The Lioness (15 page)

Rose woke and knew she needed to get up, but she
wanted to just lay there for just a minute. Yesterday had been trying. She had
spent the rest of Friday talking with her Da, then with officials from both
Jordan and then Afghanistan. Yesterday she had spent time talking with Andrew
Smith then her Senator. The latter had assured her they were doing all they
could through the other parties to get things moving.

In reality they were, but not fast enough. She was so
scared that the brooding partner of the man she has spoken to would snap and
then what? Somehow Noori’s cousin had gotten wind of what was going on and had
come to warn her later on Friday. Noori didn’t say much but didn’t appear to be
too happy. He had walked off with his cousin and then been quiet the remainder
of the day.

Today they were supposed to go to Abdul’s house for a
meal. She was going to meet Daoud’s family too.

She had a note delivered to her yesterday in Ty’s
crisp, clear handwriting. She had fallen asleep with it tucked next to her as
she slept. Just having something that he had touched meant a great deal to her.
She had tried not to cry over it, afraid it would ruin the letter. He said if
he could, he would write more but couldn’t be sure.

Getting up out of bed, she needed to get going. Have
some breakfast and answer emails that had come in last night. She had answered
the ones from her parents and Ty’s Mom but the others she held off. Besides she
had been so tired by the time she got done with those couple she couldn’t see
straight.

Jumping to the sound of her phone she ran to get it.
“Yes?”

“Rose, look at the TV right now.”

Rose ran while she held the phone. “Is it bad?”

Noori tried to control his voice. “Please just look.”

Rose flipped on the TV and found the station Noori had
mentioned. What she saw shocked her. There sat Ty, but from what she could tell
it wasn’t in the same room that she had seen the last broadcast. It was in a
smaller, cruder room. The man who held a gun to his head sounded like the man
who had given her a hard time. He was barking orders at Ty. From the looks of
it, Ty was having a hard time, stumbling over the words. She was watching the
clip and then she heard commotion in the background and the tape stopped.

“Noori we need to do something… God, I can’t think.
What does this mean? Has the man who we have been dealing with lost control? Is
the other man in charge now?” Rose tried to fight the hysteria that was gaining
control. “I need to call my Da. Can you and Daoud be here in thirty minutes?”

“We are here Rose, down in the lobby.”

“Can you find out how old that tape is?” Rose asked as
she ran around the room gathering her clothes.

“I had Daoud call the station, it’s a half an hour
old. They said some young college age student brought it in, demanded that they
put it on the air right away.”

Rose ran for her knapsack. “Let me call my parents and
I will be down in twenty minutes.”

Noori saw his cousin come into the lobby. “Rose, Daoud
is trying to tell me something. I will see you when you get downstairs.”

Fatima heard the commotion and ran for the back
storage area. When she got there she heard Abdul yelling at their brother.

“Omar, you had no right to do that. Progress is being
made, faster than any of us could have hoped for.”

Ty moved back away from the two brothers. The older
brother Omar was near the breaking point, and he could tell Abdul was having a
hard time controlling himself.

“Progress, you speak of progress, we get nothing but
empty promises. The only thing that gets results is people seeing blood. He,”
tilting his head towards Ty “needs to die, then we will see results.”

Abdul pushed his way so he placed himself in between
Ty and his brother. “You will have to go through me. Not everyone is like you
and Hamid. The others, they won’t agree to this. They don’t want blood on their
hands, there has been enough. Killing him isn’t going to get our demands met.
We made a promise and we have to follow through with that promise. We are
trying to be humane here.”

Abdul saw his brother thinking, in that, it was good.
It bought him and Ty a bit of time.

Omar picked up his Kalashnikov. Looking at his brother,
he knew it wouldn’t be long.

“You have till Thursday, no longer. Then we kill him.”

**********

Abdul, Fatima and Ty sat in the courtyard. “If we let
him go right now, Omar will kill us both.”

“I never thought I’d say this but….” Fatima looked at
her brother Abdul. He was like the son she had never had. She would do anything
for him. She would even kill her other brother. “Not if we kill him first.”

Ty couldn’t believe the conversation. He knew Fatima
was devoted but she talked now as cold blooded as her other brother had spoken
just ten minutes before.

“You can’t kill your brother, his son would know, it
would ignite him. Even Abdul said he was a problem. He is probably the one
getting his father worked up.”

Abdul’s cell phone went off. Opening it up and
listening, he grunted a few words then hung up. “Let’s go watch the TV for a minute.
Omar said something is on. He didn’t sound happy.”

They filed into the house and went to Abdul’s office
where he had a small set. Turning it on, they saw the Secretary for the
President of Afghanistan.

Listening, Ty was filled with hope. “Talks have
started with Iraqi officials about the release of the ten men who were on the
list. The American government welcomed any talks that further speeded up the
release of Ty Madison, who had been kidnapped….” The rest was lost to Ty as he
watched the commentator. Abdul changed the channel and the BBC was on
broadcasting the same story.

Ty turned to Abdul and Fatima. “That’s good news,
then?”

Fatima faced Ty. “Yes and no. It’s good on our part
but my brother and his son seem to want more, a sacrifice perhaps. We won’t
allow it. Let him sacrifice himself. I know my dear husband would kill the two
of them himself. He couldn’t stand senseless killing like they seem to be
embracing. Let them go join a group, volunteer for a mission.”

“That would be too simple a solution to our problem.
No, we will take care of it and somehow not have blood on our hands, Fatima,”
Abdul said as he looked at Ty. He wished it could be different circumstances,
maybe they could have been friends, like Ty was to his cousin.

“I am sorry this has happened this way, but we will
find a peaceful solution and you will be free. All I ever wanted was peace.
That was what my brother-in-law wanted,” Abdul said as he sunk his face into
his hands as shook his head.

Fatima looked at her brother. “It will be okay, we
will survive and so will Ty.”

Ty’s mind was going in a million different directions.

“May I send a note to Rose? I want her to see if she
can make arrangements at some point for you two to leave for a time, even if
it’s to Jordan.”

Fatima looked from Ty to her brother. “I won’t leave
without you, Abdul.” She could tell they had been talking about it before
because of the uncomfortable look that passed over her brother. “I won’t, I
will stay right here.”

“You will do as I say, Fatima. Omar may be older than me
but I am the head of this house and you will obey me.”

Fatima stared at her brother hard. “You don’t want to
push me Abdul.” She turned on her heel, walking away, her robe swishing.

Abdul rubbed his eyes. “I know I handled it wrong, but
I fear for her. I want her to have a better life. She has suffered so much. Our
father and our oldest brother dying in Afghanistan.”

Here was a family who had seen suffering. It was the
same all over the region, but Ty was part of this personally. He felt Noori was
part of his extended family and Fatima and Abdul were part of that. “Do you
want to talk about it?”

Abdul reached and turned off the small TV set. “No,
not now, but sometime though. It’s part of our history. I will be back later.”
Abdul turned and closed the door.

Ty waited for the lock to be put into place. It
wasn’t. He walked to the door and found it opened up.

Rose sat with Daoud, Noori and Abdul.

“You have to understand, they have approached me as a
go-between. I cannot refuse or my sister and I will be at risk. They seem to be
having an inner struggle, so even though the reports today were positive, the
elder of the group is getting inpatient for things to move fast.”

Rose didn’t like it. Things were going in the wrong
direction, despite her best efforts. She was doing all she could, but they had
Ty on the TV this morning, tied and looking very vulnerable as they pushed him
and pushed a gun on one side and a knife to his throat.

“Will they meet with me again?”

Abdul wanted to look in Rose’s face, but it was hard.
He also felt Noori studying him.

“They didn’t say anything about meeting. They weren’t
happy.”

Noori studied his cousin. In reality he didn’t even
know him. They had moved back in 1981 when they were both young. Something was
amiss and he didn’t like it.

Rose’s first reaction was to panic, but panicking
would get her nowhere fast and it was a time waster.  “I would like to send
another note, if I may.”

Abdul hit his head. “I forgot, here is a note from
him. I was asked to give it to you. There are some in the group who don’t think
like the leader.”

Rose took the note like it was a lost treasure. It was
a treasure to her. Her link to the man she loved. She felt like things were
moving too quickly and in the wrong direction. She had to get things back on
track to keep Ty safe. Looking down at the note, she listened to the men as
they talked. She would read it when she was alone. As she looked at the paper,
a thought came to her.

“Remember Little Sister, I will come to you, help you
if you ever need me. I have people who will help at my fingertips as you would
say. If you need me all you need to do is call. You know how to get in touch
with me.”

Samid, why hadn’t she thought to call him? “Noori,
Samid!”

Noori looked up at Rose’s voice. “Yes, Rose. I forgot
to tell you, he called this morning. He is on his way, along with others. They
will be here this afternoon.”

Abdul looked at his cousin. “Samid? Who’s that?”

“A former Northern Alliance. He was a cousin to
General Masooud. He is coming to help Rose.”

They all talked at once. Rose felt like she was
surrounded by her noisy family. Samid was now here representing the President
of Afghanistan. “This is too much, you are working with the President, Samid?”

“Yes, he knew what we stood for and that we would do
anything for him. We had heard the news and when I saw you, Little Sister, I
knew I had to come here to help. When he asked me and the men to come I told
him we were already packed!”

Rose looked down at the gift that they had brought for
her and her father. “This was sweet of you, Samid, to bring these gifts.”

“You are our family. All the things you have done for
us?” He looked at the other men. “Rose, you have been responsible for setting
up schools, getting clinics up in the mountains, you have moved mountains, Rose.
We couldn’t bring all the gifts or the men who wanted to come. Men who wanted
to seek out the insurgents to kill them because they have hurt their Little
Sister.”

Abdul hoped he didn’t look as green as he felt. Here
were hardened warriors who were willing to do anything. His brother and nephew
thought they were tough, they were nothing. They were hot heads, that was all.
“Rose I will leave now but Fatima would like you for dinner. Would your guest
be our guest tonight?”

Rose looked over at Samid, who was smiling his big friendly
smile. She looked at the five men with him, all cousins of some degree. “I
could come help Fatima cook if she likes.”

Abdul needed to get out, away from these men, but he
wanted his brother and nephew to see them and what they stood for… they were
honorable.

“She would love your company.”

“Ok, Abdul, tell her I will be there this afternoon.”

**********

Noori followed his cousin out. He needed to talk with
him. He wasn’t looking very good and Noori wasn’t comfortable with the way he
had been acting.

“Abdul, wait, I need to ask you something.”

“Give me a minute Noori, let me call Fatima and let
her know about the additional guest.” Abdul flipped open his phone and placed
the call. After talking with his sister for a brief minute he turned his
attention to his cousin, who he knew was going to ask some intrusive questions.

Looking square in the eyes of his cousin Noori, he
hoped it might dispel any questions Noori had.
Act calm, you don’t want him
to catch on.

Noori could think of a hundred questions but one very
important one would suffice. “How involved with this group are you, Abdul? Is
it your brother who is in charge?”

Abdul was so taken aback by his cousin’s direct attack
that he simply lowered his head.

“It was supposed to be easy, I never meant it to turn
the way it has. You just don’t know Omar, he’s a changed man and his son… he is
another story.”

“Why Abdul, why Ty?”

“Because we knew he could get the help we needed, that
bringing Rose here would add weight to our cause. We knew she was a fighter and
wouldn’t stop till she got what she wanted.”

To Noori this was no surprise, but it sickened him. “I
ought to kill you with my own hands right now, and then go kill Omar and his
son.”

“You wouldn’t, would you?” Abdul wasn’t so scared for
himself but he thought of Fatima. “Fatima doesn’t know a thing, leave her out
of this.”

Noori was close to carrying out what he felt. “Go, we
will talk later, you are going to fix things. By tomorrow Ty is going to be
free. Do you understand me?”

“He will kill me, he or his son.”

Noori couldn’t care less. His own family. Well they
weren’t family any more. As far as he was concerned they were just like the dogs
on the street. “I don’t care.”

A thought came to Noori. “Is Ty at your shop?”

“No, at my home.”

Noori should have listened to Rose when she said she
thought she heard a

certain song. It was Ty humming to Rose. “Was he there
the night we came to dinner?”

“Yes, listen I know what we did was wrong. It was the
wrong way of going about it.”

Noori got in Abdul’s face. “You will fix it though, by
no later than tomorrow.”

“Yes.” Abdul felt the weight of the world on his
shoulders. “I have to go.”

“Don’t disappear. My friends will not be happy if I
tell them.”

**********

Rose felt out of the loop. Everyone was upset about
something, but she didn’t know what it was and no one would talk, except Samid,
who, whenever he saw Rose, smiled and would think of something else to tell her
that his wife had said to ‘tell Rose’.

Fatima was quiet, Abdul was even quieter and every
time he came into the cooking area he looked over his shoulder at the littlest
noise. He left twice. Now as she and Fatima worked on the final dish he came in
with his brother and nephew. Both gave her such evil looks, Rose excused
herself to go sit with the men.

“Well you did it now, Omar and Hamid! Who do you think
you are?”

Omar looked over at his sister. “Don’t question me,
Fatima.”

Fatima had never been afraid of her brother. He had
always lorded over her but in a nice way. Lately though he was different. Hamid
was another story. He seemed to be involved with something other than what she
already knew about. Maybe both of them will go, strap themselves with bombs… No,
that was a bad thought, as much as she wanted Omar away, a suicide bomb would
only kill others, innocent people.

She came over to Omar, hands messy, and looked him
square in the eye. “You don’t scare me. This is my house, and Abdul’s. If you
and Hamid have a problem with our guest, get out. They stay.”

Abdul came back into the cooking area. He could tell
as soon as he stepped in there was a problem. Hamid pushed past him and Omar
glared.

“Abdul, I will be here tomorrow sometime midafternoon
to get a big box out of the storage area that I need, make sure it’s all
wrapped up and ready for shipping.” He gave his younger brother a look. Abdul
started to protest, but he cut it off. “Don’t talk to me. Any man who lets his
sister run the house doesn’t need to talk to me. Hamid is more of a man….” He
pushed past his brother.

Abdul looked at Fatima. “We have to move quickly.” he
said after Omar and Hamid left.