Chapter 9

July 2009, Sudan

I tried to be quick, but the dinner was all ready and the others were waiting for me. I apologized, but Hana just silenced me with a warm kiss. Naiya was happy in her own seat and most probably we would have a peaceful dinner. It was almost silly that, despite all the crazy things happening around us, we had a nice peaceful dinner. We talked about normal things, about working here, about home schooling of Pam and Hana and how Naiya was growing and changing day by day. I could almost see how Karen was absorbing all the information, and how anxious she was to fill in the holes. To her, our discussion was something like building a house up in the air, without a basement and the first floor.

After dinner we had some tea and then it was time for Naiya to go to sleep. Luckily it did not usually take a long time and this evening was no different. I helped Hana in putting her to sleep. After a few minutes she was sleeping peacefully. Once we close the door behind us I saw that Karen was anxious to have some answers, but I raised my hand and stopped her.

"Karen, I know that you are starving for some answers but there are some things that are more urgent. Had you not come here I would have the details already but now they cannot wait any longer. Besides, if you listen for a moment you'll hear the answers to some of your questions."

I ignored her hurt look and turned to Hana.

"Hana dear, could you please translate something for all of us. I'll stop every now and then to make it easier."

She nodded to me and I picked up my laptop and connected my portable recorder to it. Soon I was able to adjust the level of the male voice speaking Arabic. I could see Hana stiffen immediately. I looked at her before speaking in Arabic.

"Is that him?"

"Yes, he was the first - and the leader."

"I'm certain that he will not bother you – or anyone - any more. Not ever!"

The relief and joy in Hana's face was almost scary, and she was soon hugging and kissing me with tears in her eyes. I could see that Pam had been able to follow our discussion, and I was equally scared to see her smile. I turned to Karen.

"Your questions will be answered, trust me."

I restarted the recording and Hana translated the greetings. I stopped the playback and re-checked the names before writing them down in my laptop. At this point, Karen also had recognized the guy I had been eavesdropping on. I played on and listened, with Hana translating.

" ... once I have done that American whore in all her holes, you all can have her..."

"That is a lie. He never had his way with me. Only one kiss and even that was a mistake..."

Even though Karen had not spoken loudly, it was clear to everyone that she was angry. As soon as she had interrupted Hana she looked a bit ashamed.

"I'm sorry. I just ... I don't want you to think..."

"Karen, I believe you. I saw you both, that day, and I wouldn't have believed that even if I hadn't heard you two talk."

She was about to say something but once she understood that I had been spying and eavesdropping also on her, too, she became silent. I nodded to Hana and continued playing the recording.

"Then there are his women. They shouldn't be present at the opening. Remember, the Chinese girl will be mine. Mine. Maybe I'll even keep her a while. You can have the other, you may even remember her. By now she should have some tits, too."

Hana started weeping quietly once she had finished. When I rose to hold her, I took a quick look towards Pam and also she seemed very distracted. I noticed that it took Karen a few moments to understand what had just been said, and the look on her face showed some new curiosity when she saw me comfort Hana. After a moment Hana nodded to me that she could continue.

For the next half an hour we listened the recording while I double-checked on details: names, dates, places. The most shocking piece of news was that he had known about my double-duty. The person informing him was my second boss. In a way that was no news to me, since I had been suspecting it for a while. I was aware of his political views, and I could also understand his reasoning. What we had just listened was a plan to blow up the new bridge, and all the important people present at the opening ceremony. I knew that the minister who is supposed to be there was one of the moderate ones. They were then ready to turn the blame on the minorities.

I leaned back once we had finished the recording. All the women looked a bit shocked about the things that had been revealed. Both Hana and Pam had known for a while that we might need to leave in haste, but the real problem was that we would be on our own. It was Pam who interrupted the silence.

"Don't they now cancel the strike, when he isn't there to launch the bombs?"

I shook my head.

"They don't know that he isn't around, anymore. They'll think that he's having his fun with Karen, and they're far too afraid of him to disturb his fun. He had killed people for lesser reasons."

That woke Karen.

"What do you mean by that 'he had killed'? Did something happen to him?"

I had to smile a bit.

"It's possible that he was arrogant and didn't notice that he had a faulty GPS and got lost in the desert and ran out of gas. That can be quite deadly around here. It may be that he had gotten too soft in those big cities. He can't make it any more in the desert."

I looked grim while Karen looked a bit confused; but it was Pam who was not satisfied yet.

"He was a terrorist and a murderer and a rapist, and anything but torture would be too nice for him!"

For some reason her reaction did not really surprise me, but from the looks Karen was giving me, I could see that she was at least surprised to find out that her ex-fiancée wasn't the same nice guy he used to be – and his daughter was a scary bloodthirsty teenager.

Spring 2006 - Central America

Since the beginning of the year my relationship with Sondra had been common knowledge. It did not stop the girls from flirting with me, but my tolerance had grown to the level that I could live with that. I guess that even if Sondra teased me about seeing young tits and occasionally even pussies she was quite satisfied with the results. In fact, I had to make another order which certainly generated more talks at the village. But besides being lovers – or rather fuck buddies – we did not really develop our friendship. To me it seemed that we both had our issues and we were not really ready to open up.

Even if everything seemed to be okay, by the middle of the spring I had a nagging feeling that something was going to be terribly wrong. It was nothing big. The headmistress ignored me just like she had always done but many little things changed. I noticed that she followed my schedule closely and was particularly interested about my absences. I did not say anything to Sondra but I did ask Pam to be extra careful.

It was a few weeks later when both Sondra and I were sent on a mission in shitty rainy weather. I couldn't understand why we both would need to go, nor could I understand why that little job became so urgent all of a sudden. However, I didn't show any doubts but was ready go like ordered, but not before I had given a small mobile phone to Pam, and given her strict orders to stay out of trouble. Then I picked up Sondra, and we were on our way. She looked genuinely surprised when I pulled the car over to the hidden side road after only five minutes into the drive. Suddenly her look turned into a smile and she started pushing her seat backwards.

"You are a bad boy, a very bad boy."

I kept on looking at her trying to see any signs of dishonesty but all that I could see was anticipation turning into puzzlement. I sighed deeply.

"I'm sorry, Sondra. I just didn't know if I could trust you or not."

After that she looked even more puzzled if that was possible. When I gave her a run-down about who I was and why I was there, I could see the look on her face change from puzzlement to anger and from anger to grief and from grief to determination. When I was finished she opened her mouth for a couple of times like she was going to say something but she didn't manage to say a thing before my mobile rang. As soon as I noticed that it was Pam, I pressed the green button on my own phone. Pam started speaking before I could say a word.

"Dad, a truck just came and a few soldiers jumped down. They are speaking to Ms. Rosa and she is giving them directions. Now one of them is coming this way and two are heading to building holding the older girls. I need to put away this phone right now as I have no place to hide it. Bye, Daddy."

Before she had even finished, I was already driving the jeep back in the direction of the school. I was careful when I approached the school area, but it turned out there was no reason for that. The truck was already gone and the pouring rain had almost washed away all the tracks. For a second I thought about driving after the truck but I knew that without any more knowledge, that would be quite useless. Instead, I stopped the car at the front of Ms. Rosa's apartment and rushed in.

I'm not at all a religious person but if I'll find myself facing the gates of hell at the end of my days I know that one reason for that, is what I did to that already broken woman that early rainy evening. I did not physically hurt her at all, but in five minutes she already feared me more than she feared the syndicate. In less than ten minutes I was ready to drive after them as I now knew the direction I should be going, and what I should be looking for. I could only hope that I'd be there in time. And that I could do something to five armed men. On my way out of the apartment I stopped by the car to empty my stomach. Only then I noticed Sondra who had been there in the background all the time while I did my interrogation. I looked at her.

"Sondra, can you please make sure that she doesn't do anything silly?"

Sondra nodded to me looking very distracted.

"Greg, do you have a gun?"

I shook my head.

"Couldn't use it anyway, too noisy, but don't worry, I was trained for situations like this."

Just where did that bullshit come from? She did not look convinced, either.

"Wait a second, I may have something you can use."

In less than half a minute she was back with a mean looking machete. She gave it to me and then kissed me on the cheek.

"Be careful and bring the girls back."

When I started driving I was quite sure that I didn't fool her. At least I didn't fool myself. I knew that instead of following the instructions given to me at the training, I was now breaking all the rules. I did not inform anyone about my actions, but instead I rushed after five armed men while I was carrying a machete and a shovel. I was planning to attack five trained, armed men with a shovel - and a machete. Somewhere inside me I knew very well why I was doing this. I still had a feeling that I had let Toey and our unborn baby down. Now I had let Pam down.