National Exile: A 21st Century Novel about Nobility, Poverty, and Cruelty

by Rusul A. Altaay

  Chapter 14

  Glass

  Somewhere on a private island, Rain finally had the chance to meet his uncle. Let me just say that Rain’s uncle is a very interesting man. No one really knows what side he’s on. One thing about him though, he has one arm. The other one is a prosthetic. However, it’s made out of glass.

  “Mr. Shaheen, Rain is here.” Jenna said as she entered the room.

  When Rain entered the room, his uncle was sitting down on his desk. The outside walls of that room were all glass. You could see a beautiful waterfall from his office. The inside of the room was filled with glassy objects. Things like the tables, chairs, and even the pen he was writing with, were all made out of glass.

  “You asked to see me uncle.” Rain said. “I came all the way from Estil just to hear what you have to say.”

  “No, you are actually here for much more than just a chat.” Rain’s uncle replied and asked, “How are things back in Estil?”

  “Much worse than they were… Before you left ten years ago… I think.” Rain said.

  “How was Sidra when she left the prison? We were worried about her. Actually Jenna arranged her release.”

  “Well, she was late. I think Sidra was tortured somehow. She never talked about it.”

  “We were afraid this would happen. That is why we kept her in the dark about a lot of things. She did kill your grandfather after all. That was a total surprise, however. We had no idea. Your father was devastated. He thought that I hired her on purpose.”

  “My father is not an ideal human himself.”

  “My brother and I do not agree on a lot of things, but keep in mind that we both have Estil’s future in our hearts. One more thing kid, I want you to make sure that no one gets too close to any of my employees. I don’t want them distracted in anyway.”

  “If you mean Sidra, trust me… She’s anything but distracted.”

  “Good… Drama is the last thing we want in her life.” Shaheen, Rain’s uncle, said. “You will go back to Estil after you come with me for a drive. There was a reason I asked you here. And most importantly, did you bring the data I requested?”

  “Yes, I did. There are hundreds of patients’ files in this memory stick. But actually, first I want to know why you stopped the medical aid to Estil’s hospitals. You know that the administration isn’t doing anything. The people relied on those donations.”

  “We decided that it was too dangerous for us to be exposed because of our donations. We don’t want the administration to link us back to anything… Especially… with your father’s sensitive position in the army.” Shaheen said. “This subject is not up for discussion. It’s the administration’s job to supply the hospitals, not ours.”

  With no further do, Shaheen took Rain in a car to an abundant facility. It seemed old and moldy.

  “This looks like a place where the ghosts would hangout. Why am I here?” Rain asked.

  Shaheen took him inside where a secret door led to an underground facility. They went down in an elevator where they ended up in a corridor with about 8 doors on both sides. It was totally different from what it seemed from the outside. The place was designed with the latest cutting-edge technology.

  “Welcome to the Siwaar’s headquarters. What you need to see is in lab seven.” Shaheen said.

  They got in using a special designed key. The key is spherically shaped. Once it gets placed on the door, the key has to be turned 360 degrees for the door to open. When they entered, they saw at least ten people working on different things. The lab seemed very large and much bigger than anything Rain had seen at the Burj.

  “So, where is that secretive project that you wanted me to see?” Rain asked.

  “I did not just want you to see it. I want you to understand it. Besides, you’re looking at it.” Mr. Shaheen replied.

  “What am I looking at? That radiant material? Uncle, you know that I’m a doctor not a chemist.”

  “I am well aware of that… Few years ago, we discovered that Estil is standing on a pool of radiant gold. We call it the ‘Dury’. This liquid can save the world’s energy crisis. It’s 50% more efficient than Uranium and has zero radiation. This will give us huge advantage against Maki Lion’s weapons.” Shaheen said.

  “So, what Sidra and many other people are working on are ways to make Dury usable?” Rain asked.

  “We didn’t give her that much details about it. She’s working on Siwaar, the satellite that uses Dury.” Shaheen explained, “This material is very expensive and very powerful at the same time… Why do you think that Lion is doing everything in his power to ruin the country? He’s willing to exile the entire nation before anyone finding out the secret of Dury.”

  “Except that his methods of exiling involve killing.” Rain said. “What is Siwaar is all about anyway?”

  “Siwaar is capable of shooting a beam of massive amount of energy. This energy is produced using Dury. Nuclear bombs will soon look nothing compared to this.”

  Lion and the presidents before him used many wicked ways to ruin the country. They didn’t just kill and destroy everything, but they also made the people live in poverty. No other place had seen such poverty in centuries. People in Estil had been ignorant for generations which led them to much darker places. We are going to change that, and we’re going big. Estil would never go back to the way it was without something big. This is how we justified creating a powerful weapon.

  After a short chat, one of the Shaheen’s assistants walked into the lab and said,

  “I apologize for the interruption Mr. Shaheen, we just received some troubling news from Estil.”

  “What is it?”

  “It is about Mr. Aser. His house was caught on fire. They say it was a bomb explosion.”

  “What are you talking about? How can this happen?”

  “I was told that the entire place was burned to the ground, and that they found no survivors at all.”

  Shaheen turned to Rain and asked, “What exactly did you ask Sidra to do?”

  “I told her to save a man named Aser. I said nothing about explosions. I know she got the message because she tracked my IP address.”

  “Actually, the news I received is that the Burj sent a team to assassinate Mr. Aser.” The assistant said.

  “We know that. That is why I asked her to do something about it.” Rain said.

  “Well, did you know that the team leader was Sidra?” The assistant said.

  “What exactly happened down there? Rain, you have to call and ask. Use our secure lines and make sure that they think you are still in Estil.” Shaheen said.

  “On it.” Rain immediately replied.

  He called Yazan using a secured line and asked about what happened. They both knew that the line could be bugged. So, they had to be very careful about saying any unnecessary details.

  “What exactly do you want me to say? Her death is on your hands. It was your stupid idea in the first place that… never mind.” Yazan yelled on the phone.

  “Are you saying that she was there when the building exploded?”

  “Yes, she was. We don’t know what happened. We just know that she was there when we heard the explosion, and there were no bodies found. But we found some traces of blood and burned flesh. That was not the plan. No one was supposed to get hurt.” Yazan said.

  “What about Aser?” Rain asked.

  “Do I sound like I care about what might’ve happened to him? We were sent to kill him, and that is what happened. We believe that we have a spy. I have already said more than I need to. I’m hanging up now. Good day…” Yazan said and hung up.

  “Uncle, I think I need to go back to Estil and get to the bottom of this myself. We need to know what really happened. At any rate, if something happened to Sidra, it is my fault. Also, we need Aser. He knows about our plan more than anyone.”

  “Go back and keep me posted. If Sidra and Aser are found, I need both of them over here. I’ll be meeting with the ot
her scientists who are also working on the Siwaar project, just in case we lost Aser and Sidra for good.” Shaheen said.

  “It was my fault. I knew Sidra could be reckless, but I still sent her to him. I shouldn’t have done so. I don’t understand… How she came up with a plan to destroy the place that quickly.” Rain said.

  “There is something you still need to know. Aser ordered the hit on one of your teammates form the Burj not long ago.” Shaheen said.

  “What are you taking about?”

  “I believe you had a friend named Waseem. Well, my people found out that he was sending info to Maki Lion’s information sector. Aser knew, and he ordered the hit.” Shaheen said.

  “I knew he was killed by one of us. I just had no idea that Aser was behind it. The bullet the doctors got out of his chest was made in our factories... He was just a kid… I buried him myself… Did you stop for a second to think about the possibility that he was forced to spy?” Rain started to lose it.

  “It’s a war. There are always casualties.”

  “Of course you think that. I bet that’s how my father justified my mother’s death… Casualties...”

  Shaheen changed the subject and said,

  “If Sidra hadn’t made it out of there a live, replacing her is going to be hard. She holds the key that contains part of the main code of the system. Any of my agents are easily replaced because they all save their code on the main frame of SANA. Due to the circumstances at the Burj, she couldn’t afford uploading the code. It could’ve easily been detected while sending that huge amount of information via Estil’s networks. She invented a system of her own where she saves all data on a necklace… Just find her at all costs.”

  “What happens if I don’t find them?”

  “We will be set back for months. That code is not easily written. We needed someone with multiple skills to make it happen. That is when I found Sidra few years ago and made her one of us.”

  “Does she even know who you are?” Rain asked.

  “No, she does not. She has never met me personally.” Shaheen said.

  “I need to go, now. Take care of yourself…” Rain said and left.

  He left with lots of thoughts in his head. He found out that the man Sidra probably died protecting was responsible for killing one of their friends. He was not sure about his uncle’s plans for Estil. People have been suffering for generations there. Something had to change, and someone had to step up. The use of technology might have been their hope, but no one knew for sure what could happen.

  At that moment, all Rain could think of was Sidra. He completely forgot about what he caused Yazan. Back at the Burj, commander Basam was really mad at the team. Yazan was put in prison for few days just for having an international conversation about a mission. During time of war, such acts considered risky. This was the main reason Rain had to communicate originally with an encrypted email. He did not know that his uncle’s phone was not as secured as he had hoped.

  “I was informed about Sidra’s little trick to warn Aser on time. It was me who ordered the hit on his house.” Basam told the team, “However, the house exploded before the SWAT team got there. At this point, Aser and his people’s fate are unknown. And just so you know, if Sidra is still alive, I’m going to kill her myself. I don’t have a place for traitors on my base.”

  Change was coming to Estil. But not everyone wanted that change. It had been years and no one did anything to stop the administration. Estil is a very large country, and yet the people were never united. Lion’s administration might’ve been responsible about lots of things, but the people turned against each other and fought for a piece of bread. Actually, it was their fault that Maki Lion got to become the president in the first place. They never stopped him or united against him.