Chapter 11

Flashback Natasha (Jens) — Kabul Afghanistan - Tuesday 16 October

Liz crashed through the garage door and was driving like a maniac. I was lying on the floor and couldn't see anything. After a big bump, Linus said, "Damn Liz you ran over one of the Seals."

"Those fuckers aren't Seals, I think they're Blackwater."

"Son-of-a-bitch, it's a good thing they didn't grab us. We'd be fucked!" Linus said.

"Why's that?" I asked.

Liz looked really quick at me but kept driving, "Natasha, they don't follow any rules. They even kept one of their own women locked up for months after some of them gang banged her."

Bernie added, "They kept her in a shipping container and she didn't get released until the US State Department got involved."

"Come on you two, isn't this a fabricated story?"

Liz replied, "I don't know. But I don't want to be the one to find out!"

Linus adds, "Those fuckers won't take me alive."

Liz and Bernie echoed, "Us either."

"Where are we headed Liz?"

"Someplace safer than here. I can't believe they found me. I'm so pissed off I didn't see them following me earlier."

Bernie said, "Liz, if they are BW it could be they found us because I contacted them."

Liz ordered, "Okay guys, and Natasha, it looks like we can't use BW. Start thinking about ops we can hire."

"Liz, I think I can get three guys, two Marines and a retired Marine." I said.

"I know a few guys who would help." Linus added.

"Hang on! I'm taking this corner fast," Liz yelled as the Humvee slid around the corner. "Oh shit! They've blocked the street." I felt the Humvee do a one-eighty and Liz floored it again.

"Damn Liz, how many of these fuckers do we have to deal with." Linus complained.

"They sure are motivated." Bernie added.

Liz sounded worried as she said, "Natasha, I guess Glen is desperate to find you."

"That bastard! He won't believe me when I say Ben's still alive. There's no way he's keeping me from finding Ben."

I felt the Humvee accelerate. "Good news Jens, we're finally out of town and you can sit up."

Bernie said, "Liz I forgot to tell you. We have the video back from the post production house."

I anxiously asked, "What the hell did it show."

I looked at Bernie and he smiled, "It's a person in BDUs who is thrown out of the helicopter. Unfortunately the roof of the building hides him as he hits the wall so we can't get a positive ID."

"I told you all I wasn't fucking crazy! I'm sure it's Ben." I wanted to get up and dance!

"Natasha this still isn't going to be enough proof for Glen. He's going to want more proof." Liz sadly said.

"I'll find him the proof and shove it down his fricken throat!" I grumped.

"How are you going to do that Natasha?" Bernie asked.

I thought for a couple minutes and said, "I bet we can calculate the size and estimate the weight of the object thrown from the helicopter and compare it to Ben."

"That will help, but probably won't be enough," Liz replied. "Oh shit! We've got a tail. How in the hell did they find us."

Linus started screwing around with some equipment, "I know how - someone tagged the Humvee with a GPS tracking unit. I bet one of those rounds which hit us was a tracker round."

"How do we get rid of it?" I asked.

"If I had time I could find it. But we're being tailed and I can't do it now. We need to ditch this Humvee." Linus said.

"I have a better idea, Liz take us back into Kabul." I ordered.

"Natasha what sort of crazy plan do you have?" Liz asked.

"Just get me back to Kabul and I'll show you."

Flashback Liz — Kabul Afghanistan - Tuesday 16 October

Well we escaped from the hideout, but it sucks that we are being tailed and we can't do anything about it. Natasha came up with one of her hair brained schemes and wants me to head back into the frying pan.

"Natasha, I think we should just keep going."

"Yeah and let them catch us? Liz, you know as well as I do they will have air support soon, if not already. We are sitting ducks out here in the open," she said.

I don't much like it but she's right! "Natasha what's your plan?"

She tells me her plan and I explode, "Natasha this is close to suicide. And I won't allow it!"

"Liz, this is dangerous but it will work. And if it doesn't work I'll die young and leave a really good looking corpse."

"What about rescuing Ben? How are you going to do it if you're dead?"

She thinks for a couple minutes and states, "If that happens you will have to rescue him."

I get distracted for a moment dreaming about how thankful he'd be when I rescued him and how heartbroken he'd be about Jens — of course I'd have to console him.

"Liz, Liz, did you hear me. Turn back around." Natasha yelled.

"Oh sorry, I was trying to figure out a different plan." When I spun the Humvee around, it surprised our tail and we blew past them. We made it back to town just as we heard the choppers.

"Okay Liz, let's switch places," Natasha said and she took over as driver. Once she was settled in she started driving even crazier than I was driving.

Flashback Natasha (Jens) — Kabul Afghanistan - Tuesday 16 October

I was driving the Humvee like I stole it, mostly because I guess we sort of did steal it. Besides, in a very short while we won't need it anymore.

"Liz, switch places with Linus, and Linus make sure you bring a rifle."

"Shit Natasha, it would help if you weren't driving even worse than Liz," Linus complained.

"Hey Linus, are you copping a feel?" Liz grumped as she tried to get past him.

He laughed, "I would but you'd like it too much."

"Pul-eze, I'm about ten times the woman you could handle." Liz teased.

"Sorry I like my merchandise with a lot fewer miles. Ouch, ouch, ouch, quit! Liz I was just teasing you. Let go of my ear!" he yelled as she pulled the hell out of his ear.

"If you don't apologize, I'm going to rip your ear right off the side of your head!" Liz yelled.

"I'm sorry. Now, let me have my ear back," Linus whined.

I'd already decided to get rid of Liz and Bernie. While I loved Liz like a sister, I didn't want her and Bernie to suffer for helping me escape. Besides, this was going to be a covert military operation and they were dead wood now.

"Okay Liz and Bernie, I don't see a tail behind us. As I slide around the next corner, you two and all your gear bailout."

Linus added, "Don't let those BW fuckers catch you. I don't want to have to come and rescue your asses."

"Natasha, remember how we're going to communicate with each other and look for a message from me tonight. If you don't hear from me, you'll know BW caught us," Liz said.

I slid around the corner and locked the brakes. "Shit Natasha, are you trying to fucking kill me!" Linus complained.

"I knew we should have hired a Marine, not a cry baby Seal," I teased him. "Take care of yourself sister."

"You too Natasha!" Liz yelled and we sped off.

"Okay Linus, since it's just the two of us, here's the real plan," I say as I explain what we're really going to do.

Flashback Linus — Kabul Afghanistan - Tuesday 16 October

Natasha's plan is either fucking crazy or brilliant. It's crazy if it doesn't work and we die, and it's brilliant if it works because it will buy us the time we need.

"Okay Natasha, I know you're a tactical genius. What is our chance of surviving this crazy plan?"

"I'm not going to lie to you Linus I figure it's about seventy percent. So, are you in?" Natasha asks.

I thought for a bit: Seventy percent from Natasha was better than many of the Seal missions I'd taken. "You bet, this sounds like fun!"

"How many ex-Seals do you know?"

I started thinking about the ones who were still fit enough to do a mission like this. "I figure three aren't too torn up and are still fit enough to handle this mission."

"Good, I've got two Marines and one retired Marine. So that gives us a squad of eight counting you and me. That's the perfect size."

"Natasha, will the two Marines do this for you?"

"I'm pretty sure they will. They both got Glen pissed at them and he reassigned them to Thule. Shit they're the only Marines on Thule and are freezing their asses off."

I laughed, "Thule, that place is hell! Do you remember the joke about the airman and the commander?"

Natasha replied, "I don't think I know that one."

I told the joke:

An Air Force cargo plane was preparing for departure from Thule Air Base in Greenland. They were waiting for the arrival of the truck to pump out the aircraft's sewage holding tank.
The Aircraft Commander was in a hurry, the truck was late in arriving, and the Airman performing the job was extremely slow in getting the tank pumped out.
When the commander berated the Airman for his slowness and promised punishment, the Airman responded: "Sir, I have no stripes, it is 20 below zero, I'm stationed in Greenland, and I am pumping sewage out of airplanes. Just what are you going to do to punish me?"

Natasha laughs, "Well they aren't pumping shit, but I'm sure they're catching it from their wives."

I got serious, "So Natasha, tell me something. It seems to me Glen sometimes does things — well, I don't know how to put this — that are not quite right."

There was a long awkward silence then she glanced at me and bit her lip, "Yeah Linus, I don't know what's wrong with Daddy. But when Mom or I ask him something he really has a hard time saying no. I look back on some of the things I had him do for me and I'm sorry I had him do them."

"So why won't he believe you now about Ben still being alive?"

Again things became really quiet, finally Natasha looked at me and had some tears in her eyes, "Linus, the only thing I can think of is Mom has convinced him Ben is dead."

"I thought she was all in favor of your wedding?"

Natasha grumped, "So did I."

Flashback Natasha (Jens) — Kabul Afghanistan - Tuesday 16 October

I'd lost the tail and even the chopper and had dropped off Liz and Bernie. I could only hope BW didn't catch them. It was time to put my plan into action.

"Okay Linus, where they hell is this warehouse you mentioned?" He then gives me the location.

"Make sure we're not being followed Natasha," he reminds me.

We picked up another tail but I lost them and we slid up to the warehouse door. Linus jumped out, opened the door and I drove in. While Linus humped all the gear to a remote corner, I put on my fucking burka.

Linus came over and laughed, "You'll make SM Blaine a good little Muslim wife."

I flipped him off, "But you'll look even better in your man-dress. Let's go, you can change in the Humvee." Thank God they hadn't found us again and we escaped from the warehouse. We were going to need the gear we dumped in there.

Linus crawled in the back and I saw him struggling to get into his man-dress. I teased, "You'd think an ex-Seal would know all about how to get into dresses. They sure used to try to get into mine."

I glanced in the rear view mirror and saw him flip me off and then noticed another fricken tail. So I kicked the Humvee in the ass. "Hey are you trying to make it harder?"

"No way, we keep picking up tails and I have to lose them. Hang on!" I yelled as I wrenched the wheel and slid us around a corner. We started heading into the Taliban controlled part of Kabul.

Linus climbed up front, "You'd better let me drive now. Good little Muslim bitches don't drive cars."

I slid the Humvee to a stop, jumped out, ran around to the passenger door and hopped in. Linus floored it.

The further we got into the bad part of the city, the less likely it would be for BW to follow us. They were motivated but they weren't dumb. Even though it was close to sundown, the Humvee was attracting a lot of attention. And an occasional gun shot!

We were close to our final destination and just needed to wait. Linus kept driving around until we heard the evening call to prayer from the fricken Taliban Mosque. We waited until everyone went inside and stopped two blocks away.

I jumped out, ran over to the side of the road and stood against a building. Linus jammed a stick down on the Humvee accelerator and kept the engine roaring. He pushed in on the clutch, put it in third, dumped the clutch and the Humvee took off like a rocket - right towards the front doors of the mosque. He walked over beside me and we watched the drama.

Bullets started slamming into the Humvee but didn't even slow it up. Someone fired and RPG at the Humvee right before it hit the doors and it caught fire and slammed into the doors of the mosque with a hell-of-a-noise.

Towel heads boiled out of the mosque like angry wasps out of a hive. They were shooting the hell out of the Humvee. I guess something punctured the fuel tank and there was a small fireball and flames engulfed the Humvee and the front part of the mosque.

We slowly turned and started walking away as everyone else was running towards the mosque. Linus whispered to me, "I still think we should have packed the Humvee with C4."

"Linus we talked about this. There might have been women in the mosque."

He spat, "Like that made any fucking difference to the towel heads on nine-eleven."

Flashback — Mira and Ira - Dushanbe, Tajikistan

We were so excited we didn't fall asleep until late. Tomorrow we were going to sneak away to America. Papa and Mama were both university professors and we had a very good life in Dushanbe Tajikistan — until Papa started complaining about corruption in the government. After that we had to move out of our big flat and into this tiny little flat with three rooms. Ira and I had to sleep on old blankets on the floor. We even lost all our old girlfriends but it didn't bother us much because we have always had each other.

Papa had made arrangements with a friend in the American government to help us escape to America. They were going to give us political asylum and we would have a wonderful new life! We spent hours talking and dreaming of what our new life was going to be like. It was so exciting.

We were rudely awakened in early the morning when the door of our flat was broken down. Papa yelled at someone, Mama ran into our room and said, "Hide my little girls. The bad men are here."

We squeezed under the couch and tried to stay quiet. We heard a loud noise from the hallway and Papa stopped yelling. A bad man came into our room and said to Mama, "You did not think we knew about your plans to escape. You will never escape. Anotoli is dead and you are next."

Mama yelled a bunch of bad words at the man then we heard another loud noise and saw Mama fall to the floor. She was bleeding very badly. I crawled out from under the couch and held Mama's head in my lap, but I soon realized she was dead.

A bad man looked at me, "Ah you are one of the twins. Where is your sister?"

I cried, stood up and hit the bad man but he only laughed, "I am supposed to kill you and your sister. Just like your Papa and Mama. But I think I will have some fun first."

He grabbed me and put his hands on my private parts. I fought him very hard and kicked him in his private parts. He was very angry at me and hit me across the face and I fell asleep. I woke up later and we were in a big bed and Ira was holding me. I asked her in our special language.

I touched my face and it was very sore.

"Ira, Where is this Kostia man?"

"He said he had some work to do and would come back tonight. I'm very hungry."

"Ira, what will we do without Papa and Mama? I do not want to live in the orphanage."

We both held each other and cried about Papa and Mama until we heard the front door open, "Mira he is back."

"Let us hide under the bed from him."

We both crawled under the bed, several minutes later he came into the bedroom, "Ah, my girls are playing hide and seek with me. Too bad, I have some wonderful food for them. But if they want to hide, then I guess I will eat it all myself."

I whispered, "Ira, do you think we should eat?"

He said, "I even have candy for good little girls who don't hide from me."

Ira yelled at him, "Kostia, if we come out do you promise not to hit us?"

He laughed and looked under the bed, "I will not hit you unless you hit me. Do you remember I hit the bad man who hit you? Now come and eat your dinner, it is getting cold."

We both crawled out from under the bed. We were amazed at the size of his flat as he took us into the kitchen. We sat at the table and he gave us huge plate full of food and even some wine.

I looked at Ira, "Ira, he gave us wine. Do you think we should drink it?"

The Kostia man looked at me, "Tell me, why I don't even know your name, what did you just say to your sister?"

"I am Mira and my sister is Ira."

"Come now tell me what you said."

Ira looked at him, "Mr. Kostia, my sister asked me if we should drink the wine. Mama didn't let us drink wine very often."

I cried when Ira mentioned Mama. Kostia came over and said, "Come and sit on my lap and have a good cry about your Mama. I am sorry I could not save them from the bad men like I was able to save you."

I sat on his lap and cried, "Thank you Mr. Kostia for saving us. But now we will have to live in the orphanage because we do not have a Papa or Mama."

He looked kindly at me, "What about aunts and uncles. Do you have any other relatives?"

Ira started crying, "Mr. Kostia, we do not have any other relatives."

"How would you two like to live here with me?" He asked.

I smiled at him, "That would be very nice Mr. Kostia. Are you sure we would not be too much trouble?"

He looked at both of us, "It would be nice if you could help some around here."

"I can clean." Ira added, "And I can cook a little."

"Both of you stand beside each other, I want to look at you." We stood side by side. "I cannot tell which of you is Mira and which of you is Ira."

I raised my left hand, "I'm Mira because I'm left handed. Ira is right handed."

He gave us a loving smile, "You know, I am a very important special policeman. And I think you two would make excellent police women. Would you like it if I trained you to be police women? Then you could catch bad men like the one who killed your Papa and Mama."

I looked at Ira and she nodded her head, "Yes Mr. Kostia, we would like that very much."

He grinned at us and explained, "You two will have to do everything I say. Sometimes training will be very hard and might even hurt. Are you two strong enough?"

We were both excited about catching the bad man who killed Papa and Mama, "Yes Mr. Kostia we are very strong."

He smiled really big, "Good, here is my first order. Drink all your wine." We watched as he poured some clear liquid in with our wine. Then we drank it all. In a little while we were both feeling dizzy.

"Mr. Kostia, we feel a little sick," I said.

"Do not worry, it sometimes happens after you drink wine. Let me help you both into our bedroom."

He carried Ira into the bedroom and then came back and carried me into the bedroom.

Ira giggled, "Mira I feel so funny."

"I do to Ira, I'm so sleepy."

Mr. Kostia crawled into bed with us and I watched as he took Ira's clothes off. She started to fight him, he said, "No, this is a special part of your training. Do not fight me or you will go to the orphanage."

That was the first of many nights Kostia trained us and each time he did we hated him even more. We decided we would become better than him and someday we would make him pay for his training.

Flashback Liz — Kabul Afghanistan - Tuesday 16 October

I looked over at Bernie, "We need to get the hell out of here." We already had the gear and took off heading perpendicular to the path of the Humvee.

"You realize they dumped us?" Bernie asked.

"Yeah it wasn't hard to figure out. Natasha is just trying to keep us safe."

"So what are the plans?"

"I think we need to get to the base before BW catches us. After shooting four of them and running over another, it's not safe if they grab us."

Bernie said in amazement, "You shot four of them! Do you have a death wish?"

"Well now that you mention it, it feels like I might. But it seemed the right thing to do at the time." I shuddered thinking what BW would do to me if they caught me first.

"Hide Liz a vehicle's coming."

We ducked in a doorway and the vehicle stopped, "Ms. Morgan this is Captain Pierce of the Marines, we want you and your cameraman to step out of the doorway with your hands in the air."

I stepped out of the doorway and yelled, "Are we ever happy to see you! Someone has been chasing us and shooting at us." Bernie followed behind me.

His men came over, searched us and took away our side arms, "You know you shouldn't carry weapons when you're over here."

I smile at him and lie, "Once these guys in black started shooting at us, we needed to arm ourselves. It would be different if I had a big strong Marine like you to keep me safe."

He scowled at me and said, "Save the bullshit for the General. He might find it amusing."

I was shocked when they put tie wraps on our wrists, "Excuse me Captain Pierce do you realize the trouble you are going to be in for restraining an American citizen and a member of a news crew."

"Save your crap for the General. I have my orders."

I gave him a dirty look, "Okay Hawkeye, suit yourself." Bernie chuckled and Captain Pierce said, "If I had a buck for every joker who called me Hawkeye after the MASH character I'd be rich."

I threw some more fuel on the fire, "It must suck knowing you'll never make Major."

"One more smart assed comment out of you and I'll have you gagged!" he yelled.

I gave him an evil look, "I don't think your puny dick could ever gag anyone, let alone me." I fought like hell as the son-of-a-bitch gagged me with a nasty smelling and tasting bandana.

They loaded us in a Stryker and we headed towards the base. I was secretly happy the Marines caught us first.

Flashback Glen — Kabul Afghanistan - Tuesday 16 October

I'd come to Kabul to try to find Jens. Somehow she'd slipped off the base at Ramstein and I was pretty sure she'd come here to try to find Ben. It's a shame Ben got killed rescuing the Marines. Evelyn kept showing me the video proving he was dead. I don't know what the hell Stockman was doing, sending him on that mission, but once I found Jens, he was going to have a hell of a lot of things to answer for.

I'd just gotten great news: One of my patrols had found Liz Morgan and one of her cameramen, but not the other two members of her crew. I knew Jens and figured somehow Liz was involved in her escape.

Captain Pierce escorted Liz and her cameraman into my office: She was tied up, gagged, and pissed as hell. He walked over, gave me some information removed the gag and tie wraps from Liz and left. "General Donaldson, what are you doing having your Marines detain American citizens?" Something didn't seem right because she was too calm and collected and wasn't cussing me out.

I grinned at her, "Ms. Morgan, we are just keeping you and your cameraman safe in a potential war zone."

"General Donaldson, Kabul is relatively peaceful and you know it."

"Liz, I don't know where you've been or what you've been doing. But someone has BW all pissed off. They're running amuck and shooting up the whole city. Rumor has it they're looking for someone who resembles you."

She grinned at me, "General Donaldson aren't you controlling them?"

"Not this time Liz, I don't know who they're working for."

"So get on the horn and call them off. They'll listen to you."

"Normally they would, but the person they're looking for shot four of their operatives and ran over another. Now it's become personal to them."

Liz grinned, "It serves them right after what they've done. Turn us loose right now! I have news stories to shoot."

"I'm afraid I can't, not until things simmer down between BW and the Muslim population."

"General Donaldson, what got the Muslims all upset?"

"From what we can tell, a Humvee crashed into their major mosque and sat it on fire." I watched as she faltered and sat in the chair. "Then BW came roaring up in their vehicles and started a huge firefight. The Muslims are pissed as hell and blaming it on America. This fucking place is a powder keg just waiting to explode."

She looked at me with honest concern in her eyes, "Were there any survivors from the Humvee?"

I shrugged my shoulders, "Who the hell knows. No one can get close enough to tell."

I watched her and see she's obviously upset, "Okay Liz, let's cut all the crap. You know why you're really here. I think you helped Jens escape from Ramstein and I think you know where she is."

She glared at me, "If you would have just believed Jens about SM Blaine being alive, none of this would have happened."

"Liz I saw the video and no one could survive that crash."

She gave me a hateful look and replied, "But you haven't seen the enhanced video which shows the object coming out of the chopper was a soldier. We have it with us and I can show you."

I sat back and looked at her, "I'd love to see your video, but Captain Pierce told me as he brought you in that your equipment was destroyed by enemy fire."

She stood up and shouted, "General Donaldson! There was no enemy fire when he grabbed us! I hold the Marines responsible for the loss of our equipment. Now why don't you tell me what's going on!"

"Liz, simmer down - nothing's going on. There wasn't room for your equipment inside the Stryker so they threw it on the back. That's where it got destroyed."

She looked frustrated, "Don't worry Glen we have copies and extra equipment. I demand you let us go."

I grin at her and explain, "That will happen when you tell me where Jens is."

She smiled at me and said, "General Donaldson, I think you'll be letting me go much sooner than you know. I'm going to bring the whole world knocking on your doorstep demanding my release."

I smiled at her and return the threat, "Liz, that's a big threat for someone who's living in my brig. I pressed the button on my desk and Captain Pierce came in, "Please make sure Ms. Morgan and her cameraman are kept safe in the brig."

Liz yelled on her way out, "You haven't heard the last of me!"

I thought, I have for right now, bitch! Then I sat back and thought about the video she talked about. Could Ben still be alive?

Flashback Natasha (Jens) — Kabul Afghanistan - Tuesday 16 October

I think some of Ben's luck rubbed off on me. No sooner had the Humvee crashed into the mosque, when BW came flying up in their vehicles. The fucking Taliban started shooting at BW and they returned fire. This gave us the perfect cover to escape the area. We even ran without attracting attention.

We passed a bunch of Marine vehicles headed to the area and Linus said, "Fuck Natasha, I think we started World War Three."

"Shh Linus, we're supposed to be Muslim." But he might have been right, there was random gunfire everywhere. We stuck close to the walls and kept each other covered with the AKs.

We rounded a corner and a bunch of towel heads yelled at us and waved some rifles in our direction. It was the last thing they ever did. I remember the shocked look on their faces when a good little Muslim woman shot them.

We made it to the warehouse and Linus covered me as I went inside. The place was still empty. Linus bolted the door and threw off his man dress. "What's wrong, don't like wearing the dress in the family?" I teased.

"I don't know how SM Blaine puts up with you," Linus grumped.

"That's easy because he knows someday it will all be worth it, just like it will be for you."

He looked at me, "Jens I could never snake SM Blaine's woman."

"Silly man, I'd kill you or anyone else who tried to touch me. I meant financially, not physically. So tell me Linus does Liz, or anyone else, know about this warehouse?"

He grinned and said, "Nope, just us. I was going to tell her but never got the time. I didn't like the other place we had and thought this would be a great second safe house."

I thought for a few minutes, "You think BW will come sniffing around here? We did have the Humvee stopped here for a long time."