Leila gave a half smile, but she was not satisfied with this instant solution.
“In any case, I’m asking your opinion—I understand the symptom very well, but what’s the cure? How do we get out of this shameful situation?”
The Engineer sighed. “It’s clear the root of the solution is to return the oil reserves to the ones they belonged to in previous generations! Right now, the Americans, with great craftiness, have managed to divide and create many wars between all of the Semitic peoples. They armed all of the sides, including all the underground movements in the various countries. Somewhere, in the depths of the American government, in the Pentagon, at the Middle East desk, this whole stew is boiling, the purpose of which is to incite the entire region with controlled fire, to provide a livelihood to the weapons industry on all sides, and primarily to preserve the sources of oil and the huge profits of the American corporations. This division between all of the Semitic peoples is the source of power that enables the Americans to control the situation and enjoy the economic party and their rule over the global economy.”
Leila lost patience. “The situation is obvious. You’ve explained it very well. But who can change it? And how?”
“What do you mean who?” The Engineer smiled. “You! Only you, the younger generation. You are the solution! You must find the way, under the noses of the Americans, to reunite all of the Semitic nations into a mighty power that will restore them to their place in world history as those who laid the foundations of western culture!
“Uniting the Semitic nations and using natural resources and culture can also lead to the flourishing of Europe, saving it from the American economic stranglehold that dictates everything it does. The solution you youngsters need to develop is found within the American method, which unites a group of states and faiths around an economic interest but leaves each state, religion, or ethnic group with the freedom to follow its traditions, religion, and customs. This union is only for existential and economic purposes.
“It’s also important to remember the Jewish people are a Semitic nation, despite all of their attempts to deny it themselves. It’s a Semitic nation that can integrate with all of other Semitic nations, with a comparative advantage in science, economics, and financial outlook.”
“Think about it, Leila,” The Engineer continued. “Establishing a United States of Semitic Nations based on leaving the religious streams of the nations, races, and customs of each group to its own devices. What could be more logical than this? You young people need to develop, with your talents, a constitution that leaves the ancestral traditions of all of the Semitic nations in place, including social concerns for the children and the elderly, in the form of the historical clans in which the young and strong take care of the small and weak, and get rid of the larger systems that bring down and destroy the weaker members of society. In this case, as in other cases before it, small is better than big.”
Leila listened to The Engineer, and her thoughts began to become clearer. Here, in the isolated hospital room, she was getting an overhead view of the region in which she lived, and the more she thought about it, the more she understood The Engineer was right. There was no someone that could pull the Middle East out of the mud. There were only them, a complete generation that was fed up with living in the present situation and could bring about change.
The Engineer saw Leila’s intent gaze, and he allowed himself to get even more enthusiastic. “In Europe and the American continent, there are hundreds of millions of people of Semitic descent in all of its forms. You must give yourselves the objective of returning them to their lands, so they can also contribute to the development of this covenant of the Semitic nations. I am convinced the Europeans would understand and cooperate. It’s in their interest to remove their Semitic citizens from their lands and be rid of the American economic stranglehold, but it has to be done quickly, before the well-oiled European systems that are experienced at annihilation began to act. You, the young people, must aspire to create an essential change among the believers of those religions preach the destruction of all those who don’t adhere to the same faith. Revolutions can also occur within religions. The moment a charismatic religious leader arises, he can change the practices of his religion as he sees fit. You must find a way for believers and heretics to join forces for a single, shared objective. You must find a way to involve everyone, equally, including the Jews, from whom you can also learn how to absorb a huge population so it doesn’t turn into a burden, but contributes to the advancement of society.”
The idea grew and took shape inside the room. Leila actually felt it become tangible and doable. The Engineer summed up his words by saying, “Above all, you should remember the Americans invested a lot in developing this hatred. You need to choose any way in which you can overcome the Americans, even with the help of the advanced methods of communications they sell all over the world. The objective is to unite under their noses and to kick them out of here.”
Leila looked straight into his eyes. “The United States of Semitic Nations,” she whispered. “If I had ever heard about this in any other place or at any other time, I wouldn’t think I was able to take such a thing in. But specifically here, in Israel, with you, I feel even though we’re talking about a process that requires much preparation, thought, organization, and artfulness, it’s actually possible.”
Even before she had finished the sentence, the hospital director burst into the room and informed The Engineer, with much emotion, that the media had discovered the Pakistani girl, and soon many journalists would descend upon the hospital.
The Engineer understood he should leave immediately. Giving the girl a hurried kiss, he left her room and disappeared into the hospital corridors.
Leila’s uncle discovered her whereabouts with the help of the Israeli government, who also told him about her injuries and the treatment she had received, her recuperation, and speedy recovery. The uncle, who was a key figure in Pakistan’s wealthy society, decided to come to Israel to bring Leila home. The uncle’s arrival on a flight to Israel excited the journalists, both Israeli and foreign, and pictures of Leila and her uncle began to appear on the front pages of the newspapers. The Engineer, through his many connections, managed to avoid all the publicity. He went back to his house in the Judean Hills, and when he got there, he found he actually missed the peace and quiet of his home and its surroundings.
The day of departure arrived. Leila, now healthy and lively, arrived with her uncle at the VIP lounge at Ben-Gurion airport. The Engineer felt he could not control himself. He traveled to the airport, reached the lounge, and got swallowed up in the crowd of journalists and foreign ministry officials that had gathered around Leila. The whole group assembled around the young woman, who thanked everyone involved in her rescue in fluent English. While she was speaking, she saw the eyes of The Engineer, glowing with tears, glittering among the eyes of the journalists. Leila could not hold herself back. She ran toward him and embraced him for a long time, while she cried out, “Here he is! This is the man who rescued me!”
The camera flashbulbs were pointed toward the embracing couple, and they captured the moment in which The Engineer kissed the young woman on her forehead.
Immediately afterward, Leila’s uncle’s bodyguards escorted her to the airplane, and a tear trickled down her cheek, just like the one that ran down the cheek of The Engineer, who remained behind.
The journalists pounced on The Engineer and urged him to tell them briefly about what had happened to him and the young girl, his injuries, and his silence in order to avoid worrying his family. In the end, he announced he was now well again, and he would return to the rescue unit as soon as they called him to go on another mission.
It was hard for The Engineer to return to his home. Thoughts whirled around inside his feverish mind, but he was convinced that everyday matters, the projects he had in his office, and his granddaughters would make thing
s easier.
4.
Eyal, a typical nice Israeli boy, grew up as a spoiled child. His European origin gave him an innocent expression, a blond wavy forelock, and a height of 1.87 meters. He was a good-looking young man.
As a youth, the protection of his homeland was an important value to him. His Zionist youth movement and environment were what led him, when he reached the age of eighteen, to join one of the Israeli Defense Force’s elite units. Eyal was a highly motivated soldier who would stick to his goals. His excellence in his high school studies and the results of his psychometric test placed him on the highest level of his peers, according to the army, as a fighter who could be trained and led toward a military career.
Eyal made progress, as expected. After signing on for two years in regular service and taking part in many daring military campaigns, suddenly Eyal’s Zionist principles and motivation became challenged. He began to think a lot about the conflict that existed as a result of the occupation, the Palestinians, and the Arabs, whom he did not hate at all.
He thought about the walls that had been built around his small country and his Zionist beliefs in light of what was going on in Israel. He felt as if he had lost his purpose and there was no more wind in his sails. For this reason, he decided to take a break, and like his friends, travel around the world. After a year in the Far East, he ended up in India, at the foot of the Himalayas.
Leila returned to university in Islamabad. As she was very gifted, she was accepted into medical school at the age of seventeen, and she completed her doctorate when she was twenty-one. At this point, she decided not to do a medical internship, and she completed her doctorate in political science and economics within two years. As soon as she finished her studies, she got a position in the Pakistani foreign ministry, and she served as an economic attaché in several Arab countries in the Middle East.
During her term of employment, she met four talented young men, the first from Egypt, the second from Syria, the third from Saudi Arabia, and the fourth from Jordan. All four of them were academics with a glittering military past.
Leila became very close to all four of them, and she trusted them. The memory of her conversations with The Engineer in Israel still resounded within her during those years, and she chose these four young men as potential partners in the revolutionary idea.
She found a golden opportunity for all five of them to get together, and she began to develop the main concept of the United States of the Semitic Nations with them. All four of the young men were excited by the idea, and they began to work with Leila on creating a constitution for the union, based on the positive parts of the American constitution, but bypassing its negative sides. At the same time as producing eloquent formulas, all five of them began a theoretical analysis of all of the possible ways of creating this union under the noses of the American secret services.
For security reasons, the five decided not to meet in any of their own countries, but in India, in the Himalayas. There, the chances of being discovered by American agents were smaller. The five investigated and checked out various options for meeting places. Eventually they chose a Buddhist sanctuary that belonged to a Buddhist priest from Manali, who taught emotional relaxation techniques based on his own special type of yoga. For the group of five, this was the ideal meeting place, with the possibility of seclusion for discussions with a background of yoga. In this manner, they could progress with the development of the constitution and plan for establishing the United States of the Semitic Nations.
Staying at the Buddhist temple that occupied a large area along the mountainside were eighty men and women, most of whom were European, to study the pearls of wisdom of the Maharishi and to soothe their souls.
Among the varied human mélange at the temple were Eyal and Naama, Eyal’s travel companion. It was Naama who convinced Eyal to go to the temple with the purpose of finding a solution for his soul’s turmoil and the loss of his motivation to protect his homeland and people in Israel.
When Leila and her partners discovered there were two Israelis at the Buddhist temple, they felt under pressure. Were they American agents in disguise, or Israelis who were on their tail? They began to watch Eyal and Naama, and their fear increased when they found out they weren’t a couple, but companions, just good friends.
In order to figure out who they really were, the five decided Leila, as the female representative, should use her personal magnetism to try to get close to the young Israeli man so she could find out who he was and what his objectives were. At the same time, Khaled, the young Jordanian, would try to get close to the young Israeli woman for the same purpose. In this way, they would share information, and they would know if they were in any danger.
The next day, Leila sat down on a bench in the temple’s sculpture garden, opposite the bench on which Eyal was sitting as he composed an SMS to his worried parents. When he looked up from his cellphone, Eyal met Leila’s gaze. Her exotic beauty immediately attracted his attention. As expected from a typical macho Israeli, he approached her directly and said, “Good afternoon!” in Israeli-accented English.
Leila recognized the accent, and she replied in her Oxford English accent, “Thank you for the greeting,” and then acted as if she was not interested in continuing the conversation. Eyal, in typical Israeli fashion, ignored her wishes and continued the conversation, or more correctly, started asking her questions a non-Israeli would find intrusive.
“What’s your name? Where are you from? How long have you been here?”
Leila, with great craftiness, decided to leave the garden immediately and let her prey continue to work hard so he would fall into her hands like a ripe fruit. She stood up from the bench and disappeared down the slope of the garden, with feminine movements that accentuated her amazing figure and blended in with the tricks of the shadow and light in the magical garden.
Her disappearing silhouette disturbed Eyal, and he felt a growing attraction toward the girl that refused to yield to his advances. Any girl he had met until now, in Israel and during his tour, immediately surrendered to his magic. He did not understand why this particular girl did not surrender, too. Eyal decided not to give up. He would find her and conquer her.
After a lecture from the Maharishi, when everyone present went off on their way, Eyal followed the young woman, who was walking toward her favorite spot—a small bench between two large trees that resembled cedars of Lebanon. She sat down, holding a book.
Eyal approached the bench, leaned against one of the trees, and lit a cigarette. He observed the young woman sitting on the bench from a height, in an attempt to give an impression of great self-confidence. This pose only annoyed Leila, but her desire to stick to her goal overcame her feelings, and she turned toward him and said, “Your dominant pose isn’t my type. If you have anything to say, you are invited to sit here and open your mouth!”
Eyal was shocked by her direct approach. He sat down with a faint sigh and stayed silent.
“So?” Leila said impatiently. “What do you want?”
Eyal felt his confidence dissolve, and he replied in a weak voice, “You’re driving me crazy!”
Leila softened a little, but still said in a confident tone, “That’s not my intention! I came here, to the temple, to relax, not to get myself or anyone else stressed.”
Leila’s answer seemed to soothe Eyal, and his expression grew calmer. Leila seized the right moment to ask him, with some directness, why he had come to India.
In a surprising way that was contrary to his usual behavior, Eyal started telling her all about his current conflict, in which the values of his childhood and his very active army service suddenly seemed to be for a mistaken purpose. He told Leila about his country, Israel, his conflict as a patriot, and as one who wanted to protect his nation, which required him to carry out missions that did not conform with his beliefs. Due to Leila’s beauty and her Oxford-accented English, Eyal did
not suspect she was a Muslim.
Leila was very surprised by Eyal’s direct revelations and openness. However, she decided not to be so open in return or to reveal her Muslim origin. She asked Eyal what his relationship was with Arabs in general, and with Palestinians in particular. She heard his opinions of the defensive walls within Israel, and she understood he was very confused. He had no answers. He only had questions.
The time passed quickly. Leila interrupted the conversation, saying she had to finish writing an essay, but she promised they would continue their discussion at another time. She went back to her friends and gave them a report of the conversation. They unanimously decided that from what they had seen, there was no need to be afraid, and both Israelis were not dangerous. However, just to be sure they decided to continue with their investigation.
The following day, Eyal was already waiting for another meeting with Leila. Her appearance drove him crazy. Her quiet way of speaking and her behavior were different from anyone else he knew. She stirred something in his body and soul. Was he in love?
In the afternoon, in the dim light between the trees, they met again on the same small bench. A cold sweat broke out on Eyal’s back, and his heart raced uncontrollably.
For some reason, Leila also trembled slightly, and she could not get to the bottom of what it meant. Eyal sat down next to her, and he decided to tell her about his incomprehensible feelings. Leila understood him, and she nodded with excitement. They were both swept away by something that was beyond them. Their bodies touched each other. They were both now trembling, and there was a powerful silence.
Their lips grew closer to each other, touched, and locked together. Both of their eyes were closed, and the trembling only increased. Their tongues touched each other, and their bodies intertwined in one long kiss. Without disengaging his lips from Leila’s, Eyal carried her into the bushes, lay her down on the warm ground, and his trembling hands began to caress her body, which was dizzying with its sensations and soul. With one hand, he moved from the tips of her toes to her thighs. His other hand glided toward her hot breasts and her erect nipples. He removed her underwear and touched the center of her desires. Her hands moved upwards and loosened the buttons of his shirt first, and then the fastenings of his jeans. Their lips were still locked together, as she removed his underwear and explored his manhood with her fingers.
A Universal Storm: A Gripping Thriller Page 5
