Inner Truth

by Philip Dole

  “You misunderstand. I think it would be great to delay him until the authorities can arrest him. But it’s totally nuts for us to try to do it. The Moroccan authorities can delay him. But we can’t.”

  “Why not?”

  “Why not?” Tyler asked incredulously. Little Bo hushed him with a finger to his lips because the men beneath them in the wadi might hear them. “Because every minute more we stay here than we have to is a minute too long.” He paused, collecting himself before continuing with less agitation. “We’re defenseless, Lei. We’ve stirred up a hornet’s nest, and if they find us, we’re dead. I’m not even sure we can get out of here alive if we leave now.

  “Listen Lei, I was so excited to call Hacker I haven’t had a chance to tell you. Little Bo and I saw the goons chasing us. Or at least we saw their black Citroen. Do you want to risk getting caught by them?” She said nothing, keeping her eyes downcast. “Well, I don’t.” He looked to Little Bo, who nodded in agreement. “We’ve still got a job to do. I know that. We must get new pictures of Wu to confirm that we’re feeding the feds Wu’s real time location. Arresting him is then their responsibility. I’m not suggesting we leave without those pictures. That’s why we came here in the first place.

  “If we can get pictures now, in the middle of this big drug deal, it’s perfect. Caught in the act. So I want to wait long enough to get ‘ironclad’ proof for Hacker. But as soon as we get that, it’s adios.

  “We’ll call Sunny and Hacker with our positive ID, and we’ll be gone. To stick around for god-knows-why is crazy. Totally nuts.”

  She didn’t say anything, but he saw fire flame up in her eyes. For a moment she resumed her surveillance. Then she touched Little Bo’s shoulder. When he turned to her, she asked him to take over the surveillance and showed him what to do. Then she turned aside without another word. In a minute she stood up shakily, pulling herself up by grabbing the cliff top. She stood for a moment, and in response to the unspoken question on Tyler’s face, she explained she needed to go to the bathroom.

  “Don’t go far. It’s dangerous.” Tyler turned his attention back to the shore party stacking more bundles.

  Then he heard Lei scream.

  Chapter Twenty-two

  On the coast in the vicinity of

  Torres de Alcala, Morocco

  Thursday, December 9, 2005

  4:05 p.m.

  “Give me the gun.” Little Bo tossed it to Tyler. He caught the Colt .45 as he scrambled to his feet. “Stay here. Keep an eye out for Wu, and keep listening for me. If I need you, I’ll holler.”

  He jumped onto the cliff top and froze. Two men were dragging Lei toward the road. She was struggling to get free from her captors and hopping on her good leg. The men had their backs to him as he closed on them. They carried assault rifles slung over their shoulders. He sprinted forward, dodging around and between the bushes, holding the pistol in his hand, safety off, ready to fire. He’d shoot both men if he had to.

  They never saw him come up behind them. He didn’t know what to do because there were two of them. If he jumped only one man, the other one would be free to attack him. So he had to deal with them simultaneously and before they got to the road. He stuck the pistol in his waistband and grabbed each man’s neck from behind. His hands, strong from hours of swimming, encircled most of their necks. He squeezed. Hard. They let go of Lei and twisted their heads to see who’d grabbed them. They clawed at his hands. But he had them in a vise-like grip.

  Lei picked up a rock and smashed it into one unlucky guy’s face, drawing blood. Then she drew back and hit him again, causing even more bleeding. She was winding up for a third time when Tyler spoke.

  “Lei, go back, and tell Little Bo to look out for more men.”

  She spit at her victim and dropped the rock.

  “You’d better take this.” Tyler released her victim just long enough to give her the pistol. Before she turned, she spat on the other guy.

  The men Tyler was holding kicked him in the legs. But he squeezed their necks like crushing a beer can. The men tried to pry his hands loose, digging their fingers into their own necks in a futile effort to get free. But he held on. The men’s noisy gasps turned into raspy gurgling. Their nostrils flared and quivered like a horse’s. Their bloodshot eyes protruded from their sockets. Then they dropped their arms to their sides, signaling surrender.

  He didn’t know what to do next. So he trusted his instincts. Maintaining his grip on their necks, he turned one man partially toward him and drove his forehead into the bridge of the man’s nose. Blood spurted out like biting into a vine-ripened tomato. The man weakly raised his hands up to his face.

  “Don’t pick on women, you punk.”

  Satisfied for the moment with the damage he had done to that guy, he turned to Lei’s victim. “Wasn’t such a smart move, was it? She’s one tough cookie, a lot tougher than you, wuss.” He saw fear in the man’s eyes but felt no pity. He was an avenging angel, and he intended to exact a full measure of vengeance. It was elementary. They posed a threat, and he would end it.

  Without hesitation he head-butted the second man. The man had twisted his face away, and Tyler’s forehead impacted his cheekbone. The man’s skin split like an overripe plum, and his eyes rolled up into his head. Then while the shock of these initial collisions persisted, he pulled the men apart and violently smashed their heads together. After three powerful collisions he released his grip, and the pair crumpled to the ground, unconscious. With no time to waste, he grabbed each man by their djellabas’ hoods and dragged them toward the cliff’s edge.

  As he dragged the bodies, he considered just dropping them over the edge. If they fell onto the rocks below, it would be fatal. I’ve lived a privileged life. Prestigious prep school, top-flight college, Harvard Law.

  Am I going to throw two people off a cliff? Is that what my better angels would do? No, I can’t. That’s too craven.

  He dropped the bodies near the edge. He tied their hands behind their backs with their shoelaces. He detached their rifles’ shoulder straps and laid one man on top of the other, face to face. Then he wrapped the rifle straps around the sandwiched men’s necks. That fastened them tightly together in a position where neither could reach the other’s hands. He ripped one man’s underwear into two pieces and blindfolded them. And just as they had done with the teenage hooligans’ guns at the roadblock, he tossed both rifles over the edge.

  Tyler wondered if the men were alive but didn’t check. Frankly he didn’t care.

  Lei had eased herself down to the ledge by the time Tyler rejoined his companions. They told Little Bo what had happened, leaving out the more gruesome details. And Little Bo reported on the developments in the wadi. The crew had established a process for moving the bundles. They had not unloaded all the donkeys, but they had begun moving some of the bundles to the water’s edge. The job was time-consuming. Numerous bundles were still strewn along the length of the rocky wadi.

  The crew’s process for moving the hash offshore to the receiving yacht soon became evident. A zodiac was loaded at the shore with bundles and ferried out to a yacht. Alongside the vessel the bundles were rolled into a cargo net one at a time and hauled aboard. Meanwhile the second yacht’s inflatable would be ashore being loaded.

  “I am confused, Sidi Tyler. If they brought two yachts, why are they only loading one with the hashish?”

  “That’s a good question. Lei, what do you think? What’s the purpose of the second yacht?”

  “It is obviously not to smuggle the hashish because they have not put any aboard the second yacht. Perhaps it has nothing to do with the hashish. There are two yachts, and there are Wu and Abdul. Isn’t it likely one belongs to Wu and the other belongs to Abdul?” The men nodded, and she continued.

  “Wu is an arms dealer, right? So the second yacht belongs to Abdul and is for the weapons he will get from W
u. What do you think?” She looked to them for a reaction.

  “I can see that,” Little Bo replied.

  “Except where are the guns?” Tyler asked.

  “I don’t know. That’s a good question.”

  Just then Little Bo shouted, “Look,” pointing at the yachts. “The one on the left, on the drug boat. It’s Wu and Abdul on deck. Humdu’llah.”

  Lei snapped photos as the other two slapped a high-five. Wu was wearing dark colored trousers and a matching Chinese jacket, and Abdul wore a caftan and a keffiyeh. They climbed down a ladder hung on the gunwale into a waiting zodiac about to return to the shore.

  “Great. Come closer, come closer,” she said to her prey. And they did. She took pictures as Wu and Abdul came ashore. She took so many she had to change the roll.

  Ashore, Wu and Abdul met with Ahmed.

  “Looks like it is the payoff. And it is in gold coins. How quaint,” she laughed. It made him feel good to see her brighten up a little. She’d been blue ever since she’d talked with Sunny the day before. Tyler wondered what was bothering her.

  The tide was coming in. The yachts had swung on their anchors with their bows pointed out to sea and their sterns pointed toward shore. Abdul’s yacht was named Infidel, ported in Istanbul, and Wu’s yacht was named Alexander, ported in Malaga. The hash had all been going to the Alexander. Having paid off Ahmed, Wu and Abdul got back into the zodiac. But instead of heading back to the Alexander, they headed for the Infidel.

  “What are they up to?”

  Chapter Twenty-three

  On the coast in the vicinity of

  Torres de Alcala, Morocco

  Thursday, December 9, 2005

  4:52 p.m.

  Tyler dug in Lei’s backpack for the phone. “Let’s call Sunny and Hacker, and tell them we’ve gotten pictures of Wu paying for tons of hash.” Tyler was eager to deliver the good news and hightail it to safety. They now had what they’d come after. Pictures of Wu’s real time location. As a bonus they had proof of his participation in a huge drug deal. Without waiting for her reply, he handed it to her.

  “Tyler, you know it was Sunny’s idea to delay Wu somehow until the authorities can arrest him?”

  “I figured that. I’m not surprised. But Sunny doesn’t know much danger we’re in. Tell him what great photos you got and see what he says.”

  Lei held the phone but didn’t place the call.

  “Excuse me, Sidi Tyler.” Pointing at the Alexander, Little Bo urged Tyler to look at the yacht. “What are they doing? What’s in the crate, do you think?”

  Lei passed her camera, lens, and tripod to Tyler before she dialed Sunny. Tyler checked out the crate the crew had brought up on the aft deck. The crate resembled a long coffin. The easiest access was over the stern, and he watched the crew prepare to offload the crate over the stern of the Alexander. After securing the crate in a cargo net on the deck, they employed extra crew to lower the crate into the zodiac. He assumed the crate contained weapons, but he wondered what kind. Several other similar crates had also been brought on deck.

  “Tell Sunny we may have just found the ‘arms’ part of this deal.”

  Lei held the phone with her head turned partially away from them. They weren’t listening to her because they were intrigued by the mysterious crates. But when she abruptly raised her voice, they wondered what was happening.

  “Here, take it.” She extended the phone to Tyler. “He wants to talk to you. He still wants us to wait.”

  Tyler disagreed with that wholeheartedly. “Did you tell him how dangerous it was here?” He reached for the phone, incredulous anyone would want a loved one to take such a big risk. “We’ve gotten what we came for.”

  “Mr. Chang, this is Tyler Pierce.” He listened to Sunny a moment before saying, “Yes sir. I understand your position. But with all due respect, I believe we should seek safety as soon as possible.”

  “Yes, Mr. Pierce, I understand. My grandniece made that clear. You are our worthy ally, and I respect your opinion. You have acted honorably and bravely.”

  “Please sir, understand our situation. It is very perilous. We have the pictures we needed. We have Wu’s exact location. And we’ve caught him in the middle of a huge drug deal. That’s even better stuff than we came for.

  “Of course, you are concerned about Niko. I am, too. After all, he’s my client. He’s the reason we have taken such great risks. But it’s not necessary to stay here any longer. We can do nothing more. Lei is injured and in grave danger. If the Moroccan authorities take immediate action to interdict this serious crime, they can arrest Wu before he escapes.

  “I shall call Mr. Hacker as soon as we hang up. With what we have I am confident he will release Niko.”

  Sunny asked him point-blank, “Has he told you that?”

  “No. But he wanted ironclad evidence, and this is it. All the authorities need to do is get here pronto. Wu is right here for the taking. I’m sure the feds will release Niko if Wu’s apprehended. We’ve done what we came here for. We’re delivering Wu to them. Now I have to get Lei home safely.”

  “May I ask respectfully what indication Mr. Hacker might have given you that the pictures alone will be sufficient?”

  “I haven’t been able to speak with him directly yet. The bloody time difference.” He began getting irritated because Sunny did not seem to appreciate the danger. “But I have kept him fully informed. And let me remind you, we have eyewitnesses as well as photographic evidence of Wu participating in a major drug deal. We’re serving him up on a platter. What more could Mr. Hacker want?”

  “I respectfully submit, my young champion, he wants Wu in custody. Pictures of a suspect not in custody are of little value to a prosecutor. That is why it is essential you delay him until the authorities can take him into custody. Pictures are nice, but if you do not delay him until the authorities can arrest him, your pictures are nothing. They are no more than a beaming bride’s wedding book, no more proof than pleasant memories.”

  “But how can I delay him? We are only three, although you should be very proud of how courageous Lei has been. She’s a lioness I wouldn’t want hunting me. She is worth three of them. But they now number more than a dozen, armed with assault rifles, and all we have is a single World War II pistol. So unless you have some idea, I don’t see how it’s possible to delay him.”

  “I understand you face obstacles, but please listen to an old man who has seen much. The I Ching states that perseverance furthers. You will delay Wu because you must. Have faith. We have our enemy engaged in the commission of a serious crime, and we shall not have such good fortune again.”

  “But you don’t realize how dangerous this Abdul character is. Do you know Wu has already beaten your beloved grandniece? She may be permanently disfigured. Wu and Abdul would have subjected her to unspeakable suffering if they had had more time. Has she told you they have already captured her, not once but twice? I fear the third time we might not get her back. Do you want to expose her to such a fate?”

  “No, of course not. But forget about Abdul and al-Shabaab, my young champion. Our enemy is Wu, and we must concentrate on him. We have the opportunity to deal the Pengs a fatal blow. But to do so you must delay Wu.”

  “Wait a minute. What was that about al-Shabaab? Who’s that?”

  “It is a Somali terrorist group, allied with al-Qaeda.

  “So Abdul is a member of al-Qaeda?” As soon as he posed the question, the pieces of the puzzle fell into place. He answered his own question with a statement. “So he’s a terrorist. That’s why a Somali is trading so much drugs for guns.”

  “Calm down, young man. I told Lei that Abdul was al-Shabaab, but I only learned before she called yesterday that Fu got a dozen of the latest Chinese ground-to-air, shoulder-fired, laser-guided missiles from some disaffected Chinese military officers who wanted sanct
uary in Yangon. Lei and I guess it must be those missiles they are trading for so much hashish.”

  Tyler’s mind raced as he processed this startling news. Bewildered and confused, he couldn’t figure out why Lei hadn’t told him.

  Sunny paused momentarily for him to digest the news. “I have informed Interpol all about the drug deal. I did not tell them about the missiles because Lei had not told me about the crates until just now. I had hoped my source was mistaken. But it seems that the source was right. I shall inform Interpol directly.”

  “It’s a good idea to get Interpol involved. Right away. Yes, we saw the crates ourselves. Now we’ve got to get out of here. Shoulder-fired missiles in the hands of terrorists ought to set off a lot of alarm bells. That’s why the police must get going now. If they don’t get here soon, the missiles and the drugs aren’t going to be here. And neither are Abdul and Wu.”

  He gave the phone back to her because he didn’t have more to say. He looked at her as she took it, but she wouldn’t make eye contact with him. She wrapped her arms around herself and turned her back to them.

  Little Bo waited patiently, obviously curious about what Sunny had said. Tyler wasn’t going to keep the truth from him because his friend had earned the right to know. He drew in a deep breath. “It’s pretty bad. It seems Abdul is an international terrorist. In fact, he’s al-Shabaab, which is allied with al-Qaeda.” Tyler waited for it to sink in. “And those crates. Guess what they probably hold?” Little Bo put on a poker face until Tyler told him, “missiles, missiles designed to shoot down airplanes. That kind of missiles can destroy a passenger plane in mid-air with no problem.”

  Little Bo’s jaw dropped, and his eyes opened wide. “These bad men disrespect Islam and all that is blessed.” He turned aside and began praying.

  Tyler took hold of Lei by her shoulders and turned her to face him. Her dishonesty hurt him more than Abdul’s beating. Those bruises would fade, but her perfidy scarred in ways that can’t be forgotten or forgiven. He looked at Lei. She just hung her head, unwilling to meet his gaze.