The Infinite when it was Two Digits Old

by Allen Fleishman

  David: Dad get the transmission. I’m not sure how long we can transmit. His name is Mohammed Surfeit. Terrorist.

  The door finished opening and the sign said ‘Garage Level’, two other gunmen, wearing hoods, were standing there.

  “Your phone, señor.”

  David said, “I don’t have one.”

  One of the gunman, pocketed his small gun, moved the hair from David’s ears, and patted David’s shirt and pants.

  “Nothing.”

  One gunman asked, “What happened?”

  In Arabic David heard, “This flea infested dog attacked me before I got my gun out. I think it’s broken. Fortunately the dog attacked my right arm.” The gunman kicked Hilda hard in the ribs.

  David jumped forward as the gunman leveled his gun at him. “No, Señor.” David backed up.

  Slowly David said, “We can give you money.”

  David: Dad, check out the Spanish engineer, I’ll transmit everything I know about him, especially his bank account.

  One of the masked men ran up to David, he had a gun in one hand and a bag in another. David stood still as the terrorist put the hood over his head. The man grabbed David’s hands from behind and quickly tied them together. David felt himself being pushed forward. He heard a vehicle skid to a stop nearby. David heard a door open and tripped as he was pushed into the floor of what must have been some type of truck. He felt someone shoved onto the floor next to him.

  “Phyl?” David whispered.

  “Yeah.”

  “Are you OK?”

  “So far. David I’m scared.”

  David whispered, “So am I. Hilda is alive though. Dad knows about what’s happening to us. Help is on the way.” David angrily said, “I told you to allow me to use the terahertz detector. I would have seen the gun.”

  Phyllis almost laughed. “The nude body scanner?”

  Petulantly David said, “I told you I wouldn't use it for that. You know what I look at. You know I love you.”

  Phyllis said, “You just wanted to stare at ...”

  Phyllis paused then resumed in a more subdued and trembling voice. “David, I'm sorry. Because I didn't trust you, I got you into this mess. I'm so sorry. You, I mean, I could have seen the gun. We could have jumped him before he held the gun, rather than waiting for Hilda to ... to … I'm so sorry, David, even after a year, I'm still not able to wrap my jello brain around this 'In' business. If we ever get out of this, I …”

  “Phil, we'll get out. I can't transmit to the satellite cell receiver from this van, but we'll call Dad, both of our Dads and they'll get us out. Let me listen to the engine.”

  They rode in silence for the rest of the trip as David listened to the transmission and the shift in their positions as the van made each turn in the road.

  ***

  They drove for a while and David felt the vehicle come to a stop. The men pushed, shoved David up an external set of stairs. Wooden steps from the sound of it. They came to the top of the stairs, pushed forward into a room, and threw him onto the floor. David tripped and landed hard on his rump. His computer bounced against something metal and he heard a slight metallic click. In Arabic the men screamed at one another and hastily reached behind David and pulled his computer free. David had been desperately trying to get his computer to handshake with the cell phone satellite.

  In Spanish David said, “No, I need it to live. It’s a medi…”

  ***

  David awoke; he was sitting on the floor. He still had the bag over his head. One of his arms was handcuffed to the floor. He felt his bottom-half unclothed on top of plastic.

  Martin: David are you OK?

  David: I’m feeling very dry and weak, Dad. What happened? Where’s Phyllis?

  Martin: You’ve been out for three and a half days. You‘ve had no food and little water. We’re in Córdoba ourselves. I’ll tell you more, but get some food and drink. Let them think you’re too weak to have the computer removed.

  David: Probably the truth too.

  In Spanish David said, “¿Water please. How long was I in the coma?”

  “Three days, you were quiet when you weren’t whimpering like an infant.”

  The bag was taken off. He noticed the radiator behind him was the anchor for the handcuff. The radiator was only a foot wide, but solidly welded to the wall. David was sitting half naked on a shower curtain. The person who handed him a dirty glass of water had a mask over his hair and most of his face. David drank the water and started to choke and cough. He then sipped the water more slowly.

  David: Dad, where is Phyllis?

  Martin: I spoke to her very briefly. She’s alive. Let me talk fast. Who knows how long before they unplug you again. They want to put you on the phone to convince me you’re alive. I hung up on them twice, especially when they said you hadn’t eaten in three days. You couldn’t swallow. We know about the engineer who tried to deep-six the Córdoba meeting. I’m not supposed to know, but Murray and Matt got him to give us a name. We’re getting some leverage now. We’re also getting some leverage with Mohammed Surfeit, the one who kicked Hilda. By the way, Hilda is recuperating now.

  David: Leverage?

  Martin: You don’t want to know. That’s Murray’s department. Now do you have any clues where you are?

  David: I was able to listen to the engine, and have a notion of which way I rolled on the floor. All this is plotted by time. I just downloaded that information to you.

  “¿I feel sick. Have I eaten for the last three days?”

  “¿Now its food?” The gunman snickered.

  “Please.”

  The terrorist left the room.

  David: I know that the ride was 27 minutes and 21 seconds, and I’m pretty sure we’re in the north western quarter of the city from the turns we made out of the garage. After 18 minutes, we were on a high-speed road for 7 minutes. Then local streets. I put into the download when we might have turned right or left and the rpm of the engine. They took us up a back wooden staircase, two steps to the first landing, and then thirteen steps to a second landing with the door. The room I’m in has a window, which they painted over in white.

  Martin: That’s a very big help. I’ll get our computers to go over everything, correlating it against the map. Maybe we can get a better idea where you are. What else can you tell us about the terrorists?

  David: I saw three. One was Mohammed Surfeit. The other two were masked. I think one is five foot eight inches tall, and the other was six foot one inch tall, both plus or minus 1.2 inches. The shorter one is from the south-western part of Pakistan. There was a driver also.

  Martin: The engineer mentioned someone called Babu Qarit, from Saudi Arabia.

  David pulled up what he knew about him into memory.

  David: No dad, I haven’t seen that one.

  Martin: We have a surprise for him, when he shows up. Thanks to our cooperative engineer.

  The terrorist returned with a bowl of white dip and some pita bread.

  “Hummus. You eat now and then we make a phone-call.”

  Martin: Stall.

  David dipped the bread into the white bean paste took a bite and started to gag. He threw up the food and most of the water he drank. David’s eyes rolled up and he fell backwards onto the floor.

  Martin: David, David, are you all right?

  David: Sure Dad. Thank god I can still control most of my autonomic functions. I don’t think they’re going to take the computer away again. I’m glad they never removed the buttons on my shirt under my sweatshirt.

  Martin: Cameras?

  David: Of course.

  The terrorist ran out of the room and another joined him. The second put his cowl on as he approached David. He lifted David’s eye and saw the pupil contract, but very, very slowly. He noticed the cold sweat on David’s forehead.

  “I told you this one was too weak. Am
ericans are weak babies. This skinny one was sickly. The woman said he would die if we unplugged him too long. That American will never pay if he won’t speak to him. He lives, but who knows for how long.”

  “It wasn’t me who unplugged him, it was Little Mo.”

  “What are you feeding him?”

  “Hummus and pita.”

  “Are you an idiot? He’s been fasting for three days and he’s sick. Take away all but a handful, then mix it with two glasses of water. Feed him slowly. You stupid fool.”

  The terrorists left the room.

  David: OK, we now have a visual on the second one. Six foot and a half-inch tall, his accent says he’s from Syria, I think.

  Martin: I’ll work on that, too.

  David: So, who is with you?

  Martin: Murray and fourteen mafia types. We already recruited twenty mercenaries, ex-Green Berets. They all know that their only objective is that you and Phyllis walk out unharmed. I also brought Eagle One, Son-of-Alex, Sniffer and Hansel. We have all types of arms too.

  David: Tweedle-dum just returned, time for me to wake.

  David moaned and slowly moved his arm.

  “¿Are you alright Señior?”

  David’s eyelid twittered and then opened. “¿What happened?”

  “You fainted, from lack of food, perhaps. You eat, but slowly.”

  David took the bowl into both hand and slowly sipped.

  ***

  Martin said, “Preposterous. All our money is tied up in capital expenditures.”

  The terrorist said, “I don’t understand your English. We want 100 million dollars for the two Americans.”

  “You’re insane. We could only afford to have two people in all of Europe. And one is an education major and the other is a college freshman, they aren’t even engineers. They even had to borrow a used Fiat from her aunt. Now do you really want to negotiate or not? We didn’t call the police, like you asked. But you need to look at our company realistically. We don’t have any stock or rich patrons. We aren’t a Shell Oil company.”

  “If you can’t give us the money, let me speak to someone who can.”

  “The only person who is higher than me is the genius who invented the breakthrough. He’s not in town, I can have him available in two days from now.”

  “I’ll call then.”

  ***

  Martin: I got us another two days.

  David: I heard, any news on my location?

  Martin: Sniffer and the birds are watching our three best guesses.

  ***

  David saw a familiar shadow on the painted, but translucent, window. It was far too large for a pigeon, especially with its mammoth tail. A macaw?

  David: Eagle-One?

  Eagle-One: David! I’m outside your window now.

  David: The coast is temporarily clear. It’s great seeing you again.

  Martin: Finally! I’ll tell Murray that Sniffer found your scent. David, how’s the power levels to your computer?

  David: OK, I’ve been doing drastic power savings. I think it can last another two and a half days. Thank god I installed the new batteries.

  Martin: Hold on Son.

  ***

  Nachaat was careful he wasn’t followed. No one saw him leave the hideout. He walked five blocks until he came to a petrol station with a pay phone. He looked around him and only saw a large dog with a neckerchief lounging on the warm sidewalk a half block away. Nachaat was out of the sun and protected from overhead surveillance by a large tree. Quickly glancing up he only saw some birds, including some wild parrots, common in this region. Nachaat quickly made the phone call using the phone credit card he had purchased two weeks before – untraceable. Glancing around again no person was in sight.

  The phone rang, Nachaat heard a voice, “Fasil? It is Nachaat.”

  “Yes.”

  “We are finally going to make contact with the infidel Haines tonight.”

  He heard the man on the other end say, “Good, remember to collect as much money as you can before you kill them all. See if you can get the formula of their antigravity invention. Nothing is more important than stopping this plan by the West to weaken Islam. God is mighty. Allah Akbar.”

  “Blessed be Him.”

  One of the parrots, sitting on a tree limb within five feet of the phone, was watching Nachaat as he left the phone. In the bird’s talons was a round nickel-sized bauble, a very small camera. The dog’s eyes also followed Nachaat as he retreated back to the hideout.

  ***

  The four terrorists hunched around the recently purchased cell phone. The speaker was tinny, but could be heard by all three.

  “OK, I’m going to put on Charlie Haines. He invented the gravity reflector and other things. I’m going to warn you that he is a 100% honest man. He never lies.”

  “All you American lie.”

  “There are exceptions to all rules. Hold on.”

  “Hello, this is Charlie.”

  “You speak Sindhi?”

  “I can speak all modern languages fluently. Including Sindhi, Arabic, and Najdi Arabic.”

  The terrorist had a noticeable pause, “I don’t understand.”

  “Of course you understand, my boy. As I said, my name is Charlie Haines. I consider it proper hospitality that you introduce yourself.”

  “You will never know my name infidel. I am the mist in a moonless night”

  “Okay Abu, there is no need to get upset. I won’t bring it up again. Let’s discuss terms.”

  “You called me Abu?”

  “I said I wouldn’t bring it up again. I’m prepared to give you and the other terrorists complete freedom. I will also give you ten thousand dollars each, for your time and good conduct. In addition, in each of your villages, I shall give the headman a three-megawatt generator and dig four wells. The electricity is enough for all your village’s needs and a number of light businesses. Enough for growth to three times your current population. The generator and electricity will be free for ten years. After ten years, I will charge them at 10% of the current electricity rate. I will also match half the money for the building of a school. The remainder must come from the village. The building must be designed and construction overseen by the village leader. I will also send ten people to college. Their stipends will be modest and they will need to work for spending money while going to school. If they stop school, their money will stop. They will be required to either pay me back or return to the villages to teach. As collateral, I will require the word of the headman and your village elders. While they are in school, I will pay half the cost of any teacher your headman hires. I already have the contract in writing.”

  Nachaat screamed, “That is not what we require of you. If you do not follow our requests your two Americans will be killed.”

  “I thought I was being nice and generous. This way we can all win. You win, we win, and your towns win. No one loses face. Your town retains its full honor. You can return as heroes. Your families will still be able to love you. You will hear some knocking soon. You will open the door for Hadji. Babu will recognize him, a neighbor’s boy. Just a warning, do not attempt to remove his necklace. You will lose a hand and he will lose his head. It is wired with explosives.”

  A knock was heard at the door. Abu opened it. He saw an ashen-faced middle-eastern boy, about 8 years of age, on the steps. The boy’s hands were in the air, holding a cell phone above his head. Around his neck was a very heavy blanket.

  The boy called out “Babu! Babu!” as he ran to Babu. The child started to cry. Between sobs he said, “They put a bomb around my neck and said they’d kill me and your family if you didn’t listen.”

  The voice on the cell phone said, “Very carefully remove the blanket. You can see just enough C4 explosive to remove his head. I recommend you put the blanket back. It would protect you if there was to be an accident.”<
br />
  Babu said, “My family?”

  The boy was weeping openly, “Your mother, father, your grandmother, brother and his wife and their children. I think your sisters too. They each have bombs around their necks. The Americans have an army.”

  Over the phone, they also heard, “We also have Abu’s Spanish girlfriend and his parents, Shahid and Melik. Oh yes, the Spanish engineer with his wife too. As Martin said, I never lie. I have ten thousand American dollars here, and my promise will be in writing. Do we all win? Or will you and your families be buried, defiled, among pig intestines? A pig butcher is three miles away. Just put your guns down and walk down the steps. I will give all who agree their money, and their families will be freed. Hadji, go down the stairs now.”

  Abu asked, “Do they have my girlfriend and my parents?”

  The boy nodded, “Mirasol, and your father has a bad heart?”

  Abu turned ashen and looked at his friends, “Yes.”

  The boy, still crying, turned and exited the kitchen and went down the back stairs.

  The four terrorists stood in shocked silence as they heard the boy go down each of the stairs. Then there was silence for thirty seconds. Over the phone, Charlie said in Shindi, “Here is your mother Abu.”

  Abu immediately recognized the voice of his mother, “Abu, Abu, they kidnapped us in the middle of the night in a police car that flies. They put this collar around my neck and said you can make them stop. Please, please. They will kill your father and a girl they said you know. They cut off two fingers of the Engineer’s wife, until he talked. In the name of Allah, I beg you. They are cold-blooded murderers, assassins. They WILL butcher us.”

  They then heard Charlie’s voice, “Please take her back.” They heard in the background a woman sobbing. “Mohammed this is one of your three brothers.”

  “Mo, they have me, my wife, Yuseff, and Domi. They will kill us. Sari is pregnant. You must listen to them.” The man’s voice radiated terror.

  Charlie Haines’ calm voice replaced the prisoner’s, “Take him away and shoot them all, when I say. Nachaat we are hours from getting your family. But we will. Your entire family. We can be hideous murderers and defilers or wondrous benefactors, which do you choose? We have treated you honorably. We have no motivation to hurt you or the innocents. We would like to be known as philanthropists. Let us all agree to win. Your village will love you. Free electricity and water 24 hours each day. They will have festivals in your honor. Or we will kill your entire line and bury them in pig entrails. We will feed your manhood to the swine. The 72 houris will all laugh at you throughout all of eternity. I do not lie. Now exit the building with your hands above your head, fingers open.”