“When I was asleep in my room, I was woken up by none other than Leila. She was wrapped in a large sheet, and she covered both of us in it, like a tent. She lay down next to me and explained quietly that the sheet prevented anyone lying under it from being heard or photographed. She carried on talking and told me how Bedouins had smuggled her into Israel, to the area of the Dead Sea, and how Eyal picked her up and brought her to the factory he had built. In a whisper, she told me how, from Beit Guvrin, he had brought down all of the computer systems and electromagnetic systems, and how he had managed to bring the entire world to a standstill. When she first arrived, Leila thought she had come to a place where they would found the United States of Semitic Nations. But Eyal explained he was dreaming of creating a new system for all of the nations in the world, a single financial system for every country and religion.
“Leila went on to describe, in a whisper, how Eyal had changed as soon as he realized the power was really in his hands.
“‘He looks down on humanity!’ she said. ‘He is not the same person I fell in love with or who I came for!’
“I gave her my hand and hugged her passionately. In the half light, I noticed her body and the same urge that began at the hospital continued now. My hands wandered over her body and lifted her long nightdress. My mouth and tongue discovered her erect nipples and my hands went down, almost by themselves, between her legs, enjoying her juices.
“Leila did not remain passive. She went to my erect penis, and moved it back and forth quickly, in rhythm with my hands as they caressed between her thighs.
“We began to rock quickly until the sheet nearly fell off us, but Leila managed to keep it over us, protecting us. She took me in her arms and led the vessel of my desire toward hers. We moved rhythmically as if we were in a different place and time, until the moment when both of us climaxed at once. The shared streams washed over both of us and the mattress beneath us. Silence then reigned and the torrent of thoughts and feelings within me gave me no peace.
“Leila, as if she sensed my thoughts, said, ‘According to the information gathered here at the installation, the Israeli and American armies have managed to find a way to reactivate all of the systems. It’s obvious they are going to attack as soon as they find out the source of all the trouble is here in the factory. I’m going to take both of you out of here right now, before it’s too late!’
“She warned me we should only go back on our bicycles, taking side roads, and we should do it as fast as we could so the factory would not have time to attack. Even before I had finished nodding, I found myself lying on the ground, next to you.”
I did not have anything to say. I was gripped with fear and sadness. We got ourselves organized and began pedaling toward Shoresh. Night had fallen by the time we arrived at The Engineer’s house. We immediately went to sleep.
We woke up to strange sounds. We went out onto the balcony on the roof of The Engineer’s house, overlooking the entire Judean Plain, and we saw dozens of airplanes, helicopters, and rows of tanks moving toward Beit Guvrin. Suddenly we heard a loud boom. A giant mushroom cloud rose in the direction of Beit Guvrin. The Engineer quietly wept.
Through his tears, he said, “There’s also a right time for a revolution. ” In this case, the slogan the end justifies the means caused the death of your friend Kalman, the deaths of hundreds of innocent people who attended the event with him, and the deaths of hundreds of thousands around the world, who were stuck in elevators, tunnels, and other computerized systems that stopped working. This expression only has a limited meaning. The end can make the means holy, but not the values. The value of human life, regardless of religion, race, sex, or opinion, must come before any revolution.”
The Engineer chuckled ironically. “We need to create a revolution among the revolutions, and create a revolution without any casualties.”
His tears turned into a weak sigh, and I did not add a single word. The smoke rose higher, and we stood there together for a long time.
The next day, I went home, after I made sure The Engineer would get on with his life. My family welcomed me with open arms. I only told them that I had spent a few days in conversation with a real hero, and I wanted to use those conversations for an interview in one of the newspaper supplements. With each day that passed, another system was restored, until life went completely back to normal four months later.
A Universal Storm: A Gripping Thriller Page 7
