Should I tell Dad about Mr. Hadad’s friend? If I do, will he freak out about the whole boyfriend thing? What’s going to happen to me and Nasir? He’d said that the Arab community was close … Will he still love me if I send his father’s friend to jail?
That last question was the most troubling. More than anything I wanted to turn a blind eye to what I had seen and pretend nothing had happened this afternoon. Just keep my mouth shut and not cause any trouble. That’s what the old me would have done.
It was tempting, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that I had no choice. I couldn’t let this guy get away with his crimes. To do so would be to betray my own father. And I suddenly realized just how much I needed to protect him. The same way he’s needed to protect me. I knew in my heart it’s what Mom would have wanted us to do for each other.
“I have to come clean and tell him everything,” I whispered to myself. Somehow, saying the words out loud made the decision feel that much more final. And in the same breath, I accepted that my relationship with Nasir might very well be over.
The realization of what I was about to do poured over me in a wave of nausea. Stopping by a nervous-looking shoe vendor, I clutched at my stomach in an effort to keep the queasiness from taking over. I breathed in slow, deep breaths, silently willing myself not to throw up all over his table of leather sandals. As soon as the nausea passed, I dug my cellphone out of my backpack and turned the power on.
Suddenly, out of the rabble of the crowd, I heard somebody yelling in English.
“Mary? Mary, wait!”
I spun around and saw Nasir’s father running towards me. Is he talking to me?
“Mary, wait — you forgot something in the apartment!” he called, pushing his way through the tangle of people. Yup, he’s definitely talking to me. But why’s he calling me Mary?
I watched as he hurried to catch up, his big brown eyes so full of intensity — just like Nasir’s. Gosh, what a nice man, I thought, wondering how I could have been so scared of him before. Trying to see above the crowd, I stood on my tiptoes and started to wave. But my hand froze when I saw his friend, who was following a few steps behind. I knew from one look at his face that he remembered me. Feeling a little scared, I shook my head and turned to walk the other way.
“Sorry, I really have to go!” I mumbled, hurrying off down the street.
A second later, my entire world turned upside down when I heard the dealer scream something.
“Wa-ifooha! Wa-ifooha!”
I couldn’t understand the words, but that awful raspy voice of his filled my heart with fear. Instinct took over my body; I started running. The dealer screamed again. I glanced over my shoulder and saw both men running after me.
Oh my God!
Right then and there, the streets of the souk transformed into my own personal nightmare. Panic quickly set in as I crashed my way through the crowded market. I was so terrified I couldn’t think straight. I knew why the dealer was chasing me, but why was Mr. Hadad chasing me, too? And where did Nasir go? There had to be some kind of rational explanation.
But there was no time to figure it out. Whenever I turned back to look, I saw the dealer’s angry, red, panting face getting closer and closer, gaining on me with every step. At this rate, I knew it wouldn’t be long before he caught up.
“Help! Help!” I tried to scream as I tore madly through the mobs of people. But I was too overcome with fear to make a sound. I couldn’t believe this was happening!
Desperate to lose my pursuers, I turned a sharp corner and quickly ducked into the shadow of a doorway. I held my breath and sent out a silent prayer as the men flew by, passing no more than three feet away from my hiding spot.
Once I saw that they were a safe distance away, I turned around and doubled back. That’s when I remembered the cellphone still clutched in my hand. Thank God Dad programmed his number for me, I thought, hitting the speed-dial button. But instead of my father’s voice, all I could get was a series of loud, angry beeps. I tried again and again, but the phone wasn’t picking up a signal. This part of the Old City was a dead spot.
Damn it!
I flipped the phone shut and ran on, stopping for one precious second to grab a scarf from an astonished vendor and wrap it around my hair. I knew my blond, uncovered head had been a spotlight, giving me away at every turn.
Wearing my new disguise, I picked up my pace and kept going. I had a bigger lead this time but I knew it might not last.
Nasir, where are you? my brain shrieked. Why aren’t you here? Why aren’t you helping me? I didn’t know what to think. The one thing I knew for sure was that I had to get away from this crazy place and make it home safely to Dad.
I ran and ran and ran, my feet pounding the cobblestones, my pulse throbbing in my ears, my bag hammering against my back with every step. I felt like a fugitive, looking over my shoulder every few minutes to see if they were catching up.
Unfortunately, I was never very good at long-distance running. My throat was screaming with each breath and my lungs felt like they were going to burst out of my chest. I had to save my voice; calling Dad was my only way out of here. Gasping for air, I ran into a small carpet store and ducked down into a dark corner at the back. As my legs groaned with relief, I sunk down onto the floor and tried the phone again. My hands were shaking so badly I could barely push the buttons. Come on, come on, come on, I prayed under my breath while my eyes darted around the store. The clerk, a stern-looking Arab man with bushy eyebrows and a red-and-white checkered headdress, was giving me a look like he was about to kick me out any second. And then I heard a ringing in my ear. Oh my God! A signal! And then, a second later, a voice.
“Hello?”
It was Dad! I nearly cried with relief.
“Dad? Dad?” I whispered, petrified to give my hiding spot away by talking too loudly. “Can you hear me? I need help!”
“Mackenzie? Honey? Where are you?”
“In the souk — come fast!”
“What? I can’t hear you … Talk louder. Where did you say you were?”
“The Arab souk — in the Old City. Come fast, Dad, please! They’re trying to catch me!”
“What are you talking about? Who’s trying to catch you?”
I heard footsteps coming towards me and looked up. It was Mr. Hadad and his friend — they’d found me! A wave of panic seized my heart. I screamed so loudly my eyeballs shook. Jumping to my feet, I looked around all the hanging carpets, frantically searching for another way out of the store. Out of the corner of my eye I spotted a half-open door leading to a dingy back alley. I knew it was my only chance. Using every last muscle in my body, I lunged towards it. But the dealer lunged faster. As I hurtled myself into the alley he caught me by the tail of my shirt and pulled me to the ground.
“Dad! Help me!” I shrieked into the phone, which was still clutched in my hand. A second later the dealer grabbed it and threw it down against the cobblestone street, shattering it to pieces … along with my last chance of being rescued.
Suddenly, I knew if I was going to get out of this mess, I would have to save myself. I remember hearing once that a woman’s most powerful weapon is her own voice, so I started using it.
“Let me go!” I shrieked at the top of my lungs. “You can’t do this to me! Somebody help! Call the police!”
I used all my strength to wrench myself free from his grasp. I put up the fight of my life, but he was just too strong. Holding me around my waist, he clasped a gross, sweaty hand over my mouth and leaned in so close that the tips of our noses were almost touching. His breath smelled like stale coffee and cigarettes. I wanted to gag.
“Listen to me!” he growled. “If you run or scream again I will be forced to hurt you.”
He reached behind his back, pulled out a jagged-edged knife, and held it up to my face. I gasped. Mr. Hadad’s big brown eyes stared out at me from the reflection. He looked scared, too.
I turned my head to the left and saw
him standing in the doorway a few feet away. Too petrified to make a noise, all I could do was plead with my eyes: Help me! Don’t let this lunatic hurt me! But he just stood there silently, witnessing my attack. I wondered if his “friend” had threatened him, also.
“Start walking!” the dealer barked, removing his hand from my mouth. Then, with a quick flash of silver, the tip of his knife pointed into the soft flesh between my ribs. I swallowed another scream, terrified he might push it in deeper. He moved the knife around to my back where it would be hidden by the bulk of my backpack. I started stumbling forward, my eyes so blurry with tears that I could barely see my feet.
How is Dad going to find me now? My brain sobbed as I stepped over the remains of my cellphone. And where the hell is Nasir? Does he have any idea what’s happening to me?
I tripped over a particularly uneven cobblestone and fell to my knees. “Get up,” the dealer growled, pulling me to my feet by the straps of my backpack. Then he pushed me forward again — down a maze of alleyways, under a small bridge, up the stinky stairwell, and back to the Hadads’ apartment overlooking the market.
Chapter 28
Nasir paced back and forth across the linoleum floor. He was so upset he could barely see straight.
“How could you do this, Baba?” he demanded, fighting to hold back his tears. It was hard, but he knew his father would never take him seriously if he started to cry. “Why are you holding Lino’s knife? You two promised she wouldn’t get hurt!”
He glanced over to the couch where Mackenzie was sitting. A wave of desperation welled up in his chest. She was in the exact place where they had kissed each other so tenderly less than an hour ago. Now, her wrists were tied together with a scarf and Baba was guarding her at knifepoint while Lino made a phone call in the master bedroom. She looked so helpless, so terrified, so confused. Her eyes were filling with tears as she pulled and twisted at the scarf, trying to free her hands. It was killing him to see her like this. More than anything he wanted to go to her, put his arms around her, comfort her, and tell her this was all a big mistake. But he didn’t dare. For there to be any chance of getting Mackenzie out of here, he couldn’t let Baba or Lino know how much he cared for her.
She looked up from her hands and caught his eye. “Nasir, what are you saying? Tell me what’s going on,” she pleaded.
He walked over to the couch, but was careful not to touch her. “I’m still not sure yet,” he replied, switching over to English. “Are you okay? Did Lino harm you?”
“Am I okay?” she repeated. Her voice was quivering with fear, but still her tears wouldn’t fall. “No, I’m not okay! My wrists are hurting and I’m scared. Can you untie me? I want to go home!”
Nasir spun around to face his father.
“This is crazy, Baba,” he said, lowering his voice so that Lino wouldn’t overhear. “That guy is a lunatic! Why are you going along with him?”
Baba sighed loudly and shook his head, keeping his eyes fixed on his prisoner the entire time. “Stop this, Nasir. You know very well why we have to do this. W-alla! Where is your loyalty? Think of your mother and sisters!”
“Of course my loyalty is with our family,” Nasir replied. “But this girl’s done nothing wrong.” He cocked his ear towards the bedroom and listened. Lino was still on the phone — there was time to get Mackenzie out of here. He clasped his hands together and began to beg. “Please, please, I’m certain she won’t say anything to her father! Please, can’t we just let her go?”
Baba’s gaze flicked nervously in the direction of the bedroom. “Shhhh! No, it’s too late for that!”
Seeing her captor temporarily distracted, Mackenzie rose slowly to her feet and took a tentative step forward. Baba’s eyes immediately returned to her.
“No! Sit down!” he warned in stiff English.
“Come on, Mr. Hadad,” she said, taking another small step towards the door. “Just tell your friend I escaped and everything will be okay.”
Nasir held his breath, silently praying Baba would relent. But instead, he darted in front of the door, blocking her way.
“No! Sit down, be quiet,” he commanded, waggling the knife awkwardly in her direction.
Mackenzie stared at the blade for a moment, then sat reluctantly back down on the couch. A few seconds later, Lino appeared in the doorway. With the phone still clutched in one hand, he pointed at Baba with the other.
“Yusuf, get in here. We need to talk.”
Baba hesitated. “But … but what about the girl?”
Lino sighed impatiently.
“What’s the matter with your son? Is he useless? Let him watch her.”
“My son is not useless,” Baba replied quietly, handing Nasir the knife. “Don’t let her out of your sight,” he said, before following Lino out of the room. Nasir nodded, his breath catching in his throat.
This was his chance. He stared down at the weapon in his hands, praying he would have the strength to use it. And use it well.
Chapter 29
Nasir was clutching the knife like a dead fish. Clearly, he had no idea how to hold it. Mr. Hadad and the dealer began speaking in the next room. They were trying to be quiet, but this place was so unbelievably small, we could hear almost everything. Their hurried whispers carried a disturbing sense of urgency. I wished I knew what they were saying. Damn, all those mornings I wasted studying Hebrew! Arabic would have been so much more useful.
Frustrated, I turned towards Nasir and begged for some answers.
“Why are they keeping me here? What are they saying? What’s going on?”
“Shhhhh,” he whispered, holding a cautionary finger to his lips. His eyes were as big as saucers. I’d never seen anyone look so scared.
“You have to listen to me, Mackenzie. We don’t have much time,” he said, his voice so low it was barely audible. “It sounds like my father is about to leave to find a car. Lino says that he wants to smuggle you into the West Bank.”
“The West Bank? Why?” I whispered back.
“He … he told my father that he knows people there that can make you disappear.”
My chest tightened with fear. “What does that mean?”
“I don’t know, but I’m not going to let it happen.” He knelt down in front of the couch and brought his face so close to mine that the tips of our noses were almost touching. “My father’s not a bad man, I swear. He was just doing what he had to do to save our family. And now he’s too scared of Lino to let you go. But I’ll get you out of here, I promise,” he said, his voice little more than a breath on my lips. My heart swelled with hope as he began to unknot the scarf that was wound so tightly around my wrists.
Maybe it isn’t too late for us, after all. Maybe when we get out of this place we can just leave Israel together and run away to Hollywood. We can become actors and start all over again in a place with no fathers … no jealous friends … no one to judge us and tell us what to do.
The possibility, however remote, energized me. I took a deep, restorative breath and wiped my teary face as best as I could with the shoulder of my T-shirt. But a moment later, everything changed. The man called Lino must have heard us talking, because he suddenly came charging into the room before Nasir had the chance to finish untying me.
“What are you doing? Why are you talking to this girl?” he demanded, his once-empty eyes now full of rage.
I screamed. Alarmed, Nasir jumped to his feet and stood in front of me like a human shield. Although he was taller than Lino, I could see that his physique was too slight to pose much of a threat to a full-grown man. As Lino waited for Nasir to explain himself, Mr. Hadad quietly entered the room. In one hand he was carrying a beat-up duffel bag — a getaway accessory if I’d ever seen one. The top of the bag was unzipped and I could see how it was stuffed to the brim with clothes and maps and … was that rope?
Heaving the bag over his shoulder, Mr. Hadad said something in Arabic to Nasir. And with that, he left the apartment.
As s
oon as the door closed, Lino turned his creepy eyes back on Nasir and me. It was just the three of us now.
“Please,” I whispered. “I promise I won’t tell anybody what you did. Just let me go home. Okay?”
It was the truth. Let him dig up every artefact in the country, for all I cared! Forget betraying my own dad — at that point I would have promised my first-born child to get away. But unfortunately, he wasn’t going for it.
“Shut up! No questions!” he barked.
I swallowed hard and mustered up the last bits of my courage.
“What are you going to do with me?”
“Hey, I said be quiet!” Lino ordered, taking a step towards me.
Nasir moved to block his way. Lino paused, his eyes narrowing.
“Your father was wrong about you,” he sneered. “You are useless. I saw what you were doing in here. If I can’t trust you to watch this girl without trying to seduce her, I’ll have to watch her myself. Give me my knife.” He reached his hand out to take it back.
What happened next went by in an ugly blur. Hours later, when I tried to recall the details of those minutes, I would only be able to remember the flailing of arms, the flash of steel, and the gush of blood. As Lino reached for the knife, Nasir lunged at him, stabbing his outstretched palm with the tip of the jagged blade.
“AAAAAHHH!” Lino screamed, his face morphing with pain. I watched in horror as his blood splattered the linoleum floor in a bright pattern of slick red dots.
“You son of a dog!” he roared, pouncing on Nasir. Ducking out of the way, Nasir managed to slash Lino once more with the knife.
And then the battle ended as quickly as it had begun. Lino grabbed Nasir’s throat with his uninjured hand. Nasir’s head rocked back. He opened his mouth to scream, but no sound came out — Lino was squeezing his windpipe completely shut.
Oh my God, he’s strangling him! What should I do?
I wanted to get up off that couch and tear Lino’s hands off my boyfriend. I wanted to save him in the same way he’d just tried to save me. But I was useless as long as my hands were still tied. I pulled at the scarf, trying desperately to free myself as I watched Nasir fight for breath.
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