by Nancy Madore
Chapter 46
It was a week before Aabid reached his decision. During that time he neither spoke to nor visited his wives in their rooms. The family meal was particularly awkward, as everyone took their cue from Aabid and this left no one speaking. Even the children, sensing something ominous, practically swallowed their food whole and then abruptly rushed from the room.
Helene and Fa’izah brooded over their fate. They blamed it all—perhaps unfairly—on Aabid’s mother, hating her more than ever, and concocting plots for revenge. Sensing their resentment, the woman wisely kept her distance.
Aabid spent more time away from home than ever before, never telling anyone where he went. When he was home, he stayed with his father in his sickroom. They shared long hours there, and Helene wondered what her father-in-law thought about the incident. She felt he would probably give her the benefit of the doubt, having softened in his view of her over the years.
Helene was getting dressed one morning when Aabid finally came to her. Her blonde hair—which she still wore long—was strewn all about in disarray. She could see from the intensity of his stare that he still wanted her.
“I have decided to spare Fa’izah,” he announced.
Helene couldn’t hide her relief. “Thank you!” she cried, impetuously throwing her arms around him. His arms came up instinctively to hold her but he stopped himself.
Helene stepped away awkwardly. His face was filled with emotion but Helene couldn’t tell what it was. Anger? Undoubtedly. Fear? Always. Love? Helene wasn’t sure he was capable of love. She stared at his face, unable to read him, as she waited for him to continue.
“I cannot let your behavior go unpunished,” he informed her grimly.
Helene held her breath, realizing suddenly that it wasn’t for herself that she was afraid. It was for him! If he was without mercy now it would surely destroy the last shred of feeling she had for him—however meager it might be.
“Our bargain is finished,” he said, and Helene dropped into the nearest chair with a little sob. Gisele would pay the price for her folly then! “Or, at least, your terms for it,” he added, and Helene’s head shot up. Aabid’s eyes seemed to be drinking in all of her wild beauty, even as he fought with everything he had to break her. “There is still a way for our little Gisele to escape—as you so bluntly put it.” A bitter smile twisted his lips. Helene wondered what he was driving at. “Her ticket out will be your dear friend, Edward!”
Helene stared at her husband, confused. “I don’t understand,” she said.
“I’ve offered Edward Gisele’s hand in marriage!” Helene was struck speechless so Aabid continued—“It is a way for you to prove that there is nothing more between you than, as you say, friendship.”
“But…what did Edward say?” Helene was mortified to think of how that conversation must have gone. What must Edward think of Aabid?
“He said he would do as you wished.”
Gisele and Edward! Helene could feel her cheeks burning under Aabid’s watchful gaze and struggled to remain calm. “He’s so much older than her!” she remarked, yet her mind was racing ahead. Edward! He would do it if she asked him to. She sensed that this would be Gisele’s only chance. It wasn’t as if they had to stay married. The marriage could be in name only. The moment she left Saudi Arabia, Gisele would be free to get a divorce. Perhaps Edward was thinking the same thing when he agreed to go along with it. Helene had confided in him how much she wanted to get Gisele out of Saudi Arabia.
“He is no older than many of the men seeking wives Gisele’s age,” Aabid reminded her and this, more than anything else, made up her mind.
“I must speak to Gisele!”
“You would agree to it then?” He seemed surprised. Helene looked back at him, equally surprised by how little he knew her. As if she would sacrifice her daughter’s happiness over a man—even one that she was in love with! How petty and malicious he seemed just then. He believed her to be in love with Edward; yet that he could give his daughter to the man under those circumstances was too unspeakably cruel to forgive. Had he no love for his daughter? Helene could almost pity Aabid, except that this final act of betrayal destroyed any remaining feeling she was capable of having for him, just as she knew it would. She looked at him with contempt. Yet she knew that it wasn’t entirely his fault. He’d been taught since birth that women were worth less than the animals. And she knew, as well, that he was letting her off easy. It was within his rights to have her severely punished—and even killed.
How glad she would be when Gisele was far away from here. Yet her heart broke when she thought of her other children.
“Yes,” she said. “I most certainly will agree.”
“I have invited him here to settle it!” he said as if to deliver a final blow. It seemed that he couldn’t quite believe she was willing to go along with it.
Helene tried to conceal her emotions. She didn’t want to do or say anything to ruin this opportunity for Gisele. She rose up from her chair, keeping her eyes lowered and her demeanor humble. “I will speak with our daughter now,” she said.
Her mind was on Edward as she looked for Gisele. She thought of the joy he brought. How lovely it was to talk to him, to have that to look forward to. He made her laugh. What would she do without him? What would she do without Gisele? Helene couldn’t identify what she was feeling, except for the relief. She’d survived another disaster—dodged another bullet—and this time she actually came out ahead. Anything more complex was too dangerous to dwell upon. She had to be content with little joys—like those afternoons with Edward. She could not allow herself to feel more deeply than that.
Helene could almost laugh at the irony. If Aabid knew how completely he had extinguished her ability to feel he would never be jealous again.
Gisele was busy entertaining the smaller children—trying to scare them out of their wits, actually—when Helene found her. She jumped up, tittering guiltily when she saw that she was caught, fully prepared to charm her way out of a scolding. Two of the children were already in tears.
Helene tried to look at her daughter objectively. What would Edward think of her? She was as different from Helene as a person could be—as dark as Helene was fair, and as wild as Helene was composed.
“Ummi!” Gisele kissed her mother’s cheek. “Albi!”
“Youni enta!” Helene laughed. “Come, habibi, and we will talk.”
Gisele linked arms with her mother. “Salam babies,” she called over her shoulder as they left the room. “Was I naughty again, Ummi?” she whispered.
“Yes!” answered Helene, laughing. “But that’s not what I want to talk to you about.”
Gisele looked at her mother with concern, aware—along with everyone else in the household—that something serious was going on. Her eyes were so dark and beautiful that at moments like these Helene almost feared she would get lost in them. “A very strange thing has happened,” Helene told her, wondering how to break the news.
“What is it?” There was a note of alarm in Gisele’s tone.
“Come into the garden with me, habibi, and we will have a long talk. I want to explain everything—from the beginning—so you will understand.”
Gisele stopped her. “What is it, Ummi?” she repeated, becoming more distressed. “Is it bad?”
Helene gently coaxed Gisele onward. “No, my impatient girl, I don’t think it is bad!” But tears were filling Helene’s eyes and she knew she was frightening her daughter even more. Gisele stopped, refusing to go any further until her mother told her what was happening.
“You’re going away,” Helene said, smiling through her tears. “And it’s going to be wonderful for you.”
“Going away!” Gisele echoed. “But…” She looked at her mother with surprise…and interest.
“Come with me now,” said Helene. “Do you want to know everything? Yes? Well then, you must listen to what I have to say. I know I have always let you have your way but this time you must listen to
ummi, understand?”
Gisele took her mother’s arm again and allowed herself to be led into the courtyard, assuming the air of a long suffering Joan of Arc being led to the stake. Helene would have laughed but her mind was occupied with the past, stirring up old memories, some of which had been locked away for many years. She knew it would be painful to bring them back, but it would be therapeutic too, for she had never really mourned the past. She turned her eye inward, scouring her mind for Pandora’s Box and wondering how much of it to let out.
Chapter 47
Present Day
“Man, your grandfather was cree-py!” said Clive, shivering for effect, but then, noticing Nadia’s distress he added—“…he so creepy he went into a haunted house and came out with an application.”
Nadia tried to smile. “It’s just so…sad,” she said, sniffing. Will, who was sitting next to her on the plane, took her hand.
“Don’t be too hard on your grandfather,” he said. “Men in this part of the world are stuck in the dark ages. It does a number on their head.”
Nadia sighed. “I suppose.”
“Well, that explains how Edward got back into the picture,” said Gordon, trying to the change the subject, but actually making Nadia feel worse.
“I suppose now you’ll be pointing the finger at him,” she said.
“Nadia,” Will began.
“No!” she cut him off. “By all means…let’s start ripping daddy apart now. Let’s see, he’s a staunch environmentalist…I guess that’s strike one. Oh, and let’s not forget that he helped me get started in this treacherous business of helping people…strrr-ike two!”
“Listen to me, Nadia,” Will interrupted. “We’re not going to start ripping your father apart.”
“Oh? Why not?” She tried to take her hand away but he refused to give it up, squeezing it instead.
“Cause we already did and we came up empty handed,” said Clive. Both Gordon and Will looked at him as if to say—‘are you trying to make things worse?’ Clive huffed, clearly offended. “Just trying to help.”
“Already did…how?” Nadia asked. “What have you done to him?”
“Nothing,” said Will. “He was under surveillance for a while, that’s all.”
“And he came out squeaky clean,” added Clive. “Not to mention that he’s a man, and having just come from Saudi Arabia, we all can appreciate how important that is.”
“What he means is that Lilith wouldn’t choose to be a man,” clarified Gordon.
“Though she did appear to have a bad case of penis envy,” said Clive.
“It’s extremely unlikely that a female djinn would pick a man to inhabit,” reiterated Gordon, growing annoyed with Clive.
“But not so unlikely that she would marry him,” said Clive, and Nadia knew they were still thinking about Gisele. “For a husband, Edward would have made the perfect choice. A rich guy who’s also smart and romantic, who takes long walks on the beach and likes his martinis shaken, not stirred…just like James Bond.”
It was disturbing that they knew these things about her father.
“I was supposed to join him at the beach tomorrow,” Nadia remembered out loud.
“That’s probably not a bad idea,” said Will. “You’ll be safer there until all this is over.”
“So that’s it?” she asked. “All this for nothing?”
“For nothing!” echoed Clive. “We figured out what it is and where it’s going down. That’s huge!”
“But we didn’t stop it,” she said.
“Our job is to expose the plot and capture the djinn,” said Gordon. “We accomplished half our goal.”
“You win some you lose some,” said Clive.
“So, this was definitely the work of Lilith,” she concluded, astonishment still evident in her voice.
“It sure looks that way,” said Will.
“So where is she then?” she wondered out loud.
“That’s the million dollar question,” said Will. “We’ve looked at every possible candidate. We’ve even considered Fa’izah, but she doesn’t have access to a computer and she never leaves the house. She’d have to be a lot more powerful than a djinn—more like a witch—to pull this off.”
“Don’t tell me you guys believe in witches too,” groaned Nadia.
“No,” he replied. “But the point is we just don’t know. Maybe Brisbin—or whoever he was covering for—brought Lilith back on their end.”
“I’ve added Lieutenant Brisbin to our system,” Gordon told her. “We had no reason to suspect him before. There’s still a chance we’ll find Lilith through him.” He sighed in frustration. “That wouldn’t explain the connection to BEACON though...it’s hard to believe that that could be a coincidence. I was so sure we had her!”
“Don’t beat yourself up,” said Clive.
Gordon turned to Nadia. “I’m the one who submitted the report that ultimately brought about your abduction,” he told her. “We have to prove a certain risk factor and present evidence to get authorization to seize a person suspected of harboring a djinn. I jumped the gun on this and I’m sorry. I guess I owe you one.”
“Well I don’t regret a thing,” said Clive. At Nadia’s look he added—“If not for your help we might still be looking for suicide bombers in LA!”
“Thanks…I think,” she replied dryly. She supposed all her personal trauma was worth it if they actually managed to contain whatever it was in DC. “But people are still going to die.”
“You can’t dwell on that,” said Clive.
“I keep thinking about how Helene toyed with the idea of bringing Lilith back to help her,” mused Will. “What do you suppose made her think she could pull that off?”
“That’s probably what she was researching at the library,” said Gordon. “But when she got caught with Edward that research came to an end.”
“There are many questions that may never be answered,” observed Will. “That, unfortunately, is the nature of our job.”
“If she’s out there we’ll find her,” said Clive. “It’s just a matter of time. I’m anxious to see where Brisbin leads us.”
Nadia noticed that Will was watching her and, meeting his eyes, she couldn’t help thinking of her nickname for him when they first abducted her. His eyes were so blue that she sometimes felt like she was drowning in them. Suddenly awkward, she blurted out—“I’m still not a hundred percent convinced all this is real…that I’m not just being brainwashed like…Patty Hearst.” She followed this with a little laugh, as if it was just a joke.
“Does that mean you’ll do whatever we tell you to?” asked Clive.
She was still looking at Will, who surprised her by whispering—“Does it?”
She replied with another little nervous laugh. Needing a change of subject, she said—“I’m sick of peanuts. Don’t we have anything else?”
“I’ve got Doritos,” said Clive.
“Hand them over!” she demanded.
Will unclasped his seat belt. “I’m going to check in,” he said.
“I’m going to go join the mile high club,” said Clive, also getting up. “…Or pee. I’ll leave it up to you, Patty. Which is going to be?”
“Clive…” Will interjected in a warning tone.
“We tried to suck out her soul like a Slurpee,” said Clive. “I think we can dodge a sexual harassment claim after that, don’t you?” He winked at Nadia as he strolled off to the bathroom, humming the same old tune that was now driving her crazy because she couldn’t get it out of her head. Will went to the other end of the plane to make his call.
“Ugh, that tune,” she complained, crunching on a Dorito. “He sings it all the time!”
Gordon seemed agitated. “Mmmm,” he agreed humorlessly.
Something in his tone aroused Nadia’s interest. “What is that song anyway?” she asked. “I know I’ve heard it before, but I can’t think of the words.”
Gordon turned and met her eyes reluctantly, which
made it all the more surprising when he took a deep breath and began to sing. He had a high, almost falsetto voice but he kept perfect tempo with the song’s melody—“Jeeeeean, Jeeeeean, ro-ses are red. All the leeeeaves have gone green. And the clouds are so low, you can touch them, and so, come out to the meadow, Bonnie Jean.”
Nadia tried to maintain a serious expression. Something in Gordon’s manner—in the grim way he sang the song—brought to mind Clive’s taunt about his name that first night she met them. “Is your name really Gordon?” she couldn’t help asking.
He sighed. “My first name is Gene,” he muttered.
Nadia nodded and pursed her lips. “Nice name.”
“Thanks,” said Gordon.
“He’s a strange guy,” she observed about Clive.
“You don’t know the half of it.”
“You guys must spend a lot of time together,” she said.
“Too much,” said Gordon.
“Is Will always so uptight?” she wondered, changing the subject.
“He’s not so bad,” Gordon replied thoughtfully. “Bit of a control freak. His heart’s in the right place. He had a tough childhood. Father’s a tyrant…that kind of thing. He thinks it’s up to him to personally take down every bad guy.”
Clive was coming back from the bathroom so Nadia changed the subject again. “How much longer is this flight?” she asked.
“We’ve got another six hours or so,” said Clive. “We’re about half way there.”
Nadia yawned. Will was coming up the aisle too.
“What news?” asked Clive.
“They found another two syringes!” he announced.
“I heard that,” said Clive, aiming a fist at Will. Will bumped fists with Clive’s and then sat back down next to Nadia. “Yeah, but I wonder how many more are out there,” he said. “They’re looking at every person working at those meetings,” he continued. “Doormen, caterers…even the janitors.”
“I would think especially the janitors,” murmured Nadia.
Clive laughed. “I bet you’ll never look at a janitor in the same way.”