CHEEKHA DAR MOUNTAINS: IRAQ

The guard led Arianna by knifepoint out of the cave where they joined up with Amira. “Down,” he snapped, pushing her to her knees. She hit the ground with a thud, almost falling on her face.

“We have a statement you need to sign,” Amira said. She waved a paper in Arianna’s face.

Arianna slowly took the paper out of Amira’s hand and began reading it. It was nothing but pure propaganda. Political statements saying she supported the ISIS cause and also that she was being well-cared for by her captors. She didn’t know where they planned to use this document, but her conscience wouldn’t let her sign it. She handed it back. “These are lies. I can’t sign it.”

The guard cuffed her upside the head, sending her reeling backwards. “Sign the paper, American slut,” he yelled.

Arianna righted herself and held her head, fighting off the ringing in her ears. These guys are going to beat the shit out of me if I don’t sign. She was really conflicted but in the end, decided who cares what the stupid paper said. It wasn’t worth suffering bodily injury to save face. She snatched the pen and paper out of Amira’s hand and scribbled her signature at the bottom.

“Very good,” Amira said. “Your friends want proof of life. We will do a video and you will read this. If your friends hope to see you alive, they will pay the ransom or else we will sell you to ISIS fighters. They will pay good money for an American bride.”

“My company will pay,” Arianna replied. “Of that I’m sure.”

“We shall see. It will be bad for you if they don’t.” Amira started to walk away. She looked back at the guard and said, “Take her for a toilet break, then back to the cave.”

Arianna stared at the guard. Strange. A male escort for this? Reluctantly, she allowed him to lead her to a forested area that served as the restroom facility. Afraid that if she didn’t go now, she’d have to hold it forever, she quickly finished her business and started back toward the encampment. All of a sudden, the guard grabbed her and pushed her to the ground. Before she knew what was happening, he began ripping away at her clothes, “rape” written all over his face.

“Get off me, you pig,” she screamed, trying to push him off.

He ignored her pleas to stop. He ripped her blouse open and had her slacks nearly off as she flailed about. She squirmed around, and her hand touched a rock. Snatching it up, she struck the assailant on the side of his head, just in front of his ear. One, two, three times in a row…each time screaming, “You bastard!” with each blow. The man was dazed, but she knew she needed to stay on offense, so as not to give him a chance to recover. Like a mad woman, she smashed the rock right under the bridge of his nose.

Blood spewed everywhere, and he fell to his knees, momentarily stunned. She saw this as a chance to run. She took one step toward freedom, when he reached out and grabbed her foot, pulling her back. He held her with one hand and slugged her in the rib cage with a solid, debilitating blow. He reared back ready to strike again, when Amira jumped between them.

“Stop! Stop! Don’t hurt the whore. We need her alive and well or they won’t pay. Stop!” She pushed him back toward the cave. “Go. I will handle this.”

Arianna lay on the guard, fighting for breath, holding her chest in agony. She thought her ribs must be broken. If not broken, then cracked or severely bruised.

“Get up,” Amira shouted.

Arianna shook her head. “I can’t. I can’t move. I’m injured. This is all your fault. You knew what he had planned.”

Amira kicked her. “I said get up, slut. I saved you from being raped and probably killed. Only because we need you unharmed did I step in. If they don’t pay, I will personally delight in offering you up to all the guards. Now, get up.”

Arianna rolled to her knees, holding her chest. The pain was so intense she thought she might pass out. She struggled to her feet and stumbled along behind Amira as she led her back into the cave.

Glynis looked up when she saw Arianna. “Oh, my God. What happened?” She rushed over to her side and tried to pull together the tattered shreds of her blood-covered blouse.

Arianna reached out and grabbed onto Glynis, trying to steady herself. “He tried to rape me,” she wheezed. “I fought back. He slugged me in the ribs. They might be broken. The pain…” She swayed, almost losing her balance. “I feel faint.”

“Here. Lean on me.” Glynis led her over to a blanket that served as their bed and braced as Arianna gingerly lowered herself down to her knees. “That’s it. Easy does it,” Glynis said.

Arianna made it all the way to the ground and leaned back against the wall, perspiration beaded across her forehead. Glynis gave her some water from a jug nearby. “Here, drink this…slowly. Just sip it.”

Arianna took a small sip, then refused more.

Glynis pulled a shawl off her shoulders and ripped it into two pieces. “Lean forward. I’ll try to wrap your ribs. It may help ease the pain. You’re going to have to tough this out without any pain medication.”

Arianna nodded and did her best to lean forward. “Oow! Ow! Not too tight, please.” With the wrapping in place, she leaned back and was able to breathe a bit easier. Not deeply. Slow shallow breaths were all she could manage, but as long as she didn’t move, her pain eased a bit.

“I hit that guy over and over with a rock. His head was spewing blood. I almost knocked the bastard out. I would have killed him if I could have.” Tears splashed down her cheeks.

Glynis sat down beside her. “You’re so brave, Arianna.”

She shook her head back and forth. “I don’t feel brave. I feel lost, miserable, and I’m in terrible pain.” Between sobs, she said, “I don’t know if I can survive this.”

IRBIL, IRAQ

MASOUD TAPPED Zach’s shoulder as he lay sleeping on a cot in a storage room. “Wake-up. You need to hear this.”

Zach sat up, ready to fight until he realized it was Masoud. “What’s up?”

“Get dressed and meet me in the command center.”

Tony and Juan, sleeping nearby, were now awake too. “What’s going on?”

“We need to get over to cent comm.”

Minutes later, the trio entered headquarters where they found everyone gathered around a monitor in the back of the room.

“Okay. Fill us in,” Zach said.

“We hit the jackpot. We got an ‘electronic lock’ on Amira Shahab’s phone. Our tech people have been able to use this data to pinpoint the exact location of where they’re holding Arianna.”

Excitement raced through his body. He felt hopeful for the first time since she’d gone missing.

“Come,” Commander Haji said. “Listen to this.”

They stepped closer. Zach flipped a chair around and sat down to listen to the conversation on speaker phone. Amira and another man were speaking in Arabic, a language Zach spoke and understood.

“Their people are stalling,” the male kidnapper said. “We need to do something to increase pressure on these infidels to pay the ransom.”

“Execute one of the British aid workers,” Amira said. “We will video the execution. They will surely comply when they see this and pay for the release of the other two British hostages.”

The people in the room looked at each other in surprise. No one had any idea there were other hostages.

“No. No. No,” the man replied. “I need to talk to the village elders. They are the ones to decide. As for the American, her people have asked for ‘proof of life’.”

There was a pause. “Uh, see that’s a problem,” Amira said, “Getting a video of her could be a problem.”

Zach sprang out of his chair, causing it to fall backwards and crash to the floor. “What?”

Masoud put his hand up, indicating Zach should hold up a moment.

“You can blame Jamal for this complication,” Amira continued. “Stupid man. I’ll figure out something. Maybe we can do a POL without showing her. Her employer has lots of money, and I know they will pay the fee to get her back. If they do not, we will decide what to do about her future.”

The transmission ended. No one spoke for a moment. They all stood there looking at each other. Finally, Tony said, “Well, all right, then. We have the location. Let’s go to work and get her home. Zach? What’s next?”

Zach seemed to be frozen in place. “I’m not sure what to make of what I just heard. The woman said there’s a problem producing a POL. That can’t be good. I don’t even want to think what that could mean.”

“I’m sure it’s nothing,” Juan lied.

Zach looked at him. “I wish I shared your confidence. Masoud, we need that ‘proof of life’ ASAP. Use whatever influence you have to get that tomorrow. I’m going to assume she’s okay, but I can’t relax until I know for sure. This is priority one.”

“I’m on it. I’ll pull out all the stops to pressure them to produce the POL by noon tomorrow.”

“Roger, that,” Zach said, blowing out a ragged breath, an attempt to release anxiety built up within him. “In the meantime, you’ve pinpointed the location. Where is this place, and what do we know about it?”

A young Kurdish electronic technician waved everyone to the front of the room. He brought up a map on one of the large screen TVs. “Here’s what I found. She’s being held in an area of the Cheekha Dar Mountains, just as we thought.” The area was circled in red on the map.

“Well, at least we’re in the right country,” Juan said. “I was afraid we’d have to boogie out of here to an entirely different locale.”

“Yes, sir,” the operator said. “That’s the good news. The bad news is, she’s likely being held in a cave at the top of what is a steep-sided valley, almost eight thousand feet up in the mountains. This location is going to make a rescue attempt extremely difficult to execute.”

“Difficult or not, we have to find a way to reach her,” Zach said. “We will find a way, so let’s go to work and figure this out. First, we need some eyes on this place.” Zach turned to face the commander. “How soon can you get some eyes in the sky? The sooner we can get a visual on this, the sooner we can finalize a rescue plan.”

“I’m on it now.” Commander Haji picked up a phone to call for drones to be launched in this area. “We can probably have some aerial photos by the time the sun comes up. Too dark to see anything now even if we had anything in the air. Why don’t we all grab some coffee, have a seat, and begin to rough out a plan? It’s going to be a long night.”

“Did I hear that right? They have three British aid workers they’re holding along with Arianna?” Tony asked.

“Yes, sir,” one of the officers replied.

Zach pulled up a chair and invited his team to join him. “If all these people are being held together, we have to rescue all of them. We need to contact the Brits to let them know we’ve found their missing people. I imagine they’ve been looking for them.”

Juan fixed himself a cup of coffee and scooted a chair up to the table. “Maybe they can help us with the rescue. I know some former SAS. Those boys are good at what they do…almost as good as the SEALs, not as good, of course,” he said with a wink, “but it looks like we’re going to need their help.”

“Right, so Juan you’re in charge of coordinating with the Brits,” Zach said. “Masoud, you handle all the aerial observation…I need constant eyes on this. Also, if you have any informants in the area, I need their reports, too. Tony, monitor all the phone conversations in or out of there. Keep us posted on the status of negotiations…any new plans the kidnappers have in terms of the hostages’ location or,” he paused, “well-being. As soon as we get eyes on the terrain and a complete topographical report, we’ll finalize our rescue plan.

“Gentlemen, there’s a lot riding on our ability to get this right. Lives are at stake. These assholes aren’t playing around. If we don’t come through, someone’s going to die.”

Maybe someone already has.