Chapter 5
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“ 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?
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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.
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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!
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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!
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End Chapter 5
