The Lioness (14 page)

She cried as she watched him. Men were on either side,
with masks on and guns poised at his head. Once when he hesitated and took a
breath, they barked something at him that she couldn’t catch. Their voices were
muffled by the mask. They had jabbed him and he had sat back up. She could see
the sweat pour down off his face and hit the paper.

She looked into his wonderful brown eyes and saw the
tension and heard the strain at the end when he mentioned his loved one who was
at risk.

The tears came. Tears of gladness that she knew he was
alive. A prisoner but alive for sure. “I promise Ty, we will get you out of
there…” she cried harder after the tape ended and they went to the next news
piece.

Jumping when her phone rang, she reached for it and
heard Noori’s voice. “Rose, the captors want to talk to you in about twenty
minutes. They will meet us. We are going to be taken somewhere blindfolded.”

Rose felt sick but knew this was a necessity. She
would rather run and hide but to get Ty back she knew she had to do this and
probably more.
“Ok, I will be down in just a minute.”

“Rose, we will be with you. You are not to worry. I
will die for you if I have to.”

Rose got up. “There won’t be any talk of dying today,
do you hear me? We are going to get through this and get Ty out.”

Noori rubbed his forehead. “I hope so. I don’t know
what my sister would do if anything happened to me.”

“Nothing is going to happen to you. Now let me get
ready, I’ll be right down.”

Rose was tempted to just peek out the window but knew
it was still tense around town, even in the Green Zone. So she kept her drapes
pulled shut. She lived in prison.

She grabbed her burka and put it on. Grabbing her keys
and bag, she opened her door and was thrown back. The explosion shook the
building. God, that was close. She hoped it wasn’t something that came over the
barricade. It didn’t happen often. She steadied herself and started to walk.
Thank God for no windows. Who knows what would greet her when she got
downstairs. She would take the stairs.

**********

They drove quickly once they got past the scene of the
explosion. It was awful to say but she was so used to this kind of thing that
she didn’t even flinch at the sight of the charred car. Burnt remains of
whoever had martyred themselves. Only three deaths this time, including the man
in the car. A lot of injuries. When would all this stop? God, there had to be
an end to it all.

Noori said something to Daoud and they stopped in
front of a building. “It’s funny, this is my cousin’s shop….” All of a sudden
men came from both sides and told them to get out. At first Rose panicked and
then she heard one of them say they were glad they were on time. So these were
the men? “You will travel in our vehicle with our driver. We will blindfold you
all so you won’t know where we are going. It’s important you don’t know any
more then you need to.”

Rose followed Noori. He turned and came to her side.
“It’s okay, Little Sister, we will be okay. They want too much to let you get
hurt.”

“But you Noori and Daoud, you are like my family.”

Noori gave a weak smile. “Well maybe you can, as you
say, put in a good word for me.”

Rose wanted to squeeze his arm to reassure him but
knew that wasn’t appropriate.

“We will get through this.”

Rose tried not to breath. The blindfolds were old, a
stale smell of cigarette was stuck to the cloth like glue. The car came to a
stop and Rose sat very still. Daoud was on one side of her, Noori pressed tight
against her.

“You okay, Rose?”

Rose sneezed. “I will be once this stupid cloth comes
off my face. God, it stinks.”

The front doors opened and Rose could hear them get
out, feel the movement. The back doors opened and she felt Noori get out first.
She felt like she was falling into nothingness all of a sudden as Daoud also
got out. She sat by herself. Then she felt a hand on her arm. Not rough like
she thought it would be and she heard him say, “Watch your head.”

If only she could hear his voice clearly but
everything was muffled by their masks. At that moment, as she felt the hands of
one of Ty’s captors guide her out, she heard the call of the Mu’addin calling
the faithful to prayer, or the adhan.  That’s right, it was Friday. She had
lost time, days.

Rose felt herself guided by the same hands and then
her foot caught on something and she went flying. She almost went all the way
down but was caught. She had let out a yelp and she heard Noori’s voice. “Rose?”

Rose was back on her feet. “I’m okay, no damage done.”

“Are you sure you are okay?”

Rose turned towards the voice of one of the captors.
Something sounded familiar, she just couldn’t place the voice. She was starting
to imagine things, she knew she was.

“Yes, I will be fine. I just hope I can take this
blindfold off. I can’t stand the smell. It’s giving me a headache.”

Her guide yelled something to another of the men and
she heard a curt reply but heard that person walk off.

“We will get you another scarf. You will be able to uncover
your eyes once we are inside.”

“Thank you…very much,” Rose said.

**********

Rose sat at a table with Noori and Daoud. The other
men weren’t there. Psychological tactic. Make them wait. “I wish they would
just come back in, get it over with.”

“We have to be patient with these men. They hold all
the cards, not us.”

“I know it’s just so hard.” Rose sat, twisting the
material of her burka. Abdul watched from the little hole they had set up. He
was listening to Omar drone on.

“Listen Omar, things are going good. Actually better than
we ever thought they could. We need to go in and talk to them.”

“You go, I’ll be in shortly. You know, Abdul, you are
too soft. Telling Hamid to get a new scarf for the American. She would have
been fine.”

“We need her, it doesn’t hurt to be kinder.”

“Since when have they been kind to us? It’s because of
them that our country is overrun with foreign fighters. They say they fight for
Iraq, but in reality they fight for their own cause. Her country is not our
responsibility. The sooner you figure that out, the better for you. Maybe you
will live longer.”

Abdul watched Rose. The strain was on her face. He
could tell she was trying to keep a tight hold on her emotions, but it wouldn’t
take much.

He couldn’t take much more of his brother or his
nephew. Hamid just sneered all the time, like he knew something. He was a hot
head, looking to prove himself. They didn’t need that. He would get them all
killed, and he, frankly, wanted to live.

He saw Rose’s shoulder’s shake, saw his two cousins
sit up straighter, say something to her, saw her shake her head.

“I will go in now, don’t be long.”

**********

Rose jumped at the sound of the door opening. Well
finally. She saw the masked faces, probably one of the same men who’d held a
gun at Ty’s head. She wanted to hate these men, both of them, all of them, but
it was hard.  She couldn’t be swallowed up in the hate.

Sitting as straight as she could, she looked into the
eyes of her lover’s captor.

“We are glad you will speak with us. It is important
to get things moving to ensure the safety of Ty Madison. I think we both know
the quicker we do this the better for all, especially him, you….”

Rose felt a chill, like an ice cube had run down the
center of her back.

 Sitting up straighter so she was looking directly into
the captor’s eyes, she had the feeling she had looked into those eyes before. “Let’s
get past the veiled threats. Let’s get down to what you want and a time table.”
She took a deep breath. “You know the US Government has only given me a week,
at best, and then who knows what way they will attempt to get me out of the
country.”

“We are aware of that and are taking measures to ensure
you are not interrupted.”

“If you mean what happened this morning.”

“Exactly. Now I give my word that if you get a lot of
those demands started, we will hold up our end. I am a realist, I know not
everything will happen overnight, but I don’t want to be taken advantage of. My
brothers aren’t as patient.”

Rose looked down at her hands then back at the man
with the mask. “You know my father is in contact with other parties, to act as
the third party for negotiations. They will be in contact with you as soon as I
call them.”

“Here is the number we can be reached at all the time.
We won’t fool around. We are doing this to accomplish something for our country
and the lives of our countrymen.”

I am doing all I can to move this forward. I know, I
see and hear. We will be in touch… soon. Now if you will wait here I have a new
scarf for you to use to cover your eyes. Wait here.”

**********

Rose sat astounded. So that was it? All this way and
nothing more? The man with the mask came back in.

Rose stood up. “Can you tell me how Ty is? Is he
feeling okay, he isn’t sick or in need of anything? Could you possibly pass on
a message?” She figured it didn’t hurt to ask.

Abdul looked into the depths of Rose’s blue eyes. He felt
her need to know, he was struggling with the whole operation now but knew it
had to play itself out. If it didn’t who knew what would happen. It wasn’t
unheard of for a terrorist group to become part of the government. Look at
Hamas.

“He is fine. I am sure he would rather not be in the
place he is but he is well fed. He is allowed to exercise each day.” Seeing
relief flood her face, he felt good. She really was the most remarkable woman.
If only he had been born in another place. To know a woman like her, to have
her love like Ty had was more than he could ever expect. His life expectancy
rate wasn’t good, not now anyway. He would never have what his captive had.

“You can give me a note. I will make sure he receives
it.” At that moment the door came open and Omar came in. “What is the hold up?
We have things to do.”

Noori studied the new man that came bursting in, all
impatience. Something was too familiar about him. Rose moved closer to him and
so he put her behind him. Something was wrong, but he just couldn’t figure it
out. Something seemed too familiar with these men.

Rose reached into her little knapsack and pulled out a
piece of paper and pen. “I will just jot down a quick note.” She scribbled a
quick note in short hand and signed it with her name. “Here, I want to thank you
for delivering this.” She started to hand it to Abdul, but it was intercepted
by Omar.

“What is this? Are we a message carrier service too?”

Abdul snatched the note from his brother’s hand.
“Listen, it won’t hurt to let her write to him. She is helping us.”

Omar faced his younger brother. His son was right,
Abdul was turning soft on them. He was falling under the spell of the
Americans. Better take care of it soon or he could be the downfall of them all.
“Make sure this doesn’t happen too often. I won’t allow it!”

Abdul gave his brother a look. Turning to Rose, “I
will deliver it. Now it would be better to get you back.”

Abdul watched the streets as they went around the
block a couple of times. They pulled up in front of his shop and got out. He
opened the door for Rose while Omar took care of Daoud and Noori. Speaking low
so only Rose could hear, “Don’t worry, he is fine and will continue to be so. I
think though you should work fast as my partner here is impatient to see
results fast.”

Rose looked into the eyes of Ty’s captor. “Thank you.
I will be in touch as will the others working on this.”

“You can take that scarf off now.” Abdul didn’t want
to be accused of touching a woman, though he was sorely tempted to touch her
hair, her skin. That wouldn’t be proper, though, and her heart belonged to
another.

**********

Fatima left the room that Ty occupied. She had made
sure he had everything he wanted. She knew she couldn’t give him the most
important thing, his freedom. She stopped still, could she? Could she actually
be so brave to do that for him, for her new friend? What would her brothers do
to her? She ran back into the room.

**********

Ty looked up and saw Fatima come in all winded. Seeing
the look on her face. “What’s the matter?”

“I know this may never happen but I have to ask this.
What would happen if I were to get you out of here? Do you think my brothers
would kill me?”

Ty was floored. She was actually thinking of letting
him go, or at least entertaining the idea of it. “I can’t answer that as I don’t
know your brothers. I know one thing, I wouldn’t want it to endanger Rose. If
it were to put her in harm’s way then I won’t go.”

Fatima was thinking fast. If she were to do this then
she was to make sure she had it planned.

“I will think… I must go for now.”

She left, closing the door as quickly as she came in.

Abdul turned quickly on his brother. “I won’t be
accused that I am not a loyal Iraqi. What makes a good Iraqi? Our
brother-in-law never would have even done this, yet he loved Iraq and its
people. He was never accused of being soft, being a spy.”

Omar shook with rage. “I didn’t accuse you of being a
spy, but I did accuse you of being soft. You have to be harder. You don’t show
the ability to want to die for the cause.”

Abdul wasn’t stupid and wouldn’t go strapping bombs to
himself. “I won’t die for stupidity. I think more can be done being alive. I
want to see Iraq free to do, to grow. I will not be like your hothead son here,”
nodding his head towards his nephew.

Hamid looked at his uncle and to his father. “I will
be proud to die for the cause. The others believe the same way as I. We hate
what America has done. This man, this Ty Madison, is a voice for the pigs who
have taken our country. They are the bigger enemy, and if I have to I will
fight them, not our other brothers who fight them.”

“See Omar, he is a hot head. He isn’t fighting for
Iraq.”

“We need results Abdul, and we need them soon, or the
American will die.”

“No he won’t. I gave our promise. We keep our promise,
Omar. We are not animals.”

Abdul walked out of the store, past the clerk who
worked there for the mornings. He needed fresh air, needed to think. The pace
would have to pick up or Ty would die. Then what?

**********

Ty sat with the note Rose had written. Funny how she had
written it in shorthand. He read it again. ‘I miss you so, Ty. Da and I are
working hard for your release. I have met with the captors just now. Da’s
contacts will be contacting them to start the process. Remember I love you.’

**********

Abdul felt like he was going to go crazy. He needed to
confide in someone. Fatima walked in, gave him a look like she knew something
was up. “There is food to eat. Will you come, sit and eat?”

“Yes, I will be there. Can we talk as we eat?”

Fatima gave her brother a look. Was he kidding? They
always talked. If Omar and Hamid were there, it ended up being a very loud
discussion.

Sitting down, Abdul tore the bread and started to eat.
“I need to talk to someone. Omar won’t listen to reason.”

Fatima studied her brother. Could he be having second
thoughts on what they had done?

“You know you can tell me, you have always come to
me.”

Abdul pushed his plate aside. He couldn’t keep it in.
“We have him.”

Fatima went along with the whole charade. “Who?”
Hoping she looked convincing enough.

Abdul got up in his sister’s face. “The American, Ty
Madison. We have been holding him for a while now, here at the house.”

Fatima knew she had to act shocked or she would give
herself away. She stood up and wailed. “How could you? You have been hiding
this from me? I don’t know what the world has come to when a brother keeps
something like this from his older sister. A sister who has taken care of you
since you were little. I have fought your battles.”

Abdul stood and went to his sister, taking her hands.  “I
am sorry. It has been eating me up. If that wasn’t bad enough, Omar is acting
strange and Hamid is ready to be a martyr. He is a hothead of the worst kind.”

Fatima looked at her younger brother. “It is good you
told me. I will do all I can to help you.”

“You must not let Omar or Hamid know I told you. They
are talking of possibly killing Ty if things don’t move faster. They have both
accused me of being soft.”

Fatima wanted to get a hold of her other brother and
shake him. He was the worst kind of person. To think she had been happy when he
had married her best friend. Now she would kill him herself.

“Don’t worry, we will handle him and Hamid. Oh, Abdul,
you should have told me at the beginning.” She was letting herself go and
getting into this whole play acting. “Oh, poor Rose.” she let herself wail.

Abdul felt awful. What had seemed like such an easy,
clear cut plan was turning into a mess. Maybe he was soft but he didn’t think
the Americans were evil, especially people like Ty and Rose, who did so much
good.

“I am going to talk to Ty. I will let you come in
later.”

Fatima watched her brother leave and head for the
spare room where Ty was kept. She hoped Ty didn’t react too strangely. Maybe
she should confess.

**********

Abdul felt strange seated across from Ty, talking to
him in this way. He wished it were different circumstances.

“So you see, I felt the need to tell my sister. She
always keeps things straight and will know what to do in case my brother gets
out of hand. We have to hope things move along so he will be happy.”

“What about your nephew?”

“I don’t know. He is a problem, always has been, only
now it’s worse and your life is involved, maybe Rose’s. I know I promised but I
can’t be with him around the clock. I will go warn her.”

Ty felt bad for Abdul but it was something that he’d created.
He just prayed that it didn’t cost his or Rose’s life.

“Will you warn her as yourself, as Noori’s cousin or
as the captor?”

“I will contact Noori and let him know I found out
through connections. I will do all I can to keep her safe. I know she means everything
to you. I give my word.”

Ty knew this was costing him a great deal. “Listen, I
don’t know what the outcome of this will be but if we ever get out of this
alive I could make it easy for you to get out of here.”

“It would be hard, they suspected my brother-in-law
was involved with certain activities.”

“Well it would be easy to get you into another
country. I have wanted Noori and his sister to get out too. Maybe Jordan for
now. Rose is friends with the Queen. Her husband, the King, is to be one of the
parties involved with the negotiations.”

Abdul sat back, thinking. It would be so good to get
out of this hell. Work for a better Iraq, but get his sister out. Maybe he needed
to help with refugees. Rose could help with that.

Ty could see the struggle that Abdul was going
through. He wanted to fight here in his homeland but he cared for and loved his
sister. She was a brave woman.

“Listen Ty, we will talk more but I have to think, let
this play out for a bit. If things could get moving in the right direction for
my country, then Omar would be satisfied. I would still like to get my sister
out of here, though I doubt she would go without me.”

“Contact and warn Rose. Maybe she could get someone to
act as her guard.”

Abdul got up. “I will go now. We will talk later. I
will bring my sister, but we will have to be careful that my brother Omar
doesn’t catch on or there will be a price to pay.”

Ty got up to stretch. Looking at Abdul, he felt
sorrier for him with every minute, but his anxiety for Rose was mounting.
“Please warn her quickly.”

“I will go now. I would say don’t worry but a lot is
at stake here. It’s like a bomb ready to go off.” He opened up the door and
left.

Ty heard the lock go into place. What would the
outcome of all this be?