Chapter 21: Sniper Competition Wednesday 19 September 2007

Khudabah, Pakistan — Evening of twentieth day of capture

I took several hours for me to fall asleep last night, the whole time I was thinking of ways to escape and I think I've figured out a plan that will work. It's going to be risky, but I'm tired of just waiting to be rescued. Damn, that makes me wonder what the hell is going on with Jens. If I try real hard I can still sort of feel her feelings and it's almost scary when I do, I've never felt her this pissed off before.

When the guards came in to get me this morning, Zarika wasn't with them so I started singing my fake 'death song' again as loud as I could. I'm not sure why, but whenever I sing it they get really freaked out. They left the guard in the room that was watching me all night and came back a while later with Zarika. When she came in with them I didn't sing and I could see a little twinkle in her eyes.

The three guards moved me downstairs to my cell and tied me back to the ceiling; shit what's going on now. Zarika told me in Russian that Hussein was bringing in the Imam to see me today. Then she came over and started cleaning me up even better than before. Shit she even cut my hair and shaved the little bit of scruff on my face. I got really pissed when she wanted to give me a fucking 'man dress' and refused to wear it. The guards came over and started fighting with me until I started in on the 'death song.' They freaked out and gave up and Zarika went and brought in a pair of pants and a shirt for me, of course the minute she left I started wailing again and didn't stop until she came back. Damn, at least I had some control over the situation.

Once I was cleaned up the guards moved me to the chair and tied me up, damn they even tied my left arm down. Zarika left to go get my food and of course I sang the 'death song' until she came back. Damn are these towel heads stupid, if this wasn't a life or death situation I might be able to laugh about it.

We waited around for about an hour and finally the Imam, Hussein and Mustif came in, they tried to chase Zarika out of the room and when she started leaving, I started in on my 'death song' singing it as loud as I could. Mustif got really pissed and came over and started beating on me, Hussein and the guards grabbed him and beat the shit out of him finally tying him up to my old spot on the ceiling. Damn son of a bitch I hope he likes how it feels. The whole time I kept up the wailing until they finally brought Zarika back. Damn, to think they would let a woman be here when the Imam was here, I really have them shaken up.

Hussein and the Imam sat across the table from me while Zarika was sitting by my feet. The Imam looked at me and said, in pretty damn good English, "Why is it my son that you want to die?"

I thought, shit I'm not and never will be your son you fucking towel headed bastard. But I answered, "I'm American Indian and my spirits have told me I will never escape and I need to prepare myself to be with my ancestors.

The Imam continued, "Maybe my son you just haven't experienced the one true god."

I took all my strength not to puke when he said that, "Tell me Imam, is Mustif one of god's children?"

The Imam looked at Mustif hanging from the ceiling and said, "Yes, he is one of god's children."

I looked at him and said, "If he is one of god's children then I will never be interested in him. Mustif has treated me worse than a pig and because of him I'm not interested." I decided that I'd pour on the bullshit and told the Imam, "With your god as my witness what I tell you now is the truth. He has tortured and starved me, he has made me watch women and children being raped and killed, he even raped Zarika when Hussein wasn't around. And even though Hussein told him not to he has still been injecting me with drugs every day, check my arms if you don't believe me." Mustif was screaming and hollering in Arabic, Zarika figured out the 'rape' lie and hung her head in fake shame, damn she was a good little actress. Hussein called two of the guards over, they held down my arms and pulled up my sleeves, the fresh injection sites were evident.

Hussein went into a rage and started beating Mustif finally he pulled out his pistol and shot Mustif in guts. Mustif let out a huge scream and passed out. Inside, I was the happiest I'd ever been since being captured, the damn rat bastard was going to die a slow and painful death.

The Imam didn't seem upset at all by the display of violence, and said to me, "Well there has been enough excitement here for today. With Mustif dead, I'll need to stop by everyday to talk with you." He talked some to Hussein, it sounded more like he was chewing his ass than a friendly discussion, I'm sure that Zarika will tell me what he said later. They both left leaving me alone with the dying Mustif, Zarika and the guards.

As soon as they left Zarika went over and spit on Mustif and kicked him in his balls, eliciting a moan from him and laughter from the guards. Then she came over and told me, "The Imam told Hussein he needed to treat you better because god could use a great and brave warrior like you. I spit on the ground and said, "Fuck him and fuck his god. I'll see them all in hell!" She then talked the guards into turning my chair so I could watch Mustif slowly bleed out.

I would taunt him every time he woke up and Zarika kept kicking him in the balls. It took all day but finally he bled out enough that he no longer woke up or even moaned when Zarika kicked him. The finally thing I said to him was, "That's what you get for fucking with a Marine." It was sweet watching him die, but not as sweet as if I would have killed the bastard with my own hands.

Zarika treated me to even more food at dinner than normal, after dinner she sat in my lap and told me how proud she was that I figured out a way to get Mustif killed.

The guards even treated me better when they took me upstairs to and tied me to my bed; I guess the Imam's talk to Hussein rubbed off on them. Zarika said, "Spakona Nocha." (Good Night - Sweet Dreams) and left leaving just my one guard in my room. I fell asleep right away and I did have such sweet dreams of my Jens...

Kaneohe Bay Hawaii — Tuesday Day Nineteen

"Uhh, ohhh, ahhh, oh yes, yes, yes, yes Ben oh I like that..."

I woke up and reached for the Kimber on my nightstand and thought, what the hell was that.

"Umm, oh, ah, oh Ben," Jens continued in her sleep.

Oh shit, I figured it out, Jens is having an erotic dream and it must be a good one. I wonder if women can have wet dreams. You know, we're both about as sexually frustrated as two people can get, it's a shame that we just can't take care of it.

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh," Jens screamed one last time and stopped thrashing around on the bed.

This really sucks, I thought, when something shocks me awake like this, I'm awake for a very long time. Besides Jens stole all the covers, and is wrapped up in them like a mummy; she's such a cover thief when I don't spoon her.

I figure I might as well get out of bed and do something. Shit, it's only 0030 and her dream has even excited me, perhaps I'll just take another cold shower.

I walked in my old bedroom and saw my Five fingers, shit, I know, I'll go for a run. I haven't had a run by myself ... well, since Jens came into my life. And with the way she's acted the last two days, I need some time to myself, this will be perfect.

Running helps to clear my mind and gives me time to think, that's why I love it so much. I might just do a Forrest Gump someday, where I start out running and never stop. This cast doesn't bother me much as I run; I wished I could say the same thing about shooting. Oh well that was yesterday and I did the best I could, today's competition is knives and the cast won't be as much of a hindrance.

Oh shit I forgot about the guards at the gate, maybe I can blow by them and they won't give me any crap.

"Halt, who goes there?" The guard said.

'Sergeant Major Bennie Blaine out for an early morning training run," I answered and showed him my ID.

He looked at it and said, "Shouldn't you have an escort with you?"

"Hey listen, I'm going a short distance down the road and then right back, I don't think anyone is out this early that will bother me. Besides I have my Kimber with me just in case," and I showed him my sidearm.

"Well, okay. I guess you can pass, "and the guard let me through the gate.

Running free again was great, nothing to think about, just the sound of one foot hitting the pavement in front of the other and sound of my breath. This run is helping me get rid of the bad feelings I have towards Jens from yesterday. I guess I'm still adapting to not being alone, but dammit I still need some alone time.

I didn't head down towards Kahaluu point this time; instead I decided to run straight into town. There were just enough streetlights that I could see quite well. And I thought I had the road to myself that is until I ran past a bar, damn look at all those bikes out front and it looks like the bar is closing for the night and the bikers are heading towards their bikes.

"Hey, isn't that the fucking Marine that almost killed Jimmy?" One of the bikers yelled.

All the bikers looked at me running by, "Yeah, it looks like the pictures I saw of him in the paper and he has a cast just like that shithead in the paper had." Another biker answered.

Shit, I thought, I need to get the hell out of here. And I started running down the street as fast as I could, shit that's a gunshot, the mother fuckers started shooting at me, I'd better start dodging.

I heard the bikes start up and knew that they'd be chasing me down soon if I didn't do something, so I dodged down an alley and tipped over all the trashcans as ran to try to slow them up. I just made it to the end of the alley as I heard the bikes enter the other end; I stepped around the corner, pulled my Kimber and waited. The trashcans were slowing them up down some, but not much. As the first biker came through the end of the alley, I shot the fuckers front tire and his bike went down hard with six other bikes crashing into his. They were pissed off and swearing up a storm, one saw me and he went for his gun, even using my left hand I beat him to the shot, a double tap¹ center mass and he was down, but shit they all saw me now and they started firing.

¹ (Two shots - when you have to use a handgun for self defense if possible and depending on the caliber, you always fire at least two shots center mass (middle of the chest) )

I dodged down another alley making a mess of the trashcans as I ran and did the best tactical reload that I'd done since my right arm was in a cast. I'd fired three shots out of one mag so I had five shots left in that mag, one in the pipe and eight in the new mag, it looked like there were about fifteen bikers left, shit I was going to run out of ammo before I ran out of targets and I couldn't afford to do double taps.

They must have gotten around the downed bikes because I could hear the bikes coming again. Son of a bitch, I needed to get somewhere that they couldn't go, but I needed to slow them up first. I ducked behind a dumpster and waited, there was a street light about twenty feet away and I could see really well from where I was hiding. As soon as I saw the front biker, I nailed him with a single tap in the head and his bike crashed again causing a chain reaction crash with the following bikes, the stupid fuckers will never learn. I started pushing the dumpster down the alley towards the bikers using it as a shield. They were more pissed than before and were shooting the hell out of the dumpster; I would peek around the side and single tap any of the bastards that I saw. I gave the dumpster one last push took off running down the alley, shit it felt like I was in Iraq again with all the bullets that were flying around. At least the bastards were drunk and bad shots.

You know when you don't need the fricken police they're always around, but now that I could really use one of course they're not around, too bad there isn't a donut shop around here. I'm down to two in this mag, time for another tactical reload, only eight rounds left.

Finally, there's the Kamahamaha highway if I can get across it and drop over the sea wall, I'll have some pretty good protection. Shit more shots, the fuckers must have made it out of the alley, at least they're on foot. I dove over the seawall with shots whistling all around me, damn that didn't feel real good on my right arm. I ducked and ran along the wall for about ten feet and then popped up and took out two more before they spotted my new position. I ducked and ran another ten feet, popped up again, damn they were close and I emptied the last three rounds in this mag and did my final tactical reload, shit three shots left and four bikers. Finally I heard some damn sirens; it's about fricken time, now if I can just stay away from these last four I'll be fine. I popped up one last time and noticed that the four bikers had heard the sirens and were taking off I was pissed and thought about shooting them, but it would be hard to explain why I shot them in the back, shit finally saved by the 'cavalry.'

Because I was only doing single taps I wasn't sure that the rat bastards I shot were dead so I stayed hidden behind the seawall. I heard a bunch of police cars slide up and the police some boiling out of them.

I yelled, "Don't shoot me; I'm Sergeant Major Bennie Blaine, I'm behind the seawall and I'm throwing out my gun and coming out." I held the Kimber up in the air above the seawall holding it by two fingers and set it on top of the seawall.

"We see you, stand up slowly and put your hands on your head. Don't reach for that gun or we will fire." One of the officers said.

I put my hands up in the air, doing the best as I could with my right arm and slowly stood up. Shit this was worse than the fricken bikers; I hoped that one of the cops didn't have an itchy trigger finger. After I stood up I heard, "Shit, not you again." It was the same Captain from two nights ago. "Everyone stand down and don't fire." The Captain commanded.

A couple of police came over; one used gloves, picked up my Kimber, unloaded it and put it in a plastic bag. They other helped me climb over the seawall and escorted me to the Captain.

The Captain asked me what had happened; I looked at him and said, "Sir, I was taking a morning run because I couldn't sleep when these bikers attacked me without provocation so I defended myself. Not to be disrespectful but before I answer anymore questions I would like for you to call the General, he will decide if I need legal counsel." The Captain had a patrol car take me down to the station and I was placed in an interrogation room. The adrenaline rush from my battle drained out of my body, taking my energy with it, I sat in the chair, laid my head on the table and fell asleep.

Shit, the damn phone was ringing, "Ben honey, will you get that?" I asked. I opened my eyes and fuck, where the hell is Ben. Damn, I was all wrapped up in the covers and could hardly move; finally I worked a hand out and grabbed the phone. "Hello, this is Jens."

Daddy was on the phone and chewed my ass, "Where the hell were you and the escorts?" daddy said and continued, "Ben was in some sort of gunfight in town and is being held at the police station."

Son of a bitch, that woke me up better than any cup of coffee. "Get your ass out of bed and get dressed. I'll be by in fifteen minutes to pick you up so we can go see Ben." Dad yelled over the phone.

Shit, shit, shit, that fucking jarhead took off for a late night run and didn't wake me up; I'll kick his butt when I see him ... No wait, I need to change my attitude. Ben fell asleep before me last night and I stayed up cuddling with him and thinking about how I had acted the last two days and I realized that I'd become a bitchy nag and it had started putting up a wall between us. SHIT! I bet that's the reason he went for a run by himself, he needed to be away from me and my bitchiness. Ben was right when he told me that I needed to support him no matter what, I had promised him I would do that and he really needs me now. He didn't need the bitchy nagging Jens, he needs the supportive loving Jens, I need to get dressed and get my head on straight.

I got dressed in my service uniform and fixed my hair, damn what a time to have a bad hair day. Maybe I should get a Demi Moore haircut ... nah, Ben likes my hair and I like when he runs his fingers through it. Oh well, it'll have to do. I just finished slipping into my flats as daddy pulled up, I ran out to his car and jumped in.

"Son of a bitch, where the hell were you tonight and where was the god damned escort." Daddy yelled.

I looked down at the floor of the car and said, "I'm sorry Sir, it's my fault. I've been a real bitch to Ben about his arm for the last two days, something must have woke him up and because of me I think he felt like he needed some time alone."

Daddy chewed my ass a bunch more, finally I looked over at him and said, "Okay, you've made me feel even worse than before but we both need to stop fighting right now. Believe me when you told me he was at the police station I was pissed and wanted to kick his ass. But I promised myself last night that I was going to support Ben no matter what and he really needs not just my, but our support more than ever. I want you to know that when we get to the police station, you'd better not chew Ben's ass or first I will kick your butt and then mom will take over. So if you need to chew my ass you can do it later but we need to think of Ben first."

He gave me a surprised look and said, "Well, I'll be damned. My daughter has finally grown up. If I wasn't so pissed I'd tell you how damn proud I am of you. And you're right, I don't know what sort of trouble Ben is in, but first he needs our support. I can wait until later to chew his ass."

Daddy and I rode the rest of the way to the police station in silence. I don't know what daddy was thinking, but I was still kicking myself in the ass for being such a bitch. I don't think that Ben did anything that would put him in prison, but shit I know we would both almost die if he had to spend anytime locked up. I spent the rest of the ride to the police station worrying about Ben and trying to control my emotions.

We were almost at the police station when daddy said, "Now you need to control yourself when we get in the station and act like the Marine that I've trained you to be. Don't go off 'half cocked' and start getting bossy or bitchy with the police or the DA. This isn't the Marines where I can fix something that you screw up, remember, these people have control over your fiancé."

The lecture helped and was what I needed to hear, being bullheaded with these people wouldn't work, because they could push back harder than I could push them. I wonder???? Hum, perhaps that might work with them...

The lawyer that daddy had called arrived a few minutes before we did and was already arguing with the police and the DA. We were ushered into the police Chief's office where the conversation was being held. Eww, I hate most lawyers, but this guy was pretty good.

As we were introduced to the Chief of police and the DA I gave them one of my biggest smiles and poured on the charm as I shook their hands, "I wished that I could have met both of you handsome men on better terms, it's always such a pleasure to meet those that are responsible for keeping us safe. I sleep much better at night knowing that we can always count on law enforcement to protect us." It wasn't how I really felt, but I knew I couldn't get what I wanted unless I baffled them with bullshit. I continued, "I know that there must be some little misunderstanding because my fiancé Ben would never break the law, he never evens speeds when he drives. I'm so worried about him and his injured arm that I'm almost sick. Would it be possible for me to see him, I just want to hold him and tell him I love him." I shot them another one of my smiles and then I looked back at daddy and the lawyer and winked, they looked totally baffled.

My plan worked and the Chief of police and the DA melted, damn its nice being a woman sometimes. The Chief pressed a button on the intercom and called in a policeman to escort me to where Ben was being held. I kissed daddy on the cheek as I left and whispered in his ear, "I'm going to make sure he's okay and I know they'll be listening so I'll also make sure he doesn't tell me anything. You and this lawyer need to get him the hell out of here, I'm counting on you." I shook both the Chief's and DA's hand and thanked them when I left and even turned and blew them a little kiss from the doorway.

It seemed like we walked forever to get to the interrogation room Ben was being held in but I'm sure that was just because I was so worried. It was good though because it did let me calm myself even more. Damn I could wait see my fiancé, I was going to give him such a hug and kiss...

We finally reached the room and the policeman opened the door, there were two detectives questioning Ben, damn he looked tired. The detectives looked frustrated, I could tell that Ben wasn't telling them anything. I wanted to run and jump in his arms, but I waited for the room to clear. Ben stood up and I ran over to him and hugged him as tight as I could and gave him a huge kiss. After we came up for air I whispered in his ear, "I love you and I miss you so much. We're here for you now. Don't say anything because they're listening."

Damn it was so good to finally see Jens again; I figured that she was going to really chew my ass because I really fucked up this time. I was so surprised when she came to me and hugged me so hard that my back popped and then gave me a huge kiss, shit I know my breath must be really bad, but she didn't even flinch.

I sat back down and Jens sat on my lap, damn she's going to have to get her uniform cleaned because I'm a sweaty, smelly mess. "Jens, I missed you so much. I'm so sorry." I tried to say more but she kissed me on the lips again.

"My fiancé," Jens said and continued, "I need to apologize to you and I don't care who hears what I say. I realized that I've been a real bitch and a nag the last two days. Ever since you broke your arm keeping me from being raped by those nasty bikers, I was so scared of them and you saved me keeping me pure for our wedding night. I've felt guilty that I couldn't protect myself and that you got hurt protecting my honor."

Damn, Jens had some sort of plan and was pouring on the bullshit; she definitely wasn't scared of them, she wasn't going to be raped and she even kicked the shit out of one of them.

I opened my mouth to say something and Jens kissed me again trying to stick her tongue down my throat. "My love, don't say anything, just hold me tight," Jens said and started to lightly cry.

Well, I was sure confused. I knew that sooner or later I would see Jens, and I was ready for her to unload a shitstorm on me, fuck I deserved it. But here she is setting in my lap pretending to be a defenseless woman when we both know better. And it's plain that she doesn't want me to talk, every time I open my mouth she plays tonsil hockey with me. So I held her and stroked her hair like she liked. She continued to cry and even shivered every once and awhile, damn she's such an actress.

The door opened and the detectives walked back in and asked Jens to leave, I guess they figured that I wasn't going to tell her anything. Jens started crying and wailing, one of the detectives came over and grabbed her by the arm pulling her out of my lap, I almost jumped up and beat the shit out of him for touching Jens, but she winked and me and slumped to the floor and wrapped both of her arms around my legs; damn the floor was nasty! She started sobbing and wailing and carrying on like they were trying to kill her, going on and on about how she was so scared of the bikers raping her and how she only felt safe when she was with me.

Just as the detective was getting ready to try to grab Jens again, Dad and three other men walked in the room, one was in a police uniform. The one in the uniform took one look at Jens wailing on the floor and the detective trying to grab her arm and said, "Detective Branson, what's going on here."

Detective Branson spun around and said, "Sir, we had let this female in to see the suspect like you requested and hoped that he would tell her something. All they did was hug and kiss so we decided to remove her from the room and continue the interrogation."

Jens had worked her way back into my lap and was holding my neck tight, she looked like hell, her uniform was a huge mess, all of her makeup had run all over her face and she had snot running out of her nose. Jens winked at me and looked over at the three and sobbed, "This, this, this man tried to take me away from my fiancé. Since I was almost raped by those nasty bikers and Ben saved me and protected my honor, I don't feel safe unless I am with him. Detective Branson even grabbed me by the arm and I think bruised me when he tried to drag me out of this room. Is this what they call police brutality?" And continued sobbing and shivering.

Detective Branson looked like he was going to shit his pants when the two suits that came in with dad and the uniform gave him nasty looks. The uniform told the detective to bring in some more chairs and then leave the room. Jens was still crying when they came back with the chairs so they sent the detectives out to get some Kleenex and a cup of coffee for everyone. Jens looked up at Detective Branson when he handed her the cup of coffee and said thanks in the meekest voice I'd ever heard her use, "I'm so sorry Detective Branson that I caused so much trouble, but I don't feel safe unless I'm with my fiancé." She even gave him a halfway smile.

The detectives left the room and introductions were made, the uniform was the Robert Long the Chief of police, the tall strong looking suit was Mike Stokes the District Attorney, the weasely looking short suit was Marvin Straight my fricken lawyer. Dad and the three of them were going over a bunch of boring legal crap and I tried to follow, but Jens was distracting me, she was sitting right in the middle of my lap and kept flexing her buns causing interesting sensations in my little Marine, damn why was she teasing me now?

Finally an agreement was made, the DA thought that it was self defense but I needed to go back to the scene with my lawyer, the DA, the detectives and the Crime Scene Investigators and reenact everything that happened. Shit, this meant I was going to miss the sniper competition today, I started to open my mouth and complain when Jens gave me another big kiss and pinched the hell out of my ear with her hand, I got the idea, I needed to shut the hell up and do what I was told. The other three at the table thought it was so cute how Jens was so in love with me, I think only dad and I knew what a devious witch she had been.

Jens looked at the Chief and DA and using her meek voice she asked, "Would it be possible for me and my fiancé to have some time alone where people aren't watching. I want to thank him in private for being so brave." And she batted her eyes at them. Of course they melted and we were lead to an office and given ten minutes, I figured okay now it's time for the shit to hit the fan, Jens closed the door behind her quickly surveyed the room and ran and jumped into my arms, this time she was crying for real, smothering me with little kisses. She went on and on and on about how sorry she was and how she had been a bitch and a nag and how she would never do that again, and she wasn't good enough for me and how she had caused a wall between us and hoped that I still loved her and that I'd take down the wall between us. She was talking and sobbing so damn fast I couldn't get a word in edgewise. Finally I grabbed the back of her head and gave her a big kiss.

When we came up for air I said, "Okay, is it my turn to talk?"

She looked at me with love and adoration in her eyes and nodded her head, I continued, "My love, you have me so confused I hardly know what to say. I figured that you were going to chew my ass the minute we got in this room and now you're asking my forgiveness. I don't understand."

Jens lightly slapped my face, "Silly jarhead, weren't you listening to me at all? I just told you I'm going to try to never do that again. I'm not going to say that I won't slip and make a mistake; you do know how emotional I get about things. But you're right, I need to support you and not bitch and nag at you. I don't know exactly what you did this morning, but I'm going to be right by your side today helping you." She was still holding me close.

I pushed her an arm length away from me, looked at her and said, "Aren't you forgetting about the sniper competition?"

Jens said, "Fuck the competition, I'm spending the day with you."

"Jens, the Corps is counting on one of us winning the competition, there's no way in hell that the police will let me compete so I'm out of the competition. I'm asking you Marine to win that trophy for the Corps. I expect, no I know that you will exceed my expectations today and that you will win today's competition." I said, not quite making it an order.