Chapter 27

By the time they covered the mile walk back to the maintenance facility, I knew everything worth knowing about Abdullah bin Ibrahim. I knew how much the Saudi chargé d’affaires for the mission in Los Angeles paid him. I knew the names of the three women he paid for overnight ‘services’ on a regular basis. I knew where he banked and how to get more money from the Saudi official he dealt with. I knew how much of the $1 million payment for Blue Horse he was going to keep after he killed the man. I knew that he pulled the trigger on his sniper rifle with his middle finger. I knew where he had purchased the camouflage clothing he wore. And I knew how he planned to kill his captors, if they ever got within striking distance.

The four Navajo scouts that came into the building with him were taking no chances. In addition to the handcuffs behind his back, they’d tied a rope around his ankles. Poor ol’ Abdullah had to shuffle along for the whole mile.

“Put him spread eagle on the floor of the garage. Face up,” Linc said. When he was down, Linc picked up an M16 and put the muzzle directly on Abdullah’s still-flopping-in-the-breeze member. He noisily set the selector to a three-round burst. “One wrong move and you’ll meet the virgins who might be waiting for you in heaven as a eunuch.”

The Navajo male scouts joked with each other at the prisoner’s predicament. “I’ve heard you can live for quite a while with your dick shot off. At that range, the muzzle blast will cauterize the bleeding.”

“Hell, with no dick, how long would you WANT to live?”

Carefully, they tied each limb to the walls. “I have diplomatic immunity,” said Abdullah. “You can’t do this.”

Alice, the elder of the two women scouts, said, “Can we have him now?” She pulled a knife from its sheath on her belt.

“Is she old enough?” asked Linc, motioning to the younger scout.

“I’m a witch,” she said. “I heard him cursing in his head all the way down here. Besides, I promised Sewai his balls for a treat.”

She could hear him in his head? Was she serious about this or just talking nonsense to play on his nerves? I slipped into her mind for a quick look. Yep. She was a genUWINE Navajo witch, who could hear thoughts. Her grandmother told her she was a witch since she was a little girl. She said the mind reading thing skipped a generation, like fortelling the future from coyote entrails. Hmm! That’s something. I wonder how fresh the entrails have to be?

“Well then,” Linc said, “a promise is a promise.” He took a step away from the man on the floor, handing the rifle to one of the male scouts.

“Ever seen them work, Socrates?” the scout asked the other male.

‘Socrates’ looked at the other male scout in surprise. “No, I never seen it before, Einstein.”

The older woman – who must have been all of 35 years old – kneeled between his legs and began cutting the crotch of his pants away.

Linc tossed two pair of surgical gloves to the two women. “You want to be careful if you have to touch that. Can’t tell where it’s been.”

Abdullah said loudly, “Can’t you hear? I have diplomatic immunity!! You can’t arrest or detain me! DIPLOMATIC IMMUNITY. I am a Saudi official!”

“Uh ... Socrates ... Einstein ... are we planning on detaining this gentleman?”

“Nope.” “Not me.”

“I just want to cut if off. On second thought, it’s not big enough to put on the wall. I’m gonna mount it on my desk as a paperweight,” Alice said.

“You can’t ... AIIIEEEEE!” Abdullah screeched.

He screeched because Alice had made a very light cut on his scrotum. Barely a scratch.

“Perhaps if you tell us all you know about this situation,” Linc said. “We might let you go – in light of your diplomatic immunity.”

“Go to hell,” Abdullah said.

Without saying a word, the ‘Navajo witch’ held his penis upright, while Alice pulled his ball sac down. Then she cut another long stripe along his right ball ... about in the middle, horizontally.

“HEY! Be careful,” said the ‘witch.’ “I’m going to need them.”

“AIIIEEE! Allah be merciful! Let me die, I pray you.”

“Any thoughts about the bombs on the plane, before they go too far?” Linc said. “They haven’t damaged anything ... yet.”

“Yes, yes ... all right,” said the soon to be eunuch. And he told a long story about the bombs he’d supplied to Blue Horse. The receiver he had in the saddlebag on his motorcycle. The orders he’d gotten from his boss in Los Angeles. How he was going to wait until he was sure all the family was on board and the plane was in the air. Etc. Etc. Etc.

Blue Horse was in the manager’s office for all of this. He’d heard the clipped British accent of the man who’d paid him a half million dollars and had promised him the rest.

When the story was complete, Linc said, “That’ll be enough ladies. I guess we’ll just bury him and his diplomatic immunity in the hills. Both of ‘em.”

“You’re not gonna let me have it for a paperweight, are ya?” Alice asked, a bit whiny if you ask me.

Before Linc could answer there was a big pounding knock that rattled the the overhead doors at the end of the garage. One of the men went to the human-sized door alongside the overhead doors.