Chapter 8 - The Second Car
Maya ran faster than Khalid.
The medical wing smelled of antiseptic and smoke.
One guard lay beside the elevator.
Another was being treated by a nurse.
Samir’s room was empty.
His IV line hung from the bed.
Blood spotted the floor.
Khalid grabbed the doctor.
“How badly was he hurt?”
“The gunshot was clean. He was stable.”
“Could he walk?”
“Not far.”
Maya noticed a smear on the window.
She moved closer.
Letters had been written in blood.
G3.
Khalid joined her.
“What is that?”
Maya stared.
“Garage three?”
Khalid called security.
“No radios.”
He looked at Maya.
“You stay here.”
“No.”
“Maya.”
“Samir told me not to leave you alone.”
“This isn’t a debate.”
“It is now.”
Laila arrived behind them.
“She’s right.”
Khalid looked at his wife.
Laila grabbed a medical bag.
“You’re not walking into a garage alone after someone just kidnapped the only witness who knows what happened to your mother.”
Khalid looked annoyed.
But he didn’t argue.
They reached Garage Three through a private elevator.
The underground level was silent.
Too silent.
Maya saw Samir first.
He was sitting inside an old sedan with his hands tied to the steering wheel.
“Samir!”
Khalid ran toward him.
“Stop!”
Samir screamed through the glass.
Khalid froze.
Maya saw a wire running beneath the car.
Bomb.
A red digital timer blinked beneath the driver’s seat.
02:13.
Laila whispered, “Oh God.”
Khalid reached for the handle.
Samir shook his head violently.
“Pressure switch!”
Khalid stopped.
“If I open the door?”
“It explodes!”
Maya looked around.
No security.
No bomb team.
No time.
“Can you move your hands?”
“Barely.”
Khalid called Rafiq.
No signal.
The underground garage had been jammed.
01:42.
Maya stared at the vehicle.
Then at the old emergency fire system.
“Foam.”
Khalid looked at her.
“What?”
“The maintenance crew tested the suppression system last week. It shuts down electrical circuits in each zone.”
“That won’t stop a bomb.”
“No, but maybe it stops the timer.”
Laila pointed at the wall.
“The control box.”
Khalid ran.
Maya stayed beside Samir.
“Who did this?”
He shook his head.
“Masked.”
“Did you see anything?”
“One had Kareem’s ring.”
“What ring?”
“Black stone.”
01:10.
Khalid smashed the emergency glass.
Pulled the lever.
Nothing.
“Manual override!”
Maya remembered cleaning the garage office two months earlier.
“There’s another switch inside maintenance!”
She ran.
Laila followed.
They found the control panel.
Locked.
Laila grabbed a metal extinguisher and smashed it against the box.
Once.
Twice.
Glass shattered.
Maya reached inside.
“Which one?”
“Zone C!”
She pulled it.
A siren screamed.
White suppression foam exploded from the ceiling.
The car disappeared beneath it.
00:31.
00:30.
00:29.
The timer kept moving.
“It didn’t work!”
Khalid ran back.
Samir screamed, “GO!”
00:15.
Khalid refused.
00:10.
Maya spotted the wire beneath the rear wheel.
Not electrical.
Mechanical.
Connected to a metal pin.
She shouted, “The car can’t move!”
Khalid understood.
He opened the passenger-side window with the emergency breaker.
“Pressure switch is in the driver’s door?”
Samir nodded.
00:06.
Khalid reached through the window and cut the rope around Samir’s wrists.
00:04.
They pulled him through the passenger window.
00:02.
Everyone hit the floor.
The explosion shook the garage.
Heat punched Maya’s back.
The sedan erupted behind them.
Khalid rolled over.
“Maya!”
“I’m okay!”
Laila coughed beside a concrete pillar.
Samir was alive.
Barely.
Minutes later, Rafiq arrived with guards.
Khalid slammed him against the wall.
“Why was there no signal?”
“We had a jammer!”
“Why was Garage Three unsecured?”
“I don’t know!”
“Then find out!”
Samir gripped Khalid’s sleeve.
“Second car.”
Khalid knelt.
“Kareem said you knew who drove it.”
Samir closed his eyes.
“That night… Mariam’s car left the palace at 9:10.”
“Go on.”
“A second car followed.”
“Who was driving?”
Samir looked at him.
“Your father.”
Khalid froze.
Maya stared.
“You said his father wasn’t involved.”
“He wasn’t.”
“Then why was he following her?”
“To save her.”
Samir coughed painfully.
“He learned Kareem had ordered men onto the mountain road.”
Khalid whispered, “My father knew?”
“Too late.”
“What happened?”
“His car was forced off the road first.”
Khalid shook his head.
“My father told me he was in the palace.”
“He lied.”
“Why?”
“Because Kareem had already threatened you.”
Khalid stood slowly.
Maya saw rage and grief mix across his face.
“My father knew who killed my mother for twenty years?”
“He had no proof.”
“He had you.”
Samir looked ashamed.
“He had a son to keep alive.”
Khalid turned away.
Maya followed.
“Khalid.”
“Don’t.”
“He was trying to protect you.”
“He let me shake Kareem’s hand for twenty years.”
Maya had no answer.
Behind them, Laila suddenly whispered:
“Wait.”
She was staring at the burned wreckage.
Something metal had survived beneath the car.
A small lockbox.
Khalid opened it.
Inside was a photograph.
Recent.
Maya recognized the face instantly.
Her mother.
Amina.
But that was impossible.
Amina had died eleven years earlier.
May you like
On the back was a date.
Six months ago.
