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

by Rusul A. Altaay

  Chapter 17

  The Night of the Fire

  “What night? Don’t you know by now that we have fire almost every night?” Yazan asked with a hint of sarcasm.

  “You know what I mean you-genius. I said that I needed to know what exactly had happened the night Aser’s house was blown up. And can you take that a bit seriously? You might be executed. Do you realize how messed up that is? ” Rain said.

  Earlier, Yazan had called Rain and asked if he could meet him. Things in almost all Estil were far from being settled. Protests were increasing and so were the bombings. More people were asking for their rights and more people were dying for it.

  “I need to have access to SANA. I think I know how to find Sidra. Now, that we know she’s alive.” Rain said.

  “Ok, that’s going to be hard. But what’s the plan?” Yazan asked.

  “There’s a lady that I know. Her name is Jenna. Anyway, she explained to me how to track Sidra’s neckless. Worst case scenario, we can find out when the signal was last turned off.” Rain explained.

  “So, why didn’t we do this earlier?” Yazan asked.

  “I don’t know. She just called and told me about it.”

  Yazan went back to the Burj and came up with a plan to have access to SANA. He used a satellite tracking system to find Sidra’s neckless.

  “We have a problem. Rain, I think you’re not going to believe this.” Yazan said on the phone. Once again, they had to meet to discuss the details.

  “What? Where is she?” Rain asked.

  “She’s in Tokyo.” Yazan said.

  “Tokyo? Like in Japan?”

  “How many Tokyoes do you know? Of course Tokyo like in Japan. At least that’s where her neckless is.”

  “Give me the address. It looks like I’m going to Japan.”

  It did not take Rain long to find his way to Japan. Money can indeed buy you anything and take you anywhere. As soon as he arrived to Tokyo, he located Sidra’s neckless using his smart bracelet. The signal was pointing to a tall blue-glass building. It was almost a hundred stories tall. The signal did not give him altitude. So, he had to somehow find the floor number. He sat down at the entrance trying to think of what to do.

  “What are you doing here?” A voice from behind ask.

  Rain slowly turned around and had a surprised expression on his face. It took him few seconds to process, but he finally said,

  “I could ask you the same thing, Aser. I was looking to find out how Sidra’s neckless ended up in Japan. You were the last person I expected to see. Wait a minute, if you are a live, does that mean….”

  “Rain?” Sidra said from behind.

  Before Rain could even turn around, she continued. “What on earth are you doing here? Don’t you have some other people to lie to?”

  “Sidra… You’re alive. I have been looking all over for you. Where were you all this time? And why haven’t you called to let us know you are a live?” Rain asked.

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t know that I have to report to you.” Sidra said sarcastically.

  “Why are you mad?” Rain asked.

  “Why? Because I learned the truth about you. Rain, please, just get out and leave me alone. I have work to do.”

  “No, I will not leave without answers. What happened the night of the fire?” Rain asked.

  Sidra just ignored him and did not want to talk to him. Let me explain what happened that night. When commander Basam ordered the team to kill Aser, Sidra had absolutely no idea how she would save him. Since Basam wanted him dead, she just knew that she had to save him. They had a short time to come up with a good plan to get out of that situation. Luckily, Aser’s house was made out of wood for that reason. He had gas pipes running throw his entire house. All he had to do was lit the gas… and boom!

  The entire place exploded after they got out. They left with some of Aser’s people and went to their safe house. Aser knew other people in Japan who were also part of the Siwaar project. They just joined forces with them to expedite the working process. Sidra knew that it was not a coincident that Rain sent her to help him.

  “I have had enough of you. I spent the past month beating myself up for sending you to Aser’s that night. I truly believed that I was the reason you were dead. Then, it turns out that you are well and alive, and that you chose not to call or communicate in anyway?” Rain said with a tone.

  “Did it ever occur to you that I did not want to be found?”

  “No, it did not… because you could have at least called me.”

  “Now why would I call the son of the man who left me in prison for two weeks under torture? ...... Yes, Rain, I know. I know that the old man I killed all of those years ago was your grandfather, and that the man who ordered my arrest was your father.”

  “I had nothing to do with that. I swear.”

  “You lied to me. All you cared about was collecting info so you could send it to your father.”

  “You know that I would never do anything to hurt you.”

  “Really? I never knew why you left me there until I found out that it was your father’s doing. It all made sense.” Sidra said.

  “I was looking into a way to get you out of there. When we finally did go back, you were gone. We attacked the prison to free you. After we got there, we were told that you had left. No one knew where you went off to.”

  “Rain, listen to me….” Sidra said as she was interrupted.

  “No, you listen to me. You and everyone who helped you escape might be executed. I’m sorry, but we have no time to talk about why my father did what he had to. You need to be back to Estil before the entire team at the Burj is charged with treason.”

  “Oh my God… I had no idea.”

  “You thought you could just take off with no consequences?” Rain asked.

  Aser just interrupted and said, “I’m the one who asked her to leave Estil for a while. We needed to work on the project with no interruption. Here we have people who could help us. Apparently, we had less time than I had hoped for.”

  “I really need to go back. I’m just going to surrender myself.” Sidra said.

  “Wait… So, if this place can connect you to the headquarters why didn’t you tell them that you are still alive?” Rain asked.

  “Who said that I didn’t?” Sidra replied.

  “Because…” Rain was about to say something before he thought, “I can’t tell her now that my uncle is one of Siwaar’s leaders, and he would have told me if she had contacted them earlier.”

  “Rain… Why did you stop talking?” Aser asked.

  “Sidra, you could have contacted me using an encrypted rhythm like you always do.” Rain said.

  “After I learned the truth about who your father really is, I wanted nothing to do with you. I still don’t want anything to do with you.”

  “We have to put this behind us.” Rain said.

  “I’m never going to forgive you or your father.”

  “Sidra… Don’t you think you are being a little harsh?” Aser said.

  “Not at all. You have no idea what I went through.”

  “I care about you.” Rain said.

  “Oh, please… The only reason you cared about me is because you already knew about my involvement with Siwaar.”

  “My father has nothing to do with it.”

  “You two need to stop this. Sidra, I should have never told you who Rain’s father is. I just thought you already knew.” Aser said.

  “No, thank you for tell me. Someone had to be honest.”

  “I would have told you eventually. I just never had a chance to do so.” Rain said.

  “Save it.” Sidra said.

  “Let’s just go now. I have a plane waiting.” Rain said.

  “Lead the way.” Aser said.

  Sidra could not just ignore the fact that she was the reason her friends might get hurt. She had no plan at all. All she knew is that she had to go back. Rain had no idea how to get Sidra out of
that situation either. He thought he might be able to come up with something as soon as went back to Estil. Aser, on the other hand, had to go back to Estil as well to take care of unfinished personal business. On their way back, on the plane, Rain thought that it was a good time he came clean about a lot of things.

  “By the way, I knew who you were long before you even came to the Burj. I was one of your doctors when you were first recruited.”

  “What are you talking about? What’s that even mean?”

  “You were very weak and skinny. I was surprised that you were selected among other people to enter the Siwaar project. Do you remember all of the physical training you had every single day?”

  “How did you know about that? And what does this have to do with anything?”

  “At the time, I was an intern. We were ordered not to let our subjects know about us. All of the machines you trained on were collecting data about you. I used to watch you every day train from behind the double sided mirrors at the lab. My job was to give a full analysis about your brain and physical activities. You improved remarkably in a very short time.” Rain explained.

  “Why are you telling me all of this now?” Sidra asked.

  “One day, someone left their cell phone in the lab. One of the guys brought it to me thinking I knew who its owner was. I had to look through it only to find out that it was yours. I couldn’t help myself but notice a video file under the name ‘My father’. So, I opened it. It was the video where you shot my grandfather. You were much younger and looked different, but I knew that it had to be you.”

  “This is crazy…” Sidra said.

  “That was over six years ago. I knew who you were and what you did. If I had anything to do with your arrest, don’t you think I would have spoken earlier?”

  Sidra was just surprised hearing all of that. She had no idea that Rain kept all of that from her for years. She really needed some time to process.

  “I’m really sorry. I didn’t know you were tortured. You never said anything about that.” Rain said.

  “It was nothing. I don’t want to talk about it. In fact, I don’t want to talk about anything right now.”

  Rain and Sidra did not say a word to one another after that. Sidra was really mad. She thought that was tortured in prison under Rain’s father commands. Then, she discovered that Rain knew her before she even joined the Burj. She had the right to be mad if you ask me. However, Rain never tried to explain his position at all. His father really had no idea about what was going on in that prison.

  “Hazeem had no idea about what was going on in the prison where you were held.” Aser said as he interrupted the awkward silence.

  “He put me there. Didn’t he?” Sidra said.

  “Yes, but he ordered your release as soon as our agents contacted him. That only happened after we got your message via the song.” Aser said.

  “Sidra… My father really didn’t know about that. I’m sorry for what they did to you in there.” Rain said.

  “Why did you let him arrest me? Why didn’t you contact him from the beginning?”

  “Because…” Rain tried saying something.

  “There is something you should know. Rain’s mother was killed as soon as his father accepted a position as a commander in the army. It was a failed attempt to kill Hazeem. Therefore, Rain was never in good terms with his father.” Aser explained.

  “I had no idea.” Sidra said.

  “I let my anger control me. For that, I am deeply sorry.” Rain said.