Next day, they landed onto the harbor and Aryan's contact had arranged transport for them. Aryan and Meera got into a car waiting for them.
The desert landscapes brought back a lot of disturbing memory flashes to Meera but she kept calm for the sake of her daughter. Finally, they reached their destination. It was a humble house.
Aryan rang the doorbell and a man answered. He greeted Aryan cheerfully but when the man saw Meera, his expression darkened.
"What the hell?" the man said sounding extremely annoyed, "What is she doing here?"
"Oh...I'm so sorry, allow me to introduce," Aryan said, "Meera, meet Rizwan, my friend. Riz, she is Meera...she is my..."
"I know exactly who she is!" Rizwan shouted, "The whole damn country knows! God dammit, get in quickly before someone sees her and bombs my house."
Aryan and Meera hurriedly stepped inside the house and Rizwan closed the door behind them.
"What..." Aryan said but Rizwan didn't allow him to finish.
"Aryan, we have been good friends in the past, but if I knew it involves her, I wouldn't have helped you!" Rizwan said.
"But what..." Meera started to speak but Rizwan rudely interrupted her.
"You think you are too clever, aren't you?" Rizwan said, "You escaped from Qais Al Khudair, and wow, you got some nerve coming back here woman! He's placed a prize on your head, he's willing to pay a huge amount of money to anyone who gives any information about you, or captures you alive."
"Riz, calm down, please..." Aryan tried to make him understand.
"Calm down?" Rizwan shouted, "You walk into my house with this woman, you understand what that means? I really don't care if you want to throw away your life Aryan, but my family lives here. Do you have any idea what they would do to us if they found out I've been helping her?"
"I am sorry..." Aryan said, "I really didn't mean to put your and your family in danger...I really didn't know about the bounty on her head or I would have never...we'll leave right now...really sorry..."
"I've come for my child," Meera said tearfully, "I know exactly what you mean...and I know what exactly you fear...but my little baby is out there and I just want to find her..."
Aryan hugged Meera and rubbed her back. "It's alright my love," he said, "Let's get out of here first, we'll find her I promise."
Then he turned to Rizwan and said, "Thanks for your help bro, and sorry again..."
Aryan put his arm around Meera and turned to leave.
Rizwan had calmed down by now. He took a deep breath and called out to Aryan, "Wait! You'll get yourselves killed in a matter of hours if you go out like this."
Rizwan called out to his wife Noor. "Dress her up in a burqa," he told his wife.
Aryan nodded and Meera and she followed Noor upstairs.
"You too change into a local attire," Rizwan said, "I'll arrange for fake IDs for both of you with local names. Try and blend with the crowd. If you both go about the city looking like foreigners, Qais's men will hunt you down in no time."
"Thank you so much Riz," Aryan said, "We'll need a place to stay and a car."
Rizwan took a deep breath. "I've found a house where you could live. And the car...I'll arrange that by evening. Till then you can use mine."
"And there's money too," Aryan said, "We need some of it converted to local currency."
"Hmm alright, I'll give you some cash for now, the conversion might take a few days," Rizwan said, "But I must warn you, that's some serious risk you are taking, Aryan."
Aryan noticed Meera walk down the stairs clad in a burqa covering her from head to toe. He smiled. "This woman," he said to Rizwan, "She is worth dying for."
*****
Aryan and Meera got into the Rizwan's car and began to move towards the house. It was a small cozy house away from the city. The window had a beautiful view of desert landscapes.
Meera just gazed out of the window smiling to herself as the sunset painted the sand dunes golden.
"My sunshine is smiling," Aryan whispered in her ear as he hugged her from behind, "The dream I had about Kabir last night...was just thinking about that one brief moment...it was such a beautiful time, I was pure and I was fertile..."
And then she suddenly became tearful and said, "My life could have been so different...it could have been so beautiful..."
"Hey sweetheart," Aryan said hugging her, "Life is still beautiful Meera, you have a beautiful daughter. Tomorrow we will be going to the orphanage and find Amairah. And then, we are going to live happily ever after."
Meera smiled and hugged him back.
Rizwan visited their house at night and handed them the key of a car.
"From now on, you are Farhan Ahmed and she is your wife Shabreen," Rizwan said handing over two fake IDs to Aryan, "Show this if you are asked at any local checkpoint. Take care of her, she is in great danger. Make sure she doesn't go out without a burqa. Keep a low profile and stay out of trouble, yeah?"
Aryan and Meera nodded.
"Thanks, Riz," Aryan said, "This really means a lot."
Rizwan nodded and left.
Meera could barely sleep that night. The anticipation of seeing Amairah, kept her awake.
Next morning, Aryan drove her to Blessed Angels orphanage.
"Kabir told me we reached Mumbai on 4th of November, 2019," Meera said as they walked towards the reception, "We must have left here in the last week of October."
"Hello," Meera greeted the lady at the reception, "We wish to adopt a child."
"Sure," the lady said, "Here's a list of papers you need to submit. We will start the adoption process once your credentials are verified."
"Of course," Meera said, "But, can play with the children for a while? I love children, I lost my daughter 2 years ago. I just wanna..."
The receptionist smiled and allowed Meera into the children's play area. She quickly scanned all children but none of them had eyes like Amairah.
"How many children get adopted from here on an average?" Aryan asked the receptionist.
"Not many, unfortunately," she said, "In the whole of last year only two children were adopted, both boys."
"Do you have any children with hazel eyes?" Aryan said, "My wife, her mother had hazel eyes, so she is looking to adopt a girl with hazel eyes."
"We don't allow such discrimination between our children," the receptionist said.