I ask that my family accept my decision and my conversion to Islam. Please don’t seek me out as I belong to Odamir now. I pray that all of America will come to realize their sinful ways and will give themselves to Ali in servitude. Islam is the only true way to serve Ali and receive his blessings. I would plead with the president of the USA to pull your troops out of these countries. Stop trying to profit from these countries and stop forcing your beliefs on them. If these demands are not met, may Ali have mercy on your souls as ISIS will reign down the wrath of Ali on your heads. We are prepared to make our presence known throughout the US and the world. There is no where you can hide from our influence.”
Hussan stops the filming. He is grinning broadly. He grabs Elise by the upper arm and drags her out of the room and down a long hallway. He forces her into another room that has a bed with a mattress and nothing else. She is chained to the bed and left alone. He slams the door behind him when he leaves, and she hears the click of a lock. Elise knows she is in a seriously bad spot. She doesn’t see any way out of this mess.
Elise knows that her father has friends that are high up in politics and the military. She is praying they will send someone to find her, but will they be able to find her before she is forced to marry Hussan? She shudders at the thoughts of the man forcing himself on her. Elise begins to pray for a savior to release her from this nightmare.
* * *
Deadeye is getting frustrated.This is taking too damn long. The refugees are afraid. They are reluctant to give them any information on the attack of the supply truck and where Elise was taken. They had been investigating around the camp for 24 hours and getting absolutely nowhere. They had not gotten any more information than they had when they had arrived. The team was gathering again to review what they had learned on this last patrol through the camp.
“I hate to say it, but I don’t think we are going to get anything out of the refugees. They are terrified of ISIS and know they will suffer if they help us.” Wallace tells the group when they arrive in the mess tent of the aid workers. They are using it as a temporary headquarters. Virus, Worm, and Hack have computers set up everywhere. They are checking satellite images from the time of the abduction to see if they can find a direction to guide them to Elise.
Deadeye is holding on by a very thin thread. He is angry with himself at his reaction to the female’s image. He is a professional. He hasn’t even met Elise in person, but he feels a strong pull toward her and has an overwhelming need to find and protect her. He wonders if this is how Hawk felt when he met Charlotte. He knew that Hawk acted differently after finding her on the jungle path, but at the time he couldn’t understand Hawk’s attraction to the woman. Oh, he loved Charlotte like a sister, now. She had been good for Hawk and their twin boys were a bright light in the team’s world. They saw the worst of mankind when they were out in the field. It was so nice to come home and hang out at Hawk and Charlotte’s with the boys. They have gotten big enough to laugh and coo. It was hard to be down around them. Their personalities were starting to shine, and it was easy to see they were going to be a handful for their parents.
Hack brings him back to the present when he shouts loudly. “Bingo! I knew there had to be something we just hadn’t found it yet.” Deadeye heads over to the table where the men had set up their tech section.
“What have you got?” Deadeye is peering at the image on the computer screen. It’s a cluster of tents in the middle of the desert.
“We knew the general direction the men took her in so I have been scanning the desert looking for anywhere they might have taken her. Thankfully this particular area is not covered with mountains or cave systems like much of the area has. I think they must have at least stopped at this camp.” Hack informs the men gathered around the table.
A commotion outside the tent has them all on edge. The men all get their guns at the ready. Deadeye, Ace, and Straw begin moving toward the entrance to the tent, when Tank comes dragging a man into the tent. They relax slightly while they wait for Tank to explain himself.
“This man claims to have information on the whereabouts of Elise.” Tank jerks the man to the center of the room. An interrupter enters the tent behind them. Tank turns to him. “Ask him what he knows. Tell him he will be rewarded if his information is found to be correct and valuable to finding the woman.”
The interrupter spouts off in Arabic. Deadeye is fluent in the language and knows the man is translating Tank’s demand correctly. He doesn’t want to disclose his knowledge just yet. He has found its better to determine whom you can trust before allowing them to know you can understand them.
The man Tank has dragged into the tent is relating that he overheard some men talking a couple of days before the ambush about taking the new American woman in camp. Hussan had taken an interest in her and was offering a nice reward to whomever brought her to him. They had said they were to deposit her at a camp of Syrian nationals that live in tents about 20 miles into the desert from the camp. Well it seems they have confirmation that what Hack had found was where they had taken her. The man produced an earring he claimed belonged to the missing woman.
“Ask him what he knows about the camp? Do they have electricity? Could they have made the video at the camp?” Deadeye asks the interrupter. He quickly translates Deadeye’s questions. The old man responds that the camp is primitive, no electricity, they get their water from a well and most of the inhabitants are old men, women, and small children. The old man says he thinks that is why Hussan would choose it as a place to get the woman. It is far enough away from camp for him to feel somewhat safe and the inhabitants would not be able to fight him.
“Alright let’s gather as much information as possible and head to the Syrian camp and interview the inhabitants if it’s safe.” Tank is organizing the men and resources. Deadeye is thankful his teammate is willing to share the burden of this mission with him. Tank seems to know instinctively that Deadeye is not at his usual level of performance. Again, he can’t help but compare himself to Hawk when they found Charlotte in the Columbian jungle. He had been the one to step up and help Hawk lead the team when he was caring for his woman.
Chapter 5
An hourlater the team arrives at the camp in the desert. They fan out and set up a perimeter to gather intel about the camp before they move in to question the inhabitants. Deadeye is anxious to get on with it. He feels like time is running out for Elise, but he knows they have to play it smart. The last thing he wants is to walk into a trap and be ambushed. He wouldn’t be able to help Elise at all if he was captured or dead.
After several hours they have not seen any signs of ISIS fighters or any men for that matter. They have only seen women and children. When it is determined it is safe, they enter the camp from all sides. They move quickly to secure the inhabitants in one location. Once all the women, children, and elderly have been herded into the large tent in the center of the camp, Deadeye and Tank begin to question them.
After an hour of trying to reason with the women to tell what they know, Deadeye is about to give up. He knows he could never hurt a woman or child unless it was a matter of life or death such as a suicide bomber, but his honor was being tested. He wanted to justify torturing the women with the fact that Elise’s life was in danger, but he knew he would never be able to go through with it or forgive himself if he did do something to them. He is about to give up and try to find another way to get information on Elise when a woman in the back of the group comes forward. She is rattling in a dialect of Arabic that Deadeye has a hard time understanding, but apparently the interrupter is familiar with.
“She says that while it will most likely cost her life to give us this information, she wants to help the woman she saw here 2 days ago.” The interrupter translates. “A woman was brought to the camp. I was told to dress her in appropriate dress for a faithful Muslim unmarried woman. Hussan had been in our camp for 3 days waiting for the woman to arrive. He threatened to kill the old ones and children if we did not cooperate with him. He was going to take the women as whores for his men to use. If we cooperated, he would spare us. They left with her soon after I dressed her as he had commanded. I don’t know where they were going, but we have heard rumors he has connections in the town about 40 miles east of here. They left in trucks heading that direction. They also had a young girl with them. She was about 9 years old. I heard them say she was going to make sure the woman cooperated with whatever Hussan wanted her to do.”
“Please thank her for the information. Tell her we will inform the peacekeepers in this region and will ask them to watch over this camp in return for helping us to find the woman.” Deadeye tells the interrupter. The man relates the information to the woman. She nods her head in response never making eye contact with any of the men in the room.
A moment later, Bull and Wallace enter the tent. They had been looking for evidence that Elise had been in camp and they had found a bracelet that looked much too expensive to belong to anyone in this camp. It had been along the edge of one of the tents. Deadeye knows that Elise is trying to help him find her. Now if he can find her in time to save her from this monster.
The team is on the move in only a few minutes. Worm, Virus, and Hack have a satellite dish on their transport and will gather as much information as they can on the city they are headed toward. The urgency is growing among the team. They know time is of the essence. Elise has been gone for 3 days already. Deadeye doesn’t want to think about what she might be suffering through at the hands of the evil ISIS leader. “Hang on Elise, I’m coming for you.” Deadeye whispers to himself as they race across the desert.
They arrive at the city a few hours later. They set up a headquarters to begin their surveillance of the city to find where Hussan is holding up and keeping Elise hostage. It is slow going gathering intel on the hide out and determining the number of men Hussan has at his disposal. Deadeye knows they cannot trust the city’s inhabitants to not reveal their presence to Hussan. They will have to be stealthy in their intelligence gathering. They quickly divide up into 2 men teams and fan out through the city checking every nook and cranny for signs of the ISIS leader and his men.
When they meet up to discuss what they have learned, Tank reveals he is sure he has found the hide out. A large building on the North-eastern side of the city had several men with guns standing around it. And Tank had found the matching earring in the back of a large truck that was parked behind the building. They are so close. Now to form a plan to get her out safely without alerting her captors until it is too late for them to react. More surveillance is needed.
By the next day, they have gathered enough information about where Hussan is hiding and how many insurgents they can expect to be at his compound at any one time. He has surprisingly few guards. He is apparently confident that no one can touch him. Deadeye was determined to show him the error of his ways. He fully intends to be the one to kill Hussan. There is no way he will allow the bastard to live. He is praying that he has not harmed Elise. If he has harmed her in any way, he will end Hussan slowly and painfully.
The team gathers around the table with a crudely drawn map of the city. They have their plan and are reviewing it one more time before they put it into motion.
“Everyone clear on our plan?” Deadeye looks each man in the eye has he waits for them to acknowledge his question. Everyone nods in response. “We will set the charges on the northwest side of the building. Once the walls are breached, we will enter and clear the building room by room. Our objective is to find Elise and extract her from the building. If you come across the little girl from the camp and it is safe to do so, extract her as well.”
The men all nod in agreement. They gather their supplies and put their plan in motion. They move quietly through the city like a thief in the night. They are almost to the compound when they hear a shout echo across the buildings. They have been spotted. This is not going to go as smoothly as they had hoped.
