by Lilya Myers
“Like shop?” she playfully chuckled.
“Yes, like shop. Just don’t buy more than ten pairs of shoes while you’re there.”
“Okay, you silly thing. That means I still have five more pairs to shop for! I bought five pairs before I left Naples.” They both laughed and then her voice dropped to a huskier tone. “I love you, Dan…more than anything. I’ll see you in a couple of days.”
“I love you too, Marie. There is no one out there I could ever love more, who makes me feel as fulfilled as you do…”
It was time to hang up. He sensed that with more encouragement, Marie might very well forget about the shoes and hop the first plane back to Naples to be with him. He hung up the phone, smiling to himself at his one last thought. What is it about women and shoes?
CHAPTER 18
DAN NO SOONER hung up with Marie that the phone he had thrown on the bed earlier began to dance in concert with its loud ringer. He didn’t have to wonder who it was. He was so weary and this whole weird surreptitious game of tag with Hashim was beginning to fall into the category of absurdity. He took three long strides to the bed and picked up the phone. Before he could speak, he heard a voice on the other end.
“You must do exactly as I tell you.”
Dan had about reached his breaking point. “Really, Hashim, this cloak and dagger crap…”
Hashim interrupted, “you must.” A certain desperation in his tone cut through Dan’s irritation and returned him to the mild, understanding, and patient Dan. For the moment, anyway.
“All right.” He waited for Hashim to respond.
“Take the elevator to the eleventh floor. Walk thirty paces in any direction, then go back to the elevators…” Dan was rolling his eyes. “… and return to the 6th floor. Pick up a newspaper. If someone comes off the elevator or out of their room, be casual as though you are going to your room. Come down the east wing hallway on your floor to Room 6132. Knock once. Wait exactly five seconds. Knock once again.”
“You’re here in the hotel? On the same floor? What the hell, Hashim! You’ve been here and had me wait…”
“Stop!” He answered too sharply. “Please, Dan. Do it right now.”
They clicked off and Dan was through the door of his hotel room.
He verified the numbers on the door and knocked once. One, two, three, four, five… He knocked once again. The door opened and Dan just stood there as though he had to wait to be invited in. Hashim grabbed him by the arm and yanked him into the room. Dan swung around to face Hashim who quickly shut the door while shushing Dan with his finger to his lips. He was careful to close the door so that it made only the slightest of clicks. Dan thought that was a little odd but nothing about this made any sense.
Hashim’s room was a large two bedroom suite. At first glance, it appeared that Hashim must have gotten a lot more sleep than he did. There was a huge comforter piled in a bundle on the couch. Hashim struck out his right hand so that their hands met in a tight handshake and ended in the familiar customary embrace of longtime friendship. They took a protracted look at one another before Dan broke the silence.
It wasn’t normal for Dan to ever raise his voice. But these weren’t normal circumstances. “You’ve got me here and now you’re going to tell me what in the hell is going on with you…with, with….all this?” As he spun around, sweeping the room with his hand to illustrate the whole cloak and dagger act they seemed to be playing, Hashim tried to hush him again. Dan noticed a slight movement under the comforter. With it came the sound of a brief disturbed whimper. Was he with a young girl?
“Oh dear God…” he blurted. “Hashim…what the…”
“Shh…” Hashim rushed his forefinger to his lips again. “I see that look on your face, Dan.” His voice was calm and soft. “Pull your mind out of the gutter and keep your voice down. You’re on the edge. It’s not what it looks like. I will forgive you later for thinking the unthinkable. In fact, this is something you would never have imagined.”
“I’m trying not to imagine it now,” Dan said with a lowered voice.
Hashim walked over to the couch and lifted the edge of the comforter, Dan couldn’t believe his eyes. When his mouth fell open to speak, the shock paralyzed him. He looked to Hashim, back to the small form on the bed, then back to Hashim. Tears filled his eyes and hung there, suspended in time – just like his ability to speak. Hashim urged him toward a chair. “Sit. I hope she will sleep more. We have much to talk about.”
It didn’t take long for anger to set in. “You’ve known that your daughter was alive this whole time? You went through our parents’ funerals…wait, are you telling me that our parents are still alive?” Dan’s heart lurched with the possibility.
“No, Dan. I wish I could.” He paused to choose a starting point. “There’s something I never shared with you. Hasne did not die from complications of childbirth. Hasne was murdered because of me. She was poisoned. And Sarai was delivered before the poison had a chance to invade her bloodstream. The doctor, a cousin of mine, was able to save Sarai but he couldn’t save Hasne. I begged him to falsify the cause of death to protect Sarai and everyone close to me. That was when I knew I had to immediately sever ties.”
“Murdered? By whom? Protect you from what or who? What are you talking about?” Dan’s knuckles turned white as he gripped the arms of the chair to keep his voice in check, ever mindful of the child sleeping only a few feet away.
Hashim drew in a deep breath and let out a sigh before he began to explain. “Although I have traveled abroad and I love the United States, Egypt is still my birthplace and my country. A few years ago, as the political climate heated up with the assassination of Sadat, I got involved with a small group working to nudge Egypt toward democracy. The political health of the country had become even more treacherous when a source uncovered information about a coup. At the same time, I found myself at the forefront of a movement to derail the coup. I had the contacts and the ability to move freely without suspicion. Bribery is not uncommon in Egypt and since Nasser’s time, people could be bought for pennies. You will know that prior to Nasser; Egypt’s rulers were mostly Mediterranean, if not outright European, in their outlook. Nasser, on the other hand, deliberately shifted the focus and infused it with a strong dose of socialism. There was a young man in Nasser’s army, a protégé who rose through the ranks to become rich and powerful. I presume you are familiar with his name. Aswad El-Khalif. My name and activities were sold to him.”
Dan was speechless. How could he not know all this about the man who was as close to him as a brother since childhood? “Yes, the CIA is familiar with El-Khalif. He is ruthless and deadly, and from what you’ve now told me, he knows that you’re standing in his way.” A cold edge developed in his voice. “You must step aside.”
“I have, in essence,” Hashim said softly. “We have been able to weaken Aswad’s offensive enough to hold him at bay.”
“You’ve not only sacrificed your wife and your parents, but you got my parents killed as well. And now…” He began to spit out the words as he uncurled one hand and gestured toward the little mound underneath the covers, “…and now you’re willing to put her on the sacrificial altar too.” It was a damning charge, not a question.
Dan understood the culture but his emotions rather than his friendship got the better of his ability to think clearly and not make a quick judgment. The weight of the sudden tragic deaths of his parents, the funeral, the disposal of their beloved Capri estate, the shock of seeing Sarai in that room, and the hours of agony leading up to this moment all came crashing down on him. The two men sat silently, searching each other’s eyes, trying to find the trust that had always gone unquestioned.
“I’m no longer directly involved but I am still connected. This is not America, Dan. There are many other things at work here, however, those are no longer my concern. I have more important things to share with you.”
Hashim had volumes to tell him. Time was of the essence so he continued without further hes
itation. He’d take his beating from Dan later but not now.
“Before my parents left for Switzerland, I called them with a change of plans. Aswad was out for blood. Sarai’s. It’s where he could hurt me the most. It’s too complicated to give you every little detail about what I knew, when I knew it, and how I knew it. It’s not important right now except to say that we had our own spies among Aswad’s inner circle. Good, if not better, than the CIA… sometimes.”
Hashim anticipated Dan’s response and quickly addressed it. “Please, do not ask me who they are. Their lives are already at great risk and I won’t put it further to suit the CIA. Your CIA have their means, which they wouldn’t even consider sharing with me, and I have mine. You know as well as I do that if the CIA was hell-bent on taking out Aswad, risking my daughter’s life would be considered collateral damage.” Dan remained silent because he knew what Hashim said was true.
“So. Leaving Sarai in Switzerland to travel on to Capri with our families was no longer an option. Allowing her to stay in Switzerland for a few days with my parents presented some risk. It was the best option I had to appease them and give me a couple of days to move around freely to make certain arrangements before Aswad could locate Sarai. I’m sure you heard that my mother was furious when I arranged to pick up Sarai in Montreux. It made me sick to do that to my parents. Dan, I finally allowed them to see their granddaughter and then I literally yanked Sarai out from under them. I had to. It was for Sarai’s safety, as well as our parents’ safety. Aswad’s men knew that if they could get to Sarai, they could shatter me. In the event they tracked me to Switzerland, they would see that Sarai was not with my parents. It would be easily assumed from there that she was with me and they’d move on quickly to find us.”
Hashim sipped on some cold coffee to wet his throat. He made a face at the acrid taste before continuing. “Breaking ties with my family and you after Hasne died was deliberate. I wanted them to believe that our relationship could no longer be a viable target. It would give them no reason and nothing to gain by attacking you or my family.
His voice broke. “I never dreamed they would…there had to be some mistake. Something went wrong. They would never have blown up that plane unless they thought Sarai was on board.”
With that off his chest and in the presence of the man he called brother, Hashim felt the freedom to mourn for the first time. Dan sat quietly as his friend broke down and dealt with the grief he had not allowed himself for the recent deaths of their parents, and the years he suffered over Hasne’s death.
From the time she was born, Sarai had always been a good sleeper. The rush of traveling, being swept in and out of airports, off and on trains over the past couple of days was a lot, even for this little two year old with enormous energy. Dan looked at her and commented, “She’s beautiful, Hashim. She looks so much like Hasne,” and then added, “thank God she doesn’t look like you,” to lighten the heavy, threatening storm that hung over them. This brought only a half-smile to Hashim’s face, as the weight of the grief for his parents’ deaths was immediately replaced with the weight of what he was going to confide to Dan.
“With Hasne’s death, I knew that I would have to start planning a future for Sarai. Not just the normal planning every parent does. Mine was filled with the what ifs on a much broader scale. I knew that it had to be flexible and adjustable depending upon the circumstances. I had to be in control of her future to ensure she’d have one. You have always been part of my Plan A, although it’s taken a lot of curves and twisted turns to get here.”
Dan forced himself not to interrupt. Wherever this talk was headed, he could tell by Hashim’s body language that it was going in the direction of something emotionally difficult. Never known for being at a loss for words, Hashim seemed to be having a particularly difficult time getting this plane off the ground.
“Before you protest anything I’m about to say, and I fully expect that you will, you must let me finish. Promise me.” Dan rocked his head forward with a single nod, never taking his eyes off Hashim. Hashim’s hand visibly trembled as he set his cup down on the dresser and came over to take his seat facing Dan. “This will be the last time we can ever have contact in person. There is something I am going to ask you to do that will make it perilous for us to ever see each other again. It is not against the law, just slightly… hmmm …out of the ordinary.” Hashim stood up again, shoved his hands in his pockets as tears streamed down his face.
CHAPTER 19
I THINK YOU KNOW that I value your life as much as my daughter’s, or my own. I would never ask you to put it in jeopardy for me. But Sarai…she is my sun, my moon and my stars – she is the breath that gives me life. The decades you and I spent growing up, all we have shared over a lifetime of knowing each other – that surpasses friendship. You are my brother, Dan. In spite of what you might think of me in this very moment, or the past few years, the distance I put between us was because you are among the most treasured people in my life. I needed to say that first.”
He took a short breath before continuing. Dan appeared to be holding his breath. “About three years ago, I found myself flirting with what appeared, on the surface, to be something of a spectator sport in favor of moving the country to a democratic philosophy. As I got involved more deeply, I eventually found myself in the middle of a bloody battle, a cause to restore Egypt’s greatness as a leader in the Middle East.
“Whether I was right or wrong is a question that no longer matters because I can’t change it now. It has taken me to a place to where I cannot turn back. My business had become lucrative and extremely profitable by the time Hasne got pregnant. I began to help fund the cause, the revolution. Hasne and I had more than we could spend in a lifetime. When I found out that she had been murdered, I moved every bit of our money to a Swiss bank account. I continued to deposit substantial amounts there, keeping enough to operate my business on the same scale, yet still funnel money to the cause.”
Even though Dan inherited his father’s patience, this was a different matter. Hashim was leading up to lowering some kind of proverbial boom and Dan could sense it. Hashim paused to get up and pour another cup of coffee. Dan had agreed not to interrupt but he was about to break his promise when he heard his father’s voice stop him. It sounded so real. Hashim asked you to give him the time he needed to speak to you, to which you agreed. A man of great wisdom. Dan closed his mouth as Hashim reached in his pocket and handed Dan a key.
“This is a key to my box in Zurich at Vontobel.”
“A Swiss bank account?” Dan asked.
“I have kept a variety of papers in the vault there for some time now, along with all the other account information. Your name, photograph, and personal information – you are the account owner,” Hashim said bluntly.
Hashim could read the expression on Dan’s face. It wasn’t the look of how the hell did you get hold of all my personal information? It was deeper, more personal. Hashim knew exactly what Dan was thinking. He had to drown that thought immediately.
“No, I’m not planning to kill myself, nor am I going to die any time soon. At least I’m not planning on it. I will explain all this to you but not now. You’ll understand better once I…this is not easy for me. It means more than I can tell you. Please be patient with me.”
Hashim had prayed that it would never come to this but, if the past few years had taught him anything, it was to be prepared for the unexpected. As difficult as this was going to be, he knew it was the only way he could give his daughter a chance at life. A real life. Not one moving from city to city and country to country. Not one of living like a fugitive. Not one of growing up to hate him for getting her mother killed and robbing her of a normal life. He brought her into this world and he was not going to let anyone, himself included, rob her of knowing it.
But Dan wasn’t budging until he had answers to the hundred and fifty or so questions sitting on the tip of his tongue. Little did he know that Hashim was still a distance from reaching
the startling conclusion to his epic narrative and that it would transcend anything Dan could have ever imagined. Hashim was having some difficulty getting over the threshold that would take him to the heart of what he was about to unload on Dan. There was a long silence and Dan knew he had to give Hashim a diversion in order to collect himself.
“You still haven’t told me how you found out about the explosion,” Dan said, using a standard CIA tactic. Expecting an answer to something that wasn’t a question.
“I actually got word of the explosion before you did. Don’t look so surprised. I originally offered to fly them all from Switzerland to Capri in one of my small jets. I knew it was a bad idea the minute I said it. I’m afraid that it could have been the trigger for them to contract a private jet to Capri. I knew that they were leaving Switzerland on the same morning that I was flying from France to Germany. We were in the air not twenty minutes when I received a report that there had been a mid-air explosion near Switzerland. Every ounce of air went out of my lungs. I knew it was their plane. Don’t ask me how I knew. I just knew.”
Hashim put his hands on his knees, then pushed himself out of his chair as though he had aged thirty years in the past hour. He walked over in silence to the espresso machine to make them another cup of coffee. Dan knew that Hashim was preparing himself to share something else, so he reciprocated Hashim’s silence in deference to him. He’d waited this long; he could wait a few more minutes. Hashim handed him the cup of coffee but continued to stand.
“I would never sacrifice anyone I loved at the expense of someone else I loved. Aswad has been like a bloodhound after Sarai. I thought that by removing Sarai from the arms of my parents in Switzerland, she and I would be safely out of the country. By all counts, we were. Aswad shouldn’t have known that Sarai was in Switzerland, much less with my parents. Obviously he found out somehow but then his source didn’t know she’d left.