A/N: Well, it looks like there will be one more chapter after this one. :-) Thanks for your patience and support!
The Enemy of My Enemy - Chapter 9
I looked out the front window and saw Alisha and her uncle Ahmad leaving the building. As they turned to walk down the street, Alisha looked behind her and up at our windows. Her expression was one of anger and fear. It was just a second, as her uncle grabbed her arm and almost seemed to drag her down the street. After a few paces, he let go of her, but the action still had struck me as unnecessarily rough.
The incident unnerved me. Was Ahmad there to take Alisha to Friday prayers? But why would Alisha be frightened by that? After a few second's hesitation, I grabbed my coat and set out to follow them at a discreet distance.
I was not at all sure about what I was doing. For all I knew, I was being ridiculously paranoid, but my soldier-sense was screaming that something was wrong. I had learned to trust my instincts in Afghanistan, but I didn't feel as if I could demand that anyone else trust them. I considered texting Sherlock about what I was doing, but decided I needed to find some proof that my suspicion was valid before involving him.
I continued to follow Alisha and Ahmad, allowing plenty of distance between us. However, they never turned around. Instead, they seemed to be deep in conversation, or rather, Ahmad talked and Alisha listened.
After about 30 minutes, the two of them stopped in front of a small church. It was a 20th century building and a bit dingy and run down. A small sign proclaimed it to be the "United Apostles of Christ." I had never heard of it.
Ahmad and Alisha walked up to the front door where they paused. They seemed to be arguing and then Ahmad thrust Alisha in the door, followed her, then shut the door behind him.
Now I was thoroughly confused. Why were they going into a church? I decided it was time to alert Sherlock. I sent him the following text with the address of the chapel:
Followed Alisha & uncle to church?
I was very uneasy. As I waited for any kind of response from Sherlock, I began to circle the building to see if there was any way I could look or get inside undetected. I kept out of view of all the windows as I made my way to the back of the building. There was a back door, but it was padlocked shut. However, there was a window in the wall a short distance away that looked as if the window frame was rotted and might be easily opened from the outside. After working on the window for a few moments I heard Alisha shriek from inside the church. Abandoning any attempts to be quiet, I wrenched the window open and climbed through. I found myself in a narrow, empty corridor. I started running in the direction that I believed Alisha's cries to be coming from. As I turned the corner at the end of the hallway I felt a sudden blow on the back of my head and the world went black.
(break)
I found out later that I was unconscious sometime between twenty and thirty minutes. At the time, all I knew is that I gradually became aware of the world around me again, but my head was aching horribly. I also felt aches all over my body.
As I regained consciousness, I realized that the source of my bodily discomfort was due to the position I was in. I was kneeling on a short set of stairs, my forehead resting on the stair above the rest of my body. I was on my knees, with my arms bound behind my back. My legs were bent and bound so that I couldn't move them without toppling over to one side or the other.
I raised my head, and saw that I was facing the front of the chapel. The first thing I saw was the large cross hanging on the wall behind the pulpit. I had been placed, kneeling, on the short stairway separating the area with the pews from the front dais. The next thing I saw made my blood run cold.
Placed on the stairway next to me, also bound in the same position, was Alisha. She was unconscious, severely beaten. She had toppled over so that she faced me. Her face was rapidly swelling, her eyes puffed shut and blackening. Blood was coming from her nose and mouth, it looked like her lips were split, and possibly some teeth were broken. Her hijab had been torn askew, and what alarmed me most was a trickle of blood I saw coming from her right ear.
"Alisha," I said, quietly but urgently.
She didn't respond.
"Alisha," I called again, a little louder.
"Ah, the sodomite is awake," said a man's voice from behind me. I heard footsteps as the man came up to me, passed me on the stairs and then stood in front of me. I raised my head to look at him, it was extremely uncomfortable.
I didn't recognize him at first, but after a few seconds of absorbing the hatred in his expression my aching brain placed him.
"Uzair?"
The man smiled, but it only conveyed evil and cruelty.
"Yes, that is the name I use with my Muslim...friends. But you can call me Reverend Peter."
I didn't understand, but I didn't care to, I was only worried about Alisha.
"Please, untie me," I begged. "I need to help Alisha."
The Reverend scoffed, "She is in the hands of God, being punished for her sins."
"No, I can help her. She's not dead."
"You both soon will be. This is your final chance to repent of your sins."
I thought quickly. I had texted Sherlock my location. Would he come? Especially if he responded and I did not respond to his response? How long would that take? How long had I been unconscious? It seemed the best course of action to keep the Reverend talking for as long as possible. I wanted to defy him, but that didn't seem to be the wisest decision in the circumstances.
"How would I do that?" I asked.
"Repent your sins, confess your faith, and be baptized in the name of Jesus."
Maybe all that will involve untying me. I thought.
"Ok," I said, "I want to do that."
Reverend Peter seemed to be considering the matter. After looking at me intently he nodded. "I will try to save your soul," he said. "But if you are mocking the Holy Spirit by pretending devotion, you will surely burn in hell."
"What about Alisha?" I asked. "Can she be saved as well?"
The Reverend gave a cruel laugh. "No," he said. "Her uncle has decided her fate, as is his right as her earthly authority. She has rebelled against her family and her God, and her uncle has handed her over for the ultimate judgment."
"Please Reverend Peter, doesn't she deserve the chance to repent as well?"
He seemed to almost leer at me. "I had no idea you could have such strong feelings for a woman. Maybe you really are ready to repent of your filthy ways."
"I'm a doctor, and her friend. I want to help her. Please, have mercy."
"So you don't have any carnal desire for her?"
This seemed like a dangerous question to answer either way. I was trying to decide how best to answer and keep stalling for time when a door slammed behind me, from the back of the church, and a familiar voice rang out.
"Reverend Thompson!" Sherlock called. "Stop whatever you're doing and let John and Alisha go."
The Reverend looked at Sherlock, who was apparently coming from the back of the church, behind me. He gave another of his loathsome smiles and said, "Ah, coming to rescue your fairy?" He gestured toward me.
I heard Sherlock chuckle darkly before he replied, "While I won't deny that John possesses his own special brand of magic, I assure you that he is no fairy but quite definitely a man."
It sounded like Sherlock was approaching slowly and cautiously for some reason. I wished my field of vision afforded me more of a view so I could see all that was going on.
"Man?" Reverend Peter almost screamed. "You are not men. Sodomites, perverts, blasphemers, filthy purveyors of lechery and disease..."
"ENOUGH!" thundered Sherlock in a tone of command that echoed impressively through the sanctuary. It startled the Reverend into silence. And then I saw the reason for Sherlock's caution. In the Reverend's hand was a detonator.
"You may say whatever you like about me, " continued Sherlock in a velvety voice edged in steel, "but I will hear no more of this slander against John, the finest man I have ever known. He is everything a man ought to be: brave, loyal, strong, selfless, caring, wise, honest, and forgiving."
Sherlock then lowered his voice, the velvet was gone, it was all steel, "But, regardless if he is a good man or a bad one, he is mine, and I will kill you if you harm him."
There was a pregnant silence, then Sherlock continued in a conversational tone, "I've never quite understood how an all-knowing, all-wise, all-loving God such as people like you claim to believe in could possibly be offended by how any two people express their love for each other."
Sherlock's voice had come slowly closer behind me. Reverend Peter held up the detonator in his hand.
"One step closer, blasphemer, and I will blow us all into eternity. There are explosives all over this church."
"I don't think you really want to do that," replied Sherlock. "Martyrdom may be saintly, but then you deprive yourself of leading your flock into this religious war you're planning."
For the first time the Reverend looked shaken. "How did you know about that?" he demanded.
"You've been betrayed," replied Sherlock.
"No matter," said Reverend Peter, recovering quickly. "The plan is already in motion, soon all of Britain, then Europe, will have to choose a side and abandon their decadence."
I was just wondering, somewhat angrily, how long Sherlock had known of this plot about a religious war when a forceful blast hit me and I was knocked unconscious for the second time that day.
To be continued...
A/N: I am now going to grovel for feedback! Please let me know what you thought of this chapter! Pretty please?
