Saving Sophie: A Novel (49 page)

“We know what it is. Do you take us for fools?”

“I don’t take you for anything. You don’t interest me at all. Unless you let us in, I’m going to drive away.”

With that last comment, the three guards leveled their rifles at the windows of the van.

“You’re not going anywhere. Get out of the truck. Now!”

Kayla sat back, folded her arms across her chest, and stuck out her chin.

“Are you crazy?” Jack said softly. “They’re going to fire at us.”

“I don’t think so,” Kayla said. “You have a briefcase on your lap with four million euros and they don’t know the combination. Hang tight.”

“Get out,” they screamed, and hammered on the doors with their rifle butts.

Amid the confrontation, the mechanized gates parted and slowly opened inward to reveal a man standing in the middle of the driveway. Dressed in cream cotton slacks, a beige, collared shirt worn outside his trousers, and tan suede loafers, he stood tall in the afternoon breeze.

“Al-Zahani,” Jack said.

The doctor walked toward the van and waved his guards away with a flick of his hand. “
As-salaam alaikum,
welcome to Hebron,” he said to Kayla through the open window. “I assume you are the nurse?”

“
Wa-alaikum salaam
. Yes, I am. This gentleman is Mr. Taggart, who has negotiated this meeting, and I’m sure you recognize Mr. Sommers.”

“Hello, Jack,” al-Zahani said in English. “I’m sorry to see you in a wheelchair. I wish you a speedy recovery.”

Jack clenched his teeth. He nodded.

“May I ask that you all step out of the van, please?” al-Zahani said. “I’m sure you understand the need for caution these days. In this violent region, my home is a place of peace. There are no weapons of any sort inside, and we do not permit any weapons beyond this portal. So, if you’ve brought a weapon, would you please hand it to my security personnel to be returned to you when you leave.”

Kayla stepped down out of the driver’s seat and Liam jumped down from the passenger seat.

“As you know, Dr. al-Zahani, I’m a private investigator licensed to carry a gun,” Liam said. “I don’t go anywhere without it, and that goes double in the Palestinian territories. I have a gun and I don’t intend to give it to your men.”

“In that case, I’m afraid you will not be allowed into my home. You’ll have to wait here.”

“Jack’s not going in without me.”

“Then perhaps our meeting is over.”

“Look,” Liam said, “we did our part. We brought the money. You don’t want us to leave with the money, do you?”

“Oh, of course not. That money is earmarked for the schools of Hebron. Five million dollars will go a long way to build new schools for our children, and it would be a shame for the children to lose out on that donation, but my home is a weapon-free zone and you must respect my wishes.”

“So, unless I give you my gun, you’ll tell us to drive away?”

“And wish you all a bon voyage.” Al-Zahani smiled.

“Give him the gun, Liam,” Kayla said.

“Kayla.”

“Give him the gun.”

Liam frowned at Kayla. He reached around, lifted his pistol from his belt, and handed it to the guard.

“And the nurse, who speaks such fine Arabic,” al-Zahani said with a tinge of irony in his tone, “May I ask, which hospital employs you?”

“I’m in private practice.”

“Yes, I’m sure you are. Do you have a weapon?”

“I do not.”

Al-Zahani motioned for the third guard, who walked over with a metal-detector wand. “It’s not that I don’t trust you, but one can never be too careful.”

The guard waved the wand over Kayla and then Liam. It did not beep.

Al-Zahani looked through the opened door into the backseat. “Do you have any weapons, Jack?”

“No.”

“That’s good enough for me.” Then to Liam and Kayla, the doctor said, “Would you follow me please?” He turned and walked through the gates into the compound. Kayla started to head back to the driver’s seat, but al-Zahani said, “Oh, don’t bother, my men will bring the van into the yard.”

Liam and Kayla followed al-Zahani on foot up the driveway and toward the front door. One hundred yards to his left, Liam spied the long, stone, one-story outbuilding. No guards were visible at the doorway. He stopped to wait for the van to catch up.

“Again, Mr. Taggart, my men will be happy to assist Jack from the van,” al-Zahani said.

“The controls on this rental vehicle are tricky,” Liam said. “It’s better that I help Jack.”

“I’m sure we can handle it.”

The guard in the checkered keffiyeh stood by the van door waiting for Jack to engage the lift. Jack pushed the buttons on his control pad a few times and finally shouted. “Liam, my controls aren’t working again. You’ll have to use the buttons on the door panel.”

Liam shrugged and looked at al-Zahani. “I told you.”

“Yusef,” the doctor said to the man in the checkered keffiyeh, “use the controls on the door panel.”

Yusef tried several times unsuccessfully to engage the lift. He pulled hard on the lift mechanism and on the back of the passenger seat. He yanked. He pushed. He slammed his fist on the button pad and even kicked at the platform. Liam glanced nervously at Kayla. After several tries, the guard shrugged and opened his arms.

“As I told you,” Liam said, and walked over to the van. He leaned forward into the passenger compartment, positioning his jacket and body to block the view of the interior, and double-clicked the middle button before the bottom button. The motor engaged and the lift moved slowly. Liam reached around to the console but the panel did not release. Liam quickly paused the lift mechanism. He backed it up and tried again. Again the platform slid toward the door, and again the hidden panel would not release. With the three guards now standing behind him, staring inquisitively, Liam tried a third time. Same result. He shook his head as he allowed the platform to slide the wheelchair to the door, out of the chassis, and down to the ground. “Yonit, we’re going in naked,” he said to his belt buckle.

Liam pushed the wheelchair forward and followed al-Zahani and Kayla into the house. Yusef handed his rifle to his companion and followed the group into the home. Jack held the briefcase tightly on his lap. The outside of al-Zahani’s home, though large, was commonplace in every sense—white Jerusalem stone, two stories, recessed windows. But inside was a sultan’s palace. The generous entry hall gleamed in subtle shades of white and caramel travertine. A grand staircase, covered in purple Persian runners, rose regally to the second floor.

Al-Zahani led them past the staircase, down the hall, and into a large library with twelve-foot ceilings. Several small Persian rugs lay on a floor of beige Italian marble. Two large palm plants punctuated the corners of a wall of windows that overlooked the gardens.

“Where’s Sophie?” Jack said.

“She’s here,” al-Zahani said. “Happy and comfortable. I wish you would reconsider your insistence that she return to America. Why don’t you tell her it’s okay to stay here? She is so well integrated into our community, it would be a shame to take her away.”

“It didn’t bother you when you kidnapped her out of Chicago where she was so well integrated in her community, did it?”

The doctor shook his head. “I can see that this discussion will lead us nowhere. Just as before, you care more for yourself than your daughter. Still, I wish you would at least consider an accommodation. We would be open to allowing you to visit here anytime you wish. You are obviously a man of means. Travel expenses would not seem to be an obstruction. I would even share the expenses with you. Tell Sophie you would like her to live here.”

“Look, I brought the money, where’s my daughter?”

“As soon as I see the money. Open the case.”

“Hold on, Jack,” Liam said. “
Simultaneously
was the agreement. No Sophie, no money.”

Al-Zahani shook his head again. “True to your character, Jack, you chose an ill-mannered investigator. Very well.” The doctor turned to the doorway and called out, “Bashir, would you please bring Sophie to the library.”

Jack sat in his wheelchair in the middle of the room, the briefcase on his lap. Kayla stood to his side and slightly behind him. Liam positioned himself a few steps in front, as a buffer between Jack and al-Zahani. Yusef stood by the doctor’s side, a constant grin upon his face. From the opposite corner, Bashir walked into the room, hand in hand with Sophie. Lubannah trailed behind.

“Daddy,” Sophie shrieked, and tried to run to him, but Bashir held her close. He bent down and gently said, “Wait, child. Wait, as your Jaddi has asked. You will have your time.”

Al-Zahani wagged a finger. “Remember, Sophie, what we talked about before? We made an agreement. If he chooses and cooperates, your father will meet with you in a few minutes outside. But now, child, I ask you, do you see his briefcase? Do you remember what I told you?”

“Sweetheart,” Jack interrupted, “I love you so much. I’m here to take you home.”

“I told you!” Sophie shrieked, and wriggled to get loose from the strong grip. “Let me go, Bashir.”

Bashir looked to al-Zahani, who slowly shook his head. Turning his attention to Jack and rolling his fingers in a beckoning gesture, al-Zahani said, “And now, the case.”

Jack focused on the combination lock. His hands shook. First one side, then the other. The clasp clicked and the case opened. The money lay bundled beneath the false explosive device. Kayla placed the case on a table.

“Why, Jack, it is mousetrapped after all.”

“
Booby-trapped,
Doc,” Liam said. “The term is
booby-trapped
. Now we’ll take Sophie and be on our way.”

“No,” Lubannah cried. “You cannot take our Sophie. You promised me, Arif.” She came up from behind and put her arms around the child.

“Be at ease, Lubannah,” al-Zahani said, “no one will take Sophie. That, I do promise you. She will never leave Canaan.”

“You said I could go home with my daddy. You
said,
” cried Sophie. She beat her fists and broke loose from Lubannah, but al-Zahani reached out and grabbed her arm with a strong grip.

Jack rose from his wheelchair, took a step forward. His leg buckled, and he stumbled. He grimaced from the pain and leaned against his chair. “Let her go, Arif. I’ve done my part.”

“Why don’t you understand?” Lubannah pleaded. “She’s safe here. She’ll be raised in a loving home with loving grandparents.”

“Loving grandparents?” Kayla said. “Do you know what a murderous monster you’re married to? Do you know how many people he’s killed and how many more he plans to kill?”

Jack steadied himself and started to walk toward al-Zahani, but Bashir leveled a semiautomatic weapon and shook his head.

“Take them outside, Bashir,” al-Zahani said. “I have the money. See that they bother us no more. Yusef, go with them.”

“There’s an automatic weapon in here, Yonit,” Liam said loudly. “In the library. Two guards.”

“Lubannah,” Kayla continued, “did he tell you how he killed Alina? Did he tell you he injected her with virulent, deadly bacteria that ate up her organs and caused her to die a beastly, painful death? The same thing that he did to my sister?”

“What?” Jack said. “
You
did that?
You
made her sick? You killed Alina?”

“Arif?” Lubannah said. “Arif, what she said…”

“Ask him what he’s doing out in that laboratory,” Kayla said. “Go on, ask him. Have you ever been out there, Lubannah? It’s a madman’s laboratory. He’s making more poison to kill more people. Just like the poison he gave to Alina.”

“Shut her up, Bashir,” snapped al-Zahani, trying to hold on to Sophie. “Take them all outside. Now!” But Bashir didn’t move.

Lubannah pulled hard on al-Zahani’s shirt. “Arif? You told me she got an infection and the American doctors didn’t know how to treat her.”

“She already had that infection when she came home,” Jack said. “She got that infection here. By the time she got home, it had already caused irreparable damage.”

“Arif. You could not do that to our daughter. Tell them.”

Jack glared at al-Zahani. “It’s all so clear. The doctors couldn’t treat Alina because they had never seen that strain before. It’s a biological weapon, and you gave it to her, didn’t you? You poisoned her because she wouldn’t stay here and be your perfect little—”

“Shut up!” al-Zahani snapped, shaking Sophie by her arm. “Bashir, do your job. Take them outside, now! Yusef, get them out of here.”

Bashir held his hand out to stop Yusef. He stood before al-Zahani and gave him a hard look. “
Sayyid,
when you treated Alina for her allergies—”

“Why are you just standing there?” al-Zahani said in a frenetic voice. “How dare you question me. Shoot them or give me the gun.”

Bashir was steadfast. “You gave Alina medicine. She told me. An injection for her allergies right before she left Hebron.” He lowered his gun and took a step back.

“Kill them, damn you!” al-Zahani shouted. “Yusef, take them outside.” But Bashir shook his head and blocked the path.

“Daddy,” screamed Sophie, struggling to free herself from al-Zahani’s grip. She kicked at his legs, she swung her fist. “Daddy!”

“Arif!” Lubannah yelled. “Tell me she’s lying.” She reached for him.

With his free hand, al-Zahani backhanded his wife and she fell hard to the marble floor. “You stupid woman, Alina left us long before I gave her the injection.”

The sounds of shouts and gunshots were heard from the outside. Through the windows al-Zahani saw uniformed soldiers running through the courtyard.

“It’s all over, Doc,” Liam said. “That’s the IDF. You and your plans are finished. Let her go.”

Al-Zahani backed up to the bookshelves, his left hand tightly gripping Sophie’s arm. He looked around the room at the individuals closing in on him. He looked outside at the dozens of soldiers in the yard.

“It’s time, Yonit,” Liam said loudly.

Al-Zahani’s face broke into a demonic smile. “Nothing is over. It’s just beginning. You’re all too late, you see. The damage is done. Canaan is avenged.”

Al-Zahani reached behind him, onto one of the shelves, and grabbed his black medical bag. He quickly extracted a hypodermic syringe and held the needle up. “Get back now, all of you. This child will stay with me. She is a daughter of Canaan. She will never leave her homeland. I am going to walk to my car with Sophie. Do not interfere, or I will inject the child. My granddaughter and I will leave together or we will die together.” He started walking slowly toward the door, his left hand gripped tightly around Sophie’s arm, his right hand holding the syringe. Yusef trailed behind him. Sophie screamed, “Daddy!”