Welcome to Dubai (The Traveler)

  “Remember to take your time, Abdul. Don’t worry. Everything will get done in time.”

  Once Daniel walked out with the security team, Abdul returned to his desk and spun his chair around to face the night skyline out the window. Dubai’s skyline was beautiful at night. And the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world, was always in view, soaring far above the nearby Emirates Towers and Dubai World Trade Center.

  Abdul studied the tremendously tall building and used it as an inspiration. There is nothing in this world that man cannot do when he is Blessed with power and wisdom of Allah, he thought. He then rubbed his eyes in exhaustion. It had been a very long day.

  He mumbled, “Merciful Allah. What have I gotten myself into again?”

  The lightning-fast development of Dubai was extremely taxing. But after Abdul had challenged himself with the question, he stood at his office window with the vigor of his youth.

  My work must continue to be done. For it is the will of Allah alone who drives me.

  Chapter 9

  Gary Stevens used his bathroom at the Hilton Dubai Creek for the first time and felt squeamish about the toilet douche. He had noticed the two-foot long water pipe that was placed in a holder to the right of the toilet when he first inspected the room earlier, but to actually use the contraption was another story.

  He laughed, feeling self-conscious, as if it would be unclean not to use it. I guess they’re serious about being spic-and-span here in the Middle East, he thought, grinning.

  He had gotten in a couple of hours of sleep before feeling rejuvenated. It was nine at night in Dubai, an eight-hour time difference from his home in the Washington, DC, area. Time to check in, he thought.

  A worldwide access code from Jonah made it easy to connect with her at all times

  “The U.S. military has all kinds of perks if you can afford it,” he mumbled while dialing the coded number. He figured speak ing to Jonah first would be quicker and less stressful.

  “Hey, Gary, how’s Dubai? Have you checked into a hotel already?” Jonah asked.

  Gary began to smile, feeling comfortable with the familiar sound of her voice.

  “Yeah, I decided to crash at the Hilton at Dubai Creek.”

  “But you’re still in Dubai as soon as you walk out that door,” she said. “And getting a room at the Hilton was a safe decision. But have you called to check in with your lady friend yet?”

  Gary chuckled, guilty of nervousness. “Not yet. I wanted to talk to you first.”

  Jonah chuckled back. “Another good decision. You’re batting two for two. You’re getting close to home base. Get all of your words together first,” she teased him.

  “Yeah, so what exactly do I say to her? I haven’t been in this position for a while now.”

  “What did you say before you left?”

  Gary smiled even wider. “I kind of told her that I couldn’t tell her,” he commented. “You know, I made it sound like I had a secret mission or something.”

  Jonah broke out laughing and said, “Oh, my God. So you totally went James Bond and CIA on her?”

  “I didn’t know what else to say. I mean, she knows that I’ve been training with you guys out in Northern Virginia.”

  “You told her that?”

  “Not exactly. She kind of assumed it. She grew up around military men. I told you, she’s a Navy brat. Her father was a lieutenant commander. So she kind of insinuated that I was buff and fit like a military guy.”

  “Oh, my Lord,” Jonah stated. “Guys and their egos. You should have just told her that you like to work out and left it at that.”

  “What, you wanted me to lie to her?”

  “Well, isn’t that what you did when you flew over to Dubai? Does she know you’re over there to ah, find yourself?” Jonah hinted.

  Gary continued to laugh. He said, “I just told her I had an ah, errand to run for a couple of weeks that I couldn’t really go into too many details about.”

  “And she went for that?”

  “She said she trusts me.”

  Jonah paused, contemplating it all. “Okay, well, keep on going with what works.”

  “Yeah, but what if she asked me where I am now?”

  “Ah, that’s not my problem. You’re the one who got yourself in it, so keep playing Mr. James Bond.”

  Gary laughed, feeling totally comfortable with her. “Wait a minute, I thought you’re supposed to be my protector and mentor.”

  “And where does that say relationship expert? You’re on your own with that. I’m not Dr. Phil.”

  “Yeah, what good are you?” Gary retorted playfully.

  “Just don’t lose your phone out there, or it’ll cost you a lot more to call. The code I gave you is very specific.”

  “What, like digitized to my iPhone?”

  “Something like that. I don’t know how it works, I just know that it’s awesome.”

  “So if someone stole my phone, I would be able to track them down?”

  “In a heartbeat.”

  Gary paused and looked at his iPhone. He asked, “What did you do to it? You like, bugged me or something?”

  Jonah paused herself. She said, “If I tell you, are you gonna act like a kid or a grown-up?”

  “I am grown,” Gary responded.

  “Okay, well, that phone is able to tell me a lot of things. I switched it for you a long time ago.”

  Gary looked at the iPhone again and didn’t see anything different about it. He asked, “Can you ah, hear everything I do or say, even when I’m not using it?”

  “Knowing you, I wouldn’t want to do that,” she joked. “But it’s a possibility, yeah.”

  Gary said, “So I am like James Bond then.”

  “I’m just trying to do my job and protect you,” she told him.

  “Shit, I’m thirty-one years old now,” Gary snapped at her. He felt disrespected.

  “And how old is the president? Age has nothing to do with it.”

  “Okay, well, if I’m so important to Mr. Unknown, then how come I still can’t meet the guy? This is ridiculous! What kind of life is this?” he stated in reference to his father.

  “It’s your life,” Jonah told him calmly. “That’s why you’re over there in Dubai. You have a right to live it, and no one is stopping you.”

  “Yeah, while being spied on,” he countered. “So, what else did you swap? My luggage? My wallet? What?”

  Jonah paused in silence. “So … are you gonna act like a kid or a grown-up if I tell you?”

  Gary could hear the sarcasm in her voice and imagine her mischievous grin without even seeing it. He said, “You know what? I don’t even want to know anymore. You have a job to do, and I have a life to live.” And he hung up the phone on her.

  Then he said, “I guess you can hear me now too, right? And you know what floor I’m on. Well, what if I just left this phone right here in the room?”

  He tossed the cell on the bed, while having a full tantrum.

  Then he thought about his wallet. He couldn’t leave that inside the room. And what about his shoes? Or his belt buckle? Jonah could have bugged and swapped anything.

  Gary stopped and shook his head, realizing how unreasonable he was acting. But he loved his freedom, so to be traced everywhere he went as a grown man, and without him knowing about it, was hard to stomach.

  “I don’t believe this. I’m not a damn kid,” he snapped. He imagined that Jonah could still hear him. Then he thought about his overreaction. He hadn’t snapped out like that in years.

  Shit, I am acting like a kid, he thought. He expected Jonah to call him back soon, but she didn’t. So he called her back.

  “Okay, I apologize for overreacting, but this is just weird.”

  “And what part of our relationship has been normal?” she asked him. “You’ll just have to get used to it. That’s why I told you. I didn’t want you to be blindsided. And if it’ll make you feel any better, I will never listen in on your private convers
ations. That’s not what it’s there for. It’s only an emergency mechanism. And you should be glad that you have it.”

  “But what if someone steals it or I misplace it or something? I don’t want anyone overreacting.”

  Jonah calmly told him, “If someone steals that phone, we can call it and signal for it with a very loud and irritating alarm, and then tell them to return it to the nearest lost-and-found before it explodes in their hand.”

  Gary looked at the cell phone again and panicked. “Oh shit, it can do that? I could have been arrested on the plane with this thing.”

  “Gary, calm down,” Jonah said with a laugh. “Your phone is very safe. Just don’t worry about it. Act normal.”

  “Yeah, that’s easy for you to say.”

  “Okay, so what’s the weather like over there? Is it still hot in late October? What are you plans for the night?” she asked him to change the subject.

  They had talked about his hi-tech phone for long enough.

  “I don’t know yet.” Then he grinned. “Maybe I’ll get into some trouble and see if this thing works,” he joked.

  “It’s not a weapon,” Jonah warned him.

  “Yeah, but I am. You’re making me feel like a weapon now. I even have gadgets.”

  Jonah sighed, noticeably.

  “Yeah, I know, am I a kid or a grown-up, right?” Gary quizzed.

  Jonah didn’t respond, instead she told him, “Go ahead and call your girlfriend … so I can see what you come up with.” She laughed and added, “Gary, you’re making it real easy to toy with you.”

  “Yeah, whatever.” She had the last laugh. Gary just had to deal with it. So he hung up and immediately called his significant other back in Washington. He didn’t even know what to call her. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to be that serious yet.

  “Hey, Karla, it’s Gary.”

  “Hey, I know.”

  Gary stopped himself, still thinking about the phone. He didn’t know if his normal cell phone number would pop up or not in America.

  I guess she sees my normal number there, he told himself. So he moved on.

  “Yeah, I just wanted to call and say hey.”

  “Are you allowed to tell me where you are?” she asked him.

  Gary hesitated. “Ahhh…”

  “You don’t have to if you really can’t,” Karla said. She was letting him off the hook way too easily.

  Melissa Weddington would have never gone for any of this, Gary thought of his last serious fling back home in Louisville. He felt guilty about his relationship with the Navy brat already. He knew that she didn’t have the mettle to keep him. Or maybe Karla’s abundant trust in him would be her saving grace to hold on.

  “Give me a few days to work that out, okay?” he negotiated.

  “Well, is it warm where you are?” she asked instead.

  Gary nodded and grinned. He couldn’t help thinking about Jonah being able to listen in on him, whether she bothered to do so or not. He knew that she could if she wanted to, and she never had to admit it to him.

  He said, “Yeah, it’s pretty warm here.”

  “Are you in another country?”

  “Ahhh …”

  “Okay, you don’t have to answer that.”

  Gary chuckled and imagined that Karla was getting a kick out of the guessing game.

  “And what are you doing tonight?” he asked, to get her away from questions about him.

  “Umm, I’m probably gonna hang out on Fourteenth and U streets with my girls again.”

  The hub of 14th and U streets was the popular Washington strip where Gary had first met her at Po’boys restaurant and café. They held regular poetry nights there, and the popular area was flooded with new-blooded Washingtonians, who all loved the urbaneness of redevelopment.

  Gary nodded and patronized her. “I wish I was there with you.”

  “When will you be?”

  “In another week or so. You can never really tell sometimes,” he added.

  “I know, right? My father was like that all of the time. So I just learned to be patient.”

  Listening to the syrupiness of it all, Gary began to curse himself. This is all bullshit! I should just tell her the truth already. But it is more complicated than normal, he thought. Maybe I’ll tell her everything when I get back.

  “Yeah, I’ll have to have a long talk with you, face-to-face, when I get back there.”

  “Okay. Are you well fed out there?”

  “Ah, I don’t know. I haven’t eaten the food yet. But I’ll tell you about it.”

  “Do you a busy schedule for tomorrow?”

  Her conversation was so bland and inconsequential, that Gary didn’t want to talk to her long.

  Are you kidding me? Is this how she’s going to be whenever I’m away? I don’t know any girls like this. Or maybe I just went out with all of the jealous ones, he mused.

  “Yeah, my schedule’s loaded. I have a lot to do tomorrow. But I need to get myself ready for it, so I won’t talk long.”

  “Okay, well, call me when you can. A week’s not long at all.”

  Are you kidding me? he wanted to tell Karla. Have some more backbone about you. You’re making this far too easy for me to respect.

  He could imagine Jonah grinning from Dubai to California about how gullible this girl was.

  “Have you been this understanding with other guys that you’ve dated?” She was twenty-six, originally from New Mexico, and she now worked in the federal government office of Veterans Affairs. And she was definitely hot, with dark bountiful hair, a tight body to die for, passionate brown eyes and rich skin tone. Her mother was mixed with Irish and Native American, and her father was Italian and Polish, creating a beautiful mixture named Karla Marchetti, with just enough freckles in the right places to add to her flavor. But she was so bland, sweet and trusting, that it was all but killing him not to break her heart into a thousand pieces, like he would have done five years ago.

  “Sure,” Karla answered. “I mean, I’ve had my share of assholes who took advantage of it, if that’s what you mean. But I’m not gonna change who I am because you want to do what you want to do. And if a guy appreciates me for being me, then he gets a dedicated girl. But if not then … I mean, I can’t change who you’re gonna be. Why, are you trying to tell me something?”

  Gary froze. It wasn’t the right time. There was far too much distance between them. Their detailed conversation would have to wait.

  “No, I’m just ah, not used to it.”

  “Why, because you’ve had jealous girlfriends in the past? I mean, I can understand it. You’re pretty hot. I can feel it in the room whenever I’m with you,” she admitted candidly. “But I’ve just never been the jealous type like that.”

  “Yeah, because you’re hot too,” Gary told her with a chuckle. “It’s not like you lack any attention.” He was actually impressed with her easiness. Karla was liable to say anything as easy as water. She was that comfortable in her gorgeously toned skin. And she was quickly reminding him why he liked her. She had no vanity about her.

  “Thank you. I just thought I was always one of the girls.”

  “No, you’re more than just one of the girls,” Gary told her. “You’re my girl now.”

  In his mind, he could imagine Jonah bursting at the seams in laughter. The swagger of the jock and spoiled slacker from Louisville, Kentucky, was still there beneath the surface, and it could jump out at an unsuspected moment.

  Karla chuckled. “Is that right? You’re claiming me now?”

  Their relationship had been pretty loose and unspoken for months, but lately, it seemed on the edge of getting more serious.

  Uh-oh! Gary panicked in the heat of it. What the hell am I saying?

  “I’ve already claimed you, haven’t I?”

  Karla paused. “Not exactly, but getting there. I mean, we really haven’t talked about it like that.”

  Okay. Back up out of it, Gary advised himself. Put it in reverse.
>
  “We’ll have plenty of time when I get back,” he hinted quickly.

  “Okay.”

  “Well, have a good time out with your girls.”

  “I always do.”

  When Gary hung up his cell phone, his thoughts overcame him. She’s just … she’s just, cool man. And she’s fucking gorgeous. I’ve never had a girl like this. Girls are always out to prove something to me, but Karla’s not like that at all. That’s why I like her.

  Chapter 10

  The Hilton Dubai Creek was only walking distance away from the dense downtown business district, where the Thursday night life was in full buzz by ten. Gary walked out of the busy hotel lobby on the bottom floor amongst dozens of local and foreign guests, wearing a pair of tan khaki pants, brown loafers and a plain black T-shirt. He was trying his best to blend in as a nobody and remain low-key. He was no longer Mr. Excitable, searching for validations of his reckless youth. Gary had hurdled over the age of thirty and only wanted to enjoy the sights, scenes and sounds of Dubai, like an old ghost.

  But as soon as he hit the sidewalks and swung a left away from the docks and boats that littered Dubai Creek behind him, the exotic cars of the night zoomed by in the streets, blasting festive music that came alive, sounding like the radiant Caribbean energy of dancehall, reggae and calypso.

  Gary smiled, eyeing the flashy Mercedes, Porsches, Beamers, Range Rovers and Cadillac SUVs that zoomed by while reflecting on his music shop back home in downtown Louisville. He hadn’t been home in a few months, while spending time in Northern Virginia to train and visit his new lady friend in the capital of Washington. However, the music in the air of Dubai reminded him of the good old times back home on Main Street and the party district of Louisville.

  Caribbean music is everywhere, he mused as he strolled through the tranquil night. That music also reminded him again of his best friend, Taylor, who had helped him to manage his downtown music shop, and his mother, who wrote the check to secure the property.

  “Shit,” Gary cursed. The memories of his dead loved ones would never fade.

  Approaching the curb at the street corner, he stopped and snapped back to the present. He was prepared to cross a busy street in another foreign country, where many of the retail shops remained open for business along with the restaurants and pubs.