My Desert Rose (18 page)

"You want me to
make you unconscious?" She'd never had that request before. "Hmmm,
okay, I think I can, but is there another exit?" They couldn't go
back down the stairs.

"Yes, at the
end of the room is another door that leads to the fire exit
outside."

"They're
coming," piped up Miriam, as she picked up the toolbox and hit the
man on the side of his head, knocking him flat out.

"Miriam!"
exclaimed Katie. "What on earth...?"

"Tariq taught
me the exact point to make someone unconscious," she pouted. "He
did ask nicely and we are saving his life?"

"Well, when you
put it like that." The men were now looking at them through the
glass and furiously trying the handle. "Come on!" Katie grabbed
Miriam's hand and they ran for the fire escape.

Bursting
through the door, they clattered down the metal steps. The men
below looked up at the two women. One began to point and shout.
Katie threw open the door on the next floor and pulled Miriam in
behind her and locked the door. Running along the corridor to the
other side, she looked up the stairs. The men had broken through
the bridge door above them and she could hear them pulling at the
fire door. "Quick!" she whispered, as they quietly made their way
down the steps into the bowels of the ship. As they got lower,
orange bulbs gave it an eerie glow. At the bottom of the
passageway, it split off into two corridors.

"This way is
the store." Miriam pointed to a sign on the wall.

Katie was
breathing hard. "We have to hide well. Tariq will be here in about
an hour." As they were running down the corridor, they saw that
once again it split into two. Taking the left turn, they ran the
short distance to another door. Behind them she could hear
footsteps down the stairwell in the distance. There was no window
in this door. Putting her ear to it, Katie couldn't hear any sounds
behind it. Inching it open very slowly, they both crept through the
door and onto a short metal bridge. Below them, large storage
containers were packed into the hold and above them pipes ran right
across the ceiling. At the end of the bridge was another door.

Katie's palms
were now so sweaty that the gun she was holding out in front of
them was in danger of slipping. Wiping each hand down her jeans in
turn, she once again listened at the door.

Nothing.

Warning Miriam
to be silent with her finger to her lips and using the same slow
and deliberate movements, she opened the door. It led into a room
with large containers on either side, but at the end of a long
aisle directly in front of them, sat an African pirate with his
back to them.

Crap! What
now!

Someone
coughed, so they took silent steps down the aisle past a few
containers before hiding in-between two of them. They both peered
around the corner at the pirate. In front of him sat a row of about
two dozen men. They were all tied and gagged. Some of them looked
wounded. Sickness engulfed her and the gun shook in her hand. These
were possibly Tariq's men and the pirate overseeing them had a gun
pointed at them.

Katie caught
Miriam's eye. If only they'd brought the iron. Miriam smiled and
beckoned Katie to follow her. She wondered what plan was
formulating in that brain of hers.

Once in the
aisle again, Miriam reached out to take the gun from Katie's hand.
Katie couldn't believe that she wanted the gun, so she mouthed 'no'
to her and held her arm straight up out of reach. Miriam swung on
her arm to pull it down and they began a tug-of-war dance, all
behind the back of the pirate. Katie was shaking her head furiously
and Miriam was giving her a look that said, 'I know what I'm
doing.' A couple of the captives were now watching them in
disbelief. Finally, Katie gave in and handed Miriam the gun. If the
pirate turned around and caught them, they'd both be dead.

Katie's heart
was in her mouth as she watched Miriam sneak up behind the pirate
and hit him hard on the side of the head. Before he even had time
to register what had gone on, he was out for the count.

"Miriam," Katie
hissed, as she took the gun off her and picked the other one up
from the floor. "You could've gotten yourself killed and then what
would I have told Tariq!"

Miriam tutted
into the air and turned to the men. "Who are these people?"

Both of them
were standing over the group. "Are you Tariq's men?" Katie asked
them in fluent Arabic. They all nodded together and a few gestured
with their heads to one man in particular. He was of a stocky,
muscular build with jet black hair and a beard. "I think he must be
the Captain," she murmured to Miriam. "We'll pull out his gag and
let him speak, but first I need some pictures."

Miriam pulled a
face. "You're going to take pictures again?"

"Yes, for
Tariq, to prove that his men have been tied up." She took her
camera out of her bag and began snapping at the sorry state of the
men. She kept apologising and explaining herself in Arabic, and
they seemed to understand. Finally, happy with the shots, she put
away the camera and knelt in front of their Captain.

"Merciful
Allah," he gasped, as Katie pulled off his gag.

Miriam had
found a large bottle of water on the floor where the pirate had
been sitting and she handed it to Katie, who helped the man to take
a drink.

"What happened
here?" Katie asked in Arabic.

"We were
ambushed on our way to Socotra. I think we've been down here for a
few days now."

Katie was a
little weary. Would letting these men go bring them into another
set of dangers? After all, they were sailors and with two women
alone on board? She shivered and decided to test him out. "Tariq is
on his way."

The man's eyes
filled up. "I knew he wouldn't let us down."

Katie nodded
and his answer confirmed her decision. "What's your name?"

"I am Captain
Azab," he answered proudly.

There was
something very wholesome about the man. "I'm going to untie you and
your men. I think it's time to take back this ship, don't you?"

Azab smiled,
revealing a missing front tooth and the men around him nodded in
obvious agreement. Once Azab was free, it didn't take long for the
rest of his men to help each other with their binds. They also tied
up the pirate and gagged him.

Katie spoke
directly to Azab. "Okay, from what Miriam and I have gathered,
there's Captain Cecil," whose name received a snort of disgust
around the room, "then his guard, three men in the bridge and about
half a dozen outside. There are probably more in the engine room,
but other than that I'm not sure there's anyone else."

Azab nodded.
"When they took the ship there were about thirty men. They had guns
and so we were easily overpowered."

Katie handed
the pirate's gun to Azab. "Here, take this. Now, we need a
plan."

Azab went quiet
for a moment while they all waited expectantly. "We are all trained
in every aspect of the ship, so the best thing to do is take the
engine room first and position some of the more injured men in
there and move up each floor in turn, securing it along the way.
That way, when we take the bridge, we can signal for the engine to
be cut. We really don't want to be getting too far into Somali
waters."

Katie was
pleased with the plan. It showed that he knew what he was doing. "I
like your thinking Azab. If we can take those in the building and
secure all the doors, we can stall the men from getting inside
until Tariq gets here."

Azab cocked his
head in interest at her perception. "I know who she is," he said
pointing his finger at Miriam, "But who exactly are you?"

Miriam stifled
a laugh. "She is Tariq's wife and my new sister."

A gasp spread
around the room. "Allah, have mercy on us," said Azab, as he threw
his hands up in the air. "You are Sheikha el-Tayeb and you want to
go upstairs, catch pirates and fight them?"

Katie stood
with her hands on her hips. "What? You want me to wait here and
miss watching those guys have their butts kicked? I don't think
so!"

Azab smiled. "I
can see why Tariq married you, but he will cut my throat if
anything happens to you."

Katie tapped
her foot in temper. "Let's put this into perspective, shall we?
Firstly, we put out Cecil's lights with the iron arm of Bruce Lee
over there," she thumbed to Miriam. "Then we took down the bridge
with a constrictor knot and a toolbox chop, just to save a man's
life of course, while making an SOS call to Tariq. Finally, we
escaped capture and saved about two dozen butts in the bowels of
the ship with a mighty gun chop and you don't want us to come with
you?"

Azab threw back
his head and laughed. "Okay, you win," he spluttered. "But, you
both stay close to me, okay, and I will need the other gun." He
held out his hand for Katie's handgun.

Katie shook her
head. "This one's mine."

Azab wiggled
his fingers at her and his right eyebrow rose. "I can protect you
now, but my men will need the extra weapon until we can secure
more."

Sighing, she
handed it over. It was probably for the best, as she'd yet to take
down a clay-pigeon, let alone a grown man.

Azab turned to
his men. "Right, collect up the ropes and gags that bound you,
we're going to need them."

"Hey, who is
this Bruce Lee that you keep talking about?" Miriam queried.

"He's a Kung Fu
expert and when we get out of here, I promise you, we'll watch all
his movies," Katie replied, as they collected the supplies and made
their way back out of the same door they'd come through.

Chapter
Thirteen

Katie was
pretty impressed. These guys knew exactly what they were doing.
Each time they knocked out one of Cecil's men, they bound and
gagged him and secured the area. They were now making their way
towards the bridge, but Katie had a growing problem, she
desperately needed a pee. Tapping Azab on the shoulder, she
whispered, "I need to go."

He half turned.
"Go where?"

"No, I need to
go, as in, go to the little ladies room."

She could see
the tips of his ears colouring red. "Ahhh, we don't have any
ladies' rooms I'm afraid, just the regular men's restrooms."

"At this point,
even a bucket would do," she rasped, trying not to bring attention
to herself.

Azab gestured
to a big fella behind Miriam. "It's on the next floor up, but my
man will take you. Whatever you do, don't get into any
trouble."

Azab signalled
to the man and murmured, "Take her to the men's room on the third
floor and then meet me at the bridge."

The man nodded
and Katie trailed behind him, closely followed by Miriam.

Once in the
restroom, Katie sighed in bliss as she relieved herself in the
cubicle. Afterwards, she washed her hands and splashed her face
with cool water, smiling at Miriam in the mirror as she copied her.
"Miriam, have I told you lately how amazing you are?"

Miriam blushed.
"You're not just saying that to be kind are you?"

Katie scoffed.
"After all that you've done to help me, why would I say it out of
kindness?"

"Well y'know,
because of my mental problem?" Miriam hung her head.

Katie was
shocked. She remembered Tariq telling her about Miriam's slight
brain damage at birth, but this woman had acted with more
intelligence than anyone she knew. Turning towards her, she gave
Miriam a great big hug. "You're the bravest, most intelligent woman
that I know and I'm so proud of you."

Miriam hugged
her back and excitedly spoke in her ear, "I drove Tariq's car to
the port and it was fun. Do you think he'll let me learn how to
ride a motorbike now?"

Katie pulled
back and laughed. "I think Tariq will give you the moon and the
stars once this is over, although your mother and father may not be
as easy to calm down."

Miriam
worriedly bit her lip. "I didn't tell anyone that I was going to
follow you and Amira. They're going to be real mad."

Katie looked
pensively at the innocence shining in her face. "Yes, mad,
relieved, thankful, all thrown in with disbelief, but we'll face
them together. I'm just so glad that you followed us."

Miriam grinned.
"You are?"

"Yes, now let's
go and finish this. We have about five minutes before Captain Azab
has the engine shut down, which will bring the guys outside running
to the building." For the first time since she'd woken in the
Captain's room, she felt hope soar. They just had to hold it
together for a few more minutes until Tariq arrived.

Katie went
first and opened the door to the restroom. Suddenly, she stopped
still in her tracks. Captain Cecil was standing with a gun to the
head of the man who'd been looking after them, waiting for her to
emerge. Quickly, she shoved at Miriam behind her and pushed her
back around the door out of sight.

"So, we meet
again, no?" he said in his thick accent.

Katie's vision
tunnelled into a single point of fury and her breath came in short
gasps. This was the one person she really hadn't wanted to bump
into again. The man with the gun to his head was looking at her
with confusion in his eyes. He'd obviously been taken by surprise.
"Let the man go, Cecil," she said sharply.

"It's
Captain
Cecil, and I no take orders from any woman!" He spat
on the ground in front of her.

She jumped back
a little from the froth on the floor. "But if you shoot him, his
friends will hear the gun go off and come after you." What? Was she
an idiot? If there was such a thing as a devil on her left shoulder
and an angel on her right, the devil would be jumping up and down
shouting, 'Shoot the man, they'll come and you'll be saved'. The
angel would probably answer with, 'No, save the man, go with Cecil
and Miriam will sneak out and let Azab know'. Katie shook her head.
The whole episode of the last few hours was clearly sending her
insane.