The Road to Haifa
Chapter 24 — Slings and Arrows
 
by Alyssa Plant
Sarah regained consciousness sometime in the early morning. She had been dreaming about things… horrible things… Her sister, her own torture, the laughing face of her tormentor; the unnerving quiet and darkness was reassuring to her tired mind.

 

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Ari Weismann knelt by the body of his love in the dank chamber. Stroking her hair, he choked back tears. “Medic,” he croaked into his radio mike. “Two down, basement room,” he rasped. Taking Sarah’s blood soaked hand in his own gloved pair, he prayed silently.

Sayeret had been watching Sarah and her family. They had not thought it sensible to admit to one of their own that she was in danger and would be used as bait. Indeed telling her would have lost the Intelligence corps chance to draw out a presumed dead traitor. It had nearly broken Ari to watch his love’s pain and anguish during her return home, and to not be able to act when they were followed from her home to the station. The brass had taken Ari off the surveillance rotation; he was too close to the case. It had taken all his begging and persuasion to be allowed onto the assault team when they had tracked the girls’ captors to a safe house in the West Bank. The message from up high was to allow them to take her, to wait and watch silently. Ari hated it. Not knowing one moment to the next if his love was alive or dead. Of course, the word that surveillance teams had located her alive in the building using thermal imaging had been of little comfort to Ari; it had felt too detaching, too inhumane. Once they had as many high profile targets on site as possible, including the traitor, they had been given the word to go in.

Ari and team one had swept in from the sewer network beneath the compound, with the other teams had striking from the roof, ground level, and adjoining buildings. The sight that had greeted his eyes when the frame charge disintegrated the steel doors of the chamber had almost brought Ari to his knees. It had been all he possessed to sweep the room clear before putting several rounds through the Major’s limp body. Sarah’s older sister Eliana Yakobavitch was lying unconscious on a table, bound harshly and half naked. His love… his Sarah, was lying in a pool of blood beside the body of the traitor in only her underwear, her ankles and arms a mess of blood, her hair matted with sweat and bodily fluids. Nobody had said a word as he fell to his knees beside his love, cradling her limp body in his arms and sobbed.

Once the building had been declared safe. Medical teams had swarmed in to attend to wounded. The hostages and prisoners were removed, and the building sanitised. To the world at large, it had been a raid to arrest Palestinian militants, nothing more, and no undue attention drawn to it. As the Israeli Intelligence community celebrated, little thought was given to their own soldier, lying comatose in a Tel Aviv hospital bed, or her sister, traumatised for life. No, They were ‘expendable collateral damage’ they agreed over toasts of success. The end justified the means of course…

Ari Weisman Rubbed his chin thoughtfully as he sat at Sarah’s bedside. He had not shaved in a week, and it was starting to annoy him, but little distracted him from being by her side. Shifting in the uncomfortable plastic seat by her bed, he stood to allow the blood to return to his aching behind. Ari walked over to the window and gazed out over the Tel Aviv Skyline, highlighted by the rusty sunset. Sarah had been in the Sourasky medical centre in downtown Tel Aviv for nearly a week. She wasn’t comatose in the literal sense, but in a medically induced sleep to allow her body to heal. Over the past few weeks, her body had been put through too great a stress, the ordeal had been the tip of the iceberg. She had suffered severe blood loss, internal and external. The girl was near death's door when she had been recovered. Medical crews had been barely able to stabilise her. Multiple scans showed no brain damage, which was in itself, a relief. But Ari wondered what state her mind would be in if…. No, when she woke. Could she cope? She had been through so much… His heart skipped a beat every time he thought of her pain; it almost hurt him as much to think about what she had been through.

Checking his watch, Ari walked slowly over to Sarah’s side, and lent forwards and kissed the girl on the forehead before walking towards the door. He stopped, and looked back one more time before slipping out into the bustle of the corridor.

Ari leant against the wall by the main door of the Ichilov General Hospital building and lit the cigarette he had been dying to have all day. Taking a drag, he luxuriated in the nicotine rush. He rubbed his tired eyes and watched the human traffic moving around the grounds. He almost felt a fixture in the hospital after the time he had spent there; it was certainly the longest he’d ever spent in such a place. The nursing staff on Sarah’s floor all knew his name, but they just thought he was Sarah’s boyfriend. That had caused one or two raised eyebrows when her physical sex had been discovered. Their line of work was not disclosed beyond the fact that they were both soldiers, something Ari had not been able to hide as his rifle accompanied him. There had been one or two comments, but he refused to even acknowledge them. As far as he was concerned, she was his girl, and that was that…. If they didn’t like her past, that was their personal problem, thankfully, it had not detracted from her treatment.

Ari absentmindedly watched the comings and goings of the hospital as he smoked.

“Hey Weismann.” Grunted Sgt Goni as he appeared out of the darkness outside the flood lit entrance. “I hoped to catch you.”

“What are you doing here?” Ari replied, jumping; he had been off guard too long…

“I came to check on you and the kid upstairs.” He replied quietly with a nod towards the hospital building.

“She’s still out.” sighed Ari, taking another drag on his cigarette. “Doctors say it could be a while yet.”

“What about you?” The older man asked, “And don’t lie to me Weismann.”

Ari looked at the grizzled sergeant for a moment before chuckling. “I’m dead on my feet sir.”

“Thought so.” grunted Sergeant Goni. “You really love her don’t you?”

“Yeah.” Ari sighed to nobody in particular.

“I spent a week like this when my wife Sharon was in the Maternity Hospital over the way with Rebekah and Peter. There were complications… I didn’t want to leave her alone even though she was out for most of it.” Goni grinned sheepishly.” So believe me Kid, I know how you feel. You don’t want to go home for that few hours sleep in case it’s the one time she wakes up and you aren’t there for her…. Believe me, I know.” He smiled, patting Ari on the shoulder.

“I don’t know sir.” Ari grimaced. “It’s the worst thing I’ve ever felt, Its like the whole thing before… It was nothing, now… I just don’t exist… I feel empty..” he muttered softly, staring at the ground between them. “I don’t want to admit it, but I don’t know what to do.” He whispered.

“Ah that’s love for you.” grinned the Sergeant. “We spend all our lives looking for the one that makes us whole… and when we find them, we realise how truly empty we are without them. Soon as you fall in love they take it all.” He chuckled.

Ari smiled. The grizzled old guy always seemed to find a way of putting things that made sense. Sarah completed him, he knew that. They were two halves of a whole; equally lost without the other.

“So how are you Ari?” Goni pushed, seeing a crack in Ari’s depressive shield. “You look like shit.”

“Thanks.” chuckled Ari stubbing out the cigarette. “You look pretty awesome yourself granddad.”

“You want to be on a double response rotation?” smirked the sergeant. “You look worn out, you handling this?”

“Yeah, I guess...” Ari shrugged. “I feel perpetually tired, and I hardly ever smile. But being by her side through this makes me happy… It makes me hope that she knows I'm here for her, and that makes it all worth it.”

Goni nodded understandingly. “That it does.”

“What next?” Ari asked, changing the subject. “Is this actually over?”

“Is it ever?” Goni shrugged. “The spooks seem happy with things, from their lofty analysis rooms it appears so, but you know the family ties and revenge bullshit that lot play…”

Ari nodded. As much as he wanted it to be, It was unlikely to be a cut and dried event. They had seriously wounded several factions’ leaderships… Places would be filled, and revenge sought. That was the way of the world here.

The two talked quietly for a while before Ari bade farewell to the Sergeant and made his way back inside. He hadn’t been the first visitor from their team, but one of the last he expected to see coming to ask about Sarah. Returning to the hospital room that had become his world over the last week, Ari slipped into a fitful sleep beside his love’s bed, lulled to sleep by the soft bleeping of her heart monitor.

Sarah regained consciousness sometime in the early morning. She had been dreaming about things… horrible things… Her sister, her own torture, the laughing face of her tormentor; the unnerving quiet and darkness was reassuring to her tired mind.

It took her a moment to realise that she had actually woken up. A soft bleeping, intermingled with the sounds of a hospital filtered into her ears slowly, like syrup. She was alive…. Where, she didn’t know, but she presumed safe. Her body ached terribly. As sensation began to return to her body, she felt heavy and sore. Her mind was groggy now she was waking, not tired… but something else.

Sedation? Maybe.

How long had she been asleep?

She wasn’t sure that she cared. The pain was still present, but softened. She tried to lift her arm from the bed, but its numb uncontrollable roll only succeeded in pulling a canula from her arm.

“Shit.” She muttered groggily. She was aware of the bleeping increasing, and the sound of footsteps entering the room. The darkness was gone and it was terribly bright suddenly. There were people, doctors? Nurses? She felt a strange scraping as the canula was reinserted, and a faint recollection of pressure round her fingers and voices talking to her.

“Sarah can you hear us?” She felt the squeezing again in her hand and words started to clear.

“Take her off the sedative,” someone said.

Sedative… that made sense.

The voices carried on unintelligibly for a while before trailing off and the room was quiet once again that. Sarah remembered slipping back into blackness once again before reawakening what seemed like seconds later. It was beginning to get light in the room, not the harsh instant brightness of the lights she had barely made out before, but a faint tinge to the blackness. There was more detail now… Sarah could feel more; the pain, though dull felt more localised and identifiable. Her hearing and vision was more focused.

She flexed her fingertips before realising they were encased in a human hand.

At her movement, the owner stirred from his position beside the bed.

“Hey.” Ari smiled sleepily.

“Hey.” Sarah croaked dryly. “Where am I?” She managed to whisper before coughing.

“You’re in hospital Sarah, You’re safe now.” Ari soothed as he pressed the call button above her bed.

“That’s nice.” Sarah muttered absent mindedly as she slipped back to sleep again.

Ari stayed with Sarah as much as he could. He was periodically ushered out by the nursing staff and doctors since she woke, and she was mostly asleep when he was allowed back in. It took a stern but caring order from one of the senior nurses to make him go home. Reluctantly he had left Sarah in their hands for a few hours.

Ari rolled over on his bed and tried to focus on the alarm clock. It was 3am, a day later. He had fallen asleep as soon as he had hit his bed without even chance to undress.

Ari slumped down onto his back and ran his hands through his hair as he lay waking up, drowsy from such a prolonged period of rest. His hair felt disgusting and he smelt aweful. Had he allowed himself to get this bad? Stumbling into the bathroom, he stripped naked and collapsed into the shower. The warm jets beat down on his tired body and began to wake him. After washing and shaving, Ari felt like a whole new man compared to the zombie of previous days. He was glad Sarah had been so out of it when she had come round. Sarah….

Ari hurried to pull on a pair of old jeans and a grey tee-shirt before grabbing his keys and flying out of the apartment door. Ari jogged down the stairwell and out of the apartment block, it was still dark out… He realised how foolish it was turning up to the hospital at 4am… Sarah wouldn’t even be awake… Reluctantly, he slowly made his way back up to his apartment and forced himself to wait till it was at least morning.

Ari pulled up at the parking lot At the Sourasky medical centre and began the long walk across the grounds to the Ichilov General Hospital where Sarah was being looked after.

“Well don’t you look more human?” smiled the chief staff nurse as Ari stepped out of the lift on the 14th floor.

“Well I figured she didn’t need another shock after waking up.” He smiled sheepishly. “Is she awake?” he asked hopefully.

The nurse chuckled and nodded her head. “Yes, a few hours ago, she’s lucid and asking for you.”

Ari grinned and jogged off down the corridor towards Sarah’s room. The staff nurse smiled and shook her head before muttering something about young love and returning to her rounds.
 
 
From the author lady:
Hey guys, sorry I'm taking forever, College gets on top of you... you know how it is... (OK thats an excuse, I was mostly hungover and having mad sex with a series of hunky... don't believe that either? Well stick to lots of work... its more believable, even for me...

I hope you like this, its a tangent from usual i think. I'll endeavor to turn down some dates and write more sooner!

Love Alyssa

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To Be Continued...