerously from the ledge, she sneaked a peek inside the building. And the woman was shocked - really and badly. She was watching him almost after six months now. And there he was, with his wavy grey streaked hair, right in the center. There was some blood coming from his forehead and the man as usual looked like he did not notice it.