The man who is watching the road in the other side shouts. He comes closer and says,
The man inserts his hands in Khaled’s pockets. He finds only some coins which he throws to the ground angrily and carelessly. He inserts his hand in Khaled’s pocket and finds a piece of paper which he unfolds in intensifying outrage. He is about to throw it to the ground, but he retreats on moment before that. He looks at it again, hands it to the man who is holding the pistol enquiring,
Khaled maintains his silence. How can answering the question help him? He is dead either way, so he wants to have one of his last rights—silence.
He feels the shivering body of Zohra as if she is shaking the ground under his feet. It intensifies the pain and fear.
With intermittent breathing, Khaled narrates what happened. The man lowers his grip that was tight on the pistol. He lets it hang on his side as if his hand has suffered a sudden paralysis. The other man looks at him waiting for orders.
The man throws the pistol and sits on the ground crying. Khaled could not understand what happened. Zohra turns slowly to explore, with tears in her eyes, what actually is happening. The man buries his face in his palms and starts crying in clearly audible sound. The other man is stunned not knowing what to do.
The man rose to his feet slowly and removed his mask revealing his black skin. He drew closer to Khaled and hugged him as he was sobbing hot tears. Khaled tried to compose himself, but as he recalled what happened on Playa de Bolonia beach, He gave way to his tears, too.
Zohra stood straight and leaned on the car as she was wiping off her tears and looking at the two men confusedly. Was that really taking place or was she dreaming?
The man said while still hugging Khaled’s shoulder,
The man then was not naïve nor simple. It seemed he noticed Zohra’s behavior who tried not to make it suspicious. He ordered somebody to watch her which led to identifying Khaled. Bernard was aware that he was the one wo was imprisoned unjustly in Zahrliza case, and most probably he knew that Khaled came for the painting. Therefore, he decided to get rid of them using the ugliest and meanest ways or the most expensive ones.
Solomon hugged Khaled, dragged his brother, and they went. Khaled thought of saying something, but he stopped from doing that. Zohra was stunned. He drove her to her house. She waved to him and got out of the car.
No one word…no blame…no apologies… nothing.
Silence only was and remained to be the master of that situation until they departed.
Khaled entered the house, and he was feeling a severe fever in his body. The effects of the accident started to take effect on hum. His body was shaking violently and his heart was beating fast. His feet were as if of clay. He fell on the bed panting as if he had been running tens of kilometers.
He thanked God secretly that he survived. He barely believed that everything happened to him was due to sheer coincidences. All those disasters were followed by a strange relief because of one second or more.
He tried to sleep, but he failed drastically. He turned the laptop on and stat looking at it unable to do a thing. He turned it off and went to the window contemplating the night of Brussels. He didn’t know whether he liked the city or hated it, but either way he would leave it at the first chance to return to the lap Tangier who was the only one capable of curing all the wounds of the soul.