Whisper

by Tal Bauer

The SUV tipped forward, the back end rolling over the front, tumbling as it careened toward the glassy surface of the Potomac.

Paramedics hovered over Dawood. “I’ve got no pulse. Asystole.” “No breathing. Starting compressions.”

Five days later, and he sat by Dawood’s bedside, a constant, uninterrupted vigil.

Kris laughed, hollow and empty. “George… I think I’m done with the CIA.”

Memories and ghosts and promises lived in his bones. He’d carried them for half his life. It was time to let them go.

Where did Ryan, and the CIA, and the world go from here? Kris hadn’t a clue. How could anything change? How could the hatred ever stop?

After forty-seven years of an anguished life, did Dawood deserve his peace? Did he deserve to meet Allah face to face, and rest, finally, in the arms of his creator?

Paths upon paths, choices made that carved destinies, changed the course of time and reality. What if Dawood hadn’t been lost for ten years? What if there had been no one to stop Dan?

Kris sat back, staring up at Dawood— At Dawood’s open eyes, at his soft smile.

They kissed, and kissed, and kissed,

Kris frowned. “Will living here be enough for you?”

Dawood lifted Kris’s fingers to his lips. “I wanted to bring you here. Show you this mosque.” He kissed Kris’s fingers, slowly. “I want this to be my home. Where I worship for the rest of my life.” “So you do want to stay? Here, with me?” “I do. Especially with you.” Dawood nuzzled Kris’s fingers against his cheek.

Dawood flushed. “Imam Youssef helped me see that following the path would lead me to you. In this life or the next. That the battle I was fighting against Dan wasn’t just of this world. But it was a battle for the next, as well. And for millions of souls. Millions of lives hung in the balance. Especially yours. If I died, I would wait for you in the next life. But no matter what… We would be together again.”

“He did choose you, habibi,” Imam Youssef said, smiling. “He always chooses you. For this life, and for eternity. And he chose to save so many lives.”

“Laa yumkinu lilkalimati an tasifa hubbi laki,” Dawood breathed. Words cannot describe my love for you. “Ya rouhi.”