Veil - 02 - The Hammer of God
Page 33
Abdul asked Allah to keep him, and looked out at the plane’s right engine, now ablaze, leaving a trail of black steaming behind them.
Suddenly, the plane leveled off, but continued to rock and shake, and the captain ordered everyone to prepare for an emergency landing.
Abdul looked over at Norma, and knew at once she would not have to suffer through the catastrophe about to happen. He stared out through the smoke and fire. The voices and screams faded away. Below, patches of gray, green and brown moved up fast. Abdul gritted his teeth. If it’s my time to meet Allah, I won’t do so as a coward. He braced himself, leaned over and prayed.
It was unlike anything Abdul had ever experienced, even as a soldier fighting the Russians in Afghanistan. There was a hard crash and he watched the plane tear apart. He heard the screams and cries of the others fade away, and realized he’d been thrown from the aircraft, still strapped in his seat. He hit the ground and felt his right arm break, bounced several times and came to a hard, grinding stop. His body racked with pain, and unable to move for half an hour, maybe longer, Abdul laid face down, nearly suffocating in the dirt. Finally, he rolled the tattered seat over and faced the sky, the sun beating down on his throbbing face. He tried to move his right arm, but a searing pain protested, so he reached over with his left hand, undid the seatbelt and struggled to his feet, sweat burning his eyes.
His vision adjusted. He focused hard on the area around him. They had crashed in rocky terrain, and below him, in a flat ravine about a hundred yards away, lay most of the plane wreckage. At first, Abdul saw only the smoldering remnants of what once was a masterpiece of human ingenuity and craftsmanship. Then, amongst the sea of twisted, fragmented steel, torn and burnt clothing, cooked flesh, and scattered body parts, he spotted movement in six different areas, and realized he was not the only one to survive. He fell to his knees, unable to stay on his feet any longer, thanked Allah through his tears, then bent over and threw up in the dirt.
A black helicopter roared overhead and made a beeline for the wreckage. Good, Abdul thought, they’ve come to help us. He leaned back against the rocks and gathered his strength. When he rose up far enough to see what was going on, he counted six men, three attending to the injured, three more examining what was left of the plane, sifting through the remains. Abdul’s cries seeped out as only whispers. He closed his eyes. It’s okay. Praise be to Allah. I’m alive. When he finally opened his eyes, his mouth dropped in horror. Systematically, the six men, now holding machine guns, rounded on each survivor and shot them down where they sat or lay.
Abdul gasped and ducked down in the rocks, frantic, terrified. He crawled further into the mountainous area, and curled up like an infant beneath a narrow slab of rock and waited.
“There’s a chair here,” a voice bellowed. “It’s empty!”
“Probably was thrown clear,” came the answer. “We’ll search the area a quarter mile around!”
Abdul listened intently, but didn’t move, his mind racing to make sense of what he had witnessed. He felt his head go light and fought to stay awake, but the pain clawed back and his brain threatened to explode.
Unable to fight any longer, he blacked out.
When he awakened, it was pitch black and completely silent. Stiff and aching, he crawled out from under the rocks, pain racking his body, tears in his eyes. He didn’t know if the men he’d seen earlier were still there, and had no idea how long he’d been unconscious, but he made his way over to the area where he had landed. His seat was gone.
Abdul’s eyes adjusted to the light of the full moon as he glared down into the ravine, eyes wide. “It’s gone,” he whispered to the night.
“Everything is gone.”
He rubbed his stomach then lifted his shirt, exposing the envelope heavily taped to it, information he was to deliver to Robert Veil and Nikki Thorne. He fell to his knees, hands raised to the sky.
“Allah save me,” Abdul gasped. “I’m a dead man.”
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