****************
Mahmoud prayed.
He couldn’t remember where or when last he had prayed but today he prayed that the car would move faster, somehow, through the maddening evening traffic.
Umar was at the steering wheel of the car trying his best to maneuver between vehicles and pedestrians. It was crazy on the streets that evening.
“Do you think we will make it in time?” Sarah Jane asked for the fifth time since they turned into the avenue where the meeting was to hold.
There was no response from either man. After a few more minutes, the car turned into the gates leading to the meeting point.
Mahmoud tapped Umar’s shoulder from the back seat which he was occupying with Sarah Jane.
“I think I better get out here.” He said and Umar pulled the car to a halt. Mahmoud did not need to say more. The understanding of all the possible reasons it was good sense that he got off at that point was a tense cloud over the inhabitants of the car.
‘What if…?’ was the hanging question which no one dared ask even as it weighed heavily on their minds.
‘What if…?’
********************
They had had to borrow a taxi from a neighbor of one of the security personnel at the Centre. Both Umar and Sarah Jane had insisted that he was not going to the meeting point alone. After an explosive deliberation, the fantastic idea to borrow a cab was made and here they were.
Umar circled back out of the gates and rejoined the slow moving traffic on the avenue.
“I can hear my heart beating all over my body.” Sarah Jane commented from the back seat. “I feel as if I am coming out of my skin…” she chewed at her nails ferociously as Umar watched her through the rear view mirror and at the same time watched Mahmoud walking like he wasn’t worried towards the building set quite a distance from the gates.
What was going on in that building? Why this place? Was it a trap? They were so many questions going through his head that it felt like a train station in there.
“Do you think…” Sarah Jane began.
“Sarah, I can’t think!” Umar snapped.
Sarah fell silent again at the back. She was still chewing at her nails apprehensively but otherwise, she was quiet.
The jangle of a mobile phone ringtone interrupted the silence in the car.
Umar swiftly picked the call via his hands free device.
“Hello?” he said into the ear piece.
“Umar?” he heard his detective friend’s voice and sighing out breathe he had not even realized he had been holding in relief.
“He is in. We are out of the place. He was walking into the building directly facing the gate as we pulled away.”
“There was a package brought in after you guys left.” Obinna continued. “The receptionist brought it over, which was a good thing.” He said.
Umar could feel the tension seeping through the line. It felt like a living entity to him. “What was it?” he asked wondering if he really wanted an answer to that question.
“Pictures. Of Jay. They are messing with him again.” Came the response and Umar’s heart sank like a weight of lead to the bottom of his feet. Something must have shown in his expression because he heard Sarah Jane’s gasp.
“What…how bad is it?” he asked struggling to maintain his composure for Sarah Jane’s sake. The lady looked like she was at the tail end of her meter.
“It looks…bad.” Obi replied. “My officers are in position. We will move in as soon as we get a clearer picture. Right now, the chip on Mahmoud is working well and we are getting a feed from him. Are on your way to the station?” he asked
“I am wondering if we might not head back to the Centre…?” Umar replied. Just in case…
“Okay. Will keep you posted.” Obi said and cut the connection.
Umar noticed that he was breathing loudly. Really loudly.
“Umar is he dead?” Sarah Jane asked.
Umar shook his head. He wasn’t sure what it was he was responding. No? Maybe? I hope so? What did ‘messing with him’ mean? He realized his hands were trembling and that his face was wet.
Sarah Jane scooted closer to his seat. “Umar, talk to me.” She said, her hand hovering over him like she might need to shake him.
“They are messing with him.” he choked out on a sob. “After everything…O God!”
His tears came faster. Another sob was stifled from the back seat, her hand finally resting on his shoulder.
“What can happen now? She asked wearily.
Umar concentrated on breathing in and out as he gathered his calm like a cloak around him.
“We pray he makes it. Then we do it again if need be.” He stated emphatically. He was calm once again.
They would too. Sarah Jane withdrew as she sat back on the seat. They would too.
CHAPTER 12
“Talk about an anti-climax.” Obinna gripped. “I was hoping for more action than this!” he complained as he huffed and puffed at his cigarette.
Umar leaned back against the wall his eyes closed, his head tipped backwards so that it rested more comfortably on the wall as he let his mind roam.
“But Greene though!” Obinna continued. “How on earth did he slip under our radar?!”
And that, Umar believed was the crux of the matter for Obinna. No one, not any one of them had suspected that Dr. Greene, as respected as he was professionally, could have been involved in this horror. And to think of it, that should have made him a top suspect. He had all the qualification necessary to be able to conduct the kind of extensive ‘research’ that had been uncovered. Umar shuddered to think of the details that had been unraveling ever since the show down three weeks ago.
He could not, even if he lived to be two hundred years old, forget the terror that clutched his innards as they wheeled out what had seemed to be a lifeless, bloodied Jay from that building. He suspected he would have stood there unable to move if it had not been for Sarah Jane who had run past him, uncaring of the sporadic gunfire that was still ringing around them. How had they not gotten themselves killed?
They had driven almost to the centre that fateful day when Sarah Jane had an attack of…conscience, a premonition? He was just grateful that she made him turn around and drive all the way back to that avenue. Jay could not have made it otherwise. The police squad had been too busy trying to return the gunfire that had been released at them to successfully retrieve Jay AND evacuate him as they had planned. In the end, He and Sarah Jane had to haul Jay into that ill-equipped car and then drive off. Ah! That drive! How fortunate they hadn’t killed anyone, themselves included. He and Sarah Jane both had prayed like he was certain they had never prayed in their lives and amazingly, Jay made it back to the centre. Barely alive, barely breathing.
“How’s Sarah Jane?” Obinna asked suddenly.
Umar smiled wryly. “She’s stable now.” He replied. He cocked open one eyelid to see Obinna looking at him doubtfully. He burst out laughing at that. “She was exhausted.” “She pushed herself beyond her limits and cracked.” Umar shrugged as he readjusted himself against the wall. Obi absorbed that information and then asked.
“Do you think she is emotionally involved, attached to him?”
Umar purposely kept his eyes closed and his smile off his lips as he countered “Him? Who?”
“Mahmoud.” Obi answered and Umar’s eyes shut open and his head jerked off the wall.
Obi chuckled. “That got you right? Didn’t see that one coming.” He threw down his cigarette stub and extinguished it under his shoe.
“Why would you imagine that Mahmoud and Sarah Jane would be emotionally involved?” Umar queried.
Obinna laughed out loud. “I don’t even know why I’m amused.” He said as he simmered down. “I guess you could say it was easy for me to see because…I—I kind of like her myself.” He concluded self depreciatingly.
“You kind of like her yourself? What am I in? Some kind of time warp?”
&
nbsp; “You don’t think she’s cute too?” Obinna smiled slyly
“She is but goodness! She’s our professional colleague!” Umar burst out.
“YOUR professional colleague.” Obi stressed. “It doesn’t seem to be stopping Mahmoud though.” He said.
“What’s not stopping Mahmoud?” Mahmoud asked as he came to join them.
“We might as well order drinks.” Umar bit out sarcastically.
Mahmoud cocked his eye brows questioningly at Obinna. “What’s eating him?” he asked.
Obinna just shook his head as he straightened off the wall. “Gotta go guys. Need to get back to the station.” He said as he did one of those arm clasps that only friends seemed to understand amongst themselves and left.
Mahmoud took his position against the wall and asked. “What was that about?” he asked Umar.
“If we’re both out here, what’s going on with our patients?” Umar responded testily.
“They are both stable.” Mahmoud responded as he looked Umar over in mild consternation. “What’s eating you up?” He asked again.
“Do you think that we’ve really gotten him stable?” Umar asked.
“Why do you think we’ve not? Forget I asked that.” Mahmoud sagged against the wall wearily. They both stared at the parking lot reserved for staff members behind the hospital building. Sometime during their interlude, it began to rain lightly.
“I doff my hat to his courage you know.” Umar began, “If I were in his shoes, I would have killed myself and be done with it.”
“Why?” Mahmoud asked sleepily.
“He…What is ‘he’?” Umar burst out. His anger at the injustice of it all colouring his voice.
“Jay.” Mahmoud answered simply and quietly. “He is Jay. Who or what Jay is? He’ll figure that out as he goes along I guess.”
“That’s a long, hard and lonely road he has ahead of him.”
Mahmoud began chuckling almost hysterically.
“What’s so funny?” Umar asked.
“The thought just popped into my head that ‘at least he gets hard’.” He hiccupped.
Umar smiled and shrug his back trying to find a more comfortable position.
“I worried that he wouldn’t. I worry about a lot of things. I have to trust God that he’ll be fine. Somehow.” Mahmoud continued.
“The weight God carries on His shoulders.” Umar opined.
“Guess that’s why He’s God.”
“Yeah! What prime example we now have of man playing God on our hands.”
Mahmoud shuddered involuntarily as his mind flashed through the journey that bringing Jay into their lives had taken them through. They both watched as a pretty nurse in her white uniform dashed through the rain to get into her car.
“That’s Nurse Sumbo. Probably the shift has changed.” Mahmoud said as he stretched up off the wall making to go back indoors.
“Yep.” Umar quipped as he joined him. “By the way, Obinna says he likes Sarah-J.”
“Oh?” Mahmoud asked testily stopping at the doorway and turning to Umar.
Umar buried his hands in the deep pockets and walked into the building while Mahmoud stood ponderingly for a few moments and then stalked in after him.
CHAPTER 13
Jay opened his eyes gently as he woke that morning. He smiled. It felt good to wake up these days. He had lived under that dark cloud for so long that he had forgotten what the light felt like. He caught a movement in the corner of his eyes and jerked towards it reflectively. It would seem that darkness could still threaten him then. He peered at the group seated by the door of his hospital room as he waited for his blurry eyesight to focus. He wondered if he would ever regain his full vision.
When he had first opened his eyes at the hospital after that horrible night, he had not seen anything but shadows, like the world had turned black and white and then been inverted so that white seemed black and black seemed white. It had been such a confusing time for him. Mercifully, his eyesight had improved in the last two weeks. Now, it took awhile whenever he opened it for focus to come, but it always came.
“How are you doing Jay?”
The voice almost broke Jay. “Mrs. Acha?” he asked, his vision still blurry but clearer than before.
“Can you not see us?” The second voice finally had the tears leaking from his eyes, his vision clearing even more.
“Angie? And Mr. Acha?” he asked excitement ringing through his voice.
“Yes dear boy. It’s us.” It was the dear voice of Mrs. Acha. “We came as soon as they said we could. How are you doing? Can you not see?”
At that moment, his vision sharpened into focus and he could see their dear faces.
“I can now. It takes awhile whenever I close my eyes for too long.”
“How are you doing my boy?” Mr. Acha asked, concern and pride waging a war on his face.
Jay could only smile, speechless as he looked at this amazing family that had welcomed him, such an unknown entity into their hearts and homes.
“Much better for having you all here.” He sighed in mingled joy and relief.
“So…” Angie piped up, irrepressible as ever, “this is what this place looks like inside.” She beamed.
Jay chuckled. Trust Angie to bring that up. It had peeved her no end when she would drop him at the steps, those times he would hitch a ride with her for his check-ups at the Centre, and Mahmoud would ‘scowl’ her away before she had had a chance to peek.
“Yes.” He smiled. “This is it! Not quite as spectacular as you thought.”
“Oh! It’s spectacular enough! They perform miracles here.” She said. And just like that, a silence descended on them as each of them thought how grateful they were for miracles.
“That they do Angela. That they do.” Mr. Acha said. “Dr. Faizan isn’t sure when you’ll be let out but…we thought that if you would like it, we would like you to come home with us...”
“Even if it’s for awhile only!” Mrs. Acha put in when she saw the confused frown gathering on his brow.
“Don’t you want to come with us?” Angie asked her disappointment vivid on her face.
“Actually, I would love that so much.” Jay responded with a wry smile. “I was just wondering who… Oh! Mahmoud!” He tittered as he sat up on the bed and waited for gravity to settle before standing up.
“He’s so seldom called ‘Dr Faizan’ here I had forgotten that was his name.”
It was like the entire family heaved a collective sigh of relief. Jay smiled again.
“Seriously Ma, I’m fine.” He reiterated addressing Mrs. Acha. If he could convince the dear woman that he was not about to drop dead at her feet this instant, he was certain the other members of her household would soon follow suit.
Just then, ‘Dr. Faizan’ and ‘Dr. Ahmed’ bustled into the room.
“Ah! He’s awake.” Mahmoud said. “They refused to leave until they had seen you and since you are looking better than dead meat these days, I decided it was okay if they did.” He joked.
“Hahaha!” scoffed Jay as Umar came around and clapped a hand, hard, on his shoulder.
“What?” Jay challenged. “You’re expecting me to squeal like a girl right?” he took Umar’s hand in a deliberate motion and set it away from his shoulder.
“Look at him man up!” Umar teased.
Mahmoud put a hand to his chest, laughing silently as he said. “It’s really great that you guys can be so blasé about this. I can’t just yet. So can we stop with the boy jokes?”
Mr. Acha stood and clapped his hand on Mahmoud’s shoulder. “Me neither. Girls come on. We’ll come visit on another day.” He patted Jay on his shoulder. “I’m so glad you’ve come this far. We’ll be by to see you more often.”
“Get well real soon so we can come get you okay?” Mrs. Acha opined as she stood up to join her husband her face wreathed in smiles at their antics.
“Okay.” Jay nodded smiling in return.
“I don’t know ab
out them, but I’ll be here tomorrow bright and early.” Angie said as she came to stand at the only empty space around his bed, smiling brightly at him.
“Don’t you have to be at school?” he asked, his hand itching to touch her. How ironic it was that it often took a brush with death to bring what is important to the fore in one’s mind.
“No!” she quipped. “I graduated a month ago!” She announced.
Jay squinted as he tried to calculate the timing. He gave up after a few moments. His brain wasn’t quite ready for that work out.
“Wow! Congrats Angie!” he said, genuinely excited for her. “I must have been ‘asleep’ for longer than I thought.” Jay joked.
Angie smile and let her hand stroke his shoulder as she walked away with her parents.
“Till tomorrow Sleeping Beauty.” She teased as the door shot behind them.
“She likes the heck out of you.” Mahmoud stated as soon as the door closed. Jay smiled as he made to undress for his morning round of exams.
“Hm! Indeed he likes her too.” Umar quipped as he turned to set up the equipments they would need.
Jay felt a blush come on. These guys!
“So…What are you going to do about it? Mahmoud asked as he went to assist Umar.
“Could ask the same of you?” Umar mumbled as he continued with his task.
“Spit it out.”Mahmoud said testily.
“She’s different.” Umar said.
“And?”
“Can we not have this conversation here?” Umar responded sharply.
Mahmoud fell silent and continued with his task.
“You guys will have this conversation though?” Jay asked as he watched his friends grapple with whatever had them at odds. Jay had a good idea that Dr. Sarah Jane was somewhere in the middle of it but chose to let them sort it out.
Umar snorted. “This ‘incident’ has been good for you Jay.” He said.
Mahmoud looked up sharply at him while Jay watched him more languidly.
“Why would you think so?” He asked.
“You found your voice.” Umar snapped. “I like it!” He smiled brightly too.
CHAPTER 14
Mahmoud stared hard at the young lady lying so still in the bed. If his stares could will the subconscious mind to move, Sarah Jane would have since been leaping about. Alas, his stares had not yet gotten her off the bed talk less of leaping.