Love In The House Of War Page 3

  “Well, yes, it is. A big powerful one.”

  She continued her work.

  Outside the bazar, Chris held his weapon at the ready and tried to carry on conversations in Farsi with some of the men who had gathered.

  “Hello, my friend. How are you? What is your name?”

  It became obvious to Chris that coherent dialog would not be forthcoming.

  Ron continued to help Sarah as much as he could until they had stabilized the wounded for the night. When completed, Sarah looked at Ron through her veil. “Would you like to join me for a quick cup of tea?”

  Ron hesitated, thinking about Chris outside.

  “We will not be long. Please?”

  “Okay, one quick cup.”

  “Come.”

  Sarah led Ron to a cooking area with a stove and hanging pots at the back of the building, which opened to a fenced-in courtyard. Sarah prepared a pot of tea encouraging the water to boil faster.

  “I need to get back to the camp now, but maybe I can return with more supplies to leave for you if I can convince my boss.

  Sarah replied, “It is ready now, see?”

  She poured the tea into a metal cup and handed it to Ron.

  Just as he took a sip, Sarah lifted her veil to join him and in so doing, revealed the prettiest, sparkling green eyes Ron had ever seen. Sarah's painted eyelashes stood prominent against her smooth, light-olive, blemish free, skin.

  “Thank you so much, Ron. You were very helpful for us today. You are kind and very skilled with your hands.”

  Finding the right response without coming across as being distracted, he answered, “Thank you, Sarah. You possess valuable skills yourself.”

  “Thank you.”

  “I must go now but I will try to arrange a visit for tomorrow.”

  “Good night Ron,” Sarah replied in Farsi.

  “And goodnight to you, Sarah,” Ron replied in Farsi as he placed the cup down.

  Sarah recovered her face with the veil before walking him back through the clinic to the front door.

  Ron approached Chris with his weapon ready, but Chris beckoned him over with his hand. “You should hear some of these guys, Hawk.”

  “What are they saying?”

  “Well, they think you are doing some crazy stuff in that building, but I told them that it was a clinic and you were practicing your medical skills.”

  “What kind of crazy stuff?”

  “You don't want to know.”

  “Yeah, I do.”

  “They think you are doing something with Dr. Rajiv's daughter but I think I have them convinced that you were just doing medical treatments.”

  Ron looked at the Afghan men staring at him…without smiling. “I don't think you convinced them, Chris.”

  “Maybe not. Come on, let's go before more of them show up.”

  “Good idea.”

  The two mounted their horses and galloped down the trail into the darkness to Cobaki.

  “I'm glad we didn't have to shoot anybody.”

  “You and me both. By the way, what took you so long in there? I didn't think there were that many casualties.”

  Avoiding the question, Ron answered, “I need to come back here tomorrow, before we move out.”

  “And why is that?

  “They need more supplies.” Ron decided not to tell him about Sarah removing her veil, revealing her beauty.

  Chris gave him the weary eye, wondering if Ron told him the whole story.

  7

  Wednesday, October 24, 2001

  Ron and Chris arrived back to the unit around 0200 hours and decided to wait to brief the Captain and Master Sergeant Talbot. Dropping his rucksack against the wall, Ron plopped down and laid back against it for support. Not bothering to find a blanket, he closed his eyes and fell asleep.

  Captain Carter was up at the break of dawn, sipping some hot tea and looking over the unfolded map on the ground. Mark Talbot, Abdul Mohaqeq, and Muhammed Omar, another Afghan General who joined forces with Carter's team during the night, huddled around him. Omar brought along another fifty-five men, more than what Mohaqeq lost during both of the two attacks combined.

  “We should be able to follow the ravine here to our west and move along it, heading north to this spot, just southwest of Mazar-e-Sharaif,” Carter circled a location on the map with his marker.

  Mohaqeq studied the map until a commotion out front of the hut disrupted his thoughts. Just then, Dr. Mohammed Rajiv burst into the room in a near panic. “They took her away!” He told Mohaqeq in Persian. “They have her, please hurry!”

  “Who did this? Where are they?” Mohaqeq demanded in the same language.

  “Khan's people. They think she committed adultery with the American!”

  “That's ridiculous! They have been here with us,” Omar interrupted. “Captain, it seems a very important girl has been taken away by the religious Akhund in Dehi.”

  “You said somebody important?” Carter inquired.

  Dr. Rajiv stepped forward toward Carter and spoke to him in English. “Sir, she is my daughter and helps me take care of all the people in the surrounding area with her great medical skills.”

  Abdul Mohaqeq brushed past Dr. Rajiv and stood in front of Carter. “She is also my niece. I will take care of this myself. You need not concern yourself with this matter.”

  Omar interjected in Persian. “You must leave her. We have a mission to fulfill, and time is critical.”

  Mohaqeq gave him a stern look and answered through gritted teeth. “Would you like me to tell the Captain that she will be executed because she is charged with adultery with one of his soldiers?”

  Waking up and still leaning against his rucksack, Ron Hawkins overheard some of the commotion and listened to Mohaqeq's words. Jumping up, he approached Mohaqeq and spoke in Persian.

  “Who? Whom do they have? Sarah? What American has committed adultery? One of us?”

  Carter and Talbot exchanged glances. Talbot was about to question Ron when Dr. Rajiv stepped in front of him and answered, “We know that none of you did anything to her, but yes, it is Sarah. They accuse her of things that I know are a lie. All the staff told me that the accusations were not true.”

  Ron's face turned red, stricken with frightened concern.

  “What's the matter, Hawk?” Talbot asked.

  “Top! Sir! This girl is the nurse that we helped in the clinic last night. She may be executed because of me!”

  “My God!” Talbot exclaimed.

  Carter thought a moment. “We have to save her.”

  Mohaqeq walked toward the door. “Enough of this. I will go get her myself, now.”

  “Sir, let me go with him! He may need help! That's why we're here, right?”

  Carter looked at him and then looked at Talbot. “Top?”

  Talbot was quick. “Yes, of course. Go!” Looking over at Chris, he continued, “Go with him.”

  Chris had already jumped to his feet and prepared to join the group of six men jumping on their horses, Ron being one of them. Mohaqeq had gathered three of his men and had Dr. Rajiv on the back of his horse.

  When they arrived into town, Dr. Rajiv exclaimed, “I hope we are not too late!”

  The six men followed Dr. Rajiv to a building about forty yards away from the town's mosque where two armed guards stood at the entrance.

  “They have her in there.”

  “Inside the mosque?” Chris asked incredulously. “We can't go in there and do anything.”

  “Wait!” Mohaqeq stated. “They will not execute her inside. They will bring her to the square and do it in front of the town to make an example of her.”

  “Are you sure of this?” Ron asked.

  Mohaqeq did not answer. He looked at Ron. Then, he motioned to two of his men and pointed them into positions behind the wall of the mud building where they were taking cover.

  “After Khan brings out the girl, you must shoot the guards. Ahmed, you take the one on the left, and M
ohammed, you shoot the one on the right.”

  Ron told Chris of Mohaqeq's plan. “It might be better that way,” Chris said. “That way, we don't get involved with shooting a priest.”

  “If they take out the guards, Mohaqeq will go rescue the girl. We can provide cover for him.”

  “Yeah, we'll do just that.”

  Moments later, Atta Mohammed Khan came out of the mosque with a teenage boy next to him. Ten feet behind him, two men forced a girl to walk alongside, causing her to stumble along the way. The veil still covered her face although the blue burkha was torn. She struggled to walk straight while being led towards the town square.

  Two other guards, followed behind her. Ron and Chris looked at each other and knew that this would not be an easy rescue. They both moved their selector switches off safe and onto semiautomatic.

  “Be selective,” Chris whispered.

  A large tree trunk stood about twenty yards to the left of the mosque. As they walked toward the fallen tree, some of the townspeople emerged from their homes, prompted by one of the guards on a loudspeaker. Then, the teenage boy grabbed the veil from the girl's face, causing her long black-reddish hair to flow around her shoulders.

  “Wow, no wonder you took so long last night,” Chris whispered with clenched teeth.

  Ron remained silent and steadied his aim at the guards holding Sarah.

  The sight of the young boy ripping the veil off her filled Mohaqeq with rage and without waiting charged the group. Mohaqeq's men began shooting, killing both guards but not before the two guards, walking behind the girl could return fire in the direction of Ron and Chris.

  “GAHD!” Ron shouted.

  Taking careful aim, he shot one of the guards behind the girl while Chris took care of the other one in like fashion. Sarah ran toward the back of a nearby building behind the mosque.

  Shots rang out from several buildings, all in the direction of Mohaqeq, who crumbled to the ground.

  “Come on!” Chris shouted. “He's hit!”

  Both Ron and Chris ran toward Mohaqeq, firing their weapons, now on automatic, toward the areas where the firing seemed to originate. Chris stopped where Mohaqeq lay while Ron kept running toward Sarah.

  Bullets plucked the dirt around Chris as he hefted Mohaqeq over his shoulders and ran for cover.

  Ron reached Sarah and said, “Let's GO!”

  They turned back the way he came but it was too hot with crossfire. “Wait! I know a better way,” Sarah shouted in English. “Follow me!”

  Ron hesitated and was about to respond when Sarah took off towards the mountain behind them. “Wait! Oh, my God!” Ron muttered as he jumped up and followed her up the trail.

  Ron ran hard to catch up with her. “Stop a minute.”

  However, Sarah kept moving so he reached out and grabbed her arm.

  Pleading with him, Sarah said, “Come, now! Those Taliban forces were hiding and waiting for you in ambush. There are many. It is a trap!

  “A trap?”

  “Yes, I know where we can hide in safety! Please trust me!”

  Ron stared at her pleading, yet desperate green eyes. “Okay, go! I'll follow you!”

  8

  Sarah took off. “Try to stay with me!”

  “I'm right behind you! I'm going to regret this,” Ron muttered.

  Sarah continued to move with predetermined gusto, knowing her destination quite well. Ron kept up, surprised by her fast pace, with an occasional glance over his shoulder to see how closely they were being pursued.

  Sarah veered off the path, and after taking a thirty-five-degree turn straight into the woods, she led Ron across steep slopes, stony ground, and through clusters of trees, stopping him at a steep twelve-foot ledge shooting straight up toward the sky.

  “This way. Come!”

  Sarah's breathing, though labored, surprised Ron due to the intensity of the trek they had just crossed for more than an hour. Ron followed her to what seemed to be a dead end.

  “Please help me over this cliff,” Sarah requested. “I will stand on your shoulders hoist myself up.”

  Ron knelt down below the rocky ledge. “Go for it.”

  Sarah hesitated and then proceeded to step on Ron's shoulders while he held her ankles for balance. Stretching upward, Sarah reached above her head and grabbed a stationary rock on the ridge. With a slight jump, she hoisted herself over the ledge. “Hand me your rifle and then come up now. I will help pull you.”

  Ron looked at her and handed her his M4 who grabbed it from his hands before setting it down next to her. Ron looked at his hands and noticed a fresh streak of blood, wondering if it was his own. Scanning the lower wall, he sought a foothold.

  “Right there behind the brush,” Sarah instructed, “is a tiny ledge. If you step onto it and leap, I will catch your arm.”

  Ron looked doubtful. “Okay, if you say so.” Looking down at the worn down slit in the rock, he yelled, “Here goes!”

  Ron jumped towards the protruding ledge but missed the spot. With his momentum moving forward and his legs out front, he fell flat on his rear, kicking up a cloud of dust.

  Sarah tried to stifle her amusement. “I'm sorry I laughed. Wait there. I'll be right back.”

  “I'm not going anywhere.” Ron looked around, crouching low toward a bush. The end of a rope dropped in front of him, landing five feet away. He looked up and saw Sarah peering down at him over the edge.

  “Now come please

  “Where did—never mind.”

  He grabbed the end of the rope and gave it a firm tug. It held so he guessed that Sarah must have already tied it to a tree trunk or something solid. In a matter of seconds, Ron had ascended the twelve-foot wall with the aid of the rope and Sarah's hands reaching and grabbing his uniform at the shoulders as he neared the top.

  “Thank you.”

  “You are very welcome.”

  Sarah reached over her side and grabbed the M4. In expert fashion, she cleared the chamber, moved the selector switch to safe, and handed it over to Ron.

  “Here is your weapon.”

  Ron watched her before taking it back.

  “Where did you learn to handle an American weapon?”

  “Come. I'll show you everything.”

  Ron followed Sarah another five feet around a huge boulder and straight into the mouth of a large cave. Four feet high at the opening, the mouth emptied into a massive cavern with forty-foot ceilings. Ron stood awestruck.

  The entrance of the cave slanted at a forty-five-degree angle from the front toward the back. There was a large boulder, blocking the cave entrance, resting in front of the cave's mouth.

  If one were to look at the cave from below the cliff or even parallel to the cave itself, the entrance would be difficult to see with the naked eye. An aircraft hovering high and at close distance might be able to see the cave carved into the mountain.

  Just beyond the entrance, the interior widened and heightened until it appeared to Ron like a great cathedral. Unlit torches hung from various parts of the cave, which extended into other rooms.

  “Wow, this is some hideout!” Ron exclaimed while pulling out a flashlight pen from his front pocket and looking around. “This is an amazing hideout,” Ron said a second time still astounded by the enormity of its size. “Is it manmade?”

  “Yes. Some of it is natural though.” Sarah headed towards a back wall. Until then, he had not noticed her limping.

  “Hey, are you all right?”

  A large pond of water stood toward the back of the cave where Sarah sat down.

  “Yes, I am fine, thank you. Are you?”

  “Ah, yeah, but I saw you limping.”

  “It is nothing, just a scratch. I see you are impressed by this cave, yes?”

  “I am.”

  “My uncle brought me here many years ago when I was a small girl. Whenever trouble came to our town, this is the place he would hide us…my aunt, my cousins, and me. He taught me how to use many supplies and they are hid
den here.”

  “That's good,” Ron said, “because when I ran to get you at the square, I left my rucksack behind. I have some things in my pockets though, including my surgical kit.”

  She grinned. We will be safe here for now.”

  Ron walked over to where she was sitting to find the reason for her limp. “Can I take a look at your 'scratch?”

  “Here, see for yourself.” She lifted her foot.

  Ron hesitated before cupping her foot into his hands, noticing that her wound was more than just a cut, as blood ran down between his fingers onto his wrists.

  “I'm so sorry!” Sarah exclaimed. “I did not know you would grab it.”

  “No reason to be sorry but this is much more than a scratch.”

  “I know, but I was not going bother you and I would have treated it myself.”

  “I'll take care of it for you. Just relax while I clean and suture your foot. I'll have it patched up in no time.” Ron pulled his kit out of his pocket, sat down on a flat rock next to her, and rested her foot on his lap.

  Sarah leaned towards her foot for closer inspection, her long hair flopping forward in front of her face, prompting her to brush the thick strands behind her ears with her hands.

  “I hope you're not nervous about my skills.”

  “Not at all. I saw them, remember?” Sarah answered looking up, straight into his gaze. “Thank you for helping me.”

  “Well, thank you. You may have saved both of our lives back there.”

  She continued to watch his handiwork in silence. Whenever he happened to glance over to see how she was doing, Sarah returned it with her own.

  Completed with his minor surgical procedure, a skill he learned at the Special Forces Aidman and medical lab courses, he carefully and gingerly wrapped Sarah's foot with some roller gauze, followed by a sturdier Ace wrap bandage. “There, I'm finished.”

  “Very good, Mr. Ron! Look, let me show you something.”

  She got up before Ron said, “Uh, uh. You sit and rest.

  “But I wanted to show you our supplies.”

  “Where are they?”

  She pointed to a ledge on the other side of the pond. “Over there. You see that shelf?”

  “Yes, I'll go take a look.”