An hour later, I was waiting cautiously at Barangaroo Wharf when Martin Al-Sham approached me. He was limping, he had aged a lot, and he wore a thick jacket, which seemed strange considering that it was a warm and humid April day. He smiled bitter-sweetly as he approached me and spoke: "Thank you for seeing me, Sabina."
"It's the least I could do. You saved my life, and you helped me escape Israel. I thought you died. The last time I saw you, you were shot, and I was running away from the Mossad agents. How did you survive and escape? "I asked curiously.
"It's pretty straightforward. I survived the bullet wound and an ambulance picked me up. I was brought to court once I recovered. For some reason, I was never charged with murdering Ben Yehuda and the Templars. Getting shot is not a crime, and the Mossad agents that shot me didn't press any charges. All I got was a year in prison for the illegal possession of a firearm," Martin Al-Sham responded.
I was sceptical, to say the least. It seemed highly unlikely that no-one had found the bodies in the secret room, as we had left the doorway open at the Templar Tunnels. Unless Martin had accomplices that disposed of the bodies to cover up the murders, there was no way the Mossad would let him go. But why had Martin appeared now, almost three years later? I decided to tackle this question first.
"So, why have you come to visit me after such a long time, Martin? If your story holds up, you were released from prison over a year ago?" I asked sceptically.
"I saw you in a dream a couple of nights ago. You were dying and you were saved by the power of the Zeto Crystal. I felt compelled to meet you as quickly as possible, so I booked the next flight from Sweden to Australia." Martin stated with urgency.
"What were you doing in Sweden? I asked.
Martin responded: "Well. Sweden is my home country, and as soon as I had served my one-year prison term, Israel deported me. Regardless, I had fulfilled my mission, so I felt no need to stay there any longer."
I decided to use my empath powers to read Martin's aura. I held his hand and looked into his eyes, and I felt a powerful sense of familiarity, stronger than I had ever felt to John, who had raised me. I felt that he was a kind and trustworthy person, a gentle but bitter-sweet soul who had gone through many years of wars and pain. But why did I feel this way about this mysterious middle-aged man, that I had only met a few times in my life?
I couldn't answer this question, but I concluded that Martin was a trustworthy friend, and that I should introduce him to my mother, Ellen. "Come Martin. My mother Ellen would like to meet you and thank you for saving my life," I said and pointed in my mother's direction as she was observing us from a nearby coffee shop. "Is the blonde woman in the red jacket your mother?" Martin asked and looked like he was thinking about something.
"Yes, have the two of you met before?" I asked.
Martin didn't have the time to answer my question, as we were interrupted. "We finally meet, Miss Keila Eisenstein!" I heard a voice, with a thick Israeli accent, saying to me from behind. I turned around, and I saw a man with a monocle, accompanied by three shady looking characters, all wearing dark suits and sunglasses.
"Ben Yehuda, is that you?" I asked in amazement.
The man shook his head and smirked at me. "No. Ben Yehuda is dead, murdered by that traitor standing next to you, Martin Al-Sham. I am Szymon Yehuda, Ben's younger brother."
"Wow, just the man I have been waiting to meet," I replied sarcastically.
"I am sure you have…" Szymon replied, paused, and then continued talking. "Fortunately, today is your lucky day. I am not here to avenge my brother. I am here to retrieve the crystal that you stole from the Templar Tunnels. Aid me in this quest, and you might even get out of this alive." Szymon gave me a menacing and sadistic smile, and I realised that his vague promise was nothing but a lie.
"Oh, do you mean this Crystal?" I said defiantly and pulled out the energised Zeto Crystal from my pocket, showing the glowing orb in front of Szymon's face.
"Yes, hand it over to me, Keila, so I can use it for its intended purpose," Szymon said with a chilling voice.
"What is that? To murder and eliminate everyone that stand against you?" I asked defiantly.
"No... To perform Yahweh's plan for the Holy Land. I want to kill all the Palestinians in Israel and win the wars of our holy people!" Szymon replied wickedly and self-righteously.
I trembled with fear and anger over what Szymon had said. I squeezed the Zeto Crystal with my right hand, while I clenched my left fist and responded. "I have decided…." I paused for a second and then continued "…to not give you the Zeto Crystal". Having said this, I punched Szymon with a surprising amount of speed, and broke his nose. I then backflipped down into the water and swam towards the bottom to be safe. The assassins started shooting after me, but they couldn't hit me, as I was underwater, the water was a bit murky, and the bullets slowed down in the water.
I panicked when I realised that I couldn't stay underwater for long. I squeezed the Zeto Crystal and prayed to the True Maker. To my great relief, I no longer needed to breathe, and I felt one with the water, like if I was an aquatic creature. The shooting ended, and I saw blood flowing down in the water. I didn't dare to swim up to the surface to check what had happened, and instead, I chose to swim away as fast as I could.
An hour later, I surfaced at Farm Cove, in the Royal Botanical Gardens, a 5-kilometre swim. My phone was broken, and my clothes were soaked. I realised that I had to get home and get my stuff. The Mossad clearly didn't know my real identity and had followed Martin Al-Sham to find me. Thus, my home was my safest bet, but how would I get there? While I wanted to seek help from the authorities, I worried that they might have been compromised. I decided to run the 6-kilometres home and I powered my fitness level with the Zeto Crystal. It wasn't the wisest way to spend its limited energy, but I was afraid, and I wanted to seclude myself from the outside world.
With the energy from the crystal, I ran home in less than 20 minutes. I scanned my fingerprint on the entrance scanner to enter my mansion. Once inside, I made my way to the bathroom, and I collapsed into a warm bath. I instructed the A.I. housekeeping robot to bring me tea, and to keep the bath water warm. Exhausted from the physical strain, I dozed off in the bath. When I woke up, I saw a face I had longed to see for the last few days; my sweet and handsome Alexander looking kindly at me.