by Finian Blake
Scott and Harry were wondering where the Caribou would land. Alex walked them out to the central road. It was straight, but there were several barriers down the center of the road. The Caribou called for a landing and the barriers started to retract into the hedge row. The plane flew down the river, banked right and flared for a landing. It took less than half of the length of the road to land. Harry was astounded at the transformation.
“How did you swing this little setup?”
“Scott’s predecessor helped arrange it with the CAA.”
“What do your neighbors say?”
“We own the two critical pieces of property. The other farm is owned by a Russian couple whom are our business partners. All that we need for our mission, can be loaded right here. With three fuel stops, we can be in Al Ain in the late afternoon about three hours before sundown. Suki has done several private rescues in the past and this one is looking good right now.”
“You didn’t say that it’s a piece of cake.”
Alex smiled at the two men. “Never brag until you cross the finish line.” Alex took every one to the studio for Sarah’s briefing.
Sarah was looking tired. She put all of her resources to work on this project and not gotten a decent night sleep in days. Nadia and Lynn sat next to her at the briefing. All of the participants plus three were attending the meeting. Tom, Adam and Noah were attending too.
Lynn started the meeting. “Adam and Noah took leave to make the rescue. Ted approved Tom and that brings us up to fifteen. Everybody is a volunteer. Does anyone want to back out?” There was dead silence for a few moments. “Then I will turn things over to Nadia.”
Nadia waded right in, “With fifteen people and the equipment the Ark is almost at maximum weight. Edward, Layla and Sarah will fly out to Dubai with Alex and then over to Al Ain to arrange the trucks. There is a private runway at one of the oil companies north of the city that we can use to off load the equipment. Ralph and Anna will do the flying. Edward, Layla, Sarah and Alex will leave tonight and that will allow us six hundred more pounds of fuel. Tom, Harry, Alex and Jamie will take the outside of the compound. Dan, Ted, Noah, Adam, Carl, Sidney, and Randy will take the inside. Victoria and I will seal the exit at the pass. We use the two motor cycles and leave them behind at the oil company. The Ark will use the private strip if possible. Alex after you get the trucks will you arrange for fuel. Jamie the outer wall of the compound is part of the house. We have located the hostages in the southwest corner. Can we make a door in the northwest corner of the house just outside of their room?”
“I think that Carl and I can work something out.”
“Good, arrange something for the doors on the south and east side, of the house.”
“The inside team will coordinate with you. Four will go over the wall on the southwest corner over the garage and clear the back of the compound. Two will go in through the main gate. Alex, take their backs as they go in. From beginning to end I want this limited to ten minutes.” Edward and Layla are doing a final viewing before we leave.
The meeting broke up and everyone went to do their prep work.
Scott stopped to talk to Lynn. “I assume that this will go over five Pounds.”
“Slightly…”
“How much will it run over?”
Lynn put her arm around Scott’s shoulder, “Your continued good will has value.” She looked at Harry standing in the doorway. “The same goes for the CIA. I hope that you will relay that to Washington, Harry.”
“You can count on it. I am going to tell my Director face to face after we return. I don’t want to chance a leak.”
“I’m glad that you are with us.” Harry ran off to the gun club to select his equipment. Lynn and Sarah stayed behind with Scott. “We want to sell them on the SAS raid. Sarah prepared a false briefing for them. It would be good if you scheduled it for two nights from now.”
“Why, that would be the night after your raid.” Sarah handed Scott the packet.
“We want them to relax. If the SAS plans a raid anywhere in Oman they might prepare for some kind of action. We would like you to fly out there tonight clear the raid in Shinas with the Sultan and do the briefing.” Scott took the packet and hugged Susan, Lynn and Sarah.
“I can safely assure you of the continued good will of MI.” The three women walked Scott out to his helicopter and watched him leave.
Pauline sat in her orange jump suit in the interrogation room with Felix. She was getting tired of being treated as a prisoner. Her testimony would be the only thing that would be heard by any investigator.
Felix, am I a prisoner or a witness?”
“You are a witness.”
“Then I would like some decent clothes. This jump suit does nothing but irritate my nipples. I want to go back to my home and get some of my things.” Felix did not want to let her out of his sight.
“The Director and I are the only ones that know about your testimony. I don’t want to turn you over to anyone else. Witnesses are disappearing all over the place. I would have to take you there myself.”
“I can live with that. I would do anything to get into some of my own clothes. They tend not to believe you when you give your testimony wearing prison jump suits.” Felix did not like going without a matron, but he did not want to risk any leaks, so he made arrangements for a car taking Pauline out to the farm personally.
Felix escorted Pauline to the door and she used a hide-a-key to open the house. The house was still in relatively good shape after being searched. She and Felix did a quick sweep of the house to be sure that it was empty and Pauline led him to her bedroom.
Felix walked in the bath and closet to make sure that there was no one there. When he walked back in the room he was greeted by the sight of a naked Pauline throwing the orange coveralls on the floor in his direction. She cupped a breast holding it up for his inspection. He blushed instantly averting his gaze but not daring to take his eyes off of her.
“Those things have absolutely destroyed my nipples. Just look how raw they are.” Felix stood transfixed by the sight of the naked woman in front of him. Suddenly the ramifications of not having a matron dawned on him.
Felix stammered, “We need to get your things and leave. I will have to check your bag before we go.” Pauline went to the closet retrieving a bag from the closet throwing it on the floor. She made two more trips to the closet parading around not bothering to cover her nakedness while pitching a variety of clothing on the bed finishing off by going to her lingerie drawer throwing an arm full of frilly lingerie on the bed. “You can inspect this while I bathe.” Pauline was absolutely reveling in Felix’s total discomfort.
“No, we have to get going,” Felix pleaded. Pauline knew that she had him. She judged correctly that he did not want to wrestle with a naked witness to inforce his will. She walked up to Felix and pointed to the coveralls piled on the floor.
“If you want to leave now, you will have to put those back on me yourself, or take me naked.” Felix was about five seven and Pauline stood five foot five in her bare feet. “I am going to take a bath and you can inspect whatever you want while I do it.” She selected some transparent lingerie from the bed strolling into the bath with her best wiggle. Felix could hear the water running and knew that he lost the battle. He turned to the bed and started looking through the things on the bed. Pauline looked out the door before climbing in the tub seeing him take a pair of her panties sticking them in his pocket. This was going to be too easy. Pauline settled in the hot water, humming softly formulating her plan.
Evan decided against Grand Cayman. Instead he decided to have one more chance at Pauline’s stash. He used the hide-a-key to get in the house being careful to replace it exactly where he found it. Evan wanted to see if he could find the money. He needed her $300,000 in cash and was willing to take the chance to find it. The evidence team had finished leaving some yellow tape across the doors and he picked the back bedroom to hide in. After a day of searching without
success, he was ready to leave. Evan saw the car with government plates pull down the drive and stop in front of the house. He ran to Pauline’s bed room pulling the gun out from its hiding place in her head board. He slipped the clip out of the grip to be sure that it was loaded, running to the back bedroom. Pauline had not bothered to close the bedroom door. He watched Felix and Pauline play out their little drama. He waited in the darkened hallway until he heard the hair dryer running. Felix was still intent on going through her clothes. He had removed his coat and Evan could see his holster and hand cuffs. He quietly snuck up behind Felix and pushed the gun to his ear, Felix froze.
“Not one sound or I will blow your head off.” Evan removed Felix’s pistol and the hand cuffs pulling the keys from his pocket.
“Who are you,” Evan said pressing the gun to Felix’s forehead.
“My name is Felix Owens and you are interfering with a Federal officer.”
“Strip Felix,” Evan whispered pressing the other gun firmly to Felix’s chest, “Down to your shorts.” Felix complied and Evan stopped him when he got down to his boxer shorts at which point he cuffed Felix’s hands behind his back. Pauline walked out of the bath in her bra, panties, hose, and heels planning on inciting Felix into some kind of sexual act. Evan trained the gun on her shoving her to the head of the bed. She reached inside the headboard for the gun that she knew was there. Evan laughed and held up the gun.
“Are you looking for this?” He did not understand the relieved look in her eyes.
Pauline surrendered without further struggle, “It looks like you have me again.” Evan walked to the night stand and pulled out two pair of handcuffs securing her wrists to her ankles turning his attention to Felix searching through his coat pulling out the ID.
“So, you are with justice! Are you the genius that made my darling Pauline testify against me?” Felix closed his eyes. “Well I think that you are going to be missing one witness. I am going to have some fun with our little tart while you watch. Then I’ll kill you both.”
Felix tried to bluff, “It won’t do any good we have all of the statements already.” Evan tapped him firmly on the side of the head with the pistol.
“I know that. All that I want is a little satisfaction and some cash.” He walked over to Pauline examining the stitches on her neck and closely examining the bruises on her body. “It appears that we have some time. If you give me what I want, you will die quickly. If you don’t, it will take a very long time.”
“All right I keep a safe in the video room under the stairs,” Pauline said giving in quickly. “I keep the key in the drawer of my night stand. Uncuff me and I will show you where it is.” Evan hit her solidly on the ass with his hand.
“I’m not that stupid. Do you have some surprise for me in that drawer?” Evan found the key next to her back up gun. “How were you going to give this to me, bullets first?” Evan rushed down the stairs to find the safe not wanting to give Pauline a chance to pull one of her tricks. As soon as Evan left the room Pauline flexed her wrists and the cuffs dropped off. She went to Felix.
“Where is the key?” Felix asked in desperation.
“Evan took it with him!” She helped him to his feet and they moved to the closet. Pauline went to the back corner of the closet producing a shotgun.
“Wait here I’m going to watch the door.”
“How did you get out of those cuffs?”
“They were magician’s handcuffs. If you know the secret, no key is necessary. I use them for my little bondage games. Try to remember that it is only a game. Your problem is that you are wearing the real cuffs and Evan has the key.” She hurried out of the closet leaving Felix to struggle with the real cuffs while she moved to the top of the stairs.
Evan located the safe in the video room, finding it empty. The evidence team had gotten there first, or Pauline was lying. He would have to be happy with torturing her and Felix, but he planned to do that no matter what he found. Several sets of lights were flashing as he walked out the door of the room. The lights pulled up in front of the house. That rotten bitch had pulled some kind of trick. He would have his vengeance before they broke in. Evan raced up the stairs planning to kill them both. He ran up the stairs, looking down at the stairs to be sure that he would not trip. He heard the blast from the shotgun. He flew down the stairs dying in midair before he landed on the bottom step missing half his head.
Pauline stood at the top of the stairs as Evan did a back flip down the stairs. The blast had caught him in the top of his skull and there was no doubt that Evan was dead. She chambered another round in the gun hurrying back to the closet. She ran to Felix leading him into the bedroom.
“I caught Evan coming up the stairs. He’s dead and the police are here.”
Felix did not understand their good luck. “Pauline, how did they get here so fast?”
“The gun on my head board is hooked up to a panic button. When he took the gun out it triggered the alarm.” She heard the police working through the house. “We are in the bedroom don’t shoot.” It was a rude surprise, but Pauline would not have to keep looking over her shoulder for Evan. All of the perpetrators were now dead and she was the only witness with nobody left to dispute her story.
Pauline laid the shotgun on the bed holding her hands up and away from her body so there would be no mistakes. Dressed as she was the officer could clearly see that she had no concealed weapons.
The officer called out, “How many perpetrators were there?”
“There was only one. This is Felix Owens from Justice. Hold your fire and we will come to you.” He was surprised to see that Felix was dressed only in his boxer shorts with his hands cuffed behind his back.
“Who shot the perp?”
“I did. Is he dead?” Pauline said proudly.
“I didn’t get a close look, but that shotgun took half his head.” Pauline decided to put Felix up front.
“I am Felix’s witness he can explain everything.” She took a camera off the shelf handing it to the officer. “Felix is from Justice and I would like to show them how I cooperated. If you take a picture, I will make sure that you get a copy. She held the shotgun between her legs grabbing the still handcuffed Felix by the waistband of his shorts as the cop fired off several shots. Pauline patted him on his zipper. “It is time you disappeared. I will look you up later with a reward that you won’t forget. Take the camera with you.” The officer looked her up and down before hurrying out of the room.
Edward, Layla, Sarah and Alex caught the last flight to Dubai. It would arrive early the next morning about two AM. They caught a connecting flight and arrived in Al Ain Around noon. Alex rented a car driving to the oil company. With Sarah’s help he arranged for the Ark to be serviced at the private air strip belonging to the oil company. The manager knew of another company that was selling two oil field trucks. Both of the trucks were old US Army deuce and a-half trucks. Top speed was fifty miles per hour but they could handle any terrain. The backs of the trucks were canvas covered and painted desert tan. They were more than suitable for the job. It was only fifteen miles from the target. Alex stayed behind to finish the details.
Edward and the women decided to drive into Mahdha to get a feel for the target. On the way into town they spotted the target. It was the common desert compound one hundred fifty feet on a side with a gate in the front that would permit one vehicle at a time to pass. They spotted two men on the roof with AK forty sevens. The closest building was two hundred yards away.
There was little cover within one hundred meters of it and that was a dry drainage ditch fifty yards behind the compound. The entrance of the pass that they would have to drive through was within sight of the compound about four miles away. The road that they were on was made of crushed gravel and a land rover was parked across the road from the gate. Sarah did not like the approach since there was a clear field of vision for two hundred meters in all directions.
They drove into town to the market. Edward dropped Layla
and Sarah off parking the car. Both women wore Veils and ankle length black dresses. The town was old but well cared for. Edward walked into a coffee shop and ordered a cup of strong Arabic coffee. He looked at the newspaper and recognized the head line from one of his dreams. Edward listened to two men arguing by the cash register. He decided to take a walk in the market place. As Edward strolled through the shops he recognized everything. Turning around he saw a woman in a black veil. Edward could sense the panic in her eyes. They moved to a doorway on the edge of the market. Layla was clearly upset.
“Sarah is very ill get the car.” Edward moved the car around to pick up Sarah and they drove off in search of a clinic. Finding out that the closest hospital was in Al Ain fifteen miles away. Edward drove as fast as the roads would allow. Sarah was very weak and getting weaker. The small hospital was a modern place that seemed to have good facilities. Layla agreed to stay with Sarah while Edward went to find Alex. The doctor looked grave.
“It looks like your aunt has had a serious heart attack and even with the most modern facilities there is little that we can do. We have hooked up the monitors and given her a shot. I fear that will only give her a short time. You may go in and stay with her but please keep her quiet.” Layla went in taking her hand.
“Sarah, the doctor says that you are in deep trouble.” Layla said quietly not wanting to hide the truth from her. The dying woman pointed to the other bed.
“Come visit me in a dream.” Layla lay down on the other bed willing herself to sleep.