I stared out the window of the UPO van, hugging my knees. As far as I could tell, we were somewhere more wild and full of woods. Wyoming, perhaps. I grew bored with the scenes and quickly examined the others in the car. Malak had her head against the window, her eyes closed. I would have guessed that she was sleeping but her stiff posture suggested otherwise. I can't imagine she gets much sleep these days. Our driver is bouncing in his seat, dancing to some music we couldn't hear and smiling widely at the UPO officer in the seat beside him. By the looks of it they were both breaking into song. For a moment, I wished I could hear them through the thick glass, but if I could they probably wouldn't be singing so proudly. Aziz was sitting a few rows behind me and I observed him through the cracks of my seat. I used to have the biggest crush on him, but I don't think he ever suspected it. Maybe it was the smooth curves of his face, or the smiles that reached his eyes, or the moments when he wasn't a total butt face. What is happening in my head? I laughed silently at my younger self that somehow found Aziz attractive. I was such a loser. I mean he's a good friend, but I can't imagine having to permanently deal with his crazy attitude in a relationship...

My thoughts trailed off like this for a few minutes before movement outside Aziz's window caught my attention. I don't know what compelled me to pretend I was sleeping, but I did it anyway while Aziz checked his surroundings. He sat up slowly and quietly opened the car window, obviously anticipating that something was going to enter. 

Suddenly, a pair of talons grabbed onto the window frame. Oh, it was his dumb hawk. But something was weird about this situation.

1. Why was Aziz being so cautious if it was just a bird?

2. How did that hawk manage to catch up with the van and hang on to the window without being killed or at least blowing away?

3. What was that white thing attached to the hawk's leg?

I observed the situation before me very carefully through the slits of my eyes that were supposed to be full of sleep. Aziz looked around himself nervously again and quickly removed the white thing from the bird's leg. He muttered some things I couldn't hear under his breath and as I carefully watched him, he began to look at the white thing. It was a piece of paper. A million questions popped into my head but I didn't have time to sort them out because Aziz quickly shooed the bird away, closed the window, shoved the paper in his breast pocket and headed in my direction. I quickly closed my eyes fully and slowed my breathing and my racing heart. I may not be a good fighter, but I'm not stupid. Something is terribly wrong here. 

I hug my jacket closer to myself. It may be summer, but it's still chilly up here. When I peek at the situation around me again, I see Aziz staring sadly at Malak, whom I believe is actually asleep this time. Her hands form fists and her body twitches like she's having a fight in her dream. Aziz looks slightly alarmed and returns to his seat, like he himself just awoke from a daze. 

A nauseating feeling began tugging at my stomach as the occurrences on this van confused me further. Aziz punched the wall of the van like he was fighting an internal war and quickly throws his face into his hands in defeat. I now sit up, full force, no longer trying to conceal my presence and Malak moans a little as she tosses and turns. Aziz ignores my sudden movement and shapes his jacket into a pillow-like lump. He throws his head down and finally tries to sleep.

*)0(*

I don't know how long I've been sitting here, staring at Aziz, but I'm determined to figure out what's going on with him. His breathing has finally steadied and his eyes are twitching slightly, suggesting that he has reached the REM stage of sleep. He's now dreaming. I tip toe slowly towards his seat, avoiding making any loud noises. As I approach, he moves onto his side making it far more difficult for me to snoop. I look around me for some sort  of tool or solution. Then, I have a brilliant idea. I crouch close to the ground and examine the height of the seat. It should be enough. I push myself snuggly under the car seat and realize that, for once, being small has come  in very handy. Aziz is snoring quietly, reassuring me of his sleeping state. A gently lift my arm and feel around until I feel his breast pocket. Then I quickly maneuver my hand into it and pull out the small, crumpled piece of paper. 

I still completely under the seat, waiting for some sort of movement, some sort of indication that I have woken him. Nothing. I feel the small paper in my hand and unfold it as inconspicuously as possible. The words before me stare at me like a bad dream. No, a terrible dream. No, a gut wrenching nightmare. It can't be. No no no no no no no no no no no no. I clap my hand over my mouth to keep myself from making noise or doing various other stupid things. A shove the piece of paper back into his pocket, already having memorized it. Heck, it was practically burned to my eyeballs. I pushed myself out of my cramped position and quickly ran back to my seat, barely keeping my tears at bay. 

Let's face it. I really hate war. All the betrayal, the murder, the heartbreak, the blood shed. I can't deal with it. And this just made everything a million times worse. I have to tell someone. I have to.

I slid over to Malak's seat and gently tapped her shoulder. She jumped up quickly. prepared for battle in a millisecond. What a horrible reflex to have.

"Relax, it's just me." I whisper to her. She nods at me, her eyes still wild with adrenaline as she lowers herself onto the seat once more.

"Wha' up?"  she yawns, covering her mouth carefully. I shake my head to clear it as the heart break returns.

"It's Aziz. I... He... Saqr... Um..."

"Just spit it out, Mia!" Malak insists, growing annoyed with my incompetence. I shush her and grab a pen and paper from the pocket on the seat in front of us. 

"Aziz received a message from his little winged friend earlier today. He was acting all weird about it, so I waited for him to fall asleep and took the note out of his pocket." I handed her the note that I had written down. 

She eyed the paper carefully. She didn't show any emotion, but I noticed her jaw was clenched dangerously and she quickly crumpled the note in her hand. 

"And you're positive that's what it said?" she spoke quietly.

"Positive."

Aziz began to stir and she ripped the note into a million shreds, destroying all evidence of our knowledge. 

"He wants to play it that way. Fine. But he has no idea who he's dealing with." 

Malak punched the sound proof glass in front of us, ordering the driver to halt at a rest stop. I returned to my original position, hugging my knees. When Aziz stood up to see what was going on, I pretended to be fascinated by something outside. I can never see him the same way again. I can never trust him again.