Chapter 3

The owners of other cars rushed to Mahmoud who was badly injured in his fallen car, quickly pulled him out of the car and called an ambulance, which arrived within about half an hour and quickly took him to the hospital. Mahmoud was unconscious, motionless. The paramedics tried to revive him, but he never responded. One of the nurses looked for his ID card and phone number to identify him and call his family to rush to him at the hospital, which is what happened. About an hour later, Huda and all the children arrived at the hospital to check on him or..... say goodbye to him forever.

Ten full days passed in the hospital, during which the family continued to visit Mahmoud, who was detained in the intensive care unit, in a coma since his arrival at the hospital. His body was covered with fractures and bruises, and medical bandages covered his face and head. He suffered a head injury that caused him to lose consciousness, but on the eleventh day, he woke up and began opening his eyes, looking around the nurses and doctors as if to see if anyone knew him. He kept calling out names they did not know, calling Amira, Huda, Aaliyah, Shady, Hadi, Omar, and other names they did not know as well. Mahmoud did not know that an officer from the Public Funds Investigations Department was visiting the hospital waiting for his condition to improve. From him, Huda knew that Mahmoud was awaiting a special investigation into a sum of three million dollars that had been swindled from the bank where he worked, and that the bank had informed the Public Funds Investigations Department.

Dr. Nabil Mahran, the responsible doctor, informed Mahmoud's family, as well as Hazem Shehata, the investigations officer, that Mahmoud had woken up and started calling out the names of some of the people he knew. Mahmoud was transferred from the intensive care unit to one of the normal beds of the hospital after he woke up from his coma. Dr. Nabil checked on him the next day before requesting his transfer from the intensive care unit. There in his hospital room in the orthopedics department, his wife Huda and his son Omar were waiting for him, as well as Lieutenant Colonel Hazem Shehata from the Public Funds Investigations Department. As soon as he entered the room, his wife rushed to embrace him, crying as if she was afraid that he would not return to her unharmed from this cruel and painful accident.

The nurses placed him on his bed. He looked like a lifeless corpse, not moving. It was a difficult and sad situation for his son Omar, who tried hard to hold back his tears, but they refused. He ran to his father, hugged him, and kissed his bandaged head. At that moment, Hazem decided to intervene to end this emotional state that was hindering the work he had come to do in such a hurry. His investigation with Mahmoud had been delayed for a whole week. Hazem took the initiative, saying:

- Thank God you are safe, Mr. Mahmoud.

Mahmoud looked at him with a sad, unconscious look and was unable to speak, so he nodded to him. Here, Dr. Nabil intervened:

- He won’t be able to talk for about two days, and his speech will also be difficult.

Huda, his wife, who couldn’t stop her tears that flowed uncontrollably, said:

- Thank God for everything. The important thing is that he came out of the intensive care unit safely.

Hazem said a little nervously, as he was in a hurry to do his work:

- Didn’t you say, doctor, that he said the names of people he knows?!

- It happened, sir, but that was during the coma, as if he was in a trance, and that was the beginning of his awakening from his coma. But in order for him to speak clearly and understandably, you would be able to understand him, not for at least two days.

- Okay. Can you tell us the names he mentioned during his coma?!

- He called Madam Huda and Mr. Omar, and someone named Amira, and someone named Shady, also he mentioned one called Aaliyah and maybe other names that I don’t remember.

Hazem turned to Mahmoud's family and asked them:

- Do you know any of them?! I mean other names not yours of course. I know who Shadi is, but I don't know who Aaliyah and Amira are.

Huda looked at her husband sleeping in his bed with a look that Hazem wasn't sure was affectionate or resentful before he repeated his question:

- Do you know them, Madam Huda?

- Mahmoud must be having nightmares, sir, because he knew Amira a long time ago, before we got married, and she hardly ever lived in Egypt. He himself hasn't known anything about her for 30 years. He must have been having nightmares during his coma.