What God Wants

[Dbz77]

Summary

Yitzhak Haddad founded the Bridge to heaven mosque in 2014, having already written several books and having his own YouTube Channel spreading the Islamic faith. He had occasionally traveled the world to help people. In 2017, he was beaten and stabbed on the grounds of his mosque. Can Ben stop this tragedy?


Chapter One​

June 3, 2017

Dr. Ben Song finds himself in another place, another time, another person.

He sees a man and woman kissing. Both of them wear cloths covering the hair on top of their heads.

The kiss lasts for maybe a quarter of a minute before it stops.

They then turns around, with their backs to him.

The leaper notices other people in the room, all finely dressed.

He realizes this is a wedding.

"Say hello to..the bride and groom," he says, smiling He sees people taking out what are clearly Android phones and iPhones, narrowing the time range when he can be in. Usually his time range is from the mid0-1908's to the late 2010's, but Ian Wright had once mentioned that in a temporally-excited state, he might be able to leap as far back as the Bronze Age!

Cellular telephones do make one aspect of quantum leaping easier.

A man speaks to him in some language.

"It was an honor," says Ben, in that same language. He then places his hand over his mouth.

"We thank you for marrying out little girl," says the woman, who has a cloth on her head.

"You're welcome," answers the leaper.

He looks confused. He wonders how he is able to understand and speak this language, unless he is accessing some skills and memories from his leapee.

"You look lost," says another man.

Ben looks and sees a man in a white robe. He has short black hair, a short black beard, and olive-complected skin. "Yeah," he replies.

"We only got back from Turkiye this week," he says.

Ben walks out, greeted by air that is around seventy-five degrees. The wedding guests have gathered outside, taking more pictures, both with smart phones and dedicated cameras. A white Lincoln limousine is parked outside.

"Weddings are always nice," says Addison Augustine.

Ben looks and sees a woman with light brown hair, wearing a knee-length skirt and a short-sleeve white b louse. She is the observer for Project Quantum Leap, a time travel project where the leaper leaps into people in the past. She is projected via brain wave transmission sent by an Ianging Chamber, and only the leaper can see and/or hear her.

Remembering this, Ben places his leapee's Apple iPhone by his hear. "Hi there," he says, looking like he is talking to someone in this time by cell phone. "I find myself talking in this language."

"Arabic," replies the observer. "Your accessing your host's language skills, which makes things a bit easier. Anyway, you're Hassan al Naari, a Muslim preacher in Vancouver, British Columbia. He's the head imam, if you can call it, in this mosque where this wedding took place. Today's date is June 3, 2017."

"Maybe we should go to the pastor's office where we can talk."

Addison looks around, enjoying the scene. She notices a crowd of people around one of the guests.

"Thank you, thank you," he says. "I am not master of ceremonies here. That honor belongs to Hassan al Naari, a man I consider a mentor. If you have questions about me, you can visit my mosque. But let's have our attention to our loving couple, and this man of God who married them!"

Ben smiles.

The white Lincoln limousine pulls away from the curb and drives off. Many of the wedding guests either go to their cars or use their smart phones to summon ridesharing services like Uber or Lyft.

A girl, with a cloth covering her head, walks up to Ben.

"Thank you for the service," she says in Arabic.

"You know the couple?" asks Ben.

"Bride is my older cousin."

"That's right," says the man who had spoken to ben earlier. "Laila here's an excellent volunteer for us and for God."

"Ian's having Ziggy dub English over their speech," says the observer. "It sounds a little funny, though."

"You know," the man continues. "I do wish Azra was here. She was the best. She awaits you in Paradise, but I have feeling God has more to require from you on this Earth."

"I need to go to my office," says the leaper.

And so he does. He looks again the the main prayer room where the ceremony took place; it is all but deserted now. A door in the back leads to a hallway, and he sees a plate by thew door, with the name HASSAN AL NAARI written in both Arabic and English. The leaper walks inside, sitting behind a wooden desk. A MacBook is connected to a dock, connected to a keyboard, mouse, and Silicon Graphic monitor.

With no one from this time inside the office, Ben and Addison can talk freely.

"Hassan al Naari was born in the Kingdom of Jordan in 1953, making you 64 years old," she says. "In 1966, he and his family immigrated to Canada, settling in the Vancouver area. Hassan was deeply faithful, and he chose a life of serving in an Islamic ministry. He later met Azra, whose family immigrated from the Bosnia-Hergezovina region of the former Yugoslavia in the '60's. The two of them married in 1980 and went on a hajj during their honeymoon, they had a family, including a grandchild, and stayed married until her death in 2015 of an aneurysm."

Ben takes a framed photograph, showing a woman, looking to be in her mid-fifties, with a cloth covering her hair. "This must be her," he says. "Too bad I couldn't leap earlier to prevent her from leaving so soon. But if I'm an imam, maybe there's a ...parishioner I'm supposed to help?"

Addison holds a circular electronic device called a handlink, which acts as a remote terminal for Ziggy, the supercomputer that runs Project Quantum Leap. "I can show you," she says.

The observer projects a hologram on the Silicon Graphics screen. A picture of a man appears, with short black hair and a short black beard.

"He was at the wedding," says Ben. "Just maybe twenty minutes ago."

"His name is Yitzhak Haddad," says Addison.

"Let me look that up." Opening Google Chrome, Ben types into the search field.

the first web site listed is for the Bridge to Heaven mosque. The second listing is a YouTube channel.

Clicking the link for Bridge to Heaven, a bio of Haddad appears. Ben and Addison reads through it.

"Let's see," says the leaper. "Born in 1978 in Vancouver, he volunteered for Islamic charities starting in his teens. While a student of divinity at the University of Calgary, he spread the Word of God on bulletin board services and Usenet newsgroups. He started a blog in 2002, and did charity work as well as going on pilgrimages. He returned to Vancouver and founded Bridge to Heaven in 2014. He leads prayer services as well as operating his YouTube channel. He also wrote several books, and occasionally appears on television." Ben clicks more pictures. "Here he is at the 9/11 memorial, and here's a picture of him with Joel Osteen."

"That's his story up until now," says the observer. "But it has a sad ending."

Addison projects another hologram onto the computer monitor. It is an image of the front page of the Vancouver Sun, dated June 6, 2017. Ben reads the headline.

"Bridge to Heaven Imam, Muslim Webvangelist, Found Murdered," he reads.

The picture is clearly that of Yitzhak Haddad.

​

 

[Dbz77]

Chapter Two​

June 3, 2017

Ben Song reads the article that Addison Augustine is projecting on the Silicon Graphics screen which is connected to an Apple iBook.

"What happened?" he asks.

"he was found by a groundskeeper the morning of June 6h," replies the observer. "Yitzhak Haddad was beaten with a blunt object and then stabbed multiple times. The RCMP investigated. They even suspected it was an assassination by ISIS."

"Did the cops catch the killer?"

Addison taps the handlink. "Yes," she answers. "a man named Corey Hooper, born 1984. A history of violent crime, spent a third of his adult life in various jails. Made Islamophobic comments online. Actually spent three weeks in jail for vandalizing Bridge to Heaven last year. He was- will be-arrested next week. Protested his innocence, but the jury didn't buy it and sent him to prison. He was later stabbed to death in a fight in prison in 2020.

"Yitzhak Haddad's murder was really big news back in 2017. The Prime Minister gave a lengthy speech condemning hate. #StopIslamophobia became the biggest hashtag. I remember this ad by a bunch of celebrities, including Ariana Grande and Taylor Swift, to stop hate against Muslims. The City of Vancouver renamed Stanley Park into Yitzhak Haddad Park in 2018, and renamed the Kingsway to Haddad Boulevard in 2021. And in our time, the Canadian Parliament is debating a bill to make Yitzhak Hadda's birthday a national holiday!"

"I was a teen living in New York when 9/11 happened," Ben says softly. "There was a lot of anger against Muslims, even among other Koreans at school. I heard people wanting to pay back Muslims for the fall of the Twin Towers."

"I'll never forget that day," says Addison.

"Yeah."

For a moment memories of where they were rise up. They both remember watching the television all day that Tuesday- the only form of home Internet access was dial-up, which often tied up the only telephone line available to a household. They recall images of the smoke from the towers, and they recall the towers collapsing, releasing a huge cloud of dust.

"Corey Hooper would've been seventeen," says the observer. "According to statements from those who knew him, he was already a violent bully and a thug back then. 9/11 gave him a target to hate. Maybe he has this need to hate someone, and Muslims happened to be that someone he needed to hate.

"What I am wondering is why Hassan?"

"What do you mean?" asks the leaper.

"Why would Hassan be the best leapee for this mission? It'd be easier if you leaped into Yitzhak Haddad, and just avoid the scene."

"Hooper might have been looking for some Muslim to kill, not necessarily Haddad," answers Ben. "If I merely avoid being killed as Haddad, Hooper might kill someone else, maybe even al Naari. But maybe I should have leaped into a local cop, and simply stop Hooper at the scene."

"Haddad might have been fatally struck on the first blow. I think intercepting Hooper is the best bet. I'll need a lock on him."

"I need to be in his vicinity."

"Ziggy can get us his last known address." Addison presses the handlink. "He lives with his mother in Burnaby, just eight miles from Vancouver. If I can see him, I can get a lock."

"Okay," says Ben. "And then what?"

"I'll keep a watch on his life. Find out if he committed a crime, especially a violent one, prior to the evening of June 6th. Then you can make an anonymous tip and if he's in jail, he won't kill Yitzhak Haddad."

"Or otherwise, I would have confront him at the scene," says Ben. "that can get ugly"

He walks out of the office,. There is one thing he had not yet done since leaping into al Naari.

He enters another room. It is a bathroom, single-occupancy only, with a toilet and a sink.

And a mirror.

Ben looks and sees a man with a gray beard and a seasoned face, wearing a turban and spectacles.

"His next publicly known location was at Bridge to Heaven when he killed Haddad," says Addison. "You need to be at his house. And unless he spends the night at someone else's place, that's where we'll be."

"In the meantime, I guess I have priest- I mean, imam duties."

"And I can check out the wedding reception," Addison says, smiling. "I locked onto the bride. I wonder what music was popular back in 2017."

Ben smiles. "Just don't peek at their wedding night, please."

oooooooo

June 4, 2017

"Wakey wakey," says Addison.

Ben arises and walks to turn on a switch, revealing a master bedroom. On a wooden dresser is a wedding photograph of Hassan and Azra.

Hassan al Naari lives within walking distance from his mosque; the leaper only had to cross two residential streets. He explored the place, which looked pretty much the same as a single-family residence in Vancouver, with the typical living room, kitchen, hallway bathroom, bedrooms, master bedroom, and master bathroom. Hanging in a frame in a living room is a child's crayon drawing of two stick figures, and the phrase "i love grandma and grandpa". He brought the Apple MacBook laptop computer home, and did some more searching the web to learn about Yitzhak Haddad. Not surprisingly, there was neither beer, wine, nor alcoholic drink in the refrigerator or cupboards. This will be another sober leap.

It is 5:00 am and the sun is about to rise.

"We'd better hurry," says Addison. "I doubt our friend Corey will wake up really early on a Sunday morning."

"Well, most imams wouldn't wake up this early on Sunday," says Ben. "The Muslim day of prayer is Friday."

Instead of something elaborate, the leaper simply wears a shirt and jeans. Leaving the house, he heads to the driveway where a 2006 Volvo S40 awaits. Getting into the car, he starts the gasoline engine and drives the streets of Vancouver, toward Burnaby. It is a very early Sunday morning, so traffic is very light on the streets as he passes by various retail establishments with line the street.

With holographic guidance from Addison, Ben turns the Volvo onto a residential street. The street is lined with trees, and houses set a few meters back from the sidewalk. The leaper finds a spot and parks the car.

"Okay," says Addison, holding the handlink. "I'll go to this house."

And the observer does so. Checking the house number, she enters. It is a typical middler-class single-family residence in Burnaby, with the typical living room and kitchen. She comes across a bedroom. The bed is clearly unmade, with the blanket folded randomly.

She walks into the hallway outside, and hears some sound, as if something is splashing into water.

She then peeks into the hallway bathroom.

Half a minute later, she is projected just outside the parked Volvo where Ben waits.

"We got him!" exclaims Addison. "Ziggy can now track our pal Corey wherever he goes."

"That's great," replies the leaper.

"And this is one instance I'm definitely glad I can't smell the past."

Ben has this brief look of confusion in his eyes, before turning the key and starting the gasoline engine.

Oooooooo

Ben parks the Volvo in the parking lot, where there are a few cars. He looks at the building.

It is a huge, expensive-looking building with tall minarets. It is bigger than most religious buildings the leaper had seen, either in his pre-leap life or the two and three-fourths years that he spent leaping around time.

He walks along the asphalt surface of the parking lot and reaches the main doors. Opening the doors, and he in through a vestibule, and then through into the main prayer room.

The room is huge, with a very high ceiling. There is a large marble floor where people can set prayer mats for the service. In the rear is an elevated platform where the imam would preside over prayers, and there are large screens on the walls.

"Hassan my friend," calls out a voice.

Ben sees a man wearing a shirt and khaki slacks, and immediately recognizes Yitzhak Haddad. With the mosque's chief imam is a bearded man wearing a black coat and black trousers, and a woman with a cloth covering her head.

"Hi there," says Ben, not expecting to see Yitzhak here in the prayer room of Bridge to heravebn.

"You've met Hassan al Naari before," says Yitzhak.

"Hi," says the visitor. "Samuel Sheinlein. I'm an orthodox Rabbi."

"And you remember me, Hassan," says the woman.

"And you are?"

"Surely you don't forget," she says. "My name is Nadiah."

"She will be my bride," says Yitzhak. "I was talking about the rabbi here about an upcoming charity mission.

Ben feels a little sad for the woman. Unless he changes things, she will become a grieving fiance in two days.

"He tells you you returned from helping Syrian refugees in Turkey," says Rabbi Sheinlein.

"So sad what's happening there," says Nadiah.

"Uh, yeah," says the leaper.

A girl in her teens, also wearing a cloth on her head, walks up to Ben.

"Hi there," she says. "Visiting?"

"I wanted to uh, revisit this place," says the leaper.

"It is impressive," sats the rabbi.

"Laila here is one of our youth volunteers," Yitzhak says. "She and her family fled the civil war in Syria back in 2014."

"It must be tough," Sheinlein says to the girl. "To have to leave home, become a stranger in a strange land."

"I live closer to Mr. al Naari's mosque," says Laila. "I sometimes go to Friday prayer service there after school. mosque here has a larger youth program. Imam al Naari did my cousin's wedding."

"I guess the youth program here helped you deal with having to flee your home, hang out with kids your own age" says Ben. I'm an immigrant from Kor- from Jordan. But I did not have to flee for my life."

"Hard to imagine what that's like," says Nadiah.

"I still need to talk business," says Yitzhak.

"I am looking forward to your wedding with this lovely lady," says Sheinlein.

"Private ceremony, probably out in the woods. I'm a bit of a celebrity, so I won;t have it here in this mosque. Hassan will be there; I wish Azra could be there. There'll be open bar for those of other faiths, or of no faith. Let us discuss our charity mission in my suite here."

Ben looks and sees Addison. He reaches into his pocket to pull out Hassan's Apple iPhone.

"Excuse me, sir," says Laila. "No cell phone in prayer room."

"Oh yeah," the leaper replies to the teenage girl, putting the iPhone away in his pocket.

Ben walks back to the front vestibule. He can see a framed sign showing service times for English, Arabic, and French. In a wooden stand are several tracts, in English, Arabic, and French. The leaper peruses them. He reads the titles – What God Wants, Charity: the Bedrock of Society, Feeling Gay?, Abortion: a Tragedy and a Sin, Anti-Semitism is Anti-God, Growing Up, and some others. Skimming through these tracts, it is pretty much the same as what is published on the Bridge to Heaven web site.

"Any luck?" Ben asks, holding the cellular telephone against his ear.

"Corey Hooper is mostly staying home," says Addison. "Can't expect him to spend all his time committing hate crimes. Anyway, since I'm here, I might as well get familiar with the scene of the future crime."

"Yitzhak Haddad is here. He's meeting with a rabbi in his office."

"Great," says the observer. "I can get a lock on him as well."

"I'll walk around the place. Might as well get familiar with my surroundings."

The leaper continues to walk around the publicly-accessible spaces, continuing to be impressed by the architecture.

About half an hour later, he returns to the al Naari residence. As Ben gets out of the Volvo, Addison is projected just a few feet away from him.

"Ben!" she calls out.

"Yes?" he asks.

"Corey Hooper left his home," replies the observer. "I followed him as he was driving. He got out and he's at a Safeway in Burnaby."

Ben gets back into the driver's seat of the car. "Guide the way," he says, starting the engine.

 

[Dbz77]

Chapter Three​

June 4, 2017

Addison Augustine is projected back into the Safeway supermarket in Barnaby, shortly after Ben Song had arrived in the parking lot. The supermarket looks like a typical supermarket, with aisles packed with food and other things. Right now, her hologram is only a few feet away from Corey Hooper, who is pushing a cart full of food right near the market's deli section.

"If you so much as misbehave, Ben will call the cops," she says.

She takes a look at the man- early thirties, with light brown hair, short beard, wearing a red plaid shirt, Levi's denim jeans, and work boots.

Corey turns the shopping cart into one of the aisles, which is marked as having condiments and salad dressings.

He then comes to a stop as his cart collides head on with another cart.

Addison looks and sees Ben, pushing an empty shopping cart.

"Watch where you're going, old man," calls out Hooper.

Ben stays silent for a second. He then frowns.

"What did you call me?" he asks in a challenging, menacing tone, as if he was trying to get the other man to attack.

Hooper has a stone-cold look on his face.

The observer glances between the two men.

And then Corey Hooper simply pulls back the cart, and then passes right by the leaper. The observewr follows him, and Corey lines up behind another shopper.

After the shopper is done, it is his turn. The young lady at the cash register leaves. Another young lasy appears, wearing the Safeway shirt like other employees, except that a cloth covers her head.

Hooper pulls back the shopping cart. "Towelhead," he mutters. He then chooses another lane.

Addison sticks close by, and Ben watches from a distance. Corey Hooper simply checks out what he bought and pays for it using a credit card. He glances at the lady wearing the niqab, and then goes out to the parking lot. He loads the groceries into a Toyota Tercel and drives off.

The observer follows him. She wonders if he will stop by another public place, get into a fight or cause trouble, something that would make sure eh will be in jail the night of June 5th.

Instead, Hooper simply drives home, and unloads the groceries in his house.

Oooooooo

Tiring of spending most of his leap staring at a screen, having read web sites and watched Yitzhak Haddad's YouTube videos, as well as YouTube videos of 1990's music videos like those by Nirvana and Snoop Doggy Dogg. , Ben goes out to eat. He had noticed this cafe across the street from the mosque. It is not a full service restaurant. There are several tables, and food is ordered at the counter. A young lady wearing a hijab and the uniform of the place is behind the cash register. Fro the look at her eyes, she clearly recognizes him- al Naari. Ben orders something interesting- roasted lamb poutine. He waits a few minutes at the table before the lady brings a stainless steel tray.

He glances outside. Even though it is 8:30 P.M., it is still daylight outside, due to the time of year and Vancouver's latitude. He looks down at his poutine, which is French fried potatoes covered in gravy, goat cheese curds, and roasted seasoned halal lamb meat. The leaper makes sure to savor every taste. More often than night, he is often on the move during the leap. Quiet moments are a luxury.

He wishes he can have a quiet moment with Addison, in the same time frame. From his personal time, it must have been nearly nine months since they last touched.

Addison is projected back into here. The observer glances at her holographic surroundings.

"Ben," she calls out.

Ben puts Hassan's iPhone next to his ear. "Any updates on Hooper?"

"He's in his car. He's actually very close."

Ben eats another French fry. "How far?"

"Less than a mile. Ziggy actually pulled up an old police report from this time. Ity might have to do why he is driving in this area." Addison presses the handlink and disappears.

Addison appears out the street. She sees the midnight blue Toyotas Tercel with British Columbia license plates park on the street, just a few feet away from the mosque. Corey Hooper steps out and retrieves something from the back seat.

Pressing a button, the observer is projected back into the cafe across the street.

"Hooper's across the street!" she exclaims. "He's gonna vandalize the mosque. Listen, we don't want to interrupt him; we just want to make sure he gets caught. "

Not even glancing at the four-fifths finished poutine, he runs outside. Addison presses the handlink so Ziggy projects her right in front of the mosque.

Hooper steps out to the side of the building. Taking a can of spray paint from the bag, he starts spraying the side of the building. Addison reads what he scrawled "Terirists"

He then reaches into the bag, and the observer can see it is a red brick. He throws the brick through the window, causing glass to break. He then throws another brick. One bounces off the brick wall of the mosque, while a second one successfully shatters a window. He walks around the building, throwing bricks through the window.

"You must have been here before," says Addison.

Hooper walks to another window. He still has plenty of bricks left. Taking a brick, he throws as hard as he can and less than a second later, he hears the shattering of glass.

And then he looks at someone who appears to be a bespectacled man, holding what is clearly a smart cellular telephone.

"You!" yells Hooper. Hew grabs a brick and throws it at the leaper from the future. Ben sidesteps, causing the brick to miss, and then runs.

Corey Hopper runs after him, murder on his mind. Addison can see him taking something out of the bag.

It is a brick.

Addison knows that the thug can end Ben's life with a single throw.

She projects herself in front of Ben, who is running along the sidewalk.

Hooper is running after him.

He holds the brick in his hand.

He swings with his arm.

And lets the brick go.

Addison observes the brick.

She looks at Ben.

"Duck!" she yells, diving to the ground.

The leaper does the same, and the brick flies right over him.

It bounces on the hod of a car, and then nounces off the windshield, creating a spider-webn pattern.

Hooper sees what he had just hit.

It is a police car from the Vancouver Police Department!

A police officer steps out. "Don't move!" he yells. "Hands on top of your head!"

The flashing lights turn on.

Less than a minute later, Corey Hooper is handcuffed, sitting in the back seat of the police cruiser.

"That was him," Ben says to the Vancouver police officers.

"I know you!" yells Hooper. "You were at the Safeway! You're stalking me. You must be one of those towelhead terrorists!"

"And your answer is to break windows at a mosque?' asks the police officer who arrested him.

"I wonder what happens next?" asks Ben.

"I guess the Crown Prosecutor will decide," answers the police officer.

"Corey goes to jail and is sentenced to imprisonment for a year by the Crown Court for vandalism and aggravated assault," says Addison. "And get this. He was still in custody when Yitzhak Haddad was supposed to be murdered. I'm guessing in the original history, he went to vandalize Bridge to Heaven tomorrow night, but Haddad caught him an the act. And he was never suspected for vandalizing this mosque because cops focused their attention on Haddad's murder."

Ben puts the iPhone next to his ear. "It won't happen anymore. I can leap now. Wish I could have finished the poutine, though."

The observer presses buttons on the handlink. "This..doesn't make sense," she says.

"What?"

"Yitzhak Haddad is still murdered, still beaten and stabbed to death. His body was still found at Bridge to Heaven the morning of June 6th. His killer is still at large in our time."

 

[Dbz77]

Chapter Four​

June 4, 2017

Ben Song is back inside the home of Hassan al Naari, sitting on a leather couch in the living room, which is lit by lamps. He is trying to process that Yitzhak Haddad will still be beaten and stabbed to death at the Bridge to Heaven mosque tomorrow, despite Corey Hooper, who had originally been convicted of his murder, being in jail at the time.

"First thing's first," says the leaper. "Corey Hooper is innocent; he originally went to prison for a murder he didn't commit. How is he?"

Addison Augustine taps the handlink. "He made a deal with Crown prosecutors to spend only a year in jail," she says. "By 2020, he was in prison for another crime- he didn't kill or maim someone else, thank God- and he ends up getting stabbed to death in a prison fight, under the same circumstances as he did originally.

"We gave him a chance- an extra year of freedom in his life- and he blew it."

"Every time he was released from jail was a second chance," says Ben. "He kept blowing second chances until there were no more second chances to blow. What a waste. Well, anyway, we need to talk about Haddad. It might have been a hate crime or a killing by ISIS, but what other possible motives would there be for killing him? Let's brainstorm."

The observer taps the handlink. "According to records, Bridge to Heaven pulled in about four million dollars a year in donations– that's Canadian dollars- since it opened back in 2014. If Yitzhak found out one of the staffers or even the associate preachers were skimming off those donations..."

"Not to mention the charities he works with. If he had found some funny business going on... Or it might not have been about money. I'm sure the mosque has a strict moral code for tis imams and staff. If Haddad found out that one of the imams was engaged in misconduct like adultery or homosexuality..."

"I'm having Ziggy do a deep dive on everyone associated with Bridge to Heaven and other charities Yitzhak worked with. Not just any criminal records, but financial records, social media posts, even comments left on Facebook and YouTube. In addition, I can start watching over Haddad myself. We can stop this."

Ben stands up. "This raises a question I first asked when I got here," he says. Leaving the living room, he walks along the hallway and into the master bedroom. Addison sees the gray-bearded man in the mirror. "Why Hassan? Why is Hassan al Naari the one person best able to save Yitzhak Haddad?"

"It would be easier to find Haddad's killer if you leaped into him," agrees Addison. "We still have maybe at least eighteen hours to stop Yitzhak's murder. Right now, we can both get some sleep."

Addison presses a button on the handlink, and her hologram disappears.

Oooooooooo

June 5, 2017

Wearing a keffiyeh instead of a turban, be walks from the al Naari residence to his mosque. A crowd had gathered there, many of them holding mats, along with another imam who wears a turban on his head.

Ben walks to the main entrance. The floor is bare, as people attend services by lying protstrate instead of sitting down on a varnished wooden bench. A woman in a hijab is inside; Ben recognizes her as a lay clerk.

"So much broken glass," she says in Arabic. "We can't have morning service here."

Ben looks at the crowd, who are mostly older men and women, with a handful of people under thirty years of age.

"I heard what happened," says Yitzhak Haddad, approaching the leaper. "How bad is it?"

"The big issue is the broken glass," replies Ben. It's not safe to have people lie face down. We can sweep the big fragments, but the little pieces, we'd need an industrial-strength vacuum cleaner."

"So terrible." Haddad shakes his head.

"I heard what happened," says Samuel Sheinlein, arriving at the scene, wearing his typical black hay, black coat, and black trousers.

"No one was hurt, thank God," says Ben. "And the guy whio did it was caught. I actually caught on on video on my iPhone. He threw bricks at me, and I was lucky I ducked in time and that last brick struck a p;olice car!"

"That's not luck," comments the Orthodox rabbi. "That was the grace of HaShem."

"There's so much glass on the floor. We can't have our morning prayer."

"Such a terrible crime and a sin against God!" exclaims Sheinlein. "I remember my bar mitzvah. When I woke up the morning before my bar mitzvah, I learned the synagogue was vandalized. Vandals went inside. They spray painted swastikas and Heil Hitler. They chopped up the pews. And the Torah scrolls, including the one I would read to celebrate my passage to manhood, they tore the scrolls into shreds. I had to go there myself to see the damage. To witness how people can be so hateful. My father was heartbroken, you know. He was in Auschwitz. Back then, I didn't fully understand what that meant, what that tattoo meant."

"I'm sorry," says Yitzhak.

"I wish I could have stopped that," says Ben. "But we need a morning prayer service.,"

"Excuse me, sirs," an elderly lady says in Arabic. "We can go to the park?"

"The park?" asks Yitzhak.

"It's a short walk. I take my granddaughter there when I watch her."

"Great idea, ma'am," says Ben, using Hassan's language skills. "Then we go to the park!"

"I shall join them in prayer," says Haddad.

And so Ben leads the congregation along the sidewalks of the neighborhood in a procession. Some drivers stop and take a look for a second or two before driving along. In less than ten minutes, they reach a neighborhood park, with a grass surface and trees and picnic tables and a playground surfaced with rubber extracted from tires, and a community center. They all find a grassy clearing.

They lay down their mats and lie face down, their knees bent.

Ben looks at them and begins the service under the blue sky.

And they start praying.

Oooooo

"You did good, my friend," Yitzhak Haddad says to the leaper.

"There is a first time for everything, I guess," answers Ben, as this is his first time leading an Islamic prayer service.

"Others have taken interest."

Ben looks and sees a van parked on the street. With all of the equipment mounted on it, he figures it is a news van. It has the logo for CTV Vancouver. A news crew is there, a large man holding a camera.

A woman, appearing to be in her late twenties, wearing a blouse and a skirt walks up to Ben. "Any comment about your prayer service?" she asks.

"I am here to serve," says Ben.

"What about the vandalism at your mosque, sir?"

"You can ask the police for an update. I am told a suspect is in custody. I have no further comment, Miss"

"I have a comment," says Haddad.

"Mr. Haddad," says the reporter, recognizing the imam. "Please speak, sir."

"We will not be intimidated by cowards," he replies. "They will not separate us from our God. I am not the hero of this tale. This man, Hassan al Naari, a man who I am blessed to call friend, who is imam to these servants of God, he rose to the occasion to defy the Devil and those who do his bidding.

"The coward who desecrated that mosque, he will answer to the Courts of Heaven,. And he will answer to the courts of man. I do not hate him. God offers redemption unto all, and he is no different. We must pray for him.

"Nevertheless, we must oppose him and those like him. And I will start. I will pay for the damage to the mosque. Not with money from the Bridge to Heaven, but my own money, my own personal funds."

And the crowd then gives an applause.

"Thank you," Ben says to Yitzhak.

"It is the path I chose, my friend."

He looks sad.

Today is fated to be the last day of his life, unless he can somehow stop it.

He keeps wondering who will kill Haddad.

Ooooooo

"This might be a good weapon, don't you think?" asks Ben, holding a shovel.

"Yeah," says Addison, who is projected onto the driveway of the al Naari residence. "it's not a Glock semiautomatic, but it'll have to do."

"Any leads?"

"Ziggy was only able to narrow the number of possible suspects to about thirty. They were all in the Vancouver area from tonight to tomorrow morning with no possible alibis. But there's nothing in their backgrounds that they engaged in fraud or embezzlement or an affair, something they would want to keep quiet. Still, that's our only leads."

Ben stands inside the garage, which looks like a typical garage with a shelf full of tools. "My only choice might be to intercept the killer at the time of the murder."

"A staffer last reported seeing him alive at around 6:30 this afternoon."

"Assuming that's not a lie," points out the leaper.

"I had better check on our friend Yitzhak," says the observer. "Ian, center me on Haddad!"

She is reprojected inside the Bridge to heaven Mosque, finding herself in a large room. Yitzhak Haddad himself sits behind a varnished wooden desk, wearing a keffiyeh.

"You are a girl of many talents, my dear Laila," says Yitzhak, his Arabic dubbed into English by Ziggy.

Addison turns her head and sees a teenage girl looking through the viewfinder of Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH4 camera, which is mounted on a tripod.

"Thank you, imam," replies the girl. "I still like how you would pay to fix the mosque out of your own wallet."

"The Quran has stories of those who rise to the occasion after losing all," says Haddad, taking the digital camera. "Even after reading those stories, even after hearing your story, I can not begin to understand how you feel."

"I can save the raw copy," replies Laila. "We can review tomorrow after school?"

"He might not be here tomorrow," says the observer.

"I prefer to publish tomorrow morning," says Yitzhak. "But let's have a little celebration." He goes to a corner where there is a min0-fridge plugged into an electrical outlet. Opening the fridge, he takes out a bottle filled with a dark liquid.

"That's alcohol," says Addison. "I know Islam forbids alcohol."

Yitzhak takers paper cups from a drawer and his desk and pours the liquid. He gives a cup to Laila, who sips it. The imam then sits on a leather couch and imbibes the strong beverage.

"Will you have a seat?" he asks.

Alarm bells ring in Addison's head.

"I can not," says the girl.

"Ah, some other time. You need to do homework."

"No, I can't do this," says Laila, sipping the drink.

Haddad stands up. "Laila, you showed your beauty to me. You gave yourself to me. I woke you up."

"I was wrong. You were wrong."

"I am a man of God. And when you share yourself with a man of God, you stay pure. You are purer than most women, even most girls your age."

"I won't tell anyone what we did, I promise. We were wrong. We sinned. God does not want this."

Laila walks toward the door.

Yitzhak Haddad grabs her arm and then throws the teen onto the leather couch.

"This is what God wants!" he exclaims.

 

[Dbz77]

Chapter Five​

June 5, 2017

"He raped her!" exclaims Addison Augustine, appearing before Ben Song inside the al Naari residence.

"What?" asks the leaper, a look of confusion on his face.

"Yitzhak Haddad," says the observer. "A girl, just a teenager, helped him produce a video for his YouTube channel. He got some alcohol from a fridge and shared it with her. She said she wanted to stop this. When she tried to leave, Yitzhak grabbed her, pushed her on the couch. I was hoping she would fight it off and run away...

"But she couldn't stop him."

Ben sits down on the leather couch in the living room. The memories of him overseeing the cleanup of the mosque as contractors used industrial-strength vacuum cleaners to suck up the tiny glass fragments which had been part of the now-shattered windows, and having lunch at the cafe, this time being able to finish the roasted lamb poutine, washing it down with a Pepsi, recede rapidly upon hearing what Addison had told him.

"When did this happen?" he asks quietly.

"About an hour ago, I think."

"What do we know about the girl?"

"Her name is Laila Qessam," answers Addison. "She was born in Syria in 2001. There was a civil war, and her mother was killed. She and her father, Abdou Qessam, fled for their lives. In 2014, Canada granted father and daughter asylum."

"I met her," replies Ben, standing up. "I think she was at the wedding, and I definitely met her at Bridge to Heaven yesterday. She's a member of the mosque's youth group." He sits back down on the couch. "She was uprooted from her home, her mother killed due to civil war, became a stranger in a strange land. No wonder she trusted the imam."

"As far as I'm concerned, he got what he deserved in the original history!" fumes the observer.

"Still, someone murdered him and got away with it," says Ben. "Maybe it's not to stop the murder, just make sure the murderer gets caught."

"I asked Ziggy. He still says you have to save Haddad. It's not fair!"

"I understand."

"Not as much as I do. I was projected there. I took a look. He had his hand over her mouth to keep her screams muffled. I looked into her eyes. I saw the pain and the fear and the shame. And now you still have to save this creep, make sure this pervert gets away with his crimes? I don't think Laila was the only one. This isn't fair. Why do you have to save the life of a rapist?"

Ben takes a deep breath. "There's a shovel in the garage. It might be useful as a weapon to protect Haddad."

"You're still going to save him?"

"I don't like it, but that's what Ziggy told us I have to do to leap out."

"We can just let him die."

"Listen Addison," says Ben. "I'm willing to stay behind in this time if it meant Yitzhak Haddad will get justice for his sick crimes. But what will happen to Hassan al Naari? Does he stay asleep forever? Wouldn't that effectively end his life? I can't trade Hassan's life for that.

"For all we know, Yitzhak Haddad will die in less than thirty minutes. I have to save his life."

"I'll check up on him," grumbles Addison, pressing buttons on a handlink.

She is surprised at what she sees.

She is not on the grounds of Bridge to Heaven.

She is on a residential street in Vancouver, lined with trees and large houses that all but scream this is the wealthiest, most exclusive, most upscale neighborhood in Canada's largest city on the Pacific coast. She sees a 2015 Mercedes Benz S550 pull up on a concrete driveway of one of the houses, a large two-story house. Addison taps the handlink and Ziggy informs her that the house was where Yitzhak Haddad was living when he was murdered.

The man himself steps out of the driver's seat and then closes the garage.

"You were..will be..killed at the mosque," says the observer. "Why do you go back?"

She can see the breeze blow the leaves on the trees, though of course she does not feel it, as she is actually in an Imaging Chamber in Los Angeles. After about ten minutes, she figures he will stay home for a while.

Pressing a button, she is projected back into the al Naari residence.

"Where is he?" asks the leaper.

"He's at home now," she replies. "He left the mosque and went home."

"Maybe he was murdered at home and his killer dumped his body at the mosque?"

"No. Vancouver Police did't find anything unusual at his house. Absolutely nothing to indicate he was murdered there."

"He must have returned there between now and early tomorrow morning before he was killed." Ben paces around the living room. "He might have gotten there early to prepare for the morning prayer service tomorrow, and that was when he was killed. I'm gonna have to skip sleeping."

Addison takes a deep breath. "I'll check in on Laila," she says. Pressing a button, she is projected somewhere else.

It looks like a typical teenager's bedroom, with a bed and a closet and a wooden dresser with a mirror. Not really being here, the observer does not see her reflection there. On the dresser are some textbooks as well as young adult novels.

And on the bed, she sees Laila. She lies on her back, wearing the same hijab and a dress she wore in Haddad's office. One visible feature is a large bruise on the left side of her face. She states blankly into the white ceiling.

"I know you feel broken," Addison says softly. "I know you feel soiled, diseased, defiled. You feel confused as to how an imam, a man of God, could do this to you.

"That's only some of what you feel. What you're going through, no human language can have the words to describe it. You haven't even turned sixteen yet! I wish my words can relieve at least a little of the pain and shame of what you're going through.

"And we have to save the life of this pervert who did this to you. I'm sorry we have to do that. I wish we could have stopped him from hurting you. I wish...I wish we could have stopped the civil war in Syria so you can live at home with your mother and father. You shouldn't be going through this. We should be making things right for you." Addison looks up. "Why, God? Why are you doing this to her? What did Laila ever do to You, that she deserved to have this happen to her? Why are you having Ben save the life of her rapist? It doesn't make sense. You let her homeland be torn apart by civil war, You let her mother die in the crossfire, You let a man preaching your Word groom her and abuse her, and you won't let us stop that? You won't let us prevent that? You won't let us put right what you allowed to go wrong? Come down here and apologize to this girl! Tell her why it's Your Grand Design for her to be uprooted and orphaned and abused!"

She leans over the teen's bruised face. "I'm sorry, Laila," the observer says softly.

She then squats on the floor and breaks down, still knowing that she does not even feel a millionth as broken as Laila Qessam is feeling now.

Feelings of rage and sadness consume her, and no spoken nor written human language can describe what Laila feels.

And then the door opens.

"Laila," calls out a man.

Addison looks up and sees a man with short black hair and olive-complected skin. He wears a red plaid shirt and jeans and work boots. His physique looks like it was sculpted by manual labor.

"Laila!" eh calls out upon seeing the bruises on the teen girl's face.

Addison figures this man is Abdou Qessam, Laila's father.

Laila rises up.

And then she embraces her father, crying, telling everything.

Addison does not even need to have their speech dubbed into English to understand.

"He'll pay for this!" yells Abdou in his rage.

"Okay, it's possible an embezzler or a terrorist ends up killing Yitzhak Haddad, but right now, you're the Number One Suspect,' says Addison.

Laila's father takes something sitting on the teen's dresser. Addison can see it is an Alcatel cellular telephone. Both she and Abdou see a notification for a message, and the man opens it.

Addison reads it.

How are u doing?

And she reads a series of friendly messages.

Abdou shows his daughter the message. "Who sent this?" he asks.

"The imam," replies Laila. "He has secret cell number and he texts and calls me."

Addison relies the message was sent after Laila had left Bridge to Heaven.

Her father then brings up the virtual keyboard and starts texting something.

"Ian, center me on Haddad!" she exclaims.

She is projected inside the residence of Yitzhak Haddad, specifically, one of the bedrooms, as big as a master bedroom in a middle-class home in southern California. He is looking at the screen connected to an Apple MacPro. The observer glances at the picture.

"I think she's underage," she says.

Yitzhak picks up a Motorola cellular telephone plugged into a charger. He opens the phone and looks at the screen to see the latest message.

And Addison reads it too.

I want u so bad. lets meet

Yitzhak texts her back.

When can we meet?

And then receives a message just a few seconds later.

at the mosque I can get there right away.

The imam sends another text on his secret cell phone.

Ill be there

He then goes to his bedroom to get dressed.

"You perverts always feel your victims want it," says Addison. "Her dad's gonna kill you unless Ben stops him, something you don't deserve."

She is then projected back to the al Naari residence. "Ben," she calls out.

"Yes," he replies.

"Laila's father will kill Haddad," says the observer. "Laila told him about what happened, and he looked at her cell phone. Haddad has a secret phone which he used to call or text the girl. He asked her if he was okay, and her dad responded and arranged a meeting, pretending that Laila wants him."

"Did the Qessams have a land line?" asks Ben.

Addison taps the handlink "Yes, as part of their cable package."

"I have an idea, to make sure everything goes right," says the leaper. He picks up to the keys to Hassan's Volvo S40, and soon he is on the streets of Vancouver.

The observer is projected back to where Laila is. She can see the girl, as well as her father, just an apartment complex less than a five minute drive from where Hassan al Naari lives,

"Papa," calls out Laila. "Where are you going?"

"To end this," replies her father. "Just go home, Laila."

Abdou unlocks the door to a white Chevrolet Express Cargo van parked on the curb next to the apartment complex. Sitting in the driver's seat, he starts the gasoline engine and pulls out to the asphalt street.

Laila walks back into the apartment courtyard and soon heads back into the apartment. She worries about what will happen to her father. Things could get ugly real fast.

She hears the telephone ring. Going to the kitchen, she picks up the handset from the telephone hanging on the kitchen wall, just above the counter.

"Hello?" she asks.

"Laila, it's me, Imam Hassan al Naari," she hears. "I know your father is about to kill Yitzhak Haddad. I know what he did to you. I know he has a secret cell phone account. I know your dad used your cell phone to text him, to arrange a meeting with him at Bridge to Heaven.

"I know why your father wants to do this. But if he does this, you might lose him like you lost your mother. I think you can help. Please come with me."

Ben stands just on the curb, holding an Apple iPhone, just next to Hassan's car. He can understand the rage and anger Abdou Qessam is feeling.

But he would rather avoid having to use physical violence to stop him. Laila had suffered more than enough.

He then sees the teenage girl, recognizing her from his encounter with her at Bridge to Heaven. The one noticeable change is the large bruise on her face.

"Let's go!" she calls out in Arabic.

Ben gets into the Volvo and starts the engine as soon as Laila fastens her seat belt.

Addison is projected into the parking lot of Bridge to Heaven. She can see the white van park on one of the parking spaces . Abdou steps out. Going out, he opens the rear doors of the vehicle an d takes out a metal crowbar. He then looks at a knife, a rather large knife, with an eight-inch blade.

She sees the rage in his eyes, pure rage. While it is mostly about what happened to his little girl, it is also about losing his wife to a civil war and having to flee the land he calls home and to live among strangers.

She is then projected to where Yitzhak Haddad is. Looking at her surrounding, she knows he is already closr to bridge to heaven. In less than a minute, he reaches the parking lot. He drives around until he reaches the parking space reserved for the Chief Imam. He then steps out of his Mercedes.

"If you were thinking with the head above your neck," says Addison, "you would have noticed a suspicious white van in the parking lot. I can't believe Ben has to save you."

She presses a button and is projected to where Abdou is. He is standing right against the wall just next to a corner of the main building. He grips the crowbar with both arms.

This is the precise scene of Yitzhak Haddad's murder!

And Yitzhak approaches, smiling. Laila had been his favorite. There is an innocence to her, despite what she had been through, despite losing her home.

And then Abdou swings the crowbar directly at Haddad's legs. The imam falls to the ground. This is followed by another blow to the body.

Yitzhak can feel pain, and then the sharp force of kicks to his torso.

"Infidel!" Abdou yells. "You soiled my little girl!" another kick. "You stole my family's honor!" It is followed by more kicks.

"I didn't do anything wrong!" cries Haddad.

"Tell that to God to His Face," says Abdou, kneeling down and raising the huge knife.

"Papa! Stop!" calls out Laila.

Abdou turns and sees his daughter, along with the leaper who looks like Hassan al Naari. "Laila?" he asks.

"Don't do this."

"He dishonored our family. He dishonored you!"

"Sir, I can't begin to understand how you feel," says Ben, drawing on Hassan's language skills. "To have your home torn apart by civil war, for the mother of your child to be killed, to flee your homeland and your community, to be a stranger in a strange land, to speak with a strange tongue. And for this filth to betray you after promising to help you and your daughter. But please don't do this."

"What should I do, imam?"

"Give the knife to Laila."

"What?' asks everyone, including Addison, who is projected at the scene.


"Ever since the civl war, Laila has not had control over anything in her life. She lost her mother. She fled to a strange land speaking a strange tongue. She relied on this imam here to help her. He betrayed her and abused her in the worst possible way, taking control of her own body.

"She is growing into a woman. She must learn how to make choices that will affect the course of her life and the course of lives around her. She must know what honor means by word and deed. And she needs to make this choice, she needs to have control.

"Give her the knife, please. Give her control."

Abdou looks at Haddad and then Laila.

He hands her the knife.

"What do I do?" she asks.

"It doesn't matter what I want," replies Ben. "It doesn't matter what your father wants. Just ask yourself: What does God want?"

The teen approaches Yitzhak Haddad, who is trying to get up. She delivers a kick, and then another kick. Memories swirl, of learning of her mother's death, of having to seek refuge in a refugee camp, to have to live in a strange land thousands of miles away.

And for this imam to abuse her and use her, first by soothing lies and manipulating, and just earler today by force.

And then she recalls reading the Word of God, whether by herself or part of a youth study group.

What does God want?

She then kneels down, holding the knife.

"Please don't kill me!" cries out Haddad. "Please don't kill me! Oh God, don't let her kill me! I don't wanna die!"

"I won't be a murderer," says Laila. "I won't let you make me a murderer." The fifteen-year-old girl stands up. "That's not what God wants."

She hands the knife to Ben. The teenager then runs to her father and embraces him.

"Laila," he says softly.

Laila then lets go and looks at her rapist. "You will answer to the Courts of Heaven and the courts of man," she says.

She, her father, and Ben turn around and walk away.

Haddad holds on to the wall to lift himself up.

"You dare turn against me!" he yells. "You dare betray a man of God! You'll go to Hell! You'll all go to Hell!"

He then collapses and then sits, his back against the wall.

Addison kneels down and looks directly into the imam's eyes.

"I don't care that you can't hear me," says the observer. "Other girls come forward to tell the police and the whole world about your crimes against them,You won't get streets and parks named after you. You don't get buried as the martyr the world thought you were; in my time you are still caged as the monster the whole world knows you are. Your fiancee Nadiah goes on to marry another man in 2022 like she did originally. Laila joins a support group for victims of clergy sexual abuse. They help her heal, and she helps them heal. She even co-authored a book with two other victims last year in my time, writing about your crimes and how they healed. I think I'll buy it ."

She stands up and looks at Ben walking with Laila and her father. A blue glow surrounds him and he quantum leaps.

Two hours later in her time, Addison lies down in bed, emotionally exhausted from the events of this leap.