The Crystal Circle: A Paranormal Romance Novel

by L. Rosenman

  I’ve been made, she thought, but the officers looked at her and failed to link the short- haired, hat-wearing woman with glasses with the fair-haired, laughing woman who had disappeared in Tel Aviv. The man they were looking for was not there. They closed the tablet with a sigh, turning to the next trailer.

  As Lynn turned away quickly, a small yellow note fell out of her pocket. Sam the cop bent over, reached for the note, and put it in his pocket without looking at it. It was a raid, and he was busy!

  A few minutes later, Sam knocked on the door of Saul’s trailer. Gidi opened it, a bandana around his head, covering it down to his eyebrows, a cigarette in his mouth. The officer surveyed the interior of the trailer. An old air-conditioning technician sat there on the floor, tools in his hands, dismantling the air conditioner. He was wearing a baseball cap and overalls printed with ‘Mati & Meir, AC.’

  “You live here?” the policeman asked Gidi, completely ignoring Saul, the technician. “Yeah. What do you want?”

  Sam explained who he was looking for, and Gidi shook his head and said, “No” to all of his questions.

  When the officers moved off, Saul said, “Gidi, things are getting a little hot around here.”

  “We have to get out,” Gidi nodded.

  “Tonight. By the morning, we’ll be ancient history,” said Saul quietly and returned to assembling the air conditioner he’d dismantled just a few minutes earlier.

  Gidi began calling his friends in Eilat. While he put together the various parts of the air conditioner, Saul heard fragments of conversations: “… a vehicle for towing a caravan… fuel… yes, call me when...”

  He felt he was letting go. He took a deep breath and looked at the sky.

  “You don’t eat a healthy diet at all, Saul. Have you always been like that?” she’d asked. “You have a great soul!” she’d said. Interesting. Had he really always been like this? Who are you, Saul? He pondered. He sat down on the floor and took a deep breath, closing his eyes for a fraction of a second.

  Suddenly, he saw a little boy, plump and rather pale, wearing baggy green pants and a horrible buttoned-up shirt that his Argentine mother insisted he wear. He was an object of mockery for the children of the fifth grade in Ramat-Gan, the target of constant abuse, and his disregard of it, his immersion in his studies, only fanned the flames against him. His parents had immigrated to Israel from Argentina when he was a very young child and nurtured him and his sister, Adriana, as if they were princes of the British royal family. Like other Argentinean families, they enjoyed barbeque ‘Asado’ evenings with steaks and chocolates from Bariloche. Wine had flowed freely. Raul particularly disliked David, the leader of the group who’d teased him, who would hide toads in his bag and place paper bags of water under his seat, ready to explode beneath his bottom when he sat down in his chair.

  When he grew up and became taller and taller, his obesity vanished, but whenever he met with a David somewhere, his fists clenched, and he imagined his future revenge when he became a multimillionaire – hiring David and then firing him, or hiring all the children in his class, only to fire them afterward, so they would surely become unlucky and remain unemployed on account of his worldwide connections.

  When he was twenty, and beautiful girls were all over him, he put his energies into conquering them with suave, sophisticated talk that charmed them. He planned his million-dollar future carefully and signed up to study economics at university. In his eyes, his wife, Orna, was to blame for his failing to become a millionaire at a young age, by trapping him in her net while they were still in college. Due to her lack of caution, she fell pregnant, which meant they had to marry while they were still in school.

  “For us, there’s no such thing as abortions, Raul. No such thing as having children outside of marriage. In any case, we wanted to at some point... so let’s get married right away,” said Orna. They married and moved to Migdal Haemek, near Orna’s parents, and from then on, there was no escape, not with four children depending on his monthly paycheck. Orna Azoulay was from a family of North African decent and all the aunts and grandmothers saw their daughters’ purity as the main source of respect in the family lineage. A sinful girl was liable, God forbid, to cast a shadow over the entire Azoulay tribe for generations.

  And so it was that Raul, formerly a fat and rejected kid, found himself the deputy director and, later, the director, of a small bank in a remote town; a man with a plethora of skills and a desire to conquer the world, with a magnificent dream, stuck in a miserable reality, high and dry.

  Saul shook his head, drove away the fantasy story that had taken hold of his head for a moment, and finished reassembling the air-conditioner. It was time to pack up his stuff. His stay in Eilat was over. Too bad about Michal, who he knew was really named Lynn. He gave a moment’s thought to their conversation, just one moment. Sentimental female chatter it may have been, but, in that, she chose her fate: to remain in this place while he continued to the next destination.

  That afternoon, after Dave held a proper burial for poor Tom, with pursed lips and a huge headache, he went to the police station and asked to speak to Superintendent Illouz.

  As soon as he was shown into his office, he said, “Robert, you listen.”

  Illouz stopped him with his hand, closed the door, and gestured toward the chair. Dave sat down and hurried on. “I think a year and a half has passed since I last sat here. You and I had a clear understanding that you wouldn’t go inside the camp. We’re keeping our part of the agreement, as you know - no parties, no shady business, and no drugs. People get on with their lives and aren’t pleased to see the police sniffing around. Why did you need to stage a raid all of a sudden?”

  Illouz sighed and looked at Dave. “There’s organized crime in Eilat, a real mafia. We’re afraid that it’ll deteriorate into an underworld war - gunfights, explosions, and what not. A gang war. You have children there. Families. I don’t want children flying through the air. Not on my watch.”

  “We’re looking into it ourselves,” said Dave. “I don’t think there’s anything like that. People are alright. They escape life a little. They like being on the fringes. Our people patrol every night. You know what? I promise you, the minute I see a stranger or anything suspicious... you’ll be my first call. Agreed?”

  Robert looked at him, biting his upper lip. “There are criminal elements in your camp, Dave. Maybe you don’t know them. So, A - you’re playing with fire, and B - our agreement is void.”

  “I hear you,” said Dave, disappointed with the outcome. He got up, shoving at his chair loudly, and left without saying goodbye in his peculiar gait, disguising his limp. On his way out, he noticed alternating images flashing up on the plasma screen at the entrance. Dave raised his head and stopped, thunderstruck. Under the headline “MISSING,” different faces were projected, and he thought he saw Lynn’s face, just as she’d looked on the day she came by his doorstep. He waited a little longer for the image to come round again, studying the pictures that came and went, and saw Saul there – paler and fatter in a white shirt and tie with hair. He looked so similar to Saul, but he wasn’t sure... and then he saw Lynn again, radiant and smiling under a pile of bright, curly hair and with her green eyes. Beneath her image was the name of the missing person: Michal Rafael.

  He sat down in the corner and thought. Lynn was Michal. There was no doubt about it now. Both she and Saul were missing persons. What was the connection between them? Why did they both come to the Uprooted Camp? Obviously to escape the police. Was Lynn lying to him about her identity? It seemed to him that she was honest. Until then, his heart had always known the truth. Maybe she was just a supreme actress and an accomplished liar?

  He straightened up, a decision coming to fruition in his heart: He decided to play the game. Even if she was missing and not wanted, even if she was aware of her identity or not, he wouldn’t give up on her. Let the events happen as they were intended to… I’m not turning her in to the police. In Eilat, everyone
had something to hide. If Lynn, or Michal, whatever, chose to leave the past behind her, he respected that. He wanted her, wanted her as he’d never wanted any woman, and he had great patience. He hoped she would open up to him one day. In the meantime, he had to worry about saving her from the hands of that crook, Saul. Handing him over to the police meant giving up Michal as well, for she was, apparently, cooperating with him.

  When Dave came out of the station house, lost in thought, he didn’t notice a man standing in the crowd outside, looking at him. He was wearing a baseball cap and shorts and looked like any other tourist. Once Dave disappeared around the corner, the man got out his phone and dialed.

  “He was here at the police station,” he said. “Green light.”

  After dinner, Dave went to have a beer with Maurice, and Lynn went down to the beach. Following a day of hard work, she decided to stretch herself by walking fast. When she reached the dock, she spotted dark figures moving around Dave’s boat. Lynn crouched down beside a pile of nets and watched. Two unfamiliar people fixed something to the bottom of Dave’s boat, and then clicked on what looked like a remote control in the hands of one of them. The red light on the remote flashed as did the LED on the package attached to the boat. The light went out immediately, and the two men, dressed in dark clothing and caps, moved away.

  One of them muttered while walking despondently, “That’s for ratting on us to the police, you piece of shit!”

  Lynn ran home to alert Dave, but he had yet to return. She decided to take an extra measure of caution. She walked around the outside of the trailer to make sure it was secure and saw a window open about halfway. Without going inside, she peered through the window, but couldn’t see anything. Then she saw that someone had thrown blankets and nets together to create a tall stack next to the refrigerator compound. She climbed to the top of the stack and could see straight into Dave’s room. With the window open, she could see his bed or rather the headboard.

  She waited for Dave at a distance from the trailer. She identified him by his steps from afar and ran to meet him. “Don’t go home, Dave. I have to talk to you.” She pulled him in between other trailers, looked around nervously, and crouched down.

  Lynn whispered, “Dave, I think someone’s going to take you out... maybe tonight.” He looked at her and the silver glow of moonlight that hung in her hair. She was surrounded by a kind of halo and looked more beautiful than ever to him. Her concern for him was sweet and touching.

  “Tell me what happened. Exactly who wants to kill me? Why shouldn’t I go home?”

  Lynn told him about the bomb attached to his boat. She assumed it was to be activated remotely while he was at sea.

  “It’s actually a very small bomb,” she said, realizing suddenly that she must have some innate knowledge about such things. “It’s not for blowing you away to kingdom come, but to create a huge hole in the boat, so you’ll drown, injured.” She breathed a big sigh.

  Dave looked at her. “You couldn’t identify the people who planted the bomb?”

  “No.”

  “Saul and his friend?”

  “No. Someone else. I don’t know them.” He looked at her and realized that she wasn’t covering up for anyone. She was telling the truth. “And there’s further danger in the house, Dave... someone’s been in there. Your window was open and...they have a vantage point back there with a good view of your bed.”

  “So?” Dave wondered.

  “They also have an M16. I saw it. I guess they were going to shoot you tonight or tomorrow if the boat sabotage failed. From the size of the pile they’ve made, they could aim at your head with maximum precision.”

  Dave looked into her eyes, and his own eyes widened. He was silent, calculating his next move, wondering how his life could have deteriorated so much in a matter of a few days. He gave her a long look and said, “I won’t leave you here, at the heart of all the danger. Come with me. We’ll go to a hotel in town for a day or two, call the police, and wait for everything to calm down.”

  “No, Dave. You have to run, but I don’t. It’s not me they’re out to get. If you run, they’ll still find you. They have people. The minute the police come anywhere near here, they’ll flee to Jordan… it’s less than half a mile away. Let me deal with them. They think I’m one of them, Dave. I’ll save the people’s money and trap the bastards. I have a way to distract them for a few hours. It’ll look like they’ve really killed you. It’ll be okay. Go to the Flamingo Hotel. I’ll find you there tomorrow.”

  Dave looked at her for a long while, stroked her hair, and kissed her tenderly. “Dear Michal Rafael, take care, for me,” he whispered.

  “What did you call me?” Her eyes widened.

  “Lynn,” he tensed. “Excuse me if you’ve heard me say a different name.” They embraced, and he slipped out between the houses, snagged a hoodie from a clothesline, pulled it over his head, and disappeared into the shadows.

  Lynn went home. She was dizzy, and her head hurt. She drank a glass of water and went into Dave’s room. She took a blanket and rolled it up, and covered the edge of the blanket with panty hose. When she’d finished arranging the figure she’d created under the covers, it looked, from afar, as though Dave was sleeping there, his head poking out from the blankets as he lay on his side.

  07/08/2013 - Twenty-third day of disappearance

  At four-thirty AM, Lynn heard some muffled shots. She tensed. She slid quietly out of her bed and lay on the floor. After about thirty seconds, she slithered through to Dave’s room. Two shots, apparently using a silencer, had scattered the contents of the blankets all over the room. From the window, she could see only darkness, as the moon was covered with clouds. There was no one around. Lynn slipped silently out of the trailer and moved stealthily toward the entrance to the camp. She sat down out of sight on a rock next to a small shed and waited. She knew that someone would show, and, indeed, two silhouettes, one a very tall man, approached the beach. The tall figure was carrying a long duffel bag and a heavy backpack. The second, smaller figure carried another pack. The sky was still dark and gloomy. Beyond the entrance to the camp, a few hundred yards away, waited a little car. The engine was turned off, as were the lights. Lynn waited.

  “I don’t understand what you want, Saul. Everything’s good. We took Dave out, and in just an hour, we’ll be in Sinai,” Gidi grinned. “Next stop, the Bahamas!”

  “We took him out?” Saul stopped and lowered his voice urgently. Lynn shivered in her hiding place. “Did I tell you to take him out?”

  Gidi also stopped. “But I told you, my mate, Guy, saw him leave the police station today. We had to kill him.” He added, “And you always said he was ‘serious damage’ in your life and that you were dying to get him off your back.”

  “You stupid idiot! I didn’t mean to actually kill him. Idiot! It’s not the same thing, taking lives and taking money from people. You’re to blame, and this was your decision. You could be sitting in your sunglasses stall today, eying the girls passing by... but you chose me! And now you’ve turned the situation into a catastrophic disaster…” Lynn withdrew deeper into the shadows as they moved on past her.

  Gidi hissed angrily, “So what do you want now, Saul? Just get in the car!”

  Saul stopped again and answered, “Gidi, you’re so naive. You made your choice, and I made mine. I’m poison. This is a bad, dark day.” He laid both bags on the sand and pulled out the rifle. “You leave me no choice. Goodbye, Gidi, wherever you may go.”

  Saul loaded the magazine, but fumbled cocking the gun. Gidi seized that moment, being younger and more agile, and they fell in the sand, grappling with the rifle. They fought hard, grunting and struggling at close quarters. Lynn watched them, shaking, adrenaline hitting her bloodstream with force.

  Suddenly, Gidi kicked Saul’s belly with tremendous force, stood up, cocked the gun and hissed, “Don’t move, you miserable shit. You thought you’d take all the money? No way, you’re old! Make way for the young!”r />
  As he spoke, Lynn quickly covered the short distance that separated them. She surprised Gidi from behind, and he didn’t see her until she was already in front of him. Saul looked at her from the ground and closed his eyes briefly. Lynn grabbed Gidi and sent her leg kicking between his legs. In a second, Gidi was rolling on the ground and had lost his grip on the rifle. Lynn again kicked him hard in the groin, grabbed the gun and aimed it at him.

  “Don’t move!” she hissed.

  Gidi groaned for a moment on the ground, and Saul said in a voice sweeter than honey, “Michali - Lynn darling - give me the gun. You may miss accidentally. Thank you for stepping in, my love.”

  Lynn turned for a split second to Saul, still keeping the gun aimed at Gidi, and said angrily through gritted teeth, “Shut your mouth, king of lies! If I’m saving you, it’s no thanks to your corrupt life!”

  Gidi seized the moment, grabbed the bags with his left hand, and pointed a gun he drew from his pocket at Saul. He screamed, “I’ll shoot him. I really don’t care. Get that gun away from me, you stupid cow!”

  People who had heard the loud voices began to leave their trailers, their children drifting curiously behind them. Seeing the danger, Lynn swiftly unloaded the magazine and threw away the rifle so forcefully that it fell far behind the shed. Saul tried to get up off the ground, but was slammed back hard as Lynn stomped on his chest.

  At that moment, a whistle blew. Five police officers appeared from all sides and pushed Gidi to the ground as they disarmed and handcuffed him. The whole thing lasted no more than a few seconds. Lynn began to cry and collapsed on the sand. She laughed and cried and gasped.

  Maurice appeared from behind the shed with the gun she’d just thrown away. “Gentlemen, officers,” he gasped, “you should take this...” and added, “I’ve been here since the whole thing began. If you want, I’ll give evidence. My name’s Maurice and I live over there.” One of the officers went to get the weapon and Maurice’s details.