Chapter 9: Arrival in Baalbek

"Danger," Cody muttered when the last check point before Baalbek came into sight.

They were over two hundred yards from the check point, but the vehicle immediately began to slow as the driver lifted his foot from the accelerator.

"I feel danger, here," Cody said a little louder as he searched for the source of the feeling.

Gabir glanced back at Manuel, and the Peruvian nodded gravely, saying, "He has the sight."

Cody brought his radio to his lips and, after keying it, said, "Heads up. I don't know why, yet, but I feel like something is dangerous just ahead of us. Stay sharp."

"Stop short of the guard post," Gabir ordered, after a quick glance at Cody. "About ten yards short should do it. Maybe a little more. Stop with several jerks as if something is wrong with the brakes. Make them come to us."

Gabir turned to Cody and said, "Professor Frost, I will get out, as head of security. You will also need to get out with the caravan's papers, as the leader of the archeological expedition, but wait until I call you. I want to be in position first," Gabir said calmly, as the vehicles slowed further before stopping with several jerks.

Four men were at the check point. There were two privates and a corporal, like at the previous check point. The fourth man was a sergeant that looked angry about something. Sergeants often looked angry, though, and many considered their anger a requirement for the job. The sergeant began striding towards the lead vehicle when they stopped farther from the check point than vehicles would normally stop.

"Wait until I call you," Gabir said again.

Cody nodded and said, "The sergeant is the danger. I don't get any warnings from the others."

Gabir frowned, but nodded his understanding, before looking at the driver and saying, "I want you to get out and angrily kick the front tire. Call it some bad names then, kneel down as if you're fiddling with something in the wheel well. Call one of the men from the second truck to help you. Start yelling at the tire again after I call the Professor. You are the distraction if there is a problem."

"Yes, sir," the driver said with a quick grin before setting his face in an angry scowl and opening his own door.

Gabir met the sergeant a few paces in front of their SUV. The sergeant was gesturing angrily, but he couldn't be heard over the driver berating the tire. Gabir shrugged at the sergeant, pointing at the driver's antics.

Finally, the sergeant calmed enough for Gabir to hand him the expedition's security papers. After a moment spent looking at the papers, the sergeant gave a sharp order that Cody couldn't hear well enough to understand. Gabir looked over his shoulder and motioned for Cody to bring the expedition's authorizations.

Cody cast his senses out one more time before opening his door. The sergeant was the only one that he felt was a danger. That was puzzling.

Cody had been sitting behind the driver. It was a natural action to exit on the driver's side, and to look at where the driver was pointing, to show another security guard the imaginary problem. His wide brimmed had briefly hid Cody's face as he walked past the driver.

"The authorized leader of this expedition is a woman," Cody heard the sergeant say angrily. "The authorized leader is the person that must present the expedition papers. Not one of her dogs," he continued, sounding even angrier.

Cody looked up, shocked at the words and the anger in the man's voice. He met the sergeant's eyes.

The sergeant stiffened in surprise when he saw Cody's face. He twitched, as if reaching for his pistol, and then froze in position.

Cody's senses sharpened at the sergeant's action, and he hesitated. He knew they were on the cusp of a very dangerous situation. He slowed his steps, but continued to Gabir's side when the Sergeant's pistol wasn't drawn. He understood why after reaching Gabir.

The short security chief was smiling up at the sergeant, and a small pistol was pressed against the sergeant's abdomen, just below his belt, and it was canted at a downward angle. Gabir was speaking softly to the sergeant. He was explaining, with a big smile, that nothing else would matter because, if any shots were fired, the sergeant would receive the first shot. He would die painfully. Gabir also asked how he would handle the virgins in heaven, if he eventually reached the afterlife without his manhood.

Cody watched as the Sergeant's hand relaxed and carefully dropped away from his pistol. That is when Cody saw the head of a snake tattoo peeking from beneath the Sergeant's sleeve.

"Give him your papers, Professor," Gabir ordered in Arabic. "Sergeant Mahdi will examine them carefully while we ask some questions."

Cody handed his papers to the sergeant before Gabir asked, "Manuel said that you have the sight. Can you tell truth from lies?"

"Easily," Cody replied in the same language.

"Sergeant Mahdi, we need to make sure there are no misunderstandings. I will ask you two questions. I want you to answer both of them, but answer with a lie for one question. The Professor will tell you which is a lie. After that test, any lie will mean your death. Do you understand?"

The sergeant nodded carefully, but he didn't seem particularly afraid. After all, any action Gabir took would also be dangerous for the convoy.

"Are you married?" Gabir asked.

"Yes," Sergeant Mahdi said stiffly.

"What is your wife's name?" Gabir asked.

"Jamil," the sergeant said.

Cody frowned and said, "Both answers are lies. He's not married. There is a woman named Jamil, but she isn't his wife."

Cody ignored the sergeant's startled look as he tried to sift the confused impressions that he was getting. His eyes widened as he suddenly made sense of what he was feeling.

"He has a captive named Jamil," Cody said softly as his eyes narrowed. "He plans to use her for his own pleasure. He also plans to share her with his superior officer. He has done that with others until they die from abuse, and that's how he made sergeant." Cody looked at Gabir and hissed, "I thought slavery was illegal in Lebanon!"

Gabir's eyes also widened in astonishment before he said, "That's a little more than 'the sight', Professor."

Cody shrugged in resignation before looking back at the sergeant and saying, "I've had a lot of practice lately. Sergeant, where is your slave?"

"She's not my slave," the Sergeant protested. "I keep her at my apartment in Beirut," Sergeant Mahdi said hurriedly at Cody's narrowed eyes.

"Lie!" Cody hissed angrily, as he made sense of more information coming from the sergeant. "She is chained to a wall in Baalbek." He narrowed his eyes thoughtfully before saying, "Gabir, if he does something stupid, and we have to kill him, don't shoot. We don't need that kind of problem with the Lebanese Army. I have other ways to stop him."

Focusing intently on the sergeant, Cody growled, "You will not die with your next lie." His gaze intensified as he paused before continuing, "Your brain will freeze. All motor functions will cease. The other guards will think you were struck down by a stroke. You will be little more than a vegetable, and we will continue on our way and finish our mission. The rest of your life will be spent unable to move, or speak. Not even a grunt of sound. You won't be able to eat, or even blink your eyes. They will have to feed you with tubes to keep you alive. Drops will needed to be put in your eyes to prevent them from drying and withering in their sockets, as you slowly go blind. Even after you go blind, you will be able to hear and feel every touch on your skin. You've seen how unresponsive patients are treated in the hospitals. That is what you have to look forward to for the rest of your short life. Think about the answer to the next question carefully, because your future is very bleak if you lie to me."

"You truly are The Seeker," Gabir said in a hushed, reverent, almost fearful whisper.

Cody glanced at Gabir before looking back at the sergeant and demanding, "What is your name, and where is the slave?" in a low, threatening voice.

"I am Sergeant Mahdi and the prisoner is at my home," Sergeant Mahdi gasped, sparing a glance at Gabir before looking back at Cody as if he were an angry cobra ready to strike.

Cody's gaze seemed to intensify and the sergeant's look of horror grew when Cody continued.

"We can't leave you here, so we have two options. I can freeze your mind, or we can take you with us. A lie will ensure the first option. The truth will make the second option a possibility. Will the other guards think it odd if we take you with us?" Cody asked the Sergeant.

"No," Sergeant Mahdi answered quickly, with a gasp, and his eyes wide with fear. "I'm not part of this guard contingent. They think I am here to meet someone."

"That is the truth," Cody said, nodding slowly, "And we're the ones that you are here to meet," he said in a harder voice. "Call to them. Tell them that we're the group that you're here to meet. Tell them that you'll be going into Baalbek with us. Do you have a vehicle here?"

"Yes," the Sergeant said quickly.

"Will it seem unusual to instruct them to drive your vehicle back to Baalbek?" Cody asked.

"No, sir," the Sergeant answered. "It is a motor pool vehicle. I can instruct them to return it to the motor pool after the guard change."

"Do it," Cody said quietly. "Do it carefully. If I sense you are warning them in any way, you will wish you could die. You will wish that you could plead for someone to kill you, but you won't even be capable of that."

"Yes, sir," the sergeant said in a near whisper. He took several breaths with his eyes closed to steady his voice before calling over his shoulder in an arrogant tone, "This is the group that I've been waiting for. I'm going to ride into town with them. Drive my truck back to the motor pool after your relief arrives. Open the gate."

Cody nodded and said, "Gabir, you can put away your pistol. My range is better than your pistol. It's more accurate, and much more lethal. My weapon won't get the guards upset, either."

"Very well, Professor," Gabir said and the pistol seemed to disappear up his sleeve. "Um, could I have a word with you in private?"

"Sure," Cody said. "Sergeant, you will sit in the back seat," Cody ordered. "As soon as you are in the seat, pass all your weapons to the front seat. Don't forget any. I will ask if you are still armed when I get in. No matter how fast you are, a thought is faster, and that's all that is needed to make you a vegetable. Unfortunately, I haven't figured out how to fix what I break yet."

"I understand, sir," the sergeant said, his voice trembling in terror.

Cody made sure the sergeant was seated, with a seat belt on and all weapons in the front seat, before turning to Gabir. The two of them stood looking at the offending front tire the driver was still loudly berating.

"Professor? Umm," Gabir started nervously, but very quietly. "Can you really kill with a thought?"

"Only if the thought is telling my finger to pull a trigger," Cody said drily, in a low voice. "Haven't you ever played poker, Gabir?"

"Do you mean that was a bluff?" Gabir asked, incredulous, barely able to control his features.

"I could tell when he lies, and I get glimmers of the truth," Cody admitted slowly. "It seems that my skill in that area is improving. I can sense danger, and that seems to be improving, too. I knew when we stopped that the sergeant was the only danger at the check point. The sergeant doesn't know that I could only sense lies. I used his surprise and fear to build a bigger boogie man."

Cody sighed before saying, "Gabir, we need to question that man. He knew our permit was granted to a woman, and he recognized me. We need to know how and why. At the same time, we can't afford to bring the whole Lebanese Army down on us. I ... We need to know what information is being passed within the ranks of Viper. How did he know a woman was the authorized permit holder, and why did that seem to make him so angry? How did he recognize me? What was he supposed to do about it? Who else should we worry about?"

"You're right, of course," Gabir said, shaking his head in amazement. "A bluff," he said quietly before snorting in laughter. "Seeker, please don't take offense, but you've got bigger balls than your mother."

"I would really like to hear that whole story sometime," Cody said drily, smiling back at his short security chief. "Now we need someplace to question him. I really don't think questioning him in the back seat in broad daylight is a good idea."

Gabir nodded, but said, "I don't know of any place that would be safe in Baalbek. We had several members in Baalbek and the Bekaa Valley, but we lost contact with them over the last few of weeks. It has worried more than a few in our organization."

"What would have happened that would cause them to lose contact?" Cody asked. "The Seekers have been in existence for a very long time. It seems strange that now, of all times, you would lose contact with them."

Gabir seemed slightly embarrassed when he said, "An activation and mobilization message was sent through the ranks when your presence was announced. We believe that some members grew careless. The Bekaa Valley isn't the only place we've lost touch with cells. Several areas in Europe also went dark."

"That's not good," Cody said thoughtfully. He sighed before shaking his head and saying, "Okay. Maybe a little misdirection is in order." A slight smile twitched his lips and he said, "I'll bet the Sergeant knows where we can find a safe place to talk to him."

Cody walked to the back of the truck and looked through the outside pockets of his pack. It only took him a moment to find a small taser that fit in the palm of his hand. He checked the charge and was satisfied. Then he changed the setting to its highest shock level.

"I think that should do it," Cody said with a grin.

"What are you going to do with that?" Gabir asked.

"Watch and learn, Grasshopper. Watch and learn," Cody said grinning.

"What does that mean?" Gabir asked. "I mean, I know what a grasshopper is, but why are you calling me one?"

"Just an old television show my dad and I used to watch when I was a kid," Cody said, his expression growing slightly wistful. "It isn't important. Let's get on the road," he said, focusing again. "When I start questioning Sergeant Mahdi, caution me. Warn me that we need him to answer some questions."