Chapter 19

Wednesday, Aug 3^rd, 2011

The alarm went off and I sprang from the bed. I headed in to my shower and then got dressed. I had breakfast ready for Helen once she arrived downstairs. I ate with her, and then went to my room, and checked my e-mail.

I had received an e-mail addressed to the company from a woman whose husband was missing in Afghanistan. He had been out on perimeter guard, just outside Landey Wozay in the Zharay district of Afghanistan, southeast of Kandahar at the southeastern side of Afghanistan. He normally called his wife using Skype at least every three to four days, when he can get over to FOB Wilson. After a week, she contacted his post commander at Fort Campbell, KY. He in turn contacted someone else, and they learned that he was listed as MIA, and had been missing since the evening of May 12^th, 2011. His name is SSgt Hiram Isaac Sherman. He and his wife Gayle had three children. I immediately tried to contact Hiram.

'Hiram Isaac Sherman, do not be alarmed, speak to me only in your mind, do not speak aloud, do you understand me Hiram?'

I did not get any return so I spoke again, louder and more commandingly. 'Hiram Isaac Sherman, do not be alarmed, but you must speak to me in your mind only! Answer me, NOW!'

A very weak voice came to me, 'Master, you called me? Is this the almighty Allah that is speaking to me?'

'What is all this Allah bullshit? I am your only master, there is no Allah, there is only ME! Do you understand me SLAVE?'

'Yes, Master, how have I displeased you to call me slave? Have I not tried to serve you, Master Allah?'

I looked deep into his mind. They had tortured this man almost to the point of death many times and revived him and they had been brainwashing him to believe that he was to be an instrument of Allah, to avenge the deaths of the faithful. His captors were readying him to strap explosives to his body in his combat tactical vest, and send him back to his unit, now that it was near Bala Zar about seven klicks southwest of Landey Wozay, where they had captured him. The only thing about that was that he would probably be killed by friendly fire if he attempted to reunite with his unit now. He had been gone too long. I tried to link with someone close to him, but the minds that I found were chaotic, and they were thinking in a language I did not understand.

I asked for help from my friend James Earl Jonas: the power of the ring.

'James can you translate what I am hearing from this mind, or can you give me the ability to understand his language?'

'Ben, I can provide you with a translation; but first, think very hard, and see if you can understand.'

At first I thought James was nuts. Me, understand this gobbledy gook noise I hear, instead of some sort of language? But then, as I concentrated, I started to understand a word or two; and then it flooded my mind with understanding. I didn't know if I am translating it myself or if I could somehow understand the mind better and make either my mind or his mind translate the words into something my mind can process. Either way I could now understand better. I heard thoughts of how they would have this infidel laying across the road when his old platoon came down the road. They would see him, and approach carefully, once they saw the face of the man, they would rush to his side. That would be when they would send the signal to a cell phone, and detonate the bomb Hiram was carrying, and the other IED's scattered in the area. They would have to move this infidel from their present position in a bombed out building, only a few yards from the spot they had picked for the ambush. The American pigs were still over five klicks from the spot, and were stopped for the night, as it is late evening and dark. They will have a few hours before they leave again, as they normally do not move about much at night. The place for the ambush is just outside of Sarban Kalay.

Armed with this information I immediately go back to Hiram.

Next I call Walter, 'Sergeant Walter Young from Black Gnat, Kentucky. If you can hear me, answer only in your mind and I will hear you.'

'Lieutenant Samuel Garrett of 3^rd platoon, 502^nd Infantry Regiment. Hear me and answer only in your mind. I am your Master and I have found SSgt Hiram Sherman, and he needs help. A small group needs to go rescue him. Sgt Walter Young will come to you with a plan, hear him out and help him determine a course of action to rescue your man.'

I decided to stay around in the LT's mind as the briefing started. Sgt. Walter Young, Cpl. Julian DeNardo and Cpl. Juan Rodriguez were fired up and ready for this, as all three were good friends of Hiram. They have been devastated since his disappearance back in Landey Wozay. In fact, the whole platoon has been worried about his disappearance. Who would be next? What had happened to him? Was he tortured? Was he still alive? Some had even thought in passing that he had deserted, but no one really believed that theory. Hiram was too much of a patriot.

It was finally decided that PFC Gerald Bonner would drive the extraction team a couple of klicks down the road to give them a head start and then drive back to their camp. PFC Bonner was quite the driver. He had been driving since the age of five, first go-carts, then midgets, then dwarf cars, outlaw sprint cars and then he had graduated to ARCA racing. Next would be Nationwide. Gerald had an uncanny ability to avoid IEDs, and could drive a Hummer just about anywhere, including a few places no sane person would ever try to go. When they were almost to their drop off point Gerald slammed on the brakes and slid off the road and around a clump of bushes and then back on the road.

He said, "We almost bought it, guys! I almost didn't see that IED there in the bushes. We'll take care of that one when we come by in the morning. You guys sit tight with Hiram in that building on the right. We can send the sweepers in, when we get close. Now go get our buddy and kick some ass."

Gerald dropped off the rescue team and headed back to camp, again avoiding that clump of bushes. He reported back to the LT about the IED, and then went back to his bedding, and to sleep.

Julian took the lead, and they were off. They kept low and moved fairly quickly along the road until they could hear the sounds of digging. They moved about twenty meters off to the right of the road, and started crawling until they could see the enemy digging the holes for their IEDs. It looked like they had several 203mm shell casings that were stuffed with rocks, glass, and metal fragments. They were certainly setting a real trap. The area was about a twenty meter circle where they were digging and most of the 203mm casings were going to be around the edges of that area. They also noticed many 105mm casings, (probably American made) that would be hidden inside that circle of the Russian 203mm casings. This plan was going to be a massacre if it went to fruition. With gentle hints from me; Julian, Walter and Juan were able to take out the two lookouts and Hiram's guard without alerting the other workers. Julian, cut the tactical vest from Hiram and they slithered out of the hole and crawled past the workers, leaving the vest behind. I found the cell phone number for them, and gave it to Walter, so they could blow it themselves. Julian had snuck the vest over to the pile of 105mm casings loaded with explosives.