Chapter 7

Friday 07 December

Present — Ben - Hospital — Ramstein AFB Germany

After I hang up the phone with Liz and Jens, I'm really pissed off! I didn't escape from that goat fucker Hussein, fight my way across Pakistan, part of China, and most of Afghanistan, and almost die several times, to put up with the bullshit Jens is giving me. She needs to understand she's the only one for me! I thought we dealt with this in the past but perhaps she needs a reminder. I need to find her and do whatever it takes to convince her.

I rip out all the tubes, except for the catheter because it hurts too much when I pull on it. I then remove all the monitor cables and jump out of bed. This hospital can't be so big I can't find her. I'll hug and kiss some sense into her, and if that doesn't work — then I have my contingency plan to fall back on! I'm not going to lose her!

The nurse runs into the room, "What are you doing out of bed?"

"Get the fuck out of my way. I'm going to find my fiancée."

"Like hell you are, get back in the bed," she says as she grabs my left arm. I twist it around and put it in an arm lock behind her back. "Now, leave me alone. I don't want to break your arm," I say as I push her towards my bed and walk out in the hallway.

An MP comes over, "Sir, I don't think you're supposed to be out of bed." He tries to grab my arm so I head butt him and he staggers and falls to the floor. The nurse comes out of my room, "Call the orderlies, SM Blaine has gone crazy."

I look at her and shout, "I'm not crazy, I just need to find my fiancée!" I take off out of the ICU and book down the hallway. I run into two orderlies but they don't stand a chance. I don't permanently hurt them, but they are going to be sore as hell when they wake up. I see the elevators and get there just as one opens and two people get out. I step inside and press the button for the ground floor. I have no idea where Jens is, but I'm going to tear apart this entire hospital until I find her.

The elevator door opens on the second floor and two nurses get in and look at me. They start whispering to each other and finally one says, "You look pretty sick to be out by yourself."

I give her a dirty look, "Mind your own damn business."

The other nurse says, "Excuse us, but this is our business. You don't look like you're in any shape to be walking around by yourself."

"You're just a nurse, why don't you go play with your patients or each other and leave the diagnosis to the doctors." They both turn red and the first nurse says, "Your nothing but a filthy mouthed pervert."

I grin at her, "No, I'm a Marine on a mission to find my fiancée!"

The door opens and they fly out of the elevator, almost running over people waiting to enter. I step out into a crowd of people and they are all giving me dirty looks. I scowl back at them and yell, "What the hell is wrong with all of you, haven't you ever seen a wounded soldier!" They all turn away in embarrassment.

I smell food and remember the sound of plates in the background when I was trying to talk to Jens. I ask a lady, "Can you please tell me where the cafeteria is?"

"Sure, it's right down that hallway," she says as she points with a finger.

"Thank you," I say and head towards the cafeteria.

The cafeteria is crowded as hell but not many people notice me as I stand just inside the doorway and scan the room. Disappointment quickly sets in as I don't see Jens. I turn and realize the reason I'm attracting so much attention is my hospital gown. I walk into the hallway again and scan the signs. I see one which says Men's Locker Room so I slip inside. No one is around, but I hit the jackpot when I find a shelf full of scrubs. I look down at the catheter and decide if I can cut one tube on it I can get the piece of shit out of me. I can't find a knife so finally I just tear the plastic thing out of the end of the tube off, remove the catheter and throw it in the trash.

It hurts like hell slipping my arm out of the sling, putting on the scrubs and then getting it back in the sling so it takes much longer than it should. At least my butt isn't hanging out for the entire world to see. I even find some booties to slip over my feet. I walk out of the locker room, back into the hallway but now I don't attract unwanted attention.

Dammit, where is Jens! I check the cafeteria one more time, see some MPs scanning the crowd and I slowly slip back out to the hallway. Then it comes to me! I have to use my ability to sense her feelings to see if it will help. Concentrating with all my might, I can sense she's really cold, shit! She's outside. Almost running towards the door I stop when I see MPs guarding the door. Waiting for a group of people I fall in with them and start walking out, the MPs don't notice me as I slip outside. Damn! It's cold and nasty out here.

I start scanning the area, see a bunch of benches and finally, I see her! I run as fast as my arm will let me over to her bench.

Present — Jens - Hospital — Ramstein AFB Germany

Son-of-a-bitch! I am so pissed off. I'm not sure who I'm more pissed at: Ben, the conniving little bitches, Liz or myself. Ben because he let himself be manipulated by those two conniving little bitches, the conniving little bitches because they manipulated the hell out of Ben, Liz because she called me Evelyn and is being a bitch, and myself because I've acted so stupid and emotional.

Coming outside in the cold air has helped me to cool down and get my emotions back under control, but I'm still not ready to go back and see Ben. Not until I can be his loving fiancée again because right now if I saw him ... Oh shit! It's Ben walking up to me! Liz was right he did come to find me.

"You're a hard woman to find!" Ben grins as he walks up to me.

"What the hell are you doing out of bed and your room?" I say to him, a bit more grumpy sounding than I really am.

He smiles and I feel love and desire start flooding into me, "Isn't it obvious? I came to find you and to tell you I love you and only you."

"Ben, it's cold out here and you're going to get sick!"

"Jens, I don't care. Without you life isn't worth living. I didn't fight my way back to you so you could run away from me."

I saw him start to cry and I start to cry with him. He gets down on one knee in front of me, "Jennifer Donaldson, will you please..." He never gets to finish because we're interrupted by a large group of MPs.

"SM Blaine, we're here to take you back to your room. Don't make it harder on yourself by fighting us."

Ben jumps up, "I need to finish something first. Can't you give me a couple of minutes?"

Glen walks up and Ben tries to salute. "SM Blaine, what the hell are you doing out of your bed and room."

"Sir! I need to do one thing then I will gladly go back to my bed."

"You will go back now, Marine."

"No Sir! Not until I'm done. I've never disobeyed an order before, but this is more important than the Marines and will only take a minute."

Ben again kneels in front of me and takes my hand, "Jennifer Donaldson, will you marry me tonight and be my wife?"

I'm shocked speechless and don't know what to say. Glen says, "Okay, take him back to his room." The MPs come over to Ben and he jumps up and starts fighting with them. "Leave me the hell alone until Jens answers me."

He takes down two of them. I jump up and say, "Hey, you can't treat my husband-to-be like that!" I start helping him and the MPs back away from us.

"Did you say husband-to-be? Does that mean yes?" Ben asks.

"It means yes, but first I have to tell you some things. You might not want to marry me after I tell you."

Ben stops fighting and looks at me in surprise. The MPs take advantage of the break and jump both of us. One of them 'accidentally' hits Ben's arm and he falls to the ground. I break free, kick the bastard in the balls as hard as I can and try to move over to take care of my Ben. I'm not watching and don't see the fist coming until it's too late.

Flashback Natasha (Jens) — Kabul Afghanistan - Monday 15 October

This damn backwards country, I had to hack the sat phone to get Internet connection and it's slow as hell. Well at least we don't have to pay for it. I routed the bill to General Stockman - let's see him explain this, the bastard! I needed information and a team to help me rescue Ben. I called for Liz, "Hey Liz, I need you for a minute."

She walked in the room and handed me a plate of food, "Here sis, I hope you enjoy it."

I sat it on the table, "Thanks, I'll eat it in a bit. Do you have your off shore account number?"

"Jens, what the hell are you planning on doing?"

I grinned at her, "Nothing much, I'm just going to add some money to your account."

"Jens, are you trying to get me arrested?"

I laughed at her, "No, it's coming from a 'hidden' account of General Stockman's and it's going to be earmarked as sexual favors."

Liz turned red and said, "Jens that's embarrassing."

"Liz, it's perfect. Don't you have videos of you and Stockman? If he comes after us we'll just release them."

She blushed even more, "Yes, but I never had sex with him."

I looked at her, "Ah, the Monica Lewinsky defense."

She became even redder, "Jens, you're embarrassing the hell out of me."

"Hey, I'm not the one getting my knees dirty." I sassed back.

She gave me a serious look, "Jens, it was hell because he doesn't take enough showers. I didn't enjoy it at all. I did it for you and Ben, so I could get information."

I could tell I hurt her feelings so I jumped up and hugged her, "Sorry sis I didn't mean to hurt you. I appreciate all you did for us and I'm going to make it worth your while." I finished the hug, sat back down and cleared all the money from Stockman's hidden account. I looked at Liz, "You're now a multimillionaire."

"Jens, won't he be able to trace this?" Liz questioned.

"Liz, I bounced it through so many other accounts they will never be able to trace it. Besides it's an anonymous account. Now let's do some shopping with Stockman's money."

Present - Liz - Friday 07 December — Dushanbe, Tajikistan

I pick myself up and wipe away the tears. I need to find Zarika and Yasmeen and then coerce then into telling me if they tricked Ben into marrying them. If they did I'm going to leave their asses in Dushanbe.

I catch a cab to the Embassy; unfortunately the guards are off until tomorrow. With a bit of flirting I get the home address of both of them. Now it's off to interview them.

The cab pulls up in front of a typical, Russian era building. Damn do these buildings look depressing, or what! What paint still left is mostly gray and the building has homemade balconies hanging off many windows. I pay the cab driver and get his card in case I need a ride soon. I approach the main entrance and walk inside. It's dark and dirty in the stairway but at least they keep this one cleaner than most because it doesn't smell like pee. I walk to the door on his flat, yep, just like in Russia. It's a big steel door which looks like it could keep out the whole Russian army. I ring the bell and wait but nothing happens so I try again and hold down the button for about thirty seconds.

I hear some swearing inside so he must be home. The inside door opens, then the outer steel door opens and I see a guy in his underwear and surmise it must be Michael. He is tall and skinny with graying hair and is at least forty years old. At first he looks pissed, but then he looks more closely at me and smiles.

"Are you Michael, the guard at the American Embassy?" I ask and flirt with him just a little.

He looks nervous, "That depends on who you are."

I hold out my hand, "I'm Elizabeth Morgan reporter for the Truth Network."

He shakes my hand and I let the twenty dollar bill slip into his palm. "Ah, I have seen you on TV. Please come into my flat but ignore the mess - I had a little party last night."

I walk into his flat and quickly glance around the room. A little party my ass, I think he had a fucking orgy here last night. There are empty bottles and women's clothing strewn everywhere - the smell of stale sex permeates the air.

"Again, excuse the mess," he says as he kicks someone's thong out of the way. "Let's go to the kitchen and have some tea." It's a pretty big flat for one guy - I count four rooms including the kitchen. I glance in the back bedroom as we turn the corner into the kitchen and see two female bodies on his bed. They look pretty young and are not even covered up.

He pours some water out of a bottle into a sauce pan, lights the burner with a match and sets the pan on to boil. He pulls two cups and a small tea pot out of the cabinet. Then he rummages around in a different cabinet and puts some tea leaves in the small pot.

He returns, sits at the table, and pulls out a pack of cigarettes, "You smoke?"

I shake my head, "Ah yes, almost no Americans smoke anymore. Alas, it's my only bad habit."

I think 'yeah right': just from looking at your apartment I can see evidence of a few others. I patiently wait for him to finish his cigarette since I know he's sizing me up and trying to figure out if he has a chance to get in my panties. And I'm trying to figure out if I can get the information I need without letting this lech touch me.

The water starts boiling so he get up and pours it in the teapot and brings everything to the table. He reaches into a pantry and pulls out some confetti¹ - at least I'm going to get a good cup of tea and some chocolate out of this.

¹ Russian chocolates wrapped in paper or foil.

I hear a noise at the door and one of the girls walks into the kitchen. She hasn't bothered to put on any clothes but doesn't appear embarrassed. She walks over, sits on Michael's lap and gives him a big kiss. Then she pulls away and asks him in Russian about the 'old American bitch' sitting at the table.

I grin at her and answer her in Russian, "I'm not a bitch you fucking whore."

That makes her blush, "Sorry, I didn't know you spoke Russian."

Michael swats her on the butt, "This is Ms. Morgan a reporter from the Truth Network. She came here to talk to me so go back in the bedroom and wait for me."

She kisses him again really hard, "Michael, we need to get ready for school. Can we see you again tonight?"

"I will call you and let you know - I might have other plans." She pouts, but goes back into the other room and starts picking up her clothes.

"So Ms. Morgan, why are you here and how may I help you?" He says with a grin.

I slide one twenty halfway across the table and he reaches his hand to take it. "Not so fast, I need some information first. You and Vasili were the two outside guards on duty when the very sick American Marine was brought to the embassy?"

He grins at me, "Yes Vasili and I were on duty then." I let him take the twenty.

"I want you to tell me everything about the event"

"I am not sure why you would want to know about it, but I am sure for the right price I can tell you everything." He leers at me.

The two girls walk into the kitchen and the mouthy one blushes when she sees me. They both kiss Michael on the lips and he runs his hands up their legs. I can tell he is feeling them up big time under their dresses.

"Can we please come over again tonight?" The new one asks.

"I might be busy but will call you and let you know." He hands each one of them a twenty and they look at him like he is the richest man in the world. "Use this to buy something nice to wear in case I call you tonight." It earns him several more minutes of kisses and he's seriously feeling the girls up the whole time. When he pulls his hand out from under the last girls dress and she leaves, his hand is glistening. He puts it up to his nose and inhales, "Ah the smell of a young girl in love. Now we were just discussing how you are going to pay me for this information."

I decide there's no way in hell I'm letting this perverted bastard do anything to me, not after he's been fucking underage teenagers all night. I stand up, "Michael, I was willing to pay you well for the information. But after seeing the bullshit way you are treating those young girls there's no way in hell I'm going to even talk to you. I'm leaving."

He stands up and blocks the doorway, "Come on Ms. Morgan, they are just little sluts and if I wasn't fucking them someone else would be. Besides, I'd much rather fuck an experienced woman like you, one which can enjoy all of this." He drops his underwear to the floor.

I look at him and laugh, "Come on, you surely can't keep those little girls happy with that tiny shriveled dick." He starts getting angry as I walk towards him and kick him as hard as I can right in the balls. He lets out a yell and falls to the floor grabbing his crotch. I kick him twice more just for good measure, walk past him out of the kitchen, turn and squat next to him. I look into his pain filled eyes and say, "You're a real bastard taking advantage of little girls. I wonder what you're government will say when I show them the video I've been making of all of this." I stand up and he lunges a hand towards my ankle. I step out of his reach and stomp the hell out of his hand. "Damn fucking perverted bastard. I hope you're so sore you can't get it up for a month."

I dial the number for the cab as I walk out of the apartment. Just to be mean I leave his front door wide open. If the world is just, someone will come in, find him incapacitated and kill the bastard.

I get to the street; wait for the cab and start shaking. The damn bastard taking advantage of teenage girls that way, it reminded me of the many times...

Flashback - Liz — Kabul, Afghanistan - Monday 15 October

Jens was on her computer getting things for our mission and I needed to get busy and help her, at least I talked her into eating the food we made. I motioned Bernie to follow me.

"Bernie, did you have all our equipment checked for bugs?"

He looked pissed but said, "Yeah, we hired Linus, one of the friends Jens mentioned. He's on payroll full time for us. He found a shitload of bugs in everything. Some of the equipment even had to be destroyed."

"Those sons-of-a-bitches. Where is he now?"

"He needed some new gear so he's out shopping and should be back soon." Bernie replied.

"Is he okay on his own?"

Bernie laughed, "Hell yes, he's an ex Navy Seal."

"Bernie, do we still have some contacts in BW²?"

² Blackwater a private military service company.

"Yeah Liz, we still use them occasionally for protection," He replied.

"You need to contact them and see if we can use them for the mission. Because they do so much work for the US government you will need to keep the details pretty vague until we find out if we can trust them."

"Will do. Are you and Jens going to be okay here by yourselves?" He asked treating me like I was his little sister. I glanced around the corner at Jens. "Yeah, she is so pissed off it's like being with a woman which has super-PMS. I pity anyone that gets in her way."

He looked at me, "Tell me Liz, are we going to jail over this one?"

I looked at him and knew I couldn't bullshit him, "I don't know Bernie. I'm going to try my best to keep us out of jail."

The look we exchanged conveyed more than words could. I knew he was worried but would do anything for me. "Well, I'd better get moving." I kissed him on the cheek, "Thanks for everything."

I went back and started getting into my burka. I made all the adjustments, went to Jens and tapped her on the shoulder. She jumped up, spun around and looked ready to kick the shit out of me. "Whoa sister, it's just me."

"Damn Liz, don't ever do that again. I almost beat the hell out of you." She looked at the burka, "What the hell are you doing back in the burka again?"

"I need to go out and do a couple things. I should return late this evening. I just want to let you know what's going on. Bernie hired Linus as our electronic security consultant - he's out getting supplies and should be back later. Bernie is out checking on our resources with BW and won't be back until later. Are you going to be okay here by yourself?"

She laughs, "Yeah I'm a big girl and can take care of myself." She hugged me and felt the body armor and pistol under the burka, "I didn't know you could shoot. Are you planning on trouble?"

"No, but sometimes trouble comes looking for me."

"Liz, don't bullshit me! You're going to do something dangerous. Perhaps I need to come along?"

"No offense Jens, but you don't know how to act in this country and we'd be caught in a minute. You stay here and do the things you do the best." I hugged her and walked out the door, secretly wishing I could bring her with me.

Flashback - Zarika — Tajikistan Day Eighteen

When I slept next to Ben I always felt so safe and slept so well, until someone started rudely shaking my shoulders. "Zarika, wake up. It is time for me to take care of Ben."

It was the little brat Yasmeen. At first it was sort of fun having a little sister, but then she started interfering in my relationship with Ben. Now she was a huge annoyance and every time I saw her I wanted to kick her butt. She was nothing but a mouthy little brat who thought she was better and prettier than me.

"Yasmeen, leave me alone. You were back here for about thirty minutes when it was my time so I want extra time."

She pulled at my shoulders, "Zarika, I was helping with Sasha not Ben. It is my time so get up and leave."

"Yasmeen, I am not leaving for another thirty minutes. You can go back up front and let the men touch you." Teasing her because I knew it bothered her.

She pulled my hair, "Zarika, stop being such a-a-a suka."

I looked at her, "What did you just call me?"

"I called you a bitch and you cannot do anything about it. If you fight with me Ben will make us both sit up front." I sat up and started towards her but the sneaky little brat was right and she knew it. "Yasmeen, I will remember this. And when we get to the Embassy, I am going to kick your butt so hard you will need a pillow to sit on for a month."

"Ha ha," she laughed at me. I slid past her, reached into her pocket and took her mirror.

"Hey, that is mine. Give it to me!" she yelled.

Ben started moving. "Shut up or you will wake him up. Finders keepers losers sweepers." I teased, "Now this is mine and you cannot do anything about it. If we fight Ben will make us both sit up front."

I crawled up front with my prize and heard Yasmeen sniffling in the back. It serves the spoiled little brat right.

I looked at myself in the mirror and the men in front laughed at me. "Look Zarika is pretending to be Yasmeen," Oleg said. I punched him in the arm, "If you call me that little suka's name again I will kick your butt."

Flashback - Yasmeen — Tajikistan Day Eighteen

Zarika is such a huge problem, at first we were good friends and she helped me, but now she tortures me all the time. When Ben takes us to America and marries me, we will live in a big house with a bunch of servants and I will have Ben make her my servant. Then I will get even and torture her like she tortures me.

I was so upset Zarika stole my mirror; it is not like she needs it with her ugly face. I hope she does not break it by looking into it - if so I will whip her when she is my servant.

I need to wake up Sasha to take care of Ben so I shake his shoulders, "Sasha, it is time for you to look at Ben."

"Huh, what is going on?" He asked.

I shake him again, "Sasha, Ben needs you to look at him." He rolls over and goes back to sleep so I pinch him on the butt.

"Ouch, what the hell is going on?" He asked and sat up.

"Sasha, it's time for you to look at Ben."

"Oh yes, thank you." He listens to Ben's breathing and checks his arm. "Zarika, I need to change the dressing again."

"Excuse me! I'm Yasmeen not Zarika." I indignantly said.

"You're both the same, just annoying little girls; help me get some new bandages," Sasha ordered me. Maybe I'll make him one of my servants and whip him too!

I brought him some bandages, "Make sure you do it right this time."

He glared at me, "You two little girls are the reason he is so sick. If you would have taken care of him the first night his arm would not be so bad. But you two were lazy and slept all night. You know he might lose his arm."

I never thought Ben might lose his arm and I started crying, "No, he cannot lose his arm. I cannot have a husband that is a cripple."

"Then get over here and help me." Sasha ordered. I could not move because of the fear. "Have you become deaf?" he yelled at me. It was impossible for me to move because I was so scared. Sasha yelled up front, "Zarika I need some help."

She falls through the opening into the back of the truck, "What's wrong Sasha?"

"I have asked Yasmeen to help me with Ben and she just sits there." He said.

Zarika touched my shoulder, "What is wrong Yasmeen?" She started to cry, "Sasha said Ben might lose his arm!" Zarika got a very determined look on her face, "We will not let that happen. We will change his dressing every hour if we need to. Come on Yasmeen, help me so we can save our husband's arm."

I moved over beside Zarika and we both helped Sasha change the dressing. Ben's arm looked really bad and smelled like nasty rotten goat cheese, it was even worse than the smell up front sitting with the other men. When we finished Zarika hugged me, reached in her pocket and gave me back my mirror. I smiled at her, "Thank you Zarika! Why are you being nice to me?"

"Yasmeen, we have both been very bad and have not been good wives to Ben. I heard Sasha scold you about us being the reason Ben is so sick and I decided he is right. Right now getting Ben well is more important than anything else. We both need to take very good care of Ben. I do not want him to lose his arm." She smiled at me.

"Zarika, you are right. I would like it if we did not fight again and both work to get Ben well."

Sasha said, "He needs to rest and be kept warm."

"Then we will lie on each side of him and keep him warm." Zarika replied.

Sasha crawled off in the corner to sleep and I got on the side of Ben with the good arm. Zarika carefully got on his other side and we hugged him as tight as we could. I ran my hand across his chest and enjoyed the feeling of his muscles. Zarika saw me, smiled and did the same thing. She grinned at me and then Ben started moving so she quickly took her hand away.

Flashback - Ben — Tajikistan Day Eighteen

Something bothered me and woke me up. I felt like hell and I'm very confused. I realized I was between Zarika and Yasmeen and asked, "Where are we, are we at Aamir's?"

Zarika kissed me on the lips, "No my husband. We are on the way to Dushanbe."

Yasmeen kissed me and added, "We are taking very good care of you. You will not lose your arm."

I started trying to move and realized I couldn't, "Hey, how come I can't move."

Zarika kissed me and ran her hands across my chest, "That's because my strong husband broke Sasha's nose."

Yasmeen kissed me and did the same with her hands, "Just relax my prince your young wives will heal you."

I struggle more, "What's this shit about losing my arm?"

One of them put a cool washcloth on my head, "Rest our husband and your young wives will take care of you and keep you warm." Zarika said.

I was so tired and needed sleep, "Okay, I'm going back to sleep." I slowly drifted off to sleep, but it seemed like someone was...

Flashback - Ben — Late 1999 Base in Indian Ocean.

The plane jostled me awake when it landed. I yawned, stretched and blinked my eyes. Then I remembered Linda Sue and I wondered if was it real or just a dream. I saw her walking back towards me and she reminded me of a puma stalking its prey. I knew my dream was real. She slipped into the seat beside me and gave me a huge kiss, "Thanks for the in-flight entertainment. If you're ever lonely you might give me a call." She slipped her phone number in my pocket, gave me another big kiss looked into my eyes and said, "Damn, it'd be so easy to fall for you." The she got up and walked towards the front of the plane. She checked a couple times to make sure I was watching, and yes I was watching.

Jack came back and sat beside me. I waited for him to say something about Linda Sue and me but he didn't - he was all business. "Okay Banzai we need to talk about a few things."

"What did I mess up this time Jack?"

He looked at me, "Are you crazy or something? You didn't mess up anything. I want to go over some things before we leave the plane."

"I thought you were going to say something about, well, something about what Linda Sue and I did."

He gave me a puzzled look, "I don't know what you're talking about. Now get your head on straight and listen to me."