The Puppetmasters (43 page)

“If it helps any, we’re not having this for dinner.”

“Then I’m almost afraid to ask what we’re going to use it for?”

“To make our fire tonight. It’s an excellent fuel source and doesn’t need to be dried out. It’s ready to go.”

“Fine, but please make sure you wash your hands in the stream when you’re through.”

Rashid chuckled. He was able to get Babar to kneel right away and load their things. They walked for another couple hours with Rashid in front—always on
the lookout for landmines—and Kendall following using the same path. Every so often they would stop, so Rashid could use his binoculars to survey the landscape to see if they were being followed. He relaxed visibly when they found an isolated spot for their first night of camping. It was behind a small hill, and anyone walking by could easily miss them. He felt relieved and safe for the evening.

The captain of the troops at the Band-e-Amir Lakes, Lutfi Jabar, was irritated. Had they been sent on a fool’s errand? The entire area along both sides of the six travertine lakes had been canvassed. They had an enlarged picture of Kendall from her driver’s license photo. The image was so deteriorated that no one would ever recognize her. But Rashid’s picture was clear and bright. There was no mistaking the rugged good looks of his chiseled jaw, dark hair, and piercing brown eyes. The third picture was of a jeep similar to Rashid’s.

The photos were shown to everyone they came in contact with, but no one seemed to recognize the duo or the jeep. Several people remembered seeing a similar jeep, but didn’t pay attention to which way it went. It didn’t help when some eye witnesses recounted seeing it heading west and then others pointed toward the east.

It was now almost dark, and the troops needed to decide on their orders for morning. Captain Jabar watched as a scraggly-looking old man got out of a small, homemade boat that did not look at all to be seaworthy. The older man had done well fishing, and raised up a string of milk fish to show the two young boys who scampered up to his boat. The young boys got in and were about to shove off for the lake, so they could row over to their campsite.

The captain pointed to them and asked if the pictures had been shown to the older man. The troops looked at each other, seemed confused, and finally shook their heads. Grabbing the photos, he yelled for the man and the two boys to stop. He marched up to them and demanded to know if they had seen the two people or the jeep. The boys were afraid of the brusque military man and said nothing, lowering their eyes in submission. The elder man handed back the photo of Kendall and quickly shook his head.

He then studied Rashid’s picture and compared it with the jeep, and a slow smile spread across his face revealing several missing front teeth. He had seen Rashid and the jeep. Jabar was excited and peppered him with questions. Exactly where had he seen Rashid and the jeep, and on what day? The older man thought back and recounted it was two days ago at the last spot along the furthest eastward lake. He told the story of his missing grandchild who had wandered off in the middle of the night. The elder had gone to Rashid’s tent and asked him to help in the search. The man definitely remembered the jeep, because he had admired it and wished he had one too. The next day, the man
and his extended family moved their camp closer to the visitor area concession shacks and had not seen Rashid or the jeep again.

The weary but excited military leader gathered up his troop and asked who had been to the eastern most side of the lakes. Those soldiers recalled only that the last spot was extremely messy … with no jeep or man in sight. They remembered the woman dressed in a traditional robe sitting next to the fire. She didn’t speak to them or even turn their way as they inspected the campsite. They thought there was something wrong with her, and that maybe she was deaf … or afraid of her husband.

The captain was discouraged but would not give up. He had not gotten all of those promotions by believing everything he heard. His gut told him they were on the right track. Maybe Rashid and Kendall had moved on from that campsite. But where would they have gone? Surely, they would have run into the troops heading into the National Park. He vowed that at dawn’s light the troops would head over to that last spot and give it a thorough inspection. He sighed as he consulted his watch. The men moved to the
chaikhana
next to the hotel they had commandeered for the night. The handful of rooms, though occupied, was quickly emptied of their guests. The men would sleep several to a room, rolling out mats and blankets for the night.

While the men ate a robust evening meal of goat’s brains and watched the television on the wall, their leader phoned General Omar and reported the promising lead. The general made his wishes known. Nothing but complete success—the deaths of Rashid and Kendall—would satisfy the general. He ranted into the phone that he hoped Captain Jabar was successful on his mission the next day. Then he issued an underlying threat that the lower-ranking officer would certainly feel the effects of any failure, as it would not do to reveal any incompetence or weakness to his men … or to General Omar.

The captain was mildly fearful at the outrageous implied threat, but more enraged with the cat-and-mouse game he seemed to be playing with Rashid. He vowed to teach the young man a lesson when he caught up with him. As he hung up the phone, he visualized the moment of capture, and how he would make Rashid watch as he degraded and humiliated Kendall and then turned her over to his troops for their enjoyment. Once she was shamed and fully punished, then they would show mercy and cut off her head. He smiled, thinking how the young soldiers always clamored to be the one to wield the
scimitar
or backsword to do the final deed, and how they lay bets on whether it would be done in a single stroke. Maybe this time he would do it himself.

Two troops were posted at the entrance to the Band-e-Amir Lakes. In the morning, the remaining troops made their way to the last campsite at the eastern most lake. The site was now vacant. As Jabar walked around the uneven ground, something bothered him about the site. But he couldn’t place the source of his
disquiet. He peered into the abandoned fire and stirred the long-dead embers with a stick. Nothing out of the ordinary jumped out at him. He sent the men out fifty yards and then one hundred yards to inspect the surrounding area. After a couple of hours, the men reassembled at the campsite.

The lakeside campsite was isolated and would have been perfect for Rashid, the military leader thought. They couldn’t have just disappeared. Something kept drawing the captain’s eyes toward the north ridge. But there was no way the fleeing couple could have gone far in the jeep. Nevertheless, the nagging thought wouldn’t go away.

Finally, it hit him. The place was too clean. It looked like it had been swept of all traces of occupancy. Not even footprints could be detected when they first arrived on the scene. Jabar surmised that perhaps the messy nature of the reported campsite from the day before was because whoever was staying there was preparing to flee. Armed with that thought, three quarters of the men were sent north to walk for two hours and see if they could find any evidence of the trail of the would-be criminals.

The captain was about to shout a warning to look out for any unexploded mines, but then, in his currently bad-tempered state, he decided he didn’t want or need any soldiers who still had to be told to look out for the obvious signs of an active minefield. He shrugged his shoulders and sat down at one of the boulders around the campfire. His troops kept in touch every thirty minutes.

It had now been forty-five minutes since his lieutenant had checked in. Captain Jabar was beside himself. He had given explicit instructions on the frequency of checking in. The only logical conclusion he could think of was that they had either found something related to Rashid or were all dead. Jabar was just angry enough to wish for the latter, except that he would have a lot of explaining to do and would most likely find himself at the wrong end of a
scimitar
once he reported the unfortunate mishap to General Omar.

The radio crackled, and a voice cut in and out. The young lieutenant had obviously come upon something and, in his excitement was not speaking clearly into the radio. In his nervousness, he was alternately pushing and releasing the button.

The captain screamed at him and vowed to order a lashing for the lieutenant in the evening. The young officer calmed down and relayed the message that they had stumbled on a jeep that had gone off a nearby cliff. It made no sense that the jeep had even been up there. The only assumption one could make was that it had purposely been driven off the cliff in order to hide its presence.

Captain Jabar ordered the men to gather any evidence from the jeep. He and the remaining troops would drive out to meet them. They would rendezvous in about twenty minutes. Their military vehicles were sturdy and could withstand the rocky terrain. Five vehicles took off in the direction of the earlier troops.

Jabar insisted on driving his own vehicle. He sped off way ahead of the others. In his haste, he missed the unexploded ordnance on his right side and tripped it with his front tire. The vehicle went airborne and flipped onto its front, crushing the windshield and killing the leader.

“R
EYNOLDS.”

“Frank, this is Paul Fields.”

“Paul, you’re back! Are you okay?”

“Yes. I’m fine. Thank you for asking.”

“How’s Carson?”

“He’s still recovering but should be okay to return to work in about ten days.”

“Thank God. I only wish I could have been the one to use
Prophecy
and locate you. I had it narrowed down to Afghanistan, though.”

“That’s okay, Frank. I’m hoping you can use
Proph
now and we can save our female employee who got left behind.”

“Geez, Paul, how the hell did that happen? And who is she, this Kendall Radcliffe lady?”

“Kendall is the director of operations at Orion. She was on a business trip and happened to be staying at the same hotel as Carson and me. Her luggage got mixed up with ours, so we invited her to fly back with us. The plane got hijacked to Afghanistan, and the rest is history.”

“But how come she wasn’t on the rescue flight?”

Fields was beginning to hate this speech. He had told it umpteen times now, and it wasn’t getting any easier. “It took time to get Carson and his medical paraphernalia and doctor on board. Kendall was almost the last to board. Suddenly, troops were moving onto the rooftop, and it looked like we were going to take fire. What can I say? The damn helicopter pilot took off with me half hanging out the door.” Now he’d resorted to embellishing. His stomach was decidedly queasy.

“But, didn’t that government building get blown up? She must have died.”

“No, Frank, that’s why I’m calling. I don’t trust anyone but you to get to the bottom of it. I have confirmation that she and her Afghan companion, Rashid Sharif, are alive and on the run.”

Reynolds gasped and offered, “From what I hear, General Omar is as crazy as President Shazeb and his boys. If they did indeed make it off the rooftop, they’ll be hunted like animals. Good God, it’s been a week since you were rescued! If they’re still alive, they must be living in a hole.”

“Have you been listening to any of the Afghanistan news?”

“Only the first few days. I’ve been more interested in what happened with you and Carson and the Israelis.”

“Well, the news is that they were spotted in the Bamiyan Valley where they were blamed for a bomb that killed a child. I believe they are now at the Band-e-Amir Lakes. I looked at the map, and that’s the only place off the main roadways that’s not too remote. But if it’s true, that would be bad.”

“Why?”

“Because they would be cornered at the lakes. To escape, they would need to go up into the mountains on foot, if they managed to avoid the troops.”

“I see. So you want me to monitor General Omar and the Afghan government and military communications?”

“Yes. Find out what their plans are. Call me every day and let me know what the word is about Kendall and Rashid’s whereabouts.”

“Paul, who is this Rashid guy? Is he a good guy?”

“It would seem. He masterminded our escape … at great risk to himself, I might add.”

“Since the Afghan army is hunting him, I would imagine he has quite a price on his head.”

“Among other things. Frank, we need to locate them and arrange for a rescue.”

“Gotcha! I’ll ratchet up the eyes and ears and alert one of my trusted military advisors who can set this in motion.” Reynolds hesitated, then went for it. “Paul, why were you all kidnapped in the first place?”

The Orion CEO barely paused. “Beats the hell out of me! Probably because we were U.S. assets and they could get a large bounty for us?”

“Correct me if I’m wrong, but they never made a ransom demand, right?”

“I’m not sure. But I think that’s true.”

“Well, then why did they keep you so long?”

“I don’t know, Frank. For Shazeb’s perverse humor, I suppose. Who knows how that man thought.”