==Maronite Cathedral of Saint George== "We are looking for a Spanish woman by the name of Asun. She was seen with your friend on several occassions." Sabirun stated calmly as they waited in the lobby of the office attached to the Maronite Cathedral of Saint George. "It seems she works with the Maronites as some sort of a public relations person and is meeting with her contact, a youth pastor. It is better to meet her here rather than at her hotel." The Black Hyena had switched to a stylish attire of all black, his posture far more imposing than it had been when he was having tea during the afternoon. Sabirun had told Antoine to wait outside, while still allowing the man to see Nano through the window. (edited) Nano marveled at the cathedral. She didn’t find herself in places like these often. She simply listened, the acoustics carrying his voice to fill the room.
The cathedral was Gebran's meeting spot of choice. Asun was quite content with that. There was always a certain peace in a church. A place away from the headaches of the world outside. She'd informed him of what happened that night. Not all of it of course, she took the long-haired man's words quite seriously. As far as she'd told it, there had just been a weirdo causing a scene which caused the night to more or less end. Mainly she talked to him about the vibe of the night before that happened. The music was more about communal creation, a way to share with each other what they'd gone through. Pain, worry, but also optimism. She mentioned she'd met one of the organisers, although didn't get too much of a chance to talk before the 'event'. It felt good that these guys wanted her help. Didn't hurt that the money was good, so Asun was determined to put in an effort. After catching up and staying for a few minutes in the church to take it all in (and say a quick prayer), she took to leaving the cathedral. (edited)
As Asun was leaving, an older man with a silvery beard and a shaved head stepped up to the main aisle leading to the entrance to partially block her path. "Miss, if I may have a moment." Behind him was a very interesting looking short woman and waiting outside behind the glass-pane doors a well-built man with a scarred face. (edited)
Something about this man... she didn't care for it. Some men had given her the dirty side eye here, her hair colour and tattoos not being appreciated by the more conservative crowd. However, if he was here with her, then probably that wasn't the reason why he approached her. She tried to play it casual, but she was on high alert. "Hola, how can I help you?" Asun tried to hide it that she was tense. She didn't do a great job, but hopefully a passable one. (edited)
"We are looking for an acquaintance of yours. She seems to have gone missing." Sabirun gestured over to Nano, instructing the American to show Isabel's picture to Asun.
Nano did as requested, bringing up her phone and showing the lock screen of Isabel's portrait to Asun.
Acquaintance? She'd been here like 2 weeks. How the hell ... wait, she knew that face. A flash of recognition showed across her face: "What do you mean is she missing? Since when?" The surprise caused her to have a stronger accent, which she quickly tried to correct.
A crease formed on Nano's brow. "As far as i'm concerned, for weeks. That's why i'm here. I hadn't heard from her since she got here. She looked at the picture again and sighed before sliding it into the pocket of her light jacket.
Weeks? It certainly hadn't been that long. Isabel must not have wanted to talk to her. She hadn't mentioned anything about hiding from someone, a friend... or (ex-)girlfriend? Although, Asun supposed, they weren't that close and she may have just wanted to have the escape. She had to admit though that she hadn't seen Isabel for a while. She'd sent her a message yesterday whether she wanted to go out, but no response. Just holiday things, she'd thought at the time. Perhaps it still is. "Hm, last I saw her was a few days ago.." She thinks to herself, "The tenth maybe? She seemed fine then. She was having a good time. Are you sure she is missing..?" Leaving the other option unspoken.
Sabirun stepped in to explain, leading the conversation forward. "It seems like you were the last person to see her. Was there anything odd about her the last time you saw her? Were you with anyone else? Time is of the essence, I'm afraid. We have reason to believe she is in danger."
Asun started getting a little agitated now. "No, she was completely normal having fun. Just someone enjoying her holiday. It was just her, me and my friend. Why do you say you think she is in danger? Maybe she just doesn't want to talk to you?" The last part was aimed towards the girl.
Nano narrowed her eyes. “She was last seen with … unsavory folks. She got into a 4x4 with tinted windows and not seen since”
Sabirun held up a hand to ease the tensions, stepping between the two women. "We're all just worried about your friend and want to make sure she's safe. Do you think there might be anyone who'd want to hurt her -- or you, by association?" The old man came in with a curveball, brown and wrinkle-surrounded eyes settling on Asun to observe her reaction.
She flicked her eyes between the two of them. She didn't know anything about Isabel! Was this because of the other night? He said we could forget what happened and she had! "We weren't that close!" She doesn't seem too sure of herself though, "Ehm, when did you say she got into this car and wasn't seen again?"
She also starts taking her phone out, but waits for a response before doing anything.
Sabirun lowered his hands in a calming manner, but his words were quite the opposite. Though he was speaking softly, he was inciting alarm and a sense of Asun being threatened. "From what I've heard, you were the last person she was seen with. Many people saw you together - that's how we found you - so whoever she might've been involved with might be coming after you. We're trying to protect Isabel and we can protect you." (edited)
"What did you do after she left the Jerry Thomas?" Nano spoke gently, trying to ease the tension a little. "Did you go somewhere else? Who were you with?" (edited)
Asun looks at her phone, seeing that the message she'd sent to Isabel last night had not even been received. Were they speaking the truth? She talks really fast now: "I've never heard of a Jerry Thomas. Last time I saw her, we were at the Skybar I think. As I said before, it was just her, me and my friend." She turns towards the old man: "Does this have something to do with that creep at the Cabaret? But I've not seen her since before that. The only people I've pissed off here are old dudes who get angry seeing a woman's shoulders. I've not done anything!" Clearly not used to this kind of scrutiny.
Sabirun blinked slowly and reached calmly into his jacket's pocket, pulling out a leatherbound notebook and a pencil. "The creep at the Cabaret? Did this creep threaten you? Where was this?" He asked very matter-of-factly, flicking open the notebook writing something down.
Nano raised her hands to show she meant no harm. "Easy. We're not accusing you of anything. When and how did you guys split up?"
What the hell is happening in this city!? "Well, we didn't really split up as you think. We met at some party, like 2 weeks or so ago, and then exchanged numbers and hung out a few times. Just let loose, nothing more." Perhaps some MDMA, but they didn't need to know that. "We went to the bar, had fun and then at the end of the night, she took a taxi home.. I think? You know how it is. But certainly no suspicious cars involved." She takes a moment to think.
"The creep. Well it happened at the Cabaret. You know... the metro one. Al...Al..Metro Al Madina? People were having a good time. Then some weirdo came in, rapped about murdering everyone and caused a panic. It was dark, you know? And the feedback from him throwing the mic, caused people to panic. I tried to calm down the crowd. But when I got to the green room, the creep had stabbed one of the security guys. I threw him the mic stand and I'm pretty sure the security guard beat the shit out of him. He told me that the guy wasn't joking, and that I should forget what I saw. I'm sure the creepy didn't see me! And well.. I've just been telling people that some weirdo interrupted the night, nothing about what happened." She looks somewhat pleadingly towards the old man, hoping he'd be satisfied with this info.
The old man took notes and then reviewed them. He lifted his gaze from the notebook to stare at the Spanish girl and then dipped his chin sharply, closing the notebook. "I have reason to believe that this creep is involved in the disappearance of your friend. I heard about the ISF being called to this club, yet the report says that security saw nothing. The mother of one of the organizers reported him missing the next day, he never came home."
She had a bad feeling about this. "Do you happen to know the name of the organiser?"
Sabirun snapped his notepad open and flicked back a few pages. Once he found the spot, he traced the line with his finger. "Jaaquim Wahby." The old man quirked a brow and looked at Asun over his notebook, wondering why she had asked.
A flash of recognition. Panic. "Joder" So, they may come for her after all. "What else do you need from me? And how does he link to Isabel? What the hell is going on?"
Sabirun looked over to Nano and then back to Asun, before turning his notebook around to show it to them. His expression remained steelen. "These are names and ages." He pointed at the list, each indented neatly with cursive Arabic handwriting. Six entries per page. Two pages. Sabirun turned the page. Four pages. Sabirun turned the page again. Six pages. "All people under twenty eight. All disappeared after a night out. This started in late February. Around two disappearances per night. Maybe more, maybe some of them haven't been reported yet - like your friend."
She says to the girl: "So, why haven't you reported it to the police? How are we supposed to find her? You said you can help?" Nano winced at the mention of police, not that she's been all that fond of them to begin with. "There are complications with bringing the police into this. I'd rather keep the government out of this as much as possible." She leaned against the wall, shoving her hands in her pockets. "I think the goal is to extract her from the Baalbeck-Hermel governorate in the North-East of Lebanon. Notorious Hezbollah stronghold, but the only district where the Shiite party has had to deal with the Christian party of the Lebanese Forces. The LF managed to get a seat for a Maronite Christian in the pro-Iranian party's stronghold back in 2018 with a political masterstroke. They really fucked Hezbollah with that. So it's a bit of a mess."
"Wait, aren't Hezbollah terrorists? Are they behind this? Is this some sort of terror thing?" What has she got herself into. She could just hope Merche had avoided attention.
"Hezbollah are a major part of the Lebanese parliament. They wage war against Israel, which has marked them as terrorists in the eyes of the west." Sabirun held up a hand before they got more sidetracked. "Kidnapping and ransoming foreigners or children of rich or important individuals is a tactic that has become more common with the economic crisis. However, I believe there is more than one kidnapper. The other person who went missing that night, Leilah Safa, disappeared from Bechamoun, twenty kilometers from where this Cabaret is." (edited)
Nano blinked at Sabirun, not realizing that Isabel wasn't the only woman missing from Bechamoun. "Leilah Safa?" Has there been any ransoms or anything like that? That's what kidnappers would do right?" She says, but she's not so much paying attention to the man. She's sending a WhatsApp message to Lily: "Hey, how are you?" and to Merche: "Hey, everything all right? Seen anything weird?" Merche responded quick; No, why? Lily's WhatsApp message was left on sent, but not received. Her phone was off.
Sabirun flicked through his notebook. "Out of the 36 missing, only two ransoms have been demanded. The ISF is being pressured to work on the cases by the parents, but they've got nothing according to my friends. Beirut has barely any security cameras that aren't a part of the grid and the scheduled power outages mean they're offline after midnight when the disappearances happen. The power outages affect everything, down to traffic cameras. If someone gets thrown into a car in the heart of Beirut, they can drive from here to all the way to Syria and nobody will ever know." Nano swallowed. Isabel might never be seen again if that were the case. Just wiped off the map, becuase Nano got greedy for power. She took right hand out of her pocket and extended it to Asun. "Sorry, i should have introduced myself sooner. I'm Nano." (edited) Her english was marbled with thhe "baldimer" accent. I do not believe the accent would be recognised by Asun as more than "American, but not Texas or California". She steps sideways away from the old man and hesitantly accepts the handshake: "Asun, but I guess you knew that.""So, if no police how do we plan on getting them back?" She responds to Merche: <Please stay in the hotel. And let me know if anything weird happens. Please. I'll explain later.> Sabirun took a hold of his jacket's lapels and adjusted his clothing, before dropping the bomb. "I believe you're both under 28 and willing to spend the night out partying. We will use you as bait. The vast majority of these kidnappings seem to have happened in the Hamra district after midnight primarily to young women like you. We'll set a trap and capture whoever is behind this." He looked at the two women calmly, as if what he had just suggested was not outlandish and incredibly dangerous. (edited)
Nano took the age guess as a compliment. Her Asian blood kept her looking young. “This isn’t my first rodeo. Do you have backup?”
Under 28. Close enough. She'd wisecrack about partying for the cause, but Isabel... Lily, Joaquim.. She was worried about them. She couldn't just let them disappear forever. "Sure, why not? Good a plan as I've heard. Do you have a way to track us?"
"I do." Sabirun answered to both of their questions at the same time. He flicked through his notepad until he got to an empty page and slowly tore it off from the book, writing down the same number and address twice. "Here is a phone number you can call and an address you can go to if something bad happens. I will need two days to prepare everything. We will reconvene outside the Mohammad Al-Amin Mosque in downtown Beirut at 16:00 on Thursday the 17th. Don't be late. I am very punctual." Sabirun tore the paper and handed the halves to both of them. He closed his notebook and pocketed it, starting to head out toward the door. "Try to avoid staying out after midnight until then." He stopped on the stairs, looked at Antoine and then turned around to address the two women. "If not us, who? There is nobody else. If we don't act, this will keep on happening." He bowed his head a little and then swiveled around to calmly walk past Antoine and to the street. (edited)
As Sabirun walks out, she just kind of mumbles: "Why is he trying to convince us when we already said yes?" What the hell did she get herself into.. She gathers her composure and begins to leave. Giving Nano an awkward wave and walks out unless Nano will say anything to her. Nano followed the two people out of the cathedral. She looked at Antoine and licked her eye tooth, her private signal for him to come. She waves back to Asun, giving her a knowing look, holding up the rear through the doorway.
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