Humility

by Magdalene Hornbeam

  Fritz, with great relief, thought that now that office in London was up in the air and the project manager Nigel Eisenstein and the other black twin were killed in the explosion, there was no transmission from the cameras online and could act without thinking what was recorded on video and what was not.

  There was a complication because they expected a visit of the Coordination Division, they had arrived in Bolivia and now were staying at a hotel in La Paz and probably still did not know about the tragedy in London. Fritz ordered the guards at the gate not to let them in before informing them and reassured he began to deal and tackle with the incident. But his calmness lasted briefly.

  - Illal, there has been an unfortunate mishap, but I will punish those responsible, this doctor, because I have not ordered such intervention. Probably there had been a misunderstanding - the funnel speaker in his hands was trembling.

  - Spare yourself, Fritz, find and bring my brother, I will negotiate and speak only with him! You have 72 hours. Then I begin to kill hostages one by one in ten hours.

  - Illal, your brother is gone in an unknown direction. He may be everywhere, on every continent. And even if we knew exactly where he is, it is doubtful that he fly to Bolivia for three days! - Fritz Mueller was trying to get the time on his side, but realized how insane situation was. - Luckily I speak Amharic, and we can easily have negotiations.

  - No way, Fritz, my brother never walks without me. You have sent him somewhere. If you're not aware and informed, call you superiors, they are people with great opportunities, so large that one of those doctors who I have tied here, executed their orders without letting you know about them. I suspect, however, that the big sharks do not care that will kill these suckers, their servants and they will not get their asses moved to find my brother, so I have a plan B. But it will talk tomorrow!

  The line went dead. Hans, nicknamed "slouch", the Deputy Commandant Mrs. Hass, whose first name was known to just a few people and two heavily armed men, commanders of the new guards who were with Fritz in the low building that served as a dining room of the farm "Reproduction" turned into a headquarters for talks and negotiations with the kidnapper looked puzzled. Because the conversation was so far in a strange Semitic language and none of those present understood a word.

  - He wants to negotiate with her brother, and I cannot tell him that he, like his girl is no longer alive - the commandant sounded desperate.

  - We need to attack, there is no other! - Mrs. Hass said.

  - We cannot, until reinforcements arrive - said the commander of the new guard he had come from the neighboring farm "Communications". – The Former mercenary Illal Saadi has stolen all of our explosives that were stored in the warehouse area of the block "Communication". It is necessary to include a psychologist, from the most experienced ones, to try with his help to master the situation for these three days we have been given and we have to find and defuse the bombs.

  - You are afraid to attack, you are afraid that you can be blown up together with the hospital? - Deputy Commandant spoke angrily and contemptuously.

  - No, ma'am, He will blow last the maternity hospital where he is holding the hostages. I'm afraid he will first blow up the admin building in the camp.

  - Well. Let’s start inspections to find bombs, if any are loaded! - Said "slouch" Hans.

  - It is the right option, I guess the "bombs" are loaded to destroy the camp and not triggered by clocks – said the pompous military officer.

  - And how do they work? With the remote control? - "Slouch" was still persisting

  - I do not know for sure!

  - But then we are all in danger! - Squealed with falsetto Mrs. Hass.

  - Yes, exactly for that reason I continue to insist to take a psychologist – the short-haired military turned to Fritz, who now by took no part in the conversation.

  - Illal speaks very bad English, he would not understand the messages of the psychologist. In the camp there are currently five psychoanalysts, but none of them knows Arabic - gasped the chief commandant. - If we lose time for translation, Illal will understand. The good thing is that we managed to limit the incident so that outside the farm "Reproduction" nobody but us knows. We must consider the situation.

  - Well, we will stay on duty here, in the improvised headquarters, and you go to get a rest for a few hours. If the kidnapper phones again, I'll call you - the commander of the guards was trying to control the situation.

  Fritz shrugged his shoulders and this time Mrs. Hass said nothing. "Slouch" had hunched, as if under a huge burden and his big head was swaying unnaturally on his thin neck. The three went out, and men with short haircuts wearing odd military uniforms, were sitting on chairs near a stationary phone used by Illal for calling.

  ***

  Moonlight found the key to Hyulal’s dormitory room. She found it in a drawer in the cleaners’ room in the central administrative building. Immediately she realized that he had purposely left it for her. That same evening, particularly late at night she crept quietly and unlocked. The room was in a perfect order. The wardrobe was empty, but it seemed to have a double bottom. She was able to open it. Inside she found the laptop. She took it out and turned it on, sitting on the floor. It needed a password. She tried to remember what they talked about with the dark-skinned supplier. For four years they had talked only once on personal topics. He found her crying and immediately knew that she was weeping over her mother. He said that his mother abandoned them with Illal, to save his sister and his younger brother and he did not get mad because otherwise all of them would no longer be alive. But he could not imagine her face clearly. He asked her about the name of her mother. Then, she found it a very strange question. But now she remembered. She entered the name of her mother in Latin and managed to enter the system. The laptop had wireless Internet. She could log on and read the info emails in the mail of Commandant Fritz. It made an impression that there was an email address domain name with extension .cn. So there was a Chinese guy among those who periodically had received reports of "Anthill" over these years. She remembered it, turned it off quickly, returned the laptop in its hiding place and quietly, like a cat left the room. She didn’t lock it because she heard some noise in the hallway and ran quickly up the stairs. It was two in the morning.

  She reached her room safely. Her heart was pounding in her throat. Her first job was to remove the thin plastic gloves off her hands, throw them in the trash and slip into bed. She had taken the night raid in pajamas. She could not estimate how many minutes have passed, but still felt the heartbeat when there was a signal for a general check and she heard the characteristic switch-on of the system. From the speaker in the wall opposite the bed she heard a melodious voice, notifying exceptional check and the camera began to move, scanning room. She got up to put her thumb on the device identification and then went back to bed. Not long after that, they announced the end. She began drifting off to sleep again when she was startled by the crash of the door opening. "Slouch" Hans Tsyoler rushed into the room. His head rocked on his thin neck, as if any moment it could detach and fall. His little eyes looked at her blankly.

  - Number 35, get dressed quickly and come clean the office of the commandant Hass.

  - OK, right now - she replied in broken English.

  - I am waiting for you in the hallway.

  He accompanied her as if he was worried not to let her out of sight. The administrative building was close, but went there by car. For the first time they drove her in a car. Usually the movement in the camp was done by a forklift motorcars. When they entered the office of the commandant they found nobody there, but everything was smeared with blood. Moonlight did not respond. She began cleaning the room. They had brought mops, water, chemicals. "Slouch" was sitting on a chair in the corner and was watching her.

  - I’m going to the bathroom, don’t you dare to go out of the room!

  The cleaning lady didn’t respond. He went out and soon returned. His cell rang.

  - OK Fritz,
and what shall I do with this stupid bitch who’s cleaning her? Nothing? Now the first thing is to deal with Illal, right? He has given us three days’ time to contact his brother. Enough time to find explosives. If he wants to kill the doctors, he’ll even do us a favor. The important thing is that we got rid of the agent of the Corporation – the nasty man with a look of a freak lowered his voice - Commandant Haas seems to be one of the Corporation, you shouldn’t have been so impatient as to kill the agent, don’t you think so? And, yes, she’s a hell of a woman, but again I repeat that it is a mistake that we got her in our team.

  Then "slouch" stayed silent and listened only to the orders of Fritz. He hanged up the conversation in a visibly improved mood.

  - Number 35! - She lifted her face, but looked aside - You know what I'm saying? – The Cleaner didn’t respond. - Oh, well, it is just fine that you are such a moron, otherwise I had to do something else with you tonight. I am exhausted. But very agile, you are. Now only the walls remained. I will gloss them with paint. I won’t wait for you to climb up the ladder.

  He called the driver to come and take the maid from the corridor outside the office of the commandant. He nearly pushed her out of the room because she was moving up and down puzzled.

  When Moonlight lay back in her bed, it was dawning. He could not sleep. She frantically pondered what to do.

  In that single private conversation with Hyulal, she also asked him questions. Is there someone who he feels close to, and who would help him, if needed? He said that this is an Islamic cleric, AlBukri Saadi, who has adopted them with his brother. He gave her the phone number in Algeria. In case something happened to him, she should try to call him. Now he had to be called. But she could not make it from the general common phone in the hallway of the administration. Someone could hear that she speaks English.

  The chance was on her side. Early in the morning, the driver came to take her back. She should urgently clean all shelves and souvenirs in the office of Mrs. Hass. The last one was explained with clearly gestures by the "slouch" whose small, bloodshot eyes (probably from lack of sleep), with huge dark circles under them, were swollen. Then he showed her the watch, she had to do it for twenty minutes and he locked her inside.

  Moonlight started frantically wiping and polishing. She made sure she was locked, put some thin plastic gloves and checked whether landline telephone had an answering machine. There wasn’t. She dialed AlBukri in Algeria.

  It was Musa who picked up the phone. He had redirected the telephone of the old cleric to his smartphone.

  - Hello, I am looking for AlBukri Saadi.

  - Currently he cannot call, I'm Dr. Musa Ziyad. Can I help with something?

  - Can you connect me with Hyulal Saadi?

  - At the moment it is midnight for Hyulal. What do you need?

  - His brother Illal has taken hostages. He set a condition to find his twin Hyulal.

  - But … are you calling from "Anthill" Are you?

  - Yes, if you have been told about the camp, you're very close to them. Tell Hyulal that his brother had taken hostages in the farm of "fertility". And write down the following email – she dictated the email address extension ".cn", because she was confident that it belonged to someone of the Corporation. - Let Hyulal seek assistance from this man.

  Then the connection went dead. Moonlight quickly took off the gloves, put them in the pocket of her apron and continued to rub. Everything was polished to shine when "slouch" unlocked again. The weirdo said nothing, only made a gesture to her to go out with rags and chemicals, and all. She was almost closing the door to the cleaners when she saw a group of guests, led by Commandant Fritz and his deputy Hass enter through the main entrance.

  - There has been a misunderstanding - said Fritz. - We have not hired any additional security. There was no need to go all the way to here, you had to call on the phone. We will immediately contact Mr. Nigel Eisenstein to remove and discuss the ambiguities.

  At this point against them appeared Hans Tsyoler. He began to explain in a loud voice with hypocritical grief that they had raised in the air with a bomb the bank in the office of their illustrious leader Mr. Eisenstein and unfortunately, many people died from their office. According to unconfirmed data between those killed was also Nigel Eisenstein.

  Moonlight did not hear anything more, but later she realized that inspectors- coordinators had immediately gone to the Bolivian capital, in order to urgently get back to London. They had not made the inspection, they had just stopped it.

  Chapter 24

  The Two angels BellX18 and Black X 18 were watching the dam! Leaning its “shoulders” in sheer granite of the two slopes, as taut bow its wall was like an obstruction of the river at its narrowest point. The calm and tamed lake looked like thousands of others on the Earth. But the hooded angels who guarded Anna knew its size. Only the streams, rushing like arrows from the middle of the wall hint about the hidden power of water. These waterfalls crashing with a roar into the abyss of over one hundred and fifty meters deep and in the devilish, crying throat in the mist of water spray, the sun was playing with a multicolored arc.

  The Reservoir water storage was remarkable with that with a minimal amount of investments concrete, it held the maximum amount of water - Backwater curve extended over a length of two hundred and fifty kilometers deep in the territory of neighboring countries. Right here nature had created a narrow canyon of strong gneiss and granite, which was the gift of God for those obtaining electricity.

  There were billions of cubic meters of water and today some of them were about to be let and released to the river, where a deep gorge had to take all the water. Crocodiles and hippos were expected to die. If the water element reached the participants of the reality «Sahara», there was no salvation.

  The White Angel asked his colleague:

  - Black, let’s go at Anna, apparently Sixi will not honor us with his attention.

  - Sixi made a lot: he made the crocodiles sick, and created a storm, he delayed the release of the dam. What more do you want. The only one who can help is Sudar, but it seems that he’s given up our Anna.

  - People have free will and unlimited possibilities. Eventually everything is in their hands.

  - Black, won’t you confess that you took to Anna, and by the way I did, too. Can you think, in the beginning we joked among themselves that the number 18 will not go much longer? We didn’t give her more than thirty years of life on earth.

  - Bell, she is thirty-two years, it seems that this time we cannot save her. Two angels found themselves near the riverbed where the group was. Anna and Baz were climbing the tall tree, about five hundred meters from the clustered together other participants. The tree had a crown of thin, flexible branches, which reached the top of the rocky wall.

  At this point there appeared their mentor SixWingsXX. Whenever the archangel was taking part in such situations, the events were developing in an accelerated way. The White and The Black angel have known this for thousands of years, although they did not often work under his leadership.

  ***

  - Sixi, thank you very much for your cooperation. And this time our sensor 18 survived. Without you, the helicopter wouldn’t have been delayed by the headwind and the doctor wouldn’t have seen them on the tree - Bell shone in the brightest white.

  - Sixi, let me admit, when you slammed Anna unconscious in tent camps, I thought you were provoking us, but this was to allow Dr. Ziyad to find their documents and speed up their departure with Baz. During the last mission, two thousand years ago, when we worked together again I've told you, but your skills are remarkable. I also express my gratitude - Black surpassed his capabilities in expressing gratitude to his Superiors.

  - Do not thank me, if it were up to me I'd let you handle yourself, but Sudar ordered me to help you. But he doesn’t want you before his eyes, so you will give thanks at the end of the mission to Him, if he is, at all, pleased to see you again.

  - Well, by the end of the mission there
is still some time, hopefully we will do something so that he has mercy on us – shrugged his shoulders Bell X18, reconciled.

  The White and Black angels were very pleased with the how things were going and did not question the justice of Sudar. Light XXX enjoyed the endless respect by them.

  ***

  For the first time Anna fell asleep – a healthy, restful sleep in a comfortable bed. Dr. Musa Ziyad and the Salafists AlBukri had booked a room in Niamey, where they were staying but they also stayed there. Baz was a found shelter in a hostel, quite away far, right across the bridge Kennedy, on the other bank of the River Niger, but eventually, the black handsome was also lucky.

  She dreamed of her guardian angels.

  - Anna, it is high time for you to go to Paris to continue your philosophical work – scolded her BlackX18.

  - Black, I must first get my money from reality «Sahara», to be able to repay the hospital in the Alps and then see if I've missed any deadlines for his doctorate at the Sorbonne.

  - Okay, but promise us that from Niamey, you fly directly to Paris and you begin work on your calling, in your sphere - BellX18 sounded worried.

  - Did you somehow influence Dr. Musa Ziyad to come looking for me in Niger?

  - No, you are bound together by a previous life, he himself is very sensitive and he paid a significant part of some old debts and duties. - BlackX18 continued before she could ask anything:

  - Neither he, nor you should know about those past connections. In general, people should not be aware of these laws and should not be familiar with them.

  - Well, will you help me to find out quickly who is behind the company producer of the reality TV format?