Abigail – The Avenging Agent: The agent appears again (13 page)

“What now?” Hamis inquired when he
noticed Karma’s disappointment and heard him respond with a question:

“Where is the Nevada desert?”

Hamis screwed up his eyes, scratched his
chest like a great big gorilla and yawned aloud.

“In the United States of America,” he
announced and knew full well that this would not be the end of the
interrogation.

“Yes, I heard, but where is that
desert?”

“It’s more than one hundred kilometers
from Las Vegas.”

Karma was silent.  He was deep in
thought and after a moment, asked:

“Why there, of all places?”

“Because the conditions in that desert
are similar to those in the mountains of Northern Iran:  do you understand
now?  Ya’allah (come on), stop keeping your feeble mind busy with nonsense,” he
teased him and slapped him on the back again.

Karma stood up and went to his corner at
the rear of the kitchen.  A minute later, Hamis arrived and lit the bedside
lamp.  He stared at Karma with feigned severity like a father scolding his
prying son and reprimanded him.

“You
don’t intend telling anyone what I talked to you about, right?

“Can you give me some information about
Dugar?” Karma answered with a question.

Hamis sat on the edge of Karma’s bed, a
smile crossing his fleshy lips.

“Ah, Dugar,” he replied and his
admiration for the man was palpable.

“Yes, he fought in many battles,” He
laughed.  “He always knew how to exploit his small stature and mislead all the
people, who treated him like a child.”

“Did he succeed?”

“And how, he succeeded!  He succeeded
where more courageous men never dreamed of trying.”

The following day, Dugar blew into the
bar like a whirlwind.  A small and agile figure, he leaned on the greasy
counter and shared a secret with Hamis, who looked up, unconsciously following
Karma with his eyes.  At the time, Karma was clearing away dishes and beverage
bottles, cleaning tables and he also understood that he was the subject of
their discussion.  He approached the counter and heard:

“Sit!”

He immediately sat down beside them, his
childish face wearing a serious expression that made him appear almost adult.

“Here, take it, read,” Dugar ordered and
slid a section of the newspaper on the counter in his direction.  Karma nodded
his head at him and Hamis murmured:

“He doesn’t read, read it to him.”

“Come over there,” Dugar told him.

When they moved to the back room, Abdul
rose from where he had been lying and barked at Dugar.  He raised his leg to
kick the dog, but Karma stood between them and separated the shoe from the dog.
 
Dugar let loose with a juicy profanity and spat on the floor.  He hated dogs
and was insulted when this dog dared to bark at him.  He stared at Karma and
inquired:

“Yours?” and continued without hearing
the answer.

When they sat down, Dugar briefly
glanced up at Karma and began reading in a quiet voice.

“Members of the Organization, associated
with the murder of six Americans, participated in the uprising that deposed
Pahlavi, the Shah of Iran.”

He looked up again at Karma and asked:

“Does that shock you?  Are you still
interested?”

Karma nodded in the affirmative and
glanced at the newspaper cutting.  He thought how he would like to be able to
read the piece by himself but immediately pushed the idea aside.  He gazed at
the little man, whom he now admired with all his heart and listened to what he
read to him.

“The Organization was put on the
American list of terrorist organizations, but its members quickly turned it into
a bitter rival of the Khomeini regime.”

Karma was startled and exclaimed
excitedly:

“So, if they oppose the Iranian regime
than they are, as it were, actually cooperating with the Americans.”

Dugar glanced at him quickly and when he
looked at Hamis, his lips stretched into a thin smile and Hamis knew that the
intelligent boy had earned a place of importance for himself.  He was familiar
with Dugar and knew that it was rare to see a smile on the face of this small
man.

“Correct,” Dugar confirmed, “The
Americans agreed with you.  They also understood that the enemy of the Iranian
regime was their friend and they also made deals with them that included
clandestine operations.”

Karma paid attention to what he was
saying but at that moment he was rattling his brain to think of a way to get to
the United States.  It seemed like trying to reach the moon.  He thought that
the most pressing thing was to learn to read for it would be very hard to get
ahead if remained illiterate.

That same evening, Karma began putting
sounds to the symbols that Hamis wrote on a page.  At the end of his workday,
when the larger lights went out, he would sit by the light of a single bulb and
memorize them, trace them with a pencil and draw them repeatedly.  By the
middle of the night, his eyes wobbling with fatigue, he already knew how to
write many letters and recognize their sound but he still had to join them into
words.  His eyes closed and the pencil slipped from his fingers and rolled on
the floor.  That night, he dreamed that he could read the newspaper and woke up
in fright when he felt a slap and sat up in his bed.  He heard Hamis shouting:

“What happened?  Why are you sobbing
like a girl?  Shut up and let me sleep!”

Hamis stared at him and then Karma saw
he was holding a glass of water.

Apparently Karma had mumbled and recited
letters, repeatedly shouting them out loud in his sleep till Hamis got up and came
to him.

“Take this glass of water.  Perhaps you
would prefer me to pour it over you on your bed!  Here, drink, and calm down!!”
he urged and sat down beside him.

He watched Karma drink the water and his
concern for the knowledge-thirsty boy he had grown so fond of during the time
he had been with him, was clearly visible on his face.

“Instead of working tomorrow morning,
continue writing the letters and then, in the afternoon, we’ll sit together and
combine them into words, Okay? Are you ‘mabsut’? (pleased)”

One day, Karma heard more stories about the
Organization that was so far away.

“The leader of the Organization is
Maryam Rajavi,” Abdurobin informed him.

He was fat and short and a large roll of
fat surrounded his double chin.  In recent days he had accompanied Dugar in his
activities and having heard so much about the youth, he regarded him with mounting
curiosity now.

“A woman?” Karma was amazed.  “How is
that possible?”

“What are you talking about?  She is ‘kebira’
(huge)!  She has been running the Organization for years and supervises
everything.  There is no one like her!” Dugar declared.

Karma tried to create an image of Maryam
in his mind’s eye and he laughed.  He imagined her dressed in a long spotted
camouflage galabiya of similar fabric to that of military fatigues, brandishing
a rifle with her heroic men marching behind her.  He laughed out loud but immediately
covered his mouth with his hand.

“Imagine that even the Israeli ‘Mossad’
has ties to that Organization,” Abdurobin added and Dugar glanced at Karma
quickly and roared at Abdurobin:

“Shhhh, shut up, that was quite unnecessary!”

It was the first time that Karma heard
the name of another country and organization called the ‘Mossad.'

“Who is this ‘Mossad’?” he asked.

“It’s the Organization of the State of ‘Yisrail’
(Israel).”

“Ah, is that close to the United
States?” he asked at once and was insulted when the two men burst out laughing.

“Definitely not, it’s near the
Mediterranean,” Dugar said and Karma did not understand that either.

Abdurobin added with a chuckle:

“Israel is a little enemy that is stuck
there, like a thorn in the side of her neighbors.”

The three laughed once more and Karma
stared at them again, not understanding what was amusing them.

All that had transpired in the two last days
before he left Hamis’ tavern.

If only Karma had known what fate
awaited him, he might have thought again before he set out on the path he
chose.

Towards evening, unfamiliar people
arrived at the tavern.  They carried packages wrapped in brown paper and
entered the back room quickly and secretly.  Hamis turned to Karma and told
him:

“Keep watch and shut up,” and
disappeared with the men into the room.  Karma twisted his mouth enviously as
he choked back tears of disappointment.

He heard the rustling of paper as they
opened the packages.  He cupped his ears, straining to listen to what they were
saying but didn’t succeed in making out a word of it.  The people came out of
the room after quite a long time and disappeared into the dark, one after
another.

Later, Karma entered the room to clean
it.  He collected all the papers and crumpled notes that littered the tables
and the floor, unfolded them and studied them at length.  Karma understood that
an attack on the Turkish army had been planned here and that its objectives and
goals as well as who would be targeted and who would participate in the assault
had been decided.  His soul burned within him. 

He did not say a word to Hamis, but he
could not fall asleep that night and presumed that he would learn more details the
next day.

In the morning, he restrained himself
and waited but Hamis remained silent.  The hours passed slowly and suddenly he
saw Hamis standing behind the counter, wiping his flushed face.  Karma
understood that he was crying and approached him immediately and stood beside
him.  He wanted to help him or be supportive, but Hamis raised his hand and
Karma stopped.

It was clear to Karma that something had
gone awry and was upsetting Hamis.  Suddenly, he was conscious that here, at
moments of import, no one confided in him or allowed him to be a party to secret
information.  The recognition of this and the disappointment he felt tore at his
boyish soul.

Karma left that same day, taking his dog
with him.  He understood that there was nothing more for him at this tavern and
if he wanted to join the rebels, he would have to go after them and reach them
by himself.

He
returned to the room at the back where the people had held their meeting the
day before.  The wrappers they had brought there the day before littered the
corner of the room and he tore a piece of paper from one of them.  He sat there
and made an effort to record his thoughts in a note.  He read what he wrote and
became angry with himself.  He crumpled the paper and threw it on the floor.
The ball of paper rolled near his feet and he picked it up again and looked at
it.  He had written:

“I am leaving because no one
is prepared to share their secrets with me.

I am a real Kurd and it is
important to me to participate in the Kurdish struggle.

I
have left to seek out and join the genuine rebels.”

This
time,
he cut the paper into tiny pieces and discarded them.  He thought he should
mention his appreciation of Hamis, show that he loved him but also understood
that he would not get the opportunity to join the planning and fighting as long
as he remained there.  Then, he wrote:

“I always wanted to join in your plans
but never succeeded. 

When I was a child, people told me that
I was saved thanks to Abdul the Kurd and there, in the tent, I heard stories
about the Kurdish heroes from Nana Kahit.

Today, I am going out to find the freedom fighters and
join them.

I, Karma, your loving pupil

And
you, Hamis, my teacher forever.”

He put the note on the serving counter,
weighted it down with a fork to prevent it flying away and quietly left the
tavern.

If Karma had only known what fate had in
store for him, he might have thought again before setting out on this path.

Hours after Karma left, Hamis awakened to
discover the fork and the note.

Karma did not see how Hamis read what he
had written to him and burst out crying again. 

He was doubly sorry for not having
allowed him to participate because he could have guided him and not lost the
boy he loved.

* * *

            Karma was almost sixteen
when he secretly left Hamis’ tavern.

It was cold and a light mist blurred
everything.  The sun’s rays came out and began to disperse the haze.  Abdul,
his dog, who ran close on his heels, tried to chase them, wagged his tail and
barked gleefully, apparently surprised at being allowed to join in the outing.

Karma looked around, attempting to
decide what direction to take.  All he wanted for the moment was to become one
of the heroes of Nana Kahit’s tales but, he didn’t know where to start.

He tried to recall where the great Wan
River flowed, that same river that was the place where he had stopped after
leaving his family.  He remembered how he roamed around with homeless boys and
met many characters while he spent days and nights searching for food with and
decided to return to the previous point in his life.

He walked for over an hour and still saw
no sign of the river, which he estimated he should have met up with a long time
ago.

Ahead of him he saw a man riding a
bicycle. He balanced a pole with buckets hanging on either side of his
shoulders.

“Hi ho!” he called out to him and made
wavy movements with his hands that resembled the movement of water and turned the
palm of his hand up in a questioning gesture.

The cyclist stopped, spread his legs and
signaled the opposite direction.  Karma raised his arm in thanks and turned to
walk in the opposite direction.  And, indeed, after walking for a few more
minutes, he heard the sound of rushing water coming from the thick undergrowth
and bushes.  A minute later, the river appeared ahead, its murky waters kicking
up a thick froth as they flowed and carried vast amounts of floating garbage. 

All at once, Abdul, his dog barked in
the direction of the water and Karma noticed a large boat and people standing
in line.  They passed packages from hand to hand, along the line to the last
man in the line.  That man stood in water up to his chest and threw the boxes
to another man standing on the deck of the boat. 

Karma
hushed his dog and approached the men, but they continued working and ignored
him.

“Do you need help?”  He shouted to them
and even before they answered, he girded his loins and joined the line.  He
took a plastic cube from the hands of a scrawny man and passed it to the man
ahead of him.  Afterward heavy cartons were transferred as well as packages
wrapped in brown paper. 

The goods passed along a human chain
that led from a man standing on the back of an old pickup truck that emitted puffs
of smoke and ended on the boat.  A man with a mustache stood on the deck. He
wore a T-shirt and the muscles of his brawny arms undulated as he worked.  Suddenly,
Karma noticed that the muscular man caught the large packages he received and
laid them down especially carefully.

They worked in silence for a
considerable time and the scrawny man signaled and the passing of the packages
halted.  He turned aside and spoke on the telephone, covering his mouth with
his hand and whispering into it.

The truth was that he knew Karma, who
had joined in their work but was just surprised that he had turned up there
that day.

The man was Jalal and he was one of the
American CIA agents.  In the course of his wandering among the people, he would
visit cafés and bars to gather information in the field.  He looked for
signs of surreptitious organization and reported what he found suspicious or of
interest to his superiors.

From the moment Jalal had set eyes on
Karma, with his beautiful smile and large honey-colored eyes, he was impressed
with him and considered enlisting him.  He had also noticed his dog with its
sheep-like ears that lay for hours in the corner of the tavern, wagging its
tail each time its master passed by.

Now, he called Bill, the intelligence
officer of the crew of the American merchant ship, “
Oratorio
.”

“Hello, Number One, Number Five here.

“Yes, I hear you.  We’re only expecting
you in another day’s time.  What’s happened?”

“This is about a different matter.  Do
you remember that youngster?”  And, without waiting for his response, he
continued:

“He turned up here unexpectedly.”

For a moment, there was silence on the
line and Jalal only heard the sound of rushing water behind him.  He blocked
his other ear with his hand and distanced himself from the group.

“Number One, I want to remind you that I
had considered asking him to join us and I want your approval to enlist him right
away.

“No, no.  Why?”

“Why not?  He’s already here.”

“We haven’t even checked out his credibility.”

Jalal was preparing to argue with Bill
till he heard the rest of what he had to say:

“Doesn’t it seem suspicious to you that
the guy turns up to see you all of a sudden?  Especially, when you’re loading cargo?”

“Understood, the matter is closed. 
Thanks.”

Jalal returned to his place in the chain
of people and signaled them to continue passing the packages and cartons while
he considered the point Bill had made in his last remark.

Just then, Karma noticed out of the
corner of his eye how the muscular man, who stood on the deck of the boat,
pushed two large cartons under a pile.  He made an effort to cover them with
rags.
 
He stopped and stared at him while the box was still in his hands.

“Hey, what’s up, have you fallen asleep standing
up?!” Jalal jabbed his elbow into Karma’s side and then noticed the boy was staring
in the direction of the boat and understood that he had seen something. His
face showed concern and his Adam’s apple bobbed up and down as his anxiety grew
greater. 

He put the package he was holding down on
the ground, moved closer to Karma, who drew back in confusion, pointed to the
boat and remarked hesitantly:

“That man, the one standing on the ship
is covering them.  Yes, I saw him covering packages.”

“What?  What did you see? Who was hiding
the boxes?”

Something in the way Jalal looked at him
and in the tone of voice frightened Karma and he decided there was no point in
remaining there.  He passed the package to the man ahead of him and turned to
walk away, but the scrawny man held Karma’s arm and blocked his way with his
foot.

Until
this point, he had
thought Karma would strengthen his team but Bill’s comment about Karma’s
behavior made him realize that perhaps there was something to fear from him. 
He didn’t let go of his arm and pulled Karma aside.  Right away, it occurred to
Jalal to try and lure him.  He hoped to delay him to allow him time to decide
what to do about him later on.

“Can I offer you a ride?” he asked.

“Ah, I don’t know.  No, I don’t think so,
thank you.”

“Where are you going to from here, boy?”
Jalal inquired pleasantly.

“It doesn’t matter, I’ll be going now.”

Karma looked at his arm, which was still
in Jalal’s grip as if he was asking to be released and Jalal realized that he
needed to try a different approach.  He smiled at Karma, revealing yellowing
teeth below his black mustache.  He released his grip but instead of letting
him go, turned it into a handshake.

“I’m Jalal and you are Hamis’ Karma,
right?” His Adam’s apple bobbed up and down when he saw the amazement that
spread on the boy’s face and he also noticed how he was taken aback.

Karma was really surprised and also
frightened and decided to end the matter there and then.  He sensed something
strange was going on and it would be better to get away.  He nodded his head at
him and began to walk, but the slim man would not let go.

“Where did you intend to go, Karma, my
friend?  What are your plans?”

Karma hesitated whether it made sense to
tell him and decided not to share his thoughts.  He shrugged, whistled to call
his dog and turned his back on Jalal, but Jalal did everything to stop him any
way he could and called out to him:

“Hey, boy, we can take you anywhere you
want to go!  I’m not joking, Karma. Just say where you want to go and we’ll get
you there.”

Suddenly, Jalal knew he wouldn’t let the
boy get out of his clutches.  He was so concerned that he had even considered
the possibility of killing him on the boat and throwing his body into the
river.  There is a point where the Wan River meets and mixes with the enormous ‘Shat-el’
Arab River.  There, no one would notice a body floating on the raging waters.  And
he knew that no one would care if they did see Karma’s body. He, too, had
noticed bodies of dead people and animals that were dragged and swept away down
the steep drop of
the waterfall more
than once.

Meanwhile, Karma had put more distance
between them and Jalal shouted after him:

“Hey, isn’t it worth it to you to work
with us and earn some money with a pleasant cruise, included?”

Karma stopped.

“Wait, what did you say?  Do you need a
laborer on your boat?”

“Yes, you give the impression of being a
diligent fellow and I need someone exactly like you!” He yelled back at him and
noticed Karma hesitating.

“Hey, you know what?” Karma said and
came close again.  “That suits me, but I will only get on the boat if Abdul, my
dog, comes too.”

“Come on. (Let it go) Leave the dog here
and someone will eventually take him back to Hamis.”

“Abdul comes with me!”  Karma insisted
and since he was still far away, Jalal feared he might carry on, so he called
out to him right away:

“Ya
'
llah
,
(come on) so, get on board and sail wherever your heart desires, both you and
your dog.”  He muttered a curse and resisted the urge to spit on the sand.

“Really? I wonder if it’s possible to
sail with you to the United States,” Karma laughed and noticed how the smile on
Jalal’s lips froze.

“What?!  Where did you say you want to
go?”  Jalal asked

“I was just pulling your leg,” Karma
replied, “I heard that there’s a country with a name like that and I sometimes
even dream of going there.” Since Jalal had still not responded, he continued:

“But, I know that’s really far away and
there’s no chance I will succeed in getting there.”

“Ahh, I’m not so sure.  If you want to
get there badly enough, you will probably make it,” Jalal muttered.

The two boxes that Mahmoud, the muscle
man, hid on the deck of the boat contained parts that had been specially developed
and manufactured by experts who lived there.  Today, Jalal and his team had
arrived to transfer them to the merchant ship, “
Oratorio
”.  This vessel
was cruising in the Indian Ocean, awaiting these goods.

It was top secret and also groundbreaking
equipment, and that is why Jalal was unusually tense.

The truth is that till then, electricity
was produced by large nuclear reactors.  But, after the disaster at Chernobyl
in Russia, when radiation leaked into residential areas, many abandoned plans
to generate electricity with such reactors.

An American company had succeeded in
developing a minimized nuclear reactor that met all the safety requirements and
made it possible to build as well as operate it in residential areas. This was
the reason the Americans began equipping themselves with parts like these and
adapting them to work on submarines and aircraft carriers and attached primary importance
to them.

The parts that were being transferred to
the boat were designed to fit the miniature reactors on the ship to reduce the
risk of technical failures.

Jalal understood their critical
importance and that was the reason he was in fear of the very shadow of himself
lest he be found in possession of them. Huge lead plates were sent, together
with the parts, to protect them from possible radiation.

Today they would sail on the Wan River. 
It would cross the small waterfall to where it merges in a place where the
water flows and is swallowed up by the great Shat-el-Arab River, which
continues till it spills out into the Indian Ocean.
 
At this point, it splits into two tongues and creates a Y-shaped bay.  There
are those who say that at the point where the sweet waters of the river mix
with the salt water of the ocean, one can even see the shade of the water changing
from blue to green.

The pick-up truck roared behind them. It
progressed slowly, increased speed and disappeared in the smoke as it droned
loudly.

The five people jumped, fully clothed,
into the muddy waters of the river and swam to the boat as they swim round planks
and branches to avoid getting hurt.  Jalal remained standing on the riverbank
with Karma and his dog.

“Okay, come, jump in after me,” Jalal
yelled and jumped into the water as he grabbed and pulled on Karma’s shirt,
pulling him into the depths. 

The water was cold and Karma immediately
began to swim as he once swam in his childhood in the waters of the river that
flowed in the sand between the Kurds’ tents.  Jalal glanced at him and
continued swimming as he enjoyed hearing the yelps of the shaggy-eared dog left
running alone on the bank as it barked and whined.  All of a sudden, the dog
jumped into the water, straining to go to his master, his hairy ears floating
on either side of his head.