The Godless One (11 page)

Ari was curious himself, and put the
question straight. Mohammed did not answer.

"Uh-oh, here we go," Jenny frowned.
"The first time Mr. Zewail translated for us it was like two
badgers at a wolf convention. They were the only two people in the
room—I didn’t exist. Then it went belly up."

"Is that so?" said Ari. Mohammed had
mouthed off about something to Mustafa Zewail and been told to shut
up. But told by whom?

"Well, let’s see if we can at least get
a full name out of him."

Ari sighed and asked Mohammed his
name.

"
Are you of the Faith
?" Mohammed
demanded abruptly.

"
Who’s asking
?" said Ari.

"
They sent a Christian here, before
."

When Ari neither affirmed nor denied
that he was a Muslim, Mohammed crossed his arms and mumbled. After
rolling his tongue over a bicuspid, Ari allowed himself a fit of
impatience.

"
You are Samir Salman, the premier cocksucker of Gejara
Street. You were arrested for raping young girls and escaped
execution due to the intercession of the American Army, which
mistook you for a political prisoner and released you on the
unsuspecting Iraqi public. Ten to one you were involved in the
famous ambush of the 1
^st
Cavalry Division, and wouldn’t the Americans love
to know that they have you in their clutches?
"

Samir Salman howled and leapt out of
his seat, backing towards the front of the classroom. The guard
immediately appeared and bared his teeth. Samir Salman wilted under
his brazen grin and returned to his desk. The guard nodded
contentedly and left.

Jenny was staring at Ari. "What did you
say to him?"

Ari, a master of furtive gestures, ran
a finger over his sleeve. "When he didn’t answer, I put the
question to him more forcefully. I am from Sicily and perhaps some
of my rough upbringing came through…" He grimaced and
shrugged.

"Great," said Jenny. "I ask for a
translator and get Don Corleone. Would you please apologize to
Mohammed and rephrase the question?"

"Certainly." Ari turned
back to the prisoner. "
All right, Samir,
let’s get this straight. If you don’t start answering questions
these people will send you to a Federal prison, where I believe
castration is practiced as a matter of course. So, are you going to
cooperate?
"

"
The Godless One
," Samir Salman
whimpered.

Ari sat straight.
"
What was that?
"

"
I wondered when I saw you. Now I know. You’re the one they
talked about
."

"
Who talked about
?"

"
Everyone. You’re the devil who reads souls. You know
everything about everyone. They passed around a drawing of
you
."

It must have been one hell of a good
drawing for Samir to recognize him so quickly, so far out of
context.

"
Who? The Mahdi Army?"

"
You know who. You know everything
."

"Uh, Mr. Ciminon?"

Ari smiled at Jenny. "His name is Samir
Salman. He was a seller of trinkets in Baghdad. He escaped because
he is Shia and he was afraid of certain Sunni…elements."

"He feared for his life?"

"Oh, yes."

"Great! A political refugee!" Jenny
began scribbling heavily in her notebook. "How to you spell that
name?"

Ari spelled it for her.

"Good…good…now ask him how he came to
this country."

"
You came through Canada, right
?" Ari
said to Samir. "
Who sponsored
you?
"

"
No, no!
"

For a moment, Ari conceded
to his fear. "
Why did the other translator
give up on you?
"

Samir Salman tried to draw
his legs up into the fetal position, but the molded plastic of the
single-piece desk made it impossible. "
He
began getting letters
."

"
Threatening letters?
"

"
From some American asshole. He said he didn’t like having
a
Center Denter
in his neighborhood.
"

‘Center Denter’. A reference to the
World Trade Center attack. Ari had heard American troops use the
phrase.

"
He used that word: ʹneighborhoodʹ?"

Samir Salman nodded.

"
So, how did a lowlife like you end up driving a
Lamborghini?
"

Samir threatened him with a
pout.

"
If you don’t tell me, I’ll let them pass you on to the
Federals. They’ll find out about your connection to the ambush
and…snip-snip.
"

The prisoner suspected Ari was
bluffing. But there was no doubt in his mind that this was the
Godless One in the flesh. How he had gotten here was anyone’s
guess. But the Americans were devils, and their association with
the godless was only to be expected.

"
I stole it
," he
confessed.

"
Alone? An owner of a car like that must have had every
security device imaginable
," said
Ari.

Samir Salman’s compressed lips
twitched.

"
You know, even here they don’t think much of rapists of
little girls.
"

"
I know a man
…"

"
Where
?"

"
Up above the national capital
."

"
Washington? How close?"

"
Some place called Montgomery
."

"
Montgomery County? Where? Gaithersburg?
Rockville?"

"
That’s it…Rockville."

"And this guy’s
name?"

Samir must have decided it
was time to own up. Otherwise they would be here all day.
"
You understand, it’s your
neck
."

"
I’m beginning to think it’s many necks, but go
ahead.
"

"
Naji Turabi. He deals with exotic imported
cars
."

"
Yes
?"

"
You’re not going up there and drop my name, right? He’s
old-fashioned. Believes in torture. Or at least the man who hired
him for this job does…so I hear
."

"
And who would that be?
"

"I don’t know. Really! And
I don’t want to know
."

"
Go ahead
."

"
The place is called Naji’s Exotic Imports. There’s a
garage…everything is first-rate guaranteed. It’s a clean operation,
but every so often a ‘special order’ comes through. Naji will hunt
all over the world, but if it’s under his nose, he’ll go for
it."

"
I’m not sure I understand, but continue
," said Ari.

"
The Lamborghini was one of the new
Murciélagos
. It’s the first new
model since Audi took over. I heard that the customer wanted to
know if it was as good as the older models
."

"
He could have read a car magazine
,"
said Ari.

"
This guy, whoever he is, is a fanatic. He wanted to find out
first-hand, find a straight stretch and
voom!"

"
So this unknown customer put in a ‘special order’ for
one
."

"
Yes
."

"
But why go about it this way? The
Murciélago
isn’t one of the limited
edition models. Why not just go to the dealer and buy one? Or, if
he’s shy, use someone else as his proxy? Naji Turabi didn’t lose
any money in this transaction, right?"

"
He better not have
," said Samir.
"
He hasn’t paid me, yet
."

"
Why should he pay you? You failed
."

"
But I haven’t failed to keep my mouth
…" He glanced up at Ari, looking even more
crestfallen.

"
Until now
," Ari nodded.
"
And you’re doing very well, for a filthy
pig
."

"Can I get a date of birth, if it’s not
too much trouble?" Jenny said. "I’m mesmerized by your discussion,
as you can see, but there are a few forms here—"

"The
21
^st
of April, 1985," said Ari.

"How could you get that without asking
him?" said Jenny.

"It came up during our conversation,"
said Ari.

"Yes. What have you two been talking
about?"

"Nothing much," Ari answered. "I’m
trying to put him at ease."

Jenny glanced at the prisoner. "He
looks more uptight than ever."

"Should I continue?" Ari saturated the
question with deference.

"I guess," Jenny said doubtfully,
shifting uncomfortably behind the desk top.

"
You don’t have any idea who the customer
is?
" Ari asked Samir Salman.
"
Or why he should risk stealing a valuable
car instead of purchasing it from a dealer? Is he
impoverished?
"

"
All I know for certain is that he’s loaded and he’s
impatient
." Samir rubbed his hand where
his beard should have been.

"
Made you shave, did they?
" Ari
inquired.

"
I can sue them! Did you know that? They have to respect my
beliefs
."

"
They have to respect the beliefs of American
citizens
," Ari said with an air of
sadness. "
You, of course, are not one of
them. They can deal with you however they want to. I think the lady
here wants to ask how you got into the country. You don’t have a
passport?"

"
The Canadians gave me some papers
,"
said Samir. "
I left them back in
Mississauga.
"

"
Just south of Toronto. You have relatives
there?
"

"
You don’t plan to
—"

"
They helped you into the country? And they helped you
out
of the
country?
"

"
They heard about a job in the States. But there’s been a
crackdown on the border ever since the martyrs of
9/11
…" Samir Salman shifted his eyes to
Jenny, who seemed focused on a pair of doodles.

"
She doesn’t understand anything we’re saying, believe
me,
" said Ari. "
Let me guess, you were taken through Quebec and crossed the
border in Vermont. There are plenty of unguarded roads. It’s easy
enough.
"

"
Yes
…"

"
And that’s where
Naji Turabi or one
of his drivers picked you up."

Samir’s silence answered the
question.

"
How did you steal the car?
"

"
How much of this are you going to tell
her?
" Samir asked, throwing another glance
Jenny’s way.

Ari turned to the lawyer. "Anything he
tells us is confidential, is that correct?"

"I haven’t heard anything to be
confidential about, yet," she answered sourly.

"
You can say anything you want
," Ari
told Samir. "
She took an oath before God
that she will not repeat anything you say.
"

"
Whose god?
" Samir asked.

"
Any big guy you care to name
."

It was the sort of answer one would
expect from the Godless One, and Samir Salman was only moderately
scandalized.

"
The owner of the Lamborghini brought it in for routine
maintenance. Naji switched out all of the security devices: locks,
inbuilt GPS, maybe a few things I don’t know about. Then he gave me
the remote key and an automatic garage door opener with the guy’s
frequency. He even had a remote key for the front gate. I watched
the owner’s place for a day or so. He used a BMW to get back and
forth to work, so the Lamborghini sat in the garage on weekdays.
One morning I waited until his wife left to go shopping, and I went
in. Pretty easy
."