Love's Challenge

Chapter 1 - Holiday

Ian woke up suddenly from a terrible dream.

He looked to the clock on the wall.

'Quarter past 4 in the early morning and I'm getting these dreams' he thought to himself.

He groaned before sitting up on his bed and sipping from the cup of water next to him.

"Well, ain't much longer until I have to wake up anyway" he said to the silence.

Ian got up and started getting ready for the day.

Today was supposed to be a normal day for him. Go for a run, come and change, then to the office, come home and change again, maybe relax at Arsalan's house for a bit whilst avoiding Aliha, before going to the gym in his apartment building and then going home to sleep. Simple, right?

Ian had light breakfast to get his metabolism going, and then went for his run. He'd take the same route every day. Left out of the building after talking with Larry the doorman, then right towards the Thames. Cross the Millennium Bridge, then come back over the Tower Bridge, back towards his apartment building.

It was an expensive part of London to live in, but he always said alhamdulillah for whatever he got.

Once home, he decided to have breakfast at a cafe today. So he showered, then came out to pick a suit out of the many Huntsman Saville Row suits he had.

"Hmmm, let's go grey today." He said again to himself and the silence.

He wore his suit well, not outlining his muscles but not completely hiding them either. His beard wasn't long but he tried to keep it tidy. He put on his Omega Seamaster today and went to the hallway, opening a box full of car keys. He decided to take an older car out today, a Jaguar E-Type.

Ian grabbed his car keys, before taking the lift down to the underground parking garage. There, he walked to the 5 cars he owned; a black G63, a grey Jaguar E-Type, a Lamborghini Revuelto, a Range Rover Sport and finally, a Toyota GR Yaris. Aside from being the seconds fuel efficient car of his garage, the Yaris was actually for fun if he ever wanted to have fun in the countryside. Besides, you'd be surprised with how well they perform compared to an Italian supercar.

Ian unlocked his old 1962 Jaguar E-Type by putting the key in and pulling the handle, before climbing in. It wasn't a standard Jaguar E-Type, this one was restored with extra power from its straight 6 engine, and synchronisers installed into the new gearbox.

He fired up the engine and let it warm up to hear it roar.

He placed his phone into the phone holder he had fitted, connected it to his car and drove away, out of the parking garage.

On the way, Arsalan called Ian.

"Ian! How was that holiday?" Arsalan asked.

Yes, Ian was on holiday. In Palestine to be exact.

"It was good thanks, alhamdulillah. I mean I did have a little bit of trouble with the Israeli forces. At first were okay with me, I even let them know I was in the British military. But I knew how they would react when I said I am Muslim before I even said it. I'm telling you man, subhanallah, astaghfirullah, they have literal children there thinking Palestinian people are terrorists, may Allah guide them towards truth and protect our brothers and sisters." Ian replied.

"Ameen. You know, the Palestinians are a special people. They die fighting to protect their land, their families, their communities. And in doing so, subhanallah, they become martyrs. I remember a friend in Gaza told me the words of his uncle, that they are special people. So long as they stay righteous, they're practically made for Jannah." Arsalan replied.

See, Ian had decided to take a holiday. To where, at first he did not know. But he realised he wanted to be closer to Allah. So he wanted to go to Makkah, but realised it'd be good to go and perform Hajj later in the year and decided to go to Masjid-Al-Aqsa instead.

Besides, he also had work to do there. Work that was now coming back to the UK.

***Two weeks earlier...***

"Get back here!" He shouted as the man took off across the rooftops of the old city of Jerusalem.

This man was skilled in the art of running away. He leaped from rooftop to rooftop with grace, but unfortunately for him so was his chaser.

Soon the gap started to close in on them. The man decided to take a different route, down one of the rooftops and out onto the road. Ian followed and did the same, but then was stuck as the man disappeared in the square.

A mix of both Palestinians and IDF soldiers were walking about, all busy with their matters. But out of the corner of his eye, Ian saw the knife being drawn and disarmed the man.

Upon seeing this, the IDF came and dragged Ian off of him. Luckily, he was prepared.

Out of the corner of his eye, a white van with tinted windows pulled up. Two men in masks opened the side doors and jumped out, grabbed the target and shut the door. The van waited whilst Ian pulled one of the soldiers and flipped him onto his back, whilst the other tried to go for his sidearm. Ian got there first and disabled it, taking it apart and dropping the pieces on the floor in seconds, whilst the driver beeped his horn. Ian jumped into the front and they sped off.

"Well that went smoother with them than I thought it would!" The driver said.

"We will see. I never spoke, but I assume we may have a certain embassy on us soon." He replied, keeping an eye out for danger.

Meanwhile, in the back of the van, the target (or rather now prisoner) they had just captured was furiously banging on the cage he was in.

"Let me out! I'll give you anything- money, bitcoin, anything!!!" He screamed. He tried to bang the walls of the van, but the vibration was muffled immediately.

One of the masked men got a syringe ready whilst the other held him. "Soundproof and bulletproof. Nobody is going to hear you. Oh and it's also a mini faraday cage, so if you are wearing anything trackable, well, let's just say it's not trackable anymore. Say goodnight." He said, and then he inserted the syringe into his arm.