The Customer (Dexter's Saga) Ch. 44

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End of Chapter 43

"That may be, but then some might say that to have to go through the pain and long sessions with a head doctor is not only barbaric but expensive. The Arab way may be barbaric but it is faster and cheaper. I'm sure that the Israelis know this and understand. I promise that I will not kill him and that he will be able to answer whatever questions they might want to ask him, but we must do it this way."

Chapter #44

Down, down, down they went far below the main deck into a part of the ship that few visited called the brig area. There in separate cells lay the Captain and Dawud; both were dazed, dirty, confused and in leg irons and handcuffs. They were shells of the men they used to be.

"Salaam, Dawud. So we meet again. Welcome to MY ship. While it is not as luxurious and pleasant as the Caliph's yacht, it's still good to see you again. Do you remember who I am?"

"Yes," Dawud said. "I remember you. You're, Jesse, the son of that fool Yethro and Ronnie's boyfriend."

"I may be the 'son of a fool' but at this moment, here in this prison, you have the nerve to call me a fool?" Jesse hissed at him. Then to the guard, he said, "Please, leave us alone for ten minutes while I try to educate this moron!"

"I would love to do that, but sorry, I can not do that! My orders are clear. I'm here not only to protect you from him, but also to see that you don't kill this son of a bitch. The Israelis need him alive to answer some questions. From what I understand, it is not too often that they catch such prize 'cattle'. That Mossad guy made it plain that they want them alive and I should see to it that you do not kill him. You are free to do anything but that. You can use your fists and feet if you want. Just don't rough him up too much. Make sure that there is enough left for them to work over."

"Rough him up? I want to cut his balls off and make him eat them!" Jesse, in a fit of temper screamed, pulling out his pocketknife.

"I understand how you feel, but orders are orders! Now give me that knife or I'll have to take you back topside!" he pleaded as he brandished his automatic at Jesse.

"Well, okay, but under the circumstance, I guess a broken nose, perhaps a broken rib or two and a few black eyes might be called for," Jesse laughed as he reluctantly handed his knife to the guard and turned back to Dawud and shouted, "You son of a bitch, why did you take her? If you or that son of a bitch boss of yours wanted me - why not just come and ask me? Who knows I might have just gone with you willingly? Not only did you take her, you violated her and ruined her for life! Now no one will believe that you did not rape her! That innocent little girl is the woman I'm going to marry someday." With this he punched him in the face splattering blood all over.

Dawud fell to the floor bleeding from his nose. "I did not violate her!" he screamed as he tried to cover his face with his handcuffed hands. "I swear to you, I never took her virginity! If she says I did, she's lying! She is as pure as the day she was born unless she was lying to you from the beginning... "

"Lying? You son of a bitch," Jesse growled, "unlike you and your kind, that girl does not know how to lie! What makes you think I would believe anything you say anyway?" He screamed back at him and hit him again and again.

"As one Moslem to another, I swear it to you! I was just following his orders," he pleated. "I never..."

Again, Jesse punched him knocking him to the ground once more. Then he grabbed him and pulled him up and seating him in the chair again, screamed at him, "First of all, I'm not a Moslem as yet and you are only a Jihadist convert. And a filthy lying one at that. You know that Moslems can lie to non-believers all the time and you also know that it is not considered a sin! In fact, any lie is permitted to a non-believer. The Koran says that it is even permitted to lie to believers, under certain circumstances. I'm sure you heard of the concept of "taqiyya'. While I'm not a Moslem, I do know the Koran. So don't give me that shit," he said as he raised his fist again to strike him.

"Please, please, no more!"

"I am told that I can not kill you... yet," Jesse shouted at him as he punched him in the face again. "However, this is nothing compared to what you are going to get! I just wanted to vent out a bit of my anger at you. Just a little, mind you, because it does my heart good to think of the treatment my friends in the Mossad are planning for you. You only kidnapped my future wife. But think of all the misery your master, that Captain of his in the next cell and you have caused with those smuggling tunnels. Also the number of people they have or could have killed. I know that a few of those who will question you have firsthand knowledge of this and are not as lenient as I. Like I said, it does my heart very good. I'll leave you to the Mossad now. They know how to handle scum like you. Oh, by the way, just in case you were thinking of screaming that you are American and want to see the American ambassador, I think you should know that I have informed them of your background and told them that when you ask for forgiveness, they are to forget about your ever having been an American. The United States has disowned you. The Government has withdrawn your passport and has absolutely no interest whatsoever in your well-being. I told them to use everything they can on you. I hear that they have some rather unique ways of getting information out of people like you! I have also requested that once they get whatever information they can out of you, that they resist the temptation of trading you or your body for some prisoners your boss might be holding without first consulting me. Believe me you will talk and tell them everything you know. I only wish I could be there to see their methods, but I have to get back home. However, I did request that after they are finished with you that they rip off your balls and preserve them for me in alcohol. You and your friend the Captain are going to sing a beautiful song before they are finished with you. I'm just sorry I will not be there to see or hear it." Jesse punched him one more time knocking him again to the ground and kicking him in the ribs and then turning to the guard, he said, 'you better get me out of here before I lose my self-control and..."

The guard let Jesse out and locked Dawud up again. "Come, Mr. Allwadii, let's get some fresh air. It stinks down here." As he locked the steel door to the brig and they started the climb up to the main deck, the guard said, "Perhaps you should have the doctor look at those knuckles of yours. Did you hurt them? Do you think I should get a doctor to look after him?"

"Ordinarily, I would say why bother. Let the Mossad take care of him. However, I did promise that they would have a living bastard left to question. Let's at least see that they have a live body to work with!"

They went up on deck and Jesse went into the sickbay where he had the medic take a look at his hands.

"What the hell did you do to them?" the medic asked.

"Just a little work-out on a punching bag in the gym. I guess I'm a bit out of shape."

After that, he went to visit Ronnie where they realized that it was morning in the States, so they put in a phone call to Yethro and found out that both Rashid and his mother were staying with him at the Governor's mansion waiting for word about Ronnie. Jessie assured all of them that while she was shaken up, she was unhurt and untouched. "She has been through hell but the doctors have assured me she will be fine and as soon as she is able, we are going to fly back home. Perhaps we will see you in two or three days. I will telephone you and let you know when our flight will arrive." And to Rashid and his mother he said, "you can be assured that this will not happen again. As soon as I can arrange it with Yethro, she is going to be living with me at the mansion where I will hire a full-time bodyguard for her."

"Please Jesse, that won't be necessary," Rashid pleaded with him. "I have learned my lesson and I won't let this happen again. She is not going to leave my side until the two of you are married. I am so sorry."

"Sorry buddy, I'm not blaming you for any of this, but from now on I want an armed, licensed professional, on the job. One who won't be afraid to kill to protect her! I hope to be able to work out something with Yethro's security people. Again, I am not blaming you. We were lucky this time, but I don't want this to happen ever again. Both her honor and that of our families must be protected. The Caliph will think twice about sending anyone else to grab her ever again. You just look after your mother, and make sure you protect her and yourself. Ronnie is my responsibility from now on." They argued back and forth for a while and then Jesse put an end to it by agreeing to compromise and said, "Look if you want, when we get home, I can also arrange for a security detail for you and Grandma. But right now I have to get to bed, I'm really bushed." He hung up the phone and crawled into the bed beside Ronnie and held her in his arms, kissed her and snuggled up to her as best he could.

"Just you remember that from now on, my love, you are staying with me at the Governor's Mansion. We should have done that from the beginning. This was my fault. I should have seen it coming. From now on I can't have you becoming a target for another kidnapping. You are going to be protected 24/7. No one is going to harm you anymore. Now just rest and get well. I'll be here when you wake up, so sleep well." Jesse said as he lightly kissed her lips as she closed her eyes and tried to sleep.

"Please Jesse, do not blame Rashid. This was really my fault more than his. I should have waited for him before I went off on my own shopping."

"Okay, I will not blame him. I'm just pissed off that I did not see this coming. It's as much my fault as well as his. I'll apologize in the morning, I promise. Now, now, just you go to sleep and get some rest now."

Several times during the night Ronnie's screams and her thrashing around in the bunk awakened Jesse. He quickly tried to calm her down. "Darling, it's alright. You're here with me and I'm not going to allow anyone to hurt you again."

"Oh Jesse, is that you - is that really you? I prayed for you to come over and over. That evil man kept telling me that my prayers were a waste of time, as you were not coming for me because you really did not love me anymore. He said you had come under the spell of that monster Caliph and you would go to him and I would not see you again as you would not want me anymore. When I refused to believe that and I told him it could not be true, he showed me pictures of you and the Caliph together doing things that are so..., and still I refused to believe it... But then I began to have second thoughts. I could not help it. He kept showing me those pictures over and over and insisting that it was true. I tried not to believe it and while the thought of you helped me to survive... After a time I began to believe some of it. Is any of that true? Was that you in those filthy pictures?"

"Honey, I'm sorry to tell you - yes, it was. I will not lie to you. I did not want to do it, but both Yethro and I were drugged. You must believe that! I hope you will forgive me and just remember that you are here with me now and you're safe. Tomorrow we are going to board a plane and return to the States and have you back with your family," he said kissing her forehead. "Go back to sleep. You need your rest. You'll see - all will be well in the morning."

But the night was long and she kept tossing and turning and by morning all was still not well. However, after a good long shower and some new clean clothes, she began to respond to Jesse's care and little by little she began to look like her old self. After thanking the Seal team again and boarding a helicopter and leaving the carrier, things really began to look up. The farther away from the Sinai they got, the better she felt. The trip was long and the hours dragged on and Ronnie rested. It seemed that the closer to home they came - the better she began to recover some of her old self. Jesse knew it would be a while before she would recover from what had happened in the past few days. To help take her mind off the past, he told her about their new house and the progress that was being made.

"You would be surprised at how fast they are working. It will be ready by the spring and we can go up there for weekends," he told her. While there would not be any real furniture, he was sure that they would be able to camp out there or use Yethro's cabin and at least go swimming and fishing. All this talk about the house seemed to draw Ronnie out and she began to talk about what kind of furniture she wanted and while Jesse, at this stage knew it was all a game; he began to enjoy playing it with her. They became children and the two of them would roughly sketch the placement of chairs, tables and other things. She especially liked the idea of setting up the nursery and he began to think about trashing his work for the Department of Homeland Security and just settling down with this woman and raising a family. After all, he was not getting any younger and he could marry her legally right now without any problem. Her guardians would gladly sign the papers and Yethro would not only be ecstatic to perform the Civil Ceremony, he would encourage it. Although, according to Sharia Law they were already married he knew that both Ronnie and her family would never consider it a full marriage until he was fully converted. Yet, he still had serious reservations about it. He would have to talk to the Imam about that. He really was not looking forward to being circumcised. However if he were going to marry Ronnie... sooner or later he would have to have it done. Perhaps there was some way he could avoid it. But why wait? The sooner the better and get it over with. But before he took this final step he thought he should talk to Ronnie about it.

"You look so unhappy, Jess," she asked. "What is it? Are you having second thoughts about us now?"

"Don't ever think anything like that! You know how much I care for you. I was just thinking about ... you know... conversion. It is such a big step and as much as I admire some aspects of Islam, there are still many doubts. And it is not just that I fear circumcision, I admit that I do but it is that I cannot believe that Islam is my way or even the right way to bring up our children. To tell you the truth - it is too violent and some things are downright barbaric. Other religions have their faults, but as far as I can tell, there are ways to overcome them. As far as I can see, at this point, Islam is not my way. It may be yours and I have no problem with that, but it is not mine. There still are lots of reservations that I have."

"You do not have to believe in everything. I know what you mean, I, too have my reservations. There are many things that I do not like or understand about Islam. I have been spoiled. Living in America, I have learned to love the added freedom and modernisms people have there. I've even come to love a lot of my non-Moslem friends and neighbors. I've even questioned my grandmother about the place of women in Islam and how we take second place to our men. I've had a lot to see and question in the past week or so. How could one so-called Moslem do what he did to us and still think of himself as righteous is beyond me. Yet, there are millions of people that think that way. Look, Jess, we still have time to work things out. We will work on it, but we must do it together. You and I are going to make our own way. I'm sure that, Yethro, my Grandmother and Rashid will come to accept whatever we decide to do. And if they don't, we will just have to live our lives as we want to and I'm sure they will come around. As long as we love each other, we will be okay and others do not matter. If you feel that you cannot convert, then don't. In fact, I insist that you do not convert. I do not want you to do this for me. I love you and I hope you love me. I want you, and as far as you and that beautiful foreskin-well Mr. Allwadii, I just want to be Mrs. Allwadii and I'll take you as you are and if the world doesn't like it... Let them go to ..."

"I would love to do it that way. However Yethro and your family would throw a fit and disown both of us, and your family would throw you out. Just remember that even though I had a mother and father, I lived like an orphan for a long time and while I could live like that, I know you could not - you need family. No, we must do it their way. That's all there is to it. These last few days never happened," he said as he held her in his arms and kissed her.

"Perhaps it is better that they did happened. I learned one thing, Jesse Poindexter Allwadii, I love you more now than I did before and I would gladly convert to be with you... Why do you find it so hard to believe that I truly want to convert and become a part of your free world? You think that I, or any normal Moslem woman, want to live like a slave. Yes, I know, there may be some, but I don't. If I've learned anything in these past days, it's that I would rather live like a free woman. You taught me this! But you are wrong, Jesse. While their opinions are an important factor, we, you and I together, will have to decide, not Yethro, not Rashid, not Grandma, and not anyone else. Promise me that's how it will be. Just YOU AND ME."

The flight home took a few days and when they landed at the airport, the Governor and Ronnie's family were there to greet them. Jesse bundled Ronnie into the limo and they drove to the mansion. On the way, Jesse told her family that she was going to stay with him and the Governor from now on. Rashid again put up a big stink, but Jessie shook his finger at him and told him that he proved that he was not capable of protecting his future wife. Jesse wanted a professional bodyguard to take over. Besides, there is all the medical and psychological help needed there at the mansion. They fought all the way to the mansion. "Look, it's going to be this way. If you still have a problem with this, then Grandma can move in with Ronnie until we are married. You can keep the apartment for yourself until Ronnie and I are married. Then, if she wants to, Grandma can either stay with us or move back with you. Ronnie and I have already decided this. We cannot afford to take the chance that the Caliph is not going to send more men after her. The only other way to prevent that is for me to kill that bastard myself."

"You will never get to him," Rashid laughed. "That man has an army of people protecting him."

"Look if Dawud and that ass-hole Captain are examples of the caliber of his people, it should not be too difficult. I mean even unsophisticated Ronnie was able to get a message out to the F.B.I. and me. Anyway, let's just see how this works out for a while. Somehow or other I think we have not seen the last of the Caliph."