1. Betrayal…
The fog was too thick. He couldn’t see two meters in front of him. The fear that filled his heart forced him to grab his gun tighter. However, some comfort and assurance made their way into his soul as he heard the footsteps of his friend and partner right behind him. They had been through so much together. They were like brothers. Whenever he felt bad or depressed Ahmed was there for him and on countless occasions Ahmed was there to save his life. Not only was he like his brother, but he was also his lifesaver. Whenever Ahmed was around he felt safe. And right now, in this dangerous situation Ahmed was his only source of ease.
Both men could hear the waves of the Red Sea crashing on the shores of Harghada, but that was the only aspect of the waves they could sense. They couldn’t see the water because the thick fog covered it like a blanket, but they could definitely feel the moist air. Under any other circumstances, this place would have been a wonderful place to enjoy…
Suddenly, a blinding light shined right in their faces and then a couple of shots were fired. He instinctively jumped aside trying to avoid the shots and fired towards the light. With his first few shots he was successful in blowing out the source of the light. But the footsteps had ceased. He looked behind him and despite of the fog he could see Ahmed lying on the ground with a fatal chest wound. He ran back to him as horror filled his heart and anger boiled through his veins. He knelt beside him and checked his pulse… There was none. Abruptly, he heard movement. In a split second he spun around only to hear a gun shot and it seemed to him that he could even see the bullet speeding towards him. Then…
Galal opened his eyes in horror. He could feel the cold sweat dripping from every pore in his skin. He looked around only to see the familiar surroundings of his bedroom. He drew in a deep breath to calm himself down.
“It was only a dream,” he whispered to himself. “It was only the dream.”
Galal took several more deep breaths as he felt his heart rate go back down to normal. He took a look at his watch. It was five o’clock in the morning. He lay back on the bed thinking about the dream. He had been having the exact same dream over and over again for the past three years. No matter what he tried, he couldn’t stop that dream from invading his sleep almost every night. No therapy, nothing he tried helped him.
His thoughts trailed off as consciousness oozed out and the darkness of sleep overpowered him.
It was a warm night in that village located in upper Egypt. The simple people living in it gathered in a big empty grassy area right in the center of the village. Their small houses, made out of wood and clay, surrounded the meeting area. That was their tradition. They would work hard in their farms all day and at night they would gather to socialize. They were all financially equal. They lead simple and poor lives. However, in spite of that, they were happy. The happiness and the feeling of family that filled their hearts compensated for all the other less than ideal conditions. In fact nothing else mattered to them. The three most important things in their lives were God, their family and their land. God provided them with everything. Their families made their lives wonderful and they lived off the land. A perfect and simple life. No one could ask for something more… Why would they ask for anything more?
The children played with a small ball, while the men were talking about their work. How the different seasons change the land and how their fruits and vegetables were healthy and ripe at this time of year. The women were also talking, but about a completely different subject. The men worked in the farms while the women took care of the house. This was no less work than the first, in fact it was more demanding. They had to take care of the kids. They raised the next generation of strong men and women who would take care of the village after their parents were gone. It was the cycle of life.
The happy noises shattered the silence of the night, but it also covered the slight movement behind the houses. All the villagers, old and young, men and women, didn’t notice the ten men watching them with eyes full of hatred. A word that the simple and peaceful people didn’t speak of and some didn’t even understand. It was surprising that anyone would feel that way about them. It was as if those men hated them because of the joy they lived in.
Suddenly, an explosion destroyed that peace and joy. Shots were fired. Kids fell dead in a pool of their own blood. Their parents followed the same dark fate as they ran to their rescue. Houses burned. The fruits of the land, the fruits that these villagers lived off, went up in flames. The whole scene was a portrait of pain and glory. The pain of the dead and dying and the glory of triumph of evil over good. A portrait that should have never been painted, should have never been conceived. But now it was too late…
Galal grabbed the newspaper thrown in front of his doorstep, then stepped inside his one level house and slammed the door shut. He glanced at the main subtitles on the front page as he walked towards the kitchen to make himself his usual cup of coffee. Another terrorist attack. They killed hundreds of innocent people and burned down their houses. Galal shook his head in sadness. When was this entire ordeal going to stop? People killed because of their religion.
Suddenly, he froze as another article attracted his attention. It read that an important man was accused of some crime, but turned free for lack of evidence to condemn him. The article mentioned that the arresting officer, Galal Abd El Masseh, was unable to provide the evidence needed to support his claim that the accused was indeed a dangerous drug dealer.
“How blind could they be?” Galal asked himself in frustration.
At this moment the phone rang. Galal threw the newspaper on the table beside his TV in anger and picked up the phone, almost sure who he would be talking to.
“Galal, I would like to see you in my office right now.” A commanding male voice sounded from the other side.
“Sir, you know it will take me about fifteen minutes to get to the Service.” Galal tried to sound humorous.
“I don’t find this amusing, Lieutenant,” Galal’s commanding officer replied. “We have a big problem on our hands, and you are at the core of it.” A pause. “Now we have a lot to talk about. So I do expect you here… right… now.”
“Yes sir.” Before Galal could even finish, the line went dead.
He stood there stunned at what happened during the past twenty seconds, but then he gathered his thoughts and started preparing for the meeting. He could almost see what was going to happen in the next couple of hours and he dreaded it. He would be reprimanded for what he had done. After all how could he embark on such a politically dangerous mission without informing his superiors of his plan?
Well if I didn’t do what I did, Galal thought, this man would have walked away free, and continued his powerful influence in this country. I just couldn’t let that happen… Well he is walking away now. And thanks to you it will take a miracle to bring him in again. Galal blamed himself. It’s time to face the music buddy.
It took him only five minutes to dress and get into his car. He headed directly to the Service building, breaking all the speed limits. In less than fifteen minutes he was parking his car in front of the tallest and biggest building in all of Egypt, the Egyptian Secret Service building. If something would go wrong today he, would never be able to park his car there again.
Galal took the elevator up to the top floor. His strides were steady and sure as he cut the distance between the elevator and his superior’s office. Sure, however, was not what he was feeling at the moment. He reached the door and he stood there hesitant to knock. Finally, he gathered every bit of strength and courage he could muster, then knocked on the door.
“Enter.” The commanding voice sounded from inside the room.
Galal entered into a spacious office. The colonel’s huge desk, had on its glass top, a state of the art computer. On the wall on his left, hung a picture of the president of Egypt. There was a very expensive and comfortable looking couch on Galal’s right that he never had the chance to try. A huge screen was embedded in the wall right behind the colonel. It was used for presentation purposes.
“Sit down.” The colonel almost ordered Galal.
Galal took a seat on one of the two chairs facing the colonel’s desk.
“Colonel Fareed, you wanted to see me.”
“Yes, and I guess you know why!”
“I have a clue.”
“The only question I have for you is: why?” The colonel was trying his best to suppress the anger he was clearly feeling. “What prompted you to go after such a powerful man?”
“Sir, he might be powerful, but he is definitely not too clean.” Galal was determined to tell the whole truth about this man. “You can’t believe the amount of drugs he sneaks into Egypt every year sir.” A pause. “Yes, maybe he does invest in government projects…”
Colonel Fareed cut Galal short. “If I may make a correction here, he is one of the biggest investors in Egypt. He literally invests billions of dollars. Not to mention he holds a very important position in the government. And besides that, he is the President’s friend. You can’t just go accusing him of dealing in drugs without having solid evidence to convict him.”
“I thought that I had sir.” Galal defended himself. “I had two eye witnesses, but they were mysteriously killed two days before the trial… Don’t you think this is a little peculiar?”
“Maybe it is a little peculiar, as you say. But there was no evidence to suggest that he was the one who killed them, or even gave the order to kill them.” The colonel paused. “Their death was an obvious accident… A car accident.”
“Sir, their brakes failed!” Galal said stunned. “Now this is not a very common ‘car accident’”
“It was proven that no one tampered with their car.” Fareed said and paused. “Now, I am left with a big problem Galal.”
“Let me guess, sir,” Galal said. “The very important investor, Mohammed Ayoub, is complaining in high places.”
“This is exactly my problem.”
“Sir, how long have I served under your command?” Galal asked.
The colonel was taken back by the question, but he replied anyway. “For a very long time… Over five years.”
“During these five years, did you know me to act upon information I have without being one hundred percent sure that it is entirely accurate?”
“You are the best officer to ever serve under my command.”
“Then why should this change now?”
“It didn’t.” Fareed replied softly. Then he leaned forward on his desk and continued even more softly. “Frankly Galal, I think this man is spoiled rotten. And I think he is guilty like hell. But it is out of my hands now.”
There was silence as Galal tried to absorb what was being said to him.
“Sir, what are you saying exactly?”
“I am sorry, but I am under orders from the president himself to remove you from active duty.”
Galal blinked in shock. Nothing could have prepared him for that. After more than seven years of service in the Egyptian army and in the secret service, he was being fired. He almost didn’t believe what he just heard.
“Sir, I ask you to reconsider your decision.” Galal almost begged.
“I am sorry. I honestly am, but it is out of my hands now.” Fareed replied sorrowfully. “Please leave your gun, and your service identification.”
Galal stood up very slowly. He felt like a car had just hit him. He took out his gun and put it on the colonel’s desk, then he took out his wallet, opened it and removed his Secret Service identification. He looked at it for a while then placed it beside the gun.
“If you will excuse me sir.”
“You’re dismissed.”
Galal turned and headed out of the building. He met several of his friends on his way out, but it seemed like he didn’t even notice them. When he reached his car, he couldn’t hold his tears in any longer. They were the tears of someone who had just tasted the ugly and bitter taste of betrayal. For a long time he couldn’t do anything but lean on the car and cry. How could his own country betray him in this fashion after he worked hard to protect it and to serve it? He had lost count of the numerous times he put his life on the line for his country. And now this was his reward. He shook his head and tried to shake away this feeling, but he couldn’t. Finally, however, he was able to bring his tears under control and drive home.
2. The Crime…
Galal got lost three times on his way home and finally when he reached his house it took him an incredible ten minutes to actually be able to open his door. When, finally, he was able to get in his house, he felt that his knees would give way under the weight of his body. He threw himself on the couch facing the small TV. He stared at nothing in particular, but suddenly his eyes focused as he noticed something peculiar. The newspaper wasn’t where it was supposed to be. Galal distinctly remembered throwing it on the table beside the TV, now it was on the floor!
All feelings of discouragement vanished from his mind and were replaced by suspicion and alertness. He walked to where the newspaper was now to take a closer look at it.
“This newspaper was opened.” Galal said to himself. “And it wasn’t me… Somebody broke into my house.”
Galal took a quick glance around his living room, but nothing seemed to be out of place. Whoever broke in made sure not to misplace anything. He inspected the rest of his one level house carefully, but found nothing out of the ordinary.
Galal sat back down and closed his eyes going back in his memory to the moment he got up this morning and picked up the newspaper. The street that morning was empty. There were only three cars. The same three cars that he saw every morning. They belonged to the residence of the apartment building facing his house. The building was new. It was erected just a few years ago. This whole neighborhood was being rebuilt. Houses like his were not a common sight to see in Egypt any more. With the rapidly increasing population of Cairo it became very space consuming to build houses that would not support except one family. The person funding the project of building this part of Cairo was the same Mohammed Ayoub Galal arrested.
Galal remembered kneeling down to pickup the newspaper and as he started to stand up again, a flash of light momentarily, distracted him. He remembered trying to find the source of the flash but he could not; so he finally assumed that it was the reflection of the sun off the glass of the building in front of him. However, now he realized that that was impossible. The building facing him was built on a slight angle away from him and since the sun was behind him, then he should not have noticed any reflection, but what did that mean?
He got up and went to the window to take a look at the building, maybe he would notice something, or maybe he would remember anything that would give him a clue about what happened. He must have stared at that building for close to half an hour, trying to see something out of the ordinary, but it was a futile attempt. Finally, he was interrupted by the sound of the doorbell. He opened the door and there stood his sister.
Mira was a very attractive and beautiful young lady who just turned twenty-two a few days ago. She had the most beautiful green eyes anyone had seen. Her slightly tanned skin along with her light brown hair gave her a wonderful combination between the Egyptian brilliance and the western elegance.
Galal had two brothers and two sisters. Mira was the youngest and the closest to him of them all. They had a connection that could almost be described as a soul connection. She could sense what he was feeling before he said a word and now was no different. Once she saw him she asked, “Galal, something wrong?”
“Don’t you say hi, or greetings, or at least come in before you ask that question?” Galal said trying to hide his feelings behind a shallow smile.
She entered and closed the door behind her.
“Okay, hi.” Mira said. “Now what’s wrong?”
She was the only one Galal could talk to freely with the confidence that she would understand everything he said.
“You can’t believe what happened today, Mira.” Galal said allowing the overwhelming sadness to creep into his tone of voice. “I got fired.”
Mira could literally feel his sadness and depression in her heart, but she knew that nothing she could say would make him feel better. So she did the only thing that she could. She held his hands and hugged him. Once she did, she could feel his tears wetting her shoulder.
It took Galal several, long minutes to calm down. When he did, they sat down on a couch discussing his future actions.
“So what are you going to do about it?” Mira asked.
“I have no idea.” Galal answered. “I am still shocked from what happened. It seemed that colonel Fareed could not do anything about it, so what more could I do?”
Mira seemed surprised at her brother. “What do you mean? You do what you do best. You investigate.”
“I already did, Mira.” Galal said. “And look where it has gotten me.”
“Does that mean you quit?” She asked.
“I don’t know.” He said trailing off with his thoughts. “I am thinking that I have been at this for too long. You see, this was coming sooner or later. Maybe it is time to look for another job. I am thinking of going back to school to study law. With my background I should finish pretty quickly.”
Mira stood up in disbelief. “I don’t believe what I am hearing Galal. I never knew you to quit just because of a setback, no matter how big or serious.” She paused. “I am disappointed in you.”
He looked at her blankly for a while then replied, “What would you have me do? Go chasing the guy. You know how powerful he is?”
“Yes, I read the newspapers, but no one is perfect. He must have his faults, and I think it is your job to find them. I can help if you want.”
“Absolutely not.” Galal said in a no-argument kind of tone. “I am not going to have you involved in this.”
“Something tells me that something else is bothering you.” Mira said.
“I can never hide anything from you.” Galal said. “I think somebody broke in here.”
“You’re kidding.” Mira paused, but then continued, “no you’re not.”
Galal shook his head.
“This is pretty serious.” Mira said looking around. “How did you know? Everything seems in place.”
“Trust me, I know.” Galal said in confidence.
“So, what are you going to do?”
“I don’t know. Whoever broke in was very careful not to leave any evidence behind. I can’t even tell what he wanted exactly. He didn’t take anything and there is no sign of any search. The only thing I can do is wait and see if anything more happens.”
There was a pause as both of them thought the situation through. Finally, Galal broke the silence.
“Let’s just forget about it for now. Actually, I don’t want to think about this for the rest of the evening.” Galal said trying to put all that happened aside for now.
“Okay, remember today is Friday. We planned to go to a nice fancy restaurant to have lunch.” Mira said following Galal’s lead.
“Yeah, my treat.” Galal said. “Haven’t you noticed that I always pay when we go out.” He smiled.
“Oh don’t whine.” Mira smiled. “At least I let you have the pleasure of my company every now and then.”
“How could I be so inconsiderate?”
“Yeah I know, how could you? You know how busy it is in the med school and I still manage to find some time to spend with you.”
“I appreciate that Doctor.” Galal replied.
They got in Galal’s car and headed to a nice restaurant in El-Zamalek, one of the wealthiest places in Egypt. The temperature was hot as it usually is during the summers of Cairo, but that didn’t bother them too much. They forgot about that completely as they got enveloped in an intense argument about the policies of the government. Suddenly, however, Galal changed the subject.
“You know something,” Galal said to his sister. “I think we’re being followed.”
“Galal, how could you tell?” Mira asked as she looked behind her. “The streets are very crowded as usual. How could you tell that a car is following us.”
“Instinct, my dear sis,” Galal replied. “But I wouldn’t get too worried about it if I were you. They can’t do anything in the middle of the day with all these people around.”
“You just ruined my day. How am I suppose to enjoy lunch with you with this knowledge in my head?”
“You’re not. I am going to drop you at our parents’, and then I am going to take those guys for a ride.”
“Can I stay?” She said excitedly.
Galal didn’t have to reply. He just gave her a look that spoke his mind and she didn’t argue.
He changed his destination and headed to his parents’ apartment. All the time he was keeping an eye on the car following him. Galal was definitely right. The car stayed with them since they left his house. There was no doubt about it. They were being followed.
It didn’t take Galal and Mira a long time to reach their parents’ apartment building. Galal dropped his sister off and waited for her until she looked out from the window to make sure she was safely in. After he was sure, he started driving again and that car was still following. He just kept driving around with no particular destination, but one thing he made sure of, was not to get out to a deserted area. He didn’t want a face to face confrontation without people to back him up.
Galal drove to ‘Midan El-Tahreer’, the busiest street in Egypt at this time of day. When they were stopped in a traffic light, he got out of his car unexpectedly and ran to the pursuing car. He went to the driver’s side, opened the door and violently pulled the guy out of the car. He slammed him against the side of the vehicle.
“Why the hell are you following me?” Galal asked dangerously.
“Hey, I don’t know what you’re talking about.” The man replied angrily.
“The hell you don’t.” Galal said and then slammed the guy again but harder this time. The man felt the stabs of pain soar through his spine. “What do you want?” Galal shouted.
By this time people were gathering around watching the scene. Some were even thinking of intervening and breaking up the fight.
“If I were you I would go check on my life.” The man whispered in pain and Galal could hear the evil and danger in the man’s voice. Suddenly a frightening thought suggested itself in his mind.
Galal left the man, ran back to his car and started his way back to his parent’s place. He was praying that everything would be alright. However, the thought of his parents and his sister being kidnapped or worse, even dead made his heart stop. He drove as fast as he could weaving his way through the cars and in less than twenty minutes he reached his destination. From the outside everything seemed peaceful, but he dreaded what might await him on the inside.
Galal practically flew up the stairs to the fifth floor where his parents lived. The first thing he noticed was the slightly opened door. At this moment all his fears closed on his heart like an iron grip. He could not breathe as he cut the remaining distance as fast as he could. Before, however, he reached the door it opened and his father’s figure appeared. He was fine. The only thing that Galal’s father was experiencing, was a sensation of surprise to see his son standing there with the palest face he had ever seen.
“What’s the matter Galal?” His father asked. “It looks like you just saw a ghost.”
Galal started breathing again and the blood started flowing to his face. “Is everyone okay?” He asked.
“Yes, everyone is just fine.” His father said. “I should ask you the same question.”
“Yeah, everything is fine.” Galal said. “But why was the door open.”
“I was going to the market to buy some groceries, but I forgot my keys so I went inside to get them and when I came out, there you were looking ready to attack me.”
“I am sorry, Dad.” Galal apologized. “But I was a bit worried.”
“Worried about what?”
“Nothing… nothing. Everything is alright.” Galal said. “Listen Dad, I have to go check on something in my house. So I’ll see you later.”
“Okay, take care son.”
Galal went back down the stairs, got in his car and headed home. As soon as he was close to his neighborhood, he could see black smoke rising up to meet the clear blue skies. He floored the gas pedal and the car roared into high gear. One minute later, he could see clearly what was burning. It was his house.
The people gathered around the burning house, practically carried the screaming Galal off the ground to prevent him from jumping into the burning flames.
“It is finished man,” One man said. “You can’t do anything. The fire fighters are going to be here soon.”
Galal however knew that they would not be here soon enough. With the busy streets of Egypt at this hour of day, his house would be reduced to a pile of ash by the time they got there. Finally, Galal knew that it was finished. His house was gone and everything he owned with it. And the worst thing was that there was nothing he could do about it. He felt sick and fell on his knees as tears started rolling down his cheek.
Some men were trying to control the fire by pouring tanks of water on it. But the fire was like a hungry beast devouring its prey. No one could stop it. After what seemed to be eternity, they could hear the fire trucks closing in.
The fury Galal was experiencing burned hotter than the fire. The man that was following him knew something about this disaster. It was a planned crime, not an accident as he was sure the police was going to find out. But who planned it? One name came to mind.
Mohammed Ayoub.
Abruptly what he had to do became so clear to him. He was going to pay Ayoub a visit. Ayoub thought this would stop Galal… Well this prey had teeth and he was going to fight back…
3. Between the Devil’s Jaws…
It was an unusually dark night. Even the moon was not shining. Its light could not penetrate the heavy layering of clouds covering the relatively new city called ‘El Asher men Ramadan’. This small city was only ten years old and because it was about seventy-five kilometers away from the borders of Cairo, surrounded by the Sahara desert, it wasn’t a very popular place to live in. Its population was no more than two thousand people and most of these people worked in this city. One of the two thousand people living there was Mohammed Ayoub. His house was two levels surrounded by a huge fenced garden. There were no other houses close to it.
Everything outside seemed calm except for the slight movement behind the heavy bushes that characterized the area surrounding Ayoub’s house. Galal was wearing black. Black shirt, black pants, black shoes. His face and hands were also blackened by charcoal. He looked like he was part of the night, patiently watching the house. No one was inside. It seemed the perfect time to break in, but he knew that it wouldn’t be that easy. A man like Mohammed Ayoub wouldn’t leave his house unprotected especially if there was something in there that was of importance to his ‘business’. That was exactly what Galal was hoping to find. Something inside that would convict Ayoub.
The day before, Galal made sure that he memorized the schematics of the house. He also studied the area surrounding the house very carefully. He felt like he had been living there most of his life.
Mohammed Ayoub was out in a business meeting. This meeting was expected to take at least three hours. Just enough time for Galal to go in and look for what he wanted. There were three dogs roaming inside the perimeter of the fence, but these were the least of his problems. He grabbed a tranquilizer gun from under his belt. He aimed it at the first dog and fired. The dog immediately fell unconscious. He shot the other two and the effect was instantaneous.
“Sweet dreams doggies.” Galal said sarcastically as he ran to the fence. It was about six feet high. He examined it carefully and made sure it wasn’t electrified. When he was sure, he jumped over it and without wasting anytime ran to the back door of the house. Galal knew that if he tried to force the door open an alarm would sound. So he took out a small tool kit, found the right tool and slipped it in the keyhole. After a few tries the lock opened with an obvious clicking sound. Galal slipped in the house and closed the door behind him. He glanced around quickly to see where he was. It was the kitchen. The man started moving quickly, checking the rooms until he found Ayoub’s office. He took out a small but strong flashlight and scanned the room with it. Everything in this room was quite expensive. The huge desk was made out of black marble. Its surface was covered with scattered papers. Galal took a quick look at the papers, but nothing seemed of importance. Then he went through the contents of the drawers. The first two didn’t contain anything of interest to Galal, but once he opened the third one his eyes glittered. It contained a single folder titled ‘Money from Egypt’. He opened the folder and quickly skimmed through its contents. What he read on the next few pages left him shocked. He realized that Ayoub’s ‘business’ was not just dealing in drugs, but he also dealt in weapons. The thing Galal didn’t understand was that Ayoub didn’t make much money off weapons deals. He actually lost money. All the finances of his dirty businesses were right in this folder.
Suddenly, the house lights came on, all at one time. It took Galal by surprise, but soon he recovered, put the file back in the drawer and looked out the window. The main gates were opening to allow Ayoub’s car to drive in.
“Crap,” Galal said. “I thought I had at least one more hour before he came.”
To his surprise, a few seconds later three vans followed Ayoub’s car and ten men with long beards got out. Galal had to find some place to hide before they came into the house. Quickly, he went into a small storage room that contained some cleaning utilities. Not long after, Ayoub and the ten men were inside the house talking.
“When are the weapons going to arrive?” One of the men directed this question to Ayoub. “We need these weapons to purify Egypt from the evil in it.”
“Yes, we have waited long enough and it is time to make Egypt a pure Muslim Country.” A second man continued.
“Everything is going fine.” Ayoub assured them. “We’re going to receive a shipment of the most advanced weaponry. It is going to help us in our fight for Allah.”
“We have planned our next hit already.” The first man said with an evil smile printed on his face. “We received news that a group of tourists are going to be in Luxor next week. We are going to deliver the vengeance of Allah, to show that we don’t need these filthy devils in His land.”
Instantly, Galal realized who these people were. They were Islamic terrorists.
“I share your eagerness my brethren.” Ayoub said. “But I can not show that I am a part of you until Egypt is ours, or else I would be of no use to you.”
“We understand, brother.” One of the terrorists replied. “There will come a time when we don’t have to hide any longer. A time when Islam is spread through out the whole world and everyone else will be condemned to hell.”
All the others raised their voices in agreement. Something Galal found disgusting and repulsive. How could these people think that they were giving a service to God by murdering and destroying in cold blood? He was a Christian, but he knew that even his Muslim friends disagreed with these extremists. Many of those friends had devoted their career to capturing and eliminating these kind of terrorists who had not brought anything but heartache and financial breakdown to Egypt and the Egyptians.
“How did you deal with that Christian devil?” One of them asked Ayoub.
Mohammed Ayoub smiled a devilish smile and replied, “Don’t worry about him. I have taught him a costly lesson. I have burned down his house and I have a few other surprises saved for him.”
Suddenly Galal felt very uncomfortable. The thoughts of anything bad happening to Mira and the rest of his family came back to haunt him. What did that criminal have prepared for him? However, he didn’t have to think too much about it. The answer came right out the devil’s mouth.
“I am sure what I have planned will suit Allah’s vengeance.” Ayoub said. “We are going to raid his church tonight. In one and a half more hours, during their day of worship, we will kill everyone in it.” He paused satisfied with the reaction he got from his followers and then continued sarcastically, “we’re going to send them by express to where they are going to spend eternity… Hell.”
“It is you who is going to rot in hell,” Galal was incredibly outraged that he couldn’t keep his tears in just by imagining the slaughter. In one and a half-hours the church was going to be filled with people. He couldn’t just let all these people die. He had to get there as fast as he could. But first getting out from this damned house with these criminals outside was close to impossible. No one must find out that he was here, but there seemed no way out except to cut through the ten terrorists.
“Why are your dogs asleep?” That question cut Galal’s line of thoughts. It was directed to Ayoub who ran to the window followed by everyone else.
“What the hell happened here?” He asked distressed.
Galal took the chance that everyone’s attention was diverted away from his location and opened the door softly, then ran to the back door where he came from. Apparently, however, one of the ten heard his foot fall. That man spun around and yelled, “There is someone in the house!”
The man who first spun around turned just in time to see Galal’s shadow crossing into the kitchen.
“Here he is,” he pointed towards the kitchen and everyone started in that direction. Some of them grabbed their guns ready to fire. Galal, once he figured that somebody noticed him, took out a homemade gas bomb and threw it in between him and the terrorists. Once it hit the ground and broke, the two chemicals separated by a thin layer of plastic mixed and a heavy fog was produced. He then started running towards the fence, but just before he reached it he heard a deep growl that made him turn around as fast as he could. Behind him was one of the dogs he sedated. He made sure to use the short-term tranquilizer because he thought he would be out before then. He didn’t expect Ayoub back so early.
Galal tried to reach for his tranquilizer gun, but before he could, the dog attacked. It tried to bury its teeth in his neck, but the man was fast enough to hold its neck, keeping its sharp teeth just mere inches away from his neck as they both fell to the ground. The dog’s drool dripped on his face and hands. Its strength seemed to increase as it scratched Galal’s shoulders and ripped his clothes. Suddenly, Galal drove his knee up right in the dog’s crock. The strong hit seemed to have an immediate effect. The dog produced a pained howl and it abruptly weakened. Galal carried the dog and threw it towards the first of the terrorists to catch up with him. That one fell under its weight. The lieutenant didn’t waste a second. He immediately jumped over the fence and ran heading towards the bushes in a zigzag, just in case somebody tried to fire at him. His fears came true. He heard a shot fired followed by Ayoub’s angered voice yelling, “Don’t shoot, we don’t want to disturb the neighborhood. Let him go for now.”
Galal continued running with all his might until he reached his car. He started heading back to Cairo where a brutal slaughter was about to take place. Galal took his cell phone and dialed the police station phone number. A male voice replied on the other end.
“Quickly,” Galal said. “There is going to be a terrorist attack on St. George’s Church in Hilyopelis.”
“What?” The soldier on the other end of the line replied dumb founded.
“What the hell is the matter with you? Tens of innocent people are going to die if you don’t do something about it.”
Apparently that soldier gave the phone to another officer who was of higher rank.
“Hey man, we don’t need any prank calls.” The other officer said.
“This is real man.” Galal screamed. “Get your asses over there at once.”
“We’re not equipped to handle this kind of thing, even if what you are saying is true.”
“What are you saying.” Galal was in shock and disbelief. “You are police officers. You are suppose to protect people’s lives over yours… DO SOMETHING.” He screamed the last part.
Suddenly the line went dead. Galal looked at the phone in outrage then swore in anger. He then dialed another number.
“Colonel Fareed,” Galal said. “This is Galal.”
“Yes Galal.” Fareed replied.
“Sir, this is important and I would appreciate it if you don’t interrupt me and don’t doubt me. There is going to be a terrorist attack on St. George’s church in Hilyopelis. You’ve GOT to send people there to stop them.”
“Are you sure?” Fareed’s alarmed voice came over the line.
“Yes sir, absolutely sure. Please sir don’t waste any time.”
“I’ll send them right away.” He paused. “But where are you?”
“I am on my way to the church from ‘El Asher men Ramadan’ city.”
“What are you doing there?”
“I’ll bring you up to date once I see you, but now I’ve really got to go.”
“Okay, take care” Fareed said and hung up.
Galal breathed a sigh of relief after he was assured that Colonel Fareed was going to send officers to protect the people in the church. But he wasn’t taking any chances. He was driving at a speed of 150 kilometers per hour just to reach the church before it was too late.
4. I Send You like Sheep among Wolves…
Once Galal was within a few blocks from the church he could hear gunfire. With each shot he heard his heart cried with tears of blood. He could imagine the innocent blood being spilled and rage burned hotter within his soul. He stopped his car a couple of blocks away and started running to the site of the battle. In less than a minute he could see that there were two teams fighting against each other. About ten men were police officers and three more he could recognize as Secret Service officers fighting against fifteen terrorists armed with automatic machine guns. The terrorists hid behind the cement pillars of the church and some of them had hostages from the congregation. One of the hostages taken was Mira his sister. Once he saw his sister in danger Galal literally went crazy. The only thing he could think about was to protect her even if he gave up his own life doing so.
Galal circled around the terrorists. They concentrated all their attention on fighting the police force, whose numbers were increasing slowly. They didn’t notice the man climbing the wall behind them who would soon be posing more danger to their lives than the flying bullets. As soon as Galal was behind them unnoticed, he surprised the closest man to him and with a quick twist he broke the man’s neck. He grabbed the dead man’s gun while using him as a protective shield. Making sure that his back was pressed against the wall, he fired excessively towards the rest of the terrorists, starting with the one holding Mira hostage. Once Mira was free, she threw herself on the ground and stayed down hoping that no bullets would hit her. The surprise attack from the back made some of the terrorist lose their hiding place to reposition themselves to fire at the new intruder. But as soon as they did, the police bullets got them and they were killed instantly. One lucky terrorist, however, was able to injure Galal’s left arm. The officer could feel the pain, but he completely ignored it and fired back towards the man and killed him. It was only a scratch
Fourteen of the terrorists fell dead. And the last one, when he saw that there was no chance of surviving, he threw his weapon and grabbed a hand bomb. When Galal saw that, he lost his human shield and dived for the terrorist before he could have the time to remove the safety pin. Galal was a split second late. The terrorist fell under Galal’s weight, hit his head on the edge of the cement fence and lost his consciousness. The bomb rolled away from his hand. There was no way anyone could throw it far away in time. However, a soldier, in a last heroic move threw himself on top of the bomb a second before it went off. When it did, it tore the poor soldier’s body into pieces but in the same time his sacrifice paid off. No one else got hurt except for minor wounds Galal, who was closest to the bomb, received from the small debris flying away uncontrollably from the explosion…
After the explosion, everything became suddenly quiet. Galal was still lying on the floor looking in overwhelmed sadness at the dead soldier who sacrificed his life to save everyone else’s. He stood up slowly turning his face away from the awful scene of the torn body and without delay he went to his sister. He knelt beside her calling her name softly. Mira looked up in disorientation. Her eyes were blood red from crying. Galal embraced her lovingly trying, some how to protect her from the nightmares he knew she was going to suffer from for the next few years.
“Everything is alright now.” Galal said softly. “Everything is alright.”
“No it isn’t.” She was sobbing. “Can’t you see how many dead people are in there?”
Galal raised his head and he saw that most of the congregation survived except for a few who were trapped in the cross fire between the police and the terrorists.
“Don’t worry Mira. I am going to get you as far away as possible from this place.” Galal said determined to do exactly that. He helped her up on her feet and guided her away from the police who were busy checking if any of the terrorists were still alive.
Both Galal and Mira didn’t walk except a few meters away from the church before a big car stopped beside them. The window rolled down and Fareed’s face appeared.
“Galal,” the colonel said. “Hop in. I’ll take you to a safe place.”
Galal and Mira got inside the car. Mira was still unable to bring her crying under control. The images of the people falling with bullet holes in their bodies and blood like she had never seen before, even in Medicine School, didn’t leave her mind. And nor was it likely to do so for the next few years. Colonel Fareed was looking at her feeling sorry that she had to go through all these horrible experiences at such a young and tender age. No one should go through that, young or old.
“How could you do this for a living Galal?” Mira looked up with tears in her eyes.
A ghost of a smile touched the side of his lips when he replied, “My job isn’t always like that Mira. Most of the time all the work goes up here.” He pointed at his head. “But when I have to use violence, it is the hardest thing I can do. I have always tried to avoid hurting people no matter what they have done to me, but like today I had no choice. They had you and I couldn’t live with myself if anything happened to you. Killing them was my only choice.” A tear started to roll down his cheek as he continued, “when you kill another human being, no matter what evil he has done to you, a part of your soul dies with him.”
There was a long period of silence before Galal said, “I hope you’ll never go through that.”
Galal turned to Colonel Fareed. “I need a favor from you sir.” Galal said.
“Name it.”
“I need you to get my family to a safe place, because now I am sure that those bastards are going to be coming after them before they come after me.”
“Who are they?” Fareed asked. “And how did you know that this was going to happen?”
Galal started telling Fareed everything since he paid that visit to Mohammed Ayoub.
“As you see sir,” He said after he finished his report. “This man is a criminal and he must be stopped.”
“But also as you are well aware,” Fareed countered. “This man is an important man and it is not going to be easy to find anything that will connect him to any of this.”
“I can at least try.” Galal insisted.
“Galal, he knows that you were in his house today and he is not going to let that go very easily.” Fareed warned. “He is going to make sure to find you and get you to tell him everything that you know.”
“Then let him try.” Galal said. “I am not an easy person to get a hold of!”
Colonel Fareed seemed to think the matter over before replying, “I am going to be disobeying a direct order, but sometimes we can’t just follow orders blindly…” Fareed paused. “I am going to be giving you back your badge, but you have to promise me that all your movements are going to be discreet.”
For the first time in days Galal smiled a smile that he felt. “Done sir.”
“Now where do you want your family to go?” Fareed asked.
“I want them out of Egypt until it is safe for them to come back.”
“Out of Egypt?!” Mira was the one to object. “I don’t want to go anywhere while you are here fighting for your life.”
“I am not going to take any arguments.” Galal said firmly.
An expression of anger started to form on her face. “Galal,” the anger started to creep in the tone of her voice, “you may be my older brother, but you can’t tell me how to live my life. My life is here in Egypt. I have school. I have my friends, and I am not willing to live the rest of my life in fear.” She paused. “God is the only one who can protect us whether it’s here or any where else in the world.”
“But Mira,” Galal said. “I only want the best…”
“The best is for us to stay here.” Mira cut him off. “Or for me. I am not going to talk for my parents.”
All that time the colonel was listening to the conversation in silence. He didn’t want to interfere in what was strictly a family matter. Finally, however, when he saw that Galal was not convinced, he offered a suggestion.
“Galal,” Fareed started. “They can stay here and we can post a heavy guard upon them at all times.”
“This is acceptable for me.” Mira agreed.
Galal was still not completely convinced, but it was out of his hands. Mira was right. He couldn’t tell her how to live her life. All he could do was pray that no harm would come upon her. Reluctantly he agreed.
“Fine have it your way.” Galal said. “But if I feel the slightest danger towards you or mom or dad, I am going to… deal with it.”
They drove Mira home after Colonel Freed demanded that five of the top officers in the service be dispatched to provide a 24-hour round guard on Mira and her parents.
Galal and Fareed then went to the secret service and equipped Galal with everything he needed for his fight against the terrorists. He was determined to bring an end to Ayoub’s dirty activities. But there was a faint, numb feeling in his heart that some how something was going to go terribly wrong. However, he always had that feeling before a mission, or that was what he told himself to increase his self-confidence…
It seemed that he could smell his own fear as Ayoub’s face materialized in his mind…
The next night Galal was sitting in the church hall. The same church that was attacked just the day before. But tonight it was quiet. The beautiful Coptic icons hanging on the walls of the church gave it the feel of almost heaven. The environment around him made him relax and feel the peace that the outside world sometimes lacked. Tonight, however, it was not the same. He didn’t feel so well.
Why did that happen? Galal thought to himself. Why does this have to happen to me or to my church. I thought God is always going to protect his people. Well, He didn’t seem to protect them very well yesterday. It was in his power to stop that massacre, but he didn’t. Why? Galal shook his head in grief. I never understood it when these tragedies hit.
At this moment the priest, named Father Mosa, walked out of the altar room which was separated from the rest of the church with a red curtain. The red curtain had the picture of St. George woven on its surface. When he saw Galal he went and sat beside him. The priest put his hand over Galal’s shoulder.
“Why are you here so late?” The priest asked kindly. He knew Galal personally.
“I was just thinking.” The man replied with a voice not higher than a whisper.
“May I ask what you were thinking about?”
“I have some questions Father.” Galal finally looked up. “I have always had faith that God is going to do the best for his people, but it seemed from the past events He hasn’t been doing quite that!”
“I understand what you are saying but we should never lose faith even if disaster hits.”
“How couldn’t I?” Galal said in disbelief. “I almost lost my sister yesterday, and people lost their family too. Five people died right here in this church.”
“God never said it is going to be easy.” Father Mosa replied. “But in the same time, He assured us that He will never leave us.”
“Well it sure seemed that He did.”
“Trust me you’ll never know what God has planned for us. His wisdom is great. Greater than yours or mine or the whole world’s put together. While we look at the here and now, he looks at the whole picture all together and we should trust Him. You should relate to that!”
“How?”
“Well you were in the army once.” The priest explained. “Your superiors gave you orders that you didn’t always understand and sometimes you thought it was going to get people hurt maybe even killed. But you carried the orders out anyway because you trusted your commander. It turns out at the end that it was for the best. You just weren’t looking at it from the right angle… Am I right?”
Galal took his time to reply. Of course the priest was right. He was put in that situation several times before, but that didn’t make it much easier.
“It still doesn’t make me feel any better.”
“Maybe not now, maybe not in the next few years but eventually everything is going to be just fine.” Father Mosa paused. “Beside, I already feel better.”
Galal looked at him curiously and asked “Why?”
“Well, apparently you have been selected to investigate this case.” Father Mosa replied. “See, God never leaves his people. He sent you to fight for us and to protect us and I am sure that He sent the best.”
“I wish I had your confidence.”
“Trust God and yourself my son.” The priest replied as he was standing up. “Anyway I have got to go now. God bless you my son.”
He turned around and left Galal alone in the church, overwhelmed with his thoughts.
5. The Realization…
Mohammed Ayoub looked at his watch nervously. He was sitting on a comfortable couch in his office waiting for someone. Ayoub couldn’t get what happened in the past couple of nights out of his mind. He planned everything so perfectly, taking every little detail under consideration. His men were supposed to attack the church and be out of there before the police could react. However, the police were ready for them. It must have been that intruder who told the police. No one was able to take a good look at him. This intruder ruined everything and once Ayoub could figure out who it was, his punishment would be death. A smile started to form on Mohammed Ayoub’s face. This was not going to take long. The man whom he was waiting for was going to bring him that information. Although, he already had a good idea who it was. The way the intruder broke in and the way he escaped was professional. It must have been that damned Galal. Ayoub thought he had broken his spirit when he burned down his house, but it seemed that he underestimated him.
Not this time.
This time he was going to study Galal’s character very carefully. He was going to make sure that it would be his end. In the mean time he posted seven well-trained and heavily armed guards around his house, beside the dog patrol and the advanced security system he newly installed. There was no way Galal would be able to break in again. That was if he had the guts to try.
Abruptly a communication device, built in the wall behind the couch Ayoub was sitting on, came to life cutting his line of thoughts.
“Sir, Mr. Karim has arrived.” The guard at the gate said.
Ayoub pressed the intercom’s button and replied back, “Very well let him in.”
A few minutes later Karim was sitting on a chair facing Ayoub who sat on his favorite couch.
“So what do you have for me.” Ayoub said eagerly.
“It is the man you expected Mohammed.” Karim said. “It was Galal. Our second team who was waiting for the attacking team saw him come and help the police force in killing our people.”
“God rest their souls.” Ayoub paused. “This man’s debt is building up. First he disgraces me by arresting me and then he kills fifteen of our finest men. I am going to make him pay.”
And Ayoub meant every word he said. He was going to make Galal pay with his life…
The bushes around Ayoub’s house moved ever so slightly. It seemed only a gust of wind, so none of the men guarding the house seemed to care. They felt bored, nothing for them to do. That, however, was not what Galal was feeling as he watched them intently. He noticed every move they made, trying to see if there was any pattern to their movements. He intended to break in again. He knew that Ayoub was in there with another man. Galal hoped that they were talking about something of importance to him, but breaking in seemed close to impossible. Those seven men were equipped with guns and each one of them looked at least six feet tall and very muscular. Galal didn’t really wish to risk a direct confrontation with them. He was sure he would be killed within the first few minutes. The only solution that was available to him was to out think them. He was also equipped with some of the most advanced gadgets there was in the world of secret service. These gadgets were about to be put in good use instead of just sitting there in his backpack.
Galal took out a small metal ball that fit in the palm of his hand. It had a dull black color that wouldn’t reflect light. He looked at it in amazement. It was the most incredible piece of technology he ever saw. It was his first time using it in a mission but he was trained on how to utilize its capabilities and till now it didn’t cease to astonish him. He let it go and it stayed where it was, unmoving about twenty centimeters above the ground. Gravity had no effect on it. Galal smiled then seized it again. With his eyes, he scanned the house quickly and figured out that the two men must be inside Ayoub’s office. The office had one huge window, which was in Galal’s field of vision. Galal used a small remote control that controlled the movements of the ball to raise it to a height of about seven feet. The ball rose silently. He directed it until it was on a straight line from the office window, then he simply pressed the forward button. The ball shot silently forward at a surprisingly high speed. For a second it seemed to Galal that it would hit the window and break it, but it suddenly stopped just a few centimeters away from it and hovered at the corner of the window so it wouldn’t be seen. A short antenna rose from the metallic ball and started transmitting the voices of the two men to the ear-piece Galal had in his ears.
“The weapons shipment you requested is going to arrive to the beaches of Hurghada tomorrow night.” Karim said.
“Great,” Ayoub replied. “But I don’t want anything relating me to this operation.” A pause. “I want the people who actually receive the shipment to be completely ignorant of what they are doing. I think it will be better if you hire people whom we can dispose of after. Don’t tell them who we are or what they are receiving.”
“My thoughts exactly.” Karim liked what he heard. “This way if the police catches them they wouldn’t know anything and wouldn’t get anybody in trouble.”
“Okay, since we agree on that, why don’t you fill me in on exactly how everything is going to work.”
Galal listened very carefully to the conversation and a plan was forming in his head. Suddenly he heard one of the guards say that it was time to start their patrol outside the house. Galal quickly removed the earphones and put them back in his backpack. But he didn’t feel that he had enough time to use the remote control to retrieve the ball. One of the men was approaching his location rapidly. He had to act fast before the man discovered his location and his whole plan would be doomed to failure. The man was now just ten feet away. Galal used the remote control to make the ball head back towards him. He aimed it right at the man’s head. The ball moved at its high speed and collided with the man’s head, who fell momentarily disoriented. The ball fell beside him. Galal picked it up and used the fact that he was wearing all black to hide in the darkness of the night as he headed as far away as possible.
The man regained complete consciousness just a minute later, wondering what had happened. Confusion overwhelmed him that he was afraid his companions would make a mockery out of him if he told them what happened. He looked around for a while after that, but he didn’t find anything suspicious.
Galal stretched on the small bed in the one bedroom apartment he rented in the ‘Asher men Ramadan’ city. His apartment was on the top level of the building. The top level was for him the safest place to be. This way if any attack came, it would only come from the bottom.
Galal held the metallic ball in his palm and pressed a well-hidden button in its side. At once a small shiny disk popped out from a slit right above the button. Carefully, he took it out and slipped it in another device that consisted of just a small screen and a few buttons below it. When the disk was securely in, Galal pressed the play button and a hazy view of Ayoub and Karim appeared as they were having their conversation. A tiny camera built in the metallic ball captured the images. The men’s features weren’t very clear and that upset Galal very much. This could not hold as evidence against Mohammed Ayoub. To tell the truth, even if it was of high quality it wouldn’t be accepted as evidence against such an important man.
Galal threw the advanced video player beside him on the bed in frustration. How could any kind of evidence be brought up against such an important man? Ayoub seemed uncontrollable. He held such an important position in the Egyptian government. And in Egypt such a man with all this power would not be very easy to convict of any kind of crime. It was not like America where anyone with a story, no matter how farfetched it was, was able to accuse the president of sexual assault. The most important difference between the two countries was the media. In America the media had a strong voice, in Egypt the voice of the media was the voice of the government and it was, by all means, hopeless to go against the government. And Mohammed Ayoub was the representative of the government. Not only that but in some situation he was the government.
Galal started reviewing all the information he knew about Mohammed Ayoub. It seemed that he ran two different ‘businesses’. He dealt in drugs and in the same time he dealt in weapons. Galal remembered, from the finances in the file he looked at when he broke in Ayoub’s office, that the two businesses were run separately. The people whom he dealt with in the weapons business had no idea that he also dealt in the drug business. Furthermore, it was clear from the finances that he made no profit from the weapons deals, but there was quite a bit of profit from the drugs. What could that mean?
Suddenly Galal sat up in his bed with a very obvious glitter in his eyes. How couldn’t he see that before? It was so obvious. He smiled and then this smile turned to a short laughter.
“Oh, Ayoub,” Galal said, the smile still decorating his face. “You are going to fall man. You are going to fall and this time no one is going to help you back on your feet.”
Finally, Galal found the beginning of the trail that would lead to victory. And his first step in trudging the trail was quite obvious, but very hazardous.
Hazardous indeed…
6. Captured…
The huge waves of the Red Sea crashed on one of the abandoned and rugged beaches of Hurghada. The rocky and very dangerous mountains surrounding this beach distinguished it. Any swimmer, no matter how good, would be thrown by the angry waves and their body crushed on these rocks if they risked swimming. No one in their right mind would think of doing such a crazy thing. However, the world was full of crazier people. That night five men were wearing their diving suits and getting ready for some sort of a mission in the bottom of the sea. Another three were waiting on the shore beside three big empty trucks. One of the men getting ready to dive was Karim. He was barking orders to the other four.
“We’re going to find five well sealed metal containers about twenty-five meters in on the sea floor.” Karim raised his voice over the crashing of the waves. “Our mission is to get these containers to shore.”
“What are in these containers?” One man asked.
“Non of your business.” Karim replied stiffly. “You’re getting paid to get these containers out from the sea and to do what you are instructed. Not to ask questions.”
The man did not appreciate the way Karim replied, but he over looked it since he was getting paid a huge amount of money for just doing what he was told.
“This is not an easy mission.” Karim warned. “The underwater current in this area is very strong and if you lose control over your dive, you will probably crash on the sharp rocks over there,” he pointed at the rocks, “and be killed.”
“Are we going to be able to get the containers out all at once?” Another man from the five asked.
“No. Each container is going to need all of us to get it over here.” Karim replied. “They are very heavy.”
Karim waited for any other questions but there was none. The men were putting on their goggles and getting ready for the dive. He put on his too and they headed into the water. Waiting for the right moment, he jumped in. Their swim against the waves was very difficult indeed. Finally, however, they were able to dive under and start to their destination. What no one realized was that once they started their dive their number increased by two. These two extra people, a male and a female, were making sure to keep their distances from the five just so they would not be noticed.
These two people were equipped with special glasses, fit over their goggles, that made underwater visibility much better. They were at a distance, which made it possible for them to see the five men, but at the same time not be seen. The five men continued their mission completely ignorant of the other two people’s presence. They slowly and with great difficulty reached the first of the five metal containers on the sea floor. Each container was about eight by five by four feet. They had five extended handles made for five people to be able to carry the container. Each one of the five men took hold of one of the handles in a try to take it to shore. After what seemed to be eternity they were on their way.
Once they were far enough, the other two quickly approached one of the four remaining containers. The male took out a tiny transmitter from a small bag he had with him. The female grabbed the bag from the man and took out a receiver. Together, they made sure that the receiver was picking up the signals from the transmitter clearly. When they were sure, the man secured the transmitter at the bottom of the nearest metal container. Once the transmitter was secured to the container, it slowly took its color. The man shook his head in amazement and using a sign language he said to his partner, “It is wonderful what they come up with in the service.”
At this moment the five men were on their way back to get the rest of the containers.
Mira walked with a friend of hers on the riverside. Not far behind them walked a secret service officer who was assigned for their protection. The roads were crowded as they usually were on a nice warm summer night as this one.
“I wish I could enjoy my vacation.” Mira finally said with a worried sigh. “But I can’t after what happened a few days ago.”
Her friend, Nermean, couldn’t imagine how Mira felt, but she tried to comfort her saying, “Don’t keep thinking about it. Try to get busy with other stuff.”
“I can’t get the images out of my mind. It was so horrible.” Mira insisted. “Beside the added security doesn’t make me feel that everything is going to be okay. It makes me feel that something dreadful is going to happen to me.”
Mira didn’t realize that what she said was not just a feeling… It was a prophecy.
In the secret service building, Colonel Fareed, sat behind his desk. Something was clearly bothering him. The other day, Galal got in touch with him and told him that he needed help in his mission. He told him his plan. It sounded very risky and Fareed spoke his mind, but he couldn’t change Galal’s. Fareed realized the potential of the plan if it was successful, but on the other hand if it was a failure, it might mean the end of Galal his partner and God only knows what more. However, he trusted Galal. He knew that he was the best man for this type of missions and his new partner was no less.
Abruptly Colonel Fareed’s line of thoughts was cut short as somebody knocked on his office door.
“Enter,” he said.
“Sir, there is some terrible news.” The man who just entered said nervously.
“What?”
“It is about Mira, Lieutenant Galal’s sister.”
The five men were back to get the last container. The other two swam to a safe distance away from the men and just watched. The men carried the container and started heading to shore when one of them imagined that he saw a shadow of a figure. At first he thought that his eyes were playing a trick on him. The underwater current must have been creating ghost shadows. The man was about to turn away when he suddenly imagined that this shadow just took a picture of them.
The man had two choices, either to rule that as just poor visibility due to the cloudy water, or to go check it out. He chose the latter. He tapped the shoulder of his comrade in front of him and signed that he was going to check something out. His accomplice was about to object but didn’t have the time. The other man let go of the handle and swam towards the figure he saw, preparing his underwater spear gun to fire. A weapon each one of the five was armed with.
Soon it was clear that he wasn’t imagining things. The shapes of the man and the woman became unmistakably distinct in front of him. They didn’t notice his approach until too late, when he was within shooting range. The man was surprised that there were people following them. He, however, didn’t waste time thinking of what he should do next. All he could think about was the big reward that would await him when he told his employers that he killed a couple of intruders. What he was about to do didn’t seem incredibly troublesome either, especially that one of these two was just a woman.
All these thoughts went through his head in a split second. The rest of the second he spent aiming his spear gun at the man and he squeezed the trigger. The spear shot forward at an incredible speed. Less than a second and it would puncture its target’s heart. But that target didn’t just stand there. With great speed and agility, he turned around, and the spear ruptured his oxygen tank instead. The air blowing out of the tank jerked the man around dangerously. That was not the only danger, however. The attacking man put another spear into his gun and re-aimed it at the woman, whom he underestimated. But he didn’t find his target. He looked around him tensely ready to fire at anything moving. Abruptly, he sensed a slight movement behind him, but before he could react an arm wrapped itself around his neck and the next thing he felt were his goggles coming off plus his breathing tube ripped out of his mouth. The woman pushed him away from her. The attacker started flapping around in panic as he breathed water and his spear gun fell from him. He completely lost control over his dive, which caused the strong current to sweep him away. The woman returned her attention to her partner who, by that time, was able to take off the oxygen tank and throw it away from him to avoid the same fate that caught up with his attacker. With a couple of strong strokes she reached him and took out the mouthpiece she breathed through to put it in his mouth. Her partner took a couple of deep breaths and returned it to her. They kept on taking turns in breathing until they surfaced.
When their heads popped up on the surface of the water the man started breathing deeply. He took off his goggles and Galal’s face appeared. His partner did the same. She was very beautiful.
“Man, how did that guy see us.” She said gasping. “We were so far away from him, I even couldn’t see him very clearly.”
Galal was gasping more violently after the great effort he spent trying to get his jerky movement, caused by the punctured oxygen tank, under control. He couldn’t reply.
“Do you still have the receiver, Nagwa?” He finally asked.
Nagwa, his partner, checked a side bag attached around her waist to make sure it was still there. It was.
“Yes I still have it.”
“Okay let’s head to shore before they get too far.”
“Don’t you think they are going to wait for their partner who attacked us?” Nagwa asked. “Although, I don’t think he is ever going to come back.”
Galal looked at the shore and saw the three trucks heading off.
“I don’t think he is that good of a friend.” He said as he pointed at the moving trucks, then he continued, “what did you do to him anyway?”
“Well, I seized the chance when he had his attention diverted to you and swam behind him. Then I surprised him from behind and pulled off his goggles and his breathing tube.”
“Quick thinking.”
“Thank you.”
They started swimming to shore.
Nagwa sat inside the car after both her and Galal put on some dry clothes. She attached the receiver to a screen and turned on the power to that screen. Once she did a small red dot appeared on it.
“Here they are?” Galal said pointing at the red dot.
“Great,” she smiled. “They are not out of range yet.”
Galal started the engine.
“Okay, now we follow them.” He said. “Hopefully they are going to lead us to their hiding place.”
“I still think this is very dangerous, Galal.” Nagwa said as her partner started driving. She sounded worried. “They are definitely going to have their place well guarded.”
“I don’t doubt that, but I have got to get inside in order to get the information I need.”
“What information? And what do you mean that you have to get inside? Don’t you mean we?”
“No, you have something else to do!”
“And what is that?”
“You have to figure out everything you can about the drug business Ayoub runs.” Galal said. “It is really important for my plan.”
“I don’t understand why you don’t want to tell me your plan.” Nagwa complained.
“I’ll tell you everything in the right time.” Galal smiled a mysterious smile. “But I have to have all the information that I need to make sure my plan is perfect.”
“So you’re not completely sure that your plan is going to work?”
“Well, let’s just say that I need the information for the completion of the plan and to confirm the plan.” Galal said. “So either way I need the information.”
“You know, if we’re going to be partners you’ve got to be a bit more open with me.”
“No, if we’re going to be partners you’ve got to learn how to accept me.” Galal said dryly.
“Are you married?” Nagwa asked with a touch of anger in her voice.
“No!” Galal replied confused.
“Ever wonder why?” She said sarcastically.
Galal stayed silent for a moment then laughed.
“I like a sense of humor in a lady.” He replied and then winked at her.
She shook her head not wanting to pursue the conversation any further.
“Whatever.” She muttered under her breath
“So do you have some plan in mind about the drug thing?” She continued more audibly.
Galal thought about it and then replied, “No, it is up to you.”
They drove in silence until they reached where Nagwa parked her car.
“Okay, I’ll let you off here so you can take your car to where ever you plan to start.”
She opened the door and was about to get out before Galal stopped her saying, “I am sorry, but the less you know about what I want the safer you are.”
Nagwa gave Galal a I-don’t-understand-you kind of look.
“Thank you for your concern, but I can take care of myself.”
“Of course you can.”
She got out and he continued on his way.
Galal proceeded to follow the red dot on the screen making sure that he kept a distance of five kilometers between him and the trucks. Unexpectedly, however, the red dot stopped. The officer was surprised. Even though he couldn’t see where they were exactly because the road they were driving through was very windy, he was pretty sure that there was nothing on this road. It was a lonely road that cut through the desert’s rocky mountains. After a moment of hesitation, Galal decided to drive a bit closer. Once he was close enough he could hear gunfire. Quickly he parked his car on the side of the road, took his weapon, a leather backpack and started on foot to where the battle was taking place.
Hiding behind some hills, Galal watched the battle… or the massacre to be more accurate. Twenty terrorists apparently attacked the seven now unarmed men and shot all of them to death. The whole thing didn’t take five minutes. Of course the only one who escaped safely was Karim. Two of the twenty men with the help of Karim got ready to drive the trucks while the rest disappeared. Literally disappeared.
Once Galal was sure that no one would notice him, he ran as fast as he could after the last of the trucks before it reached a high speed and grabbed hold of a handle in its back. He couldn’t quite pull himself completely inside before the truck increased its speed. Danger was looming on the horizon for him. If he couldn’t pull himself inside the trunk, where the weapons containers were, he would be doomed. Galal gathered all the strength he could muster and with a final contraction of his arm muscles he hauled himself inside. He looked back in sorrow at the seven dead and savagely mutilated bodies. Although one of them almost killed him, he never would want such an end to all of them. But that was a typical end to people in their profession. He always wondered why anybody would willingly serve things evil knowing that their end would be just as destructive as their deeds. He shook his head putting the matter aside. Now there were bigger problems. If anyone discovered him here, they would probably shoot him with no second thoughts whatsoever and without a blink of an eye.
After about two hours of driving Galal felt the trucks slow down. He sneaked a quick peek outside to see that they were approaching a huge compound out in the middle of no where. The compound was built in a very rocky area. The hills of different sizes that characterized this area made it seem that the compound was built right in the middle of a mountain. A very high stone fence surrounded it. There were four watchtowers built on the four corner of the fence itself. These watchtowers gave the whole compound the feel of a middle age fortress. Galal couldn’t see except the closest watchtower to the huge iron gates they were about to go through.
A strong spotlight started monitoring the incoming trucks once they were a hundred meters away from the compound. The diameter of the spotlight could only encompass one truck. Whoever was controlling the light, therefore, was moving it from one truck to another, making sure no odd activities were taking place.
When Galal felt that the truck he was in was almost inside the compound, but not quite, and knew that the spotlight was away from him, he threw himself from the back of the truck. He rolled violently on the rocky ground since the truck was still going at a relatively high speed when he jumped. As soon as he was able to regain his balance, he hid from the spotlight by staying as close as possible to the stone fence, hoping that no one noticed him. No one did. Galal waited until the gates closed again. He knew that if he risked going in right through the main entrance he would immediately be discovered and shot on sight. Once the huge iron doors were closed, everything became quiet. All he could hear was the sound of muddled conversation coming from the guards up in the watchtowers. However, he couldn’t make out what they said.
Galal didn’t believe himself. How could such a building exist without anyone knowing about it? Some how this seemed impossible to him. But then he took a moment to look around and discovered that it was completely surrounded by mountains. The only way in or out of this area was a very narrow unpaved way, which could only pass, with difficulty, a single truck, at a time. However, to still be able to get the manpower and the money to build such a building must have been extremely difficult. That didn’t surprise Galal one bit though. The Islamic terrorists had a lot of power.
Galal didn’t waste too much time thinking of the origins of this building; he immediately started thinking of a way to get in. And that didn’t seem easy at all. He must figure out the kind of security on the fence in order for him to be able to come up with the safest plan. He had the exact right tool for that.
He took out the same metal ball he used before to spy on Mohammed Ayoub. This time it had an extra gadget with it. He activated the ball and it hung suspended in the air. But now it was transmitting an infra red image to a small screen he also took out from the bag. Galal rotated the ball and slightly moved it around to check that it was working perfectly. Then he raised it up to take a look at the defenses this place had.
The images revealed that four men operated each of the towers. One was responsible for the spotlight, another was responsible for a powerful, but small missile launcher and the last two had machine guns just incase somebody succeeded in getting that far. To Galal’s surprise the fence was about seven feet wide with a road running along it that allowed a car to transport men from one tower to another. He moved the ball to take a look at the activities taking place inside. Remarkably, it was pretty quiet. The area enclosed by the huge stone fence was not at all big. It contained one building. Part of this building’s roof was glass and it was in the shape of a pyramid.
Galal figured that once he was past the fence there wouldn’t be any more trouble. Apparently they were quite sure that no one would be able to get past their stone barrier that they didn’t have guards on the inside. The trick was getting past their main line of defense. He quickly recalled his fancy spying tool and put it back in his backpack after he took out a rope made out of a very strong material that would support his weight. This line ended with a hook.
Galal checked both his guns. One was a normal gun and the other, a tranquilizer gun.
“I hope I don’t have to use except this gun.” Galal said referring to the tranquilizer gun.
He secured both guns in his belt and started moving to the center between the two towers. It was such a dark night that he couldn’t see clearly without putting on his infrared glasses. The only things lighting the darkness were the spotlights searching for intruders. These, however, didn’t come close to him since he was so close to the fence. When he was sure that he was right in the middle, he spun the rope a couple of times and let go of it, as the cowboys do when they are about to catch a horse or a cow. The hook flew straight up and caught the edge of the fence from the top with a slight noise. Galal stayed quiet for a minute worried that somebody heard that. But apparently no one did. He started climbing the smooth wall swiftly. It took him less than three minutes to get to the top. Lying flat on the horizontal top, Galal looked around carefully to make sure no one noticed his ascension. When he was positive, he quickly collected the rope and put it in his backpack.
Suddenly, Galal felt movement behind him. He spun around as fast as he could and fired a silent shot from his tranquilizer gun at the moving target. The terrorist fell senseless. From this moment forward Galal had to move fast. For once they discovered that one of their men was missing his presence would be obvious. The man was wearing a hat. Galal took the hat and the man’s machine gun knowing that in this darkness, these two items were the only things that identified the man to his friends from a distance. He started advancing towards one of the towers. When he was close enough, he could see that a couple of men were talking quietly while the other two were manning their posts. Once one of the men saw Galal moving in he called out to him saying, “Hey, Hammad. You’re back early. What is the matter?”
The man expected any kind of reply from his friend Hammad except the one he got. Galal quickly pointed his tranquilizer gun and shot, in amazing speed, four quick shots that hit their targets before they could come up with any response. He approached the four unconscious men and made them sit on their chairs in a way that would make any one who saw them from a distance think that they were conscious and doing their work.
Galal knew that he couldn’t deal with all the men in the four towers, so he decided to ignore them and continue his mission. A very dangerous move. He climbed down the fence and started running to the building as fast as he could, but what he dreaded happened. One of the men in the watchtowers yelled, “Hey where are you going?”
There was no way Galal was going to wait around and answer questions. He was close enough to the building that he continued running and circled it making it a barrier between him and the man who noticed him. Desperately Galal searched for a door. But before he could find any, he found himself surrounded by at least five men with their guns pointing at him. He tried to reach for his gun but changed his mind, realizing that it wasn’t the brightest idea since that would mean dozens of bullet holes decorating his nicely built body.
Maybe Nagwa was right. Maybe he shouldn’t have attempted this break in. Now, however, was too late to dwell on his mistakes. He was face to face with danger and certain death…
7. Achilles’ heel…
The next day Nagwa sat in front of her computer surfing the internet. It seemed the best place to start. Nowadays the internet holds an ocean of information. All she had to do was fish for the important bits and pieces of information she needed without drowning. However, it shouldn’t be too difficult to find what she was looking for.
She typed in the search field: “Mohammed Ayoub”.
It took the computer a couple of seconds to find all related sites. The current screen was then replaced by the related topics. Nagwa had to traverse a couple of screens to find what she was looking for.
Ayoub’s Enterprises.
She clicked on that item and almost immediately a huge picture of a smiling Mohammed Ayoub filled the screen. She looked at it for a second then said, “There are some secrets behind you Ayoub, and I am going to find them.”
She scrolled down the screen and started scanning through the text. Nothing important. Some basic information about his companies. Then she came to his personal profile and good deeds towards the Islamic community. She started reading it out loud.
“Mohammed Ayoub is possibly one of the greatest men alive in our time.” She smiled sarcastically and said, “Yeah right, how much did he pay you to write that?” Nagwa then continued reading; “He has freely contributed, without expecting a single reward, many distinguished services to Egypt and to the Islamic Community. Some of the highlights are the three Mosques he built out of his own money, plus all the investments he makes in rebuilding Egypt. He annually donates over a million pounds for feeding and finding shelter for the poor and the homeless in Egypt. Parts of his donation also go to rebuilding and maintaining the monuments of Egypt, including the ‘Giza Pyramids’, the ‘Churches in Old Egypt’ and many more. Besides all that, Mohammed Ayoub lives a saintly life. He has not gotten married and has dedicated all his life to God. Below, you can view some pictures of Mohammed Ayoub praying beside the President of Egypt in the ‘Mosque of El Sayeda Zenab’.”
Nagwa stopped reading out loud and just quickly scanned the rest of the text. It was just more words of praise that didn’t appeal too much to her.
“Of course, how could any one convict such a man?” Nagwa said to herself. “With all these good deeds, no one is going to belief the accusations. But if Galal is right and he does deal in drugs and weapons then he must leave some trail behind him and I’m going to pick it up.”
Her mind swam in deep thoughts. What should she do next? She had to find some more detailed information about his businesses. She had to find more about his finances. How could he be able to donate more than a million dollars every year? She had to find how much he spent. And she had to find his earnings also. What about the amount of money he had in his bank? Which banks did he use? A man like Mohammed Ayoub, portrayed to the Egyptian public as a man faithful to his country, should use only Egyptian banks, or at least make everyone else believe so, to confirm his patriotism. One thing she knew for sure, Mohammed Ayoub was a very smart man. If he did anything that could make him look bad, he would probably hide it very well. Her job was to uncover all the dirt she could. But where was a good place to start?
Suddenly a wild idea materialized in her head. First though, she had to create the appropriate background for herself. She needed Colonel Fareed’s help to do that.
“It is a simple but an effective plan.” Nagwa smiled as the plan began to take shape in her mind. “Not like Galal’s. Men, they always like to prove themselves by putting themselves in danger and…” Her voice trailed off as she suddenly started to worry about her partner. She didn’t know why exactly, but once Galal’s image jumped in her mind she felt as if he was facing some grave evil. Nagwa tried to put that feeling aside but she couldn’t.
“He is a smart and excellent officer.” She tried to calm herself down. “And right now he needs all my expertise to get the required information for his plan… Whatever it is.”
Nagwa picked up the phone and called Colonel Fareed. She briefly explained her ideas to him and told him the background she wanted for herself.
“By tomorrow you’re going to have everything you need.” Fareed said.
“Sir, did you hear anything from Galal?” She asked troubled.
There was a period of silence over the phone line before Fareed replied, just as worried as her, “No, I haven’t heard anything from him Nagwa, I really hope he is alright. His plan is very dangerous. He is depending mostly on his skill, but I am afraid that he might be taken by surprise and hurt.”
“I really hope that isn’t the case.” Nagwa replied. “He is an excellent officer and he can take good care of himself.”
“Yeah let’s pray.” Fareed said. “Well anyway good luck with your plan.”
Nagwa thanked him and hung up.
She still had that unsettling feeling deep down in her heart and when she slept that night. Galal’s image getting attacked by a group of terrorists didn’t depart from her dreams.
Only one shot was fired before a loud commanding voice ordered everyone to hold fire. This shot, however, did enough damage. It ripped through Galal’s thigh muscles, missing the bone by a few millimeters and came out from the other side. Galal fell on the ground screaming in agonizing pain. He put his hand on the wound trying to stop the bleeding. The pain was too much. He couldn’t handle it any longer and his mind did the only thing it could do to protect him from the tormenting pain. Slowly a blanket of darkness started covering his mind and the pain gradually became a faint numb feeling, before consciousness completely oozed out of him.
Galal returned to the land of the consciousness all of a sudden. He couldn’t focus on anything for a while, however. His vision was blurred. Finally, when his sight fully returned he could see that he was a prisoner in a small dungeon. It had no openings except for a small window in its iron door. There was nothing special about this brig, but abruptly it became painfully obvious to him that it stank. It really stank.
His first instinct was to find a way out of this tin can, but when he tried to stand up a sharp stabbing pain burned in the place of the bullet wound. Galal looked at his wound to find that it had been cared for. It was covered with bandages. Not a very good job, but at least the bleeding stopped.
This is weird, Galal thought. Why go through the trouble of helping me? They must want something from me or else they would have killed me. But what is it they want? I can’t imagine what I would serve to their purpose. Maybe they are going to use me as a hostage! Still why? I am not going to hang around here and wait for them to come. I want some answers.
“Hey, I am still here.” Galal said loudly. “I want to speak to your leader.”
There was no reply.
“Does anybody hear me. I demand to know why I am being held prisoner.” Galal continued.
That was a stupid question. He thought to himself.
For the first while all he could hear was footsteps and then some mumbling. All he could make out from that was, “He is awake.”
Good, at least they care that I am awake or else that guard outside wouldn’t have reported it to his superior.
A minute later he heard the door lock being released and then the door opened. Instantly the whole cell was purged with bright light that forced Galal to cover his eyes for protection. When he was able to see again, Karim was standing in front of him. Behind Karim stood another young man, maybe twenty-one or twenty-two years of age. What struck Galal about this young terrorist as peculiar, was his kind face. All the faces he saw around here were made repulsive by the feelings of anger and hatred that long burned in their owners’ hearts. But this man’s was not.
“How were you able to break in here?” Karim asked harshly.
“I have my ways. But why did you keep me alive?” Galal went around the question.
“Out of our kind hear.” Karim replied. “Now you didn’t answer my question.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“What don’t you believe? That we have a kind heart?”
“That you have heart.”
Karim smirked.
“Dear Galal,” Karim started. “I don’t much care about your opinion of us, because we are working for a higher purpose. We are doing the work of Allah. Cleaning the Holy Land of Egypt from all the evil in it. Evil like what you represent…”
“What? Justice?” Galal interrupted.
“You don’t represent justice. We’re Allah’s justice. You’re nothing but a troublemaker, an evil force standing in the way of the truth.”
“What truth? Even other Muslim’s think what you do is nauseating and repulsive. You kill, you destroy, all in the name of Allah. Allah doesn’t like violence and hatred. He is the God of peace and love. His way is never the way of destruction and murder like you claim it is. What you do, you do for power and money.”
There was a moment of silence. Tension in the small brig was so thick you could cut through it with a knife.
“Tell me Galal,” Karim finally broke the silence. “Do you believe in Evil?”
“Of course I do.”
“Then what do you think should be done about it?”
“It should be removed.”
“That is exactly what we are doing. Everyone who doesn’t believe in what we represent, Allah and the truth, is evil. And we must fight evil.”
“You never fight evil with evil. That doesn’t result in anything but greater evil.”
“I don’t think you’ll ever understand, and this is exactly why I kept you alive.”
“What do you mean?”
“The time is coming soon when evil is going to be forever banished. And I kept you alive to witness this great moment when Allah’s power triumphs over the Devil and his follower’s power.”
“Who is the Devil and his followers in your opinion?”
“In short, all who goes against us.”
“So were the simple and poor village people you killed and destroyed their houses part of the evil you talk about? Were the peaceful tourists, whose purpose from their visit to Egypt was to have a good time, part of that evil too? Or maybe the group of Christians you attacked while they were praying in the church are Devil followers?” Galal said with overwhelming sadness. “Tell me, all these needless deaths are part of Allah’s plan.”
Karim turned to a volcano of rage when he replied, “They all are devil worshipers. Their main purpose is to make Egypt a land of the Devil. And I am not going to stand hands tied behind my back. I am going to fight them and I am going to remove their evil from Egypt.” He suddenly lowered his voice and stepped closer to Galal, “and I am going to keep you alive so you’ll be a witness to all the world that Allah will never allow the devil to continue his power.”
With that he concluded and stepped outside the brig with the other man and slammed the door behind him.
“Stay and guard this man.” Karim said to the guard. “Don’t talk or listen to him, he will lead you astray.”
Inside the dungeon Galal stared at the closed doors in sorrow then said, “You’re right. God is never going to allow evil to continue its power.”
For some strange reason Galal respected Karim. Not because he was a leader of a group of terrorists, but because he had such a strong faith. He realized if some how this lost faith was turned into a constructive power, it would help Egypt and the world, not harm it. Maybe he could be able to do that with some of the terrorists here. He prayed that he could. But who was going to listen to him? He was locked in this cell with no way out…
Suddenly an idea came to his mind. When he saw the guard outside, he immediately knew that he was not like the others. Maybe he could change the guard’s mind and secure his help. But Galal felt guilty for thinking that. Even if a miracle happened and that terrorist actually agreed, he would be in grave danger. His betrayal would mean his death. There was no other choice however. Galal had to put an end to this or the repercussions would be unthinkable.
“Hey, I need water.” Galal said. “I am thirsty.”
There was no reply.
“Please,” Galal begged. “I really need some water. Is it part of your religion to leave people dying from thirst?”
Before he could even finish the question the guard outside replied sharply, “No.”
There was another couple of minutes of silence before the door opened and the guard appeared holding a glass container filled with water in his hand.
“Here,” the man said handing Galal the container. “But don’t ever say that my religion asks us to kill.”
Galal took the water from the man and gulped some of it greedily. Once his thirst was quenched he looked up at the man who was still waiting for him and said, “Then why are you doing this if you believe in peace… or so you sound?”
“I do believe in peace.”
Galal tried to make himself more comfortable on the cold dirty ground of the cell, but there was no use. It seemed that even the ground in this ugly place hated him.
“Well, you sure ain’t acting like it.” Galal said trying to start a conversation. “To me and to many other people all what you’re doing is killing and destroying.”
“It is only necessary.” The man was upset from Galal’s comment, but in the same time seemed to care about his opinion. Apparently he didn’t want Galal to think of him as a killer.
“I would understand if you’re fighting against enemies that hurt you, but the people you attack are harmless and simple people. Some haven’t done anything bad in their whole life. Do you think they deserve to die that way?”
The man opened his mouth to say something but then thought better of it.
“What is your name any way?” Galal asked.
“Sherif.” he replied.
“Tell me something Sherif. You don’t seem to like what they are doing?”
“It is necessary.” Sherif insisted. “We must purify the Holy Land of Egypt.”
“From what?”
“From all the evil in it of course.”
“Think about what you’re saying man.” Galal said frustrated. “You’re just repeating whatever Karim said.”
“He is our spiritual leader and we must follow him.” Sherif said as he was turning around getting ready to exit the cell. “And he told me not to talk to you.”
Before he exited Galal called after him, “Islam comes from the word ‘slam’, meaning peace. It is not I who say that what you do is wrong, it is your own religion.” Galal paused. “Are you going to plug your ears to your religion and listen to somebody who claims to be your spiritual leader.”
Sherif snapped around.
“This man was the kindest man to me.” Sherif said. “He helped me and my family with a considerable amount of money. Without his help my family and I would be homeless and starving now. All he asked of me in exchange is to be loyal to him and I promised that I would. I am not going to break my end of the deal.”
Galal was about to reply but didn’t have the time. Sherif exited and slammed the door. The officer stared blankly at the closed door.
So much for this idea. He thought.
“There is a reporter here to see you sir.” Mohammed Ayoub’s secretary said over the comm. link.
“What does she want?” His voice asked. He didn’t sound very happy with this information.
There was a period of silence as the secretary talked to the reporter. Finally, she replied to Ayoub’s question, “She wants to ask you some questions about the great deeds you have offered Egypt.”
“Fine, let her in.”
The secretary escorted Nagwa, the supposed reporter, to Ayoub’s office. The office took three quarters of the top level of Ayoub’s tall building that occupied the wealthiest area in the city of ‘El Asher men Ramadan’.
His secretary wore a tight dress, too tight, Nagwa thought. It made the curves of her body erotically obvious. It took them a minute’s walk to reach the huge office and enter it.
“Thank you, Salwa.” Ayoub said to his secretary with a gentle almost loving tone.
It was decorated with the most expensive furniture. Nagwa just stared around her in amazement, but that didn’t stop her from noticing the look that Mohammed Ayoub gave his secretary. A look that spelled, I want your body right here. Nagwa couldn’t see Salwa’s reaction because she exited right away, but she could definitely notice Ayoub’s eyes practically glued to the movement of her buttocks as she walked away.
Saintly life my ass, Nagwa thought. Could it be? Could Ayoub and her be…? Man, he is making it a bit too easy for me here!
She smiled in deceitful respect and shook Ayoub’s hand firmly.
“Sit down please, Miss.” Ayoub said smiling.
“Please call me Nagwa.” She replied as she sat down on the chair facing Ayoub.
“How can I help you… Nagwa?” He asked, “and with which newspaper are you with?”
“El Ahram.”
“Great, please proceed.”
“Oh I am writing an article about the greatest men in Egypt now. It is supposed to be published in next week’s edition.” Nagwa tried to praise him as much as possible so she could gain some of his trust. “I chose to write this article about you since you are one of today’s most respected and loved figures in Egypt and possibly in the Middle East. As I understand, your services extend to outside Egypt too.”
“It does.” Ayoub replied proudly. “I have helped the poor people of Iraq with a large amount of money. It just tears my heart to see them under the rule of a mad man who doesn’t care about anyone but himself and his wealth. I always mention them in my prayers.”
“I am sure God listens to your prayers.” Nagwa lied.
“I only hope.”
“I know your businesses are vast and practically every where in the world, can you tell me more about the type of businesses you run.” She requested.
“Of course. I invest in rebuilding Egypt and I own quite a few car dealers around the world. I also have started one of the most successful software companies here in Egypt. Most of the people who work there are Egyptian, but I have hired some of the smartest and most talented computer scientists from America, Japan and Australia.”
“Wow, that must bring you quite an income.”
“Yes it does.”
All that time Nagwa was taking quick notes to give off the impression that she was a real reporter.
“I also know that you have not gotten married. That must be very hard especially with all the temptation around us in the world. How do you keep your chastity?”
“It is very hard.” Ayoub replied. “But with much prayer and concentration in Allah and the Koran I have risen to the level that I am able to see all the ladies as a product of Allah’s beautiful creation, and I can’t treat them except with all the respect and dignity that they deserve.”
Oh brother, she thought in exasperation.
“This is amazing,” She said out loud. “I am sure God is preparing for you a special place in heaven.”
He smiled allowing his pride to fill every cell in his body.
“I also know that you donate more than a million pounds a year to services done in Egypt plus a considerable amount of money to other countries, like Iraq. How could you afford all that and still be able to support your businesses and yourself?” Nagwa asked. She knew that he wasn’t going to tell her the truth, but she was hoping that he might slip and let out anything that would help her.
“God’s blessings are infinite.” He said.
Yeah, don’t state the obvious. She thought. However, she couldn’t pursue this line of questioning without raising suspicion.
“Of course.” She said. “Oh, and one last question. How do you feel about all the problems the Islamic extremists are causing nowadays?”
Ayoub’s face suddenly changed for a second. His smile disappeared and he looked provoked and irritated by the question, but quickly he regained his self-control and replied, “Why do you ask?”
“Well,” Nagwa started innocently, “this is a hot topic in Egypt and the Middle East now, and I just wanted to know your views towards it. I am sure the Egyptians are going to love you even more when you show your disappointment at the Islamic terrorists.”
He gave her a curious look, trying to understand the purpose of the question and when he replied, Nagwa could hear the uncertainty in the tone of his voice.
“Well… Of course… Of course I don’t like what they do. They are just hurting the people of Egypt. I don’t approve of their methods.”
“I’ll make sure to put that in my article.” Nagwa said and stood up. “Thank you for your precious time, sir”
They shook hands and she walked out thinking, Now I am pretty sure that he is hiding something. Galal and I are definitely on the right track.
Mohammed Ayoub stared at the closed door for a while then picked up his fancy phone and dialed a number.
Nagwa got in the elevator. Its double doors were almost closed when a hand reached in at the last second preventing them from completely closing. The simple system automatically sent the signal to the doors to open once more to allow the new comer to enter.
“Sorry,” Salwa said as she entered the small confined space of the elevator. “But I am in a hurry.”
“It’s alright.” Nagwa replied, waving it off. “So how do you find working with such a great man?” She asked.
“It’s okay I guess.” Salwa replied. “It is a relaxed atmosphere and he pays very well.”
“Could you say that this is a typical attitude of all the other employees?”
“Yeah, pretty much.” She said and looked at her watch.
Not the greatest person to start a conversation with, Nagwa thought.
“So how long have you been working with the Ahram?” Salwa asked inquisitively.
“Four months now.” Nagwa said, “what about you? How long have you been working for Mohammed Ayoub?”
“Just over a year.”
“How did you get the job?” Nagwa asked and then smiled. “You must have very good connections! I would love a job like this.”
“You could say that.” Salwa shrugged, completely uninterested in continuing the conversation. At this moment the elevator stopped and the doors opened revealing the parking lot. Salwa immediately headed off not even saying good-bye to Nagwa. The officer shook her head in annoyance.
I feel sorry for Ayoub if he is having an affair with her. Nagwa thought
She followed Salwa with her eyes until she left with her car. It was a 1990 Volks Wagon. A decent car, not too expensive.
Nagwa in turn got in her car and headed to her apartment.
It took her only a few minutes to reach her apartment. It wasn’t a big town after all. Once she was inside she threw her coat carelessly on the closest chair to her and picked up the phone to call Colonel Fareed.
“Good evening, sir” She said.
“Hi, Nagwa.” He replied. “So how did it go?”
“Okay sir. I didn’t get as much information as I wished but it’ll have to do.” She paused as she took a breath thinking of what she wanted from the colonel. “Sir, I need some information.”
“Anything.”
“Okay, I need a full history on all the businesses that Mohammed Ayoub runs. All the financial records. Also I need a list of all the banks he uses and how much is in his accounts in these banks. Don’t just look through the banks in Egypt. Try to trace all his transaction. I want to know his total income and the total money he spends…”
“Basically, everything related to his finances.” Colonel Fareed cut her off.
“Basically.”
“This is very hard.” Fareed paused. “But I think I can do it. I’ll have to call on some old favors. You’ll have the information tomorrow, this time.”
“Thank you sir.” Nagwa said. “This is really great. I think I am pretty close to getting somewhere.”
“Well as long as you are making progress.” Colonel Fareed said. “By the way did you hear anything about Galal?”
The feelings of worry returned to her.
“No sir. He hasn’t contacted me since the last time I saw him.”
“But isn’t he supposed to be in touch with you so you can tell him the information he needs?”
“Yes sir. But as I said, I haven’t heard from him, and I don’t dare to try to contact him or else I might blow his cover or something.”
“I understand. I guess we just wait and hope for the best.”
“I guess so.”
Nagwa hung up with the colonel. Now all she had to do was wait until the information she requested arrives, but till then she needed to find where Galal was. Her part of the plan would be useless if it wasn’t integrated with Galal’s part.
But where could Galal be all that time? It had been four days since they last separated. She couldn’t bring herself to believe that he spent all that time inside the compound. Maybe he was captured. That was a scary thought. But she was absolutely sure that if he weren’t still in the compound then he would have gotten in touch with her. She had to figure out where he was. What she didn’t realize was that Galal was about to face the toughest emotional crisis in his life.
Galal lost track of all time. It even seemed that he forgot what light looked like. He had been locked up in this cell forever. With no bathrooms, he had to make do with the bucket they left him and by that time the brig’s stinking odor burned the inside of his nose. He didn’t know what kind of diseases he would get from living for several days in such an unhealthy kind of environment. But there was no way out of this place. He had no weapons and no tools he could use for escape. For the past days he lived on a loaf of hard bread and a cup of dirty water they gave him once a day.
In a last hopeless try he called with an extremely tired voice saying, “My wound is bleeding again.”
For a second he didn’t think anybody heard him, but then the door opened and a man he had never seen before entered. The first thing Galal noticed was that the man didn’t have his weapon ready and the first thing that the man noticed was that Galal’s wound wasn’t really bleeding. The next thing was a surprise to the man and even to Galal. Galal gathered all the strength of survival he had and leaped towards the man. The terrorist fell under Galal’s weight. The latter tried to strike the man unconscious, but it appeared that he used all his strength in the leap and he had none left for the blow he was planning on. The terrorist easily blocked the weak punch and threw Galal off him. He jumped on his feet and pointed his pistol at the almost unconscious man’s head, but didn’t pull the trigger.
“I would kill you right now.” The man said dangerously.
“Why don’t you?” Galal replied weakly.
“I am under orders not to.” There was a pause, “although I think I’ll be doing you a favor by killing you. You have nothing to live for any longer.”
Galal looked at him not understanding what he meant.
“See, we killed your sister.” The man continued with evil satisfaction.
Once Galal heard that, everything started spinning around him. The roof fell and the walls cracked. The terrorist was right. He had nothing to live for. And the last ounce of hope he had was crushed. All his remaining strength evaporated and he fell in a dark and deep unending void.
“Galal.” A call, out of the emptiness and the void, reached Galal’s ears. The call carried Mira’s soft and comforting voice. Shortly after, a point of light appeared on the horizon of the emptiness. The light came closer and closer and started to take form. Finally the beautiful features of Mira’s face became distinct. Her eyes looked like two small bright stars. She extended her hand to Galal to help him. Once their hands joined, the emptiness was filled with love and…
Galal opened his eyes to see nothing but the darkness of the dungeon he had been a prisoner in for a long, long time.
The overwhelming sadness Galal was experiencing was too much to keep in. He started sobbing. He never felt this much sadness and loneliness before. All the memories of his lovely, younger sister, Mira, started flashing through his mind. At moments he would smile when he remembered a joke or a cute comment she said, but then he would continue crying.
“What’s the matter with you man?” Sherif’s concerned voice sounded from the other side of the door.
“You killed my sister.”
“We what?” Sherif asked in disbelief.
“You killed my sister,” Galal shouted. “You killed my sister… You killed my sister…” Galal broke into sobs once more.
“Why did we do that?” Sherif asked.
There was a period of silence as Galal tried to bring his out pouring emotions under control.
“I don’t know.” He finally said. “Ask the saint you follow?”
“He couldn’t have given that order.”
“What the hell are you saying? After all what he has done and you still defend him.”
There was no reply so Galal continued, “He has ordered the death of many. What difference does it make if he kills her?” His voiced cracked. “She was the sweetest girl. She never hurt anyone.”
“There must be a good explanation for that.”
“What explanation?” Galal shot. “There is no explanation for murder no matter what purpose you strive to achieve.” He paused. “Do you think he was doing you a favor when he helped you and your family out with some money? He doesn’t care. This is the way they get poor and needy youth like you to fight for them. He is simply using you.”
“No he isn’t.”
“Do you honestly think that if you decide, right now, to leave this group and never be part of it again he would let you?”
The question took Sherif by surprise.
“Answer,” Galal said intensely. “Answer me… Of course not. He would probably shoot you in front of everybody else to set an example to anyone who would think of changing his mind.” He paused. “It doesn’t matter anyway. You’re going to die.”
“What do you mean?”
“If he doesn’t kill you with his own hands, you will probably die in a confrontation with the police, sooner or later.”
“At least I’ll die for what I believe in.” Sherif whispered. He sounded shaken and unsure of himself. It sounded more like self-support. Trying as hard as he can to prove to himself that he was serving a greater purpose.
“Why are you so blind?” Galal said in despair. “Why can’t you wake up and see what you are doing to your country that you say you love.”
“We’re purifying…”
“It from evil.” Galal cut him off. “Do you actually believe that?”
“This is enough.” Sherif shouted in anger. “I’ll not listen to any of your utterances. You are trying to weaken my faith in Allah and the truth. I will not allow this.”
“I am just asking…” Galal started.
“Ask no more.” Sherif said in finality then Galal heard his footsteps fade to nothingness.
Galal was left alone in the cell that had become his home for the past days. He was left thinking of his hopeless situation and how this could be his last breaths. What bothered him was not death, but was dying without accomplishing his goal. He was the only one who knew about this place. His death would mean the death of this knowledge as well.
Nagwa sat on her desk and in front of her there was a thick binder containing all of Mohammed Ayoub’s finances. She had been studying it all night. She felt like a business student, sitting with a calculator in her hand calculating income taxes and total revenue. But all that was definitely paying off. Now, she could clearly see that the amount of money he made every year doesn’t match the amount of money he deposited in his banks around the world. He deposited over fifty million American dollars extra every year. She didn’t know of any honest business that made this amount of money annually. He was doubtlessly dealing in drugs.
Okay, now she was completely sure that there was drugs involved, but still she had no solid evidence. What should she do next?
“Let me put myself in his position.” She told herself out loud. “I am Mohammed Ayoub. I deal in drugs. Do I take drugs? No, that would not be wise of me. If I get caught it would mean my end. Beside it isn’t a very healthy activity. Okay fine, but why would I deal in drugs? I already have a lot of money and I hold a pretty important position in the Egyptian government. What a stupid question. The answer is very obvious. I want more money. What I have isn’t enough. I want security, I want money and I want power. I love my money. This is the only important thing in my life. To hell with everything else. I don’t care about beliefs or ethics or the Islamic terrorists, I only care about my lovely money.
I most definitely don’t trust any one with my secrets, so where would I keep them? Well, the closest place to me of course. Where would that be? My business office? No, too many people there. Anyone can discover them. The only logical place left is in my house, in my office or something. But now that I know Galal was able to break in, what would I do? I wouldn’t just leave it without protection. No, I would probably put it in a more secure place. Okay, so now we know where I keep my secrets. In a pretty secure place in my house that no one can get to.
Okay so I deal in drugs, but in the same time I support the Islamic terrorists and in the same time I appear before the Egyptian public as a saint. I am pretty smart. There must be a reason for all that. What is it? What I am doing is very dangerous. I must have a good reason for taking such a risk. If the Islamic terrorists find out that I deal in drugs they would probably turn on me. After all they love Egypt and they want the best for it. They have a weird way of expressing themselves but they do nonetheless. So why would I get involved with them if it entails that much danger? Of course… I know why. There is a distinct possibility that they might hurt important people in the government. At one point in time they might even take over the government; so if I am not their friend I’ll probably be their enemy. I am smart. This way I can secure my backside. I deal in drugs because I want more money; I am the Islamic terrorist’s friend because I don’t want to be their enemy just in case they take control. Also they provide good protection for their friends. And finally, I look like a saint in front of the Egyptian government so no one would suspect me of anything.”
She remained silent for a minute admiring Ayoub’s personal profile she just came up with. It was pretty accurate. From the information she gathered about him this profile matched him perfectly.
“Yep, I am good.” She smiled.
“As you already know I killed your sister and I have the ability to kill you too.” Karim said to Galal who was tied up to a chair. He was forcefully taken out of his cell, pushed around, beaten and was finally brought to Karim’s room.
Unlike Ayoub’s office, Karim’s was more basic. A military office. Only the necessities were there. A desk and the chair that Galal was tied up to. There was also an old computer on the desk. It wasn’t that much to look at, but it served Karim’s needs. He kept information he thought important on it. Many of his men didn’t trust it, but they were old fashioned. This computer was the safest place to keep their plans. No one can get to it. Protected by multiple passwords, it would be almost impossible to access the data without authorization.
Galal studied the room with his experienced eyes. He was in a bad shape. An escape wouldn’t be the greatest idea. He still couldn’t move well with that bullet wound in his leg. And now after the beating he just had, bumps and bruises covered every inch in his body. His butt even hurt from sitting down.
“Am I supposed to be scared from that rather pathetic threat?” Galal threw Karim a gorged look.
“It is a real threat!” Karim warned.
Galal didn’t reply back. He felt by doing so he would be giving Karim more significance than he really deserved.
“No matter how much you dislike me, I still want to help you.” Karim continued. And what he said made a ghost of a smile flash across Galal’s lips. “I’ll offer you another chance to live a pleasing life.”
“What do I have to do? Deny my faith?” Galal asked.
“Is that too much to ask?” Karim asked.
Galal looked at him incredulously and again he didn’t reply. It wasn’t worth a reply.
“This is not what I want you to do though. I think Islam is too good for you.”
“What do you want of me then?” Galal asked in frustration.
“A very simple request really and if you comply I will let you go. You can go back to where you came from or you can stick here with us and you’ll live the best life you’ve ever lived.”
To tell the truth at this point Galal was considering that option and he hated himself for doing so. But his life had been hell for the past days. He would do anything to be able to get out of this compound. And Karim saw his willingness to help in his eyes.
“What do you want me to do?”
“I just want you to tell me how we can get inside the Secret Service building.”
After that request everything became silent. To Galal’s surprise, he was actually thinking of agreeing to help Karim, even though that might mean the death of many of his friends and the fall of one of Egypt’s most important line of defense. Was he actually considering letting go of years of service? Well, they let him go once and they, very well, could do it again. What obligation did he have towards them?
“Alright.” Galal finally said.
Karim gave him a long hard stare. It was quite obvious that he didn’t believe him, but he was willing to take the chance.
“Untie him.” Karim gave that order to the man who escorted Galal.
Immediately the man loosened Galal’s ropes. Once Galal was free he rubbed his wrists trying to get rid of this itchy feeling he was experiencing. Suddenly, he did something no one expected including himself. Faster than lightning, he grabbed the man who just untied him, pushed him violently towards Karim and snatched his weapon in the same second. Both terrorists fell to the ground.
Galal pointed the gun directly at Karim and ordered him saying, “Get up.”
Karim slowly got up, his eyes not leaving the gun that was pointed at his chest.
“You know, you’re not going to get out of here alive.” Karim said.
“I’ll try.” Galal challenged Karim. “Now, slowly throw down your weapon.”
Karim did as ordered, but as he was doing so he momentarily blocked the other terrorist from Galal. Those couple of seconds were enough for that terrorist to charge towards Galal. The officer didn’t expect the sudden attack. That, however, didn’t mean his reaction was affected. He quickly fired a couple of shots and the man fell with two broken legs.
The shots attracted Sherif’s attention who was standing outside. He burst inside the room. Instantaneously, Galal turned his gun and aimed it at Sherif. The distraction Sherif caused gave Karim the chance to charge at Galal in a try to seize his weapon. The second before Karim made contact with Galal, Galal had a clear shot at Sherif, but didn’t take it. Something inside of him prevented him from squeezing that trigger. He felt that he would be killing an innocent man. The second was over and Galal felt a kick right in the place of his wound. He screamed in anguish and fell to the ground. Karim forcefully snatched the weapon away and with all his might he kicked Galal in the ribs. The man felt like his rib cage was about to be crushed.
By this time three more terrorists came in and joined in the savage beating on Galal. Sherif watched.
Nagwa parked her car far enough from Mohammed Ayoub’s business so that she would not be noticed. After all, she was planning to stay there the whole day.
She knew he arrived to work at seven-thirty every morning. She looked at her watch. Any time now. Nagwa didn’t have to wait for long. He was a punctual man; she had to give him that. At exactly seven-thirty a huge limousine pulled in front of the main entrance of the building. The driver hurried out and opened the door for Ayoub. The latter gracefully slipped out of the car and said some words to the driver before heading into the building. They were definitely not words of praise. The driver looked very disappointed as he drove the car to its parking area.
Shortly after, Nagwa saw the driver and a friend of his, walking at close proximity to her position. She strained to hear what they were saying. Some of the conversation was mumbled and she couldn’t make it out, but the rest that she could understand was very interesting.
“He is such an ungrateful man.” The driver said. “I treat him with respect and all he can do is swear at me and treat me like garbage. He never likes anything that I do.”
“Some people are like that.” The friend replied.
“I can’t see what the people see in him. Just two days ago, a reporter was here to write about his saintly life!”
Nagwa smiled sarcastically.
“This guy is the farthest thing from a saint.” The driver said. “They think that he has dedicated his life to God. Well… they don’t know anything. He…”
The driver suddenly lowered his voice and Nagwa couldn’t hear what he was saying any longer, especially when he walked further and further away. But from that little bit she heard, she knew she was on to something.
Until three o’clock in the afternoon nothing interesting happened. Nagwa was bored out of her mind. She started thinking that it might have been a waste of time to just hang around here. Before she could finish that thought, however, she saw Salwa, Ayoub’s secretary, leave in her car. Suddenly Nagwa understood everything. She already suspected that Salwa was having an affair with Ayoub, but now she figured out a way to get the information that would convict Ayoub from right under his nose, and she figured out Galal’s plan. All that exploded in her mind in a split second.
Nagwa started following Salwa. The secretary stopped at her house, got in another car and continued to her destination. She ended up exactly where Nagwa suspected. She went to Ayoub’s house.
“That’s it.” She said excited. “I know your weak point now Ayoub. I know what Galal has planned and you deserve it.”
Nagwa turned her car around and headed back to her apartment. She needed Colonel Fareed’s help one more time. Abruptly, a car rammed her from behind. For a second Nagwa was shook by this sudden attack. She didn’t expect it at all. But that was only the beginning. The attacking car rammed her again, harder this time. She looked at her rear view mirror to see a Mercedes. The car had a tinted front window that prevented her from seeing the driver. Suddenly, her back window and front window seemed to explode at the same time as a silent shot was fired. Nagwa immediately lowered her head for protection. The speed dial in her car pointed to the maximum, but her car was no match for the superior one attacking her. There was no escape. Death felt so near with shots being fired all around her. Soon one of these shots was going to puncture a tire and at this speed the car would flip instantly and violently. She had to do something now. All she had was her pistol, but she imagined that the car behind her was bullet proof. She quickly turned in a narrow road. The worst move she made since she started this investigation. The road had a dead end. It ended with a huge brick wall. Surprisingly, she didn’t slow down. She continued at this high speed toward the brick wall. Not intending to stay with the car on its doomed destination she sets the car to cruise control as her mind races to find a way out of this predicament.
Suddenly she realized something, there was a window in the roof of her car. This must have been the craziest idea she had yet. She quickly climbed to the roof of her car and at the same second she made her daring jump backward towards the pursuing vehicle, it rammed hers. That gave her jump enough boost and she landed on the roof of the Mercedes. In order not to get thrown off she laid flat on its roof. She grabbed the edge to secure her position and took out her pistol. The driver side window was open. Without hesitation she jammed her weapon in the open side window and fired one shot, then a second and a third and a fourth. The car suddenly swerved as it decelerated rapidly. Nagwa was thrown off the car seconds before it slammed in the side of one of the buildings in a terrific collision. Seconds after, another explosion sounded as her car collided with the brig wall.
Despite all the pains she was feeling in every part of her body, Nagwa got up quickly and ran to the car, ready with her pistol in case of another unwanted surprise. She looked inside to see two dead men. The one in the passenger seat had a machine gun. He was the one firing at her. Nagwa looked around her and decided to disappear before more came after her. Putting all the pain and agony she was feeling at the moment aside, she started running away from the scene.
She didn’t know how long she ran, but she didn’t stop until she reached her apartment. Quickly she gathered her stuff in a small bag and headed out once more. She knew that soon they would discover that she wasn’t dead and would come after her. No doubt the first place they were going to look was here, in her apartment. And she was not planning to make it that easy for them. But how did Ayoub figure her out? That wasn’t important now. She had to contact Colonel Fareed and tell him what happened.
Salwa was Ayoub’s Achilles’ heal and Nagwa intended to use this single point of vulnerability against him. This was her only chance. Right now, she felt so much hatred for him. Only now she realized how Galal felt towards Ayoub after what he did to his church. If anyone did that to her church or her family she would go mad.
Nagwa walked at a fast pace through the streets heading to another hotel. The people in the street looked at her curiously. She was not in a particularly good shape. Her hair was messed, her cloths were torn from the fall and painful cuts bruised her smooth skin all over her body.
She had a difficult time getting another room because of her looks. But finally, with twenty pounds, she was able to convince the man working there to give her a room. Once she was alone in the room she picked up the phone and dialed the colonel’s number.
“Hello.” Fareed’s voice came over the line.
“Sir, I need your help one more time.”
“Anything.”
“I want all the information you can get about Salwa, Ayoub’s secretary.”
“That is not too hard.” Fareed replied. “Hold on a second, I am in front of the computer right now.”
Nagwa heard Fareed typing and then there was silence for another minute as the information came up on his screen.
“Her name is Salwa Zaghlool.” The Colonel started. “I am just going to tell you what I think you want to know. She was accused several times of taking drugs, but some how was never proven guilty. She was stopped several times by the police because she was drunk.” Colonel Fareed stopped for a second, then continued surprised. “This is weird, why would Ayoub keep her after all that. She would bring a very bad image to his company.”
“Was she convicted before or after she worked for him?” Nagwa asked.
“Some convictions were before, some were after.”
“I have a pretty good idea why she was never caught, and why she is still working for Ayoub.”
Suddenly Fareed got what she meant, “You don’t mean…”
“Yes, this is exactly what I mean.”
“Good work.”
“Well, I hoped that it would go smoothly, but it didn’t.” Nagwa said. Inside, her heart was still shaken by the attack. “I was attacked by Ayoub’s men just an hour or so ago. I escaped by a miracle.”
“You better disappear, before he comes after you again.”
“Yeah, that is what I am going to do.” Nagwa agreed. “But first I am going to pay Salwa a visit tonight.”
A painful headache swept through Galal’s head as he slowly regained his consciousness. He was lying on the floor in his cell. Slowly he pulled himself to a sitting position and looked at the bullet wound. It reminded him of its presence with a burst of sudden and very uncomfortable pain. It looked like it had been bleeding for some time and stopped just a short while ago.
“Hey, I need some water to clean up my wound.” Galal said out loud.
“What you did was stupid.” Sherif said from outside the small prison.
“I had no choice.” Galal replied trying hard to block away the pain and failed.
The door opened and Sherif slipped in holding a water container. He looked at Galal’s wound. It was filthy. The blood mixed with the dirt from the ground hardened on the wound and around it, and that caused the open wound to develop a very harsh looking infection.
“Here let me help.” Sherif said as he knelt beside Galal. “This is going to hurt.”
Sherif carefully removed the remains of Galal’s pants off the wound and poured the water on it, gently rubbing the wound trying to get it clean. That caused Galal a great deal of pain. He produced an involuntary pained shriek.
After Sherif was finished Galal rested his head on the wall looking as tired as a person who just ran a marathon.
“If you’re smart you wouldn’t try to escape.” Sherif warned.
“You don’t seam to understand, if I don’t I am going to die.”
“And if you try to escape you’ll also die.”
“But at least I’ll have a chance to get out of here alive, no matter how small.”
“You’re crazy.”
“Maybe, but at least I have a reason to be, you don’t!”
“What do you mean?”
“I have been locked up here for I forgot how long. I have been treated worse than the scum of the earth. I have been beaten and tortured, but you have no excuse. You follow that man willingly. Look at what he has done to me. He killed my sister, he is definitely going to kill me and I don’t know how many deaths are going to follow.”
Sherif didn’t reply. He didn’t know what to say. He watched as the others beat Galal to unconsciousness and he couldn’t do anything to stop them. He hated all the violence and the hatred around him. At the beginning Karim’s eloquent words hypnotized him and made him think that he was fighting for a greater purpose, but after he joined and saw what was really going on, reality hit. All what they were doing was venting their hate in gore and gruesome ways at innocent people.
“Are you going to live like this?” Galal asked. “Are you going to live knowing that hundreds and thousands of people are going to be killed and you didn’t do anything to stop it? Are you willing to live with that guilt on your conscious?”
“What is there that I can do?” Sherif responded with saddened anger. “There is nothing I can do.”
“There is,” Galal affirmed, “You can help me stop them.”
“You don’t stand a chance against them.” Sherif waved in frustration.
“I have a better chance with your help.” Galal said. “Help me.”
There was silence as Sherif thought the situation over in his head. Time passed ever so slowly for Galal. Sherif was his last hope. Seconds passed like hours and minutes passed like days until finally Sherif replied softly yet his voice was full of determination, “Okay, what do you want me to do?”
Galal breathed in relief, “I want you to help me get out of here and I promise I’ll take care of you and your family once we’re free.”
“Half of the people here left for some mission and the other half is going to leave tonight to receive another weapons shipment. This is going to be our ideal time to escape.”
“Where is this weapons shipment?”
“I don’t know. They don’t tell me this kind of stuff.”
“Can you find out?”
“I guess so. Karim keeps all the times and places of these shipments on his computer.”
“But isn’t it protected by passwords or something?”
“Don’t worry, I know how to deal with the computer. Just you worry about thinking of a plan to get us out of here.”
“Okay, I need also some sort of a communication device to get in touch with my partner.”
“I can slip you one tonight at midnight, but you’ll not be able to use it for long before they are on to us.”
“I’ll just need two minutes. You just bring it to me with the time and location of the weapons shipment.”
Salwa was getting ready to head back to Ayoub’s house, when she heard knocks on the door. She had to come back to get some dress that Ayoub really loved to see on her.
“Who the hell is coming now?” She asked agitated as she went to open the door.
When she did Nagwa was standing there.
“You!” Salwa said surprised. “What do you want?”
Nagwa didn’t wait for an invitation. She just strolled in the apartment.
“I want you to help me.” Nagwa demanded.
“What? You want me to help you write your article?” Salwa asked apprehensively as she closed the door.
“They haven’t told you? I am not a reporter.” Nagwa said.
It appeared that Salwa really didn’t know anything about it. The expression on her face admitted that.
“What?” She asked shocked. “Who is suppose to tell me? And who are you then?”
“Okay, let’s cut to the chase.” Nagwa started. “I know about your relationship with Mohammed Ayoub. Or more accurately, your sexual relationship with him. And we, in the secret service, have some stuff against him, but we can’t prove it. So I need your help.”
“Why would I help you?”
“Because if you don’t… I am going to arrest you.” Nagwa stated it bluntly.
“On what basis?”
“Well let’s see,” Nagwa scratched her chin. “You take drugs, you drink… so it is pretty easy for me to find some crime to falsely convict you with.” Nagwa smiled.
“You wouldn’t do that… You can’t do that.” Salwa said scared.
Nagwa took a step closer to her. The smile on her face disappeared and was replaced by a serious and a grim expression, “You want a bet?”
There was a period of silence as Nagwa stared Salwa down. Nagwa felt that she was pretty close to getting what she wanted. Salwa apparently didn’t love Mohammed Ayoub. She only slept with him for his money. That is why she probably was able to afford such an expensive car and a nice apartment.
“Alright… Alright.” Salwa finally gave in. “What do you want me to do?”
“Good,” Nagwa said satisfied. “Do you know anything about Ayoub’s drug deals.”
“Not officially, but I hear stuff.”
“What do you mean?”
“I can’t believe it. Are you a woman?” Salwa asked with a hint of sarcasm in her voice. “Well, when you are intimately close to a man, you get to know stuff about him, especially when he loves you.”
“Do you love him?”
“No.” Salwa shrugged. “What is there to love? He is almost sixty years old and I am still thirty. I am just waiting to collect enough money and leave him.”
Nagwa put up her hands saying, “I don’t want to know your personal life. I just want your cooperation.” She handed Salwa a tiny video camera that was no bigger than two fingers and continued, “Okay all you have to do is get the file that has all the information about his drug deals, record it with this camera. The camera is going to transmit all the information to a small computer I have. That’s all. Just don’t get caught.” Nagwa then added a warning, “don’t try playing any tricks or it will mean you spending the next ten years in jail. Now you don’t want all that beauty wasted, do you?”
“No.” She replied in surrender.
“Thank you.” Nagwa said. “I’ll wait for the information here.”
“Make yourself at home.” Salwa said bitterly.
“I will… Now go.”
“I am not going to be able to do that until he is asleep though.” Salwa pointed out.
“Don’t worry, I’ll wait.”
“Alright.” Salwa said and then left.
Time past extremely slow for Nagwa. She was afraid that Salwa was not going to do as she was told. But she tried to comfort herself by the fact that she threatened her and the threat was real, not just a bluff. Nagwa had the computer ready to receive. This was the only piece of equipment that she was expecting to work with anytime soon. What started working however, was the last thing she expected. A burst of static came from her walkie-talkie before Galal’s voice came through tangled in static.
“Nagwa, are you there?”
She snatched it eagerly from her bag and pressed the talk button.
“Galal, you should have got in touch with me sooner.”
“I don’t have time to chat. Listen they are going to have another weapons shipment at three-twenty in the morning, the same place. My plan…”
She cut him off as her computer started receiving Data from the camera that Salwa had. The first thing she read was the most important.
“Galal, this is incredible. There is going to be a drug deal around the same time today also taking place in Hurghada, but a different beach. If your plan is what I think, then you want to turn them against each other.”
“That’s right. Where exactly is the deal going to be?”
Nagwa read the information on her screen, “On a beach about a hundred kilometers east from the other one.”
“Great, meet me there at three o’clock. Make sure you tell everything to the colonel and get him to meet us there with as much police force as possible… Okay I’ve got to go.”
Galal terminated the communication link.
8. Face Off…
Galal ended his short conversation with Nagwa. He had bad news for Sherif. They wouldn’t be able to escape. They had to stick around to finish off the most important part of his plan. He didn’t know how yet, but he was going to figure it out.
Sherif was supposed to come check up on him in an hour or so. Galal waited this hour in excitation. Finally, he was going some where, but he hoped that he could’ve accomplished this mission without the loss of so many that is dear to him.
Finally, Sherif entered.
“We have a plan. We are going to turn the Islamic terrorists on the drug dealers.” Galal said.
“All we have to do now is convince Karim to tell his people to attack the drug dealers.” Sherif said picking up on Galal’s plan. He was smart.
“This is not going to work.” Galal said.
“Yeah, I agree. So what do we do?”
“We go tell him.”
“But you just said this is not going to work.”
“I see no other options, do you?”
“Yes, why don’t we just get the hell out of here and call the police.”
“My partner is already doing that.”
“Then what is the problem?”
“They are going to be too late.” Galal explained. “By the time Nagwa is able to get word to the colonel and then by the time he is able to gather the necessary force, it is going to be too late. The only way to stop both sides is if they turn against each other. Both are equally equipped with weapons, I hope, and they are going to slaughter each other.”
“Alright.” Sherif said, “But I am not going to go with you or else Karim is going to kill me.”
Without warning Galal directed a strong blow to the back of Sherif’s neck that made him lose consciousness immediately.
“Sorry,” Galal whispered. “But this way you can lay all the blame on me.”
Galal took Sherif’s weapon and headed out of the brig locking its door behind him. He was able to take only a few steps before he heard Karim’s dangerous voice saying, “Stop right there, and drop your weapon.”
Galal slowly did as ordered without turning around to face Karim.
“You’ll be making a big mistake Karim if you kill me.” Galal said. “See, you and I have one thing common.”
“And what is that? If I may ask.” Karim said in disbelief.
“We both love Egypt and we want the best for it. And we know that drugs is destroying the Egyptians.” He paused. “There is going to be a drug deal tonight, and I know where it is going to be.”
“Am I suppose to believe you?”
“If you’re wise, you will.”
“You’re wrong.” Karim replied tensely. “If I am an idiot I will.”
“Tell me, why would I lie to you?” Galal asked.
“This conversation is over.” Karim suddenly said dangerously. “Say good-bye to the world.”
It took Galal’s mind exactly one fifth of a second to understand what Karim meant. The second thing he did was duck. He tried to reach for his weapon at the same time. The instant he ducked a shot passed right over his head. He could feel its heat. As quickly as possible, he picked his weapon, spun around facing his enemy and fired two quick shots. He did that all in less than a second. The bullets hit their target in incredible precision. Karim’s weapon got knocked out of his hand. That, however, didn’t serve any purpose but to increase Karim’s wrath. He didn’t seem to care that he was now unarmed and also didn’t seem to care that Galal had the ability to shoot him dead. He attacked savagely anyway. The officer didn’t shoot him.
They both fell to the ground and Galal’s weapon rolled away from him. Karim who was on top of Galal, tried to knock him unconscious with a blow. But with all the strength Galal could muster he blocked the blow and pushed the man off him. Karim skidded a couple of meters away and then jumped back on his feet getting ready for another charge.
“Listen to me,” Galal said angrily. “I am telling the truth.”
“My men are already out to get the weapons.” Karim said as he resumed his attack.
“I have had enough of this.” Galal said as he picked up his gun one more time and countered Karim’s attack with an incredibly strong strike from the end of the gun to Karim’s face. He could hear bones cracking before the man immediately fell senseless.
Galal entered the brig again to see that Sherif had regained consciousness.
“I am sorry man.” Galal said, “but this way you could have said that I attacked you and no one would have blamed you.”
“Whatever.” Sherif said as he rubbed the back of his neck, still feeling a residue of the pain.
“Anyway, I’ve got to contact the men who went to get the weapons pretending I am Karim. I’ve to tell them to go attack the drug dealers. Do you know the frequency?”
“Yes, hold on.” Sherif answered.
He quickly adjusted the communication device and said, “Okay, it is ready.”
Galal pressed the button and started to talk making sure that the connection wasn’t perfect. He wanted enough static to block his true identity.
“Men, this is Karim.” He lied. “There is going to be a drug deal about a hundred kilometer east from your position. I want all of you to attack them and kill them all. They are destroying the Holy Land of Egypt and we can not allow this filth to do that.”
“What about the weapons?” A man asked.
“Don’t worry, they are not going any where. We’ll get them sometime later. It’s more important to stop the drug dealers.”
“Yes sir.”
“Good, may Allah bless you all.”
Galal terminated the radio link then turned to Sherif and asked, “Did everybody in the compound go to get the weapons?”
“Some did, the rest left for a mission in Luxor. The only people here are Karim and us.”
“And Karim is unconscious outside.” Galal said.
Both men went outside the brig, but to their surprise there was no one there.
“Where is he?” Sherif asked worried.
Galal got ready with his weapon after he noticed that Karim’s weapon was no longer there either.
“I don’t know, but he is very dangerous…” Galal was cut off by Karim’s voice coming from speakers all around them.
“Galal, I am going to torture you.” Karim said severely.
“I think this is highly unlikely.” Galal replied loudly.
“Look up then,”
Galal looked up and what he saw made the blood freeze in his veins. Somebody was hanging by a rope from the glass part of the roof twenty feet off the ground. That someone was the only one that Galal loved more than his own life. That someone Galal thought was dead.
“Mira,” Galal was barely able to whisper her name.
“See, I got you to believe that she was dead so we can break your spirit and you wouldn’t try to escape. Too bad it didn’t work, now I have to kill her in front of you. This way it is going to be more satisfying.”
“You touch one hair of hers and I’ll rip your head off.” Galal shouted furiously.
“Big words for a small man.” Karim said. “Well say bye bye to your sister.”
At the same instant the rope was cut and Mira started her death trip down from about twenty feet, the glass part of the roof practically exploded into a million pieces as somebody went through it as fast as a bullet. Galal couldn’t see the face of the unexpected new comer. But apparently that person wore a safety harness attached to a metallic cord coming down from a helicopter. The rescuer hugged Mira tight halting her descent. A second later the helicopter pulled both of them up away from danger.
All this happened in less than five seconds and neither Galal, Karim or Sherif could believe their eyes. The feelings of uncontrolled anger burned in Karim’s heart. How could this happen? How could everything go terribly wrong when he was so close to accomplishing his holy goal?
“No.” Karim shouted in rage. His amplified voice coming from the sound system built inside the compound echoed off the walls.
Galal pulled himself together and shouted back, “It’s over Karim. Give it up. You lost. You lost all your men and the police know where this place is. It is over.”
Suddenly, shots were fired as Karim appeared from a door at the end of the huge hall. The hall had workbenches every where. Different kinds of weapons were scattered here and there on these benches. Quickly, Galal hid behind one of these benches for protection, as did Sherif.
“Despite all that, I still want to take you alive to face a fair trial Karim.” Galal said. “Give it up.”
The only reply Galal got was deadly shots that carved at the bench he was hiding behind. He took a quick peek to see Karim reloading his automatic gun. The officer, not wasting a second, jumped out from his hiding place and fired widely missing his target and then hid again. A split second later, bullets showered his position destroying the bench. It wouldn’t be able to protect him any longer.
Galal leaped from his current position, rolled and took another bench as his hiding place. Abruptly the bullets seized. Galal jumped out getting ready to fire but was shocked to see Karim pointing at him a missile launcher.
“Crap,” Galal swore as he ran as fast as he could away from the path of the missile that was fired. The missile did miss him by a couple of inches and hit the wall behind him. The compression wave resulting from the explosion threw Galal five feet forward. He landed, not very gracefully, on one of the benches. He felt like all his bones cracked at the same time.
Karim got ready to fire another missile at Galal, but suddenly the whole place went dark. It appeared that somebody cut the electricity to the building. However, that didn’t stop Karim from firing. And another explosion sounded. Lucky for Galal, the missile completely missed him and hit the wall behind him, or whatever was left from it.
It took the auxiliary generator thirty seconds to kick in. Once it did, dimmer lights came on. Galal looked where Karim was, but didn’t find him. He carefully approached his location. At the moment he was close enough, Karim jumped from behind one of the benches pointing the missile launcher at Galal. His finger was a split second away from squeezing the trigger, but suddenly a figure seemed to appear from no where behind Karim. This figure pushed on the back end of the missile launcher. Instead of firing at Galal, Karim’s shot went straight up and hit the cement roof destroying it in a terrific explosion. A huge piece of the roof fell straight down. Karim didn’t have the time to get out of its way and didn’t have the time to scream before it crushed him like a bug.
Galal didn’t believe how he was saved at the last second. But by whom? His savior disappeared. Abruptly, Galal felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around to see Nagwa smiling at him.
“This is twice now I saved your life.” Nagwa said.
“You! How did you get here? How did you find this place?”
“You’re welcome.”
“Oh no. Thank you very much.” Galal said and hugged his partner.
“Well, that wasn’t hard. Remember the transmitter that we planted on one of the containers. It was still working.”
“You’re brilliant. You also saved my sister. I owe you my life.” Galal said happily.
“It is good to know that.” She paused. “But there is one thing you can do for me.”
“Name it.”
“Never hide your plans from me again.”
“Done.”
“Okay, let’s get out of here. I don’t like this place. Oh by the way your plan worked great.” Nagwa smiled. “You’re brilliant too.”
Galal threw one more sad look at the crushed Karim and headed out, looking forward to putting all this behind him. Sherif followed them out. He owed his survival to a single right decision he made.
9. The End of the Beginning…
Two weeks later Galal and Mira sat in Galal’s new apartment. Galal was very thankful that Mira was not hurt. He probably would not have been able to live with himself if anything happened to her.
“Can you believe that Mira,” Galal said. “We still weren’t able to convict Mohammed Ayoub.”
“Yeah, men like him have too much influence in this country.” Mira replied with a sigh. “And the worst thing is that we can’t do anything about.” She paused. “But at least we put a stop to his drug deals and to the Islamic terrorists.”
“Well, we did stop his drug deals and we were able to discover a whole network of drug dealers in Egypt. But as for the Islamic terrorists, we only slowed them down.”
“They scare me so much Galal.” Mira’s eyes watered as she recalled her past experience.
Galal sat beside her and put a comforting arm around her shoulder.
“They scare me too Mira.” Galal said. “But the danger is not in their violent methods, it’s in their ability to convince so many people to follow them. They even have allies in high places in the government, like Mohammed Ayoub.”
“What is even more scary, is the way they spread their beliefs.” Mira added. “When I was their prisoner, they tried so hard to convert me to Islam. They promised me a lot of money and an excellent marriage and when that didn’t work they threatened me. They told me they will soon kill all none Muslims in Egypt and when nothing worked, they locked me in a dungeon with no food and no drink for three days.”
Mira started crying.
Galal embraced her in tenderness not knowing how he could make her feel better. Finally, he changed the subject.
“Well, speaking of marriage,” he said lightly. “I heard that you have some plans.”
“Yeah,” she smiled wiping away her tears.
“I am upset with you.” He said. “You don’t even tell me till a week ago.”
“Well he didn’t propose except a week ago.”
“But you should have, at least, told me that you were thinking about him. I haven’t even met him yet.”
“You will, don’t worry.” She said. “But what about you? Aren’t you going to get married?”
“Not any time soon.” Galal replied. “I can’t find the right woman.”
“You want me to hook you up with someone?” His sister suggested.
He got up taking a couple of steps away and said, “Noooo thank you. I remember what happened the last time you did that.”
“I promise I know your type now.”
“No, no, no. I would rather meet someone naturally.”
“I don’t see how you can meet someone unnaturally.” Mira said. “Well, how about Nagwa. She is nice, very beautiful and she is your type.”
“I don’t know her well though.”
“That’s no biggy. I can arrange some meetings between you two.” She offered.
“Oh no, Mira, please don’t get involved.”
“No, I insist. If I leave you, you’ll probably do nothing.”
“Mira please.”
“No, that is it. I made up my mind. I am going to help.” She said.
“Oh man.”