a young enthusiastic twenty-four year old, he had instantly bonded with her. Hamasa, the then leader of Darul-Ilhaam used her for his own personal gratification, but he had always underestimated her intelligence. So when Adam won her trust, she gave him all he needed to depose Hamasa and take over Darul-Ilhaam. In his final hours, Hamasa had been executed by a firing squad made up of the same men he had used to build up Darul-Ilhaam into one of Afghanistan’s prominent drug cartels and arms dealers.
He paced about outside the house, unable to rest. The woman played on his mind. What was he to do with her? If he simply let her off, he would be suspected of betrayal. But he couldn’t simply just kill her. What had Mateen done, he swore. He ran his hands through his hair.
He strolled into the adjoining building that held the woman as prisoner and the first thing he noticed was the absence of the two guards. And then he heard her scream, “Help! Freba!”
He raced towards the room and threw the door open. Mateen had her pinned against the wall, his dick pulled out of his pants and rubbing it against her crotch.
He was incensed with rage as he yanked him by the collar and punched into his face. Mateen didn’t hold back, hitting with all he had.
“So, this is how it is?” Mateen minced. “You will fight your own brother for the sake of a woman?”
“I will not have you raping one while I’m around!”
“You’ve grown soft, Adam. Just like a woman.”
“I am where I am because of a woman. If you had half a brain, you’d respect them too.”
“I have no respect for whores. And none for men like you who grow pussies and not dicks!”
“I don’t give a fuck about your opinion. But you will stay away from her.”
“You like her,” Mateen sneered.
Adam riled, sitting atop him and then began punching into his face, wanting to wipe that sneer off him.
“She belongs to Darul-Ilhaam,” Mateen croaked, his face bashed and beaten, his mouth cut deeply. “If you fuck her, we all get to fuck her.”
“You will not touch her!” He punched into Mateen’s face again.
“Why? Why?!”
“She’s my woman!” he screamed, shaking with anger. He pulled out his knife, angling it towards Mateen. The other man blanched. But Adam got up and walked angrily towards Nora.
The woman shivered on seeing the knife. He wrenched her by the hair and cleanly sliced a lock of her dark tresses.
He held up the lock high and proud. “She is mine!” he roared.
Three days later
Two guards strode in with ropes. Nora’s eyes widened with shock. She tried to scramble towards the end of the room, kicking at the men’s hands as they tried to hold her legs together.
“Leave me alone!” she screamed. What was wrong with these people? One minute they were raping her and the next they saved her. Now, they were going to bind her again, perhaps to kill her. They could well do that, but she was going to fight all the way to the slaughter house.
“Let me go!” she screamed again.
But one of the men hauled down her legs, holding them tightly as the other bound them together. In her weakened state, she was no match for the men.
They grabbed her hands and bound her wrists as well.
“What are you going to do?” she cried. “What will you do to me?”
Then the man returned. The one who had saved her from Mateen. She knew it was him because he wore the same outfit. In the three instances she had met him, he had never changed. It was always the same gray [6] partoog-korteh , dark waistcoat and [7] Pashtun lungee on his head. But more than that, it was his translucent gray eyes. She had seen them somewhere but she couldn’t quite recall where. There was an air about him also that told her he was a leader. He commanded authority and respect. Much different from Mateen. Mateen craved worship.
The two guards moved back, allowing the man room to talk to her.
He knelt