Chapter 18
I turned to the woman behind me, seeing that her face was looking down at the floor, almost as if she'd been afraid of Yaser. Had she been a victim in the past, had she been raped and abused in the same way that Yaser wanted to do to me?
"Katifa, please. You have to help me. We can both get out of here, together. Please"
I knew that I was crying, and I'd begun to shake just with thinking about what fate could befall me under Yaser's perverted hands.
I was looking into her face now and could feel the fear radiating from her. Maybe she didn't understand what I'd asked or maybe she was just too afraid to go against Yaser. I think maybe that I might have been as well because he seemed an evil little man. As she stepped toward me, I backed away, no way was I going to let her undress me or make me take a bath. Seeing me move away from her she stopped and walked over to the door to the round room, beckoning for me to follow her. I was half afraid that she was going to shout for Farid and have him tie me up regardless of what I was wearing. Watching her, she walked across the room to another mirror, running her hands down the side. Curious I walked into the room just as the mirror began to open.
It was like playing charades after that with Katifa trying to make me understand what she wanted me to do. She'd removed a pillow from its outer covering and was wrapping it around her wrists, okay so she wanted me to tie her up. But then she took my hand and folded my fingers into a fist before holding my fist against her face. I understood her and to be honest I suppose it was a good idea, but could I knock her out and tie her up before escaping through that hidden door?
The idea of what Yaser could do to me far outweighed me hurting her so taking a deep breath I swung at her head as hard as I could. That her head bounced on the floor had me panicking, making me think that maybe I'd killed her. I knelt beside her, feeling for the pulse on her neck so relieved when I felt the steady beat under my finger. My eyes were constantly moving to the door afraid that it would open any minute and have Yaser or even Farid walking through.
I added a new dimension to the plan and slipped off the dress that she was wearing pleased to see a skirt and T-shirt underneath. I ran quickly into the bathroom and slipped off the shoes that I'd been wearing knowing they'd only hinder my escape. There had to be another way into the bathroom for Katifa to have been there so maybe Yaser would think that I'd escaped through there. Okay I also thought that she may have already been in the room before I was pushed through the door, but I didn't want to believe that, so went back to where Katifa was still laid unconscious on the floor. After tying her wrists together, I picked up the dress and her scarf and went through the mirror pulling it closed behind me.
I felt so guilty for what I'd done to Katifa but could understand why she had me do what I did. At least she may not get into trouble with Yaser if he believed that I'd knocked her out, and I swore to myself that somehow, I'd get her out of here. I never thought where the passage would lead to or if it would be any safer. I was running on nerves as it was, so I knew that I had to take the chance. Anything was better than facing Yaser and being tied on that bed. That had a shiver of fear run through me which made me even more determined to escape from him.
It was dark behind the mirror, once I'd pulled it closed, and I had to use my hands to feel my way. I seemed to somehow be inside the circular wall so carefully followed the wall and using my now bare feet felt my way to the edge of each step before stepping down. Being in the dark at least stopped me from seeing anything else and I had to blank out any thoughts of spiders or creepy crawlies. The steps were smooth and cool under my feet as though they were well worn so I was really hoping that it wasn't a tunnel that was used very often. It was as I came to a flat section that I decided to pull the dress over my head and wrap the scarf over my head and around my neck. Feeling around my face and neck that there was no hair escaping so maybe as long I didn't look directly at anyone then I might get away with this.
The tunnel ran flat and smooth with only one turn until I was beginning to wonder where I was within the building. There were times when I would stop so afraid of the shouting that I could hear beyond the walls, that maybe there were other entrances to the tunnel and that I'd be found but I was also in despair that I was trapped inside this wall and would never be found. There were even times when I swore that I could hear crying, so soft like a child's. I was becoming delusional that was the only explanation that I could come up, maybe I was hearing ghosts.
It was the feel of warm air over my face that made me realize that something was different and that was when I realized that it had been very cool in the tunnel. Maybe the gap between the walls was used as part of the air conditioning? If that was the case then there must be a vent somewhere, a grate perhaps for where the warm air was pushed outside. I felt hopeful so kept going, all of the time knowing how tired I was. In my mind I was seeing the area surrounding this place, all desert, and wasn't sure what I'd do if I ever managed to get out of this building in one piece.
I found the grate from the light that shone through it, shafts of flickering light that fell as lines against the stonework. It wasn't daylight though, it was nighttime and the lights were coming from fires outside the wall of the building. Looking through the grate I could see movement across the light, figures of people moving back and forth, but I wasn't too sure how that would help to conceal me if I were to get outside. If I didn't try, then I wouldn't know what might miraculously happen. I may have bad luck following me around, but I also had a knack of escaping. That was what I was telling myself anyway.
The grate moved eventually, probably because the stone was soft around where the screws were that held it to the wall. My hands felt sore working at the metal, and I was sure that I had small cuts and grazes, but I didn't care and felt such a sense of satisfaction as I carefully pushed at it one last time. I didn't think that anyone would see me in the shadows and darkness so crawled out on my stomach. Once outside I propped the grate back into its opening and looked around me. It didn't seem as though anyone had noticed me and being outside, I could see that the people gathered here looked maybe as I would imagine the local people to look. All of them were wearing black robes and some of the women had their faces covered. I stayed by the wall and slowly crawled further away from the fire, forever watching that no one had seen me. It was a grunting sound that stopped me in my tracks, and I was half afraid that there was a pack of dogs patrolling the area.
I wasn't sure whether to be relieved at what was making the sound or not, seeing as I was looking at several camels. I had no idea what to do next, no doubt Yaser had worked out that I'd escaped so there were probably men out looking for me. I had no phone, no money and no one that I could trust, that I knew of anyway. I was in the middle of the desert in Saudi Arabia, white skinned and blue eyed so I wouldn't blend in very well. I sank down on the ground against the wall, between some straggly weeds that to be honest looked dead, watching the camels as they lay there. Nah, no way could I steal one and ride it, I'd heard that they could be vicious and knowing my luck they probably wouldn't move anyway. I rested my head onto my knees, not a good idea, because I was soon dozing and falling asleep.
I woke with a start and lifted my head to see that the camels were unsettled, and it had been them shuffling around and moving that had woken me. Looking around, the sky was lightening in the distance, and there were already people moving around. I hadn't realized in the dark that there had been tents and watched fascinated as the tents were slowly taken down and folded up. It seemed that maybe they were travelers, but it also seemed strange to me that they would choose to spend time here so close to an occupied property, but the property was old so maybe there was a source of water here or it had always been on a route that they had used
I was huddled down against the wall, the scarf pulled down over my face and so far no one seemed to have seen me so I stayed where I was as men appeared, carrying sacks and as they started to load up the camels. Well load up the large wooden frames on their backs. I was pretty sure that quite a few of the people would be walking behind the camels, so maybe, just maybe I could mingle in with them.
Three hours later I was toward the back of the stream of people as we walked over the sand, with a real problem. I'd been surprised that no one had taken any notice of me as I'd moved from the shadows and joined the tail end of the people as they had walked away from the building. The problem that I was having was because I had no shoes on and my feet were getting sorer with each step that I took. Stupidly I hadn't seen it as a problem when I'd set off, I mean how many times had I walked along the beach at Point Pleasant in bare feet. I was lagging behind, was very hot, thirsty and hungry. Not a good situation to find myself in and all I could do was to sink down on my knees. A few minutes, that was all I needed and then I'd get up and continue walking.
A shadow fell over me that scared me into thinking that someone had noticed me, shrinking away from her I looked up to see a woman bent down next to me. To be honest I hadn't even been aware that I'd sat down. I couldn't see her face as she helped me to my feet because of the black niqab that only showed her eyes, and I winced as I tried to walk which had her shouting out to someone ahead of us. I watched as a young man hung back and then came to us and was so scared that he would know who I was and hand me back over to Yaser. There was an exchange of words between the two of them and then the man took over holding me up while the woman walked ahead to join her group. It seemed like the end of the road for me now that people were aware that I was here.
"Lady, you don't belong out here. Are you the one that those men were looking for last night?"
I nodded my head because there was no point in lying to him, I had no option really because I was well and truly at a point where I had no options left open to me. I turned and looked up at him knowing that he was the one person who could help or take me back to Yaser.
"Please, don't take me back"
I begged as my eyes teared up. Hell, who would have thought that I had enough water inside of me to do that. I knew that he was studying me as though trying to work out what to do with me. He seemed young to me with a scarf wrapped around his head, dark hair showing at his forehead. When he took out a phone from beneath the robe that he was wearing I was pretty sure that he would call Yaser or one of his men.
"Here, is there someone you can call?"
I looked at the phone that appeared and then back to the young man who was holding it out to me surprised at what he'd asked. I felt so relieved that he wasn't going to be handing me back to Yaser. Then I was wondering if a call would go through seeing as we were in the middle of nowhere and if it did would he have enough credit. I took the phone and input a number from memory, but the damn thing told me that I had to leave a message.
"Ranger, please, I need your help. Where am I?"
I asked the man suddenly realizing that Ranger would need to know that if he had any chance of finding me.
"I'll take you Alteef, At Taif, it's the nearest village and there's a highway that runs through there"
I really hoped that Ranger had heard that because I hadn't a hope of repeating the name. The ability to say anymore timed out on me so I handed the phone back wondering how long it would take us to reach the village that he'd mentioned. Looking up the woman had returned and in her hands she was now carrying a pair of worn trainers. It seemed that I'd still have to walk but at least now I had a destination and some help.
We walked to the left of where the caravan had gone. The man had a rucksack with him, so I'd had some of his water so felt a bit better as we slowly walked. Okay my feet still hurt but I was determined to suck it up and keep moving forward.
"What's your name?"
I asked curious and because talking helped me to focus on something other than walking.
"Mehedi. I join my family each year for a few months, I normally live and work in Riyadh"
That made sense because his English was very good but I wasn't going to intrude by asking him what job he did.
"It must be a hard life living in the desert"
Because to me the constant travelling and not having anywhere to live must be difficult to do let alone not having the basic pleasures in life that I took for granted like showering or shopping.
"It's a way of life, our tradition as Bedouin, so you get used to it. Why were you at the palace?"
I looked to Mehedi because I hadn't realized that it was a palace but then again it had been a beautiful building and seemed old. I thought through what to tell Mehedi because I still wasn't too sure what had happened or what was going on there, even though I had some ideas.
"The man there, he likes to assault women and I ended up in his sights. I think he uses women like that"
I wasn't too sure if Mehedi would believe me or not, it was a serious allegation for me to be making.
"It's not uncommon for some of the old Amirs to behave like that, they think that they have a privileged life so take what they want"
Did that surprise me, probably not, after all there were men like that all over the world.
"Here it used to be that a man controls a Saudi woman's life from her birth until her death. Every Saudi woman had to have a male guardian, normally a father or husband, but in some cases a brother or even a son, who has the power to make a range of critical decisions on her behalf. The Saudi state has done a lot to try and give women more freedom but the old ways are very hard to overcome"
Okay that didn't feel right. I hadn't realized that women were viewed here as a lower class of person and not as important. No wonder Yaser had little respect for women.
"So nothing would be done to stop Yaser?"
"I doubt that the authorities would be supportive. The punishment for rape can be life imprisonment or the death penalty. The problem comes in finding proof and the provision that a rapist isn't prosecuted if he marries the victim. The women also face pressure and fear from their families and society, as the norm is to shame and stigmatize the victim of rape, consequently, women don't come forward"
I pondered on what I learnt from Mehedi feeling totally powerless. Yaser would never leave any evidence of what he was doing and judging from the young woman, Katifa, he probably kept her imprisoned, and someone like her would never go the authorities even if she had the chance, she was trapped. We walked in silence after that, me thinking through what had happened at that palace and what could have happened to me had Katifa not helped me.
I wasn't too sure how long we walked for or how far. The landscape never seemed to change so I wasn't sure how Mehedi even knew what direction to take. As the sun moved across the sky and seemed to be directly above us, he insisted that we stopped and rested and using some sticks that he had in his rucksack erected a makeshift shelter from the sun. I couldn't believe how hot it was, and how dry my mouth felt so was grateful for some shelter from the midday sun. I laid down but never slept and felt restless worrying what I would find at the village that we were heading for. Would Ranger have got my message and if he had would he come find me? If he was in Milan, then it was a long way to travel if he could even get here. I was in the middle of the desert, not exactly an easy place to be for anyone to find transport.
Then there was Yaser. Would he accept that I'd escaped, or would he send his men after me? Yeah, I had a lot on my mind as I lay there. Once Mehedi had woken up we set off again and even though I was keen to know how long it would take I never asked. Mehedi ended up putting an arm around my waist to help me because my feet were hurting so much and to be honest, I felt exhausted. As the sun began to descend that was when I was aware of the silhouette of buildings ahead of us, well I hoped that they were buildings and not a mirage. If it was evening then that meant that I'd been away from Milan for 36 hours, without sleep or even anything to eat. As the buildings took form, I felt so relieved, though I knew that there wouldn't be many places where I could hide and wait.
The buildings were single story and looked to be made from concrete and seemed to be on either side of a single road, if this was the highway that Mehedi had mentioned then it wasn't very wide and there didn't seem to be many vehicles. It was like a ghost town, no one on the streets even though there looked to be a couple of places that might be shops. Mehedi walked us in the shade of the buildings and then stopped in front of one those shops. I sank down by the side of the building and leant against the wall while he went inside. A few minutes later we were both relishing the taste of water from a couple of plastic bottles. I was hoping the water was bottled water and that it didn't give me an upset stomach but at that moment I didn't care.
I used the corner of the scarf and dampened it with some of the water to try to cool down my face and noticed that Mehedi was fastening up his rucksack.
"I need to leave if I'm going to catch up with my family"
I knew he would have to do that, and I was grateful for what he'd done to help me. He would assume that having called someone that they'd be here soon, and I didn't want to delay Mehedi any longer.
"Will you be okay, do you need anything else?"
"No, I'll be fine while I wait. Thank you for helping me, I don't know how I can ever repay you"
"Ealaa alrahb walsaea. You are welcome. Amal 'an yasil sadiquk qryban. abq amnan"
I watched as Mehedi got to his feet and secured his rucksack onto his back. I had no idea how far he would have to walk and felt a pang of loneliness spread through me as his figure crossed the street and disappeared between two of the buildings. I had another bottle of water but refrained from opening it not knowing how long I might be sat here. That was when the fear that no one would come for me. What if Ranger hadn't heard or understood where the name of this place was? Or what if he regretted what he'd said to me and had decided that I wasn't worth the effort? How long would I wait for before disappointment took control and I felt that I needed to find a way out of this hellhole on my own? Would there be people here or someone passing through who would help me?
I didn't want to fall asleep, I mean what if Ranger was looking for me and didn't see me in the shadows of the building? Or worse, what if Yaser had men looking for me? My eyes felt like I had grit in them and closing them to get some relief must have been when I dozed off. I woke with a start at hearing the low rumble of engines and seeing the bright lights further down the street. I was so elated that Ranger was here and was looking for me that I was ready to get onto my feet and walk out onto the street where he was bound to see me. That was until I heard voices and the voices were talking and shouting in a foreign language.
Bright lights from a vehicle shone down the middle of the street but it was the back and forth movement of beams of light against the sides of buildings that had me start to panic. Men with flashlights were combing the shadows and alley ways and I just knew that they were looking for me. If I moved then I'd be seen, a lowly figure running would be too obvious, but I also knew that I couldn't stay where I was, the lights were getting closer. There were no crowds to mingle in with and only a few lights on in the buildings surrounding me, it was obviously later than I realized.
Looking around me I saw nowhere to hide, no garbage bins to crouch behind, no porches to hide in, so I began to slowly shuffle along the wall. Would they dismiss me as some vagrant on the street? I wasn't sure and cringed as a beam of light passed over me.
"Hunak, hunak"
Was shouted out and flashlights began to bob up and down as they approached me. I had no choice now so was quickly on my feet, running as if my life depended on it, because it probably did. I didn't get very far before I felt arms around my waist lifting me from the ground. I screamed and kicked doing everything that I could think of to get loose, hoping that maybe the noise would attract the attention of people living close by. I knew that wouldn't happen, hadn't Mehedi said that women were looked down on? Anyone hearing me wouldn't want to get involved between the men a lone woman.
As I was carried down the street toward one of the cars the man suddenly stopped walking making me go still because I wasn't sure what was happening around us to cause that. Maybe he was waiting for the car to come to us, and that thought had me once again struggling against his hold. There were shouts from the other men in front of me as they looked in my direction and that was when I watched as one of them suddenly dropped to the ground. Guns appeared and they were looking around them like wild dogs that had been cornered. Another man went down and as the sound of a gun firing echoed around me the man carrying me spun around.
The cars were stationary, their engines running and their lights shooting out beams of light down the street but both front doors were open. I'd stopped screaming, the silence around me was surreal, so complete. What the hell had just happened? I was only being held by one arm now, the man's other arm now extended with a gun dancing in the light as he moved it back and forth as though looking for a target. I took advantage of the fact that he wasn't focused on me anymore and swung my elbow at his jaw, so relieved that his hold on me momentarily slackened enough for me to push myself away from him. I fell onto my hands and knees but was up quickly, running, just running away from all the carnage. A single shot was fired, and I felt something hit my shoulder, making me falter slightly, but I knew that I had to keep going. Several shots rang out after that, and I was so afraid that they were aimed at me. Run, run, get away from here was all that I could think to do.
I was so intent on running that I never saw the man who stepped out and blocked my path. The force of me hitting him resulted in the both of us falling heavily to the ground. Arms around me had all of the panic and fear hitting me like a hammer. I was breathing so hard that I was sure my lungs were about to burst and trying to scream only resulted in muted whimpers.
