by Rose Fox
The woman introduced herself as a tourist guide and suggested tour sites and San, with the slanted eyes, raised subjects for discussion. He listened more than he talked and tried to get information from Karma, of whose name he had already heard.
That evening, a car awaited him and took him away. When they reached the neighborhood where he was living, they stopped and Karma looked at the high rise buildings he saw now for the first time.
The elevator was also a novelty. It went up to the third floor. Two people were waiting for him. San and a woman shook hands with him. Karma did not recognize that she was the woman, who had accompanied San in the morning. Her hair was uncovered and she was dressed in trousers and a shirt.
Karma was not accustomed to meeting women and her beauty stunned him. He blushed to the roots of his hair and was embarrassed by the touch of her hand. When she smiled, and her two dimples deepened in her cheeks, his mouth hung open in amazement. San could not stop grinning and signaled to Abigail to withdraw, understanding Karma’s confusion yet amused by his response. Karma cleared his throat and coughed lightly then said something that stole San’s heart.
“Oh, I have just discovered my weakness,” He said. “But, you, madam, are more beautiful than should be legal.”
Abigail laughed as she said:
“Admit it; you almost got caught in the net, my dear.”
“That’s right,” he admitted. “But I remember that my grandmother, who brought me up, told me that if I trip up, I must remember how it happened so I wouldn’t let it happen again.”
As they both laughed, they looked at one another and he added:
"But, I think in some cases it is worth repeating the mistake and this seems to be one of them.”
The atmosphere was light-hearted and had nothing to do with topics of war and Karma wondered what the purpose of the meeting could be. At some point, Abigail got up and went out of the apartment and the expression on the face of the man sitting opposite him grew serious. In the minutes that followed, Karma listened to details of where they intended sending him.
“Initially you will return and be placed with the combat forces and you will fight with them, after which…”
“Will that take a long time?” Karma inquired.
The youth’s over-enthusiastic response actually helped San assess that he had not grasped the intensity of the danger involved in organization’s assignments. He wondered if it would not be better to wait for longer than had been planned before sending him out.
“Look, it isn’t something that is going to happen tomorrow or the next day.”
“Okay, I would only like to know whether I am designated to remain a combat soldier or whether I will be in command of a group of them.”
“We shall see,” San replied.
He could not have known how long it would take till this youth would be revealed in all his greatness and strength many years later.
Two days later, Karma set out on an assignment together with a group of the organization’s fighters.
They secretly infiltrated the Iranian State, arranged themselves into small units and dispersed to different points. Their goal was to hit out and strike everything they could.
One out of the many assignments and ambushes he participated in that was indelibly marked in Karma’s memory was the last one, which stayed with him for many days. A cell of five young men, led by Talabani, was selected for this unique assignment.
They had information of a convoy of cars traveling that evening. Dignitaries in the cars would include members of the “Majles” and senior Iranian government officials. The cell was to lie in wait for the convoy and wipe out everyone in the cars.
The members of the cell gathered for a briefing in the evening. They heard precise descriptions and instructions of the security detail that would be accompanying the convoy, including the weapons at their disposal. Talabani explained the methods used to protect the vehicles in which they were traveling. The way he spoke made Karma understand that they were in especially great danger on this occasion and it was the first time that he was frightened.
The truth was that Karma wanted to fight, had always wanted to participate and be a hero among men but till that day had not given much thought to the possibility of injury or even death. Until this event, he related to the assignments he joined as getaways and the flight to hide afterward in places he found was an experience or an adventure for him. He was especially excited by the gathering of the men before and after the assignments. The danger involved was not part of what captured his attention or occupied his thoughts.
This time, two cells combined forces, which added to his sense of suspense.
“Your task today is to reach the point we selected, close to the route. Those, whose names I call, will go down to the road and set anti-tank mines and other explosive devices. The rest of you will fire from a distance at the remains of the vehicles after the attack.”
He stopped talking, looked at the men before him and then continued speaking quietly.
“I am going to check that you’ve organized your equipment, assembled it and fixed the bullet casings in the weapons so that you won’t be delayed when you are there.”
This was also the first time that the person in charge came to them to check the dependability of their equipment. He wanted to ascertain that each of them knew exactly what role he was to play that day and that is what heightened Karma’s tension.
They set out at 10 o’clock. The location of the planned ambush was not far away, but it was so dark that they were compelled to stop several times to check they were moving in the right direction. As soon as they reached the selected location, the men split up according to their tasks.
Karma was in the group of four that were to go down to the paved road and set the explosives in place. They slid down the steep dirt path, sliding between the rocks, as they slipped and were caught by the stinging branches of the undergrowth until they came to a stop at the side of the highway. One of them crossed to the other side and stood there to watch out for the approaching vehicles and warn them. The other three laid the explosives on the shoulder of the highway and pulled the wires to the center of the road so that the cars would drive over them. All that was left now was for them to climb back up to where they would set off the explosives by remote control.
One of them whistled softly to the man watching out on the opposite side to signal that they had completed laying the charges and the four of them climbed back up to join the other members of the cells. They all took up their positions on the hill and observed the highway from there. They waited like this, quiet and withdrawn as they hid behind the rocks. A few minutes later, approaching vehicles were heard below them and they lined up and horizontally and cocked their rifles.
The shadows they cast showed that three vehicles were traveling one after the other. At that moment the charges exploded and, although Karma was expecting it, he got a fright, his heart skipped a beat and his throat was so constricted that he could not swallow.
An enormous flash of light appeared at the same moment as a ball of fire rose up in the air and – POUF disappeared into the thick darkness. After a second, someone yelled:
“Fire!” Ten rifles fired rounds of lead bullets at the three cars that had stalled on the road below.
Karma noticed that the last car in the convoy was less damaged than the first two and he aimed his rifle at it and repeatedly fired. He saw the phosphorescent lines of light making their way to the car till he heard the click that told him the cartridge was empty. The blood coursed crazily through his arteries and he felt his soul fluttering insanely.
He remained on top of the hill and did not join the rest of the members of the group, who went down to the exploded cars to check what remained of them. He heard solitary shots and understood they were making sure no one was left alive.
Ten minutes later, they gathered together and Talabani addressed them.
“We have already received orders to get ou
t of here. We have been informed that the Iranians are working fast to find the assassins of the senior government officials.”
“Where will we go?” whispered one.
“What do you think? We’ll go back to where we were,” someone said with a sigh. Karma could not tell whether it was a sigh of relief or disappointment.
They split up and did not fly together but returned in dribs and drabs to the training camp in the American desert. Within three days, the ten fighters were sent out on other assignments in the USA.
Karma was sent to continue his studies and a new period in his life began.
They asked him to lecture and instruct in the technical subjects in which he had specialized. So, the ‘man in the field’ that he had been, now became a lecturer, wore a suit and stood before an audience of students. All, who met him in his new image, would never have imagined in their wildest dreams who he was and what he had done in his former incarnation.
One day, he noticed a young woman with her brother, Mustapha, a student of his. Karma glanced briefly at her dark eyes and was enchanted by her. But, when he heard Mustapha reprimand her, he realized that the feeling was mutual. At the end of the lesson, Mustapha approached him and apologized.
“Karma, Sir,” he said, “I wish to inform you that I cannot continue with this course.” Karma looked at him and then at his sister, who stood quietly beside the door.
“If it isn’t offensive to you, I would like your permission to meet with your sister because Allah brought her here and it seems you were his emissary.”
Mustapha did not leave the course and Karma received permission to meet with Salima, his sister, together with her eldest brother. But first, he was invited to their home, where he met her brother, Effendi Khaidar, the person who made all the decisions in the family.
The weeks went by, but it was difficult for Karma to strengthen his relationship with her. Every day, he thought that they may soon recall him to combat duty. He also did not find the courage to share this with Salima or propose marriage to her. One day, at the end of the evening, Effendi asked her to go home and he stayed to speak to Karma.
“What is happening, brother?” he tried to broach the subject of his sister. Karma smiled awkwardly and instead of answering shook hands with him in silence.
That same day, he decided that the next time they met, he would tell her what he had in mind. He would let her decide if she wanted to continue with him and whether a husband like him suited her.
At the next meeting, before Mustapha arrived, Karma took advantage of his absence to talk to Salima.
“Salima, my dearest, you know I like being with you.” She laughed shyly and tenderly touched his arm.
“You know that now, I am working as a lecturer but, the truth is that I don’t know what will happen to me later.” She looked up at him in surprise.
“I mean to say that they could send me to another country one day.”
“I don’t understand. Why?”
He examined her expression, fearing to endanger their relationship but, she spoke again.
“Do you mean that they will send you to work in their branches in other countries?”
Karma still hesitated to mention the nature of his activities.
“Listen, Salima, I might have to flee to Iran, Syria or Saudi Arabia and there…”
“Ya'anu (meaning) an Arab-speaking country.”
“Aiwa” (Right).
“And what will you have to do there?”
“I don’t know. Whatever they tell me to do.”
“Fine, I will come with you, there’s no problem at all.”
Her cheerful laughter proved that he had not managed to convey the message he wanted to get through to her, that one day he would have to go, abandon everything and leave. He also could not find the courage to explain it right then, because Mustapha appeared before them, out of breath, and got into the car.
The matter did not arise again and Karma almost forgot about it. After an acquaintanceship of seven months, he decided to propose to her. Before the meeting, he hesitated again whether to tell her about the dangers or on his future assignments but flinched from doing so. He thought that it would be the right thing to do before marrying her. On the other hand, he understood that even if he told her after their marriage, she would never be able to divorce him because they would be married under Sharia Law.
Karma wanted to have this conversation in a pleasant light-hearted atmosphere and Salima was surprised when Karma pulled her to a different pub, far from the café where they usually met. The bar was located on the corner of Kennedy and Kissinger Avenues and Salima chose a table close to the glass wall that looked out onto the street. Here, he surprised her again and ordered a meal instead the usual coffee and cake, she expected.
“Roast lamb with rice and curry,” he told the waitress, “what about you, Salimi?”
Salima knew that when he called her that, he was revealing his love for her and so, when he began to speak about something that would happen in the future, she felt at ease. This time, too, she did not relate to his words with the seriousness he wished to convey.
“My wife,” he said and Salima melted with delight. “You know that your husband will get up one day and go to…”
“Yes, to Iran or Jordan. I haven’t forgotten,” she announced and continued watching what was happening in the street outside the glass wall.
“That’s right and I am likely to be absent for a very long time.”
“Yes, I’ve already understood that and I remember you told me I could join you and we wouldn’t have to be apart.”
“No, Salimi. No one will be permitted to accompany me.”
“Do you mean to say that you will be alone, and no one will see what you’re doing?” She declared. “Top secret, right?”
“More or less. It’s all top secret.”
Now, she moved her eyes away from the glass and fixed her gaze on him. Her demeanor grew solemn.
“And what will happen when, by the Grace of Allah, we are blessed with children?” She whispered and he remained silent. He wanted to touch her, to hold her hand, but he knew that was forbidden in public and heard her speak again.
“Are you saying that you will simply get up and go as if you don’t have a family and as if we mean nothing to you?”
There was tension in her voice, but then, she laughed and spoke again:
“I don’t believe you, it isn’t possible.”
He cracked the joints of his fingers and kept staring at her in silence, hoping she understood that he was confirming what she had just put into words. So, when she asked if his work was dangerous, he immediately replied:
“Yes.”
“Hmmm,” she muttered.
Just then, the waiter came and began placing the plates of food on the table. Their attention was absorbed in eating the meal and they did not speak again until it was over. After they left the restaurant, they never discussed the subject again until it became a reality.
They were married according to all the Muslim religious precepts by a Qadi and Salima moved into Karma’s apartment, which he had received a few years earlier from the ‘Mossad’.
A year later his eldest daughter, named Kahit after his beloved grandmother, was born. Three years later his second daughter arrived and she was named Naziah after his real mother, the mother who had held him so tightly, even after her death.
They continued living their routine lives, almost forgetting he would be called to the flag one day.
* * *
Almost six years after the ambush, a discussion was held at the ‘Mossad’ to deal with the issue of finding a partner for Abigail, the agent in the field, and San spoke.
“Lucy needs an operator and I believe there is someone suitable. You know who he is.”
“Are you referring to our ‘dormant agent,' the college lecturer?” Foxy expressed in a surprise.
“Forget about him,” Barak interrupted. “It seems to me that he has
been idle for too long. I would describe him as an old horse, put out to stud now. In his time, he was like a champion race horse, but now, he has passed his prime.”
“Oh no,” San objected, “The guy must be about twenty-eight years old or even less. He certainly isn’t a young foal, but he can’t be considered an old cart horse.” San recalled the bright youngster, who came to his home four or five years earlier.
“He’s too good to retire yet.”
“Since you believe in him, I suggest that you be the one to meet with him in the USA. If he is still fit for service, get him back to work.”
None of the people sitting there could have known that they were now also sending San to meet his fate.
San prepared for the long flight and, five days after the meeting, he was shaking hands with Karma.
San found himself looking at a man, full of energy, but quite different from the youngster he remembered. His appearance was that of a typical American and he had to admit to himself that the spark had disappeared from his amber eyes. At that second, it flashed through his mind that, perhaps, it had been a mistake to delay activating him for so long. Perhaps, he had even missed being able to use this exceptional man from the desert.
They met in a café at the intersection of Kennedy and Kissinger Avenues, exactly where Karma and Salima had sat before their marriage, only this time, they were seated outside, on the sidewalk. The tables were surrounded by squares of artificial shrubs but were completely exposed to the noise of the bustling street and the public on the sidewalk.
“What’s up, my man?” San asked and almost expected the answer he got.
“I’ve been waiting for you. What took you so long?” Karma inquired.
He smiled his conquering smile that melted whoever looked at him and added:
“I hope the rust in my joints hasn’t yet spread to my brain.”
