May 1
Merrick Freight & Storage
159 Tyler Street
Newark, New Jersey
3:40 P.M. EDT
Hakki Akdari heard the initial detonation, muffled by distance; seconds later, a louder explosion echoed from the same direction.
Success. Praise God, I have accomplished His will…
The fierce pain was undiminished.
But pain matters little. And I will again see, in Paradise.
Sirens now, at first also muted—then others, closer. Approaching.
There is but one final victory to claim.
He felt his way along, crawling, the rough texture of the wooden floor under his hands, halting only when his forehead cracked into brick. Hakki’s fingers traced their way higher, until he could grasp the waist-level ledge of the windowsill.
From below and behind him came a crash, then another. And then shouts, indecipherable, and the clamor of footsteps rushing up a stairwell.
Five flights; I must be quick.
He clawed his way to a knee, then to his feet, and fumbled one foot awkwardly onto the ledge.
A memory sprang to his mind’s eye and brought a thin smile to his face.
Pamukkale, when I was a boy. We climbed those cliffs, over the hot springs … my brother, Dari … he taunted me, dared me to ignore the rules, to leap into the waters … I had too much fear then. Why do I feel no fear now?
The noises were closer now, urgent and demanding and relentless.
With a determined effort, he lurched higher, slipped once; only on his second attempt did he succeed in gaining a foothold, then pulled himself to a standing position on both legs.
The unseen sunlight was warm; the glass, cool against his palms and cheek.
Hakki swayed slightly, his lips moving silently but reverently.
Then he pressed his body weight forward from his hips, pushed back with his toes against the ledge, felt the glass shatter at his forehead.
You see, Dari? Today I am as courageous as a lion, as brave as a—
There was freedom, an exhilarating flood of joy, in the rushing weightlessness of his fall.