CIA - The Slave Traders

by Joe Bob Newman

Seals and the CIA operatives were to be taken into the Arabian Sea and dropped off. They would all sleep for six hours. Sara and Lynda were given a separate room by the captain of the ship. A guard was placed outside their door. Lynda was not sure why. All the men slept on the floor in another room.

  Before Lynda realized it, they were in the black raft and a nearly silent outboard pushed the boat at nearly thirty knots. She could neither see nor hear the other raft. The Seals all had on night-vision goggles. They slowed down and she felt the raft lurch forward. Her raft had herself, Tony and Wayne; the other raft had Gil and Sara.

  Her raft slowed to a mere crawl and touched the end of the boat. The lead Seal tied it off, and the eight Seals got off and swarmed over the boat. Lynda could hear signs of men struggling, but nothing specific. She could see the other raft land at the dock. They sat up a perimeter. A fierce gunfight broke out with these ten Americans and a group on the dock. Lynda had never seen such a fight. The eight Seals on the boat made short work of the Somalian pirates, and freed seven Americans. Then the Seals went to assist their buddies on the dock.

  Apparently the two adult women and one teenage girl had been taken to shore to be assaulted. The sixteen Seals and CIA operatives made short work of the pirates on the dock, and swarmed to a building where they believed the women were. Sporadic gunfire broke out, and the Seal running next to Lynda went down. She stopped to aid him. He had been shot in the neck. He had a bandage out when she got to him and was trying to put it on himself. Lynda took the bandage away from him, and pressed it to the wound. There were two holes where the bullet had entered and exited. As soon as she had the bandage on, he was up and back into battle.

  Lynda was running with her head down, when she felt something like a large hand swat her and knock her down. She had been hit in the vest. She rolled over and tried to get up. But Tony was on top of her. He yelled, “Are you hit? Are you all right?”

  She could barely move her left arm. She said, “I am fine. Get off me.”

  She was up and running with the Seals again. She saw a Seal go down right in front of her. Blood was spurting out of his leg. He also had a bandage out. She took the bandage away from him and pressed it to the wound. He could not fight anymore; he had to go back. She helped him up and let him rest on one of her shoulders. She helped him back to the boat. The two men on the ship saw them, and ran out and helped Lynda get the Seal back to the boat. She ran back just in time to see the remaining fifteen Seals and four CIA operatives running back to the boat with three scantily-clad women. She turned and went back to the boat.

  More sporadic gunfire was coming in. Two Seals went down. They were helped up and brought to the boat.

  Seals were at the boat, cutting it loose. The little outboard motor on the boat started, and it began to move away from the dock. Seals were running for the rafts. They boarded the two rafts and were soon beside the boat, providing cover fire.

  Tony was up on the bridge with a rifle, shooting back at the dock. Lynda rounded up the civilians and took all ten below. The two women and teenage girl were all crying. They had all been raped.

  About five miles out, the Seals got in the rafts. They would stay and provide cover while the sailboat made it to the landing craft. The CIA operatives and the wounded Seals stayed on the boat. Doctors and nurses were waiting on the landing ship for the injured.

  Lynda kept the five children away from the women. She talked to them continuously to occupy their minds. There were four boys and one small girl. She wondered why anyone would sail near Somalia knowing how the pirates were.

  Gunfire rang out in the quiet night. She heard several loud booms in front of her. She looked out. A Navy Cruiser had moved into the area and was firing its cannons. A rocket streaked by. This was a real fight.

  The American Navy moved two destroyers into the area. The fight went on for an hour and a half. Several Somalian ships were hit by cannons and rockets. The Seals were back now.

  A rocket-propelled grenade landed on the back of the boat. Two men and Wayne were all hit with shrapnel. Both men were seriously injured. Wayne’s vest took most of the shrapnel. He had two minor leg wounds. Tony, Gil and Sara were quick to the wounded men’s sides. Lynda kept the children in a room. She had to bodily block the door to keep them inside. They were just curious and wanted to “see.”

  Several hours later, the sailboat tied up to the landing ship. Everyone was taken onto the bigger ship. Navy sailors took over the sailboat. The sailboat was tied to the rear of the big ship, and the big ship began to tow the not-so-big sailboat.

  The wounded men were all treated first, then the women were treated. The Seals all made it back to the ship. The rescue had been pulled off without a single American casualty.

  The ship’s captain addressed the boarding party and told them how happy he was. Then the captain spoke to the people who had been on the sailboat. He was somber and sympathetic.

  The Seal with the neck injury came up to Lynda. She recognized him. He was the one who had made fun of her. He apologized and asked her to forgive him. His name was Marcus Handley, and he was a good-looking well-built man. He sat down by Lynda. She started to get up. He said, “Wait a minute, please.”

  She stopped and looked at him, with a very unfriendly look. She said, “Yes?”

  He said, “I would like to take you to dinner to make up for my crass remarks, please.”

  She did not like Marcus, but decided to make it easy. She said, “Okay, next time you’re in Dallas, look me up. You can take me and my kids out.”

  He looked like he had been slapped. “You have kids? Are you married?”

  She smiled at him. “My husband died last year. I have a nine-year-old and a baby.”

  He whistled and said, “So you live in Texas; anywhere near Fort Worth?”

  “Yeah, I do, not far at all.”

  “I can catch a flight to Carswell and pick you up next week. I have some time off now.”

  Lynda laughed, “You’re a fast worker. I will cook you dinner and you can eat with my kids.”

  Marcus said, “Okay, see you next week. I will call you and tell you when.” Lynda gave him her cell phone number.

  Lynda and the other operatives flew by helicopter back to the Enterprise and were flown home. When they arrived at DFW, a company car picked them up and took them to the office. Tom debriefed them and they were all given three days off. Lynda was happy to go home to her kids. She gave Wanda the three days off.

  Lynda and Tasha took care of baby Ted.

  She got the call Monday morning. Marcus would be there Wednesday afternoon. She gave him directions. She told Tom that she needed Wednesday afternoon off. She told him who was visiting, and why. He chewed on her a little bit, but not too bad.

  She saw the rental car pull up in her driveway, and a very handsome and muscular man got out. She was really impressed.

  Tasha took to Marcus right away. Baby Ted just wanted to sleep.

  Lynda fixed a chicken special dinner for Marcus. He ate everything but the plate and silverware. He helped her with the dishes.

  Lynda put Tasha to bed. Tasha said, “Mom, he is really cute.” Lynda smiled at her daughter.

  Tasha was right: Marcus was a very good looking, and charming man, even if he did have a smart mouth sometimes. Lynda thought she could break him of that.

  As she walked back into the living room, she saw him touch his neck. She asked, “Are you all right?”

  He smiled a dimpled smile. “Yes, ma’am, I am fine, thanks to you.”

  She remembered helping him with the bandage.

  They talked together until well past midnight. Finally Marcus said, “Lynda, I don’t want to, but I should go.”

  She knew what he meant. She said, “Yes, Marcus, you need to go.”

  He stood up and moved to the front door. For some reason, Lynda kissed him at the door.

&nb
sp; He said, “Are you busy tomorrow? I would like to come back by.”

  She said, “I have to work. Why don’t you come at dinner? We will order pizza, Tasha’s favorite.”

  Marcus smiled and left. Lynda closed the front door. She heard baby Ted start to cry. She changed his diaper, and he went right back to sleep. She showered and went to bed.

  The next morning came early. Wanda was back to her duties.

  When Lynda got home at six, Marcus was sitting on the front porch playing with Tasha. She had dolls out and they had a little city set up. Marcus was talking like a mother to a baby. Lynda got a big laugh. When Marcus saw Lynda, he whistled and said, “Tasha, you sure do have a beautiful mother.”

  Tasha looked up, as if she wanted Lynda to leave and not bother her playmate.

  Lynda went inside, kicked her high heels off and pulled her little jacket off. She knew she looked good in the white shirt and black skirt. For some reason she wanted to impress Marcus. She stopped at the phone and called for pizza. It would take forty minutes to get there. She went to the front porch and said, “Tasha, get your stuff put up; pizza will be here shortly.”

  Tasha said, “Mother, I am playing with Marcus. We will be through in a few minutes.”

  Marcus looked up and smiled. Lynda said to Tasha, “Young lady, don’t talk to me in that tone of voice. I will bust your little butt.”

  Marcus said, “Come on, Tasha; let’s get these toys picked up before we get in big