The Next Morning …
Ben arrived at the post early, he needed to get in touch with Nurse Zaman from the hospital. It didn't take long until he'd put a first name with a sir name- Hana.
"Good morning, this is Constable Benton Fraser with the Spencer Falls post, I'm calling in regards to an Omar Bilal Zaman." The Mountie greeted the young woman on the other end of the line.
"I'm sorry, Constable, but I don't know anyone by that name." Her voice rose slightly in pitch.
"Miss Zaman, this is a very grave matter, we have reason to believe that Omar has attempted to assassinate an RCMP officer." Fraser spoke low into the phone, other officers moved around the main room working on various assignments.
"I don't know who you think I am, Constable, but I don't know anyone by that name." The young woman's insistent tone only served to convince the experienced Mountie she was lying.
"I believe your mother's name was Amina and her brother's name was Syed, they were killed in 2000 because they helped a Canadian woman." Fraser heard Hana gasp.
"We need to meet, Constable, I'll be at the post in an hour." Hana hung the phone up abruptly.
"Good morning, Constable Fraser, who was that on the phone?" Meg breezed into the post, a definite pep in her step. She wore her usual slacks suit but this one seemed a bit more planned than most days.
"It was someone connected to Omar Zaman." Fraser hung the phone up and rose, his features worried.
"Brief me in my office." Meg led the way back through the short hall, Diefenbaker getting up to follow her as well as Fraser. She closed the door behind them.
"How is Ben this morning?" Meg asked before they got back to the subject of Omar Zaman.
"He's well rested, he was asking about you this morning." Fraser smiled, touched at Meg's concern for his son.
"He's a sweet kid, very much his father's son." Meg smiled warmly at him as she took her seat behind her desk. Fraser's smile broadened at the left handed compliment.
"Thank you kindly." He sat leaning forward in the chair across the desk from Meg. He noted how easily she slipped her glasses on in front of him. Meg caught him watching her.
"Who was on the phone a moment ago?" She hated to but they had business to attend to.
"I believe it was Omar Zama's sister, Hana. I met her at the hospital yesterday when I went to see to Ben." Fraser watched as Meg turned from her computer screen to stare at him. Her face was ghostly pale, her dark eyes wide.
"That's impossible, Fraser, I saw that little girl die." Meg set her glasses aside with a shuttering breath.
"When I told her that I thought her mother was Amina and that her uncle was Syed she said she'd be here in an hour." The Mountie reached out to lay a reassuring hand on Meg's.
"It can't be here, Fraser, it can't." Meg insisted. She'd seen the little girl shot, laying on the ground at her feet as the terrorist leader's gun hammered a bullet into her small body. The fear in Hana's eyes still haunted Meg.
"We shall see in a little less than an hour. Do you feel up to speaking with her?" Fraser came around the desk, squatting at Meg's side. The Inspector shook her head, she could still see the little girl, blood covering her ragged, once pink dress, her long, dark hair across her face.
"I don't know, Fraser. If it is Hana, I caused her so much pain, she won't want to see me. It's not fair of me to bring back such painful memories." Meg took a deep breath and let it out slowly. She used every tool she'd learned to prevent a flashback at the hospital all those years ago.
"I believe that seeing this young woman may help you take a step toward healing even further." Fraser looked at her, his voice soothing and his gaze steady. "I'll be with you every step of the way, Meg." She felt him take her hand, gently squeezing her fingers.
"I think I can then." She shrugged, her fears subsiding a bit.
"Good, it's settled." Fraser pronounced confidently as he rose. Meg envied him his confidence. She didn't feel very much of it herself just then.
McConaughey Mining Property …
Omar sat by his campfire, drinking coffee, his rifle laying in broken pieces around him as he cleaned them individually. Overhead the sky was clear and the air was warm. Sounds of nature had lulled the young man to sleep only to be replaced by the sounds of his nightmares. He heard his mother screaming, his uncle cursing and the Canadian woman shouting at the men who had taken them. Suddenly his mother stopped screaming.
"I'll never tell you anything now, she was an innocent woman, you may as well kill me too." That Canadian shrew spat venomously as Omar watched the terrorist pull an eight inch knife out of his mother's chest as she lay on her back beneath the unrelenting sun.
"I will kill you, Thatcher, if it is the last thing I do." Omar shouted. He watched the terrorist kneel down and wipe the knife clean on his mother's dress. Her eyes stared blankly into the heavens above.
"I'm sorry, Omar, they would have killed her no matter what I tell them." Meg had spoken through swollen lips, blood caking her face from wounds to her eyes and mouth. She'd been beaten until her whole face was red and purple. One of the guards had knocked her unconscious for biting him.
"I will still kill you!" Omar woke up shouting just before dawn. He could see his mother's face as he came back to reality. "I will kill you, Thatcher." He vowed as he threw off his sleeping bag. Omar got on up and began his preparations for the day. Today would be the day of reckoning.
Spencer Falls RCMP Post …
Hana pulled into a parking space in front of the post and stepped out of her car. She took a deep breath and tried to steady herself. She'd been looking for her older brother for the last two years. Hana was hard pressed to believe that she would find him like this, the subject of a manhunt. There had to be a mistake.
Walking into the post, Hana looked around, intimidated by the officers going about their duties. Her gaze settled on the one in his red uniform, the only one in his red uniform. Hana remembered seeing him at the hospital the day before.
"May I help you, Miss?" A young officer asked as she stared at the red clad figure studying a computer screen.
"I spoke with a Constable Fraser earlier this morning." Hana told the fresh faced officer who's name tag read 'Hansen'. He seemed friendly and concerned.
"I'll let him know you're here, Miss?" He hesitated.
"Zaman." Hana answered. The young officer's face changed. He seemed surprised, then he seemed to go cold.
"Constable Fraser, you have a visitor." Hansen stepped away, drawing the other Mountie's attention to the young woman.
"Hello, Miss Zaman, have a seat, please." Fraser stood up, meeting her halfway across the room. He could see the fear in her dark eyes as she followed him.
"How is it you came to call me this morning, Constable Fraser?" Hana perched on the edge of the seat, here dark eyes wide as she wrung her hands.
"Zaman is a rare name in this area, it was logical to assume that you and Omar Zaman are relatives." Fraser didn't want to go into the case details until he was certain she was Omar's sister. He didn't hear the sound of Meg's heels behind him on the hardwood floor as she walked down the short hallway to peer into the main room. Hana saw the familiar figure behind Constable Fraser standing in the door way, her face pale and her hands shaking.
"Ms. Thatcher, is it really you?" Hana stood, dropping her purse to the floor. By the time she rounded the desk Meg had retreated into her office.
"Miss Zaman, a word please." Fraser's voice brought her back to the present.
"Is that Ms. Thatcher, I always wondered what happened to her after I got away from the terrorists." Hana searched Fraser's face for the truth.
"Yes, that is Margaret Thatcher, the woman you know from Iraq." Fraser answered straightforwardly.
"She thought I was dead?" Hana thought aloud. No wonder the woman's face had looked like she saw a ghost. Hana saw her mother's image more in the mirror every day as she aged.
"Yes, Inspector Thatcher was able to escape with Omar across the border into Jordan. She witnessed Amina and Syed's deaths and yours she thought until this morning." The Mountie informed her.
"I was shot, but it was superficial. One of the younger guards had a sister my age in a village nearby. He took me there where a midwife was able to remove the bullet. When I was eleven I walked over the border and eventually made my way here, searching for Omar." Hana's eyes filled with tears.
"Were you aware that your brother was in Spencer Falls?" Fraser asked, hoping she wasn't an accessory to his thefts and assassination attempts.
"Yes, but he doesn't know I'm here, or that I'm alive. I've been here three months, a missionary in Israel told me that they had helped a young man fitting Omar's description move here recently." Hana explained. "It's been so long since I've seen Omar, he may not believe I am who I say I am, Constable Fraser, he has always been very stubborn."
"We'll help you, one step at a time. If you'll wait here, I'll go in and speak with Inspector Thatcher." Fraser escorted the young woman back to a seat at the desk.
"Yes, please tell her that I wish to speak to her, that I understand now what she was trying to do." Hana implored him. The Mountie nodded his understanding.
Meg stood looking out the window behind the post when Fraser stepped inside her office. He could tell from the way her arms were crossed over her chest and the shaky way she breathed the lady Mountie was crying. Fraser closed the door behind himself and took a purposefully loud step toward her.
"Fraser, is she Omar's sister, is she Hana?" Meg turned to speak, her face wet with tears.
"Yes, I believe she is, are you alright, Meg?" He came to stand in front of her, wiping her tears away with his thumbs.
"No, Fraser, I'll never be alright, not as long as Amina and Syed are dead, not as long as Alice isn't here." Meg shook her head, fresh tears streaming down her face.
"Listen to me, the information that you smuggled out of Iraq was instrumental in saving so many other lives. You have lived a life that would have made Amina proud of you. I am proud of you." Fraser smiled, hoping she would see he was right. Meg put her arms around him and buried her face in his chest, a sob erupting from deep within. Benton held her close, his warm hand stroking her hair as she cried.
"Shh, Meg, I know you're hurt, I can only imagine what you went through. Hana is out there waiting to see you, she said she understands what you were trying to do." Meg pulled away, looking up into his eyes. How could anyone understand what Meg was trying to do, she didn't understand it herself. Fraser pulled a clean handkerchief out of his pocket and handed it to her with a reassuring smile.
"I hate crying in front of anyone, it's never just a simple cry, it's a wet, messy affair. I hate being the center of attention." Meg sighed, her emotions pulling her in twelve, opposite directions.
"Red has always suited you." Fraser ran his index finger down her nose with a playful smile. All Meg could do was chuckle. Only he would think she was beautiful with a puffy, snotty face.
"You are still too good to be true, and rather hopeless, Benton Fraser." Meg shrugged, drying her face.
"It's too late to change now." He smiled, one of his room lightening smiles that made the worst shadows flee.
"Ask Hana to my office please, I'll just be fixing my face." Meg put the hanky in her pocket. Fraser simply nodded and walked back to the main room.