The Fallen Widow

15. Escape

Halal police and trigger warning; This chapter will unveil a controversial character which may cause readers to start a religious debate. Please refrain from entering the debate, I will delete the comments. This is a story. Fictional. Based on some real life characters. THIS DOES NOT MEAN THEY ARE RIGHT OR WRONG. Not me to decide. My job is to write a narrative. This not a guide book of how to be a good/bad Muslim. 

Thank you. 

*****

It was the first mutterings of despair she heard that spread fear through Meh'r-Bano. The mood of the crowd changed from joy to despair held back by the guards dressed in black. Shoulders rubbed against shoulders, feet trodden on, the blaring sun without the shade punished the crowd. Panic and worry spread through the crowd with whispers from one ear to another. Meh'r-Bano stayed closed to Baba ji, holding onto his frail branch like arm. Twenty minutes passed and she hadn't come with an idea to escape. Baba chanted prayers softly, his eyes closed hoping he could return to his bed ridden wife who relied on him. The heat burned Meh'r-Bano's back, sweat beaded along her back, her chador veiled her face making it difficult to breath. Her lips dry, she gasped for a drop of water. The bulky angry looking guards pushed and shoved the unruly crowd into order. Meh'r-Bano scanned the bazaar. The black SUV was close. It would take a moment of mayhem for her and baba to run and hide behind the SUV. But how would she create a diversion? She looked at the guns. The large rifles. The guards wore belts with bullets strapped diagonally across their chest.
"That's it!" She thought. "Guns!"
She looked at baba. "Baba ji do you have a bag?"
She looked down at her large shoes. This was the only way to create a diversion. It had to work.
"Why do you need a bag for?"
"Do you have one?"
It was difficult to hide her intensions being crammed in the crowd, with everyone pushing against each other.

Baba took a black plastic bag from his satchel all crumpled. "Here beti." he handed her with caution. Meh'r-Bano slipped off her large shoes and stepped on the dirt ground.
"Look out for me. I'm checking my shoes." She asked. "Keep the people back."
Baba put his arm around her to make sure people didn't push over her. One by one, Meh'r-Bano placed the shoes into the bag and stood up holding the back in front of her.
"What are you doing beti?" He asked with fear penetrating his frail bones looking at the menacing guards.
Meh'r-Bano tied the back neatly ensuring the shoes fitted into the bag. She held the bag and slow stepped with the crowd waiting for the right moment.
"Beti-"
The crowd was pressurised, any moment they would burst and explode. The fear seeped through their bones and Meh'r-Bano knew this was a perfect opportunity to exploit their fear. All around was firearms, noise, yelling.
"Do you see that big black car?" She pointed at the SUV. "When I say, we run and hide behind there."
"But how? The guards are around." he said.
"I'll distract them." Meh'r-Bano pushed her way through the crowd, shoving her elbows and stood near a group of women. The women who handled the gossip and perpetuated their fear with stories of terror. 
"We will be marked forever."
Gently, without them noticing, she dropped the bag with the shoes.
"I'm so worried." Meh'r-Bano engaged in their random conversation. "They won't fine us. They may kill us."
"Oh no, they won't." Said one woman with her black dupatta pressed against her mouth. "They won't will they?" She raised her eyebrows and looked another woman. It was time to spread chaos. She gently pushed the woman towards the bag she dropped.
"What's this?" Said the woman.
"It looks suspicious." Meh'r-Bano gasped. "Maybe Choudhary Muzaamil has planted a bomb to kill us all."
"Oh no!" Said the stocky built woman. "No."
"It is a bomb." Meh'r-Bano repeated raising her voice. She looked at the crowd who waited in agony.
"Don't go close to it, it's a bomb!" She repeated loudly.
The terrified crowd who were on the cusp of panic, were been pushed over the edge. Meh'r-Bano repeated until the word 'bomb' until the crowd carried the word. She pointed to the bag. A woman screamed with terror.
"BOMB!"
Panic and fear spread like wildfire. The crowd burst through the guards. The crowd yelled, shouted and cried running away from the suspicious parcel. The guards struggled to hold the crowd back. Meh'r-bano rushed towards Baba. She couldn't see him. Gunshots fired into the air. The crowd ran wild.
"Get back!" Yelled the guards beating them with the back of their rifles.
Meh'r-Bano searched for baba in the frenzy. She couldn't see him. The SUV was close. The guards couldn't see her in the mayhem. This was her chance to run. Hide. Escape. But without Baba? She took the chance and dashed for the SUV. The shots deafened her. She pressed her hands on her ears, now barefoot now racing towards the SUV. Her heart beat pounded. Her breaths erratic. She powered through. The yelling left behind her. It was only a few steps. The tiny stones dug into her feet. She had to make it to the SUV.
"Get back!" Screamed the guards shooting warning shots. "Back!" In a final dash, she leaped behind the SUV near the wheel. She fell onto her knees where Baba sat in a heap on the floor, his back against the SUV.
"There...you..-" She gasped for breath struggling to catch her breath under the veil. Her top lip dripped with sweat.
"What are we doing? they will kill us?"
Meh'r-Bano scanned the path. She saw an alley.  Small walkway away from the eyes of the guards. It was a few meters away from the car.
"Come on-" she pointed. "We can make it."
She crawled to the far end of the car, to the back. The crowd calmed down. The guards herded them together once again beating a man at the far end for escaping. Women were dragged back into he crowd. It was mayhem. Meh'r-Bano had to escape. there was no other choice. The three metres felt like a mile with the guards eyes peeled all around dragging stragglers by their limbs  Would she make it?