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Saturday,
December 3rd, 2011 6:45 am Shalom Dear Ones, Other than the fact that i was working full time for a week
and a hlaf to get the New MAJESTY Website up and running, one of the main reasons I couldn't write "A Necessary Portal"
full itme was that I can't write a story until I know the last line. I'm using the format to help plot and people it, but
this morning I woke early, since I have to leave the house while it's still dark and I captured the wonderful scene I 'saw'
in The Dream Machine as I went to bed last night:
“ Death isn’t a
friend or a comfort, it’s an enemy! But it’s a portal necessary to step into an eternity we’ve chosen by
our actions and our choices, each as they happened, Little One. “ Ted Eidelberg’s voice was
etched with the lines of weariness that creased his face as he swept a blood stained hand across his brow and exhaled, as
if to reduce an enormous weight against his chest. He slumped forward so abruptly she intuitively reached out to lay her hand
on his shoulder to comfort him, but he straightened with an effort, smiling at her like her Dad had when she was a little
girl. ‘I’m so proud
of you!’ His look said, but when he opened his mouth no words would come for the longest time.
He snuffled twice, then finally moved with great effort and drew out his handkerchief from his back pocket. Using it
to dap his eyes, he blew his nose and sighed again, this time using the motion to force his body erect in the chair. He levered
himself to his feet using the arms of the chair and shuffled away a few feet, stopping to speak with Drew Slocomb, who simply
turned his other shoulder away in rejection. Shaking his head slowly, the old man straightened his shoulders with an effort
and walked from the room, from her life. With the same dignity and reserve that he entered. It was a life’s lesson suddenly
impressed on her with the ferocity of a burning firebrand seared across the uncertainty and fear, stopping them abruptly.
As Sharayah listened
to the sounds of the room empty out, she found she could breathe again and not feel she needed to seize even the strangers
as they exited one-by-one until only she and her adopted mother’s elderly father remained in the room. He didn’t
even seem to remember she was still sitting there where Marge Wyatt left her and her compassion followed after the stooped,
lonely man as he exited the door with ingrained, measured step, denying the weaknesses locked with. Though she was alone,
she was no longer lonely. It seemed as though a doorway was before her, shining outwards with greater and greater rays, like
brilliant sunlight, as it began to open before the eyes of her spirit and the Glory pouring through it gained in luminosity,
she smiled, drawing the comfort within herslef. The day would come when she stood at this place, the necessary portal between
the life that was and the life that had no end, whatever you choose to be on the other side. Then she stood and walked toward
it, knowing that she had yet a long journey before her until she reached it, but this time, she didn’t have walk alone.
- - The End I'm so garteful to have this time, and Thee to walk by my side. Stay well, Dear One! Respetfully.
Asia
Chapter 5 -
Shaw
didn’t realize her grandfather had kept her cell phone until she searched her purse for it to check on her emails from
Skip and Betty in America. When she was finally able to receive Drew Slocomb s attention, he brushed her aside curtly telling
her he had discontinued the service and given the phone to Joel Meotti to be destroyed so they their movements couldn’t
be tracked. The men in the room went dead silent at her anger. Even the slender former commando turned around and looked at
her quizzically. “
You didn’t have any right to do that! This is my life! If you’d asked I’ve have turned the phone
off and I would have left it in the hotel lobby. I get special rates on my service because I’ve been a customer for
seven years! “
“
Betty let you have your own pone as a teenager? “ The thought seemed to
shock him as much as anyone risking the chance to make him an enemy. He believed in total loyalty, depended on it, as they
all knew from experience. Being able to depend on one another was what allowed them to survive in hostile situations!
“ She didn’t LET me. I paid for the service out of my own money. “
The white haired man took a step backwards, then looked her up and down, as if seeing her for the first time. Then
he smiled and it curled the meal in her belly.
“ You may be of some use other than a distraction for this mission after all. Dismissed. “
“ That’s it? “
“ What can I tell you, Little Girl? “ He said archly, with a cruel
awareness of where to strike to cause the most pain. “ I’ll buy you a new cell phone when I get my daughter home
safely, and I’ll pay for a year of service. Is that sufficient for you to allow me to save her life? “
“ So if you fail, I’m to blame. Neat! “
She turned on her heel to leave but his hand seized her arm. Cutting off the blood, before she had time to do more
than blink her eyes. But at the last moment, he closed his mouth and threw her from him in raw disgust. She stumbled as she
fell backwards, but caught her balance at the last second as Ted Eidelberg straightened from the table and quietly walked
in her direction, ignoring the frank loathing on the older man’s face as he watched his apparent show of sympathy for
a civilian. She couldn’t stop the tears from gathering at her lower lids, but she didn’t give him the satisfaction
of seeing or hearing her cry and she closed the hotel bedroom door softly when her whole being screamed to slam it shut in
their faces!
“
Not everybody burns with the same passion as the general, Sharayah. “ Ted said gently, loaning her
his folder handkerchief. “ Great people have no tolerance for any views other than their own. We accept that, and I
hope you can too. “
“ That he’s a great man? “ She demanded
angrily, taking out her anger on the kindly man.
“ That he had flaws and strengths just like everyone else, but yes, that he is a great man
and he expects to be allowed latitude not given to mere mortals, like us? “
He lowered his head to where he could look into her eyes, and for some reason it caused her to laugh and this pleased
him. His smile eased the ache that was growing inside her as she realized she might not get back the loving couple who’d
been such a large part of her life for the last nine years.
“ They gave me shelter, they gave me hope after my parents died. “
“ They loved you. “ He agreed. “ And they
still do. When this is ended, you’ll have to find a new way to relate to them because none of us are going to be the
same people we were a week ago, so our lives are going to take new patterns. I think you’re strong enough to deal with
that, Sugar Babe. And so does the General, or he would have sent you packing before we ever left the States. “
“ Some I agree with. Some I don’t. “
‘ That’s fair. “ He replied equably, but
Shaw could feel him watching her as she stoo dup and moved around the suddenly claustrophobic room.
“
Ted? “
“ Yes? “
“ If my phone is suddenly off, my friends in the States and at college will use my e-mail.
If that goes unanswered too, won’t that cause a lot of questions? This feels like a ‘covert’ operation?
“
He laughed in embarrassment but his eyes showed that she’d scored a point.
“ My phone has Internet access, and it’s secure. “ He suggested,
reaching into his pocket. He stood up and walked into the bathroom, turning on the light and closing the door to give her
some piracy. She answered Skip and Betty’s email first, saying that she’d gone overseas with her grandfather and
they didn’t have a set date for a return, but she appreciated keeping up with them and would answer their Twitter comments
once she returned to regular rates, implying that he only reason for being discrete was the cost of international phone service.
Then she ‘copied’ the response and used it to answer all seventeen enquiries at her sudden drop ‘off the
face of the earth’. Then, as he delayed in coming back out, she switched to the GOOGLE “search engine app”
and looked up her grandfather’s name. She’d never had any reason to enquire into his public life before; he and
her parents had seemed rather ordinary people except for the extraordinary gift of bringing in a troubled nine-year-old orphan
into their sedate life and giving him a fresh start in life. What she read caused her jaw to droop. But hearing the toilet
flush, which she was sure was simply a discrete signal that he was about to re-enter the room, she switched it off, unaware
of the twin red spots on her cheeks.
“
There’s only forty-five minutes until sundown. “ He warned.
“ Is it Friday
already? “ She demanded in shock, and a sadness touched his eyes as he turned long enough to smile
at her and nod in agreement. ‘Shabbat!’
“ Thank you, Mister Eidelberg. “
" Your'e more than welcome. “ He said in a kindly voice, reaching his hand out to take the small
metal device. She yielded it willingly, but she was already planning ways to get alone and find an Internet Café where
she could rent a machine and take the time to probe a little closer!
Once he was in the other room, Ted Eidelberg discretely reviewed the message she’d sent, whom she’d contacted
and then saw the notation that Google had been used, followed by a thumb push on a button that told her the name she’s
searched out on the world wide web was her grandfather. He tied to hide the sudden concern at the pit of his stomach. She
was a lot more aware than any of them had assumed. She might well do something on her own that could jeopardize their mission!
But he kept his doubts to himself. ‘Why could life just be what it seemed to be on the surface?’ he questioned
rhetorically, not expecting an answer, but a dozen fragments of memory fell into his lap, and he lost track of the eyes watching
him from the center of the room.
- 12-04-2011
Sharayah’s hands trembled as she lifted the silken cloth she remembered so well. She’d put it away on her
thirteenth birthday, symbolizing her renouncement of her past; to cling to the Wyatt’s and all of the love and support
they’d given her through the difficult transition. Marge had been reluctant to allow her too, and seeing it now, after
so many year’s absence, opened a floodgate of emotions and fears as it was now Marge Wyatt, the second woman she’d
trusted as a mother who was being withheld from her!
Sunday.
December 4th, 2011 12:45 PM PST Shalom Dear Ones, Most everybody is out shopping but thee six people, who've
been so kind to stay with me since the first of the month. I have today and tomorrow at home, so I was ready to focus on "A
Necessary Portal " when I got hit with a very bad morning, I'm exhausted from running to the john, but the sunlight broke
through and the story has really taken hold after last night's breakthrough for the final chapters! In the midst of all the confusion, I moved Cat's tree from the top of the refrigerator
to its place of honor on the dining room table. and this is the first year that so much else was going on he didn't harass
me the whole time I was moving it. First time in eight years (we didn't have it for hisfirst
Christmas...) I've had three, off again, off again hours to work on the story and I was so excited about the new parts that
I only went back, as much by accident as design, to notice that in Chapter Four I'd tried to show the parents were safe, but
in chapters five and six I was just showing them at the beginning of the assault??? So I had to change things around a little.
My tummy is settling down a little so I
got to write the Sabbath scene with only one interruption. i was going to do more about the ritual, but by the time I got
back to the keyboard, i discovered the connection with her first Mom was so strong, I'd rather explore that. I'm so exhausted
by running back and forth that I really need to lie down, but by now the story is so viseral, I'm going to push just a little
bit and see if I can;t record what's going to play endless through my head anyway?
Be back in a bit! Asia
Chapter 5-
Sharayah’s hands trembled as she lifted the silken cloth she remembered so well. She’d put it away on her
thirteenth birthday, symbolizing her renouncement of her past; to cling to the Wyatt’s and all of the love and support
they’d given her through the difficult transition. Marge had been reluctant to allow her too, and seeing it now, after
so many years’ absence, opened a floodgate of emotions and fears, as it was now Marge Wyatt, the second woman she’d
trusted as a mother who was being withheld from her!
She calmed herself momentarily and she placed her hands over her eyes, as she allowed the last week to slip away beyond
her grasp, then she opened them with a spirit of reverence that seemed to flow around her as if she were encased in a light
which held her apart from anything earthy that would spoil this moment if union with the divine. The room around her seemed
to still, as earth waited for the Master of the Universe to draw near as they honored the command given in Exodus 20:8 and
repeated in Deuteronomy 5:12. “ Observe the Sabbath day to keep it holy.”
She lit the candles, the smell of sulfur from the old fashioned wooden match smarting the edges of her nostrils, then
Drawing her hands around the back of the candles, she brought them toward her face three times. Then she covered her eyes
with the purified fingers and said the weekly blessing: “ Blessed are You, Ha Shem, our GOD, who make us holy with mitzvot
and instructs us to kindle the lights of Shabbat. “
‘ “Ha Shem”, the Name ‘. She thought to herself. ‘ We’re respectfully
moving further and further away from you, GOD. But I need you HERE, now, or all of this is for nothing!”
She challenged.
Joel Meotti’s face lost some of its harshness as he recently took the metal goblet and held it aloft in
both hands, cupped at the bottom, offering the familiar prayer of childhood as he lifted it to an unseen but deeply-felt Presence.
First in Hebrew, and then in English, where he said, in a low respectful voice: “ Now the whole universe-sky, earth,
and their array were completed. With the seventh day Ha Shem ended the work of Creation, on the seventh day Ha Shem rested
from all the divine work completed. Then Ha Shem blessed the seventh day and called it holy, for with this day Ha Shem had
completed the work of creation. “ “
Barauch atah Adonai, eloayneu melech ha’alam boray pri ha-gafen. “ Blessed are You,
Adonai, Our GOD,
Sovereign of the Universe, who created the fruit of the vine. “ He said ina quiet voice that added
meaning to the softly spoken words, affecting those unfamiliar with the weekly tradition, as much as those who’d lost
track of it. -
The first sense of warning came too late for any of the wearied travelers to flee. Several fell dead or mortally wounded
form the gunfire as the sound of the four semi-automatic machine guns going off simultaneously was their first warning that
something terrible had shattered the calm of the secluded island resort. A well-dressed man leaped up from a desk near a row
of potted palms, shouting insults at the black-garbed gunmen in Arabic. The hail of bullets passed through him and shattered
the expensive ceramic vases holding the palms. But carnage was their goal, not merely terror and as stunned people turned
around to confront the rude assault on their vacation, they were sliced open with massive spurts of blood, many dying in place,
the shocked look still stuck to their ashen faces as the life’s blood fled after the spirit. .
Leading the assault, Hasid was shocked by the sounds of terror and the smell of gun powder, bowel, and blood! None
of his fantasies of this day had prepared him for the sheer terror that struck through the men and women in casual Western
clothes, and he shot anything that moved, praying to Allah he wouldn’t hit one of his own in the process. Hate and the
lust for death filled him with an unholy fire that shook him free of any restraints but the lack of further bullets in his
gun as he pointed and clinked at the screaming people clustered around on the blood soaked, mosaic floor. As
he looked around, shocked and horrified at the carnage and the wails of hopelessness and pain, as if rousing from a bad nightmare,
only to find reality a thousand times worse, he felt a sudden wave of dizziness overwhelm him as hated pumped the blood through
his veins in a heated rush. One of the younger maids, who’d simply come through the lobby because she was late for work
on her floor, saw him and her face tightened with concern, moving toward him with compassion. Hasid saw the look and the rage
flamed higher in him than before, exposing his vulnerability to an outsider. Razing his assault rifle with a sharp jerk, he
shot at her as an expression of his rage, one of the bullets smashing into her throat as the spray passed to either side,
shattering a glass cabinet behind her, filled with crystal figurines that popped and disintegrated into rainbowed shards as
the lifeless body fell backwards in the embrace of death’s final dance of contorted limbs, choked to death on her own
blood. His rage pounded in his ears with the blocked blood on either side of the aurum pressed against the atrophied heart
muscle. The rage poured through him without respite and as he stood, slightly bent over, mouth open in gasping droughts for
breath denied him; he saw he was the focus of every eye and he hated them for being such rabbits! “
Find them! It isn’t like him not to be punctual! Go to his room, be sure and look under the bed and in the closet!
You’ll find them shitting on themselves with fear, but take no mercy! Allah is Great! “ “
Allah is Great! “ The youth replied, his breath coming in small gasps as
his eyes burning with a savage joy at the fear being shown them, who before had always been so powerless! -
As they finished eating, Shaw began to gather the plates automatically, seeking some semblance of normally to help
replace the horrific feel of emptiness locked within her as the images shot from the outside of the exotic hotel were shown
over-and-over again on the silent television screen. Every few minutes, Drew Slocomb would glance over, freezing in place
any time the faces of the survivors were shown, desperately seeking or the one face denied him, that of his only child. As
each curse inside him grew more vile than the last.
“ I’m going to kill you slowly, Bronconovitch! “
He sore under his breath. “ You’ll beg me to kill you, but I won’t!
“
From the corner of his eye he could see The Girl watching him, but she belonged to a past, and a demand for religion
and accountability, that was useless to him at this moment!
“ It’s time! “ He said abruptly, after answering
the phone. They left the room abruptly, without time to even go for her purse or suitcases. Shaw’s eyes grew wide with
fear as Joel Meotti, fierce and cruel once again, seized her arm and pulled her across the carpet until she found her feet
and could walk beside him, stiff with anger. They drove through the dark and boarded a military transport, idling till they
arrived. The walls were unadorned, She was pushed toward a bench at the ribbed sides of the plane where she could be out of
the way as they interacted with the military uniforms already inside. None of them taking on a human face as she tried to
absorb the shocking reality being thrust on her. The evening’s meal became dream-like. She existed in a chilled vacuum
in the midst of angry, hurried strangers and she couldn’t even cry. Crying would imply she had some sense of what just
been taken from her! The rear platform of the plane rose upwards on hydraulics that echoed inside the narrowed
chamber, only partially absorbed by the moored jeeps and pallets of crates locked in place toward the front of the massive
transport plane.
Strong arms pulled her near against the only warmth left in the hollow shell as the plane’s swift departure from
the earth was accompanied by a shattering rumble and her ears popping. Her first thought was that it was Ted Eidelberg, but
he was seated in the shadows on other side of the shark like tail section of the heavily loaded plane. She knew it wasn’t
her grandfather, but she leaned against the strong, masculine form in gratitude, slipping into a sleep demanded by her over-wrought
mind. An escape from the shocking nothingness she felt enclose her as the silence took hold of everything but the red lights
at the front of the cargo section. Though he moved his arm twice to allow the circulation to return, as
long as she gripped to his harness, even in her sleep, Joel Meotti remained in place, offering her what little comfort he
could, seeing her youth and inexperience.
12-04-2011 3:45 pm Hello again, Shalom to my two
new Readers today as well! I had to give up of sheer exhaustion by 2:15, and go to bed. I'd honestly been ready to do
my laundry, but I couldn't risk getting more tha few steps away, so I didn't get it done. I work at 3:15 after a profound,
apparently dreamless sleep, feeling like a human being for the first time all day! But I'm really excited that I pushed through
and got the scenes written that were on my heart!
It's taken me three years to process the images and feelings from the armed hotel invasion in India, but it's been a lot longer
than that to deal with the feeling of helplessness and hopelessness since my husband died in '84, or the last ten years since
the car accident as I watched my health and mobility decline to nothing! But I think this story, while frightening in its
intensity, has helped me to finally shake my demons. I know one thing for certain, I'm very pleased with the juxtaposition
of the calmness of faith against the fanatical backlash of hate. Whether it be Drew Slocumb or Hasid the senior terrorist
in charge fo the campaign against him. For a little while Shaw threatened to get overwhelmed in her own story, but I was able
to go back after designing the flow of the story and present the Sabbath in the manner I first intended, and I was able to
use The Dream machine sequence with Joel as her adopted grandfather pulls further and further away. I've already written the
'claimtic' scene, to go in later at the close of the book, so now I can focus again on Shaw finding the depth and meaning
of her faith in GOD. There's only one show I want to watch tonight, pure escapism that caught me by surprise. I enjoy its
lack of the very thing I've put into this story???Go figure! But I'm going to try and write just a little more since I 'lost'
most of yesterday till very late at night, and with any luck, I don't have to go out tomorrow as I do the next day, when I'll
get a chance to talk with the young woman whose name I 'borrowed' for the heroine of this book...I'm holding my breath there
since I only belatedly realized I never even suggested why KIND of book it was...I hope she doesn't feel she needs to ask
to me 'use' her name in a different book???? I couldn't think of anyone else in this book now...sigh...if I have to, I can
chose a non-gender related name like "Ronnie", so the mistakes can be made over the name, but I hope I don't have
too! For me, this is the name I'm going to use till the end of the book, although I have to admit to being taken by surprise
by Drew's coldness! That's something I never guessed!
A
12/05/2011 3:15 am Everythgin
I have written to this pont for Chapter five has now been transfered to Chapter 4, and I'll start with the next goal: Having made a genuine effort and being confronted by the power of the Antagonist, the
hero must step back, look at themselves and redefine their goal with a clear area in mind. This one area will now be the focus
of their attempts. . ONCE
YOU HAVE A BETTER IDEA OF THE STORY, QUESTION: What is the hero attempting to accomplish? Why did they fail? What do they
recognize as the stimulus to make a second attempt? Can they do it themselves or do they need someone else. [Most humans with
non-magical powers need others; it's reassuming to the Reader] Has the Reader met them before? If not, return to the finished
Discovery Draft and find a way to suggest why they might be important before they actually show up. Coincidences do happen
in life, but they're suspicious in fiction, and NEVER, NEVER solve the climax with a coincidence. It's sheer laziness! .
12/05/2011 Chapter 5 -
“ Leave it! Don’t waste your time! If they were in there, it’d be locked! Go to
the roof while I recheck the closets! “ A brusque male voice said in Arabic.
Rick Wyatt’s breath began to escape in loose, wet sobs and he felt the overpowering need to evacuate his bowels,
but he suppressed the one and tried to close his mouth against the other. Survival came first. He looked to the prone woman
at his feet, his heart aching at the growing bruise on her chin, but he tore himself away from the punishing quilt with a
wrench of his spirit. Looking around, as a persona already yielded to the inevitability of death, his only concern now was
finding a place of safety for the woman he loved. Belatedly, with the necessary care and urgencies inherent in everyday lie,
he’d lost sight of how deeply he cared for her, but it was too late for promises or remorse. Her survival would be the
testament of what he truly felt when all else was stripped away. The walls were a sea green foam and lines with boxes of unopened
chemical cleaning supplies, fresh sheets and towels, a metal pole meant to hold one end of the cooling sheet while a single
person folded them, a cost cutting device since two people would start chatting with each other and cut down on efficiency.
There was no mirror, or bathroom, just a grate he’d check later to see if he could loosen so they could use it as a
facility at night, or when things calmed down a little more.
As she began to moan her way to wakefulness, he stayed near Marge in case she cried out in fear to started to scream
at him hysterically for striking her so unkindly, but each of the canvas containers he immediately rejected, it’d be
the first place an enemy would look, and piling clean towels over them wouldn’t stop a bullet or a knife! A wave of
helplessness swept over him as he examined the narrow room a second and then a third time. Nothing! No place large enough
for them to hide behind where a nimble person couldn’t simply look over the stacked machines or even the two, side-by-side
over-sized commercial washers under the window. The best he could hope to do was to use the harsh chemicals to blind the initial
attackers and make a run for it. When he turned back, Marge’s eyes were wide and staring and he sank to his knees beside
her in apology, his eyes filling with tears that burned as they coursed over his cheeks.
“ You’re doing the best you can, Dear. “ She said in a surprisingly
calm voice. Accepting that one would die allowed for a clam to fill whatever moments remained with as much dignity as possible
allowed her to look around as well as she pushed herself to her feet. He could see the same terrible, grim realization in
her eyes as well, and his heart sank. Then suddenly, her brows knotted in throat.
“ Last year, when the repairman came to fix the washer? “
“ I remember. But I’m not sure they have a Maytag Repair man this far from the Equator.
“
To his relief she smiled and simply struck him on the arm at his wretched attempt at humor.
“ He pulled the machine out because he had to fix the motor on the inside. These machines
are three times as big, do you think they’d have the same room he used to get under the drum to fix it?
“
He found against the resurgence of hope but it overwhelmed him and he didn’t realize he was smiling as he searched
his pockets for the small Swiss Army knife he’d carried since he was a boy. It had several small blades, including two
different type of screwdriver heads. “
Be careful! “ She warned unnecessarily as he started to crawl toward the two, white enamel
beasts to his right. Resting his weight on all fours he
edged back and kissed her on the mouth, slowly at first, then passionately, to say all that he didn’t risk opening his
mouth to say. She winced at the pain then kissed him back with equal fervor.
“ Thank you, God. “ She said dreamily as he pulled away, and her
hand reached out to entwine with his free fingers. “ Whatever else happens, GOD, I’m so grateful
you gave this man to share my lie! “
Rick had to wet his lips twice, before he could get them flexible enough to accept speech.
“ Amen! “ He agreed forcefully then he sidled
to the back of the machines as quickly as he could, relieved to see he could just wedge himself between them, because they
were certainly too heavy to move even with their combined strength. His arm quickly ached and he felt like he was trying to
look sideways by the time he loosened the the third screw holding the back plate in place, but his heart was beating loudly
with excitement, even as he sneezed on the dust coming loose from the aerated panel.
“ There is! “ He said in triumph!
“ Then he scotched backwards to the first machine to see if he could find a place of safety
for himself as well? -
Doing as he was told, the young teen caught his breath sharply at the wide expanse of people and vehicles behind the
police barricades. He’d already made a commitment to his brother to die, but as he peeked down, he felt his fear of
heights melted away and he became emboldened with the feeling that he was already in the heights, invulnerable. He stood impulsively,
raising the black assault rifle over his head as he stood to its fullest height, using a mound of tar to make himself appeared
taller in the eyes of the shocked spectators below, shouting out words of defiance and his oath to Jihad. Seeing a flash of
light he reacted instinctively, lowering and aiming the gun at the pair standing next to the building behind the shielding
palm. He fell dead before the sound of the bullet reaching him, and plunged head first over the eight story high escarpment. -
This close, Shaw could smell the soured remnants of alcohol on the man’s breath but she clung to the comfort
the hardened warrior freely offered her. She trembled with fear and exhaustion, wishing she could just make the world go away.
“ Take this! “ Joel demanded brusquely, and she
accept the black and yellow capsule he forced to the back of her tongue, then struggled against the sting of hard spirits
as he washed it down with a healthy swig from the pocket flask that seemed to appear from nowhere. She bent her head forward,
chokingly slightly at the burn of the unexpected burn of the liquor and he followed her slightly forward instinctively. At
that instant a bullet thudded into the dried mud brick where his head had been.
The crowd screamed. But when she tried to look up insti9ntively, her head swimming in the heat and fierce tension continuing
to serge through her body with massive waves of adrenalin with every new sound, her view was blocked by his elbow, then he
pulled her to face him, I=using his hypnotically fierce eyes to command all her attention as the crowd around them surged
forward and then back. She closed her eyes in a faint, and tossing the forbidden metal case aside, he lifted her into his
arms and moved toward the edge of the building as quickly as possible, removing her from the line of danger while his thoughts
whirled at alarming speed, temporarily blocking the effects of intoxication he was attempting to use to drown his conscience.
Another second in either direction and he would be dead, not holding the young woman’s limp body in his arms as he sprinted
toward two American men in civilian clothes, waving them arms to attempt to call him to safety with them in their building.
He delayed in attempting to send word to the General until he could come to grips with the last two hours of conflicting messages
and Intel. How could he be so wrong about anyone he admired so much?
Even at this distance, he could hear the rapid gunfire and the screams of the crowd as two hostages were executed and
their lifeless bodies thrown out unto the sidewalk to bloat in the day’s heat. The entire world had been turned upside
down by a handful of young men with guns and a mission. For the moment, he grateful confined himself to one thing, making
sure Sharayah Wyatt came out of this alive. He would seek his revenge on the shooter’s comrades later. No one could
be allowed to attempt to kill him and not suffer the consequences! It was as much a peat of his code, as theirs! -
Rick Wyatt fought the urge to let his water. It was a natural reaction but given the precarious nature of their escape
and hiding place inside the laundry equipment reserved for the upper one percent of the hotel’s elite clientele, nothing
ordinary or natural could be permitted without a great deal of care to avoid detection. He pushed on the backing screen of
the cramped chamber, carefully replacing the oversized bolts back in their holes in change he had to scurry back into hiding.
Then he inched forward on bended knees to allow the silent figure behind the metal mehitzah to see his face
first and that he wasn’t under undue stress before he spoke to her. Even them, as she could see her red hair through
the tiny holes in the metal grate, Marge Wyatt was slow to speak.
“ Do you think we can risk eating another ‘power bar’, Honey? “
He tried to keep his voice clam, although he was still melting inside with frustration and resentment at being reduced
to hiding like frightened rabbits. This sort of thing was suppose to have ended with the defeat of the Nazi’s before
they were even born! By giving her the right to decide, he was attempting to prolong the illusion they had some control over
their untenable position. “
It’s so quiet, do you think they’re gone? “
“ No, Honey. “ He answered honestly, hating to
see the hope die in her eyes. “ Somebody would be cleaning up in here. “ She
glared at him, as if he didn’t need to add the last bit of information, but he bore the silent rebuke stoically. It
was his job as the man of the house. The screams had been terrible to bear, conjuring up images that sickened him, but the
silence, with only occasional forays of dark young strangers speaking gibberish was almost more unnerving.
“ I’m going to use the facilities in one of the unlocked rooms and see if I can get
to the fruit bowl? “ “
They’ve probably poisoned it all! “ She said in a rising voice that almost sounded like
a shout in their heated prison. She clung on desperately when he tried to remove the grate, thinking it would calm her if
they spoke face to face. At her resistance, he yielded, but as soon as he was out of sight, she began to call his name in
desperation as footsteps echoed down the hall cautiously.
He motioned for her to be silent and her face seemed to became all eyes and rounded mouth and he hastened back into
the adjoining space and pulled the screen in front of him, hi fingers painfully holding onto the circular edges of the large
metal screws meant to hold it in place from the outside.
Voices became evident and he was grateful she’d never shown any interest in learning Arabic beyond the few polite
phrases and the things she’d need to say to servants, since they surrounded themselves with employees who spoke flawless,
if accented English. A young make voice gloried in the struggles of his rape victim before he slit her throat. There was an
excitement in the sense of power that sickened the older man, knowing they wouldn’t hesitate to do that and more to
his wife of thirty years, but he strengthened himself with throats of savage revenge and things too horrific for him to have
even fantasized before their flight to this tine, privileged island!
The washing machine to his back made a strange series of clicks then water began to rush in, heating the metal sphere
holding the water. He bit his lip and cried to pull as far away from the searing container as he could reach without disturbing
the thin veneer of safety his loosened screen provided. A Kol Nidre prayer from his youth suddenly arose to wrap
him in comfort and patience as he realized how near he was to see his parent’s stern GOD face to face, but a brutal
reality made him stop short of begging for forgiveness, when he neither offered it nor accepted it in his life until this
point, except in his treatment of his wife and only child. If he would die by than hands of cowards, it would be as a coward,
he told himself sternly! -
SHORT CHHPTER 12/05/2011
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