Between the anvil and the hammer

A short excerpt of my 10th book "An irretrievable step".

When Ray left the airport terminal and was looking for a cab, ready to approach a parked one, a certain cab appeared and stopped with screeching brakes opposite him, and someone's hand signed to him through the cab's window to get in.

It seemed as if this cab driver was in a serious need to earn Ray's fare, he rushed to take Ray's suitcase and loaded it in the luggage compartment, while Ray opened the rear door and got in, before he managed to sit down he saw Al Azam smiling face beneath a hat that almost covered his eyes and dark sunglasses..

'Well how was it?' Al Azam asked him as soon as Ray sat beside him and shut the door.

'Not bad at all Abed thanks; I've met a committee of three that deals with me meanwhile I guess, till they'll know me better and trust me. It's headed by His Holiness secretary Mr. Malik and two council members. I could have flown back Friday morning, but they suggested to me to pass the weekend there and I didn't meet any of them during the weekend.'

'I didn't expect to hear any drastic news yet Ray, but I wanted to know how you were doing over there. You are taking the afternoon flight to Florence, so why did you leave the airport premises?'

'I didn't find anything suitable for my wife and her parents at the duty free shop, and the one in Cairo international was shut down.'

'I see,' Al Azam said, 'Stop behind the parked car!' He ordered the cab driver, and as soon as the cab stopped he turned to Ray 'I'll see you in Venice too very soon Ray,' and he got off.

Ray saw him enter the hired car that waited for him at the road's side a kilometer or so before Rome's outhskirts, with his driver no doubt behind the steering wheel.

'And who's going to pay that crazy long trip he forced me to take before we reached the airport?' The cab driver asked watching Ray's face through his mirror.

'I'll pay it don't worry.' Ray assured him.  

Al Azam must be under some stress if he was so eager to meet me so soon. It seems as if he doesn't trust me yet, and why should he? There's no trust in this kind of business, or maybe he's pushed around by his superiors who wish to know more, whether the Italians would give a hand to the French and British? I'll have to wait to my next meeting with Joe, if I want to discuss it with him at all, or if I'll remember it before the war would break out? He kept wondering and kept looking out through both sides windows at the streets outside.

'Where can I find the best gift's shop?' He asked the driver.

'Try Delfina seniore at Via Governo Vecchio. Are you getting off there?

'No you'll drive back to the airport.'

Back at the airport with a closed rectangular straw basket with perfumes for his Bianca and Beatrice her mother, a case of Cuban cigars for Luigi and chocolates and a champagne bottle; Ray sat on a rear bench next to his flight gate, there was still time and he could rest after the successful long trip to Delfina's.

A middle aged man with a week's growth of beard sat havily next to him.

'Do you speak English?' He asked Ray watching Ray's face with a hint of a smile.

It's Joe, if he hadn't opened his mouth I wouldn't have recognized him! Ray thought astonished and happy at the same time.

'Yes what can I do for you?'

'Well is this gate 24 the flight to Milan?'

'No it's…'

'Never mind I've seen your parents last Tuesday night.' Joy said in a low voice. 'I've spent three hours with them and I've calmed them down they're fine now.'

'Oh I see,' Ray answered as if Joe told him some unimportant and trivial piece of information.

'I'll be seeing you I hope in two weeks time.'

'What's the rush you've got two more hours to wait?'

'Oh I've to buy a few things to my little ones. We're busy there's a war on our threshold and we might be involved in it.' He added in a whisper while he was already on his feet facing Ray with his back to the rest of the passengers and he left.

© Haim Kadman August 2013 " all rights reserved.