“I suspected it, the resemblance between you two is amazing, I can't believe father didn't notice.” Yeah, well, there's a lot of shit he didn't pay attention to.
“The helipad?” I insist.
“Oh yes, father only uses it for emergencies and it’s always ready.”
His eyes scan the room and end up landing on the kid, so I draw his attention back to me.
“How do we get into the mansion, there has to be some other way, something only his inner circle would know?”
Zahir gets distracted by looking at Sarah for a few seconds, then talks to her directly.
“I can't thank you enough for what you did to my brother, you saved many people.”
She nods uncomfortably, without showing much emotion, that's when I see the hardness in her eyes.
A horrible feeling of not knowing her enough runs through my body, it makes me feel distant and edgy; I hate feeling this way about her.
“The tunnels...” he turns to me. “My father built them before we were all born; they are in bad shape, but I think it's the only alternative you have.”
“Tunnels?” Amira asks. “Why didn’t I know about this?”
“Father did not want you to know, for obvious reasons.”
She nods silently, understanding where he’s coming from.
“I don't know if they are guarding them or not, but it is likely, all the mansions are connected by these tunnels.”
I'm not surprised. All the most wanted men in the world have an escape route through tunnels in common, just in case shit hits the fan.
We have to take a chance, because the other option is to wait for them to find us and that's not gonna happen, not on my watch.
“How do I find the tunnel?”
“The nearest entrance is in my house, they have already inspected the mansion, so there are only a few guards.”
Only a few? Done.
“Here.” He says, as he hands me a Glock 18. “It's not much, but it's all I could get.”
“Zahir! Come with us!” Amira cries.
“No, sis, I have to look after Mom, don't worry, when all this is over, I'll find you and we'll meet again.”
She looks at him with hope, but the rest of us know that this is goodbye.
Such kindness makes me doubt him, there's something behind all this.
“What's in it for you? If they catch you helping us, they'll kill you.”
He looks at me irritated.
“It's my sister's life that's at stake, not mine. I think the fact that you're here shows that you understand why I'm doing this.”
Swallowing my doubts, I nod my head in silence.
“I have to leave, but in case we don't see each other again, I wish you all good luck.” Zahir shakes my hand and then Sarah's and leaves the room.
“Well, it's now or never,” Sarah whispers, as she exhales a great deal of air from her lungs.
I follow her; doing the same, Dante takes off his uncomfortable suit and hides it inside a bucket of water.
“Let's do this.” Dante makes a gesture with his face, which takes me back when he was a kid, a time when he was excited about going shopping with mom. A bittersweet taste fills my mouth.
I’m the one in front of the pack now.
Sarah still carries the shears, Dante walks next us, and Amira goes to his side holding the child who is magically still asleep.
We walk through an orchard of apple trees. Zahir's house can be seen in the distance, roughly three hundred yards in front of us, that we must cover without being seen. That’s no small feat considering everyone is on high alert.
I pity the bastards who cross our path.
