A Twofold Tale

In the evening of the day following the capture of Mas Anazar on Al’ard, the Captain Hassan Fassi, who is no longer a captain, has already been incarcerated in the reinforced prison for dissidents. As the prison guards are all members of the National Security Force, they recognize Hassan, a 42-year old man, who has been in the force his entire career since he joined when he was 18, more than half his life. The word spreads quickly. He’s always been appreciated by all of the soldiers under his orders and now he’s given special treatment. Hassan can’t believe what’s just happened to him. He’s been faithful and always obeyed orders before. At the evening meal in the canteen, he does something that no one would have ever imagined; he takes his dinner tray and goes directly to the table where Mas Anazar is seated. The supreme chief immediately recognizes the man who captured him less than 24 hours ago.

“Good evening Mas Anazar Ait Tamdoult, I’m Hassan Fassi, until this morning it was Captain Hassan Fassi. It seems that our fates are tied. Allah has brought us together again.”

“As far as I’m concerned, you’re still a Captain. I’ve always had respect for brave men, whether friend or foe. Tell me, what did you do to deserve this fate?”

“I disobeyed Nizam Mahfoud. But what he had ordered me to do was not in the line of duty.”

“May I ask you what that was?”

“To drink whiskey and smoke a cigar with him to celebrate your capture and I refused because both are haram, and I can’t stand either tobacco smoke or alcohol.”

Mas Anazar had just taken a drink of atay just after asking the question, and he almost chokes on it. “What? The man’s completely lunatic!”

“You’re right there. I was degraded, stripped of my insignia, and sent to prison without even the right to talk to my wife and children first. The man is a danger for the whole country. I didn’t realize it before meeting him in person, but now I know that I was destined to join you in your fight. All my career I’ve been faithful to our country and our king, and I still am, but not to Nizam Mahfoud. Now, serving my country means joining you, and I hope that you will accept me as your ally.”

Mas Anazar realizes the tactical advantage this will bring, and also admires Hassan for his courage and steadfastness to his values. “You are welcome among us Captain. Indeed, it is Allah that gives the victory, but the soldier must fight with all of his courage and strength. May Allah grant us the final victory.”

“Amen. Mas Anazar, I have information which could be valuable to you. Nizam has a double agent working for him. His name is Nadim Nurani, I met him in Mahfoud’s office. He didn’t refuse the cigar and whiskey. He was being rewarded for having discovered your meeting place at the Ait-Ben-Haddid fortress. His mission now is to locate and capture Ali Elbaz, Fatimazahra Bellali, and Dr. Asra Hanadi so that Nizam can eliminate them.”

“Thank you for the valuable information, it will be of use to us. By the way, did you know that Asra Hanadi is my adopted daughter?”

“No, I didn’t, but she already has a reputation in the NSF from having escaped this prison and returned to liberate the prisoners. I’m glad to be on the same side as her and her father. It’s an honor to be accepted in your ranks. Now I can see who the real terrorists are, and I was with them and blind. I’d like to read Ali Elbaz’s banned book someday if I can get a copy. I’d like to know how that man came to be so powerful.”

“I haven’t read it, but the friends of Asra are my friends, and her enemies are mine. She told me that Mahfoud would eventually attack us just because we don’t fit in to the mold. It makes sense now. Anyway, breaking out of here won’t be as easy as the first time. With all the reinforcements it’s almost impossible.”

“I have an idea that just might work, and even go farther than just getting us out of here.”

“I noticed that all of the guards treat you with respect; it’s because they all know you, right?”

“That’s right, and all of them were probably just as ignorant about Nizam Mahfoud as I was. The story is spreading all though the National Security Force, and when they understand who is under Satan’s influence and who follows the right path, they’re likely to join us. There’s just one big drawback. Mahfoud has so much power that everyone is scared of him. None of them would ever act on their own.”

“You’re right there. And they have reason to be scared, but we aren’t, are we?”

“I’ve never been so determined to do something in my life. That man has to be stopped. The first thing I have to do to carry out my plan is to get a message to the rebels. You know where they are, don’t you?”

“Of course, we had already planned our meeting place before you attacked us, so they’re probably all there now, or on their way.”

“If you write to them and tell me where they are I can surely get the message delivered.”

“And risk having their camp discovered? No, I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“It’s a risk we’ll have to take, and one that I already measured. We need to be able to communicate with them.”

“You’re the captain. I’ll trust that you know what you’re doing.”

Hassan has been put in a VIP cell, with a writing desk, paper and pens, a real bed with clean sheets and a pillow (the other prisoners only have a board to lie on) a private toilet, and even a transistor radio and television. After dinner, he sits at the desk writes out detailed instructions to Asra, and then asks the guards to accompany Mas Anazar to his cell. They do so without any questions. The chief writes a note to Asra, asking her to write back and inform him of their situation. He adds that Captain Hassan Fassi has defected to their side, that he has a plan and can be trusted. Then he whispers the location of the rebel camp to Hassan, and after he regains his cell, the note leaves the prison with an NSF scout. All the prisoners are in their cells for the night, and Hassan asks to be allowed to speak privately with the lieutenant who has been put in charge of the prison. He’s granted the privilege, and Lieutenant El Aabed receives him with all the respect that his rank would have normally accorded him. Behind closed doors, Hassan tells him the story of his degradation. The lieutenant is shocked, as would be expected, and swears to stand by the Captain Fassi. Hassan asks him to spread the story with all the NSF soldiers under his command, but to act as if they didn’t know, keeping him locked up. Everything has to appear as if the prison is functioning as normal.

The messenger drives his jeep almost 500 miles through the night to the camp at Tizi-n’Talout, arriving in the morning. There’s a lookout tower perched on top of the hill that the city is built on, and sentinels have been posted there with high-powered binoculars to watch the road. When they spot the military jeep coming, Asra is informed, and she sends four armed men in a jeep to meet the soldier. He’s brought back to the camp under guard and he delivers the message. They invite him to eat and sleep before returning to the prison.

Asra’s squad starts their training as planned, first doing exercises to develop their muscles and learning how to fall. A week later Fadina and Tazoula arrive with Fatima Zahra’s response and the homing pigeons. They’ve missed just a week of training, but their voyage together brought them closer, and now they’re an inseparable couple.

That same evening in the city, Fatima Zahra holds a resistance meeting at the Abdelwahid al-Marrakushi private school, which is still closed for the summer holidays. Driss El Jafri pretends to work late at night again.

Fatima Zahra is brief, “Comrades, we’re preparing for guerilla warfare in the mountains. You all know Asra Hanadi, she was taken by the snatchers with Ali. The indigenous nomads are her people and they’ve have joined us in our fight, in fact, they are the ones that attacked the prison and freed all the prisoners. Now we’re all going to be training together in the Tizi-n’Talout valley and preparing to do battle. Ali is with them now, and I’m leaving tomorrow to join them. There’s not much to be done here in the city for the moment. I invite you all to join us there. Every person counts. Perhaps you have children or spouses that you don’t want to leave behind, you can bring them along. Many of our nomad friends have their families with them. I need to know who’s staying here so that I can contact you if you’re needed.”

They all understand that she must miss Ali and that it’s normal for them to be together in the fight. Most of them agree to join the camp in the mountains.