Elevated Threat

by William Robson

  Richard was almost speechless.

  “How on earth could you find me out here in the middle of the freaking desert?”

  “Well, fortunately, I knew who your contacts were, and after I explained things to them, they eventually got me to Uzair. He was more than happy to give me a description of your travel accommodations and where you were going, especially after I told him he did not need to pick you up. Once I knew where you were going, it was obvious. There are only two semisafe routes to Wana, and one of those loops up through Afghanistan. I assumed that even you were not stupid enough to try that route, so I just waited for you to show up on the Wana-Razmak road. I was just hoping you didn’t get yourself killed before you got that far.”

  Richard was relaying the information to Max and both were palpably relieved. But ever the reporter, Richard pressed Smitty for answers.

  “Who are these guys that found us, and what happens now? I know this will sound crazy, but the story we came for is in Wana. Max and I risked everything to report what happens there, we really want to be there to see it.”

  Smitty was miffed at the lack of gratitude but had known Richard for many years and understood his drive to get the story better than most.

  “The guys that are with you are there for your protection. They are going to take you somewhere safe and they can be trusted. As far as the story in Wana goes, I can promise you a ringside seat. But to get it, you are going to have to trust me and Kamran for now. I can’t explain it to you, even on this phone. For now just do what Kamran says, and be ready when I call back. Sorry, but I do need to go now. Just hang tight.”

  The phone went dead. Max was jumping up and down wanting to know what was going on. Richard relayed everything Smitty had said. No sooner had he finished explaining everything to Max, then the big truck rumbled back to life indicating they were back on the move.

  Richard yelled through the cab to Kamran but he just waved his big hand for him to sit down. Richard looked out the back of the truck and saw Wahid’s toothless grin from behind the wheel of the Land Rover following them close behind. After several kilometers, the big trucks turned off the main road and headed up a small dirt road and back uphill into a mountainous area. After about forty minutes of bouncing around the back of the truck, it finally stopped and the engine turned off. They might as well have stopped the truck on the moon. There was nothing but desert as far as they could see. The craggy mountains rose up behind them, and there was a massive elevation drop in front of them into the desert below. Not a soul was in sight beyond the inhabitants of the three trucks.

  Looking out into the far distance to the west was another smaller mountain range. When Richard and Max checked their maps, they realized the city of Wana was just beyond the smaller mountain range, approximately fifty kilometers away from where they sat, and unfortunately, out of sight.

  With nightfall not that far off, Richard and Max began to assume that they would be laying low in the mountains which would prevent jihadists, looking for trouble, from running across them. Then, under the cover of darkness, they would slither down the mountain into Wana. Richard counted twelve men in the trucks that Smitty provided for their protection. Certainly not enough for a serious firefight, but he sure felt safer with them on his side.

  While they waited in their new desert sanctuary for the sun to bid adieu to the day, Richard pulled out his laptop and started detailing their journey thus far. He knew he was writing the beginnings of what would become an epic story. Max pulled out his camera gear and started cleaning. No matter how tightly sealed they are, the fine dust of the desert always finds a way into the gear. Max always carried lots of electro-wash with him and it never goes to waste. Max and Richard stayed far away from all the other men. Wahid tended to his goat. The soldiers sat around on rocks, drank tea, and chatted amongst themselves.

  When the sun had become nothing more than a shining glow up from behind the mountains, Richard approached Kamran who was now sitting on the hood of his truck eating some stringy meat of unknown origin.

  “Sir, when are we moving out? We need to be in Wana before morning.”

  Kamran offered Richard some of his meat. Richard politely refused. For some reason this made Kamran smile. After eating the meat he had offered to Richard, he said in broken English:

  “We stay here. Smitty say so.”

  Now Richard was confused. Was Kamran deciding to stay put even though Smitty said to go? Had Kamran changed the plans? Richard tried to decide how much he should push this mysterious Kamran and his men. It wasn’t beyond the possibility that these mercenaries could just decide babysitting them was too dangerous and, without too much provocation, they could leave them out here as a desert treat for the buzzards. Richard knew all too well that allegiances switch quickly in the tribal regions. After considering that last thought, he decided to let Kamran finish his meal in peace.

  Soon it was pitch black in the truck with only the stars and a sliver of a moon providing any light. With Kamran insisting on no campfires or lights bigger than a miniature flashlight, Richard could hardly make out Max’s expression as they contemplated what to do next. Wahid had already fallen asleep in the back of his truck . Many of the guards were still chattering amongst themselves while stretched out on the ground with the snakes, scorpions, and who knows what other creepy things.

  Richard gloomily looked at his watch; it was only 9:30 p.m..

  It was getting obvious now that the world’s biggest story was about to happen in just hours and it was all going to unfold just beyond their reach. The faint glow of light rising above the mountains, where the map says Wana should be, was just visible. The frustration of it was palpable. Just then Kamran’s satellite phone rang. Richard and Max ran to the front of the truck where Kamran was leaning against the bumper. After a few seconds, Kamran handed the phone to Richard. As Richard put the phone to his ear he heard Smitty’s voice.

  “Richard, are you there?”

  “Yeah, right here. What the hell is going on? I thought you promised we would have a ringside seat to this story. We’re out here in the middle of freaking nowhere.”

  Smitty tried to calm Richard down.

  “Relax, buddy. Everything’s all right. I really can’t explain right now on the phone, but you will understand everything soon enough. Right now just eat, relax, and have your equipment ready. The President will be giving a speech tonight at 2:00 a.m. our time. You do have a satellite radio with you, right?”

  “Yes, of course.”

  “Good. I want you to relax now and get some rest. At 2:00 a.m. I want you to listen very carefully to his speech. Everything will make a lot more sense after that.”

  Max had been listening in to the conversation with his head pressed against Richard’s. After these last words of request for patience came from Smitty, Max leaned away from the phone and just shook his head in disgust and frustration. Richard pressed Smitty for more information.

  “Come on, Smitty. You can’t leave us hanging like that.”

  Good friends or not, the differences between CIA operative and reporter can never be bridged. The reporter never has enough details and the operative wants no one to know anything. The job is what counts, not the glory of telling the aftermath. Smitty had a little sting in his voice now.

  “Listen, Richard. That’s all I can tell you right now. Do what I tell you and it will all work out. I have a lot left to do here so I have to go. We’ll talk later.”

  The phone went dead. Richard handed it back to Kamran, wandered off toward the desert, and stared out at the darkness. There should have been some satisfaction in knowing what the next several hours held for them, but there was not. The laptop went back on standby and the camera gear stayed buried deep in the protective coverings. Max and Richard decided to take a short walk.

  The moon was providing just enough light to allow them to make their way around the encampment. Max was a little more squeamish about the desert’s slithery things and made a joke about
how ironic it would be if, after all this, they wound up dying of snake bite in the desert. Richard wished Max had not reminded him of that possibility, and even though he acted like he was not worried, he started to surreptitiously watch where his where his boots were stepping.

  When you are standing on the side of some nameless mountain without a town or encampment for at least thirty or forty kilometers, no roads and not even a single person talking, the world becomes a very quiet place. Richard and Max once again looked up to the heavens and realized that they could actually feel the quietness in their bones. Even in this lost corner of the world it just felt too dark and too fricken quiet.

  Neither man wanted to break that quiet by speaking, but both felt the hold it had on them. It was as if even the thoughts running around in their minds were somehow too loud. They searched the sky looking for some break from the solitude. There were no planes or drones to break the silence. Even the desert animals were quiet. Wahid’s goat was not stirring. They couldn’t recall a time when the world seemed to stop around them like it was now, even on their most remote assignment.

  Perhaps it was the short walk, or maybe it was just the realization that they would be staying put for a while that made them realize they hadn’t eaten for a long time. They decided to head back for some jerky and strong tea. Despite the darkness and the sleep deprivation, they didn’t require the tea’s caffeine to stay awake. In fact, it didn’t seem like anything could possibly make them sleep now. Still, the tea helped calm their stomachs, something they both desperately needed.

  As 2:00 a.m. approached, Kamran joined his men in a deep sleep. Max pulled out the satellite radio from his pack and found the frequency for American Force’s Radio Network. He and Richard huddled in the back of the truck and started listening to the pre-speech build up for the much hyped July 4th Presidential speech.

  Not being able to see the entire government splayed out on the mall and facing America as one body took some of the drama out of it for them, but the President’s depiction of the massive changes he was promising had both of these seasoned veterans, of this part of the world, awash in disbelief. More than once during the speech they retorted back to each other with a “can’t happen” or “he will never get agreement on THAT!” Because these two had spent their entire careers traveling and reporting on this part of the world, they were much more jaded about what any Commander-in-Chief could actually do to change things in this forsaken desert.

  Despite their skepticism, when the President reached the part of the speech where he declared “by the time this speech has been concluded, they will have begun to gain an understanding of what happens when we reach the exhaustion of our restraint.” Max and Richard’s demeanor changed dramatically. It was as if the President himself had grabbed both men by their shirts, hauled them out of that truck, and said “point your cameras to the southwest and just see what happens when time runs out on my patience.”

  They didn’t hear the end of the speech. Almost subconsciously, they found themselves back in the desert searching the skies once again.

  Max had three cameras, two on tripods, and one in his hand scanning the desert. Richard scanned the sky with binoculars. Then, for the first time in two days, both men heard a sound emanating from the sky above. The sound was like a jet engine but was more of a whooshing sound than a roar. Max and Richard glanced at each other to verify they actually heard it.

  Then, a light appeared in the southwest sky that started as a tiny pinpoint. That pinpoint got brighter and brighter. Soon, the light started falling lower and was soon bright enough to allow Richard and Max to just make out the outline of the mountain ridge before them, the one that stood between them and the town of Wana. After fifteen seconds, the pinpoint of light popped like massive fireworks, the kind the folks back home would soon be watching. But these fireworks just kept getting bigger and bigger. As the sparkles from the original pinpoint’s center spread out and fell toward the earth, the fireworks started to look like a dome was being placed over the ground from the sky. A dome that would soon be encompassing fifty square kilometers of desert floor.

  All of Max’s cameras were taking in the spectacle before them. Just seconds before the fireworks’ sparkles had reached the ground, a second whooshing sound from the east came over their heads. Fast. This time a streak like a shooting star accompanied the sound, and it was directly overhead and VERY close to the ground. This shooting star went directly into the center of the fireworks’ falling sparkles. When the shooting star converged with the fireworks, the entire dome over the desert flashed bright, very bright. It was as if the fusion that powers the sun suddenly erupted within this small area.

  The vision was so incredibly bright that Max and Richard had to look away. By the time their eyes adjusted and they were able to take their hands away from covering their faces. It was all over. Once again there was no sound except for Wahid’s bleating goat and the sleeping men who had been awakened by the brilliant light.

  It took several more minutes for Max and Richards’s eyes to adjust to the darkness again. After fumbling around, they found some flashlights, and when they got their first look at each other they discovered both of their faces had become quite sunburned. There was no sound or light coming from the desert below them, none. Ominous darkness and quiet returned to their world.

  All of the men from the trucks were now fully awake and quite agitated. Some yelled, some prayed, and some started giving suspicious looks toward Richard and Max. Kamran made sure he stayed between his men and the two Americans.

  Several tense minutes later, Kamran’s satellite phone rang again. This time Kamran stayed on the phone for quite some time while Max and Richard waited. When he finally gave the phone over to Richard, Kamran quickly gathered his men around him and animatedly gave them a piece of his mind.

  Smitty’s voice was a relief.

  “Well, Richard, I hope you have a good story to tell now.”

  Richard had so many questions he didn’t know where to start.

  “Smitty what just happened? Whatever that was, it wasn’t like anything I ever saw before. What did it do, how did it do it, what’s next?”

  “Whoa there, buddy. All in good time. Let’s just say Uncle Sam still has a few tricks up his sleeve for those that don’t want to play ball. The President has taken our gloves off and we have gone on the offensive. The way things work in the field are now drastically going to change. Like he said, no more endless talking.”

  Smitty had the right to be a little boastful, he had seen enough friends die in this desert. Richard pressed for some answers about what just happened.

  “Yeah, I got that impression. Whatever that was, it will get everyone’s attention. But what’s going on in Wana? When can we go there? We can’t see anything from here!”

  Smitty had a bit of glee in his voice as he tried to explain.

  “Well, buddy, you are not missing much; there is not much over there left to see. Let’s put it this way, for the rest of the night you can sleep easy, nothing will be coming from there to threaten you. In the morning I have told Kamran to take you two down the mountain towards Tank. As soon as you guys get to the flatlands, we will have air transport ready to meet you.”

  Smitty’s words still had not registered with Richard.

  “No! No! No! We need to go into Wana! I need to document what happened there. We need video; I want to complete this story. You can’t take me out now.”

  Smitty tried to explain again.

  “Richard I don’t think you are understanding what I am saying. It’s not a choice for me to give. You CAN’T go into Wana. First – it’s no longer there, and second – it will take at least three weeks before ANYONE can safely go there. In the morning when the sun comes up, you will be able to see everything you need to see through your long lenses. But you are as close as you are getting to where we dropped the ordnance. Not only is this imperative for your safety, but it’s required for national security.

 
Since I know you will disagree, I have instructed Kamran to have you delivered to the air transport by 10:00 a.m.. And I told him to get you there by any means required. Trust me, you do not want to know the lengths Kamran will go to keep my instructions. You will have a couple of hours of sunlight before you need to leave to get your photos and video. When you get back to me, we are all set up to get everything you have out to NBC. Since you and Max are the only two people alive to see and film what just happened, you guys will be rock star. I’ll see you at ten.”

  Once again the phone went dead.

  Richard looked around for Kamran. He saw Max looking into the back of the truck with a distraught look on his face. Then Kamran climbed out of the back of the truck waving the two 9mm’s they had hidden in their backpacks. There was no arguing who was in control now.

  There was not much they could do until sunup except start to write down what had been seen and prepare the cameras for the morning. Max started packing up his cameras and the rest of the gear they had lying about, and put it all back into the truck. Max dug out his long-range telephoto gear to prepare for the morning and then propped himself up against his backpack. A few minutes later, when Richard looked over to ask Max a question, Max was snoring like he was on a five-star hotel pillow-top bed.

  Despite the urgency to record his thoughts, the nearly two days without sleep was taking its toll on Richard as well. The screen on Richard’s laptop got blurrier for every word he typed. When Kamran shook Richards shoulder to wake him, he realized the last few sentences he had typed were gibberish. He also became aware of the warmth from the morning sun on his face.

  Richard hurriedly shook Max awake. Max grabbed his camera and long-range lens, and joined Richard on the edge of the encampment. Despite the desert temperature already rising into the eighties, what they saw in the desert below them sent a cold chill down their backs. The desert was white, all white, and it looked like it consisted of sand dunes as far as they could see to the west. Not so much as a blade of grass stood above the ground. Everything within their sight was motionless.