Chapter 74

                                    

                                          
*
Sandra would surely lose her job that night due to her negligence. 
                          
"How could you let some random stranger up to see a patient without asking for an ID or even calling the room to confirm first?" Dr Hussein thundered when the news was brought to his knowledge. 
                          
"It was an honest mistake," she begged, sobbing on her knees. "I didn't know."
                          
"What if something had happened to her?" he asked. "What would you say then? That you're sorry?"
                          
"I sent the security guards after him as soon as he went up." It was her only redeeming action, and the only reason why she didn't lose her job afterwards. 
                          
Adnan was sitting quietly in the chair of the head security officer, watching the footage over and over again. The rage was slowly rising in his blood, bubbling just beneath the surface. 
                          
Yusuf had been here; in the same building as him, and yet he'd slipped right through their fingers. If something had happened to Afrah...
                          
He looked leaner than Adnan remembered since the last time he saw him. It was nearly a year since he'd last seen him, and the fullness of his cheeks were gone. Instead the man staring back at him through the screen was a gaunt, hollow vessel with no resemblance to the man who'd raised him. His beard was scrawny and rough, although he must have taken the trouble to at least drag a brush through it haphazardly. His eyes were empty and dark, void of any human emotions. His shoulders slouched at an awkward angle, making him look a hundred years older. His father had been youthful and full of live. This man looked like a walking corpse, dead on the inside and out. 
                          
"It's not me you have to apologize to," Adnan heard Dr Hussein say when he came up from his thought bubble. "Apologize to Mr Yusuf here, who you almost cost the life of his wife and daughter."
                          
"Let it be, Dr Hussein," Adnan said with a dismissive wave. "She made a mistake, and we shouldn't judge her because of it."
                          
"It was an absolute travesty," Dr Hussein persisted. "A disgrace of the image of this hospital. What would the media say if they got wind of this situation? We would have been ruined."
                          
"So it wasn't my wife and daughter's safety that was your concern?" Adnan asked with a narrowed gaze. "You cared only because it would ruin your image?"
                          
"That's not what I meant, Mr Yusuf," he said quickly, bristling from the accusation. "I just..."
                          
"I am not in the mood to have this conversation, doctor," he said. "Maybe some other time."
                          
He turned to Sandra then, who was still cowering at the feet of her boss. 
                          
"Did he give you any information which might prove valuable to us?" Adnan asked. "Did he say anything about where he might be coming from or where he might be going to?"
                          
"No he didn't," she said, shaking her head. "He only asked for the room number. Nothing more. And when I refused, he threatened to report me to my superiors. That's why I gave him the number. Please forgive me."
                          
"It's okay," Adnan said. "Let's just be glad that he didn't harm Afrah or the baby."
                          
"I can assure you that this matter will be thoroughly looked into, Mr Yusuf," Dr Hussein said. 
                          
"Of course," he said stiffly, heading for the door. "I expect nothing less."
                          
*
                          
Afrah came round the next morning, and Adnan was smiling right by her side when she woke up. 
                          
"Where is she?" 
                          
He moved aside with the smile still on his face so that she could see the crib behind him. Hafsah was sleeping soundly, still wrapped in her numerous shawls.