you to begin working with us when he was murdered. That was why he moved you and your family to America. He was not running from the war, but embracing it. Burrowing himself in the den of the enemy. Studying their true strengths and vulnerabilities. He realized the truth; the truth that killing Jews was pointless, regardless of how good it made some of our countrymen feel. Hitler learned this the hard way. To truly bring the Muslim faith back to prominence, the entire animal of the West would have to be slaughtered, not just the Jewish parasite invading it.”
***
It was over sixty years later and Aman still marveled at the forbearance of his father and Hussan. If organizations like Arafat’s Fatah movement would have adhered to similar principles, then the world could have been a different place. It was just as well, Aman thought to himself. The glory was his for the taking, and now was the time to seize it.
Chapter 8
Alex’s eyes popped open, interrupting what was quickly becoming a horrific nightmare. Sweat beaded on his forehead as he swung his legs over the side of the bed and turned down the thermostat. The wall-mounted air conditioner kicked to life. He slowly got out of bed. The late night dinner he treated himself to with his winnings had finally caught up with him, and he groped in the dark towards the bathroom. After five minutes on the toilet, he felt human again. He stared into the mirror, closely scrutinizing the beginning of a beard. He had dreamed that his ex-wife was the unknown woman who dropped the cell phone in his pocket, and that she was actually a spy who was going to be his boss at the CIA. She was taking him to work attached to a leash when he woke up in a cold sweat.
The nightmare reminded him of his strange encounter at the airport. He grabbed the blue jeans sitting across the chair and felt inside the pocket until he found the cell phone. He forgot about it after all the excitement in the casino. He pulled the phone out and gave it a close examination. It did not appear to be anything out of the ordinary. He scrolled through the numbers and names saved in it, but saw nothing that caught his attention. If they are looking to jump-start my learning curve, this was certainly a novel approach, he silently admitted to himself.
The question that plagued him though was how to handle it? If this was a test, what should he do about it? His instincts still told him to be patient. The woman would have to appear again and point him in the right direction. He just needed the first signal to get the ball rolling.
Thirty minutes later, and feeling much better after a scalding shower followed by an ice cold rinsing, h e lounged on his bed reading a biography of Winston Churchill. A few pages into it he set the book down, unable to concentrate. He continued to work through the different scenarios the unknown woman could potentially try. “Just let her come to me,” he said aloud to himself. A familiar voice in the hallway interrupted him.
“Hey, you awake in there?” The knock on the door brought Alex out of his haze, and he stuffed the cell phone into his pocket before letting Michael into the room.
“You feeling all right? You didn’t get trashed after we left did you?” Michael asked.
“No, I stuck around for another hour though. Luck held up, and I got a bite to eat before going to bed. Been paying for it.”
“No kidding! I noticed the foul smell as soon as I stepped through the door,” Michael responded with a laugh. “That’s sweet that you made some more money. Lunch is on you then. How much did you clear?”
“I haven’t counted it all yet, but I think it’s over three hundred,” Alex replied as he pointed towards the wad of crumpled bills sitting on the table. Alex always found their adolescent banter amusing. The fact that they were both professionals did not prevent them from falling back into the same immature
***
It was over sixty years later and Aman still marveled at the forbearance of his father and Hussan. If organizations like Arafat’s Fatah movement would have adhered to similar principles, then the world could have been a different place. It was just as well, Aman thought to himself. The glory was his for the taking, and now was the time to seize it.
Chapter 8
Alex’s eyes popped open, interrupting what was quickly becoming a horrific nightmare. Sweat beaded on his forehead as he swung his legs over the side of the bed and turned down the thermostat. The wall-mounted air conditioner kicked to life. He slowly got out of bed. The late night dinner he treated himself to with his winnings had finally caught up with him, and he groped in the dark towards the bathroom. After five minutes on the toilet, he felt human again. He stared into the mirror, closely scrutinizing the beginning of a beard. He had dreamed that his ex-wife was the unknown woman who dropped the cell phone in his pocket, and that she was actually a spy who was going to be his boss at the CIA. She was taking him to work attached to a leash when he woke up in a cold sweat.
The nightmare reminded him of his strange encounter at the airport. He grabbed the blue jeans sitting across the chair and felt inside the pocket until he found the cell phone. He forgot about it after all the excitement in the casino. He pulled the phone out and gave it a close examination. It did not appear to be anything out of the ordinary. He scrolled through the numbers and names saved in it, but saw nothing that caught his attention. If they are looking to jump-start my learning curve, this was certainly a novel approach, he silently admitted to himself.
The question that plagued him though was how to handle it? If this was a test, what should he do about it? His instincts still told him to be patient. The woman would have to appear again and point him in the right direction. He just needed the first signal to get the ball rolling.
Thirty minutes later, and feeling much better after a scalding shower followed by an ice cold rinsing, h e lounged on his bed reading a biography of Winston Churchill. A few pages into it he set the book down, unable to concentrate. He continued to work through the different scenarios the unknown woman could potentially try. “Just let her come to me,” he said aloud to himself. A familiar voice in the hallway interrupted him.
“Hey, you awake in there?” The knock on the door brought Alex out of his haze, and he stuffed the cell phone into his pocket before letting Michael into the room.
“You feeling all right? You didn’t get trashed after we left did you?” Michael asked.
“No, I stuck around for another hour though. Luck held up, and I got a bite to eat before going to bed. Been paying for it.”
“No kidding! I noticed the foul smell as soon as I stepped through the door,” Michael responded with a laugh. “That’s sweet that you made some more money. Lunch is on you then. How much did you clear?”
“I haven’t counted it all yet, but I think it’s over three hundred,” Alex replied as he pointed towards the wad of crumpled bills sitting on the table. Alex always found their adolescent banter amusing. The fact that they were both professionals did not prevent them from falling back into the same immature
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