Even in the spring, the sun beat down on everything, retarding time as if it were in slow motion. Sometimes, if you were out in it too long, your head could begin to ring until the cacophony of noise around you started to feel painful.
Finally, the cab pulled in front of the huge, dusky Ramsses Hilton. It rose all by itself above the east bank of the Nile. A modern square pyramid with flat sides and protruding corners. From its rooms, Mustafa could see up and down the length of the Nile, the city, and the ancient pyramids to the west. He liked that the sun, settling into the deserts beyond, infused an orange glow into the rooms in the early evening.
He also liked that the hotel staff kept beggars away from the front door, and he liked the feel of the clean, dust-free cold air that hit him as he walked through the automatic doors into the lobby. It refreshed him.
As he walked in, he saw a man plodding across the street, hunched under an immense stack of cardboard, bound in twine and perched on his curved back. With his pants legs rolled up, the man placed one sandaled foot in front of the other, careful to avoid the potholes in the street.
“What is that?” Mustafa asked the doorman.
“Zabaleen. Christians who’ve collected all the garbage in Cairo for hundreds of years. They used to have herds of goats to eat the organic things and the Zabaleen removed everything else on their backs to sell.”
“What do you mean they ‘used to have goats’?”
“Not one anymore. Since the government killed all the goats here to avoid the flu, no one collects the organic garbage. Stupidest decision ever, but it’s usual for the government. Can’t you smell it?” The doorman lifted his nose to the breeze.
Mustafa could detect the odor. He hurried into the hotel.
After leaving his bag and briefcase in the room, he retreated to the Terrace Cafe, which overlooked the Nile. Shaded with awnings from the afternoon sun, the breeze felt good. He ordered a Diet Coke and felt guilty. Try as hard as he could, some items of Western decadence still remained with him.
Cairo was hemmed in by deserts to the east and west, so the city crawled along the banks of the Nile to the north and south. He could see this easily from the terrace. Across the Nile, Gizera Island sat in the middle of the dirty waters. Beyond that, squatting at the exact edge of the city, were the pyramids. From the backyards of the homes, a child could almost throw a piece of camel dung and hit the monuments.
He planned to meet the shipment and the courier at one of the Cities of the Dead, the northern one, for the transfer.
In the meantime, the conference would only take one day. He must get back to the United States quickly.
Attended by scientists from all over the world, it would be mildly interesting. Presenting his paper provided a wonderful cover. The company paid for everything, and Mustafa had an excuse to return to the world of Islam for a short time.
Tomorrow, he would meet the courier and take possession of the briefcase. Because of his corporate credentials, he had special privileges to carry research items through customs. He’d practiced with other, non-threatening parcels on several occasions without ever having a problem. The test camps in Somalia had been a success. All his efforts in the United States to recruit the young men would pay off. Once he had the material back there, he’d have the young men meet for the launch.
He planned to buy a gift for Zehra to win her trust. Although she was corrupted like most Muslims born in America, Mustafa found her somewhat attractive. He would avoid any real personal relationship with her for the sake of the mission, but he couldn’t deny how pretty she was.
He’d find a gift at the souk, or bazaar, at Khan el-Khalili, one of the oldest and largest in Cairo. Although it would be crowded with tourists, it was still a good place to find gifts, and he needed a good knife in case of trouble later on.
Mustafa smiled to himself and the thought of its history. In the late 1300s, the ruling family of Egypt had a stranglehold on Europe. All spices from the east came through this souk on their way to Europe. The family had a monopoly and made the kafirs pay and pay-much like the stranglehold on oil that the Islamic Middle East held around the throats of the world today.
He’d go in the coolness this evening, when the city came to life at a normal pace. The last time he’d been here, he’d noticed a beautiful jewelry box in the bazaar. It was handmade with the pieces of mother-of-pearl set into tight, traditional patterns, then polished to a high gloss. Inside the box, he would put a silk scarf for Zehra. In a tactful but forceful way, he could remind her she should wear hijab, the traditional head covering Muslim women were supposed to wear.
Mustafa worried about her. She didn’t seem to accept him without question as most other American women did. He was convinced he could win her trust with these simple kinds of trinkets. It had worked before.
The next morning, the loudspeakers woke him with the call to prayer. Today, theses Islamic cities were much too large for human muezzins to call and be heard. Public-address systems with recorded calls amplified the message to reach everyone above the ceaseless noise of the city.
Mustafa rose, washed, stood facing east, and crossed his arms before his chest. He went through the normal chants to call to Allah and thank Him for the blessings. He knelt, bent forward, and touched the seven parts of his body-the forehead, palms, knees, and both big toes-to the carpeting in the room. It felt rough and reminded him to be humble before Allah. He rose again, continued the prayers, knelt and touched his forehead to the carpet once again.
When Mustafa finished, he dressed in tan robes and went down to the grill for a light breakfast. He took a cab across the 6 October Bridge to Gizera Island, the largest one bisecting the slow moving Nile. At the southern end of the island, the conference would be held in the Sheraton Hotel, as it had been in previous years.
At the lunch break, Mustafa took advantage of the charming, small Fine Arts Museum, just north of the conference hotel and visited it.
He started to become anxious at the thought of the transfer. So much rode upon his successful insertion of the shipment into the United States. The defense of Islam and the enormity of his task often overwhelmed Mustafa. At those times, he would slip away to a quiet spot and open the Qur’an to read. The flowing Arabic words of the Prophet calmed him.
How proud he felt to have been chosen to spearhead the destruction and eventual redemption of the infidels. After it was all over, depending on how many remained alive, how could they fail to see the True Way of Islam and Allah’s laws?
At the end of the day, Mustafa prepared for the flight back to the United States and his meeting with the courier. He covered his Western clothing with a tan robe.
He carried the small suitcase and strapped the briefcase with the corporate logo over his shoulder. The new laptop would be sealed for protection. Mustafa erased his hard drive and would switch them after the transfer. The cab driver looked at him closely when he asked to be taken to the City of the Dead. Mustafa assured him it was okay. Back out on the Salah Salem Highway, the cab slowed to turn into the Northern City of the vast cemeteries clumped at the foot of the Moqattam Hills.
Mustafa told him to wait. He stepped out into a dusty wind. In the distance he could see, quivering from the heat in the beige and sandy landscape, the minarets of the Citadel. The smell of rotting garbage struck him, but this was the safest place to make the transfer, so he started to walk.
Five million people lived in the Cities of the Dead. Because of the chronic shortage of housing for the urban poor, they’d moved into these facilities over the years. Unlike Western cemeteries, Egyptians buried their dead in room-like sites so the family could live in them for the required forty days of mourning. Once the families left, the rooms remained vacant and available for the poor to move in.