Empire of Lies

40

They had been strangled.

All of them.

Ramazan, Tarek, and Noor.

In a far corner of the chamber, Kamal found the bodies of two other men, whom he recognized: the two agents he’d spoken to outside the hospital, the ones who were part of the detail that got caught up in the shooting.

That was a question for later.

Right now, neither Kamal nor Nisreen gave a damn about them, about what they were doing there or why they’d been killed.

They had the inconceivable to process.

Interminable minutes stretched endlessly as they sat there, Nisreen cross-legged and hunched over on the cold stone floor, her head bowed as she rocked back and forth gently while hugging her dead children and nuzzling their heads. Kamal, close by on the floor, next to his brother’s body, a helpless witness, listening to her barely audible whimpers and her supplications to God, staring at the back of her head, then off into nothingness, then back at her, then away again, numb, speechless, lost in what felt like a surreal out-of-body experience in a temple of pain from which he knew there was no escape.

His brother. His little nephew. His adored niece.

Three of the four people who mattered most to him in the world—perhaps the only ones who mattered to him—were dead, brutally, savagely, barbarically murdered. And the fourth was, like him, destroyed and suffering a pain without compare.

He was no stranger to death, no novice to people losing their lives to terrorism or to state-sanctioned executions. With each new death, he’d grown more immune to its brutal finality and gained strength and renewed resolve to do his best to stop the loss of innocent lives.

Any strength and immunity were vaporized at the sight of his dead loved ones, his insides obliterated and turned into a cold, barren wasteland.

It was Kamal who finally broke through the silence.

He didn’t know how much time had passed, but as far as he could tell, it was still dark outside. Dawn, however, couldn’t be too far off. Which meant his fury and his questions would have to wait. More urgent decisions needed to be made.

“We can’t stay here,” he said softly. “It’s not safe.”

Nisreen didn’t reply at first. She was still on the floor, hunched over while holding her dead children tight against her.

He shuffled over and, slowly, very hesitantly, reached out to place a hand on her shoulder.

She flinched and pulled away the instant it brushed her.

“Don’t.” She spoke without turning to face him. “Don’t touch me.”

“Nisreen…”

She went silent for a few breaths.

“Did you know about this place?” she finally asked without looking at him. Her tone was calm, but hard and bitter and clearly accusing.

He felt the earth crumble under his feet. “No. Of course not—”

“Did you ever come here and…” She couldn’t complete the question.

“Nisreen, listen to me. I swear to you—I never… You know me, for God’s sake. You think I would ever do something like this?”

“I don’t know.”

“You do. Of course you do. You know me,” he insisted.

She nodded, barely, but didn’t reply. She lowered her head so she was nuzzling Tarek’s head and went silent, the only sound a new burst of low sobs.

After a few minutes, she quieted down, then mumbled, “These bastards… the ones who brought us here, the ones you killed… did you know them?”

“No.”

“But they were agents. Like you.”

“Nisreen, please—”

“They were following your boss’s orders. Your boss.”

“I didn’t know them,” he protested, his voice cracking. “They were Z Directorate. And just so you know… the reason I’m here? It’s because they sent two others to my place. They wanted to kill me, too. That’s what led me here.”

She went silent for a moment. “Did you kill them?”

“Yes. One of them. The other… he’s had better days.”

“Good.” She still hadn’t looked at him. “Why would they want you dead?”

“Because I was looking for you. Because they know that if anything happened to you or to Ramazan or to… They know I’d never stop until every last one of them was dead.”

She said nothing.

He gave her a moment. “Nisreen, we have to go. They’ll soon know something’s wrong. They’ll send others.”

She didn’t react. After a long moment, she said, “We can’t leave them here. We need to bury them.”

“Of course. But… where? We need to keep out of sight. They’re going to be looking for us.”

She finally turned to face him. Her eyes were red and swollen, her pupils fully dilated, making them seem hollowed out. As painful as that was to see, it wasn’t what pained Kamal the most.

It was the unmistakable accusation in her glare.

“Not here,” she said. “Anywhere, but not here.”

Kamal understood, and nodded. “We should get moving then.”

It was the hardest thing he’d ever done.

It was much harder on Nisreen, of course. Hard beyond words, beyond comprehension. But it was also hard on Kamal, and in a different way. On top of the soul-wrenching pain of their deaths, he also had Nisreen and her devastation to contend with.

She was still breathing, still moving, still responding, still alive… but she wasn’t there. Not anymore. Life, beyond the strict metabolic sense of the word, had been pounded out of her. Watching her, seeing the utter desolation carved into her face, wondering if this day would ever cease to cast its infernal pall over her every waking moment—it all gutted him. Layered on top of the accusatory undertow he could still feel from her, it was unbearable.

He folded down the back seats of the agency SUV and carried the children over to it. Tarek first, then Noor. He lay them down side by side in the back, leaving enough room for his brother. He brought him over last, all the while shadowed and watched by Nisreen.

It was all done in a deafening silence.

Leaving Nisreen momentarily, he checked the two agents he’d killed. They had their creds on them. He pocketed them and took their weapons.

He suspected he might need them.

He left their phones, and pulled the battery from the phone he’d taken off the killer in his apartment to make sure it wouldn’t be used to track them from here on.

There was a lot to process. He’d killed three Hafiye agents tonight and seriously maimed a fourth. He was now a wanted man, an enemy of the state, no question about that—an enemy of a murderous, barbaric state. He’d devoted his life to keeping it safe, but right now all he wanted to do was tear it down with his bare hands. But before he could do that, he needed to know what was going on. He needed to understand what had led to this, why his brother and his family had been targeted, why they’d also come after him. He needed to know what Nisreen knew. But it would have to wait.

He had three burials to take care of.