When The World Turned Purple

Elina Chapter 4

“He has been spotted at the airport near you Madam Secretary. Agents are waiting for your orders.”

I raised my head from my messy desk and tried to gain composure, realizing I had fallen asleep on a pile of photos of the two dead scientists and reports from the over the country that needed to be passed on to the prime minister after approval. For a moment I looked down at them in confusion, before the eerie whispering filled my ears and I realized where I was.

The morning sun had come up and was filling the office with a warm glow from a large window behind my desk. The birds were chirping on the willow outside, and I could hear the gardeners having a laugh underneath it.

What a wonderful thing it is to be a civilian, I thought and turned my attention to tape recorder found near Dr. Ahmed's diseased body.

The country had lost him in an unnervingly similar way as she had lost Dr. Shah in the Safed Kothi, where his body had been found in the same way, arranged and infected with the same disease.

Dr. Ahmed's death had been a big blow to our power department. He had been on the verge of completing plans to better extract natural gas and coal from our southern desert.

His idea was supposed to be cheap and energy efficient, we were relying heavily on him. Now there was no one qualified enough to fill his shoes and we were standing to lose the millions of dollars we had invested into the machinery and parts for his custom designed equipment.

The government was in disarray, and the cabinet was going crazy trying to find a replacement for him.

And so, the cleanup job had been handed to me. I turned my attention to the tape recorder again.

“Madam Secretary, he's getting in a jeep. Should we do something?”

The tape recorder was old, an 80's cassette Sony model, dusty and aged like it had been forgotten in someone garage for a while before they remembered it existed. The tape was similar, old and dusty like it was worn from use. There was a single little inscription on it, a messily written A.M. The entire set had been scanned for prints and none had been found.

Shaking my head, I stood up and walked towards the mirror on the wall to assess the damage my nap had done to my makeup. When I saw my reflection I cringed; my lipstick was smeared all over my face and a bomb had exploded in my hair.

I wonder what we're having for lunch, I thought. And made my way towards the bathroom to freshen up.

“Madam Secretary?”

I clicked my blue tooth, there was no way I was going meet Mehmet looking like this, "Yes, hold him at the intersection. We need 15 minutes at the housing.”

“Affirmative.”

After ending the call, I tidied myself and came back out to inspect myself in front the mirror again.

I was looking collected now, pretty even, despite the bags under my eyes and the night I’d had in the valley. I had picked out a special dress for today, for reasons I wasn't ready to admit to myself.

Gold and traditionally styled with cut off sleeves and heels. I was looking professional, dressed in my country attire, and attractive as well.

The Secretariat house was a dreamy place, almost all of the government building outside the capital were. I supposed it was because they carried the same aura from the twentieth century when the English had built them.

The main office, the one that had been given to me for my stay, was a mix of styles. The walls were painted white and the interior was dome shaped, with a decorated eastern ceiling. But the furniture was modern and wooden, distinctively English.

My blue tooth altered me of a call, as I attended it, there was a knock on the door.

“Come-in." The large oak wood door opened with a slight creak and one of the local maids stepped in, flustered and fidgeting. She was an old woman, with a limp in her step, and was probably worried about upsetting an upper-class government official. It broke my heart a bit, “The breakfast table is set madam secretary.”

I fixed my gilded shawl around my shoulders and stood up straighter. She watched me waiting for a reply, on the line I heard the agent say,

“He's coming your way Madam Secretary.”

An involuntary tremor ran up my spine as I gave the woman the kindest smile I could manage.“Thank you. Is Miss Shah awake?”

The old women nodded, looking at my gilded shawl with starry eyes,“She's seated on the table waiting for you.”

“Alright then." I said and mindlessly followed her outside into the carpeted hallway and then downstairs.

I wondered what Mehmet looked like after our two years apart, did he still have the same short cropped hair, or were they longer now? Had he started wearing lighter colors like I'd advised him too?

As we made our way through the meeting room and into the kitchen my courage started to wane. Finally we reached the dining hall and I waited as the maid opened the double doors for me.

He could have somebody else by now, a part of me argued, two years isn't a short time and he's an incredibly attractive man, damn him, plus it wasn't like you left any room for reconciliation.

White hot jealously surged through my veins as I imagined him standing with another woman. I wasn't going to allow that, hell would freeze over before I allowed that.

It's probably already happened, you i***t, you should have kept tabs on him.

The dining hall was well decorated, with a large oak table in the middle and a large chandelier centering the room. The walls were covered with pictures of the country’s founders and the table was lined with vases full of white roses. Annie was seated on a chair right next to the head and was staring intently at her phone with a mildly worried expression. Her forehead had been cleaned up as I had ordered and her face was flushed red because of the cold. She was wearing a black traditional jacket and pants having lost none of her grace.

I smiled involuntarily at the sight of her. She had always been a naturally kind person, intelligent and loyal and had been with me through my angry and outspoken teenage years.

“El?" She said widening her eyes before smiling at me with a little giggle,“Look at you, all dressed up for Mehmet.”

My face heated up,“No I'm not." I said, defensively wrapping my arms around myself as she approached me laughing fully yet managing to remain graceful. There had always been something about the two of them, they were effortlessly special. I had spent a good bit of my childhood in jealously, watching from the sidelines as they lived their flawless happy life, wondering how two children could have so much while I had nothing.

My parents could never have a happy married life like theirs did and it was all because of me. My father had wanted a son and after conceiving me my mother was unable to bear him anymore children. He left during my junior year as I was finishing school. I never saw him again after that, and a few years later my two twin uncles, my mother's brothers, who we had moved in with, told me that he died from a heart attack.

My mother cried for some damn reason, but I celebrated by having ice-cream and by going out and buying myself the cashmere scarf I had been saving up for.

I befriended Anna that very year, or rather she befriended me and I learned that she wasn't as detestable as I thought she was. She had a good father of-course, and while my fifteen year old self perceived it as an inexcusable sin, I forgave her for it and even introduced her to my uncles, who were stunned at being introduced to a friend but never questioned my change of heart hoping not to jinx the change. It was only later that I met Mehmet, her mysterious and tall brother that none of the girls would shut up about.

Anna gave me a hug and I stayed stiff for a bit before I reluctantly hugged her back, “He's going to melt I promise.”

I cursed myself internally for feeling relieved, he was mourning, I should be more considerate.“You’re very well aware that I always dress my best, it comes with the job description.”Now I was smiling too.

Annie waved me away before taking my hand and guiding me to my seat. “Have some tea and stop pretending.”

I opened my mouth to protest because my cheeks were on fire but she simply shushed me and poured me some tea, and started buttering a toast for herself,“You had someone clean up my forehead.”

I nodded,“The on-call doctor, I think she's done a good job.”It was my turn to embarrass her,“So, how are things with Isaac?” I wiggled my eyebrows.

Annie blushed a deep crimson and I threw my head back in laughter,“Why are you blushing so much, you two are basically married!”

She placed her toast down,“Well technically, but … it's still so odd having someone ask about him.”

My Bluetooth alerted me of a call, I pressed it as my assistant’s voice chimed in,

“The Prime-minister wishes to speak with you Madam Secretary.”

“Put him on.”

Annie was watching me with a bit of a serious expression,“I have to attend this call. I’ll be back in a minute.”She nodded and I walked away from her and into the parlor linked with the dining hall, as I stood in brightly lit comfortable room my blue tooth beeped again and I attended,

“Miss Latif, I hope you've tightened up all the loose ends and you have nothing but good news to give me.”

I took a deep breath,“Yes sir. The body has been quarantined and send to the capital by helicopter, the house where it was found has been sealed and the witnesses have been paid to remain silent. As for the government officials, they've been threatened to be sacked in case of a leak or worse depending upon the scenario. As far as international relations are concerned, the foreign minister has assured me that the two gentlemen have safely landed in their separate states.”

“How far has the investigation into the matter gotten?”

“Both the bodies are in the capital and are undergoing rigorous evaluation as we speak. I should have a report by tonight.”

“And so you have no information to provide me then?”

I gulped, "Well sir we're dealing with something fairly new, which is why it's taking longer than usual. I will have more to tell you after the autopsy reports are in my hand. We have some of our best biologists looking into the matter, I'm confident we'll have this wrapped up by the weekend.”

There was a pause from the prime-minister's side,“I see that you haven't been informed as yet.”

Informed what?

What was he talking about? My heart picked up its beating, how did he know something I didn’t, there was something principally wrong about this,“I beg your pardon sir, what exactly is it that I haven’t been alerted off?”

“How is the cyber security department doing?”

I blinked,“Well sir, the cyber security department does not come under my jurisdiction. Cyber security, in general, falls under the Chief of Army staff, or more specifically under Agent Rameesha Sheikh, who you employed three years ago to further tighten and innovate our cyber security.”

“Good, good. Now tell me something, where does Agent Sheikh reside?”

“She lives in the capital, more specifically the red zone, near the prime-minister house and in the street dedicated to the country's working technocrats.”

“Well Madam Secretary, today I had the fine experience of seeing a victim of the plague myself, when I visited her lodgings an hour ago with our interior minister to discuss cyber security. Agent Sheikh was lying in her bedroom with five pools of blood around her, with the words sinner written on her wall in what I can only presume was her own handwriting. I'm currently holding the tape recorder that was lying on her nightstand. It's an 80's model Sony cassette player.”

My brain started running in overdrive and I sat down, “Where are you now sir?”

“In the prime-minister house waiting for a doctor to screen me for an infection. Which I believe is a completely pointless procedure because nobody seems to know what to look for.”

“Sir, three extremely important personal have been found dead in a similar manner, I can only conclude that ….”

“That we seem to be facing a sort of a biological attack. Yes, I can make that assumption as well, thank you very much.”

“Well then we need to counter it …" I said, then stopped and thought, my mind running over the possibilities and the latest fortnight defense report I'd gotten a glimpse off on the prime-minister's table,“You need to call a meeting. All the ministers and army generals, we need to build an agenda and trace its source. Or at-least come a solid conclusion about what we're dealing with. The secret service needs to be held accountable, how have they allowed this breech in security?”

“Calm down. There is no evidence suggesting that this is a breach in security madam secretary, but regardless, we will call a meeting immediately.”

I relaxed a bit,“Oh thank God.”

There was a pause, I waited for him to say something.

“And who is responsible for arranging this meeting?”

I looked down at my hands, blushing a deep red and wanting to hit my head on the ceiling, “I am.”

“Good, I want every one of any significance and intelligence in the prime-minister house by 7 tomorrow morning. That includes you yourself, I want you to bring all the information you have on this plague and I want every department to immediately tighten their security. If anything happens I want to be informed directly. Get it done.”

“Yes sir." I said with a bit of force and the call ended.

I waited around for a minute flushing and looking around the room, feeling a deep insecurity reverberate in my body, this was serious, this was real. I was no longer tackling an outspoken foreign opponent, or dealing with angry protestors inside the state. This wasn't something that could be fixed with big words and a winning smile, or even by faking compassion.

No El, take it easy, take it easy, you have to be calm, it says in the manual, anyone who's ever been in this seat says it too.

I took a deep breath and cleared my mind. I needed information and I needed to make arrangements. I stood up and adjusted my shawl around shoulders again, I needed to collect my thoughts and call all the ministers.

I opened the door of the parlor and stepped back into the dining room with determination, in the split second it took me to adjust to the scene in the room I noticed that the room was visibly darker, someone had drawn in the curtains.

“Elina.”

Mehmet was standing by the dining table with Anna, tall and daunting like he had always been with his hands in his trouser pockets. His expression was drawn but softened slightly with confusion. He had five o clock shadow on his face, and a tightly set jaw. He hadn't changed much in the two years we'd been apart, only now his curly hair was a mess and he was looking tired.

I cleared my throat and stood up straighter, feeling my knees weaken just slightly, but managed to adjust myself, he was wearing a crumbled collared shirt and a suit, it seemed like he'd ran out his office and hopped on to a plane, the thought made me anxious and sad, I was going to lie to him.

“Hello Mehmet." Then I paused forgetting that I had something to say, saying his name had made it his presence real, he looked at me waiting for more,“I'm sorry about your father.”

He removed his hands from his pockets and regarded me, looking me up and down before catching himself at it and turning away,“Thank you.”

An extreme satisfaction enveloped me. I fought of the smile spreading on my face then immediately felt guilty because it was obvious he was mourning, so i waited as he took a second to compose himself, finally he narrowed his eyes at me,“Anna says you took care of everything at the valley last night.”

“I did. Your father was an important man, his death was of national significance and since some foreign men had found the body, it was important that everything was taken care of smoothly.”

Anna was looking at me widely confused, I knew what she was thinking.

How much of the truth is enough?

Mehmet stood silently watching me. He always one to meet me head on and call bull. I realized keeping him in check was going to be a harder task than I had originally perceived it to be, but I had experience, and while he was a good man and God knew I cared about him, I wasn't going to lose sight of the bigger picture.“Why did you travel all the way from the capital, to attend to a death because two foreigners found a dead old man?”

“We take the security of our tourists very seriously now. A new age is upon us.”

“Serious enough for the chief secretary of state to put everything on hold for a cleanup?”

I nodded at him, and he raised his eyebrows,“Yes. And I can tell you about it in detail.”I walked over and opened the door of the dining room,“Come into the secretary's office if you please. I don't want to ruin Anna's breakfast, she's had a difficult night and deserves some peace of mind.”

Mehmet's eyes sparked for a bit with heat and I realized we were going to have our first conversation alone in two years, I prepared myself and thought of the best tactic to use.

I could always be sympathetic, edging closer to him slowly and telling him how sorry I was about everything. He had always had a soft spot for me, I could convince him of anything, even before I had realized I had feelings for him.

Maybe because he had always had feelings for me.