Abigail – The Avenging Agent: The agent appears again (35 page)

Everything was so dark that she beamed
the ray of light again.  The long low-ceilinged passage stretched out ahead of
her and the air was chilled and musty.  When felt the walls, her fingers
touched soft and moist hairy circles and bulges that were damp moss, growing
like small cushions.  The circles were round lights or light fittings.  Now,
she felt sure she was walking along the Royal tunnel and knew that it went to
the ‘Aali Qapo’ Palace.  She calculated that a few dozen yards further along,
the tunnel would reach the area below the palace itself and come out above the
ground on the other side.

Now, she thought about what was
happening above with Karma.  She tried to guess how much time had passed from
the time she went down into the passageway and imagined to herself that Karma
had understood that he should continue without her.  But, then, she bumped into
something hard and almost tripped.  Her backpack slipped off and sank to the
floor with a thud.  When she flashed the light beam again, she saw two huge
cables that stuck out of the ground and passed through wooden boards in a
dug-out.  She understood that this was the computer system, which had been installed
a month earlier.  Lutfi had faced this problem on his previous visit to the
Bazaar, and her heart began to race wildly.

She knelt down right away and pulled the
flash drive out of her bra.  Without thinking, she felt along the length of the
cable and pierced it at the point where it met the wall to create contact. At
that very second, she heard a roar and threatening growl of an animal and her
blood ran cold.

A blue line was progressing on the Flash-drive
and she put her finger on it as if to speed it up and cried silently:

“Please, God, make it go faster,”
knowing that right then, the virus was contaminating the powerful computer.

A short distance away from her, she
heard a sharp command and the heavy breathing of an animal.  She didn’t wait a
second longer.  She got up and ran like crazy, abandoning her camouflage
colored backpack on the floor of the tunnel, near the cables that were
conveying the signals to the computers.

Abigail felt around in the dark, looking
for the wall which led her to the right – to the thirteen rungs of the rope
ladder.  Just as she touched the wall, she heard the dog’s bark reverberate in
the tunnel.  She grabbed into space like crazy for the rope, caught it and put
one foot on the bottom step.  But, the animal’s teeth bit into her other leg
and when she pulled it up, she heard her clothes tear and felt its teeth
piercing her flesh.

A cold blast hit her torso, but the pain
still did not penetrate her consciousness.  All she could think of for the
moment was to count another twelve steps in the ladder to reach the stake stuck
in the opening of the pit and leverage herself out with its help. Something
heavy pulled the rope ladder from the bottom of the shaft and she heard heavy
breathing.  When she sensed the hot breath behind her, she kicked back at its
source with her right leg.

A sharp yelp was heard, followed by a
dull thud.  Almost without taking a breath, she reached the top of the pit,
pulled herself out of it and squatted in the sand.

Now, she pulled out the tiny knife,
caught the rope she had just climbed up and quickly cut it.  She was almost
done when she heard the panting and yelping of the animal, again, leaving it
hanging by a thread.  She ran in the total darkness, did not remember, for the
moment, to count the fifteen paces back.  She just continued with her arms
extended in front of her, seeking out the beaded curtain at the entrance and
her brain was paralyzed with terror.

Blood trickled and dripped from her
ravaged leg. But she continued running away, staining the sandy ground with her
blood until, at long last, she reached the beaded curtain that closed the way
to and from the tunnel entrance.  Here, she stopped once more, blinking at the
light that blinded her and collapsed on the spot.  The moment she hit the
floor, she revived.  She touched her calf, felt her torn flesh and saw her
blood forming a puddle. She pulled off the scarf of her hijab and wrapped it
round her bleeding leg.

She heard dogs barking behind her and knew
for sure she had to get up and get out of there but, the moment she did get up,
she got dizzy again and fell down on the floor.

The sound of voices singing aroused her
and she got up with an effort and limped towards where they were coming from. 
She had almost reached the large hall when she was forced to grab the wall so
as not to fall again.  One of the singers sounded like Karma, singing on top of
his voice.  She focused her gaze and saw him dancing in a circle with clergymen
in turbans. She was convinced her imagination had run wild and that she was
hallucinating.

”Karma,” she said, though, apparently,
she must have yelled his name because everyone fell silent. Karma felt the
change and saw Abigail.  He stopped immediately and put the most idiotic
expression he could come up with on his face, stared at the clergymen, who
surrounded him and exclaimed:

“Oh, bless all of you, kind people.  I
feel better, I’m alright now, thanks to Allah in his infinite mercy for sending
holy people like you to help one like me overcome the evil spirit!”

Karma bowed his head and remained
standing silently.  He watched how the men gradually left the circle around him
and disappeared, each of them believing that they had helped a man who had lost
his mind in a moment of true holiness.

Karma gazed at Abigail, noticing her unsteadiness
and walked over to her.    Her face was like a white mask with lips pale and
misty eyes.  Now he saw her uncovered hair that fell to her shoulders and
realized that something was wrong.  He took her arm and led her to the
entrance, seeing that people were following him with their gaze but also
clearing the way for him.

“What happened?” he asked while they
were walking, “where’s your backpack?”

She neither answered nor heard him and
had he not held her, she would have collapsed again.  Karma hesitated to pick
her up in his arms because they were still in the area of a holy site.  He led
her slowly, almost dragging her, to the bus awaiting the group, which was
touring the Bazaar.  The front door of the empty bus was open.  The driver sat
at the wheel and threw them a bored glance as he dug his teeth back in the huge
sandwich he was eating.

“Water, water,” she muttered, and
suddenly noticed Karma beside her.  She whispered hoarsely:

“We have to get away from here, they’re
looking for me.”

Right then, shouts were heard behind
them and a terrifying Alsatian dog burst out of the Mosque, followed by another
black dog, whose tongue hung out of its jaws.  Both dogs ran back and forth
outside the entrance sniffing the ground with loud breaths as the visitors
dispersed and cleared the square.  Two soldiers stood close to the large
turquoise gates and tensely followed the two dogs, which were running around in
circles.

Abigail pointed to them, then looked at
the empty bus and climbed into it.  She suddenly pulled the driver out of his seat
and pushed him to a passenger seat as she took his place at the wheel.  To the
driver and Karma’s surprise she started the bus and within in seconds, began to
drive it away.  The driver opened his mouth and put out his arm but, not a word
came out of his mouth.  Abigail maneuvered between the parked vehicles, blew
the horn and drove on with the bus door still open.

They traveled like that along the busy
streets till they reached a narrow lane where the traffic was sparse and, she
stopped there, got out of the driver’s seat and yelled to Karma:

“Quickly, let’s get out and hitch a
ride!

Before they stepped down from the bus,
she touched the shocked driver, mumbled apologetically and got off.  Then, her
world began to spin and she fell at the roadside.  Karma ran to her and she
stood up again.

A dark-colored cab drew up behind them
and Abigail went to it, as she wiped her face.  Karma watched as she talked to
the taxi driver, turning her back towards him, pulled something out of her
collar and handed it to the driver.  Amazement flashed through Karma’s mind at
how lucky they were that a taxi arrived so quickly and just in time.

The bus driver came to his senses, shut
the door and making a sharp U-turn, returned to where he had been to await the
group that was still shopping in the Bazaar.

Abigail whispered to Karma as they sat
in the cab:

“I’m going to faint and I feel cold. 
Take me to a doctor and…”  she stopped speaking.

Karma turned around to her, called out
her name and spoke the driver in a frightened voice:

“I apologize, my wife is pregnant, she’s
feeling awful.  Help, please get us to a doctor!”

The driver nodded and accelerated,
apparently understanding the emergency.  Not for a moment did it occur to them
that this taxi driver, Robin, had been on their heels like a shadow.  He was
following Abigail, and according to all the rules of the game, had been
watching and reporting back, without revealing himself, of course.

During the minutes they traveled,
Abigail regained consciousness at least twice as she teetered on the edge of awareness
and reality, which scared Karma to death.  He offered the driver another
banknote and begged him to hurry but, the driver refused the cash and nodded. 
He said that in a few minutes, they would reach Gachin, where he knew an
excellent doctor.  He pointed to the right, to a row of houses in the distance,
between the hilltops and added that his children lived there and, perhaps, his
daughter, Jamilla… 

“Thank you, thank you, you were sent to
us by Allah,”  mumbled Karma and looked at Abigail. Her eyes were wide open,
but she didn’t seem to be aware of anything. Horrified, he wondered what transpired
when she disappeared in the Mosque. He didn’t even hear the beep that sounded
on the driver’s radio phone, nor did it occur to him that the driver had already
notified the doctor that they were on their way.

Dr. Muna received them at her home,
where she also had her clinic and Robin insisted on staying with them.  He
explained that their case touched his heart and suggested that when the lady
recovered, perhaps he would take them to their desired destination.

The black blood-soaked scarf was removed
from Abigail’s leg, revealing her torn calf.  The doctor recoiled
instinctively, at first and muttered:  “Yah, good God!” and announced
immediately:  “You have to go to the hospital!”

Deathly pale, Abigail shook her head and
muttered that it was impossible, that she would not go anywhere, even if it
meant dying.  The doctor understood and, knowing very well who she was dealing
with, she considered how to handle the situation.

The doctor herself was a member of the
underground ‘Mujahedin-e-Khalq’ that was associated with the Israeli ‘Mossad’
and was known as “The Dove.”  Her medical care of the organization’s injured
members was part of her activity against the regime in her country, but she hid
it well.  Her home was an important meeting place and the members of the
organization called it “the Nest.”

Now she sighed and began attending to
the injured woman.  She drew a sample of blood from her, leaned across and
listened to her heart, then pulled down Abigail’s lower eyelid and noticed her
pallor.

“She needs a pint of blood, maybe even
two,” she turned to Robin, the driver.  They spoke in whispers and she handed
him a test tube containing Abigail’s blood.  When he left, she made a phone
call, talking quietly and covering her mouth with her hand to hide her lips
but, her voice was clearly audible.

“Doctor Adel, I need advice and
assistance,” she said.  She spoke in medical terminology and discussed the
treatment she should give to the injured woman at her clinic.  She made some
notes and turned her face away but, Karma heard her ask:

“What seems most urgent to you?” When
she hung up, she sat for a moment to think, then she addressed them quietly.

“A surgeon will come to suture the wound
and will probably bring some blood for a transfusion.”

“What does it depend on?” Karma asked,
but the doctor didn’t answer, only glanced at Abigail and, after a short pause,
sat down beside her.

“How long ago did this happen?”

Abigail was silent and Karma answered
for her:

“Today, before noon.  Does it make a
difference?”

“She has lost a lot of blood,” the
doctor replied, “it’s important to know so that her body doesn’t go into
shock.”

Until the arrival of the surgeon,
Abigail received two injections and Dr. Muna calmly explained that one was
anti-tetanus and the other – an antibiotic.  She brought her a large glass of
water and encouraged her to drink all of it.

“Stop looking at us like a worried
mother hen,” she said to Karma, “go to the waiting room and make some coffee or
tea, for yourself and for me.”

Karma prepared the drinks and thought
how lucky they were that everything was going so smoothly.

A few minutes later, the surgeon
arrived.  Dr. Adel was a short man.  From the bald patch on top of his head,
which was surrounded by a crown of red hair and to the end of his nose, which
was also red, he looked funny.  The doctor leaned over to examine Abigail’s leg
and shook his head with displeasure.