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We got out of the cottage for the first time since we arrived three days ago. The trees were dancing with the wind, maybe doing so to shake off the same cold we were feeling in our bones, but after about half an hour of walking, we both felt warm. I could feel Pam's hands warming up within my grip as if she were a toy I had for Christmas, I never wanted to let go. I was leading her to a place I used to know years ago, but not now with all the war raging and the many factions warring against each other. Those fools should have known better after seeing what we did to each other in the civil war.
I would love to say I cared about the suffering of those poor people, but I was not. All I was thinking about was how to get past the police and the army surrounding the area. The scene of the military doing police work is not unheard of in Lebanon, but we used to hear about it when they were after terrorists and some dangerous cartel members; we were nothing compared to these people to invoke the wrath of the army to come after us, but not everybody murdered was Mr. Rachidy. We didn't learn a lot more from the two other times we watched the news, but we could feel that we became enemies of the state. I did not kill an ordinary man; I killed a man who could block the view of a mountain with all the big shots behind him.
We were walking across a stretch that was way beneath the cottage we stayed in, but I could see it up there on top of the mountain. I didn't know if I was making a mistake, or if I should have waited for Ramsey, but we were in it now and we could not go back. Abu Khalid gave me a stick and told me to tell that woman walking with me to hide behind some rocks on the side of the mountain road. Pamela hid behind the rocks, and Abu Khalid told me to act as if I were a shepherd myself.
I could not say I had a lot of experience shepherding, and I wasn't sure it was the right time to learn anything apart from the rosy dreams of shepherds I used to watch in the cartoons as a kid. My fate was bound to the unknown intentions of that yellow-teethed man whose grin I could never decipher, but I had no choice but to do what he asked.
I didn't know how Abu Khalid saw the army truck coming, maybe, heard it because I could not see or hear them coming before we were both in each other's line of sight.
The truck slowed down on the road next to us. I pretended to be tending to the goats on the other side, but away from the rocks where Pam was hiding. Abu Khalid did not seem to care, either.
"Hey, you, how long have you been around here?" a soldier sitting in the passenger's seat asked.
"We have been here for two or three days." Abu Khalid answered in his Bedouin accent. The army truck came to a stop, I still hadn't turned, but I heard the door open. I knew I had to turn right away. Maybe it was too late, but I gave it a shot. I had nothing to lose.
"You miserable dog. How do you speak like that to the guardians of our homeland?" I shouted at Abu Khalid in the same Bedouin accent. I turned and talked to the soldier who was about to get out of the truck in a less heavy and more understandable accent,
"Don't mind him, sir. This man is crazy." I said that looking into the soldier's eyes, and I turned back to Abu Khalid, and in the same heavy Bedouin accent, I said,
"May God curse you. You lowlife dog." I didn't know how good my disguise was, but the laugh I heard from the soldier disarmed my tension, but we were far from being safe. Pam was a couple of steps away from the soldier. He only had to walk a little to the left, and he would see her where she was hiding.
"Hey, you, funny guy, did you see a man and a woman nearby on foot?" the soldier was funny himself thinking I was the funny guy.
"On foot, no, we didn't see anybody," I said, and I could see the look on the soldier's face changing. Maybe, I wasn't funny enough for his taste any longer.
"But there, up in the mountain, there were a man and a woman in the abandoned cottage." I pointed up to where the cottage was still visible.
"When did you see them?"
"Last night. We were sleeping with the goats near the cottage when we saw lights coming from there. We barely touched the grass walking up and there it was sir." I pressed my lips and sounded a big mm... I looked at the soldier whose patience was running out while I took my time completing the gesture.
"Sorry sir, we saw them from the window on the ground. I swear to God she was more beautiful than my father's second wife." I said that expecting a laugh from the soldiers who were all listening to my story now without leaving the truck, and I hoped they'd take the bait.
"Watching them fucking was better than that porno movie that idiot over there brought me the other day and made me pay five dollars for. Watching the goats fuck was sexier." The soldiers were all laughing by then, and I laughed with them, too. But that soldier on the ground shut them all up and asked me,
"Did they see you?"
"Of course not. He was too busy humping, and the bitch was moaning like my father's third wife." I hoped my description met their expectations in who they were looking for and in how stupid and lowlife I was.
The soldier got back into the truck
"Why? Who are they? Is the army against sex in the mountains?" I continued to be that funny guy, nobody minded me as the truck sped up the mountain.
I waited until they were out of sight and rushed to the rocks to see Pamela who was looking at me and the signs of disbelief were all over her face.
"What?"
"I'm just surprised. How come you work as a computer programmer. You should have been an actor." Pam said that with a fading smile. I smiled back, but mine faded, too for we both realized the roads were not safe and these soldiers might be back after they find out nobody was there.
"You sneaky bastard, you can work with me, and I will let the lady live with my family. You're good." Abu Khalid seemed to be impressed.
I wish I had time to be proud of what I did, but I didn't know what to be proud of.
"Come on. We need to get out of the road fast before they return." I said to Abu Khalid
"There is another way that is much safer, but it is much more expensive." Abu Khalid knew he could take advantage of the situation now especially after the soldiers. He might not have had any idea who we were before, but even he still didn't know who we were, he was sure we were so dangerous that the army with all its might was looking for us.
I knew I wasn't in a position to negotiate with Abu Khalid. If he decided to sell us out, he could, but I knew he cared only about money. He wanted much more money for the trip now, but I convinced him to settle down for ten thousand dollars. I told him I would give him five thousand now and five after we crossed the border. He didn't like it very much, but the sign of his yellow teeth sealed the deal.
"Give me three thousand," I told Pam about the bargain and that we had no other choice, or we would be exposed in the open.
"But we only have about eight thousand. How are you going to pay him?"
"I don't know, but I know that we need to get out of here now."
"The man is dangerous. We don't know what he is planning to do with us. He might kill us in the wilderness to steal our money."
"You think?" I smiled at Pam "Of course he will, but he probably thinks we're some stupid uptown kids."
"You speak as if you had any experience. This is not a Hollywood movie. Let's leave him here and go."
"Listen, I know it's not an adventure. I know he is dangerous, but every other option we have is dangerous, too. There is no safe place for us in this country anymore. We must get out of here. Whatever he's planning, he won't do it in broad daylight. I will have some time to think about what I will do with him, but in the meantime, you are never to be an inch away from me. Do you understand?"
Pam was silent for a moment. Maybe, she felt like telling me the whole Hollywood lecture thing, but she must have realized as I did how desperate we were, so she reached the money she was hiding and gave me three thousand dollars. I took the money and turned around, and as I expected, Abu Khalid was watching from afar. I could see his yellow teeth, but it was not anything like that seal-the-deal smile.