by Lynda Filler
“Who wants a brownie with their ice cream?” Maggs read the range of emotions on Luke’s face. She recognized when he left the present and allowed himself to dwell on the past. Maggs had not been around when his wife and daughter were murdered in the Bahamas, but RB had told her what happened. With Luci here last year she thought maybe the two could help each other. Then Luci left caught up in her own emotional issues, and Luke closed his heart once again.
RB stood up reading something on his phone.
“Luke, I’ve heard from Luci. I need to get on something right away.”
32
The Border between Serbia and Hungary
“OUCH!”
“You’re tender here, but nothing is broken.” Rasha had been surprised when the doctor spoke with her in accented Arabic.
The doctor listened, his expression neutral, while Rasha claimed she’d fallen and injured a rib. He noticed the injection on her arm and recognized it as the work of a group of thieves who were raping and stealing from the refugees. There would be no point in confronting the woman or asking her to make a complaint. He would file on her behalf, but nothing would be done. She’d been on the road too long to believe that anything he could say to her would make a difference.
“Doctor can you take a look at this boy, Kamar, and see if he’s okay.” The doctor looked up. His eyes filled with questions.
“Of course. What do you think might be wrong with Kamar?”
Rasha looked away. Sighed. Then turned towards the doctor.
“I’ve no idea.” She whispered. “His mother is dead. He seems lethargic. Is it sadness or something else?” Rasha smiled at the protective way Amira held the little one’s hand.
“He’s my brother now,” Amira spoke up and put an arm around the child with golden brown eyes.
The doctor took a deep breath.
“Do you have papers for him?” Rasha shook her head, not sure what she was going to do. “Have you checked his clothing carefully? This is not the first situation like this. In some cases, we’ve found documents inserted in jackets, in the linings. Usually, it’s a mother like you, traveling alone and maybe sick. She needs to know if something happens, the child will know who he is. There might even be instructions on what to do with him.” He leaned down to talk with the shy child.
“Why don’t you check his clothing while I check on him.” The young doctor removed the child’s dirty clothing while the young boy began to shiver in his underwear. He started to cry, frightened and uncertain.
Amira took over and held onto the child’s hand. She spoke words of comfort, ones Rasha had used with Amira many times before.
“Well then young man, let’s take a look.”
Rasha got to work feeling the inside of his jacket. She came to a tear towards the back and looked up with uncertainty. A false compartment. She pulled out his documents.
“Here look, we have his passport. And a note.” Rasha felt hopeful for the first time in a very long time.
The doctor looked up.
“He’s Syrian, six years old.”
Then she read the note. Her hands flew to her mouth. She whispered to the doctor in English. “In the case of my death please look after my son. His father was killed in the bombing of Aleppo. I am dying from cancer. This journey is more important than chemotherapy if it enables my son to grow up in the free world.” Rasha held back her sobs, but tears ran down her cheeks. “His favorite food is Humus. He wants to be a doctor when he grows up to save people who are very sick like his mother.”
The doctor smiled at young Karam. “Everything will be okay for you now.”
“Doctor, do you have any idea how long we will have to stay on the Serbian border?”
Lying had become a way of life for him. Since Hungary closed their border, an illegal move according to the UN Human Rights Commission, thousands arrived daily from war-torn countries; and now none were allowed passage through.
The Hungarian government had over nine hundred convicts working on the construction of a second wall along the Serbian border. Once this barrier was completed, no one was getting through; and if they did, they’d be thrown in jail. The doctor was furious. This was entirely against human decency, and it was illegal according to the 1951 Refugee Convention.
“You need to register immediately if you haven’t yet. I can’t say how long it will take only that the situation changes daily.”
Rasha watched her daughter and Kamar playing. The young American doctor looked away. His girlfriend in California had gone crazy when he told her he was joining Doctors Without Borders. But he could never forgive himself if he allowed people like this family to suffer and not do anything about it.
“Around the corner in the building beside the post office, you can register for entry into Hungary, and get food for the evening. If you need anything else, come back and find me.”
Rasha swallowed her despair. She could tell the doctor was not being completely honest about their chances. She put on a smile for her growing family.
Every time feelings of loss or despair came crashing over her, she remembered her husband and her brother. She was certain they’d given up their lives for their homeland. She had to be brave and fight to make a new life for Amira, and now Karam.
“Mommy, maybe Karam is hungry.” Dark cautious eyes peered up at her looking for reassurance.
“Yes, baby. Of course. Boys are always hungry.”
Suddenly she felt a hand on her arm. She pulled away violently. Memories rushed back, shapes and images in her mind of last night.
“Madame, Madame. It’s okay.”
She calmed down and looked carefully at the stranger. It was the man from the school, the one who’d shared his phone.
“I’m so happy I found you. I’ve been looking all morning.” He lowered his voice. “Please, come, sit. I have a vital message for you.”
33
Seattle Area, WA
“LUKE, I’VE GOT the guys looking at the CCTV tapes. We should be able to find out what these guys were up to and where they went.”
His phone rang again.
“Yes,” RB linked his phone to the big screen on the wall. “Yes, I see them now. But where did they go? Do we know who they met?”
RB waited then hung up.
“Alright, it looks like our two boys drove their vehicle to a residential street in West Seattle—they must have got Sahar’s number from Dr. Azar’s phone. Then had their tech people follow the signal. Then they disappeared.” Luke waited while RB followed the CCTV looking for their SUV.
“Okay, here we go. Picked up the vehicle again. It headed to the docks at the Seattle Pier 4 construction site. We see them arriving and leaving. What we don’t know yet—we’ll need to get access to the private security cams at the dock—is what they did when they got there. As soon as I have that, I’ll let you know.”
“In the meantime, put a team on tracing the movements of the car and make sure we capture them before they leave the country.”
Luke stretched.
“I’m going to the gym. Call when you’ve got more.”
“Will do boss.”
34
Szeged, Hungary
THE PRIVATE PLANE landed in a remote part of the Szeged Airport. The pilot worked for Raven and often carried Western and European businessman who required complete discretion arriving and departing certain countries. The pilot had the right connections to taxi his aircraft to the eastern edge of the tarmac away from prying eyes. Hungary was part of the European Union. Luci disembarked without the need to bribe customs officials or register her arrival.
In a year dominated by the refugee crisis, democratic governance had further deteriorated in Hungary. Luci knew to come prepared for all eventualities when entering this relatively new and struggling democracy.
The borders were now closed. And the people of Hungary seemed to be in agreement of refusing to allow refugees the ability to cross through Hungary on the way to the Western part
of Europe. Luci had dealt with much worse.
Passing over Hungary would solve their problem.
She assembled everything she thought she might need for her journey including lightweight yet warm clothing. She had her guns, extra ammunition, a couple of surprises in case she needed to create diversions; and some exciting toys that RB had provided through their office in Paris.
The vehicle she requested was waiting by the private terminal, keys in a compartment to the side. Extra-large bags to carry her equipment and without a doubt, the most potent BMW bike on or off the road today.
She eased her way off the old airport road into highway 502. Traffic was relatively light other than the nocturnal commercial trucks bringing goods into city central from the outlying districts. She motored further away from the town, fields flattened out, and the lights dimmed. At one point hers was the only vehicle on that stretch of the highway. Perfect.
She veered off the main highway and headed east onto a poor gravel road roughly cut through the forest. Her bike almost stalled-out on the muddy entrance to a private gated farm. The Google map was incorrect or more than likely, outdated. She geared down in time to break her fall and quickly corrected her course to plan B.
She doubled back onto broken asphalt, her tires gripped as best they could, and she continued further down a poorly paved thoroughfare. Again, she turned off the road going east and headed through an old growth forest. There were no signs out here. She slowed down and almost missed a turn off to a dirt trail she’d seen on the satellite image.
In fifteen minutes she reached her destination. Now she would watch and wait.
35
Anacortes, WA
“GOTCHA. LUKE!”
RB had his hand on the controls, his other on his cell waiting impatiently for someone to answer. “Did you receive it? Yes, that’s the one.”
“Luke, they opened access to the private security cam with a gentle push from our “Homeland” team. I’ve got the Nike bag.”
Luke’s voice broke through the intercom.
“On my way.” Luke left the gym and headed towards the war room.
“Maggs, you follow the two Middle Eastern men, feed the information to this team.”
“I’m sure they will lead you to their hole. I’m taking the old guy in the overalls and the blue hat. He’s got the Nike bag. He’s mine.”
Luke entered RB’s command center and watched two security feeds.
“If we can follow the old sailor to his vehicle, we’re good.”
Sahar was back from her rest. Maggs cut into the Seattle CCTV traffic cams to follow the Syrians.
RB gave Luke a blow-by-blow of what was happening. “I’ve got him here, and he’s opening the driver’s door on a truck. If we can zoom into the writing on the truck, we might be able to figure out where he’s headed.”
Luke waited.
“It’s a rusted-out vehicle.” All eyes were on the screen overhead. “Actually, it’s new but dirty. I can’t see the license plate. Wait. Okay, I’ve got it, running it now.”
RB’s training kicked in. Laser focused, in the zone.
“Got it! Licensed to a commercial fishing charter. What’s up with that?”
“I’ve no idea but let’s see if we can get the logs and figure out a pattern here.” RB put in a call to one of his intelligence contacts. Something was bothering him. The name of the fishing charter service rang a bell, some type of smuggling. It would come to him for sure.
Luke got busy on the phone, called the NAS Whidbey Island, and spoke to his friend the commander. Maggs heard him explaining they had a situation and maybe would need an intercept, an adrenalin-filled training run for the flyboys.
If Luke’s hunch were right, they’d be going out in the middle of a nasty weather front.
36
Bosnia, Hungary Border
RASHA COULDN’T KEEP the excitement from her voice. Amira took her mother’s hand and held on tight. Their meager belongings were securely strapped on their backs and dug deep into the sore muscles on Rasha’s shoulder. As the day wore on, she’d felt groggy. The doctor said it was the aftereffects of the drug she been given in the middle of the night. Rasha blushed at the memory of the young man asking her personal questions. She realized he wanted to know if she’d been raped. Rasha would remember that, wouldn’t she?
She followed the trail along the border going east. As long as she stayed on this side of the road, at least one hundred feet from the barbed wire fence, she would not be noticed. Construction equipment lay everywhere. No wonder the refugees were depressed. The new secondary wall was not surmountable. One of the Serbian locals said the Hungarian government was going to place land mines between the two walls!
She pulled her coat closer around her, hugged Amira to her side and leaned down to whisper to Kamar.
“We need to be very still and quiet. Can you do that?” The boy looked up at Rasha with huge hazel eyes and nodded his head slowly. Rasha had tried her best to clean up the ragged child, to at least finger comb some discipline into his shaggy mop of hair; but it was no use.
They had to choose their place in the forest carefully. It was close to midnight, and they’d been walking for over an hour. The kind aid worker who carried her precious message had given them some landmarks to watch for; if she stayed this distance from the fence, and followed it towards the river, she’d reach their destination.
“Momma, I’m tired.” They’d found a half-destroyed rickety wooden fence in the dense forest west of a frozen farmers field.
“We will stop here. Let’s have some water and some nuts.” A wolf howled in the distance, night creatures scuttled. She breathed a huge sigh of relief. Their journey might soon be over.
Out of nowhere, she felt her arms being grabbed and her clothes pulled aside.
Both children cried out but were immediately silenced.
“We were interrupted last night. Now we’re back to finish what we started.” Foul smoky breath filled her senses; alcohol reeked from their pores. She had no idea how many there were, but at least two were holding her down.
“My baby! Don’t hurt my baby!”
“Mamma!!” Amira struggled to break the hold a man had on her, and reached towards her mother.
A slap cracked in the night. Two children whimpered.
Rough hands pulled her pants down, the zipper tore into her exposed skin, and the cold hard soil bit into her back. The men joked with each other, deciding who would go first.
They were miles away from safety and far enough from the farmhouse that no one would hear them. Rasha couldn’t reach her knife. She focused on the dank smell of the Tisa River and the sound of the water pouring over rock. Please let them leave my daughter alone.
She imagined an olive grove in the sunbaked hills of Syria, a place of promise, of hope, of future. She could feel the presence of her husband and her brother holding her close. She begged for this to be over quickly.
The man’s fingers that probed her vagina, suddenly stilled. His body crashed down on her. Her scream was muffled as his blood poured down on her face. Seconds later a voice whispered.
“I’m here now. Shhh, you’re safe. I’ve come to take you home.”
Rasha opened her eyes to see an apparition in black. A face was hidden by a wool mask, holding a dagger covered in black blood. She sat up, and Amira crawled out of the arms of another fallen man, his head turned sideways at an unnatural angle. A second man sat against a tree trunk, his eyes wide open a gaping wound in the middle of his forehead. Two other bodies lay beside the children.
“Who are you?” She whispered, her throat too raw to speak.
Luci had no idea how to answer that. She wished she knew who she was. An ex-assassin, an angel of death, Alice’s mother, Luke Raven’s sometime lover. “My name is Samaar.”
Luci knelt down in front of the frightened child. “Your mother is so brave. She fought for you and would protect you with her life. I think she needs a huge hug.”
Amira rushed to her mother and threw her arms around her.
Suddenly a small Arabic voice cried out in the night.
“I want my mother!!”
In the heat of battle and the darkness of the night, Luci had missed the tiny creature lying close behind Amira.
“Who is this?” Luci’s mind raced. She was given two names, two bodies, not three. How was she ever going to save them all? She would have to find a way.
Rasha held her daughter’s hand. Samaar moved quickly. Who knew where the patrol dogs were and how long it would take them to sniff out blood. She’d arrived through the break in the fence by the freezing river. Construction had not extended to that area yet. Refugees tended to stay in the village, close to food and shelter and the communications center. Straying this far out would only mean they could miss a call to go through the checkpoint. And once lost, their names would be stricken from the list. However, this part of the border was patrolled, and Luci had the schedule. They were within the window of safety, barely.
But she hadn’t counted on carrying two children as they made their escape.
“Listen carefully.” She spoke rapidly in Arabic. The young boy nodded. Luci explained that he was the man in the family now and she would need him to be strong, brave and silent. He hung his head but murmured his agreement.
Amira held his hand and agreed with Luci. She was amazed at the self-confidence and discipline of young Amira. No complaints, no chatter. Her Alice will be like this soon.
She couldn’t be sure that the old fence wasn’t electrified. So, she used her handheld device to neutralize electric current. She also froze the surrounding cameras. Now they were invisible. She used a laser to cut the hole.