Beneath vast skies, Princess Laila continued to cast Ashe appreciative glances. Ashe was conscious that Sinàn, sitting moodily in the back seat with two of Jolo’s militia, was catching every look with ill-disguised contempt. Was it sibling jealousy? Seemed unlikely. Perhaps he was just the moody type. Sinàn showed no interest in talking to the militiamen either. The taciturn Yezidis respected Sinàn’s silence and instead concentrated on closely observing every house roof, alleyway, passing car and cart.
It seemed most likely to Ashe that Laila’s brother was suffering from depressive anxiety since losing contact with the Baba Sheykh. Nevertheless, he could not entirely shake the conviction that Sinàn somehow held him, Ashe, personally responsible for the Baba Sheykh’s predicament – both before the kidnap, and since. He knew Ashe and the Americans were hiding something.
The open Land Rover 110 approached Shariya. The collective village was low-lying, situated beneath rolling terracotta slopes. Laila’s long fingers squeezed Ashe’s knee. Uncomfortable, Ashe felt himself itching to get back to Europe. He had an old friend who worked at Freemasons’ Hall. What the hell had the Baba Sheykh been going to say to the Turkish Lodge that necessitated English Masonic approval? Furthermore, the time had come to use Aslan’s arrest of Yildiz and Yazar to help the investigation. If it was Yildiz and Yazar who had warned the Baba Sheykh in Istanbul, how did they know about al-Qasr’s intentions against him? Was it certain al-Qasr was behind the threat to the Baba Sheykh’s life in Istanbul? And if it was, who told him the Baba Sheykh was on the Lodge guest list that night?
The sight of Shariya did nothing to encourage Ashe to linger in Iraq. The whitewashed warren of single-storey concrete boxes was clearly Saddam’s idea of a village for people he did not trust. But the Yezidis had made a home of it. Vital electricity buzzed through a network of crooked wooden pylons that criss-crossed the village like a cat’s cradle. Ashe couldn’t help noticing the satellite dishes bent back to receive the media vision, like mini Easter Island gods squatting on the roofs.
Children cheered the returning militia as the Land Rover dodged the occasional pickup truck. Richmond’s armour-plated Mercedes was unmistakable. Inside, Richmond, Jolo and an excitable interpreter huddled over a series of maps, enjoying the air-conditioning and the tension of fresh intelligence.
Inside the house opposite, a small line of villagers queued up quietly to kiss the sacred base of the senjaq, watched by a stone-faced sheykh who collected the devotees’ money.
‘I’m afraid I must leave you, Dr Ashe. I have disputes to settle before I leave. Are you coming with me, Laila?’
‘You promised to take Rozeh into Duhok this evening, Sinàn.’
‘I’ve not forgotten. I shall… leave you here then. Goodbye, Toby Ashe.’
Ashe gave him a firm shake of the hand and looked deep into the Yezidi’s eyes. ‘We will find the sheykh, Sinàn. Believe me.’
The doctor nodded with a faint smile. ‘That is more than we have a right to expect.’
Inside the Merc, Richmond continually congratulated Jolo on his achievements. Having an interpreter meant that Jolo heard each congratulatory utterance twice, and this made his youthful face twice as proud. Jolo was also delighted at the latest provision of new armour, ammunition and transmission equipment. Major Richmond had been as good as his word.
There was a good deal of shaking of hands and very soon Jolo, who hugged Ashe warmly, was out of the vehicle and on his way. Richmond turned to the young interpreter. ‘Take a walk. If people want to talk to you, make yourself available. Could be useful.’
Ashe looked down at the map spread over the dashboard, covered with large felt-pen detail of divisional movements and coded military dispositions.
‘OK, Toby. There’s something come up might interest you. As you know, most security work done in this sector is US-controlled. And done pretty well too, by and large.’
‘Glad to hear it.’
‘Still, we have our uses. Jolo’s detachment has been invaluable out in the western desert between the Jebel Sinjar and the north Syrian border. Recently though, I thought he needed a change of air and space, so I organised some reconnaissance missions for his detachment here.’
Richmond pointed to the far northeast, close to the Iraqi border with Turkey’s Hakkari Province. ‘You see here, Toby, the Hakkari Mountains respect no border. This seems to have inspired our Turkish friends.
‘We expect Turkish special forces activity in this area. Their argument is strong enough to satisfy themselves: if the US won’t come down on the PKK – though they are known terrorists – then it’s Turkey’s responsibility to pursue the “war on terrorism” beyond its borders, as the US and Britain have done.’
‘Yeah. I can’t see it making headlines anywhere.’
‘Now, have a look round here.’ Richmond waved his finger over a seriously mountainous area some seventy kilometres to the northeast of Duhok. ‘Jolo started a series of observation sorties from this point.’
‘Al-Amadiyah?’
‘The Kurds call it Amadiyye. Now, see this fan from Amadiyye north to the Turkish border post at Üzümlü, then follow the line of the border about twenty-five kilometres east to the next Turkish border point at Khwari, then back down to Amadiyye.’
‘It is. We need Jolo. His eyes see things differently to the rest of us. Extraordinary. I reckon he could give the Gurkhas a run for their money – in their own country! Now, you see these little Kurdish villages and townships?’
‘I can just make out Betfa, Kara, Rashi, Baytka, Nerva Zheri—’
‘That last one, Nerva Zheri. You need the satellite map to see this properly, but within a five-kilometre radius of the place, Jolo’s seen some unusual activity.’
‘Unusual?’
‘Turkish special forces. Carrying supplies mostly. Not much surprising in that, though it seems more intense than what we’ve seen before.’
‘Something else going on there?’
‘It’s odd. In the same territory, they’ve observed small detachments of Ansar al-Sunna forces training there. Now it’s been all I can do to persuade Jolo and his men not to blow these guys into the next world.’
‘So what’s your point?’
‘The point, Toby, is that given the proximity of their respective operations, the Turkish special forces and the foreign insurgents are literally moving in each others’ footsteps!’
‘They could be tracking one another. But why are you telling me this? I mean, if you’re asking my opinion, I’d say at the worst what you’ve got here is Turkish special forces co-opting Ansar al-Sunna terrorists into their war on renegade PKK forces over the Iraqi border.’
Richmond was surprised how comfortable Ashe was with this thought. ‘Well, that would be a startling new development wouldn’t it, Toby? I mean, mighty embarrassing for the Turkish government, to say the least, if that’s what we’re looking at here! Can you see the headline? “Turkey uses al-Qaeda allies to kill Kurds.” That would do nothing for their hopes of joining the EU. The US might reasonably regard them as a legitimate target.’
‘I don’t suppose the world at large would hear about it. Stakes are too high.’
‘You have a point. Anyhow, let’s not jump to conclusions. We need to keep a very close eye on this.’
‘It’s nice to be kept informed, Simon, but why tell me?’
‘Crayke said I should.’
‘What?’
‘Keep you informed of developments. On the Turkish border.’