The Sea of Aaron

by Kymberly Hunt

Finally, she saw it—a miniscule flash of emotion that appeared and disappeared so quickly from his face that she almost imagined having seen it.

  “She was an American citizen of Palestinian origin who lived in New York with her mother and stepfather. It just so happened that on that day she was in Lebanon visiting her biological father and her uncle. The uncle, Abdul Aziz, was a PLO terrorist. She was innocent and had no clue what he was involved in.”

  Valerie could see the conflict even without hearing the rest of the story. Aaron was an Israeli soldier in love with a Palestinian girl. Romeo and Juliet of the Middle East. Their story could only end tragically.

  “Our assignment was to take out Abdul Aziz, and I had no problem with that. However, I didn’t know that she was there with him. She survived the rocket attack on their home, and while we were on ground patrol, she ran out. She called to me and I recognized her. Ben Levy of my commando unit shot her in cold blood. She died in my arms.”

  Valerie covered her mouth with her hand. “He didn’t know. It was an accident.”

  “It was no accident. He knew she was innocent.” Aaron took a deep breath. “He claimed she had a weapon and was going to shoot. He made it look as if he killed her to protect me. He also claimed later on that I was a traitor and a double agent for the PLO. It didn’t help that I am biracial and that I look more Arab than Jewish.”

  “Why? Why would he do all those horrible things?”

  “The short version is that Levy and I grew up on the same kibbutz and from childhood there was bad blood between us. He didn’t think I should have gotten as far up in the military hierarchy as I did. According to him, I wasn’t Jewish enough.”

  She reached out and touched his shoulder “I’m so sorry, Aaron. That’s awful. I…I’m almost afraid to ask. What exactly did you do to Levy?”

  “After the raid, which was considered successful, by the way, there was a victory celebration in some bar. I went berserk and nearly beat Levy to death. After he was down, I just kept beating him. It took nearly ten others to get me under control. Levy was in a coma for nearly a month and suffered some permanent brain damage.”

  Valerie remained silent for a long time, listening once more to the sound of the sails and feeling the motion of the ship cleaving the pristine waters. The violence appalled her. She couldn’t condone what he had done, yet she could understand his raging outburst. “How old were you then?” she asked.

  “Nineteen. My girlfriend was only seventeen.”

  “What was her name?” Valerie had an eerie premonition even before she asked.

  “Saniyah.”

  And now she knew. He hadn’t built a shrine to her, but he’d crafted a ship and set her free on the seas.

  “Could you go back a little? How did you and Saniyah first meet?”

  “I met her a year earlier in New York. We were both taking classes at NYU.”

  “So your meeting Saniyah was really ironic…I mean in a bittersweet sort of way. Who would ever believe that of all the people in New York, you, an Israeli, would wind up falling in love with the niece of—”

  “A terrorist,” Aaron finished. “Obviously the fates have a twisted sense of humor.”

  Valerie sighed. “You don’t really want to talk about Saniyah, do you?”

  “No. But my reason for not going into detail has nothing to do with grief over a long-lost love. In reality had she lived, I’m sure Saniyah and I would have drifted apart. It’s just that I don’t believe in rehashing events that occurred years ago.” He squinted in the bright sunlight and put his sunglasses on. “When someone dies, tears and mourning won’t bring them back. If I were to dwell on all the senseless tragedies I’ve witnessed, I would be locked away in a sanitarium babbling incoherently.”

  Despite the warm breeze, Valerie shuddered involuntarily. His words made her remember the agony she’d felt when she’d learned of her father’s death.

  “God remembers,” she said. “He will bring all the innocent ones back.”

  Perhaps it was the effect of his sunglasses, but Aaron looked even more distant. “I suppose some take comfort in that belief.”

  “And you don’t?”

  “In their weakness, people are willing to suspend belief in logic and turn to the supernatural as long as it sounds comforting.”

  Valerie was appalled by his comment, and she definitely had a comeback, but she was in no mood to start debating religion with him, although she was sure her father would have had the perfect faith-based response. She almost heard his voice, and the voice, minus the agnosticism and the accent, sounded bizarrely like Aaron’s. The realization rattled her.

  “Have I lost you?” Aaron asked.

  “No. It’s just something you said. I started thinking about my own past. Nothing anywhere near as dramatic as what you just told me, but we all have our stuff.”

  “Tell me.”

  “Not now. This conversation is supposed to be about you, remember? We’ll get to me later.”

  “Not letting me off the hook, I see.”

  “Sorry. So, after you were deported, you went to live in the United States?”

  “No. I returned to Cielo Vista, because I was offered asylum there by the president, my father’s old friend Diego Arias.”

  “Noah’s father.”

  “Yes.”

  “He gave me a job in security during his ill-fated regime. I didn’t stay in the position very long because he didn’t let me do my job.”

  “Meaning?”

  “I warned him over and over again that members of his own family were conspiring against him…that they were the most ominous threat to his government. Noah believed me and tried to warn his father, too, but he was just a boy. Diego refused to take us seriously—wouldn’t allow me to do what should have been done.”

  “How did you know about the conspiracy?”

  “During my IDF days, I learned a lot about surveillance and covert ops through connections with Mossad, the Israeli version of the CIA.”

  The scary stuff, Valerie thought. “Were you still in Cielo Vista when Noah’s father was assassinated?”

  “No. I got fed up and went to the United States to live. A few months after I left, Diego was murdered. As you know, Noah and two others survived because they escaped to the mountain area. Later, I was able to sneak them out of the country.”

  Valerie nodded. Jasmine had told her that part of the story. “How did you happen to get involved in the United States military?”

  A wry smile crossed his face. “They got involved with me. First of all, I no longer work directly for the U.S. or any government, unless I choose to, but in the beginning there were certain people in high places who found my skills useful. I was offered an assignment that corresponded with a need that both the U.S. and Israel had. I found the terms agreeable. I was paid well, and because this assignment was carried out to their satisfaction, I was reinstated with Israel and I can return whenever I choose.”

  Valerie’s imagination ran wild. She knew he wasn’t going to tell her just what that assignment was, and she didn’t even want to hear that he was some kind of mercenary or hired assassin. But if that indeed had been the case, there obviously had to have been some justification. Even though there were things she did not know about him, she couldn’t see him as a cold-blooded murderer.

  “I’m glad you were pardoned by Israel,” she said, trying to focus on the more positive aspects of his revelation.

  Aaron shrugged. “Not that it mattered. I haven’t been back since.”

  “Not even to see your family?”

  “No.”

  His response was so blunt that she had no desire to take it any further. Instead, she found herself wondering at what point exactly his son and his son’s mother had gotten into the picture. She remained silent for a few minutes before asking.

  “Were you living in the United States when you met your son’s mother?”

  “No, that happened soon after my exile to Cielo Vista. She w
as Connie McDade, a journalist from the United States who was there on assignment. I was one of the people she interviewed.”

  “Apparently you gave her more than an interview,” Valerie said wryly.

  Aaron’s expression did not change. “I’ll offer no excuses for what happened between us, other than we were both reckless and irresponsible. On my part the attraction was purely physical, and when it was time for her to move on to another assignment, I was ready to let go, even though she wanted to continue the relationship. She kept writing me after she returned to the U.S., but I never answered any of her letters.”

  Pretty cold-hearted, Valerie thought. But considering the circumstances, not altogether surprising. He’d still been very young, recently exiled—and, even though he’d never admit it, seriously rebounding from the loss of Saniyah.

  When she offered no comment, Aaron continued. “In case you’re wondering, Connie never said anything about being pregnant in those letters. We lost contact and I didn’t hear from her again until eight years later. By then I was a citizen of the United States and working as a test pilot.”

  “She told you eight years later. Why? Was she looking for child support?”

  “No, although I would have paid it. She had a decent paying job and she came from a relatively wealthy family. I suppose she reconsidered when she got married and her husband didn’t want to legally adopt someone else’s kid. Maybe she realized there might come a time when the kid would want to know who his real father was.”

  “How thoughtful of her.” Valerie was appalled by the idea of a woman being pregnant and not even bothering to tell the father, even if that father wanted nothing to do with the baby.

  Aaron smirked. “I was shocked to learn that I had a kid. Didn’t know a thing about parenthood and still don’t. Never wanted a child. But I did tell her that when the boy got older, if he ever came looking for me, that I would at least talk to him and then he could make his own decision to reject me.”

  “That’s so cynical and assuming.”

  Aaron merely shrugged. “He did come looking, and much earlier than any of us expected. At eleven, his mother told me he was rebellious and causing all kinds of problems in her blue-blood society and she said that he wanted to see me.”

  “In what part of the country were Andrew and his mother living?”

  “South Carolina.”

  “My mother came from South Carolina,” Valerie said. “Totally different worlds, of course.” She realized she had interrupted him just to say something trite. “Never mind. Please go on.”

  “As it turned out, I had a summer off from assignment and was spending it in Miami renovating Saniyah II. I was planning on alienating that kid so badly that he’d be all too eager to go back to his mom and behave himself. Instead, we bonded.”

  Valerie smiled, imagining how aggravated Aaron must have been dealing with an eleven-year-old. “I take it Andrew turned out to be a lot like you.”

  Aaron guided the helm slightly to the left. “Noah sums it up best. He says the seed didn’t fall far from the tree, it just landed in better soil.”

  Valerie laughed openly. “That sounds like Noah.”

  “Drew continued living with his mother and stepfather, of course. No way he could live with me, but we spent a few more summers sailing together.”

  “Danny Perez mentioned something about those summers,” Valerie said.

  Aaron’s eyes narrowed. “Did he, now? Danny always did talk too much.”

  “Don’t blame Danny. He couldn’t help being impressed, considering his relationship with his own father.”

  “Despite what he might have told you, my relationship with Drew is nothing like a storybook relationship. We respect each other, true, but we also keep a respectful distance…a healthy distance. It works for us.”

  They were rapidly approaching a small strip of land and Aaron had begun trimming the sails while she automatically moved to the helm, amazed by how quietly, how subtlety in sync they worked. She wondered if he was as aware of their joint precision as she was.

  “Bannerman’s Caye,” he announced. “One of the most remote atolls you’ll ever come across.”

  She didn’t care about Bannerman’s Caye. She wanted him to continue talking, but at the moment Saniyah II was between them and demanding his attention as only a jealous lover could.

  Chapter 11

  Powdery white sand stretched out before them as they trudged further inland, heading for the shade of the clustered palm trees. Because of the reef and surrounding rocks, they had taken an inflatable motorized dinghy to the most accessible part of the shore.

  Aaron carried the cooler containing the lunch that they planned to have on the deserted island.

  “Who owns this spot?” Valerie asked, scanning the horizon.

  “The Belize government. Environmentalists and divers visit on occasion, but tourists rarely come out here. Nothing to interest them.”

  And so here she was, alone on a deserted island with the man she’d been pining after for two long years, and the only thing they intended to do was talk and eat. Could it be possible that Aaron had set her up deliberately, knowing that very few women could resist such a setting? She busied herself with the food in order to avoid looking directly into his eyes, lest she see something presumptuous and diabolical lurking there.

  Being in such close proximity to each other and in such a relaxed environment, Valerie could no longer avoid looking into his eyes. First, she studied him as he half reclined, his upper body partially propped up by his elbows. Breathtaking. She swallowed hard and moved her focus up, and what she saw in his eyes both unnerved and allured her. In place of the cold, hard edge, she saw warmth and passionate desire.

  “Aaron, what are you thinking?”

  The wistfulness in her tone seemed to shake him out of his reverie. “The same thing you’re thinking,” he replied.

  Valerie shook her head incredulously and laughed. “That’s exactly what I was afraid of. Perhaps it’s time to abandon paradise.”

  “Why? We don’t need anyone’s permission to enjoy the moment.”

  “That’s true to a degree, but we are accountable for our actions. I’m not interested in regrets later.”

  His eyes studied her in that now-familiar intense way, and for a moment she saw a glimmer of humor lurking. How could he possibly find what she’d just said funny?

  “So, then, you have no more questions about my life?”

  His abrupt return to their earlier discussion, the reason for the outing in the first place, almost made her laugh with relief.

  “I still have more. Let me think a moment. Let’s see. You and Noah own one of the largest courier services in the world. Jasmine told me how the company got started but…” She hesitated for a moment, trying to gather all her thoughts. “You have alluded to your military background, but how involved are you right now? What were you doing when you got shot?”

  Aaron glanced at the sky. “We’re known as troubleshooters. A team of us were in Somalia when we came under fire. I was shot while trying to protect someone who had gotten careless. Other than that, I can’t go into detail.”

  She frowned, exasperated that he wasn’t going to tell her the exact purpose for the mission in Somalia. “Well, were you able to save this person?”

  “Yes.”

  “And that’s all you’re going to say about it?”

  “Yes. But I won’t hide it from you that Avian International has another branch, which operates secretly under a different name. Some of its backing comes from U.S. security forces and international special interest groups.” He paused as though censoring his words. “Myself and the men involved are engaged in rooting out terrorists and doing what we can to maintain a level of world peace. Sometimes if our goals are the same, we work along with the CIA, Mossad, and others, but again I’ll emphasize, they do not own us. More specifically they do not own me.”

  “That’s mind-boggling. How can any organization do suc
h a thing as maintain world peace?”

  “We can’t, but we do try, and while we like to think of ourselves as the good guys, it often depends on what side of the fence you’re sitting on.” He took a deep breath. “We don’t always win, but someone has to speak and act for those who are powerless…those who have no voice.”

  She flinched because she wanted badly to say that the One who created the universe would one day act for the meek, the humble, and the downtrodden, but again, the timing wasn’t right. Her duty was to keep quiet and listen. “And you’re still actively involved in this organization?”

  “Not as active as I once was, and I’m seriously considering retirement, at least from field agent status. Noah and I have enough to do just running the commercial end of Avian International.”

  Valerie wondered if he heard her sigh of relief when he said that. Of course she wanted him to do much more than just consider retirement, but at least what he’d said was a start down the right road.

  “It’s your turn to talk now,” Aaron said.

  Her turn to talk? She was still absorbing everything he’d just told her, and anything she might say positively paled in comparison to just one tiny episode of his life. She stretched and smiled wanly. “What could you possibly want to know about me? Yesterday you pretty much summed up my whole life in five seconds.”

  “Ahh, but you told me that those so-called five seconds were statistics. For starters, why did you marry a forty-year-old college professor when you were only eighteen?”

  She groaned inwardly. “I was afraid you were going to ask that. And for the record, he wasn’t forty.”

  Aaron ignored her reticence. “He was thirty-eight. A moot point, don’t you think?”

  His bluntness still disconcerted her, but she might as well get used to it. “My reasoning at the time was incredibly stupid,” she said slowly. “I suppose I can begin by saying that I was really close to my father, and when he died so suddenly, so unexpectedly, I felt lost. And if that wasn’t bad enough, no one seemed sympathetic to my pain. Friends and family were all telling me that I would have to leave college and come back home to take care of my mother, which was the last thing I wanted to do. Harrison Porter was a sympathetic friend and he asked me to marry him. I saw it as an excuse to remain in Ohio.”