Hi-Tech Hijack Read online

  The hours rolled by slowly. Now and then Eddie found himself starting to doze off by Rose’s bed. Nurses and doctors checked on her hourly and seemed to be pleased with her recovery. The quiet hours of napping and staring monotonously at the beeping devices provided Eddie with the opportunity to do some soul searching. He couldn’t come to any definite conclusions, but Orit and the United States seemed farther than ever before.

  At 4:00 p.m., while drinking a cup of coffee from the vending machine, Eddie heard a commotion and talking in English coming from the hallway. A minute later a group of exhausted-looking, red-eyed people entered the waiting room. Among them was Rose’s father. Eddie went to him and reached out his hand for shake. An emotional Aubrey embarrassed him with a warm hug and asked, “Where is she?”

  “Come, I’ll take you to her.” They marched quickly toward the room. “She still hasn’t woken up, but the doctors are pleased with her condition,” said Eddie as they walked.

  Aubrey stood by his daughter’s bed and carefully took her hand and looked at her with extreme concentration.

  “Hi, Rose, my baby girl. Daddy’s here with you.” To Eddie’s surprise Rose opened one eye, looked at her father and then at Eddie, and a hint of a smile could be seen in her eyes while her face still covered in an oxygen mask.

  “Wow,” cried Eddie, “she woke up just for you.”

  “You only have one dad,” said Aubrey, and he leaned over his daughter and kissed her long and tenderly on the forehead, the only part of her face that was revealed.

  Eddie rushed out to tell the on-call nurse about Rose, and she came quickly with the on-call doctor.

  “Everything looks great,” said the doctor after examining Rose. “I take it you’re her father?” he asked Aubrey in English. Aubrey nodded and the doctor put his hand on the father’s shoulder and said, “She was in a lot of danger, but she was brought here very quickly, and the surgery was successful. We can safely say she is out of the woods and will be back to her old self in a few days.”

  Eddie spent the next few days either at the hospital or at the hotel where Aubrey was staying. Eddie and Aubrey took shifts sitting by Rose’s bed, sitting in a more comfortable chair that Eddie had brought during a short visit he made to his parents farm. As Rose’s condition improved, they took the liberty of eating out together between shifts close to the hospital.

  One morning when Aubrey waked up from a nap next to Rose’s bad he found her sitting in her bed for the first time. She even tried a bit of the bland breakfast she was given.

  “The food here is disgusting,” she said.

  “You’re finally getting back to yourself, darling,” said her dad with a wide smile and eyes sparkling with joy.

  Around noon when Eddie came over to switch shifts, Rose was napping, exhausted by the few waking hours of incessant chatting with her father.

  “Let’s go outside for a bit. I must get some air. I feel like jumping up and down with joy, and I can’t exactly do that here. I think Rose is really starting to get back to herself,” said Aubrey, telling Eddie about her recovery. “Let’s go get some good coffee. I’ve had enough of that stuff from the machine”.

  “We can go to Kikar Hamedina. It’s only a few minutes from here,” suggested Eddie, and Aubrey happily agreed. This was one of the happiest days of his life. His cheerfulness rubbed off on Eddie, who still hadn’t had the chance to see Rose sitting up and fully awake. They stepped outside the hospital to a pleasant spring day.

  “I owe you the biggest gratitude for sending me that message via the TV reporter. Kudos for taking the initiative, Eddie.”

  “I thought you never got that message,” said Eddie. He told him how he came up with the idea, and how disappointed he was with the production assistant’s cold reaction.

  “Turns out she did make the effort after all,” said Aubrey. “You can’t imagine what it meant to me. I can’t say I was calm, but at least for the seven hours it took us to get here, I knew Rose was alive and that she had someone there with her. I’m forever in your debt for those seven hours, Eddie.” Aubrey thanked him and wiped an involuntary tear.

  “I’m glad I could help make those hours even a tad more bearable to you.”

  The waiter brought them the coffees and pastries they ordered, and Aubrey took the opportunity to change the subject.

  “I understand you were meant to start working for some company in biotechnology and that something went wrong. Now that Rose is doing better, I’d like you to tell me a bit about your plans.”

  Eddie felt an inexplicable closeness to this lovely man who had welcomed him so warmly into his home and who was now sharing with him the anxiety regarding Rose’s recovery. He told Aubrey about the company that took off to the States and about his dilemma of whether or not he should follow. He spoke of his reluctance to become a puppet for capital holders and of entrepreneurs who would treat him like property and of his dream to start his own company and develop products that would benefit humanity—a company that would be a home, not just a workplace to its employees.

  “And did you have any specific product in mind?”

  “I have this idea. I have only told two or three people about it so far.”

  “Does Rose know about it?”

  “Yes, I told her about it back in Africa. In fact, Amit and I were there partly because of my dream, and it was only natural that I should share it with her.”

  “Well, she kept it a secret at least from me.”

  “I think I’d like to tell you what it’s about,” said Eddie. He told Aubrey about his plans to enlist the Ebola virus to combat cancer. They finished eating and hurried back to the hospital so as not to let Rose wake up and find no one by her side.

  “I enjoyed our talk very much, Eddie. I hope we’ll talk some more about this in the next few days.”

  “I’d love to, Aubrey. After all, it’s going to take a while before you can return to England.”

  “I suppose I would have to go back within a week or so, but I’m not so sure Rose would want to.” Aubrey placed his hand on Eddie’s shoulder and waited to see his response. Eddie was quite embarrassed.

  He looked down at the ground and finally said, “My parents’ house in the country is big, and my sisters’ bedrooms have been vacant for years now. I’m sure my parents would love to have Rose over for as long as she wants.”

  Chapter 19

  Rose was making a swift recovery. For the first few days, she found it difficult to get up from her bed by herself and in a hunched sort of walking managed to go from her room to the large terrace at the Bartal family home. There she would sit for hours on end, enjoying the view and the country smells that reminded her of her family’s farm in Zimbabwe. Eddie’s mother pampered her with delicious dishes she prepared in an attempt to cater to Rose’s taste while Eddie was busy doing farm work with his father. Rose’s athletic body, forged between the green hills of her childhood landscapes, responded quickly to the medications she was prescribed during the month that followed her release from the hospital. Staying so close to nature among the orchards and breathing in the fresh air from the nearby sea contributed to the rapid healing of the tear in her right lung.

  Eddie, to whom devotion and dedication were a way of life, made it his goal to contribute to Rose’s recovery in every way he could. And the task had its perks. For the first time in a long time his mind wasn’t preoccupied with work, and all he cared about were the little details that would make Rose’s stay more pleasant. His parents for their part also went above and beyond to pamper their guest and make sure her every wish was met. They were moved by a sense of obligation toward the Jewish girl from England who came to Israel for the very first time and found herself sucked into the reality of life-threatening terrorism. However having their introverted son finally bring home a girlfriend for the first time certainly gave them a great deal of pleasure.

  As the days passed, Eddie felt he could really see Rose as a true friend with whom he felt free to sha
re the thoughts and hopes he had previously kept to himself. Rose, on her part had a complete change in her approach to life as a result of the traumatic attack. Her usual façade of toughness and cynicism was replaced by tenderness and openness. For the first time since her mother left her behind for a young lover, Rose allowed herself to need someone else and willingly gave in to the comforts bestowed upon her by Eddie and his parents. With Eddie she felt utterly safe and comfortable and had no hesitations leaning on him for help or showing signs of weakness. And it wasn’t that she had no doubts. She asked herself whether Eddie and his family were fulfilling some humane duty toward her and whether the dream would fade once she was healed. But she pushed these doubts aside and felt too exhausted to torment herself with defeatist thoughts. With the healthy instinct of a person who was clinging onto life, she did not allow them to trouble her and gave in wholeheartedly to the pleasantness of living in the moment and to Eddie.

  Eddie’s heart would grow wide as Rose would rest her head against his chest, her ears listening to his heartbeats and her hands stroking him softly. The sexual attraction that lit the first spark between them grew into a much deeper connection. Their lovemaking, after a few days of recovery, was no longer the goal and proof of their relationship, but rather a physical expression of an ever growing emotional closeness. During the first week they slept in separate rooms—Eddie in his own room and Rose in his sisters’ room until the night when Rose implored Eddie to stay in her room ’til morning.

  “But you’re still sore, Rose, and I might accidently hurt your stiches in my sleep.”

  “We’ll sleep in a tight embrace so you won’t be able to move,” she said, smiling.

  “And I have to get up early to work the field, and I’d hate to wake you.”

  “It would be lovely to wake up for a moment, give you a kiss, and fall back to sleep.” She caressed his head.

  “Ok, I’ll stay.” Eddie held Rose tightly and wondered what his dad might think in the morning when he wouldn’t be able to find him in his room. He waited until Rose was asleep, then went back to his room and left a note for his dad. I’ll wake myself up; I’m in the girls’ room. And he went back to Rose, smiling to himself as he thought what his mother’s reaction would surely be like when she’d get the report from his father.

  As the men would come back from the morning’s work for a late breakfast, Rose would wait for Eddie on the terrace, a cup of Earl Grey with milk in her hands and a calm smile across her face. At dusk they would go for slow walks along the banks of the Alexander stream, and every day they would walk a bit farther until they made it all the way to the sea. As Rose grew stronger, Eddie took his parents’ car, and they traveled more to the north toward the southern foot of Mount Carmel. Eddie picked short trails that would provide Rose the exercise she needed. They loved walking through the green hills between Zikhron and Bat Shlomo, climbing up Mount Horshan or down toward Dalia River, and when she felt strong enough, Eddie took Rose up Keren HaCarmel, where a Carmelite monastery is located, with a statue of Prophet Elijah in front of it. Short of breath, they made it to the top and admired the green Yizra’el Valley beneath them. Eddie looked at Rose with concern, her freckled face pale from the effort and her body shivering in the chill of the western wind. He held her from behind, wrapped his arms around her, and kissed her neck. Rose leaned back against him, stretching her neck, and allowed Eddie to cover her with kisses until she heard him whispering for the first time, “I love you.” Then she turned around to face him, slipping her cold hands under his sweatshirt and taking in the warmth of his body and put her lips against his for a long, long kiss until the last drop of oxygen in her lungs was gone.

  When she stopped for air, she said, “I love you, and I want to be with you always—wherever you are.”

  He said it again, this time in Hebrew: “Ani Ohev Otach.” And they both knew they meant the full extent of those three words.

  Before a month of Rose’s recovery was over, they had both made clear plans: Eddie decided to stay in Israel to try and raise the capital and form a team around his idea to use Ebola to eradicate cancer. Rose decided to enroll in the Faculty of Agriculture at Hebrew University of Jerusalem a branch nearby Rehovot for her master’s degree once she was done with her Hebrew studies at the language school for new immigrants—the ulpan. They were going to rent an apartment near the city of Rehovot where most of Israel’s biotechnology companies were located.

  Aubrey would call daily to talk to Rose, and she would tell him about her plans. When she had her check up at the hospital, Aubrey returned to Israel to escort his daughter and hear about her condition firsthand from the doctors. He had already come to terms with her plans of staying in Israel, though it was not an easy thing for him to do. When they spoke daily, he tried to remind her of the dangers of living in Israel and of the difficult struggles of survival there compared with the life of comfort and wealth she had waiting for her in England. But even in his own ears, he did not sound convincing. He knew how badly Rose detested London and how eagerly she waited every year for winter to come so that she could migrate south like the birds to the warmth and tranquility of Zimbabwe. Israel was so completely different from London and was nothing like Zimbabwe either, but it seemed it was where Rose found the love of her life among people who were honest and open in a way that reminded her more of Zimbabwe than of London.

  The short period Aubrey spent in Israel made him very close to Eddie. He had a great deal of appreciation for Eddie’s wisdom, for the passion with which he spoke of his business dream, and for the responsibility he took on caring for Rose. Aubrey grew so fond of Eddie he began to feel toward him the same way he would toward a son, had he had one. Aubrey knew it was wrong for him to be swayed by egotistical reasons like the desire to have his daughter close to him in London so that he would be able to see her every day

  He opened an Israeli bank account under his and Rose’s name and started a regular monthly transfer from the farm’s account in Zimbabwe to Israel for the amounts needed for Rose’s tuition, rent, and other expanses.

  Chapter 20

  On the last night before returning to England, Aubrey took Rose and Eddie out to dinner at a luxurious restaurant in the north of Tel Aviv. A ’95 chardonnay from the Golan Heights winery accompanied the platters of fresh seafood covered in a butter and garlic sauce exuding a delicious aroma. During the meal Aubrey could not contain his excitement, and after the main courses were finished as they were waiting for their desserts, he took out a sealed envelope from his jacket pocket and handed it to Eddie.

  “Eddie, you’ve told me a lot about your business dream and your enthusiasm has rubbed off on me. In this envelope there is a check for three quarters of a million pounds, and I would like for you to sign me up as an investor in your start-up. The check is in Rose’s name, since you haven’t started your company yet, but as soon as you do, she will endorse it to the company.”

  Rose and Eddie were blown away. Rose sat there gaping, and Eddie, normally so sensible and cool headed, seemed totally confused for a full minute, trying unsuccessfully to say something—anything.

  Finally he came to his senses and said, “I’m absolutely shocked, Aubrey. You know I haven’t started looking for investors yet, or even wrote down a business plan that would prove there is a feasibility or a chance for profitability behind my madness. This is a huge sum that completely sorts out the need to fundraise for seed money, but I can’t accept this from you. It’d be unwise to invest in me just yet.

  “Eddie, my friend, I don’t know much about biotechnology, but I do know one or two things about people. I’ve gotten to know you, and I have great faith in your willpower, your wisdom, and your determination. I am prepared to take a risk and invest in your company. I’ve accumulated substantial funds over the years, and this check won’t make much of a dent on my way of life. It won’t harm Rose’s inheritance either, which is safely tucked away in separate accounts. I usually invest in solid shares of the cl
assic industry at the London stock market. Over the past few years, I’ve started to envy the thriving hi-tech stocks, but haven’t dared investing in them since I don’t feel confident I understand this industry. As luck would have it, you’ve presented me with the opportunity to put my money into something I feel is going to be big, and I do so happily.”

  “But Aubrey, at least wait until I have a business plan written down. Then you can consider the matter more seriously.”

  “Eddie, in my experience a business plan is a nice piece of paper that is usually overly optimistic and aimed at luring in investors. It’s meant to get people to invest in a business and a team they don’t really know at a much higher price than the writers of the plan actually believe in themselves. I’m confident I’ve gotten to know more about you than any business plan could tell me, so we can just skip that part.”

  “I don’t know how to thank you, Aubrey. What you’re offering here will save me at least a year of fundraising. In the blink of an eye you’re turning my dream into a reality and making it possible for me to go straight ahead to building the company. I don’t know if I’ll be able to sleep soundly knowing how easily you’ve decided to invest and how much confidence you have in me.”

  “I’ve not decided this easily. I told you, having faith in the entrepreneur and manager is more important to me than a business plan. I feel I’ve gotten to know you well enough so that I can trust you. I hope you’ll do your best to prove me right and make the project a success so that I can get my money’s worth. As for sleeping well at night—if at the end of each day you’re at peace with what you’ve done, then you won’t have any trouble sleeping.”

  “Can I take a few days to consider your offer?”

  “It’d be a shame, Eddie, for you to waste your energy courting after those arrogant venture funds you’ve told me about. The best thing would be for you to focus your efforts on what you’re good at—building the company and leading it forward toward the goals you have set yourself. The money will be available to you via Rose as early as tomorrow. Over the next few months, once you have your business plan and team all assembled, we’ll look at it together and see how feasible it is. I promise you if I don’t approve of things I’ll withdraw my money with the expenses involved in creating the plan deducted.”