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2014 - Rub’al Khali, Oasis Wahi - Don’t shoot the messenger
Hanif slipped into Rayan’s tent. He still could not believe it! This foolish merchant really had let himself be talked into this trip by the woman. He had no idea how to tell the news to His Excellency without causing them all to be caned to death.
"What is it? I think that I made it clear that I do not wish to be disturbed?!“ Rayan’s voice sounded agitated, he was obviously in a bad mood. No wonder, given the fact that he was about to plan an attack. The information that the assassin Ashraf had finally revealed to them pointed at a compatriot from one of the smaller emirs. His name was Khalid Raisuli and he lived in an oasis about three days on horseback north of Alessia. Whether they wanted to or not, the Tarman’s had to answer to the assault, otherwise their Sheikh would lose face.
How he hated all the politics, but it was part of the game. He had to find a way to do this without losing any men during the attack, which was not an easy task.
He was still furious that this – thanks to Allah – unsuccessful assassination attempt on his life had instead cost the life of his friend Ibrahim. He was going to sorely miss him.
Equally, the technical defect on his Learjet had been an omen. And finally, this idea of going back to Alessia on horseback: with the jet it would have been so much faster. However, he had agreed to meet Hanif and some of their riders in Dubai, as Hanif had handed over one of their horses, bred in Zarifa, to one of the Bedouin Princes. It was an absolutely priceless gift for the birth of his firstborn son. As the way back went close to Dubai and Rayan had to check on his businesses there anyway, they had agreed to meet and travel the distance back to Zarifa together. "Please excuse the interruption Your Excellency, I have information about a matter that you have to be aware of.“
Rayan sat up and looked surprised. He had come to know Hanif very well in the last 13 years and valued him and his opinion. When he made it that urgent, it was definitely going to be bad news. This perspective did not help to improve his bad temper. On the contrary, he felt a boiling rage within, which was something he had not felt in quite a while. "Speak!“, he growled at Hanif.
Hanif took a deep breath. He also knew his master well enough to know that he was in a dangerous mood.
With some dark humour he thought: "How do they say it nicely? Don’t shoot the messenger?“, and he sincerely hoped that he would succeed in calming the Sheikh down. Maybe he would see the funny side of this merchant’s story and be amused? But Hanif knew that this was not very likely.
Therefore he kept it as short as possible when he explained in a few sentences that: the woman was here, who had saved his life; and that she had convinced a merchant, with whom they were doing business with in Dubai, one of their allies, to accompany her here. The problem was that the caravan would be going onward tomorrow, even deeper into the desert and to let them turn back alone was an impossible thing to do. When he had finished everything was quiet, as for a while both men did not say a word.
Rayan had turned on a light to see his paperwork for planning within the darkness of the tent. However, it was bright enough for Hanif to realise that the Sheikh had gone pale. His eyes had turned a blue so dark they almost appeared black. Hanif knew these signs all too well and was well aware that his master was now dangerous. Damn!
"Where is this merchant now?“, Rayan asked barely audible. "Within my tent“, Hanif replied.
"Jassim!“, bellowed the Sheikh and half a second later one of the two bodyguards that were on guard in front of his tent appeared. “Bring me that merchant Hatem, who is in Hanif’s tent!“ - Jassim bowed: "Yes sire.“
"I am going to teach that guy a lesson, that he is never going to forget again!“ said the Sheikh grinding his teeth.
"Jassim – Stop! Wait!“, Hanif called out desperately. He needed time to calm Rayan down.
While he said it Hanif turned in the direction of the tent’s exit. He could see that Jassim had become all rigid. He was not used to getting differing orders.
Usually Hanif was his highest superior and even when His Excellency was present, he let Hanif give out the orders. However, in case he himself gave an order, it had to be carried out immediately without hesitation.
So when Hanif turned back to the Sheikh again he realised that he had committed a terrible mistake.
Slowly and in a very low voice Rayan said: “Jassim, would you please wait outside?” Without a word the bodyguard disappeared, almost like he was on the run. On his face you could see that he was glad not to be in Hanif’s position right now.
1991 - Rabea Akbar – Bloody revenge
When the doorbell rang the General himself opened the door. Four weeks had passed since the death of his daughter Clara - four weeks, one day and two hours.
Immediately after receiving the message, he and his wife hurried to the hospital of the base, where Clara’s body had been brought.
He took a last look at his daughter but prevented his wife from doing the same. It had been the most terrible Christmas and New Year’s Eve they had ever had.
He had not seen Yasin once in all that time. Clara’s friend had not even come to her funeral. However, the general was not sure about his tribe’s customs regarding saying a last farewell to the dead and therefore he tried to not blame the boy.
Even in the base no one had seen him since that day and he had not come back to his job as a guide. The responsible sergeant regretted the loss of this particularly able guide a lot, but he was used to having to find replacements from one day to the next. In comparison to other jobs the army paid fairly well and, more importantly, always on time and therefore the positions were sought after a lot.
Jack sent most of his servants away to take a prolonged vacation because what his wife needed right now was peace.
Only a housekeeper came several times per week, who also cooked their meals for them.
Julie, when he made her go outside, sometimes sat in the garden and stared for hours at the same spot. Apart from that, she did not leave her room at all. From time to time the doctor checked in on her, but besides giving her some tranquilizers he could do nothing for her.
What was bothering the general most of all was that all the research on the background of the explosion or to find the perpetrators had led to nothing. That topic was on his mind as he dragged open the door. To his utter surprise Yasin stood in front of him; yet he barely recognised him. The boy seemed to have neither shaved for weeks nor washed himself. His clothes were in rags and dirty; his hair was shaggy. He could not have eaten a lot as he had visibly lost weight, which intensified the run-down state of his garments. His eyes lay deep within their sockets and had a fierce, almost insane shine.
Even though Yasin’s appearance was alarming and his sudden showing-up after so many weeks was more than a little suspicious, the general ignored this and waved him inside without saying anything.
He was glad that his wife was upstairs in her bedroom, fast asleep. This entrance would surely have been too much for her strained nerves.
They had barely walked into the living room when suddenly Yasin blurted out all about the events he had experienced. He was talking in a strange mixture of Arabic and English, which was another sign of his completely disoriented state of mind. Stammering he whispered in a hoarse voice: "I have found them – those pigs! They were just about to build a new bomb … I talked them out of it…“, he giggled like a lunatic. “I have killed them all!”
Then he suddenly grabbed the General’s shirt with unexpected strength: "Do you understand?! I have avenged her!! I have avenged Clara!“
Jack calmly grabbed Yasin’s hands and freed them from his shirt. It slowly dawned on him what It slowly dawned on Jack what the boy’s stammering actually meant. Could it be true? He was just thinking about how to get further information out of Yasin and wanted to ask him some questions, but at that moment the boy just fainted silently and collapsed on the ground.
2014 - Oasis Wahi - Pride
Hanif stood thunderstruck in Rayan’s tent. How could he let himself go in that way? He knew exactly – along with everybody else – that it was the worst lapse he could have done, to contradict His Excellency in front of his man. While he always especially appreciated Hanif’s advice in a face-to-face discussion, he would not tolerate any contradiction when others were present.
"I am …, I am so sorry!“, he spluttered. "This should not have happened! I have no idea what came over me. Please forgive me sire, I did not mean to compromise you …” His voice broke. Rayan had so far not said anything at all. He struggled to get his composure and did not want to say anything on impulse. He owed that much to Hanif. Still, he had the feeling that his friend had betrayed him somehow. He fought to reign in his rage.
Several seconds passed by and a while later the Sheikh said with a mocking undertone to his voice: "These two must have impressed you, given that you are risking your loyalty for them.”
Hanif’s face went red. His lapse greatly embarrassed him and he would have gladly taken his words back, if only he could. He was insulted that his master was now questioning his loyalty because of this small error. He vowed an oath 13 years ago, which he had so far not broken, not for even one second. To doubt him because of this little mistake, hurt him badly. "May I talk, Your Excellency?“, he asked in a neutral tone, yet his body language showed that he was offended. Rayan raised his brows: "Of course.“
"I would like to make the following proposal, Sire: please give the merchant the honour to kindly receive him and to listen to his story personally. I take full responsibility. If he does not succeed in satisfying your expectation, I will personally carry out any punishment that you are going to order for both of them.“
Rayan felt agitated. He realised why Hanif was so ceremonial now. What was the problem with his second-in-command today? First he contradicted him in front of Jassim and then he was insulted because of it? What did he think of himself?
Consequently, he responded in a cold voice: "Proposal accepted. And right after the talk with the merchant we are going to discuss YOUR punishment.“
All colour drained from Hanif’s face; he did not say anything, bowed low and went outside to fetch Hatem.
1991 - Rabea Akbar – Morning dawn
When Rayan woke up he had no idea where he was. He had definitively never been in this room before. The bed in which he was lying had red-white bed linen and the walls around him were painted in a clean white colour. All was decent, orderly and light, which was quite unusual around here, especially considering the places he had been to during the last weeks. On the desk someone had even put some colourful flowers in a vase.
He looked down at himself and noticed that he was wearing dark blue pyjamas, which he also had never seen before, but which seemed to fit quite well. When had he last worn such a thing? Rayan tried to get up, but as soon as he reached a sitting position on the side of the bed, his head was spinning around so madly that he had to wait until the room stopped rotating. This told him that he had obviously been out cold for quite a while. How many days? He checked his face to find an answer there, but someone had taken the effort to shave him. Where on earth could he be? This was clearly not a hospital.
Just when he was trying to make his aching head think about what he could last recall, the door opened quietly and a housekeeper dressed in black with a white apron came in. As she saw him sitting on the bed, she turned around, left, and he could hear her call through the house: "He is awake!“
So he decided it would be easier for him to just stay where he was and wait. Obviously someone would now come and inform him about everything he needed to know.
Shortly after, he heard two sets of footsteps in the hallway and then Julie and Jack Tanner entered the room. The house of the General, of course! He suddenly had a blurred memory that he had come here. But how long ago?
Julie Tanner was very pale and much leaner than the last time he had seen her: a long time ago – as it seemed – during that lunch – together with Clara … Clara! Suddenly that part of the jigsaw puzzle fell into place and pictures shot through his head. He felt grief surge through him like a flood.
The woman seemed to understand that the memories had been triggered within him and she took him without hesitation in her arms. “How are you, lad?“, she asked him quietly. Rayan supposed that it had been her who had shaved him and felt ashamed. He had been in a desperate state and looked terrible.
The General had stopped in the doorway and had folded his arms on his chest. It was clear that Julie had told him that this was her responsibility and he should keep out of it. What kind of an opinion would Clara’s father have about him now?
But Jack Tanner just smiled reassuringly when he saw the doubt in Rayan’s gaze and said: “Welcome back to the land of the living. You surely have taken your time …”, which was immediately stopped by Julie: "leave him alone Jack, his body needed the rest, you saw how haggard he was!“
The she turned to Rayan: “And you are not going to even think about getting up now. You are going to eat and after that you will sleep again!“ It was not a question, it was a command.
Although it was a completely new experience for him that someone cared about him, he felt far too weak to protest. He was just glad that they were not bothering him with any questions. He ate some soup and then lay down again; within seconds he had fallen asleep again.
1991 - Rabea Akbar – The interrogation
The following days all had a similar pattern: Julie took care affectionately that he ate, drank and slept. It was a new situation for Rayan to have someone taking care of him that much. When he protested that she had done enough and he no longer wanted to impose on them, she just waved her hand and so he just followed her orders. He felt that he needed this nursing right now. And more importantly, he realised that along with his getting-better, Julie’s state of mind seemed to improve now that she was needed and had a purpose. He did not see the General for several days.
Meanwhile Julie had informed Rayan that he had turned up on a Monday morning in January, little more than four weeks after Clara’s death. The following five days he slept as if he was in a coma, without realising anything that they had done to him. They had washed him, shaved him and changed his clothes. According to the doctor who had examined him on request of the General, he was in a state of utter exhaustion. After having finished the task of killing the so-called pigs, his body had just shut down.
Meanwhile January came to an end. Whenever the weather allowed it, Rayan went outside to the beautiful garden. Due to the mild climate, in spite of it being wintertime, it was rarely colder than 7-8 degrees celsius; and often enough during daytime the temperature rose up to 20 degrees.
Almost every time he went outside, Julie accompanied him. They did not talk a lot, just sat next to each other silently. One week after he woke up Julie asked him: "Is there anybody we should tell that you are here? Your family is surely worried about you?” But Rayan just shook his head: “No, I have no one.” And both knew what he thought in that moment but didn’t say aloud: “Besides Clara he had nobody – and now he was all alone again.”
The following weekend the General was at home and he took the opportunity, while Julie laid down to rest on Saturday afternoon, to have a talk with Rayan.
"Yasin, don’t get me wrong. This is not going to be an interrogation, but you do have to answer some questions.“
When he saw the negative reaction to these words on Rayan’s face, he continued explaining:
"Listen boy, I owe you a lot, because since you arrived here my wife has significantly improved. You have pulled her out of a hole, into which she had fallen since Clara’s death. I am not so sure whether I would have succeeded in doing that. And certainly not that fast. I am not an emotional old man, but the leader of an American Army base in a difficult situation. Therefore if you would please…!“ In spite of the words it was not a request it was an order. Rayan sighed heavily: "What do you want to know Sire?“
In the following minutes he replied to Jack’s questions in as much detail as possible. Parts of the events he could not explain completely - it was all blurry. He had lived through the killing of the assassins in some kind of state of shock or psychosis. Other questions he just did not want to answer and he said so, clearly. For example, how many men he had killed and in which way.
Basically it had all been quite easy, shockingly easy even. He had lived on the street. He told the people he met there in the same situation, that he had quit his job with the army because those “dirty Army-pigs” had treated him with arrogance and had even beaten him. Mostly these stories were made up and not true at all, but it was what these people liked to hear. The people easily believed his stories. He did not let slip any chance he could to rant on about the soldiers and to swear loudly. The little money he had earned with his job, he shared with his new acquaintances, who were glad about being able to get something to eat and that their new “brother” shared what little he had so generously. Within two weeks he was contacted by a man that promised him food, a bath and a place to live. In return he just wanted to have information.
It became clear immediately that he belonged to the group that was planning the assassinations and who now wanted to profit from Rayan’s insider-knowledge. “After all this Yasin has lived for months within the base”, was what they said amongst each other. At first the man was cautious, but Rayan succeeded perfectly in playing the simpleton, so the man was quickly convinced that he was no threat.
Rayan was surprised how easy it was but he did not realise at the time that he had a gift for this kind of deception. Exactly these kinds of tasks he would complete many more times later: to work undercover to get through to the target people only to strike in a sudden and deadly way.
Although inexperienced, he worked in a determined way and no trick was too low for him to use, if it brought him nearer to his target. As he had no guilty conscience he was able to interact completely convincingly. The interesting part was that for once his pride was not in his way during this changed state of mind. It was like his determination had burrowed it deeply within him.
Within two more weeks, Rayan was sure that he had gathered together enough information and knew all members of the group.
Then he started to kill them. One by one. He succeeded in putting five out of ten to their death before they even realized what was happening. Rayan did not even have to dispose of the bodies as the group did it for him: they were afraid of leaving hints of their identification via the dead members.
They first suspected the Americans, then each other and only in the end when Rayan fought the remaining five simultaneously, did they realise their mistake.
The dumb, lousy desert freak, as they called him, was their fate. Like so many other times before, he entered the house on this specific day. The first one he grabbed from behind and just broke his neck. His advantage was that as he was so fast the other one had no chance to react. The moment the second one entered the room, alerted by the strange sounds, he was hit by Rayan’s knife in his throat and went down before being able to warn his friends in the next room.
Quick as a ghost he was upon the other three and killed two of them with the silenced pistol that he had taken from one of the bodies. Only the last one had a fair chance and the two of them fought desperately. Finally Rayan was able to win the fight. He hit the man unconscious and slit his throat right away.
His hatred burned so hot inside him that he was just unstoppable. The picture of Clara’s half-burned, dying body gave him so much energy, against which the men did not stand a chance.
"Yasin?“ The voice of the General brought him back to the present. He saw on Rayan’s face that he had once again lived through the events and therefore stopped his grisly memories. To answer the question if he was now suffering from a bad conscience, Rayan replied truthfully and with a steady voice: “Not at all. They were vermin and earned their death with their deeds.“
This caused the General to study him without saying a word for a couple of minutes. Finally he sighed and said:
"You are a strange person and honestly I am not sure if I can trust you. I can sense that you are not telling me everything.“
To this Rayan replied with a counter question: "Do you regret then, that they are dead?“
Jack replied just as openly: "As a father? Not for a second! – as General? Yes, sometimes, because I really would have liked to ask them a couple of questions. For example what was the reason for their deeds.“
At that Rayan just laughed harshly: "They would not have answered a single word to you. You would have had to torture them almost to death - maybe then.“
The General thought this over for a moment. "Yes, you may be right“, he sighed, only to continue fast as lightning and hard as stone: "Who mauled you that badly?“ Both new exactly that he was talking about the scars on Rayan’s back. Jack had hoped to take the boy by surprise and make him answer like that. Yet Rayan did not fall for it and replied mockingly: "An interrogation after all, right? To pose a lot of harmless questions in order to finally fire the one that is relevant. Nice tactics, but in vain – because that is absolutely not your business.“
Now the General laughed: "For your age you are quite bold against an old man like me. But to be honest, I had not really hoped to get an answer.“ He looked at Rayan for a moment.
"You told my wife that your family is dead? Is that true?“
"I did not say it exactly like that, but it hits the mark anyway“, Rayan countered. Slowly he started to have fun with this kind of fight with words. "Now I have a question“, he asked more coldly than intended: "As you correctly said, it seems to be good for your wife that I am here – but how do we go on from here?“ Again the General sighed. "I like your blunt way. And I am going to be just as honest: I should probably throw you out immediately. You appear here under alarming circumstances and if it is true what you say – I do actually believe you – you have taken several lives which you neither deny nor regret. You do not tell us anything – anything at all – about your family; and your back is scarred in such a way as if someone tortured you but you also tell us nothing about that. Am I summing up all right so far?!“ He looked at Rayan suspiciously.
Rayan just grinned cheekily at him and confirmed: "Sure – just go on.“ This caused the General to raise his brow. He exhaled deeply: "I don’t even know if your real name is Yasin, as you don’t have any ID either…“
"Oh, now it gets interesting! You have searched through my stuff. Am I right that we are not just talking about the few things I have here, but also those I left in the camp?“
The General bit his lip. He had not wanted to admit this fact but Yasin had hit the nail on the head. "Your things are here, I had them brought over. They wanted to throw them away anyway …“ but there was almost nothing, as Rayan had left his home with only the clothes on his body and a knife, which had been his grandfather’s. Clara had lent him some books and he regretted it that they had been burned.
Jack gave himself a start and continued: “Listen: my daughter trusted you completely. Maybe I am going to regret this later, but I have decided that if my daughter could do it, I can trust you as well. Surely you are not going to kill me or Julie in our sleep?“ He laughed dryly. "Here is my offer: you can stay with us. This is good for all of us because I also feel better if my wife has a task.“ He grinned now because he imagined how Julie would be performing that task – to cuddle up to Yasin.
"I will ensure that you get your job back in the base. As I have heard the sergeant was quite disappointed that you left so suddenly. I am going to tell them a story very near to the truth: that I gave you a special order to find out about my daughter’s killers. They do not need to know any more. If I confirm that your absence is excused, you do not have to be afraid of getting any punishments. You can just go back to you job like nothing ever happened. How does that sound?“
Rayan looked suddenly alarmed and full of mistrust: "Why would you do that for me?“
Jack shook his head. "You have not met many nice people in your life so far, have you? My daughter loved you and trusted you – don’t look so surprised, I knew about her love for you – furthermore my wife likes you and your presence here helps her to get rid of her depression.“
He hesitated for a moment. “And finally you have hunted down my daughter’s killers.“ This one sentence said more about his real feelings than the whole discussion before.
They both were silent for a while. Then Rayan said: "Ok, we have a deal. I will live here and let your wife pamper me, and for this I will NOT slit your throats.“ He grinned broadly.
At that the general again wrinkled his eyebrows, then something else came to his mind: "I have one last question, maybe you can answer me this one at least: what kind of tattoo is it that you have on your chest?“
Rayan hesitated for a moment, but then he thought that Jack had shown a great deal of goodwill and now it was only fair if he showed a little bit of faith as well: "That is my family’s crest. It is the emblem of the place where I was born.“
Jack nodded contently. "Good. Thank you for this information. One more thing: I can live with the fact that you do not want to tell me everything but I am not going to tolerate it if you lie to me. This is one thing I cannot stand, as I am already surrounded by too many lies in my daily life.”
Rayan nodded. "That much I can promise!“
Both shook hands, clasped tightly and looked into each other’s eyes. It was like sealing a pact.
So, Rayan got a neat place to stay in the Tanner’s guest room and his old job back.
Additionally, the soldiers in the camp now treated him better and with some kind of respect, as they knew he was on good terms with their General.
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