Abigail – The Avenging Agent: The agent appears again (38 page)

Shining like an angel, Abigail stood
beside Karma.  The Qadi, Abu-Rain, adorned in a long snow-white robe, wore a
white turban on his head, appropriate to the wedding ceremony he was about to conduct. 
He read from a book and Karma, repeated the clergyman’s words like an echo, as
he looked at his bride.

            “This
is the wife Allah found for me, in his infinite mercy.”  The Qadi waited
patiently for Karma to repeat his words.  Meanwhile, he glanced admiringly at the
beauty of the face the woman before him.  He was puzzled by the frightened
expression he saw in her pale eyes.

            The
clergyman, Abu-Rain, had replaced the Ayatollah Karim and was a member of the
underground ‘Mujahedin-e-Khalq.’  But, he also operated as a double agent for the
‘Kaukab’ organization. Like Karim, he was acquainted with Karma and had heard
of his origins and unusual childhood.  Indirectly, he was also involved in
Abigail’s activities but knew nothing about her.  Rumors abounded regarding her
skills and now, as looked into her almost colorless eyes, he understood the
source of her nickname in the underground – “Lucy.”

            Yesterday,
Abu-Rain met with Effendi Khaidar and received a small device from him.

            “Give
it to her secretly, of course,” he asked him and now he was waiting for the
right moment to give it to her when no one else was there.

            Effendi’s
instruction had been clear: 

            “Eye to eye, meaning, just
the two of you, with no witnesses.”

“Does she know?” he asked Effendi as he
closed his hand on the small device.

“She will know.”

“Who will let her have the details and
update her?”

“Don’t worry.  You supply the ‘where
with all’ and she delivers the goods.”

The final discussion with the bridegroom
took place two days earlier. 

“We are speaking of ‘illusory marriage,'
of course,” Karma whispered.

“Really?  An illusory marriage?”

 “Wait, we do understand one another,
right?” Karma inquired, “It’s important you don’t mention the concept out
loud.”

The Qadi looked at him questioningly and
Karma explained:

“It’s unnecessary; of course, there is
no need to mention anything about the other family.  Say nothing about that,
please.”

Now, as the attractive couple stood
before him, Abu-Rain had to restrain himself from slapping the bridegroom on
the shoulder and shouting what a lucky bastard he was.  When he gazed again at
the great beauty, standing beside him, he thought that a woman like this was
meant to be first in the rank of wives and not just an additional or temporary
one.
 
It never occurred to him for a moment that Abigail knew nothing of the little
daughters and first wife of her intended bridegroom.

The ceremony ended with the reciting of
verses from the open book and the words were said quickly:

“…that was signed in an illusory
consecration, as agreed.”

Although Abigail recalled their conversation
about this, she threw an irritated glance at the clergyman and noticed that
Karma’s expression was also soured.  Karma turned his gaze to her, embraced her
and pressed his forehead to her head.  The thought that passed through her mind
was that she actually hadn’t dreamed of marrying her betrothed this way.

Abu-Rain turned aside
to
a table against one of the walls.  He spread out three pages on the table and
called to Karma from there:

“You sign here.”

Karma
glanced at him in surprise and went to peruse the documents.  The clergyman
hurried to Abigail with his hand extended and his back to Karma.  He grabbed
her hand and pressed the small device firmly into her palm and increased the
pressure to be sure she had closed her fingers around it.

From where he was standing, Karma
noticed the handshake and was puzzled by it because he knew that it was not
customary for a clergyman and he stared at him sternly.

Just then, Abigail felt her ring finger
burning, right beneath her ring with the translucent stone and it seared her
flesh.  She pulled her hand out of his grasp.  The reddish scorch mark spread
on her skin and the color of the stone in her ring immediately turned black. 
Clearly, something was radiating energy and the only thing in her hand was the
little device.

Abu-Rain sensed her aversion and
associated it with her modesty as a woman but, then, he saw her draw back her
hand as she stared at her parting fingers.  She suddenly dropped the small
instrument on the stone floor, almost throwing it and moving quickly to Karma.  There
was a sound like the engine of a motor car starting and she yelled:

“Karma, outside, at once!”

He caught up with her in two strides and
she pushed him down, on the stony ground and then, an explosion was heard
coming from the room and the smell of smoke hit their nostrils.

When the smoke dispersed, they got up
and Abigail looked into the smoky entrance.  Coughs and groans informed that Abu-Rain
had survived and she hurried to him, covered her nose with one hand and waved
the smoke away with the other, as she coughed.

Tiny flames still burned on a soot stain
on the cobblestone floor.  She moved them with the sole of her shoe and
examined it from close up.  Karma entered behind her and bent over Abu-Rain.  Abigail
looked at him and assumed that since he had made no attempt to flee, he probably
knew nothing of what she suspected was another attempt to kill her and that the
cleric was probably the unknowing messenger.

Karma knelt, but Abigail did not come closer
because she was still unconvinced of the man’s innocence.

Abu-Rain sat up, grabbed his head and
asked:

“What happened to me?”

He straightened his beard with his sooty
fingers and reddened his bearded cheeks with his bloodied fingers.  When he
spoke the next sentence, she assumed that the puzzle was solved.

“They told me that after it performs, it
self-destructs.  But they forgot to let me know that it also kills the person
who delivers it!

Abigail and Karma exchanged glances. 
Karma supported the injured man and helped him stand up.

“Are you able to walk?  If you can,
we’ll go outside for a breath of air, come,” but Abu-Rain signaled with both
hands to let him be.  He pointed to the sooty mark on the floor and shook his
head.

“That’s all we needed after they wiped
out the “Nest” and the “Fortress,” ha?”

Amazement spread on Abigail’s
face.  At once, she wondered what more this man knew. She retreated and went
into the apartment, muttering that she was looking for a First Aid kit.  She
took out her cell phone and sent a message to Michael.

“Urgent. 
Find out what is known about a man called Abu-Rain?”

            The
answer came within a minute.

“He’s
a strange cleric.  Even we aren’t sure who he let marry his daughter.

What
happened to him?”

In
reply, she wrote:

“He gave me something that exploded in my hand; that’s
why it’s crucial to know who married his daughter.”

They
chuckled in the office and sent her a reply.

“We’ll
find out.

Install your tracking device on his
telephone.”

 An approaching car was heard outside.  A
door opened and slammed shut.  Abigail understood that more people had arrived
and she decided to remain safe, in the shadows of the room.

The driver of the car entered with
friends and acquaintances of the cleric.  Taking advantage of the reigning
pandemonium, Abigail came in and began searching for the Qadi’s telephone.  She
saw it lying beside him.  He had used it to call the people and she picked it
up quickly.  She disappeared into the back room again, extracted the small
tracking device from her phone and inserted it in his.  When she returned to
the hall, she laid it down openly on the little table and waited until she saw the
injured man, pick it up.

When they all departed, Abigail looked
for Karma and assumed he had gone to accompany wounded Abu-Rain and his
entourage.  When she heard his familiar steps, she clung to the wall and jumped
in front of him, shouting,

“Boooh!”

“Oh, you gave me a fright,” he exclaimed
and rested his hand on his chest.  “I really did get a fright.”

He went to her and embraced her as he
whispered in her ear:

“We almost forgot.  What do you think?
Shall we celebrate our marriage here?”

He nibbled her earlobe and tickled her
with the warmth of his breath.  Abigail clung to him and wanting him to indulge
her, asked adoringly:

“Where?”

“We’ll stay here,” he whispered, “Abu-Rain
arranged a place for us here.”

“No, no!” she said, taken aback, “wait, was
it his suggestion that we stay here?”

“Yes, he is taking care of us, why not? 
Relax, go with the flow, you’re always on guard.  It’s enough now!”

Outside, the sun had almost set and the
howling wind that sounded like jackal made Abigail shudder.  She looked at the
man she had married only an hour earlier and thought that, actually, she hadn’t
told him of her beautiful house, there at the foot of the Caucus Mountains, in
Azerbaijan.  She thought of surprising him and suggested they go there today. 
She pointed toward the mountains.

“There?”  He glanced in the direction
she was pointing, saw mountains covered with evergreen trees and didn’t
understand her.

“Aren’t you getting a bit carried away,
my wife?”

“I imagined us living in a small house
in the heart of the mountains.” Suddenly she changed her mind. “You’re probably
right, I’m exaggerating.”

Then, he decided there was something worth
considering in her suggestion.

“On second thoughts, it’s not a bad
idea.”

“No, I was just babbling.  The winter is
coming and we won’t be able to survive there in the mountains, anyway.”

As their eyes met, they burst out
laughing and Karma pulled her to him and whispered:

“Since they have already prepared a place
for us, let’s stay here tonight.  Tomorrow, we can consider how to continue
from here,” but Abigail refused.

“It isn’t really the place I wanted to
spend our first night.”

“Why?  Who says what the right place is?”

“But this is the least secure place in
the world for two people like us.

“”Oh, enough, there is nowhere safe for
us,” and he pulled her inside the house.

At one of the rooms, he pushed the wall
under the window with his shoe and an opening appeared in it.  Karma bent down
and disappeared and Abigail entered after him.  A chill enveloped her and she
heard him say:

“Come in and close the opening behind
you,” and she saw the stairs.

“Oh! I
should
have figured that a house of prayer, like this, has a basement,” she mumbled
and counted eight steps.

Dark passages led off from the dim
vestibule and Karma laughed when he said he wasn’t familiar with the basement
and perhaps they should explore it, but not today.  However, Abigail saw that
he proceeded confidently along the right corridor till he reached a large
room.  It was a bedroom that contained a low bureau, a double bed, and two
bedside tables.

Two jug-shaped lamps stood on the
bedside tables.  They were adorned with flowers and a striped snake crawling
over them.  Karma had a flash of memory, but he said nothing and only pressed
on the glowing switch on one of them and spread a golden light in the room.
Then he took off his shirt and lay down on the bed with a deep sigh, spread his
arms out on either side, stretched and yawned noisily has he glanced at
Abigail.  She stood beside the other bedside table, passed her hand over the
round adorned belly of the jug and felt a tiny aperture that was directed at
the wall.  Right away, she unscrewed the bulb holder, removed it and peered
inside.

“What are you up to?” Karma asked and
Abigail signaled him to be quiet.  She brought the jug closer to his eyes, and
when he peeped inside and cried out:

“I don’t believe how this…”  Abigail
covered his mouth with her hand and finished the sentence he had begun: “Yes,
it’s clear you didn’t know I wear trousers under my galabiya.”

“What, What?”

“Well, so what, it’s permitted and
accepted.” And she signaled Karma with her arm to continue talking and to go
with the flow of what she was saying.

She put her hand into the jug and pulled
a device with colored wires attached to it out of the jug.  She tore the electric
wire on it and made sure that it couldn’t record anything and transmit it then
returned it to the jug.  When she finished screwing back the bulb holder, she
switched the light on and added light to that of Karma’s on the other side.