by Terry Toler
There, they found unspeakable carnage. The entire floor was destroyed. Several people lay dead or dying on the floor. Fearing that the building was unstable, he made his way to the outside. His lieutenant stayed behind to help the wounded. The fire inside the building was growing and now engulfed one side of it. His phone was still in his hand, so he called for fire trucks.
He tried to remember who would be inside at that time of the night. A cleaning crew. Four people probably. Three of his lieutenants were meeting in the downstairs conference room. Their bodyguards were probably inside. Two each. That totaled thirteen.
Maybe more.
Seeing the entire building about to go up in flames infuriated him. Powerful man or not, the Sheikh had crossed the line. Baha could’ve been killed in the attack, and he now had confirmation the Sheikh was behind it.
He was already planning his revenge.
The White Wolves didn’t start this war, but he intended to finish it.
The Sheikh would die for this.
***
Sheikh Saad Shakir’s house
The Sheikh made a decision. The models were too much trouble. After Bianca and Anya were kidnapped, only two were left in the house. Those two were taken to the yacht earlier that day to join the three already there. In a few days, he’d get rid of all five girls. He’d make them disappear in the Persian Gulf.
In the meantime, he needed to replace them.
He picked up the phone and called the cleric of his mosque.
The man answered with the traditional long Muslim greeting. The Sheikh responded with the short version.
“I want to divorce all three of my wives,” the Sheikh said. He’d not yet had a chance to call the cleric to get a divorce from Anya. With the other two soon to be at the bottom of the gulf, the Sheikh, by law, had four slots available to fill with other wives.
“I can handle the paperwork immediately,” the cleric answered. “Remember, that you cannot have sexual relations with your former wives from this point on.”
“Understood. Take care of the paperwork so they are no longer legally my wives,” the Sheikh said. “I don’t want to do anything that would displease God.”
The cleric began a long salutation, but Saad hung up before he finished.
He had an incoming call.
“Salam,” the Sheikh said.
Zamani.
“It’s done,” Zamani said. “The entire building is destroyed.”
“How many dead?”
“I don’t know, but I saw thirteen people go in earlier in the night. Baha made it out safely.”
“That’s probably better for now. I’d rather he be alive to see the aftermath. He now knows that I’m not one to be messed with.”
“I believe that’s true. I told him you were responsible.”
“Good. Next, we will demand that he return my money and painting, or I will destroy his entire organization.”
“I presume my money will be in my account shortly,” Zamani said.
“I’m sending it now. Thank you.”
The line went dead.
Saad was glad Zamani was on his side.
***
Amina
Women’s correctional facility.
MJ never came back from her trial.
Amina hadn’t heard from her lawyer either. She had no clue what happened.
Did the judge find MJ not guilty and let her leave the country to be with Christopher?
Was she found guilty and sent to another jail?
Was she executed?
Amina tried not to let her imagination run wild but couldn’t help it. She lay on the mattress in her cell and sobbed. While she had no idea what had happened to MJ, she feared the worst. And her trial was in three days.
To make matters worse, a guard had started to show an interest in her. Amina was allowed outside of her cell one hour a day. A guard was eyeing her and taunting her out in the courtyard. He said he was going to come into her cell in the middle of the night while she was asleep and do all kinds of disgusting things.
She’d tried to make herself go to sleep but couldn’t. The fear was overwhelming. The internal injuries from the gang rape hadn’t fully healed. It still hurt to walk. Her eye was better, although her vision was still blurry. It had felt good to get out of the cell and into the sunshine. She missed MJ, though.
She felt safer when MJ was there. Not that the two of them could’ve done anything if a guard came in. But at least having her there had made her feel like she wasn’t alone.
A noise startled her.
Amina sat up from the mattress. She heard footsteps coming down the hall and stopping right in front of her cell door.
She pushed the tears out of her eyes.
MJ?
The cell door creaked open.
Not MJ.
The guard.
He walked into her cell and closed the door behind him.
25
Abu Dhabi International Airport
Alex and the AJAX team arrived at the airport the following morning. Unexpectedly, they were rested and ready to hit the ground running, showing no effects of jet lag at all. As I expected, they were already at each other’s throats.
Especially Bond Digby and my husband Alex, who had the proverbial love/hate relationship. Bond was complaining because he had to fly in coach. Alex explained that they only had two first class seats. Bond lost the game of sharks. Some silly game they play when one of them had to do something or be the odd man out.
Alex and Bond were too much alike which was the problem. That, and the fact that Bond was constantly flirting with me. At first, he was halfway serious. Now I think he did it just to get under Alex’s skin. The only reason Alex put up with it was because Bond was good at his job and had saved his life once. Something Bond reminded Alex of often.
A-Rad and I met them at the airport. As soon as Bond saw me, he came right up and kissed me on both cheeks.
“Hey!” Alex said. “I’m her husband. I should get to go first.”
“I’m just getting her warmed up for you.”
“I can do that myself, thank you very much,” Alex said, as he leaned in to kiss me on the lips.
I pushed him away.
“Hey!” he said for the second time.
“It’s against the law to have any public displays of affection,” I reminded them. Not that they needed it. All three of them had run many operations in Arab countries. They knew the laws as well as anybody.
“You guys haven’t been here for five minutes, and you’re already breaking the laws,” I quipped.
The reality was that they’d probably break a lot more before we were finished.
“I never did like that law,” Alex said.
“You can kiss me when we get back to the plane,” I joked.
“What about me?” Bond asked. “Do I get a kiss back at the plane as well?”
Alex glared at Bond. Josh pushed Bond toward the back seat of the SUV. I couldn’t help but smile. It was good to have the team back together again. Before getting in the SUV, Josh gave me a wave.
We’d lucked out when we formed this team. Bond Digby was a former MI6 British intelligence officer. Everyone called him 007 for obvious reasons. If anyone could look or play the part of a James Bond, Digby could pull it off. His expertise was intelligence. He was one of the best in the business at operating in the field. He could take information, analyze it, and draw conclusions which were right more often than not.
Colonel Josh Hawley was a battle-tested veteran who did four stints in Iraq and Afghanistan during the height of the wars. His nickname was Private. The guys’ way of razzing him. If it bothered him, he never let on. No one was better at battlefield strategy than Josh. Having him on our team had saved all of our lives on more than one occasion.
Our first mission together was almost a disaster. Brad, our CIA handler, sent us to Uganda to rescue a group of seventy-five school-aged girls, kidnapped from their classroom by local r
ebels. We found their hideout, and Josh developed a plan to attack them. Even though we were outmanned four to one, the plan worked, and we killed most of the rebels and took the others prisoner.
The problem was that the rebel’s reinforcements arrived before our extraction team. A major gun battle ensued. Josh took charge and, somehow, we held them off until we ran out of ammunition. Even then, through a series of crafty maneuvers orchestrated by Josh, we were able to secure some of the enemy’s weapons and stay in the fight.
Eventually, the cavalry arrived, and the girls were rescued without one of them losing their lives. That experience drew the team together in a way that three months of training with Curly never could. For all the bantering and harsh words between the four men, A-Rad, Josh, Bond, and Alex were a band of brothers. Any one of them would risk life and limb to save the other. If you asked who they’d want in a fox hole with them, they’d choose each other. If you caught them at a time when they weren’t joking around.
When we got back to the plane, I gave them the mission objectives. I explained everything that had happened with MJ and Amina, Bianca and Anya, and what we might be facing in the next couple days.
Josh was tasked with developing the operational plan and was listening intently.
Bond was in charge of securing intelligence, and was staring off into the ceiling like he was deep in thought.
Alex was an expert in cyberwarfare. He suggested looking for MJ, although I didn’t hold out much hope of rescuing her even if we did know where she was.
“Two days from now, Amina goes to trial,” I said.
The group was huddled around the kitchen table in the center section of our luxury jet.
“This will be a simple extraction,” I continued. “They’ll drive Amina to the courthouse in a van. One guard. Two at the most. Rent-a-cops. After the trial, they’ll bring her back out to the van. Grab her then.”
“Do you want us to kill the guards?” Bond asked.
“I don’t think that’ll be necessary,” I said.
“We’ll know what to do when the time comes,” Josh added.
Josh was the calmest person under fire I’d ever seen. Bullets could be flying, but the fog of war never overwhelmed him. He could still see the battlefield clearly and almost always knew exactly what to do. I’d never seen him hesitate under fire.
I’d first met him on a mission to Cuba. He was leading a team for the Air Force that flew planes into hurricanes to get weather readings. A-Rad was his pilot. Josh and I parachuted into the eye of a hurricane together in Cuba. Something we lived to tell about. But not before Josh killed four bad guys when we ran into trouble trying to rescue four teenage girls.
The mission was successful, and Josh was the first person I thought of when Brad presented us with the opportunity to build our own covert team.
“I agree with Josh,” I said. “However, if the guards pose a threat to you or Amina, then take them out. Whatever it takes.”
“Why don’t we grab Amina when she’s going into the courthouse?” Alex asked. “That makes the most sense.”
I shook my head no.
“We need to let the trial play out. Amina’s attorney thinks he can get her off on the charges. Amina was a minor when the rape occurred. The UAE civil laws don’t allow punishment for minors. If she can walk from the charges, then we don’t even have to do anything. Better to wait and see what the judge does.”
“That makes sense,” Josh said.
“But if you see Amina come out of that courthouse with a guard, you move immediately,” I said.
I told them about how MJ was taken out in the yard twice and beaten.
“Don’t let that happen to Amina,” I added soberly. “If they bring her out to cane her, then kill the guards, and get her out of there.”
“We won’t let them lay a hand on her, I promise,” Alex said.
The other guys voiced the same resolve.
“Let’s talk about the Sheikh’s house,” Josh said. “Satellite imaging shows that he’s got twenty to thirty guards around the house now. That’ll make it more difficult to penetrate.”
“I guess he did that because we snatched Anya from the house,” I said.
“You didn’t hear, I guess,” Alex said. “A bomb went off at the White Wolves headquarters in Turkey. A dozen or more people were killed. Their leader was in the building but walked away unscathed. As you can imagine, he’s on the warpath. The chatter is that he’s planning an attack at some point on the Sheikh for retaliation. I’m sure the Sheikh is worried.”
“Looks like you’ve stirred up a hornet’s nest,” Bond said, talking about me.
I looked over at A-Rad and he smiled, so I returned it. I explained how A-Rad used his Turkish accent to kidnap Bianca and Anya, but make it look like the White Wolves did it.
“That was the plan,” I said. “I wanted the Sheikh to think the White Wolves were behind the kidnappings and that they stole the painting. I preferred them fighting each other to fighting us.”
“Your plan worked to perfection,” Alex said.
“We actually don’t need to attack the house,” I said. “The yacht is my concern.”
“Aren’t there still two girls in the house?” Alex asked.
“Yes. But as far as I know, they want to be there. I want to find the Canadian girl who went missing. According to Bianca, she was last seen on a boat headed for the yacht. The yacht hasn’t moved in three months, so there’s a chance she’s still on it.”
“If she’s there, we’ll get her off,” Alex said.
“Josh, we need a plan to get to the yacht without being seen. There will likely be a couple of guards there as well.”
“Step ahead of you,” Josh said.
“I got the layout of the yacht,” Alex explained. “And satellite images. Brad sent them to me. The bird showed there are three guards on board. With assault rifles. We didn’t see the girls.”
“That tells me the girls must be on the boat,” I said, as my heart started beating faster. “There wouldn’t be guards unless they had something to protect. There also wouldn’t be three guards for just one girl. There must be more than one girl on board.”
“My thoughts exactly,” Josh said. “Bond and I will go to the house and check it out. We’ll see what we see and get back to you with a plan.”
“I’ll go with you,” A-Rad said. “I know where the house is. I’ll drive you.”
The guys went in the vault, picked out weapons and supplies, and soon were on their way. I could tell they were all excited to be back in the field and on a mission. This was what we lived for. The men had really embraced the challenge of rescuing girls which made it easier for me. These guys wouldn’t risk their lives if they didn’t believe in the cause.
Once they were gone, Alex looked at me with his little boyish smile that I’d grown to love.
“Now that all the kids are out of the house, maybe I can get that kiss!” he said.
I’d forgotten about giving him one when we got back to the plane.
“You can have more than that,” I said, as I kissed him passionately. Hard and firm and let it linger.
After the emotions of the last two weeks, having him there was good for my soul.
I needed it.
I had a feeling the next few days were going to be just as trying if not more.
26
Amina
Courthouse
Being back at the courthouse where MJ had been so badly mistreated brought back a flood of anger and sadness as the images played in my mind like a movie. Curly always said to get rid of them as soon as possible. I liked to let them linger near the surface, so the righteous indignation stayed at a boiling point, ready to erupt at the right moment.
I didn’t think I’d get my satisfaction today. The plan was to rescue Amina and get out of there as soon as possible, without anyone knowing I had anything to do with it.
The courtroom had more people in it than when MJ went through her
trial. Malak and I were the only ones there representing Amina’s side. The Tates and Aunt Shule thought it best not to attend, though they sent their prayers and support.
We were clearly outnumbered. Sitting behind the prosecutor were the four defendants who attacked Amina along with their attorney. Amina’s mother, Samitah, sat next to her husband. Fidgeting. Because of her burqa, I couldn’t see her facial expressions, but her body language said it all. She kept wringing her hands and looking around nervously. If I could see her face, I was certain it was pained. Samitah loved her daughter and hated what her father was doing to her.
Amina’s father looked angry, resolved, and determined to see that his daughter got what he thought she deserved. He was looking around nervously as well, sitting on the edge of his seat like a tiger about to pounce on its prey. I was surprised he sat on the same side of the courtroom as the four men who had raped his daughter. Probably because he blamed her more than them.
Malak told me that Amina’s tribe would be pushing for the death penalty for her. He was still confident that he’d get Amina off on a technicality. She was a minor at the time the rape occurred. Minors, by law couldn’t be punished for crimes. Not even with lashes. Certainly not stoning. His main concern was what would happen to Amina as soon as she was set free. He worried that Amina’s father would do the same thing MJ’s father did and try to kill her.
I wasn’t worried about that at all. He would never get the chance.
Malak sat next to me waiting for Amina to arrive.
“Have you heard from MJ?” I asked him.
“I met with her yesterday.”
“How’s she doing?”
“As well as could be expected, considering. She seemed more worried about Amina than anything else. She’s resigned to her fate.”
“There’s still the appeal.”
“I don’t think there’s much chance the Supreme Court will even hear it, much less act on it. As crazy as it is, the judge did follow the tribal law. He has a lot of latitude in handing out sentencing. He only sentenced her to lashes and jail time. The tribe sentenced her to death. The civil courts are extremely reluctant to overturn a tribal verdict. They maintain their power by keeping the tribal leaders appeased. Unfortunately, MJ is a poor girl. There’s no one out there advocating on her behalf or clamoring for her release.”