A Place Far Away

by Vahan Zanoyan

  “Did you mind being given a different name,” he asked.

  “No, of course not,” she assured him. “Leila is a beautiful name.”

  “It means night,” he said. “Dark and mysterious like your eyes. You see, here in the desert, the night is the best part of the day, when the scorching heat of the sun recedes, temperatures cool, and people focus on love and poetry and forget everything else. It suits you very much, my lovely Leila.”

  Lara didn’t know how to deal with Al Barmaka’s kindness. After two conversations with Avo, her mind was now entirely focused on home and her desire to escape. She had no idea how she could pull it off. Getting to call Avo was a huge step, but leaving the premises was an entirely different matter. She could never pull it off without Sumaya’s agreement and help.

  As her thoughts focused on the prospects of returning home, another fear entered Lara’s mind. How could she return without being noticed by Ayvazian? He would never leave her alone if he found out that she was back in Saralandj. She had to keep her presence in Saralandj a secret, which was next to impossible. The whole village would know a few minutes after she got there. There was only one way to avoid Ayvazian’s wrath, thought Lara, and a chill passed through her body. He and his nephew had to be silenced, to be put out of commission. Only then could they have some peace again. She realized then that dealing with Ayvazian was a matter of survival, not just sweet revenge.

  Lara was keenly aware of the fact that everything she was thinking about was way, way over her head. She couldn’t even take the most preliminary steps on her own. In her heart, she had her forest, her father’s memory and Araxi Dadik’s ring; in real life she had Avo. The value of all else, including Sumaya and Ahmed Al Barmaka, depended on her wits. It was her turn to manipulate others, rather than be manipulated; it was her turn to chart a course and trigger a chain of events where others would have to react to the conditions created by her. The thought scared her; she had not had to deal with so much planning and so many different risks before. She remembered the days when she viewed her life as a series of reactions to conditions created by others and imposed on her. Reacting to a given situation, even when unbearably unpleasant, was relatively simple compared with the need to create the situation herself.

  Lara also realized that in order to succeed she had to mislead people and betray their trust; this too was new to her. She was going to deliberately lie to Sumaya and Al Barmaka; she was going to put Sumaya at great risk, and cause a lot of pain and anxiety to Ahmed. Not that she felt any loyalty to either, but she also knew that these were not the people who were most responsible for her suffering. They had not done anything against her per se, nor had they been unfair or unjust in any way. And yet, she had to betray them. Withholding her inner thoughts and withdrawing into herself was one thing; outright lying and taking actions against them was another.

  Throughout her experience of the past year, her various friends and captors had exhorted her to ‘grow up,’ by which they meant for her to accept her fate and get on with the program set in front of her. But now she felt that growing up in her case meant betraying trust and hurting those who had been kind to her.

  Ayvazian was furious. His men had called to tell him that the tiny, desolate village of Sevajayr was suddenly swarming with several visitors looking for places to house equipment, materials and workers. The two homes that they had rented were visited by one of the managers of the road construction company, who was accompanied by a couple of supply and logistics staff. His men were not happy. They had rudely asked the manager to leave and never return. They had put their hands on the handguns at their waists while they talked. Even though the workers left, the guards had the uneasy feeling that they had been discovered. Their quiet, anonymous stay in Sevajayr had been exposed. Surely the manager would recount the story to his bosses, and very soon all neighboring villagers would know that there were armed men guarding seemingly deserted homes in Sevajayr.

  Ayvazian had managed to get the president of the construction company on the phone. He was an experienced infrastructure engineer named Ararat, who, along with two competitors, handled most of the roadwork in the region. All public works had to go through competitive bidding, but every bid and award was arranged in advance, and the awards were given more or less in order to one of the three competitors. Ayvazian had a lot of influence on the process, even though he was not the final decision maker.

  “What kind of stupid operation are you running now?” yelled Ayvazian in the rudest gangster tone he could muster, which was characteristic of bosses in the region.

  “Why, what’s the problem?” asked Ararat. He knew the caller was Ayvazian; no one else would talk to him like that. He also recognized the voice.

  “When do you think you will reach Sevajayr? You haven’t even started construction at Shatin yet! A year from now? Two years from now?” Ayvazian had worked himself up in a fury; his face was red and he was yelling.

  “We should be there by next fall, why?” Ararat was getting very angry too from such a rude interrogation, but he kept calm.

  “So now you want to rent places in Sevajayr a whole year before you arrive, is that it? As I asked before, what type of stupid operation are you running?”

  “There are a lot of reasons for …”

  “You listen to me and listen very well!” interrupted Ayvazian. “You have no reason to rent anything in Sevajayr right now. I want your men out of the upper villages immediately! Out! Is that clear?! Rent in Shatin, where you’re starting work! And don’t go up there again till I say it’s okay!”

  Ayvazian hung up the phone. He knew Ararat would comply. But he also knew that he might have to vacate his operations in the two villages, not immediately, but earlier than he had planned. His screaming and threatening was not smart. It would simply raise more questions and suspicions. He bet that Ararat would go around asking people why Ayvazian was so mad. But he could not control his rage; nor could he tolerate unexpected and inexplicable complications.

  Lara requested a meeting with Sumaya and was asked to head over right away. It was early afternoon, and very hot outside. The early afternoon heat imposes a type of tranquility and quiet in the desert that is not possible to find anywhere else. It is as if everything stops breathing—no birds, no animals prowling on the lawn or in the bushes, no breeze, no movement of any kind. Just oppressive heat, descending in waves from the sky and rising from the earth at the same time, the two currents clashing in mid air and suffocating every living thing that happens to stumble in their midst. In the few seconds that it took from her front door to the waiting car, Lara was drenched in perspiration.

  Sumaya looked pale to Lara. There were dark bags under her eyes, which did not have their normal intensity or shine. Her hair did not look as clean and tidy as usual either.

  “Come in, come in,” she said, quickly closing the door behind her. “It is too early for this type of heat. I don’t know what’s happening with our environment. The whole world seems to be suffering from unusual weather. Hot where it should be cold, cold where it should be hot, raining where it should be dry, like those rainstorms in Saudi Arabia yesterday. Did you see the news on that?”

  “Yes I did,” said Lara. “And there were floods in the deserts of Oman as well. Several cars were swept away in the gushing currents. Some villages had severe floods.”

  “Unbelievable. Floods in the desert, followed by premature heat waves and early snow on some mountains west of here.”

  They sat down and Sumaya asked her maid to bring tea.

  “I need to talk to you,” said Lara. “Please don’t get angry for what I am going to say. You always have the option to refuse anything I ask, so you don’t need to get angry.”

  “Leila, habibty, what kind of opening is that? Why should I get angry with you? Tell me what’s on your mind.”

  “I want to go on home leave,” said Leila without hesitation. “Just for a few days. Maybe a week, if Sir is away for that long. I don’t
want him to know that I have left. Can I go and return without anyone noticing?”

  Sumaya stared at her for a long moment. Was this the perfect opportunity that she had been waiting for?

  “Leila, habibty, you know I have broken some rules and taken some serious risks for you already by allowing the phone calls. And you promised me no complications, remember? This could turn into a major complication.”

  “It doesn’t have to, Ms. Sumaya,” said Lara. “I can go and return, with your blessing, and no one needs to know. I can do this without raising any suspicion anywhere. Of course I’ll take care of all the expenses. But I cannot make any arrangements without your help.”

  Lara had kept a major part of her monthly salary in cash. Manoj paid the rest to Madame Ano by prior arrangement, who saw to it that it got to her family via the Ayvazian office in Moscow.

  “Oh, habibty, you are so young and naïve,” said Sumaya, with such honest tenderness that for a minute Lara felt guilty for misleading her. “So many things could go wrong that would create huge complications for me here. God forbid, you should get into an accident, or get sick, and not be able to return on time. Sir could return early from his trip and catch me by surprise. Your former boss could find out that you’re back home and would raise hell. And maybe ten other complications, which I cannot even think of right now. Then what would I do? How could I explain this?”

  Lara was happy that Sumaya was talking about the risks of getting caught, rather than outright refusing her request. That was a major step. The risks could always be mitigated.

  “If anything like that happens, I’ll take all the blame myself,” said Lara. “I’ll say I escaped and you did not know. I’ll say I had to go see my sick mother before she died, which is the truth. I promise that even if complications arise, they won’t affect you directly.”

  Lara did not realize how important her words were and how intently Sumaya was listening to her. Having to explain Lara’s disappearance was a major challenge. She had Lara’s passport, for example, which Lara would need before she could leave the country. The scheme that Lara was now proposing made it easier to plan these details.

  “How would you go from here to Armenia?” asked Sumaya.

  “Isn’t there a direct flight from Dubai?” asked Lara. She knew there was. The girls at Madame Ano’s had talked about it often.

  “Yes, but that won’t do,” said Sumaya. “You’ll have to leave here covered head to toe. You’ll have to leave at night, so you can sneak into a waiting car with less chance of being seen. The flights to Yerevan are in the early afternoon. Besides, I don’t think it’s safe to leave from Dubai.”

  “Then how would I leave?” asked Lara, barely able to control her excitement. Sumaya was actually plotting her escape with her.

  “It would be safer to leave from Muscat. It is a quieter airport, and you wouldn’t be taking the chance of the customs officials here in Dubai remembering you.”

  “Are there flights to Armenia from Oman?”

  “No, I don’t think so. This will prolong the trip, but it is a worthwhile precaution, believe me. Sir knows every official at Dubai airport.”

  “Maybe I could fly to Moscow,” said Lara enthusiastically. “There are many flights from Moscow to Yerevan.”

  Sumaya thought about this option, to send her directly to Moscow and bypass Istanbul. Natalia’s uncle could then meet her and take her away. This would simplify the plan considerably, but something was bothering her about it. She knew Lara had been in Moscow and spoke some Russian. Having her arrive alert and unescorted would not be wise. If they went that route, Lara would want her Moscow Yerevan ticket arranged in advance, and would not expect to be met in Moscow, so Natalia’s uncle would have a very hard time convincing her to leave with him. No, Sumaya decided, the direct flight to Moscow wouldn’t work.

  “That would raise too much suspicion,” she said at last. “Think about the scene, Lara. A young Muslim woman, fully covered, leaving for Moscow alone from Oman. That just doesn’t happen. When you leave the Gulf you’re leaving as a single young woman. So you need to go somewhere more logical, like another Muslim country. It could be Beirut, for example, or Amman, or Damascus. But getting from those places to Armenia is not easy. There might be a flight from Beirut—I’ll check—but I don’t think it will be frequent enough to give you the flexibility you need.

  “I think your best bet would be to fly to Turkey. It is a Muslim country, and there is a lot of traffic lately going between the Gulf and Istanbul, so you wouldn’t raise suspicion; you could be going to join family members who are vacationing there. From there, you have many options. You could go to Georgia and catch a passenger train to Yerevan. You’ll have much more control over your schedule that way.”

  It occurred to Lara that it was odd for Sumaya to know so much about transport options from Turkey to Armenia, but she did not want to dwell on that; the plan was taking shape and that’s all that mattered. She would have preferred a simple direct flight to Yerevan. The new plan was much more complicated and it would probably take her a couple of days just to get home. Of course this did not matter to her because she had no intention of coming back. But she had to plan a return anyway, to put Sumaya’s mind at ease. She was convinced that Sumaya believed she would come back.

  Sumaya, for her part, was convinced that Lara had every intention of coming back, but if Sumay’a plan worked she knew that she would not.

  “We can help you once you land in Istanbul,” continued Sumaya. “We have friends who can meet you and help you reach Tbilisi, from where you can catch a train to Yerevan. Depending on the schedules, you may be able to do this whole thing in the same day; it will be a long day, but at least you won’t have to spend the night anywhere.”

  As complicated as this scheme sounded, Lara was beginning to see a concrete plan and was becoming excited and restless.

  “Ms. Sumaya,” she said, “I cannot tell you how much this means to me. My mother is very sick. I just want to see her one more time, and there is almost no time left. I truly thank you for agreeing to this.”

  “We still have to talk about a good story, in case, God forbid, something goes wrong,” said Sumaya. Things could go wrong, she thought. Apo could screw up, or Al Barmaka could return early. I have to come out looking clean in all this. “What will be your story?”

  “I’ll say I had friends in Dubai who helped me make the arrangements. I know a girl, Susannah, and I can say she helped me.”

  “How did you manage to get hold of your passport?” asked Sumaya.

  “Oh, that. Sorry, I had not thought of that. Where is my passport now?”

  “Inside. In my drawer.”

  “I stole it,” said Lara without any hesitation. “I asked to see you, you invited me over, and when you were in the other room taking a call, I snuck in and stole it from your drawer. The whole thing took a few seconds. I arranged for my friend to send me a car, the driver somehow managed to pass through the gate, and I disappeared that same night. Can you explain how the car got through?”

  “Well, the driver could tell the guard that he was here to deliver a package for me,” said Sumaya. “They won’t question that, because it happens several times a week. It would be better if I arrange the driver. That way he will be someone they recognize. I know one who is actually from Oman and will drive you straight to Muscat airport. He’s been here a few times, so the guards know him.”

  They fell quiet for a while, each lost in her thoughts. Lara was envisioning a period of hiding near her village and visiting home secretly until they figured out how they’d eliminate the Ayvazian threat. Sumaya was envisioning Lara landing in Istanbul and being captured by Apo, then being drugged and put on the next flight to Moscow, possibly after being raped a few times by Apo and his men.

  XVII

  It was a brilliant morning in Vardahovit. Laurian and Avo had awoken early, and were sitting on the front terrace with their coffees. The air was chilly and they breathed in
a million faint scents of the freshness of the meadows and mountains; the first dusting of snow appeared on the highest peaks to the Southwest. The sun barely peeked from behind the Eastern mountains.

  Avo was planning to return home that afternoon. Laurian had arranged for someone from the village to drive him to Saralandj. Vartiter arrived as usual and started setting the table for their breakfast.

  “Let’s go for a walk while she sets the table,” said Laurian.

  Avo, who was barefoot, went in and put his shoes on. They walked eastward, toward the old wheat fields, which had not been cultivated since the collapse of the Soviet Union. There was a small graveyard lost in the rising grass in the fields, and Laurian showed Avo one of the tombstones with carvings in Arabic letters. The inscription was of a lady Mariam, in Farsi, with the date 1317 carved at the bottom. Laurian knew enough Arabic from his travels in the Middle East to make that much out.

  “One day I’ll study the history of this place,” he told Avo. “This, for example, is a Persian lady’s grave. Most other graves don’t have headstones, and the few that do have no inscription on them. They’re just decorative pieces of stone. So this one must have been someone special, someone of rank. Don’t you wonder why a Persian lady was buried here? Did Persians live here in the fourteenth century? Or maybe she was just part of a group of merchants passing through?”

  Actually, Avo did not. He had seen this type of historical remnant all over Saralandj and Aparan too. Deserted tombs and prehistoric artifacts, such as thousand-year-old stone instruments, could be found everywhere in the fields. No one paid much attention to such relics. Laurian, on the other hand, seemed to be interested in everything.

  “Avo,” said Laurian, focusing on what he really wanted to talk to him about, “I cannot stress enough how important it is to keep everything I’ve shown you confidential. The only reason I showed you these things is because I don’t want you to remain in the dark as to what may have happened to Lara.”