Chapter 14

Raven and Jack built a sweat lodge of thin birch tree trunks bent into arches and then covered the assemblage with conifer branches. Once the lodge was assembled to their satisfaction a fire was built near by, using hard woods that made little to no smoke. As the fire burned down to a large pile of coals the two gathered various herbs from their medicine bags. The herbs would be used to make cleansing smoke, for their spirits were heavy with the evil of the past months. As soon as they had readied themselves, Jack moved the coals into the lodge. The two then settled down beside the glowing coals, centering themselves on the cleansing ritual, letting the great heat and smoke do its job. They were ridding themselves of the bad essences from the 'Bat' and Alice. The ritual was also to prepare them for the coming battle against Hassan, the architect of all of the recent misery.

It was now twenty-four hours since they left Alice, with her dead boyfriend. Her fate was now in the hands of the Spirits.

< "Grandfather." >

< "Yes Little Bird?" >

< "I am done with the business. I can no longer do that kind of work without thinking of Mom, Dad and Sally. Since the new Company isn't any more than a paper entity we can sell out and go do something else. What do you think?" >

< "I think that we should do as you wanted in the beginning. However, we would keep ownership of the Company while letting others do the work. The new designs will carry the Company for a decade or so. Those designs are nothing short of miraculous! Let us do some good for our people. It will be so much better for them than gambling Casinos, don't you think?

You don't have to do any of the things that you did in the past. Rather, you can make your work the saving of a people... as a memorial to your family." >

Raven said nothing for a very long time. She just sat absolutely still with her eyes closed, meditating on what Jack had suggested.

"Gone? What do you mean gone?" screamed Hassan.

The servant bowed and shook in great fear before his enraged master as he said, "Y... yes S... S... Sir. There were no people at all, and... and the safe was open and empty too."

"What about the whores? They were there, yes?"

"No sir, as I said there were no people there at all."

Hassan stopped pacing and stared at his servant.

Aziz Hassan was not a man of patient understanding. No, he was a man of violence, a megalomaniac that did not allow any opposition or failure. His visage became darker and darker as his rage grew, until it exploded. Suddenly he punched the servant, stunning him. Hassan continued to punch, pummel and finally kick the poor servant into unconsciousness.

Aziz Hassan beat the man to death!

Billy stopped his call to Jack in the middle of dialing and picked up the microphone again, "Base to blue team. Base to blue team. Over."

"This is blue team. Over."

"Base to blue team, what kind of security is there? Can you see? Over"

"Blue team to Base, yes we have eyes up. The place is not just a brothel, Boss; it's a damn fort. There are at least fifty armed guards. Over."

"Understood blue team, stand by one."

Billy sat and thought for a few minutes and then keyed the mike again, "Base to blue team. Over."

"Blue team here. Over."

"Base to blue team. Collect all the data that you have and bring it here. Over."

"Blue team to base, understood. Will be on your doorstep in one hour. Over."

"Base to blue team, understood. Over and out."

"Blue team out."

"This isn't looking good!" thought Billy as he reached for the Sat phone.

Both Jack and Raven started when the Sat phone began its insistent ringing.

"This can't be good," said Jack as he crawled from the sweat lodge.

Jack's face grew grave as Billy explained the situation.

As Raven exited the lodge she could see that Jack was getting upset. Grabbing the soap she stepped into the stream to wash the perspiration from her body.

Finished with his conversation with Billy, Jack closed the phone and just stood with his hands on hips, thinking. He started when Raven walked up behind him and handed him the soap.

"I can see by your expression that things are bad. My question is, how bad?"

"Very! Hassan knows that we hit the brothel. Well, he doesn't know it was us but some one, unless... maybe he thinks the two did a runner... I don't know. I need to think."

"Ok."

Raven dressed and then dismantled the sweat lodge. She put the fire out, and cleaned the campsite up. The only indication that anyone had been at the site, was a small pile of branches and a few lodge poles. In less than half an hour the two were hiking back to their SUV.

Without the burden of the two prisoners to slow them down, Jack and Raven took only an hour to make it back to the car and get on the road.

As they traveled Jack laid out their problem and what he thought should be done about it. Raven made suggestions, but the fact of the matter was that they needed more information. They both knew that what they were planning was dependant on accurate intel.

Hassan, never a stable man, walked away from the body of his servant. He went up onto the floor where he kept his captives. His wrath was not yet abated and he took it out on the poor little girls, raping and beating one after the other.

By the time his temper had cooled, two children were dead, and three others severely injured.