Jerusalem

Chapter 15 (Now you see me)

    

     "It's done, sir. We've taken the bullet out. Mr. Mohamed will probably be awake in two hours" said the doctor.

"Thanks a lot, doc. But I've to ask you to keep this between us. No one can know that Youssef was here" said Ali , able to breath now.

"Of course, sir. No one will ever know" the doctor assured him.

"Thank you again" Ali said looking at Mariam. The girl kept praying for Youssef during the operation. He looked at her and saw a ghost of a smile. She was relieved that he is okay.

Two hours passed, Omar arrived. And Mariam could hear his talk with Ali:

"You should've told me, Ali. My brother should have told me. You can't work out a secret plan without the army or the ministry knowledge. You realize, it's not just you. It's a whole country" shouted Omar .

"Chill out, Omar. We couldn't have told you. It all depended on the element of surprise. And spies are everywhere. So the less people know, the longer it remained a secret"said Ali keeping his tone steady.

"Secret, in hours it will be all over the news. Israel might knock our doors by 10 tonight. In case you didn't notice, you've declared war. For the sake of 30 people, Egypt will burn to the ground" shouted Omar , louder now.

"Sir, with all my respect. This was the right thing to do. And joe wouldn't have had it any other way. And I'm sure he has a plan for what about to happen" said Ali, more than ready to finish that conversation."besides, don't you want to make sure your brother is okay,first."asked Ali knowing that Omar was hiding his worry by fighting with him.

"He will be okay. He must be okay."said Omar,saying it to himself more than others. He was assuring himself that nothing could ever happen to his brother. His heart sank by the thought of it.

"He is awake, now"said a nurse. They rushed to the door of his room.

"But only one person is allowed now" continued the nurse.

"Go in, Mariam " said Ali. She was surprised to hear her name.

"Yes, we can see him after you "said Omar . He was surprised that his brother took a bullet for her and he couldn't hide it.

"Thanks"she said walking towards the room. She opened the door slowly. She took a few steps and decided to sit down on the chair next to his bed. But for the straps of gauze around his right shoulder , his upper body was bare. She couldn't look at his eyes , so she focused on his body.

"Why....why didn't you tell me? That you had a plan. " she said cutting the silence.

"It had nothing to do with you" said Youssef .

"If I knew,..."

"Yes,you wouldn't have walked in there and put everyone's life,including you,in danger" his voice raised.she irritates him like no other.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know. I thought I was doing the right thing. I did what I believed in. And if the time turned back, I would do it all over again"Mariam said trying to justify her case.

"Enough. What you did was wrong in every way. What did you think anyway? That you are going to go in there and get everyone out by throwing knives at Israelines . Because you can't even kill them" he said in irony.

"No, sir. I thought I'd try. Coz I was under the impression that you won't do anything to help them. Just why don't you let the people see the good in you?"she said feeling guilty. He was right.

"Because when people see good, they expect good and I don't want to lower anybody's expectations" he said

"I'm ...."

"Just go, Mariam . Go home. Get some sleep and forget everything that happened" he interrupted her

"Youssef,..."

" leave me alone now , if you don't mind " he said strictly. Mariam didn't know what to say or do . A day before, she was furious and insulted by what he did to her. Thinking who he think he are to hit her . He wasn't her father. She wanted to get back at him. And she believed with all her heart that she have to do something for these people. She couldn't feel more right about something. But now she felt guilty and sorry. She felt that it's all her fault and she is the one that should apologize to him. She tried to speak but no words came out. She stood up and walked silently out of the room.

A month later, the ministry decided that it was best( for the political situation), if Youssef went to the north base of the army. Omar did everything he can to keep the peace and assure to the people that they are safe. Israel didn't respond to the matter of its dead soldiers, as Youssef expected. They were cowards and Egypt had the upper hand for now.

Up in the north, Youssef had been training his secret army. No one said it , but everyone felt it. War was coming.

"Now what, Ali?"asked Youssef , happy to see his friend that seemed to be carrying urgent news.

"You have to come back now" ali said , his reaction was serious and... Sad.

"What is it? Is Omar .....? Damn it, what happened, Ali?" Shouted Youssef , losing his nerves.

"We have to get to the Funeral on time" Ali said feeling heavy at heart.

"Funeral.."Youssef was out of breath.

"It's Mr. Tarek. He died" Ali said .

Mariam.........