The Encounter

It was a simple plan, but somehow, as he and his men followed the shackled man through the hills, Khawar wondered if it should have been simpler still. If they had been able to shoot him close to the police station earlier in the day, a story about a thwarted escape might have played out quite nicely. But his skinny constable, Javed, had noted that at that hour, there were too many day laborers passing by who knew the man, which could have created “complications.” Now he wasn’t sure why they had come here—to the mines, of all places. Who had decided that? Only he could have given the order, but he couldn’t recall it; he was even having trouble remembering the drive over. The adrenaline was disorienting him, which he didn’t like to admit but was perhaps natural, given that this was his first encounter.