Jericho 3 (7 page)

Kazi was the only one who spoke English. He seemed friendly enough, American educated, but Banks didn’t trust the others.

The captor walked him over to a wooden table that was covered with a few rudimentary operating room devices. Six bottles marked diethyl ether were sitting on the back of the table. Several dozen Ethicon Prolene visi-black M3 surgical suture cartridge spools were scattered around.

Kazi walked into the room.

“Dr. Banks, I’m sorry for your difficult treatment earlier. I apologize. I hope you have enjoyed your meal and some water.”

Banks said nothing.

“This woman is very important. She is the wife of a Taliban commander. We do not have the expertise that she requires.”

Banks looked at the table and the woman on the bed next to him. Her eyes screamed but her mouth was covered with tape.

“She needs surgery, Dr. Banks. Do what they need done, and these brothers will take you back to Paktya, completely unharmed. They can’t take you back to Thunder the same way they took you out, for obvious reasons, but they will drop you off on a nearby road where the ANA will pick you up.”

Hope started to build. Banks stretched his fingers to make sure his hands weren’t injured.

“Yes, we made sure your hands were protected,” Kazi said with some pride.

Banks walked closer to the woman.

“What’s wrong with her?” he said in a raspy voice.

Kazi and the other captors in the room nodded and smiled with each other. This was progress. Perhaps they finally had a cooperative hostage.

“This is difficult to explain, Dr. Banks, but the woman does not bring her husband pleasure. She has been married one year but has not brought him children. He is not attracted to her.”

Hope disappeared as fast as it had arrived. Banks looked at Kazi with contempt.

“The commander is not satisfied with her breasts?”

Kazi pointed to the two devices on the table.

“The commander wishes that you implant one of these in each breast. The commander has acquired these Poly Prothese PIPs from France. They are industrial grade silicone. The best.”

Banks examined the packaging around the PIPs.

“Let me get this straight. You want me to put this woman to sleep with a couple of bottles of diethyl ether, then open her up in here, in this room, and insert industrial grade silicone PIPs? All to make her more satisfying and attractive?”

Kazi smiled. “Precisely, Dr. Banks.”

“I assume you’re aware that the United Arab Emirates and all other civilized countries have recalled these industrial PIPs because they rupture? Does he want his attractive, faithful, and satisfying wife to die in three to four years?”

“Dr. Banks, this is not your concern. Three to four years is ample time to give him a son. She won’t live even that long if she does not bring him a son.”

The Army major started to grasp the purpose of his abduction. But he couldn’t fully process the notion of performing cosmetic surgery on a Muslim woman under such harsh conditions. There had to be other options. Banks mustered enough saliva in his mouth as he could then spit on the floor near Kazi.

“Screw you,” Banks snarled seconds before the butt of an AK-47 opened a gash on his head as he fell to the dirt unconscious.

The captors carried him over to his bed and threw him down as Kazi warned them not to hurt his hands.

Level One Clinic - TMC

FOB Lightning, Afghanistan

C
amp was sitting on the edge of an exam table in the clinic. Seven soldiers were in line at the window waiting to get another week’s supply of Ambien. Two young Army medics walked Miriam into the clinic and over to Camp.

“
Salam,
” Camp said gently covering his heart with his hand.

Miriam smiled.

“Miriam, I am Captain Campbell, and this is my associate Billy Finn.”

“It is my pleasure to meet you.”

“Your English is excellent. You were Major Banks’ interpreter?” Camp asked.

“And four more doctors before him. I have been working for coalition forces for five years now.”

“Where do you live, Miriam?” Finn asked.

“Interpreter village.”

“Well, your file says that you work seven weeks straight then take one week off every two months. Where do you go when you’re not in Terp Village?”

“My home is in Khost, Mr. Finn.”

“Do you have family, Miriam? A husband? Parents? Children?”

“Such questions are interpreted as rude in Afghan culture, Mr. Finn.”

“Well, then pardon my damn potty mouth and answer the freaking questions. In American culture, kidnapping is hardly interpreted as high-brow social etiquette either.”

Miriam nervously stroked the single glass bead on her necklace.

“I have one son, he is six years old. My husband is a farmer.”

“What tribe are you, Miriam?” Finn pressed.

Miriam was now irritated with the excessive line of questioning.

“I am Pashtun, Mr. Finn, my father was Mezi clan of the Zadran tribe.”

Finn smiled and shook his head slightly. He got the answer he wanted. The interrogation was over.

“Am I in trouble Dr. Campbell?” Miriam asked trying to stop the questions. “I desperately need my job to feed my family and take care of my parents and cousins. Many people depend upon my salary.”

“No, Miriam, you’re not in trouble,” Camp said trying to be reassuring. “Mr. Finn and I are here to help figure out what happened to Major Banks. Do you know of any reason why the Taliban would want to kidnap an American doctor?”

“No. He was a good man.”

“Was?” Finn asked.

“He
is
a good man. Dr. Mahmoud and the rest of the staff think highly of him.”

“Dr. Mahmoud…I’d like to walk over and see him. I presume that’s the hospital we saw across the street when we were pulling up to the checkpoint?” Camp asked.

“Yes, but I’m sure Dr. Mahmoud has gone home for the day. It’s almost four o’clock,” Miriam said.

“Geez, nice hours. Then tomorrow morning, 0900 hours?” Camp asked.

“Yes, I’ll be waiting for you at the checkpoint.”

Camp nodded, and the medics took Miriam out of the clinic and escorted her back to Terp Village. Finn got up and followed behind her for several steps, stopping only when she had left the clinic.

“Anything?” Camp asked Finn, as he searched for useful conclusions.

“Mezi clan. Zadran tribe. Jalalludin Haqqani became a powerful military leader back in the day, during the Soviet occupation. He also got tight with our CIA, Pakistan’s ISI and the new Afghan government. His son Sirajudin Haqqani runs military operations for the old man now with capable help from his little brother Badaruddin. The Haqqanis are also Mezi clan, Zadran tribe. In fact, Sirajudin selected Sangeen Zadran to be the shadow governor for one of the provinces.”

“Let me guess…for Paktya Province?” Camp asked as Finn touched the tip of his own nose.

“Bingo.”

National Interagency Biodefense Center

BSL-4 Facility

Fort Detrick, Maryland

R
aines was examining Phase One study results on Marburg’s fever when the call came in.

“Lieutenant Colonel Raines.”

“Ma’am, this is Sergeant Perkins at the Fort Detrick visitor’s center. You’ve got a visitor here, says she doesn’t have an appointment.”

“For me?”

“Yes ma’am, says her name is Ruth Campbell.”

“Ruth Campbell…oh my gosh, Mrs. Campbell?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Okay, ah, tell her I’ll be right over. It’ll take me 10 minutes to get there.”

“Roger that, ma’am.”

A million things went through Leslie’s mind. None of them seemed good. Certainly she would have heard directly from General Ferguson if something had happened to Camp. She rode the elevator without buttons down to the atrium, walked quickly past the coffee bar and the leather chairs, out the atrium and down the sidewalk past the parking lots to the visitor’s center.

“Mrs. Campbell, what a lovely surprise.”

Ruth looked around at all of the empty chairs in the visitor’s center waiting room.

“I don’t see a Mrs. Campbell in here, Leslie, do you?”

Raines laughed and gave Ruth a big hug.

“How are you, Ruth? Did you drive all the way over here from Lancaster County?”

“All 95 miles from Bird-in-Hand. The old man was driving me nuts, so I needed a drive. I’ve got exactly 20 minutes before I need to drive back home, so I can get supper on the table by five. Seabury gets persnippity if he’s not served supper before the evening news. We always ate, washed the dishes by hand and fed the animals before Walter Cronkite came on.”

“Well then, let’s not keep Mr. Campbell waiting. Is something wrong, Ruth?”

“I took Seabury to see our doctor, Harry Tasner. He’s been practicing medicine in Lancaster County since 1963. Fine man, really. His wife Doris passed a few years back. Harry has never been the same, but he still shows up for work every day.”

“Is something wrong with Mr. Campbell?”

“Two days ago he was out in the barn. The girls and their husbands had already come over for the evening milking. They had just fed the cows. Seabury hasn’t worked – actually worked – in the barn for 10 years. After supper he went out to the barn. He didn’t even turn on the news. I went out into the barn, and there he was, holding a bucket of feed. He didn’t know what to do with it. He didn’t know why he was even out there.”

“Well, Ruth, I wouldn’t get too worried. Mr. Campbell is getting up there in years. Maybe he was just a little tired, a bit confused after a long week.”

“Maybe so. But yesterday was different. He said he grabbed his coat and went outside about eight-thirty last night. Never even took a flashlight with him. I think I dozed off in my chair while I was crocheting. I never heard him leave. Well, something on the blasted TV woke me up, must’ve been nine-thirty. Seabury was nowhere to be found. I checked the porch. I looked in the barn. I even rang the dinner bell. Nothing. I called the girls, and they came over. We looked for a few minutes, and finally we called the sheriff. The sheriff came over in his pick-up. It’s a beautiful new four-wheel drive truck. Not sure how he can really afford that kind of a truck on his salary, especially with all of those fancy off-road lights and everything.”

“Ruth…did he find Mr. Campbell?”

“Well he drove around the 40 acres for 10 minutes with the girls. Down by the creek, on the far end of our land, there was Seabury. He was sitting on a tree stump, shivering and all upset.”

“Was he hurt?

“No, not that we could tell. The sheriff brought him back to the farm house. After I hugged him, I just about knocked his head off I was so mad. I said, ‘Why didn’t you come home?’ He said he tried to but just got lost.”

“Lost?”

“We’ve lived on those same 40 acres since the 1950s. You can’t get lost out there. It’s all row crops and grazing pastures.”

“What did Dr. Tasner say, Ruth?”

“Said he thinks Seabury’s got hardening of the arteries.”

“Atherosclerosis?”

“No, he didn’t mention that one. Maybe. I don’t know, all those fancy words confuse me.”

“It’s a reasonable diagnosis from a small-town family physician. What does Dr. Tasner want to do?”

“Says I ought to cut back on the pure butter I use in Seabury’s food and that he should have his pressure checked every week over at the drug store.”

“That’s it? Cut out butter and get his blood pressure checked?”

“Well, that didn’t seem like enough to me either, Leslie. That’s why I wanted to talk to you. Junior is out gallivanting around the globe playing Army men, and Eileen is still mourning over Jane. I didn’t know who to call.”

“You did exactly the right thing, Ruth. Are you okay to drive home?”

“Oh, for heaven’s sakes yes. I may be seasoned, but I’m not an invalid.”

“Okay…let me make a few calls. I’ll call you tomorrow, no later than supper, I promise.”

Ruth stood up, grabbed her purse and reached over to kiss Leslie’s cheek.

“You are a wonderful person, Leslie. I knew that the first time I met you. You would make a wonderful daughter-in-law.”

Raines blushed as Ruth summoned one of the guards behind the desk.

“You there, sergeant, walk this old woman out to her car,” Ruth called out to one of the uniformed guards behind the desk. Regardless of their rank, all soldiers were “sergeants” in Ruth Campbell’s mind.

Lieutenant Perkins looked over at Raines who lifted her hands in defense since she was innocent of issuing the order.

“Yes, ma’am,” Perkins said begrudgingly as he locked arms with Ruth and walked her out to her Ford Galaxy sedan for the 95-mile drive back to Bird-in-Hand, Pennsylvania.

Raines watched Lieutenant Perkins help Ruth into her old Ford Galaxy. She knew Camp would want to know that his father’s health was failing. But just like every military family that deploys, sometimes decisions are made to protect warriors from having to deal with more than one war at a time. Raines decided to step in and handle the family problem herself, a situation Camp knew nothing about.

Datta Khel, Miran Shah District

North Waziristan, Pakistan

W
hen Banks regained consciousness, he realized that he had been placed in a chair at a table. Two AK-47 toting captors stood above him on both sides. A long knife was the only object on the table. He looked up to his left and realized that the guard’s face was completely covered by a Shemagh that was tied around his head, face, nose and mouth. Only his eyes were exposed. He kept looking straight ahead. Banks looked to his left, and the other terrorist was equally as stoic. The wall behind him was covered with a black and white flag. Based on what Banks remembered from the pre-deployment briefings he tried to sleep through, he thought he was probably sitting in front of the Islamic Khilafah – Shahada – the flag of jihad.

“Dr. Banks, I hope you’re feeling better since your nap.”

Banks glared at Kazi. His jaws clenched, and he was determined to take his execution like an American, like a soldier. He said nothing.

Kazi bent down in front of him and placed his forearms comfortably across the table.