The Red Nights - Volume 1 Chapter 17 The Departure

On their way back to Lina’s house, she stayed all quiet what was really usual for her. Jamal was a little bit worried, at many attempts he tried to know from her directly what was wrong but she went on repeating again and again that there was no problem and she remained silent .

After his sixth try , he was now sure that something bothered her , his boyfriend’s instinct couldn’t lie to him. However he knew that no matter how many times he would ask her the answer would remain the same , so he decided to just start on a discussion, [ as we talk she will by herself confess to me along the conversation ] he thought.

” How Saidu is doing well? ” he firstly asked ” lately I didn’t have the time to meet him ” . He crossed his fingers inside her heart and hopped she would grab the pole he handed her and would start talking, [ it shouldn’t be difficult since she loves talking ] he tried to convince himself.

For an entire minute she didn’t say anything, Jamal started thinking that she would not respond when she finally sighed.

” He is the same as usual, still awfully joyful. He is the only one in whole this city who understands my jokes and replies to my constant good mood ”

[ If you look at yourself now, you would see that your good mood is not as constant as you think ] Jamal said in his mind.

As if she heard what he had been thinking, she turned her head to him and gazed at him ” if I didn’t meet you and fell for you, I would have thought that it’s actually him, instead of you, my soulmate “.

” Ha ha ha ” Jamal laughed ironically ” are you intending to reassure me ? ”

Lina grabbed his hand and held it tight ” No , I’m just saying that if you dare break with me, I will make a move toward him and run in his arms ”

Jamal laughed and at that moment it was for real ” really? I recall you that he is already married and he loves his spouse as much as I love you ”

” So now you are aware, don’t dare to leave me alone if you don’t want me to become Saidu’s second wife ” she said and for a moment Jamal thought sensing sadness in her voice.

He stopped the car and turned it off when they finally arrived at the house ” so that’s it ” he said, he turned to her ” you are just afraid to loose me, right? ”

She lowered her head and stayed quiet for a while, ” I knew that it was a trap ” she said between her teeth. She opened the door, left the car without saying a word to him and entered into the house.

Jamal followed her to the room , he found looking for something in her drawers . After two minutes of research she took out a pile of papers tied together by a clamp and left the room for the kitchen without letting him ask her what was it .

She landed the papers on a table , took two cups and poured in some tea . When Jamal arrived she handed him one cup of tea and started to drink in hers.

” That is all the informations I collected from the other cities ” she said, after three gulps of tea, by pointing the pile of papers ” there you will find the exact situation of each city , so you can decide by yourself by which city you must begin with ” .

Jamal considered the papers for a while and landed them back on the table ” if you have already examined them why don’t you just tell me by which one should I start ? ”

” There are other supplementary informations that you may need along your mission and I cannot mention them all , so you better assimilate them before you sleep ” , she finished her cup of tea and stepped forward to leave the kitchen when Jamal grabbed her arm and stopped her.

” Tell me what is it? Since we left Natasha’s house you became suddenly dreary , did I say or do something that made you feel uneasy? ”

” No that is not your fault but mine ” she said with a voice full of emotion , she turned her head and looked at him, her eyes was red as if she was about crying ” when we were in the car on the way back, I didn’t stop thinking about what Nat’ said when she said that we always let you carry our problems all by yourself and I couldn’t help but to feel culpable ”

” Why ? It was my choices and my decisions , it is not like all of you have forced me to do what I have been doing until now ”

” But now I force you ” she replied ” how can I pretend to be a good girlfriend for you in front of her if I’m keeping sending you towards the danger and waiting to see if you will come back alive ” .

Jamal pulled her toward him , surrounded her with his arms and hugged her. ” Hey , I’m not intending to die there, for sure I will come back safely with the soldiers you need ”

” I know that ” the sound was repressed as her mouth with the rest of her face were hidden between Jamal’s chest and his arms. However he found no problem to understand what she said.

” So why are you acting so dramatically if you are already aware of that ? ”

” Because I know that you are neither immortal nor invincible, sooner or later you will die and I cannot support the idea that I may lose you because of a too hazardous mission I gave to you ” she replied.

He kissed delicately at her forehead ” let me firstly tell you that there is no any mission upon this earth enough hazardous to kill me off ” he grabbed her head , lifted it up in order to look at her in her eyes ” and if one day I would have to die it will not be in a battlefield , because I will end smothered by your b.o.o.b.s ”

She pushed him and started laughing ” cut it off , it’s not funny. How can you say something like that in a such moment. I was about to cry ” .

” That is why. I dislike seeing you cry , moreover I was totally serious about what I’ve been saying . No matter what I what mission I’m about to complete, I will always come back completely alive and in one piece “.

Lina progressively calmed down, she gazed at him and took a soft voice ” you promise? ”

Jamal stared back at her, ” yeah , I promise “.

Then they started kissing each other slowly at the beginning but it progressively became more intense , Lina even started to strip herself before Jamal stopped her . He stepped back and went to sit at the table, he took the papers left there and showed them to her .

” Don’t forget that I have a very important mission tomorrow that I have to prepare ” he said.

She pouted and moved forward to surround his neck tightly with her arms. ” You can’t turn me on and just leave me there like that . Moreover it will be our last night before an entire week “.

” Another reason to let me quickly memorize all this and after that I will come to take care of you ” he replied.

She let go of him and walked around the table to come sitting in front of him. ” I have a better idea, you let me help you to memorize all those data and then you will come to take care of my butt ” .

For about three hours they stayed there working on those doc.u.ments until Jamal memorized them all, they even took the time to discuss about how he would deal with the allies’ armies since Lina would not be able to communicate with him as often as she had been thinking.

In fact, as the wars went on it became more and more difficult to stay in contact with the mayors of the other cities. The reasons were not only because they suffered from a lack of qualified engineers to take care of the maintenance of the network but also because they were afraid that their discussions might be robbed and listened by some of the outlaws . And even though it was just a supposition Lina suspected that it might be one of reasons why the operation to separate the two kinds of people failed.

Because even though she already knew that there was, among the neighbors cities, some of them which had not the necessary capacities to fulfill the operation, she was certain that at least two of them could be able to complete it . However at the end none of them managed to do it . It was from there and other many problems after that Lina came with the idea that the discussions might be deflected.

At the final she was allowed to phoned to the other cities only once a day and the call could not go beyond forty minutes . So it came that they had to be very cautious and precise in their messages.

[ it should not be too difficult to impose my leadership ] Jamal was wondering [ I just have to find a way to use them without getting them in my way ] , he rose his head to look at Lina ” well, I think it’s enough, the other details I will deal with them once I will be there ” .

He stood up and stepped toward her. He didn’t get the time to reach her , that she directly jumped onto his neck. They fell down on the floor, Lina was over him and was about to take off her t-shirt when Jamal asked her ” are we seriously intending just over here ? ”

” Not only here ” she responded when she finally took it off ” I’m tired of waiting. Just strip at once we don’t have enough time ” .

He didn’t wait to hear it twice and started to undress. Then , they resumed their kisses and some times later they began making love again and again in all over the places of the house until they reached their room .

The first sun rays were coming through the window while Jamal woke up, he went out from the bed and stepped toward the bathroom. He came out 20 minutes later and started suiting with outfits similar to those of the militaries except that his were full black . He walked down to the garage and there he picked up a kind of case , he opened it and looked at his machine gun a USMC M4 at the center of the case , at the top was a glock with the three packs of munitions at the side and two others below the machine gun.

He closed the box and put it on the side of his motorbike , he took an other bag full of munitions and put it on the other side of the motor .

” I’ve been thinking that you will not come to say goodbye ” he said while he was turning to his back to look at her girlfriend.

” You know that I hate to say goodbye ” she responded her arms crossed below her chest

Jamal smiled ” yes I know that ” he walked toward her, kissed her slightly on her lips and stepped back. He took a while staring at her , then he went to ride on his motorbike . Lina stepped aside , she pressed on a button hung on the wall to open the gate of the garage.

” see you next week ” he said before he started on his motorbike and rolled out of the house .

” see you next week ” she replied even though she knew that he couldn’t hear her.