Fatal Convictions

68

Nara and Alex eventually hailed a serviz, and Nara gave the driver instructions in Arabic. During the ride, Alex used his shirt to wipe the blood away from Nara’s neck.

They discussed their options, but Nara was dead set against reporting the incident to the authorities. The police in Beirut were not going to take on Hezbollah. Reporting the kidnapping would only make the terrorist organization more aggressive.

“More aggressive?” Alex asked. “How can they possibly get more aggressive?”

Nara made a motion with her hand for Alex to keep the volume down. She nodded toward the driver. “He picked us up in the Hezbollah district,” she whispered. “And a lot of these guys speak pretty good English.”

“Sorry.”

Nara leaned closer. “To answer your question-if Hezbollah wanted us dead, we’d be dead. They wanted to scare us, Alex. They don’t really care if Hezbollah gets blamed for these killings. But we were obviously onto something with the deposition of Walid. My guess is that they thought we were getting close to one of Hezbollah’s top leaders. This must go pretty high up the chain.”

What Nara said made sense. “Then let’s report it to the American authorities,” Alex suggested. “As soon as we get back.”

Nara looked at him like he’d lost it. “You don’t think Hezbollah can get to us in America? And what are the American authorities going to do? File a report? Call their counterparts in Lebanon? Stir things up just enough to get you and me killed?”

They were talking in hushed tones so as not to be overheard by the driver. “You got a better idea?” Alex asked.

“Let’s talk later.”

When they got to the Ramada, Nara insisted that Alex check out of the hotel and find another place. The driver had picked them up at the Ramada; their attackers knew that’s where he was staying.

“I thought they were just scaring us,” Alex said.

“Why take chances?”

After paying for the room, they snuck out the back and found an out-of-the-way place near the shore named the Regis Hotel. It was a nondescript backpackers’ dive with the room rate listed on a white board near the Formica front desk. The sign listed the cost in Lebanese pounds and American dollars. For a single room, someone had crossed through $34 and discounted the rooms to $25.

They went to the room together so they could talk over a plan.

“Nice place,” said Alex.

“Just don’t touch anything,” Nara responded.

The room felt more like a dorm than a hotel. The plaster walls were off-white with water stains in three or four spots. The carpeting was threadbare. There was a small single bed next to a window. Alex quickly closed the curtains. The bathroom had a black-and-white checked tile floor and small black tiles on the wall. A radiator sat idle in one corner. Air-conditioning was apparently not included.

Nara sat at the end of the bed, and Alex took a seat in the lone plastic chair in the room.

“What were you saying to those guys?” Alex asked.

“I told them that my friends knew exactly where we were and knew that we were meeting with Hezbollah. If they didn’t hear from me in five minutes, they were going to call the police and the U.S. embassy.”

“And they bought that?” Alex asked.

“Not really. But I came up with another story that they liked better.” Nara rolled her neck and rubbed a spot on her left shoulder.

“I told them that we would not be implicating Hezbollah at trial. I told them that you were a very good lawyer and that your first line of defense would be to attack the Patriot Act. I argued that this could be a major victory for Hezbollah and its allies.”

Alex admired Nara’s quick thinking, but he wasn’t fond of her reasoning. Would a victory by Alex really be a win for all of America’s terrorist enemies? He knew he should think only about Khalid’s innocence-but at what cost to the country? He quickly put the thoughts aside. The soul-searching could wait.

“I also told them that if the court ruled against us on the Patriot Act, I had another defense that did not involve Hezbollah. This one did involve a small lie, however. You remember the doctrine of al toqiah?”

“I remember,” Alex said. How could I forget?

“I told them that I had convinced you I was a Christian and that my father had accepted my decision to abandon the faith. I told them that I would be the last witness called at my father’s trial and that this evidence would establish his innocence even without pointing the finger at Hezbollah.”

Nara looked sheepishly at Alex. “Sorry,” she said.

“You saved our lives,” Alex said. “No need to apologize.”

“They never really intended to kill us,” Nara said. “Think about it. They had the video and the script ready to go. They just wanted to scare us… and create evidence that would convict my father if they decide to kill us later.”

The logic seemed sound, but Alex was in no shape to figure things out. The adrenaline was gone. So, too, was most of the terror. In their place was a bone-weary fatigue. He rubbed his face and stretched his back.

Nara must have felt it too. She sighed and lay back on the bed, her legs dangling over the edge. She stared at the ceiling for a minute and then shut her eyes. “They’re the ones responsible for killing these women, Alex. They want to pin it on my father because he’s a reformer and they’re afraid of him-afraid of his ideas.”

Nara opened her eyes and looked at Alex. “Put me on the stand in my father’s trial,” she said. “I’ll tell the world what happened tonight. We can expose Hezbollah for who they are.”

Alex had a million reasons why that was a bad idea. The rules of evidence, for starters. But perhaps the biggest reason was Nara’s own safety. He had a duty to Khalid. But he would not sacrifice Nara to fulfill it.

He moved over and sat next to her on the bed. “Let’s talk about it later.”

Nara sat up, and Alex put his arm around her shoulder. As she leaned in, he could smell the shampoo in her hair. He pulled her closer. She wrapped her arms around his waist, burying her head on his shoulder. They sat like that for a moment, and then he felt her begin to cry.

He reached down and brushed the tears from her cheek.

“Alex,” Nara said softly, her voice so low that he could barely hear her, “I really should go now.”

“I know.”

It was hard to let her go, but he knew it was the right thing to do.

After she left, he kicked off his loafers and lay on the bed, staring at the ceiling. Given everything he had just been through, it would be impossible to fall asleep.

It took Alex two minutes to prove himself wrong.