6. Incident (Salam Alaikum, Ramsi)

William and Kimi bid a reluctant and all-too-soon goodbye to Donna and Ben - and then they transferred their luggage from their car to the Hummer Mark and the investigation team had arrived in. Matt and Craig stayed at the restaurant to continue the investigation and await the arrival of excavation teams to clear the tram tunnel. Mark drove William and Kimi to a waiting Scramjet at Cairo West Air Force Base, and promised that he would do everything within his power to put the pieces together and, if possible, rescue Kim from her captors. Throughout the drive to the air base, Mark was nearly constantly on the phone, taking any potential clues and theories from the investigators, and giving orders and logistics to the base to coordinate the fastest and most direct route home for William and Kimi.

As they boarded the ship, Mark shook William's hand warmly, telling him that finding Kim was now his "full-time job," and not to worry about anything other than getting the money together to appease the kidnappers, and to consider the $20 million as a "last ditch" effort in her release. As he turned to Kimi to say goodbye, he told her "No walls, kiddo. Stay focused...and stay positive. Your mother will be home soon." From that moment, Kimi looked at Mark as containing the warmth of an older relative. She embraced him, conveying her trust and confidence in the Captain's strength and resolve to right the wrongs against her and her family.

The trip back, though around the same two hours as the flight to Cairo, seemed to take longer, because of an uneasy silence between Kimi and her father. Even though they held hands most of the way and traded hopeful, meaningful expressions, they were still trying to come to terms with the fact that not only was Kim missing - they were forced almost immediately to leave her behind somewhere in a strange land and return to Eastgate to start efforts to raise the $20 million dollars in ransom that "El Dok Ali-bin Drak" had demanded in their letter.

Upon touching down at the 111th Fighter Wing of the Pennsylvania Air National Guard in Willow Grove, some 150 miles to the east of Eastgate, William and Kimi were escorted to a Marine VH-60N helicopter - a military transport ship similar to the model that the President uses to land at the White House - "spinning ready" on the tarmac, its large rotor whipping at the evening air. The flight to Eastgate Airport took a mere 35 minutes, and two large black sedans were waiting at the helipad. Mark had indeed kept his word on the speed of their transport home. A compliment of rather burly gentlemen in black suits took William, Kimi and their luggage to one of the sedans, two of the men getting in with them, while another six men got into the other sedan. The two vehicles then sped from the airport, slicing and weaving through highway traffic with lights on their dashboards spinning and flashing, a visual cacophony announcing their approach to the traffic ahead. They went straight to Meridian, taking William to an entrance in the parking garage, accompanied by three of the guards, who took up a post outside the entrance, and the other sedan left immediately, taking Kimi home.

Friday, June 14th, 8:27 PM, Eastgate time
Saturday, 4:27 AM, Cairo time
-29 Days
William was still dressed in his burgundy polo shirt and jeans as he opened the tall double doors to the conference room. A couple of members of the Board - Andrea Simmons and Don Fitzgerald - were seated at the table, while the chairman, Cheryl Carter, was in one of the large chairs near the corner of the room, next to a large mahogany chess table. She was engaged in a game with Marcy, who was standing in front of a window nursing a cup of tea while Cheryl was contemplating her move. All eyes turned to William as he entered, and Marcy quickly moved toward him, setting her tea on the large burlwood conference table and placing her arms around him in a warm welcoming hug.

"William, I wish it were for a different reason," she said, "but I'm glad you're back all the same. Where's Ki?"

"On the way to the house," he replied. "Guards met us at the airport and drove me straight here. There are a few downstairs in the parking garage."

Marcy raised an eyebrow. "Wow...sounds like the military really jumped into this with both feet."

"Yeah...they really take kidnappings in foreign countries seriously." William then scanned the room as the other memebers voiced their greeting. "Where's Dick?" he asked.

"I've paged him and left a v-mail at his house," Marcy said. "I haven't heard from him yet."

This must be where I should act a bit surprised, William thought to himself. Dick Pavelka was the newest member of the Board, appointed from the Los Angeles office about four years ago, after Drake Howard had retired. William and Dick had never really fostered a good professional relationship after their first meeting at a corporate Christmas party. Dick was extremely opinionated even before his move to the Board, and this was evident at the party when he met Kim. Dick made no effort to hide his skepticism of the existence of Cellers, much less his disdain at their integration into everyday society. He spoke to Kim with less than professional respect, even going so far as to make suggestions for a clandestine meeting after the party. When William, who had been upstairs in his office tying up some loose ends before the holidays, came down to the party, he was met by his wife, who immediately greeted him with an embrace and a warm kiss. They were interrupted by Dick, who asked if William was considering joining post-party activities with he and the new "toy" he had found. Kim glared at Dick as William gave him a rather incredulous stare, telling him, "Yeah, actually my plans are for this 'toy' to come home with me tonight, being as she's my wife."

This, coupled with a perfect "--and your next move would be...?" look from Kim served to complete Dick's humiliation that evening - but it didn't serve to change him much. From that point on, dealings within the Board between Dick and William were a predictable script - any new ideas or proposals presented by William were almost instantly disparaged by Dick. No matter how outlandish or preposterous the reason might be, Dick would hold fast to his defiant position until either given in to by the rest of the Board, usually on minor matters, or pressured by them into dropping his dissent.

Cheryl slid a rook along one side of the chessboard and rose from her chair. "Don't worry about Dick," she said to William while crossing to her chair at the conference table. "I know you two have been at odds ever since that party three years ago...but his childish agenda is not a concern right now...and I'm pretty sure he can be persuaded on board for anything we come up with tonight." William gained a new respect for Cheryl at that moment. He always had feelings about where she stood on the rift between he and Dick, but this was the first time she had verbalized it. Cheryl motioned to a folder William had with him as Marcy took a seat immediately to his right. "William, you have the floor," she said. "Please...fill us in."

William opened the folder, standing slowly, looking at each of his fellow Board members. "I...put this together while on the helicopter to the airport," he began. "We had been in Cairo for only about three hours. There was an incident at the airport...a taxi driver grabbed at Ki...we still don't know why."

"Is she alright?" Marcy asked.

"Yeah," said William. "Kim stopped her before anything else happened." He then returned to the folder. "We went straight from the airport to Donna's restaurant. We had just finished our meal, and Kim went to use the restroom. We heard a noise, but Donna said it was an ongoing problem with the plumbing...then, we heard...another noise. Ki and Donna went down to check on Kim--" William's eyes drifted to the table, to the side of the folder "--and she was gone. Nothing but her purse--" he slid a paper from the folder "--and this note." William then slowly sat, his eyes still focused on the table. "I have one month to try to get the ransom together, or..." his voice trailed off.

Marcy read William's face and placed her hand over his for a moment. "Do you know who, umm...took her?"

"It's a group even the military hasn't heard of," William replied quietly, "'El-Dok Ali-bin Drak'...loosely translated, it means 'The Claw of The Dragon'. Ben called in a special investigator from the air base he works at. He's devoted his full resources to the investigation."

Marcy slid the note over to her with a finger as William talked. She suddenly gasped haltingly, then exhaled, raising her head to Cheryl. "They...they want twenty million dollars," she said, a slight note of shock to her voice. The other Board members reacted in much the same way, with Andrea bringing her hand to her mouth.

William then turned to another page in the folder, filled with figures. "I've worked out some things that can gather a large part of that," he said. "I'm prepared to sell my stock options with the company...sell back my retirement package...some other benefits. I have some annuities put away...and I can get an equity loan on the house. I've also worked out a garnishing arrangement for 90 percent of my salary." He slid the paper to Cheryl. "With all aspects implemented, it will total about 12 million dollars."

Cheryl read over the paper for a moment - and her face fell as she passed it to Marcy. Her jaw dropped slightly as she scanned the figures. "William," she said slowly under her breath, "if you were to go through with all this...it would leave you basically...penniless."

William nodded his head slowly as Marcy finished. "I know," he said softly, "...but even at that...being penniless would be far more easy to deal with than being Kimless. Anyway, we'd still have Kim's salary, once she's back home."

Marcy didn't feel the tear escape down her cheek as she sat in awe of William's dedication and commitment to sacrifice. She quickly scrawled something onto an electronic notepad and slid it across the table to Andrea, who read it quickly and nodded, then passed the notepad to Don. He scooted it to Cheryl as she spoke. "William...I don't know how to tell you how shocking and horrible this sounds...and how much I feel for Kim's safety, and you, and Kimi--" she stopped as she read the notepad and looked at the other members, who responded with a single nod, and then nodded to Marcy. "William," she said, "you're taking extraordinary steps for Kim's return...and we share in the pain you're feeling right now, and the fear and concern you're under--" William looked to each of the other members as Cheryl spoke, and each of them returned a comforting smile and a nod.

"And as you are a member and a strong part of this Board," Cheryl continued, "and a strong member of Meridian...we share in your commitment to freeing Kim from her captors." With this, she motioned for Marcy to pass her the slip of paper William had figured on and took out a pen, writing along the bottom, then sliding it back to William with a warm smile. "Each of us will contribute $1.2 million dollars, which will bring the total to 18 million. I'll make an announcement on Monday to the rest of the facility for whatever donations the employees want to give...and I'll be calling Los Angeles that day to appropriate the rest."

William looked at the figures on the paper in silent disbelief until he felt Marcy's arm sliding around his shoulder. "William..." she said, "I've known you since you first started here at Meridian nearly 17 years ago. I've watched you catapult up through the company...you've taken opportunities you never asked for...and you've given back to the company in spades. It was you who formulated the restructuring of this office and its operations, which turned into the business model all of Meridian follows even to this day. I can say the exact same of Kim. She hit the ground running from the first day she worked here, and has the same drive and tenacity that you do. After all the both of you have contributed to this company, I feel, and I think I speak for the other members...I feel that this is the very, very least we can do to contribute to you."

Cheryl strengthened Marcy's points with a pat on William's hand. "We're going to have Kim home by the end of next week," she said. Don and Andrea then broke into applause, joined by Marcy and Cheryl. "We'll also work to adjust things so that you don't have to give up everything you've worked for to these rats," she added.

William was speechless - but he now realized that all the tireless nights...all the long weekends he had put in over the years now brought a higher dividend than he could have imagined. He looked at his fellow Board members not only as coworkers - but as true friends and people he knew he was right to bring his problems to. The knot in his throat relegated his only response to turning and giving Marcy a tight embrace, whispering "thank you" through his tears.

Friday, 9:07 PM, Eastgate time
Saturday, 5:07 AM, Cairo time
-29 Days
Kimi turned off the television and let the remote slip from her hand to the floor, clattering to rest against one leg of the coffee table, and she pushed rather forcefully back onto the couch. Contrary to her original thought, she found that watching episodes from Kim's show were not helping to calm her mood.

Nearly a half-hour before, the other sedan pulled into their driveway, and two men helped Kimi bring the luggage into the house, where she instructed them just to "pile it near the front door." They then took a short tour of the house, checking inside every closet and even going so far as to stomp on open areas of the floor and walls, to make sure there would be no surprises waiting at home for William and Kimi.

Kimi went to a small window by the front door, peeking through a gap between the curtain and the frame of the window. Night had spread its cloak over the neighborhood - her second evening in one day. "It's all about deja vu," she sighed. She brushed aside a fleeting thought of her father being abducted on the way home, remembering the patrol standing guard to protect him. She then made out the sinister-looking silhouette of the sedan blending into the shadows across the street. She let the curtain slip from her finger as she turned away from the door and flopped onto the couch again, wondering how late the Board would be meeting. She had become used to William working late into the evening during the week - but until now, Kim had nearly always been home with her.

Kimi debated whether to have something to eat, but decided her hunger was instead an energy better met through vigorous activity. She rolled from the couch and headed to the bedroom, rummaging through a drawer in her dresser for some sweatpants and a clean t-shirt. She undid her jeans and sat on the bed, slipping them to her ankles as she did, pushing out of them with her feet and giving them a flick with her foot onto the back of her chair. Kimi then brought up her legs, sliding on the dark blue pair of sweats and standing for a second as she snugged them onto her waist. She then crossed her arms around and slid from her t-shirt, still bearing a couple of patches of dirt from inside the tunnel she found behind the restroom in Cairo.

C'mon, Mom, Kimi thought as she slipped her clean shirt over her head. Take those lumps of lead on a tour of Kempo Hell and get home. She stood and turned to the full-length mirror next to her dresser, straightening out the loose-fitting gray midriff shirt, which read "You'll Get A REAL Kick Outta Me," then pulling out the lowest drawer for her black practice shoes, made from a lightweight leather, with "Tiger Claw" along the side in yellow lettering.

She sat in her chair, bringing up her foot and sliding on one of the shoes when her computer monitor beeped, lit, and a message appeared on the screen:

:::Incoming vmail message. Join conversation live (Y/N)? Message will be saved if you choose not to join:::

Kimi turned to face the screen and slid her keyboard drawer from under the desk, pressing the "Y" key. A bright-eyed blonde girl appeared on the screen. She had a wide smile for a moment, which changed to an open-mouthed gape. "K-Ki?" she perked, waving frantically at the screen. "All about HI! You're forwarding vmail to Cairo? What, did your diamond dad get you that e-notepad for the trip?? I got the vidpostcard you sent before your flight. I was just leaving a V to say how it's all about jealous."

"Hey, Fra," Kim replied rather quietly. "No, I'm home...and it's all about nothing to be jealous of. Something...happened in Cairo." Frannie canted her head curiously. "Mom got kidnapped right after we got there...Dad's in a meeting at work, seeing if he can get the money to get her back."

Frannie went back to an open-mouthed stare, studying her friend's expression for a few seconds. "You're...you're not kidding...it's all about real?? Ki, that's lead density! You okay?"

"It's all about I don't know, Fra," Kimi sighed. "The flight over was the deep-blue bang...but everything was wierd when we left the airport. Some little lead slug grabbed me while we were walking to the car...Mom stopped me before I blew him up...then we went to Aunt Donna's restaurant and had dinner. Mom went to the bathroom after the meal, and...all about poof. Uncle Ben called some guy he knows from work...Cap'n Mark...and he was all about no stone. He turned the place inside out, but I actually found how the creepies got in and took Mom. They used alcohol...otherwise it would have been all about shredded creep all over the bathroom. We came straight back here after that."

Frannie wiped away a tear and looked into the screen. "Ki, it's all about believe. Your mom will get through. She always did on the show. Hey, you want me to come over and keep you company?"

"You're all about a diamond friend, Fra," Kimi said while slipping on her other shoe, "but...not tonight, okay? I was just dressing to go downstairs and work off the edge...maybe try to get hungry or something."

"The Kempo Diamond," Frannie smiled. "Shred the wind, Ki. I'll be all about talk to you tomorrow." The screen then went dark.

Shred the wind, Kimi smiled as she retrieved a towel from the bathroom, walking toward the stairs to the basement.

Saturday, June 15th, 6:21 AM, Cairo time
Friday, 10:21 PM, Eastgate time
-29 Days
Mark smiled at the herder as he passed him slowly, giving the elderly man time to gather the rest of his flock of goats from the road. Inside, he was less than pleasant. Keep your pets to the side of the road, he thought, trying to ignore the even-less patient symphony of horns behind him.

The mobile phone on the dash of his Hummer broke his distraction, and he stabbed a button. "Broderson," he said.

"Morning Captain," a voice came through the speaker.

"Craig," Mark replied, "morning."

"Sorry for calling you so early," Craig said.

"It's okay," said Mark. "I'm on my way in...just battling the usually morning traffic...four legs as well as four wheels. Whatcha got?"

"Kasr El Aini," said Craig, his voice then lowering slightly. "There was an incident about an hour ago...Ramsi Al-Kalesh is dead, Sir...apparently a murder-suicide."

"...the hell!??" Mark began to blow his horn, the goats scattering as he brought his vehicle off the road. "Talk to me," he said, shoving the shifter forward into "park". "Who the hell got past our guys?"

"It was a woman...posing as a nurse," Craig started. "She said she was checking on Ramsi...just routine. Suddenly she started mumbling something to Ramsi about 'outliving your usefulness,' and before the men could get to her, she had shoved a syringe into his chest. Potassium chloride, straight into the heart. He never had a chance, Sir...the drug stopped all electrical signals to his heart...he was dead within a minute."

"Instant cardiac arrest," Mark whispered. "You said suicide...?"

"Yes Sir. One of our guys wrestled with her...she started yelling like, 'Long live El-Dok Ali-bin Drak'...she somehow grabbed his sidearm...blew her brains all over the wall."

Mark's face gnarled into an expression of anger and frustration. He brought his fist down hard against the steering wheel. She was an operative. "Well, we can probably assume Ramsi thought the pill he took before the flight was just a prescription to relax him instead of what it was. When they found out the pill didn't kill him, they sent her to finish the job." Mark then cut hard on the wheel while slamming the truck back into gear. It shot back onto the road, spraying sand and gravel over the goats now behind the vehicle. "What about the guy Kimi had an incident with...bin Azrul?" he asked. "Anything more on him?"

"He's nothing remarkable," said Craig. "Minor traffic violations...had his hack license yanked a couple years ago. No dealings with terrorist organizations, though. We actually found all this by accident. His criminal record had been expunged...his brother is some big shot in the Cairo police."

"Have a team bring his ass in for questioning," Mark ordered. "If he makes a stink, tell him his brother Khalid is in serious trouble, and we need to know where he is."

"Trouble, Sir?"

"Yeah...from ME."

to be continued...