At 10:00 a.m., Magdy arrived at the bridge. "I cannot believe it, Sammy. You picked the bar to have our party," Magdy said fiercely.
"It was an amazing deal," Sammy answered. "Bars do not open at ten o'clock in the morning."
"Correct. I never realized you were so smart, Magdy." Sammy clapped in mock applause.
"That's the reason it was cheap." "When will this party finish?"
"We should finish by two so the manager can clean the bar before he can reopen it at four."
Magdy was a member of the World Government Police, not the Blue City Police. His job was to help capture criminals outside Blue City who committed a crime in Blue City. Magdy was not a native of Blue City. Born on the continent of Nar, he was raised as an orphan in Blue City in his teen years.
My Theologian Knight, spirituality is a big part of life. Eighty percent of the world's population follows the Kirkian religion. Holy City served as the headquarters for the Kirkians; the city was the center of the world. Holy City was a theological university, a refugee center, and a center for disaster and medical emergency assistance. The Kirkia clergy's hierarchy involved different types. The title given to those who devoted themselves to serving God was Freed for men and Freeda for women. Freed and Freeda could not get married and live in Kirkia. They dedicated themselves to God. The title given to the people who served God but could marry and have ordinary positions was Ammoun for men and Ammouna for women.
Freeds' and Freedas' clothes were the same ones the ancient Kirkians wore. Their uniforms inspired the medical industry's scrubs for their comfort and flexibility. The Kirkian attire paired long-sleeved shirts with matching-colored pants. They preferred dark colors like black, gray, brown, green, and navy. When they went out into the community, they wore stolen. When they worshipped, they wore a knee-length hooded cloak on top of their shirt and pants called Kamision. Everyone wore Kamision when worshipping because it made the community feel equal and united.
God created our planet to look like a kunken flower. The kunken tree is the most essential tree on our planet. The average human could live on the products of the kunken tree alone.
The Holy City was in Kirkian City. The history of Kirkian City is the same as our creation. After God created the universe, He created our planet, Kahe. When He created it, it looked like a perfect kunken flower. The seven Countians of Zar, Mar, Shar, Dar, Yar, Gar, and Nar represented the seven petals. The center island in the middle of the world is named Kar. Kirkian City has the Holy City in the middle of it, and on the other side of the island is the World Government building in Political City.
Without thinking, Magdy blurted out, "We're having a party in a bar."
"A bar that early in the morning?" the Head Service Freeda replied, surprisedly. The Head Service Freeda wore a white stole with a Blue City flag on her left shoulder, and on her right side was a golden egg-shaped pattern with a star inside it, which meant she was Head Service Freeda. The words "Children's Services" were embroidered under the golden egg pattern. The other four Service Freedas had the same style of stole without the star on the egg shape. It was not really an egg; it was the shape of a kunken fruit, which looks like an egg. The kunken fruit is the symbol of Kirkia.
Sammy tried to smooth over Magdy's outburst by saying, "We're going to an AA meeting."
His statement did not make much sense, so Magdy tried to correct the blunder by saying, "We're teaching self-control to alcoholics." Trying to help, Sammy said, "A bar is the best place for alcoholics to learn how to control themselves."
"Good work, my children," the Head Service Freeda, Monica, said. "Will you be celebrating Nofri Kunken with us today?"
Nofri Kunken was a religious holiday that the Kirkian people celebrated. Traditionally, on Nofri Kunken, the Kirkians went to Kirkia, their place of worship, to pray.
"We'll see," answered Sammy.
"Is Madonna here with you?" the Head Freeda asked Sammy. "Yes, she is in a beauty salon with the kids and Mom," Sammy
answered.
"Maybe God planned it," Freeda Monica said.
Sammy and Magdy looked at each other and shrugged at the statement.
Speaking to those under her charge, Head Service Freeda Monica said, "Come, children. Single file, please. I'll take the top four students. Sisters, please divide the rest among yourselves."
The other four Freedas and the kids marched on the wooden bridge to the mall. Each kid waved goodbye to Sammy and Magdy.
When the Freedas and kids were far enough, they couldn't overhear them, Sammy said, "Oh my land! They are organized better than the police force."
"Nice save," Magdy said, relieved, and high-fived Sammy.
They went to the bar to wait for the rest of the party guests to arrive. Twenty-five police officers were surprised that the party was in the bar. Sammy started to read the article. He cursed aloud. "When I see this woman, I will show her who is a jerk."
"What happened?" Magdy read the article about Sammy, written by Wendy Mesahai.
"I hate when people attack other people's reputations," Magdy said when he read the article, and he comforted his gloomy friend by putting his hand on his shoulders. He also read the author's name.
A cop friend whispered to Magdy, "Cheer him up."
"Let's play a game or something. We are bored." Magdy tried to cheer up his friend, and he grabbed Sammy by his shoulder and pulled him outside beside the fountain. Magdy made a game called the balance game. He got a waterboard and a ball and showed them how to play it.
They gathered some policemen to play the balance game outside the bar beside the fountain. A player tried to balance himself on a board on top of a ball, and Magdy timed the player.
At 11:20 a.m., five fishermen were walking beside the bar when they saw Sammy, Magdy, and the other cops playing the balancing game. The fishermen entered the bar to get beer for the party.
At 11:28 a.m., when Magdy started timing a player on the board, a woman warned Sammy and others to get inside and cover the glass with hurricane-proof protection because the Payara's Fangs gang was going to attack. She was saying to them, "Code 11." Magdy and the other panicked patrons ran inside the bar. They locked the door, and the owner clicked the button to pull down the hurricane-proof protection.
Code 11 was a secret code used thirty years before the attack on Seahorse Mall. The schools and parents taught children about the event, so it became part of the culture. When the people heard Code
11, they would hide in a building, lock the doors, cover the glass, and stay silent.
At 11:30 a.m., Magdy saw the timer on his watch and timed the event. He remembered hitting the button when the woman warned them. They heard a banging. It only took two minutes. He said to Sammy, "Wow! The Blue City police are among the best, but we have trained residents to protect themselves."
"What?" Sammy was surprised by this statement. "We protected ourselves in under two minutes." "What?"
"My stopwatch was on when the woman warned us about the Payara's Fangs."
"Wow! Only two minutes."
At 11:33 a.m., they heard the second bang. The fishermen were worried about Captain Chez and their coworkers. They were relieved when they received texts from safe coworkers in Lily's and Ray's Sporting Goods Store. Sammy received a text message from Symone in the beauty shop and Simon in the toy store.
"We need to tell the media that we are safe before the people in the city find out about the attack. I cannot call anyone outside the mall." Sammy tried to call the phone.
"In Lily's, a journalist called the media and police on her satel- lite phone," the fisherman stated while he read his text.
"Great minds think alike," Magdy said to Sammy.
"Oh, the police cannot come. The navy is in the White City, our air force is in the Pink City, and the Army is in the Red and Orange Cities," Sammy remembered.
All the cops at this time were off duty. They all wore formal clothes. They had a professional photographer planning to take their annual photo within an hour. Now they were trying to figure out a plan. They did not have guns or handcuffs. All their police equipment was left in the local police station. The bar staff comprised a cook, two servers, and the bartender, who was the owner. They were looking at the cops like scared cats. The loudmouth bartender shouted at them, "I thought you were the cops. Why are you not outside arresting them?"
"True, we are the cops, but we don't have any equipment, including guns," Sammy said.
The five fishermen looked at each other, afraid for their lives, but relieved that their families were unharmed outside the mall.
"Lucky for us, we are in a hurricane-proof, bulletproof, and fire- proof building," a fisherman said, reading from his text and cooling the atmosphere in the bar, allowing people to think clearly about the situation.
Jordan's Craft Store sent a text message asking people to pray for these dark times. Magdy recited the three poems from the scripture titled "Protection," "Peace," and "Hope."
Sammy wanted to motivate his cops, so he stood on a chair. He prepared his speech, but a fisherman interrupted him and read his incoming text. "We are the Markians, and our ancestors are called the Demon Killers. We will not lose to a bunch of gangs. If we work together, we will win. If one of us cared only about his survival with- out thinking about the others, it could jeopardize all our survival."
The people in the bar cheered and applauded the fisherman. He blushed and confessed that he had read it from a text sent to him by his coworkers from Lily's. Disappointed, Sammy went to Magdy and said, "He stole my speech."
Magdy comforted Sammy. "Great thinkers think alike."
Another text came a little later, informing them that each store needed to protect itself.
The people in the bar were looking at potential weapons. They only saw glasses of alcohol and chairs.
Sammy looked at his watch. "It's now 11:35 a.m. We need to do something."
"We needed to talk with the journalist to check what she said to the media," Magdy said.
"How are we going to talk to her?" Sammy asked. "We are locked in the bar, and she is in Lily's."
"They want volunteers to go to the second floor to make a path- way between each store," a fisherman said, reading from his text.
"They answered your question," Magdy said. "Great thinkers think alike."
Sammy, Magdy, the rest of the cops, and other people in the bar went to the second floor to clear a path by removing boxes. A waitress stayed on the first floor with four mothers and thirteen little kids who ran to the bar when they heard that the Payara gang would attack.
On the first floor, the waitress and her mother looked at the bottles of beer and wine. A mother who wore a green dress said, "We are in a fireproof building."
"What are you thinking?" a mother dressed in a pink blouse and skirt asked.
"We can throw alcohol on them, and if they get near us, we burn them."
"You are too extreme."
"Anyone who wants to hurt my baby, I will burn him." "We never heard that they killed someone before."
"We never heard that they attacked businesses while they were open either."
A waitress intruded on the two mothers' conversations. "I study criminology in college, and they said that criminals increase the degree of their crime."
"We are at Peacetime," a woman in red said. "When the military is weakest, look how their Holy City laws can destroy our society. Do you know they made Peacetime? To remind everyone, the Holy City is bigger than the World Government."
"No," said a woman dressed in a gray skirt suit, "Peacetime was created by a mother named Rebecca who lost her two sons in an endless war. The peacetime treaty's actual name is Rebecca's Law. A simple grieving mother from the continent of Nar walked to the Holy City to beg them to do their job and be peacemakers. The Holy City's job was education, medical treatment, and housing for refugees. When she arrived at the Holy City, she met Arch-Freed Absalom, the Peacemaker, and told him that we want peace from endless wars. Arch-Freed, top clergymen, and top kings, including Markus and Ramous Cities' kings, worked together to promote Rebecca's Law. Its purpose is to reduce endless wars and prevent unnecessary
wars. It does not mention that a city should not protect itself during an invasion."
The waitress and two other mothers clapped for the woman in gray because she was right. The woman in the red suit wanted to attack with her false narrative, their Kirkian beliefs. Many people don't understand the true meaning of Peacetime.
On the second floor, Magdy gave the toy store manager twenty chips to give mixed toys so the kids in the bar could play and be distracted from the issue.
Magdy returned to the bar and gave the mothers the box. He found that the mother in pink was fearful; he sat beside her and comforted her. "We will be fine. I promise. The first moment I put my foot on the mesa, I felt a cloud of calmness. God ordered his angels to come and protect us."
At noon, Sammy came down from the second floor and said, "Let's go. They will use the bar for a prison."
"Prison?" Magdy said, surprised. "Where do we go?" a mother asked.
"Lily's, the museum, the toy store, and the sports store are kid- friendly," Sammy answered.
The mothers and thirteen kids in the bar went to the museum. The two waitresses served water to ensure the people clearing the pathway were hydrated. As sheriff of the Blue City, Sammy headed to Lily's to talk to the Owl's journalist. Magdy and five police personnel planned to go to each store to check on the people and count them. The cook, the bar's owners, and five police personnel returned to the bar to help with the prisoners.