She turned over to her side. Background check, should have done that.
Dreaming again. The little restaurant, breakfast, and there he was. The young man . . . Chris. ‘Do you know Jesus. Well, I do, and I can pray for you’.
Tassie smiled. She was wide awake. Jesus . . . a way of escape? Was that the tickle? But she was Jewish. And in a burka. Well, why not Jesus?
Okay, Jesus, I am so in trouble here. Can You help me? I know You know I’m Jewish, but I guess You were Jewish, too. So, who better to know how I think?
Tassie opened her eyes. The eyes of the woman on the next bed penetrated hers. Tassie didn’t know how she restrained herself from hollering in surprise, and then she realized she felt calm. It was uncanny. The other woman smiled. Was she the same one who had smiled at her when they were cleaning up after the shooting?
Glancing over again, the woman smiled and put her hands together in front of her mouth as if she were praying. Again, Tassie felt an uncanny peace. Was the woman praying for her?
Did I pray aloud? Did she hear me? As soon as that panicky thought filled her, the uncanny peace pushed it out. Tassie nodded to the woman and then turned over. I can’t handle too much more tonight. Jesus, if this is real and she can help, let us figure something out in the morning.
“Well, now, this is very interesting.”
Tassie awoke. It took a moment to remember where she was and she wondered if she could ask the woman next to her the actual location. Also, were the women here just accepting of their cultural demeaning? Did they want change, even just one of them? And, did any speak English?
It slowly dawned on her that she was hearing Omar’s voice in the bedroom. Fear rushed in and she stiffened. Not long ago, Omar’s presence was all she wanted. Now she was wiser. She opened her eyes and pulled the covers close around herself. Omar was standing there with her phone in his hand.
Oh no, Mother called back, and revealed the clues I gave her. He might kill me. Tassie wanted to look over to see if the woman who smiled at her last night was awake, but she didn’t dare.
“Get up. Get dressed. You have a message from your Mr. Goldman about a relic.”
Tassie could hardly breathe.
CHAPTER 14
PRESENT DAY, VIRGINIA
Reuben Liebermann Stevens stood gazing out at the Great Falls of the Potomac River. One mile from his home, this was his favorite spot to think, to walk, to show visiting friends and family, and make necessary contacts. At this moment he watched daring kayakers who rode those falls into the depths.
A couple near him on the rocky observation point took pictures and gasped. “They went completely under . . . it’s too long . . . are they . . . there they are! Did you get the picture?”
“I videoed it. They were under sixteen seconds! That’s just crazy! I could never do that.”
Rube smiled. The amazing feat of traveling the falls by kayak could certainly be deemed ridiculous. He had gone over three times and that was enough, but what a ride.
Rube had started kayaking back in Chicago while growing up. The best times, though, were in Door County, Wisconsin. He never experienced waterfalls there, but waves had capsized him a few times. He and his friends learned the necessary skill of righting an overturned kayak. Fearless, we were fearless.
After moving to the Washington, D.C., area and settling in McLean, he often hiked to the Great Falls and discovered the kayak daredevils. He felt a scratching inside and began strength training. He soon joined the groups that rode the Great Falls.
His wife gave him a beautiful kayak but wrote on its floor, ‘If you don’t survive, I will kill you.’ Rube chuckled thinking about it. Jill was always so funny and serious at the same time. That’s why her students love her. A fifth-grade teacher, Jill was strict, fair, and oh, so funny. She could chew a kid out and make him laugh at the same time.
On his premier trek over the falls, his friend John went first. Rube resisted holding his breath as he watched.
He counted, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen. Cheers went up and bodies turned, and people pointed as John came up and continued triumphant down the river between the rocky outcroppings.
My turn. Focus. Straight. Paddle. Slightly to the right of center. This is it. No backing down. He glanced down. ‘If you don’t survive, I will kill you.’ Rube smiled. I will survive. The kayak bow was sticking out over the falls. Rube held his breath. No, take deep breaths, get full. Kayak tipping. Vertical. Now! Big breath and hold. A rush of water and adrenaline.
Confusion. Use the paddle to redirect up. Don’t fight. Let the bow arise. Hard to think. Low on oxygen. I see the surface. Bow out and so am I. Yes! Breathe, balance, and paddle.
The cheers of the onlookers reached his ears and he saw cameras capturing his moment. The best was seeing John on the side give a fist pump as Rube caught up to him.
Now, Rube joined the onlookers and relived those exhilarating moments flying over the falls and plummeting to the depths. Rube’s phone interrupted his musings. It was his mother. She’d not called in a while and Rube chided himself for not calling her first.
“Mom, hello. How are you? Is it as beautiful there as it is here? I’m out at Great Falls on a hike, but Jill is home, if you need to talk to her.”
“Rube . . . ” Mom paused. Rube could hear the worry in her voice.
“What is it? Is Dad okay?” He walked over to a bench and sat down. He heard nothing. “Mom, are you there? Can you hear me? Did I lose you? The reception isn’t that great here.”
“Rube . . . called . . . not right.”
“Mom, wait, say that again.” Rube stood and walked closer to the river.
“Can you hear me now?” Mom’s voice was full of concern.
“Yes, Mom. Who called? What’s not right?”
“It’s Tassie. She called yesterday. She called me ‘mom’.”
Rube waited.
“Rube, she never calls me mom, she only calls me mother. I think she was trying to warn me.”
“Of what, what do you mean? Where was she?”
“That’s the concern. She just left without warning. That’s not like her. Said she was taking a break, that the firm was rewarding her, but she hasn’t been there that long to be given a vacation as a reward. Said she was in Florida.”
“Well, they like her. Maybe she was relaxed or had a couple drinks. This isn’t like you, though, Mom. Anything else.”
“She called herself Tassel.”
“Okay, that may signal World War Three, Mom. I know she doesn’t go by Tassel.”
“Rube, don’t make fun. I think something is wrong. She used a cheery voice to say, ‘Hi, Mom, this is Tassel.’ She did not sound tipsy.”
Rube heard a roar of voices and turned. Another group of kayakers flew over the falls, and the onlookers were enthralled. He sat on one of the huge rocks that fenced the river.
“Okay, Mom, tell me the whole conversation and anything that was unusual, besides calling you mom and herself Tassel.”
“Well, the cheeriness of her voice was overdone, and she also said to say hi to Uncle Hector.”
“Hector? We don’t have any Hectors in the family, do we?”
“Hector is the man who I thought was just a dream that told me to name you two after the Liebermanns from 1492.”
Rube wiped his forehead with his hand. “Mom, that was a dream and apparently you told her about it.”
“Yes, but she also met a Hector Woodley at work who told her to listen to my research of the four blood moons.”
“Hmmm. Well, okay, so you think she was saying there was something about the blood moons thing or this Hector that was connected to why she is gone.”
“I think that exactly, Rube, but I don’t know what to do. I would feel foolish calling her firm and asking where she is, but I’m wondering what she told them. What if she’s in some kind of trouble with them?”
“Okay, Mom, anything else? Is this Hector someone who would kidnap her?”
His mom
began to cry. “Oh, Rube, you think she’s been kidnapped? Jack, Rube thinks she’s been kidnapped.”
Immediately another phone picked up. “Son, you really think that?”
“No, Dad, I mean I don’t know. I hear Mom’s concern. I’m trying to walk through this concern with her.”
Everyone was silent for a few moments. Rube looked out at the tumbling waters of the Potomac. He felt that same turmoil in his mother’s voice. Obviously, something was amiss. Rube hoped he would not have to reveal his second life to his parents at this time. They only knew he worked as an IT guy at the electric grid consortium.
But his concern for Tassie was growing by the moment.
“Mom, tell me more about this Hector guy. Did she go out with him?”
“No, no, she didn’t even like him. He’s old and scraggly. She just kept running into him and he would tell her to listen to my research and well, I think there were some other things. She started to mention them and then changed the subject.”
“If she didn’t like him, would he react strongly enough to hurt her?”
His dad jumped in. “I don’t think he’s that kind of guy. In fact, I wonder if Hector was trying to warn her and she wouldn’t listen. Marge, didn’t she tell you to say hi to Uncle Hector.”
“Yes. I just told Rube about that. It didn’t make sense. Maybe what he said was the warning. Who or what could he have been warning her of?” Marge began to cry again.
“Okay, Mom, anybody else that could be a concern with her? Doesn’t she have a new boyfriend? Can you talk to him? Is she with him?”
His mom sighed, and his dad groaned.
“What’s the deal with the boyfriend?”
“Well, son. He’s Muslim, which in and of itself is no big deal, but when we met him, it seemed he had a strong underlying disdain for all things Jewish.”
“So why was he dating Tassie?”
“Well, either he didn’t know at first, or perhaps he had ulterior motives from the first.”
Jack cleared his throat. “He knew our connection with Christopher Columbus, too.”
Rube shifted his position on the rock. “Well, maybe Tassie told him that.”
“But she hates to talk about it, so I wonder how that came out. Rube, what if he took her someplace and now she’s being held there against her will.”
“Mom, Dad, I have some friends in high places, and I know a bit about technology searches, so let me do some checking around and make a few calls.”
“You have connections, son?”
“Dad, I will say no more about that, but let me do some checking. Mom, think about the phone call. Did you hear anything else? Just close your eyes, remember the phone call. Listen and notice. Just listen and notice.”
“Okay.” His mom paused. Rube could picture her, eyes closed and mind darting. “She said ‘Hi, Mom, this is Tassel.’ That threw me a little, so I almost didn’t hear the next part. ‘I’m taking a break. In sunny Florida. Work said it was fine.’ I asked if there was a problem and she said it was more like a reward and work was slow. Does that happen in a legal firm, Jack . . . things get slow?”
“You didn’t tell me that part. That’s unusual. There’s always work, especially for the newer hires.”
“Mom, tune back in. Listen to the phone call.” Rube had pulled a notebook out of his jacket pocket and was taking notes. He would call Jared when he finished talking to his folks.
“OK. Sunny Florida, things are slow. Then she said it was happy hour and had to go.”
“What time was the call, Mom?”
“It was morning. Seven or eight AM.”
“Happy hour, in the morning? That doesn’t sound right.”
“I just took it as a way to get off the phone. I half assumed she was somewhere with Omar and didn’t want to tell us about it but didn’t want us to worry.”
“Omar’s the boyfriend?” Rube wrote down the name. “Do you have his last name?”
“Jack, what was it? It started with a T. Tartran, Tuscan, Tugran?”
“Tugan or Tugani, I think. Omar Tugani, or something like that.”
“Okay, Mom, anything else, like sounds in the background? Wind, people laughing, doors closing, slamming, anything?”
“I do remember something like a horn blowing in the background.”
“Cars, traffic?”
“No, no, not like that. Kind of long and mournful, but it was faint. Don’t know.”
“I’ll think about that, Mom. I’ll check out a few things. Hopefully, she’d just had a couple morning drinks, which she probably isn’t used to and shouldn’t have called till later.” Rube was ready to change the subject. His first thought of a long mournful horn sound, was the Arab call to prayer every afternoon. He’d been to Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Jordan a few times, something his parents did not know, and the prayer call was heard everywhere, every morning and every afternoon, and a few other times. Calculating the time change, morning in the States would be afternoon there.
“One more thing, do you know where Omar is from.”
“I have no idea. Tassie never said anything. She knew we were a little concerned about him, so she probably told us even less than she might have normally.”
“Mom, Dad, I’ll check out a few things. I’m sure everything is just fine. Have you tried to call her?”
“She doesn’t answer. I left one message to call me but didn’t say anything more . . . just felt like that’s all I should say. I’m worried, Rube.”
“I know you are, Mom, but we’ll figure it out . . . she’ll figure it out and get in touch with us. Again, not to worry, Mom.” Rube was writing notes of several possibilities as he assured his parents that Tassie was fine.
After hanging up with his parents, Rube sat for five minutes, thinking, writing scenarios, and listing people to check with. Why Tassie, what might she know? Was someone trying to get to him? Jared would be aware of any chatter from the Middle East.
Wish I could hear that phone call.
Fortunately, his CIA connections would bottom line this fairly quickly. If it was just a young woman on vacation from a high-stress job, wanting to drink and play all day, that was one thing. But if this was a kidnapping with Middle Eastern connections, that was altogether different, and a very dangerous situation. Rube walked home.
“Have a good walk? Do any kayaking?” Jill smiled and winked as Rube came in the house. She was in the kitchen putting dishes away.
Rube walked over and kissed her lightly on the lips. Her long brown hair was down, and he loved it that way. So often for school she pulled it straight back into a ponytail, so she didn’t have to think about it. With her high cheekbones and gorgeous hazel brown eyes, she always looked good, but when her hair was down, Rube loved just gazing at her, which he did just now.
“Is something on your mind?” She tilted her head and paused with a plate in her hand.
“I just enjoy looking at you.”
Jill laughed. “That’s it? You were gone longer than usual and looked so deep in thought when you came in.”
Rube opened the refrigerator and grabbed a water bottle. Leaning against the counter he took a big swig, then blew out his breath. “It seems Tassie is missing.”
“What!” Jill whirled around almost dropping the platter in her hands. Setting it down, she gave Rube her full attention. “What do you mean?”
“I’m not sure. Need to call Jared.”
“You think this is international, terrorist related? What can you tell me?”
Rube was glad his wife knew about his CIA connections. It was Jill in fact who was responsible for getting him recruited. Her father was a retired CIA operative and Jill had figured it out and told her dad in no uncertain terms that she wanted to be involved. She had done a few undercover missions while in college on the pretense of study in other countries. She was excellent at bringing people into her confidence and her observation powers were second to none. She always laughed that a little CIA experience was a
great thing to have as a teacher. No one pulled the wool over her eyes.
When Rube got his IT job at Washington Electric, Jill realized that he might be an excellent person to recognize any tampering to take out electrical grids. Even though she was basically out of the business, she still had discussions with her dad about current concerns. He enjoyed getting her perspective on many issues. Jill had an uncanny way of thinking out of the box.
In one of those discussions, she told her dad about Rube. “I think he could be a great asset. Pull some strings, Dad. Send him on a humanitarian trip to assist with the technology on electrical grids. He really is an expert and his connections would be invaluable.”
“Does he know anything about our CIA involvement?”
“No, he just wonders why I tend to interrogate him on details of anything going on . . . and he just thinks I’m a snoopy nut.”
Soon Rube was being trained and sent to Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Jordan. He told his parents he was going on vacation or taking a short sabbatical for study and research in his field.
“Rube, do you think she’s been recruited?” Jill’s eyes were big.
“That thought occurred to me. She’d probably be a great CIA operative. I think Jared could find that out.”
“Want me to contact Dad?”
“Go in person. If she’s been abducted in order to get to us, we don’t want to be on the phone too much. And it may be nothing, just a silly vacation, and my mother is being a mother.”
Jill smiled and put her arms around Rube. “I’ll be the same way when we have kids and they grow up.”
“No, Jill, they will never go anywhere without you knowing about it. You will stalk them. My mother stalks us with questions and lovey-dovey stuff. You will have GPS and other informants stalking our kids twenty-four seven.”
“Yes, I will. And we can start right now.” Jill patted her stomach and dipped her head looking a bit side-wise at her husband.
“What?” Rube froze for a split-second. “You . . . are you . . . are we?”
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