THE ENEMY WITHIN 3

The Enemy Within 3...
“Get out! All of you! Out!”
Delilah hit a tray of red grapes off the trembling hands of a female servant and sent it crashing to the floor. The liberated grapes rolled on the floor and hid in dark corners.
Servants and bodyguards scurried out with heads bowed.
“Not you Aselah. You stay.”
A blond Swede played a harp in a room decorated in blue. She played skilfully.
Two eunuchs remained motionless in their positions.
“How dare that Jew treat me like a commoner. Treated me like a whore!”
Dinner was set on a large table in the centre of the room. It had been prepared for the seduction of Samson, but unfortunately he wasn’t going to be around tonight. Delilah picked up a plate of kebabs from the table and threw it at a mirror. Pieces of broken glass flew in different directions.


“A Jew. Defied by a Jew!”
She walked among the statues of pagan deities which had incense burning before them. She stood before the statue of Isis, the Egyptian goddess.
“How could this have happened to me? I am feared and respected by friends and foe. People pay me a lot of money to bring men to their knees!” She pushed down a flower vase.
Aselah hastily followed her enraged mistress around the apartment, picking up and arranging after her.
Delilah sat down before Kali, the sex goddess of the Phoenicians.
“I tried to seduce Samson but he resisted me. How could that be? What is wrong with me?” She looked pleadingly at Kali as if expecting an answer from the dumb idol. She stood up, walked past a wall with a display of deadly weapons, threw herself on a recliner and cuddled a red pillow.
“I Seduce kings. Powerful politicians are reduced to nothing before my beauty. The rich beg to get into my bed. I am irresistible. I am Delilah!” She screamed.
“Since your beauty has failed you, perhaps you should consider other options.” Lizah Chan walked into her bedroom. She was the only one who dared. Her steps were silenced by the Persian rug which covered the entire floor. Her bodyguards remained at the door.
Delilah ended her insane rant, raised her head and looked at her friend.
Lizah was born of a Syrian father and a Chinese mother. She inherited her mom’s oriental features and her dad’s light brown skin and height. She sat beside Delilah on the recliner, her slanted eyes full of uncanny oriental wisdom.
“So you heard?” Delilah asked.
“The news is all over Gaza. It is no longer a secret that your charms could not seduce Samson the Jew. If you don’t fix this, things could go really bad.”
“Nothing can taint my reputation. It took me several years to build this. No one can take it away from me.” Delilah stood up.
“You are wrong my friend. If you don’t do some damage control now, your business of seduction could become a thing of the past. Your reputation will be irreparably damaged. Your rich clients will dump you. You will go broke. You may end up standing on street corners soliciting clients.”
“Surely you must be kidding,” Delilah said.
“Do you see me laughing?” Lizah asked.
Delilah turned away from the cruel words of her friend and sought some comfort from Kali, the abomination of the Phoenicians. She knelt before it, lit five candles and lifted her face in silent supplication. The scent of cinnamon filled the room.
Lizah shook her head in disbelief. “Delilah, you mean after all that happened you still put your trust in this piece of wood. Why do you waste your time in supplication to it?”
“Lizah, don’t talk that way before her. She is very sensitive,” Delilah hugged the piece of dead wood affectionately.
“It is female? I didn’t realise,’ Lizah so hated that particular idol. Delilah gave her friend a bad look.
Lizah raised her right hand and one of the eunuchs brought her a carved stool. She sat beside Delilah.
“If you can’t seduce him through the fire in his loins, you will entrap him through the weakness in his soul. Every man has a weakness, even Samson. When you find his weakness, you will control him.”
Delilah signalled Aselah. A golden goblet of red wine appeared on a tray.
“Keep talking,” she sipped the wine slowly.
“No matter how powerful they are, there is a weakness in every man that can destroy him.Their power can be compromised by a weakness which lies within their soul. When you discover that weakness, you will own and control him.”
“I have never needed to find men’s weaknesses to seduce them. My beauty, sexuality and power stirs up the serpent in their loins,” Delilah said.
“But Samson is not like other men, is he? He is under a Nazarene vow which forbids him from living like other men. We have to get him to compromise that Nazarene vow.”
“He seemed deeply religious.” Delilah stood up, her candles forgotten before the idol.
“I am sure he is, but we shall find a way to compromise his soul,” Lizah said.
Delilah was a seductress, but Lizah was an evil strategist. She could plot the death of a man years before it occurred. Lizah was truly evil. The combination of both women spelt certain doom for any man who fell into their trap.
“When you spoke with him, what did you notice about him?” Lizah asked her best friend.
“He believes he is a deliverer. He wants to deliver his people from Philistine oppression.”
“He is a rescuer,” Lizah’s eyes lit with dark insight.
“A what?” Delilah set the golden goblet on a table.
“He wasn’t attracted to you because you showed no weakness.” Lizah saw the question in her friend’s eyes and quickly explained. “You were surrounded by servants and body guards. You are successful, rich and protected. You don’t need his help so he wasn’t attracted to you. He is attracted to human pain, weakness and vulnerability. He feels relevant only when he helps people.”
“I don’t get you.” Delilah had no idea what was going on in Lizah’s wicked mind.
Lizah stood before the weapons display. She selected an antique knife with an intricately carved handle and looked at its sharp point. “I know how we can ensnare him,” Lizah said.
“How?” Delilah asked.
“His weakness is his desire to fight oppression and rescue the weak,” she walked slowly among the idols.
“What are you saying?”
Lizah Chan stopped behind Kali the sex goddess. “He is a powerful man who wants to rescue the weak. We shall give him someone to rescue, and when he does, we shall strike!” she plunged the knife into the head of Kali, broke the handle and cut her finger.
“Gasp!” Delilah and her servant Aselah jumped back in shock.
An evil grin spread across Lizah Chan’s face. Her blood dripped on the lifeless piece of wood.
The blond Swede continued to play the harp.