The Rifa'ee woman

An excerpt of my 12th book "On both sides of the abyss".

Abdul Karim sat in his office over a cup of black coffee reading the Al-Ba'ath daily newspaper of the Al Ba'ath party when the phone rang.

He pulled the receiver, held it close to his ear and listened

'Good morning sir, it's Rashid I've received a call from the airport, the American press attaché landed alone...'

'Have you asked our Lebanese colleagues if they checked the lists of all the other incoming flights?'

'Yes sir all the lists were checked including the lists of the planes that will land later today.'

'I see, come to my office Rashid and bring with you the taped transcripts of Amina's apartment; we'll pass over it again together.'

If she betrayed me and decided to run away and stay in London, I'll turn to the Idarat Al Amn to send a team to cut her throat… But I'll better wait a few days she may arrive in a day or two for some unknown reason. He decided getting over his sudden anger.

'Do come in Rashid,' he called out when he heard the announcement of his secretary in the intercom.

The secretary opened up the office's door to Rashid as the latter was carrying a heavy tape-recorder in his hands.

'Thanks ya Ahmed and shut the door.' Abdul Karim ordered his obedient secretary.

'Well, sit down Rahsid and switch it on, but let's hear only to the conversation after we've released her and her return to Beirut.'

They sat quietly listening attentively again to bits of conversation between Amina and the American, and when the transcript reached its end Rashid looked up at his boss waiting to hear his opinion. But Abdul Karim was buried in his thoughts. She's infatuated with the American… I hope my bright idea wouldn't turn into a fiasco. He thought worried.

'Well what do you think Rashid?' He asked his deputy and coughed slightly.

'I don't know what to say sir, she did tell him all about her ex fiancé after he installed her in that apartment, and it seems to me that he believed her story that she was a victim of an abduction attempt by men that were sent by her ex fiancé's family… She should have landed with him, if the only reason he took her with him was the fear of a second attempt…'

'It doesn't make sense at all, he tells her that she should stay a year or six months at least In London, and then changes his mind and promises her to bring her back with him to Beirut.' Abdul Karim coughed again hesitating whether to share his thoughts with his deputy or not.

'There're three main possibilities to take into account, either we lost her, or she'll stay in London to pass her training there, or she'll land under another identity in a day or two… That must be it! She'll land under another identity, but he won't be able to train her unless she'll come as summoned by the American embassy to serve as a translator or some other job; and he will train her in the American embassy's building.'

'How clever of you sir you've found the right solution to that riddle.'

'What you'll have to do Rashid is to ask our friends at the Lebanese internal secruty service to order the Lebanese emigration authorities to check every young female that enters carrying an American passport. You may go now Rashid and get in touch with the Lebanese internal service without the slightest delay.' He ordered his deputy and returned to his doubts, as soon as the latter left his office.

I hope it won't reach His Highness ears yet. I'd rather wait two or three days up to the weekly meeting, with the hope that we'll find out what's going on with her.

But another phone ring barged into his thoughts. It was His Highness expressing his wish to see him without delay.

Abdul Karim went up to his boss office with a throbbing heart, and did his best to hide his apprehension from His Highness secretary.

'You may go in,' His Highness secretary told him, watching Karim's face with a quizzical gaze.

'Sit down Abdul I've got just a few moments to spare so what happened with that Rifa'ee woman?'

'Well sir she may join the American embassy's staff as a translator, and there the American would train her…'

'It's a too complicated theory Abdul, and to what end would they use her?'

'They may change her identity and sneak her into our capital at the night time.'

'In that case they'd better train her in London. Well Abdul I think that we simply lost her, that should be our first assumption, Thus if she's lost no harm done and it's the American's failure, but you'll have to check if we're wrong and they'll sneak her inside our country despite our assessments.'

© Haim Kadman October 2013 �" all rights reserved.