“I don’t want to lose both my sons tonight!”
“Rebecca! Rebecca!” Phil gasped, dropping to his knees.
“Oh, my God!” Roddy exclaimed in shock.
“Be careful, man, the body may be a booby-trapped!”
Phil did not care and removed the covering from his precious friend’s face, which was battered and bloody and hardly recognizable; yet, he was in no doubt of the woman’s identity.
Weeping and calling out her name, Phil pulled the dirty blanket off Rebecca and saw that her body had fared no better than her face. They had beaten her badly, and blood was seeping out of multiple wounds; he couldn’t tell if they were caused by a knife or bullets, or by being beaten; all he knew was that her blood and maybe life was draining away.
“No! I don’t believe this is happening; I haven’t come all this way to lose you!” Phil screamed and bawled, crazed by grief. “Rebecca! Rebecca!”
The men stood around as Phil cradled the limp body of his friend. Her blood rubbed against him and his clothes.
“Put her down, Phil,” Yousef shouted, but the man would not let her go. It took Ismail, Roddy and Shahzad to calm him somewhat and pull him away.
“Why didn’t I come sooner?” he wailed. “Look what those bastards have done to you! Rebecca! I’m so sorry! Rebecca!”
“I think I feel a pulse! Get help at once; Shahzad speak to your father only!” Yousef ordered as he began to try to revive the woman who was hovering between life and death.
He lifted her neck and tilted her head back. Pinching her nostrils, he began exhaling into the victim’s mouth. There was no response, yet he kept on trying.
“We’ve found Rebecca; the others have gone! No, I don’t know if she’s dead or alive!” Shahzad told his father. “Yousef says he can feel a faint pulse, but he’s not sure. Send help at once, Abba; she has lost so much blood; she’s badly beaten, stabbed, and shot as well! Please hurry!”
The moan was soft but audible, and Shahzad shouted, “She’s still alive! She needs immediate help! Please hurry, Abba!”
“Rebecca! Wake up, honey!” Phil begged. “You’re safe now; we’ve come to take you home!”
“We need to keep her steady. She needs a hospital soon!” Roddy insisted.
Within minutes there was a doctor on the phone, asking about Rebecca’s condition.
Yousef gently pushed her hair away from her face, looking for the source of the blood. Eventually, he traced it to her side of her head. She had at least three wounds where they had beaten her with a blunt instrument; a large amount of blood was starting to clot. He spoke to the doctor, detailing the injuries as he examined the woman. He lifted the long dress that covered her while his flashlight played over her body. Her clothing was intact, and he sighed in relief at the realization that there was no sexual abuse.
“There are bullet holes where she has been shot, twice in the torso and once in each of her legs. Her legs seem to be crooked and bent in an awkward position; they look broken,” Yousef reported. “They have stabbed her, and the broken blade of a knife is still visible in her stomach. The skin on both her feet is torn and bloody; every part of her body seems to be injured.”
“She should lie down; don’t try to shift her, and do not try to remove any foreign objects embedded in the wounds,” the doctor advised. “Apply direct pressure to try and control the bleeding and keep her warm. We’ll be with you soon.”
“You’re safe now, Rebecca. Stay with us!” Yousef covered her with a shawl and showed Roddy and Shahzad how to stem the bleeding. There was no response from the woman, and Phil felt like he was sinking with grief. Yousef raised her eyelids and shone the flashlight into them before shaking his head.
“Her pupils seem dilated; they gave her drugs,” Yousef reported. “Probably to keep her quiet while they brought her here.”
“They left her to die; with her injuries and blood loss, there’s no way she can come out of this alive,” Yousef whispered to Roddy. “This was a message. No one will escape from them.”
“How long is it going to take for help to get here?” Phil moaned. “Why don’t we take her down the mountain so that we can meet the medical party sooner?”
“The doctor said we must not move her, Phil,” Shahzad reiterated. “He also said they would be here soon; they have this location; my father will do everything to see help arrives as soon as possible!”
Seeing Rebecca lying there so helplessly, strange emotions filled his being. He had missed her company when he was in Nancowry, but when she went missing, something had happened, and his heart told him that things would never be the same again. Phil had loved her for years, ever since they were children. He loved her still, but now it was different.
“Are you still getting a pulse?” Phil blubbered in a daze. Seeing Rebecca in this state was very unnerving for all the men but understandably, for Phil, in particular.
“I’m not sure; if it’s there, it’s too faint for me to detect; I’m sorry Phil,” Yousef felt he should prepare him for the worst as if this wasn’t bad enough.
“It’s all so brutal and senseless,” Phil shouted. “What did these people hope to gain by inflicting such violence on a defenseless woman?”
“Keep it down, Phil!” Roddy said firmly. With Phil fluctuating between shock and grief and rage, he was an added liability. “The terrorists left very recently; in the time it took them to return from Khar to their mountain hideout, they left. They’re probably still nearby and could return if they hear voices.”
Barely 20 minutes had passed when they heard a helicopter near their position. Yousef drew a circle on the sand in the clearing that was once the terrorist compound. Shining their torches, they guided the army chopper down. The medics rushed to Rebecca and lifted her onto a stretcher while they checked her injuries and vital signs.
“Is Rebecca alive?” Phil asked, repeatedly getting in the way of the medical team who worked frantically to find any sign of life.
She was hooked up to a blood transfusion and intravenous injection. They stopped the bleeding from major wounds and then transferred her to the helicopter.
“You go with her, Phil,” Yousef demanded. “She needs someone to stay with her; don’t let her out of your eyesight and stay in touch with Clooney only; don’t speak to anyone else!”
In the blink of an eye, Phil was inside the chopper, holding Rebecca’s hand.
“Take care of your friend, Phil,” Yousef insisted. “Would you like to go too, Roddy? Ismail?”
“No, I’m staying with you guys; we still have a missing person, and until we find the boy, we have work to do!” Roddy replied, and Yousef put his arm around the man’s shoulders.
“Me too!” said Ismail. “The mission isn’t completed until we go home with Ahmad!”
“Thanks, guys,” Shahzad sighed, his voice filled with emotion.
“Good! There’s safety in numbers! Phil was of no use to us here, and Rebecca needs him whatever the outcome; he’ll know what to do,” Ismail replied as they waved the helicopter away.
“Let’s update Husain Sahib,” Ismail suggested.
“I’m going to track the terrorists,” Shahzad insisted when his father gave the all-clear to return to base. “They have my brother!”
“We’re tracking them too, my son,” the chieftain said. “50 armed Lashkar are on their way; we’re going to catch them before the sun rises; you can be sure of that!”
“I’ll help track them down,” Yousef offered. “They couldn’t be more than five hours away.
“I must do this, Abba,” Shahzad pleaded with his father. “I must find my brother before they do to him what they did to Rebecca!”
“We’ll help you take care of it, Shahzad,” Yousef spoke for the others who all nodded their agreement. “We found Rebecca; we’ll find your brother.”
Shahzad nodded as his father said, “Go ahead then but be very cautious; locate them if you can but wait for the Lashkar before you engage. Remember, when cornered, wild animals are most dangerous and will use any means to escape. A few more deaths will make no difference to them, but I don’t want to lose any of my sons tonight!”
“We should seize this opportunity to find Ahmad,” Ismail suggested. “The soldiers are on their way, but we’re ahead of them. If we spot the camp, we’ll meet them and move in.”
They left behind any cumbersome baggage, just taking the satellite phone, maps, torches, night vision goggles, and their weapons and ammunition.
“I must find their footsteps,” Ismail pledged. “They didn’t depart by the path we came up, or we would have bumped into them. Let’s check all possible exits and see if we can find the route they took.”
Before long, the men discovered what they were looking for and checked on their map for possible routes. This pathway through the steep ravine behind the camp was well hidden and merged with the closest road; they probably had a truck or two waiting to take them to their next location. They passed on their information to the chief to help the Lashkar pinpoint their position through their satellite phone.
Even with their night vision goggles, it was not easy going down the steep mountain trail, but they were spurred on by traces of the retreating terrorists. While they were careful where they put their feet, their minds moved in all directions.
They made slow progress for almost an hour. Ismail led the way like a hound dog following a scent. Intent on the trail, the men were taken by surprise when suddenly, a turbaned man with a rifle stepped out in front of them. Training instinctively kicked in, and Ismail aimed at the man who did not have the benefit of the night vision goggles to see clearly. The shot took him out instantly.
Yousef was beside Ismail in an instant, and as they looked back for possible retreat, they saw another person behind them. This one was without a turban but seemed as sinister as his downed companion. Then another man crept out from behind a rock, and the two stood menacingly, daggers and rifles ready for use. There was only one thing to do in that narrow space; they raised their guns and opened fire. If they were to die, they might as well go down fighting the good fight.
A bullet grazed Ismail’s cheek while Yousef took a shot in his shoulder. One man behind was shot dead while the other one turned and ran, shouting for backup. Yousef aimed and gunned him down before he could alert the others.
“So, there are others!” Yousef confirmed. “Let’s go get them!”
Roddy and Shahzad were lagging; when they heard the commotion, they ran down and were stunned to see what had taken place. Three of the insurgent group were lying dead in the dust.
“Let’s go!” Yousef shouted, and the four men sprinted as fast as their legs could carry them. Flying bullets made the men dive for cover behind the rocks. As Ismail peered around a corner, he saw three men running away. Were they being lured into a trap? Yousef didn’t wait to weigh the situation and dashed after the assailants hoping to stop them before they could prepare another ambush.
One of the guys among the three retreating terrorists was a fast runner, but he tripped and fell, sliding down the steep passage and landing just in front of the men who were after him. Ismail jumped on the guy’s back; he punched him while Shahzad grabbed the man’s rifle and kicked him in the head. The man twisted and squirmed under Ismail, and Shahzad saw a dagger in his hand. He hit the guy on the jaw with the butt of his rifle and knocked him out cold.
As they stood and looked down at the unconscious man, several shots rang out. Ismail managed to get to a vantage point and saw there was a small boy with the other two men who had run away. The turbaned man held the boy’s arm and seemed angry, judging from his gestures. He spotted Ismail and fired a few shots to keep him at bay while they fled, dragging the boy with them. Ismail considered giving chase but then thought it might be a trap and ran back to Yousef and Shahzad.
They were okay despite their wounds, which seemed superficial. Ismail looked around for Roddy, who was nowhere in sight.
“Where’s Roddy?” Ismail asked.
“Shit! I thought he was with you!” Yousef yelled as they made ready to look for their missing companion.
Just then, Roddy came racing back, followed by a volley of bullets that ricocheted off the rocks, sending pieces of stone flying in all directions.
“That kid just came out of nowhere! I think it was Ahmad! He pushed the guy who was about to shoot me. Don’t let him get away!” Roddy ordered, panting as the color drained from his face. He had a bullet in his thigh and grimaced in pain.
“We’ll go after them, but first we need to sort you out, Roddy,” Yousef emphasized as he checked the injured man.
“I must find my brother!” Shahzad cried emotionally, ready to dash out and run after the men.
“Wait a minute while I deal with this chap; then we can go together,” Ismail said as he tore strips from the man’s turban and trussed up his hands and feet behind his back so he couldn’t move. A tight gag made sure he couldn’t shout out for help. They shoved him into a tight crevasse and moved on.
“If you’re in too much pain, you can hide here, Roddy,” Yousef suggested. “You can guard this guy till we get back!”
“No way, man!” Roddy stumbled along. “I’m with you!”
There was no sign now of the men and the boy who ran away. Ismail used the satellite phone to call Chief Naseer and fill him in on the latest developments. He informed the village leader that they had one man in custody, a possible sighting of Ahmad, and now had two injured members of the team.
“Shahzad?” the father in him asked, and Ismail could hear the anxiety in his question.
“Shahzad is fine. Roddy and Yousef have sustained bullet wounds, but they’re still on their feet. We’re in a tight spot; when can we expect the backup to arrive?”
“We’ve pinpointed your location, and the soldiers are still two hours away,” said Husain Sahib. “The Lashkar has now been joined by 20 regular army men, many of whom are being parachuted into the area as we speak. The terrorists don’t stand a chance in hell of escaping this time. Better you try to hide until then, and don’t create a situation that forces the terrorists to kill Ahmad if it’s him.”