And then I awoke.
Bina Schwartz
Chapter 24
‘48
CRISTAL LOOKED UP FROM the phone, meeting Kerim’s gaze.
“Where did you get a hold of the journal?” she managed to say.
Her mind was reeling, her brain still trying to process the information.
“I broke into Harry’s office this morning and found it in a hidden safe under his desk,” he said.
She handed the phone back to him. “Was this all that was in it?”
“No, there’s a lot more.”
“I noticed the numbers. I thought they looked familiar. They are the same ones Harry asked us to find out what the correlation between them were.”
“And?” He raised one eyebrow.
“He never told us what the numbers were or where they came from. So we thought they were secret codes and we tried to break them. But now, it is so obvious.”
She couldn’t believe how simple it was.
Kerim was watching, waiting for her to continue.
“11132013, 56609, 14350109, 57740910, 17300304. It’s a date, not a code. It’s today’s date formatted by the different calendars—Gregorian, Julian, Islamic, Hebrew, Coptic.”
His eyes widened.
“Today’s date? November 13, 2013. Did Harry know?”
She shook her head, giving him a wry smile. “I don’t think so. One weakness about Harry, once he’s got his mind focused on something, he gets stuck on that theory for a long time until he figures out that there are other options. He makes the simplest things so complicated sometimes.”
They fell into an awkward silence—both of them avoiding the real discussion they should be having. What Bina had written could have been a premonition about what was about to happen. Cristal trembled at the thought.
Kerim reached out and pulled her towards him. “Cristal, I don’t want to lose you,” he said, his voice thick with emotion. “But it seems that time is running out.”
“No,” she said, pulling away. “Don’t say that. Nothing’s going to happen. We’re all going to be okay. I don’t want to think too far ahead. Let’s just enjoy the moment we have right now.”
Hot tears burned her cheeks, but she refused to brush them away.
Kerim reached up and held her face, kissing her cheeks. He gently wiped the tears from her eyes.
“Okay, okay. Let’s stop talking about this.”
She was relieved that he had closed the topic.
“Come on, smile for me. You know I hate to see you cry,” he whispered.
She gave him a small smile—happy to be in his arms, to be in love, and to be loved back.
The sound of a blaring car horn interrupted her thoughts. Cristal glanced at the street and saw a silver-grey minivan pulling into an empty space behind Kerim’s motorcycle.
“Kerim, Cristal, let’s go!”
Gabriel hollered at them as he stuck his head out of the passenger window, his arm waving frantically for them to come.
Kerim waved his hand back at him. “Come on,” he said to her, placing his arm around her shoulder.
She laced hers around his waist. A part of her was worried that Kerim was right about the fact that time was running out. Stubbornly, she pushed the thought far back in her mind.
Everything is going to be okay. Dear God, help us.
A group of young men who had been sitting on a bench nearby was now standing around the van. There were four of them—one large guy in a blue T-shirt and black jeans, two of medium build in polo shirts and blue jeans, and the last one was the smallest in a white shirt and black pants. They seemed to be glaring at Kerim warily.
Cristal felt Kerim’s hand tighten around her shoulder.
“Don’t worry,” he said in a hushed tone.
He let go of her shoulder and walked cautiously towards the men.
“Marhaba,” he said.
She knew this meant hello in Arabic.
“Ah-layne,” the large one responded, which was a way to say hello or welcome.
Kerim continued talking in Arabic with them. She could see Gabriel getting out of the van to join them. The conversation sounded tense, their body language strained.
Although she hated politics, Cristal had been tracking the news about President Roshenbaum’s involvement with the Israeli and Palestinian peace talks. The State of Palestine would finally become a reality at the end of the month when the peace agreement was signed. That was good news for Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza; not so good news for the Israeli-Arab population, sometimes referred to as “the Arabs of `48.” These were the Palestinians who, as Wikipedia described, were the Palestinians “standing fast, not fleeing during the War of 1948, unlike those who left and became refugees in neighboring countries.”
Now, generations later, the “Arabs of ‘48” and their children had become Israeli citizens. Facing racism as a minority population within Israel while at the same time considered traitors by Arab countries and other Palestinians outside of Israel, “the Arabs of ‘48” could not embrace their own identity as Palestinians or as Israelis. To the outside world, they were neither Palestinian nor Jew.
Now with the peace talks, rumors that right wing government parties were going to pass a law to force Israeli-Arabs to transfer to the State of Palestine, thereby losing their Israeli citizenship brought uneasiness between Israeli-Arabs and Israeli-Jews. Although Cristal hated the politics of it all, she understood their uneasiness. As an American-Mexican, the idea of being forced to transfer to Mexico and then stripping her American citizenship was incomprehensible.
The back door of the van on the passenger’s side opened, and Rinaldo stepped out onto the street. He was followed by a smaller person. When she squinted her eyes, she recognized who it was. Serena.
Why was she here? Harry probably sent for her without telling me.
Rinaldo walked towards the larger man, motioning to Gabriel with his head, who moved behind the other three.
The larger man looked over his shoulder at Rinaldo before saying something to Kerim.
From the driver side of the van, the door opened and Raffe came out. The look of annoyance on his face was intimidating; revealing a fury she sensed was larger than the situation at hand.
He advanced towards them in confident strides causing the young men to step back.
Raffe spoke to them, and his Arabic sounded rougher than Kerim’s and the young men, probably due to his Hebrew accent. They spoke back and forth for a few minutes.
Cristal held her breath, wondering what the conversation was about. Kerim came up alongside Raffe, and they both continued speaking to the four of them.
The large man suddenly cracked a smile. He turned to the others whose grave expressions thawed into playful grins.
Kerim looked over his shoulder at her and signaled with his eyes for her to come to him. He gave her the thumbs up, letting her know that everything was fine.
She walked over and stood beside him.
“Hello, nice lady,” the larger one said with a grin.
“Hello,” she said.
Kerim reached over and squeezed her hand reassuringly.
“I study Engleesh in Canada. My name is Walid,” he said, his smile growing wider. “You like Akko? It is very, very, old city.”
“I’m Cristal. Yes, it is very beautiful.”
From the corner of her eye, she noticed that Rinaldo and Gabriel were having a side conversation of their own, whispering to each other.
What was going on?
She shifted her focus back.
Walid announced, “I see you before.”
Cristal’s eyes widened. “Me? No, I don’t think so.”
Walid took a step closer, unable to hide his excitement. “Yes, yes…it is you. The day the big earthquake, it happen in Megiddo. My town. I see you in my dream.”
Kerim’s hand tightened over hers. “It’s okay, Cristal. Remember. Nothing is far-fetched.”
She gulped
. Walid was waving his arm like an excited fan asking a famous celebrity for an autograph.
“I do not forget you. You very pretty. I not forget.” He turned around and translated what he said to his friends.
Kerim said, “It’s time to go.” He turned to Walid and said something in Arabic.
Walid said, “Tammam. Y’alla!”
She knew this meant, Okay, let’s go.
He waved to the others to follow him as he walked towards the red VW Golf hatchback that was parked in the space in front of Kerim’s motorcycle.
Kerim glanced over, and said, “We’re going to the wall.”
“We?” she asked.
He grabbed her hand and led her to the motorcycle.
“Yeah, Walid and his friends are coming with us.”
Chapter 25
Mind Games
HARRY WAS DRIVING FAST. Way too fast.
“Slow down,” said the voice that could pass as Dr. Saeed’s.
Harry glanced at the rearview mirror. Dr. Saeed lounged in the back seat, on the passenger side. No crazy eyes, no spinning head. He was just normal.
Considering the circumstances, Harry should have been somewhat relieved. Earlier, he had imagined vampire teeth sinking into the back of his neck. Thank God, that didn’t happen.
He heard his mother’s voice say, “Barukh atah Adonai Eloheinu melekh ha’olam, ha’motzi lehem min ha-aretz.” Blessed are You, Lord, our God, King of the Universe, Who brings forth bread from the earth.
It was the only prayer his mother taught him in Hebrew. She made him say it before every meal, despite Aaron’s forbidding any forms of religious expression in their home.
Saying the prayer was meaningless to Harry. Just some words he would mumble before taking a mouthful of his dinner. If it made his mother happy, he wasn’t going to argue with her. Why he could hear his mother saying the prayer now was just another mystery to him.
Focus on finding out more about the monster in the back of my car.
“Dr. Saeed, or is that your real name? Are you going to tell me what you are?” he asked, trying to keep his voice steady.
“You’re talking very strangely, Harry,” Dr. Saeed replied. “Are you okay?” he said, again in that soothing voice of his.
His hands gripped the wheel.
Okay, play the game. Buy some time.
“I don’t know, Dr. Saeed. I guess I’m not quite myself,” he said.
“Ah, yes. You must have fallen asleep when you were waiting for me in the car.”
Fallen asleep?
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said. “As far as I recall, I was in my car by myself, ready to drive away from GN. And then you showed up from nowhere in the back seat.”
“Harry, now it’s my turn to say, ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’ Don’t you remember calling me? You said to meet you at your car and that it was urgent. That we had to go find Cristal before she ended up at one of the black hole locations.”
Flashes of memory exploded into Harry’s head.
He could see himself leaning his head back on the headrest, the seat slightly reclined. There was a knock on the glass. He opened his eyes and saw Dr. Saeed. He unlocked the door to let Dr. Saeed in.
Harry swerved the car, almost clipping a truck beside him.
The driver waved his hand out the window and yelled, “Mh ath hvshb shath ‘evshh?” What do you think you’re doing?
“Get a hold of yourself,” Dr. Saeed said. “Do you want me to drive?”
Harry felt disoriented, unsure of himself. Did he, in fact, dream up the whole thing? The secret lab? Seeing his dad? Dr. Saeed’s yellow eyes? He did recall having trouble sleeping the last few nights. Was he suffering from sleep deprivation?
“I said, do you want me to drive?”
Harry glanced over his shoulder. Dr. Saeed was looking at him with concern. He had to admit that he did not look like a crazy monster. If it was all a dream, then he didn’t have to be afraid of him.
“Why?” Harry asked, hoping to sound lighthearted. “You don’t like my Israeli style of driving?”
Dr. Saeed chuckled softly. “Glad to see you are feeling better. Your choice of words always amuses me.”
Wait a minute, Harry thought. Why was Dr. Saeed in the back seat? He never rides in the back seat.
Harry took a deep breath. “You comfortable back there, Dr. Saeed?” He looked up in the mirror to see a smile curl up on the Doc’s face.
“Yes, Harry. Thanks for forcing me to sit back here. You know I prefer to ride shot gun.”
Okay, good answer. Maybe I am losing my mind. Play it cool.
“You know I had a vision today,” Harry said quietly.
“Oh? We have some time before we get there. Care to tell me what it was?”
Harry saw the exit sign to Akko coming up on the right. They were about twenty minutes away from the black hole.
“I saw Aaron. He time travelled here to GN,” Harry said quietly.
He looked over his right shoulder to check the blind spot before changing lanes. He caught Dr. Saeed’s eye in the mirror.
It twitched, I’m sure of it.
Harry’s mind was reeling as he tried to contemplate why Dr. Saeed, or more like Mr. Hyde, was playing ignorant. A thought crossed his mind.
Maybe he didn’t know that his cover was blown.
“And what if that were true?” Dr. Saeed asked, as if luring him in, in his usual reserved way. “How would you feel about that?”
“Ah, come on. Don’t talk to me like you’re my shrink.”
“You do realize we both don’t know what will happen when we arrive at the black hole. It could be the end of us all.” Dr. Saeed paused. “So, humor an old friend, Harry.”
As Harry drove into the city of Akko, he had to slow down as he approached a roundabout. The Israeli Transportation Department installed the roundabouts to control the speed of drivers. However, it only encouraged the locals to speed around them like Indy race car drivers on crack cocaine. His mother always told him to “do as the locals do,” so he slammed his foot on the gas and whipped around the roundabout, hurtling Dr. Saeed against the side door, and then toppling him over to the opposite door as Harry gunned the car into a sharp right.
Dr. Saeed never wore a seatbelt stating that, “If it is my time to leave this timeline, then so be it. I want to enjoy the ride; not feel strapped in like a prisoner.”
“Dr. Saeed, you okay back there?” Harry asked, chuckling to himself.
Dr. Saeed grabbed the back of his chair in an attempt to balance himself. “Harry, that isn’t funny,” he snapped.
In the rearview mirror, Harry saw that he had pulled himself up. He began fixing his shirt and patting the sides of his hair flat.
What a self-centered prick.
They sat in an uncomfortable silence while he drove them through the old city. Harry noticed that there were a lot of cars on the road with mostly guys not much younger than him, out for a joy ride, heading towards the beach—to hang out or kill time.
Speaking of time, Harry realized that he should use this opportunity to squeeze more intel out of Dr. Saeed.
He cleared his throat before saying, “Aaron is here. I can feel it. Call me crazy, but in my vision, Aaron told me that he travelled through time to get here.”
“He told you this?” Dr. Saeed leaned his head forward between the front seats, causing Harry to almost jump out of his skin.
“Freak! Do you want to get us killed?” he cried out, as he swerved inches away from sideswiping a parked car.
“Oh, sorry,” Dr. Saeed said as he leaned back. “It’s just that your vision was not a dream, Harry.”
Harry could hear the excitement in his voice. Is he for real? So Dr. Saeed really didn’t have a clue that Harry knew his secrets. If the good doctor was attempting to make him doubt himself, it wasn’t working. Deep down in his gut, Harry knew he saw something not from this world.
He realize
d that he must be developing a sixth sense, like Cristal. And why would he be surprised? Aaron and Dr. Saeed admitted they had been experimenting on him, too. Deception had a bitter taste. Aaron admitted having tested on himself, too. And who was to say that Dr. Saeed wasn’t one of Aaron’s volunteer test subjects?
“Harry, are you listening? Your father is alive.”
“Yes, I know,” Harry replied calmly. “You and I both know that he time travelled here.” He looked up at the mirror to see his reaction.
Dr. Saeed’s eyes met his gaze. “No, he didn’t. Although he would want everyone to believe that.”
Harry swerved the car over to the side of the road, putting the stick shift into park. He spun around.
Screw logic. He wanted answers.
“What the hell are you talking about? Stop talking in circles!”
Dr. Saeed stared at him, looking almost contrite. He said, “He didn’t die five years ago.”
Harry was completely baffled at what he was hearing. He had expected Dr. Saeed to explain how his father went FTL, or faster than light speed, on warp drive while time travelling here from the past to the present.
“Sorry, I don’t get it. What are you trying to say?”
Dr. Saeed took a deep breath, getting ready to tell him in his “once upon a time” way.
Harry groaned. “Skip the long explanations and just tell me the Cliff notes’ version.”
Dr. Saeed replied, “Yes, of course. The data that the Truth Seekers’ team has been decoding uncovered something that GN has been hiding.”
Harry sighed. “Cut to the chase, Dr. Saeed. You’re killing me over here.”
Dr. Saeed cleared his throat and wiped the sweat from his brow.
Man, he’s either a great actor or he’s got something really good to tell me.
“Okay, in short, GN faked your father’s death. That was the big secret that GN had encrypted on their secure servers.”
WTF?
“Are you talking about the data Cristal and Joanna were decoding? We knew that it was a huge secret they were hiding. But you’re telling me the secret was that they had faked Aaron’s death?”
Doubt Page 13
