Tess Awakening (39 page)

“You still have not answered my question. Is
Amir with us on the bed every time we make love? Do you wish that I
was more skilled? I am sorry for sounding insecure and for letting
Amir under my skin with his taunts and sarcastic comments.”

“Jake, Amir will never measure up to you. You
are a genuinely amazing man, brilliant, strong, gentle and loving.
You respond to my needs; you make love to me with passion and
gentleness; most importantly, I trust you because in your arms I
feel warm and protected. I don’t need to ask you to improve your
technique; you instinctively understand what I need and love me
like I need to be loved. I know that you could replicate everything
in the Kama Sutra if you chose to do it, but that’s not what I need
from you. When I make love to you, I only want to feel you inside
me and think only about the delight you bring me; I don’t need to
imagine a monster on our bed. He is dead to me. I just want you,
Jake. I tried to give you your own child because I wanted to. Amir
killed her, and that is another insult to my body and to you that
he will pay for, sooner or later.”

Jake put his hand on her cheek and kissed
her. “I love you Tess; I want to give you whatever you want.”

“Jake, what I want now is you inside me. I
need you to embrace me and to give me comfort. There is no one else
in here but you and me.”

Tess got on her back and opened her arms,
welcoming him. Jake moved on top and kissed her. He touched her
breasts, ran his fingers between them to her stomach and lightly
ran his finger on her moist petals. Tess sighed and opened her legs
wider for him. Jake slid inside her, feeling her warm center and
moved inside, slowly and lovingly. She elevated her pelvis to
accept his sweet invasion and achieved bliss. She held onto Jake
for a long time.

Chapter 64

Major Nizar Hamdani, General Turner’s inside
man in Amir’s circle, had been collecting evidence of Amir’s
scheming to take over Iraq and make himself into the head of state.
In Amir’s absence, he had been invited into the group of officers
who formed the central cadre of conspirators. Being on the inside
enabled him to learn the details of the plot.

The group consisted of a Major General, four
Colonels of which Kemal was one and eight Majors, including Nizar.
Their plan had been disrupted by Amir’s injuries and his temporary
absence in Geneva for medical care.

Amir sent them a secret message instructing
the officers to keep working on the planned takeover of the
government. He wanted everything ready for implementation as soon
as he got back to Iraq.

The takeover plan was elaborate. The officers
were to provide advanced weapons to the soldiers under their
command and make sure that they became proficient in their use. To
obtain their loyalty, they made sure that the troops were well fed
and housed in decent barracks. The head of a tank brigade was
persuaded to come into the fold. The tanks would be needed if the
conspirators met resistance from forces protecting the government.
Considerable resources were dedicated to preventing the American
military in Iraq from interfering. On the day of the coup, Amir’s
troops would station themselves at strategic points outside
American bases and try to bottle their soldiers inside.

***

Amir was ready to leave the clinic in
Geneva. He looked at his face in the mirror. The doctors did a
reasonable job to repair the damage, but he would need further
surgery down the line to minimize the scars on his face. He decided
to postpone the cosmetic procedures because he needed to go back to
Iraq and seize the opportunity to take over the government. The
longer he waited, the harder it would be to maintain secrecy.

He boarded his private jet and flew to Paris
to meet his sister Fadime. She sported a cast on her broken arm and
was shocked when she saw his face.

“Amir, looks like you screwed up again; they
took your son back and look at what Tess did to us. At least they
didn’t take Aara.”

“Where is she? I want to see her.”

Fadime pushed a button to summon the
nanny.

Amir was hurting. He reached for the brandy
and sat down with Fadime. The nanny brought Aara in the room. The
child was crying. “I don’t want to go with Aunt Fadime; I want to
be with Tess.”

Amir opened his arms to her, and the child
went to him without her usual enthusiasm. “Uncle Amir, where is
Tess?”

“I don’t know Aara. She did a wicked thing by
walking away from you again.”

Aara started to cry again, her sobs
heartbreaking. Amir did what he could to console her and eventually
returned the child to the nanny.

“Amir, I hope that you are finally getting
over Tess. She is lethal. I suggest that you steer clear of her
from this time on.”

“I can’t do that Fadime. She took my son from
me and I will scour the earth to get him back.”

“Let’s not forget that you took him away from
her first. Stop rationalizing. This time you lost. You are lucky
that you didn’t lose Aara this time. Give it up. You have more
important things to do. By the way, your face looks awful.”

Amir ignored her comment. “Fadime, you know
that I never quit. If will get Tess and I will put her through so
much pain that she will beg me to kill her, which I will do after I
take my pleasure ravaging her.”

“Amir, I am going to stay in Paris and mind
my business from now on. Don’t ask me to do anything for you. I
don’t want to get involved in your schemes anymore. Life is short
and I don’t need to spend the rest of it fighting windmills.”

Amir remained silent, staring into space.
Fadime saw that Amir’s obsession was still ravaging his soul.

“Amir, there is one more thing. I showed her
the video that we made of you and Tess in bed. She assured me that
she would kill me if that goes out. Now I am afraid.”

“You did what? I thought I destroyed the
tapes.”

“Yes you did, but I saved a copy because
those scenes gave me pleasure.”

Fadime, what in the world were you thinking
when you showed her the video? You are lucky she didn’t kill you on
the spot.”

“I did it to get leverage so we could keep
your children.”

“It didn’t work very well, did it? Now she
knows that you have something to blackmail her with. This is too
dangerous, you must forget about it.”

“Amir, if your intent is to destroy her, then
you have to destroy her family as well. Your revenge must be
terrible.”

“Very well, keep the video secured. Don’t do
anything with it for now; I don’t think that Tess makes empty
threats. I would hate to see you killed.

Fadime got up and kissed him on the mouth. “I
would now love to go to bed with you Amir, but don’t think that
either of us is in any shape to do it.”

“Sad but true, Fadime. We have to heal
first.”

***

Amir flew to Baghdad. Two of his trusted
officers met him and whisked him to his offices in the Army
headquarters building.

He looked like hell, and the staff tried not
to stare at his scarred face. Amir didn’t care. He demanded a
briefing and the officers brought him up to date on the
preparations for the coup.

The new Iraqi government was still
dysfunctional. The Prime Minister seemed to be impervious to
criticism, still systematically doling out power to Shiites and
marginalizing the Sunnis. Each Sunni revolt was seen as a challenge
to the government and an excuse to impose further sanctions.
Insurgents continued bombing and killing civilians, with no sign of
abating. The powers that be were safely ensconced in the secure
area were hardly concerned about the needs of the people.

Amir’s staff briefed him on the details of
the planned coup. It would be couched in patriotic terms. The great
General Amir al-Saadi, incensed about the impending disintegration
of the country, will sweep the corrupt officials aside and
establish an orderly regime that will protect all of our citizens.
To help spread the message, his loyal troops will seize all media
stations at the same time that they take the key government
buildings. Should any of the ministers resist, they shall be
arrested.

Once the coup is a fait accompli, it will be
hard for the American to interfere. At this point, they would want
to go home anyway, and now they will be able to do so because the
Iraqi government will again be stable and ruled by an iron
hand.

“Excellent,” said Amir. We will move in five
days.”

Major Nizar Hamdani took careful mental
notes. It was time to provide an update to General Turner.

Chapter 65

General Turner was in seventh heaven. Not
only he had his grandson back, but his company was selling billions
of dollars’ worth of weapons to every trouble spot in the world.
The Middle East was particularly profitable. Saudi Arabia, Kuwait,
Bahrain, the Emirates and Israel wanted to have the most state of
the art fighter jets, helicopters, tanks, missiles and artillery
pieces, cost no object. The Russians, Brits, and the French were
also in the game, but the Americans got the lion’s share of the
business. All of this equipment required extensive training, work
which was performed by international military companies including
SRD, the company headed by Jake and Tess.

The Middle East nations had severe concerns
about Iran, Saudi Arabia’s chief rival for hegemony in the area.
The ruthless Ayatollahs that ran Iran were universally feared,
hence the perceived need for nations in the area to arm themselves
to the teeth. The Asian countries were also good customers since
they were afraid of China’s aggressive military buildup and growing
financial clout.

Jake started to develop serious reservations
about helping nations all over the world to train them on the use
of jet planes costing 50 million apiece and an assortment of other
advanced weapons. The cost outlay for modern weapons was
staggering. Using that money to benefit the people would have
probably have erased poverty forever.

General Turner agreed with Jake’s analysis,
but he was a pragmatist. If the Americans did not sell weapons to
the eager buyers, the Russians, Chinese and the French would gladly
fill the gap.

General Turner, Jake, and Tess had a strategy
session. They had to decide on whether it would be advisable for
the two of them to go back to Iraq for the implementation of Plan
B, the downfall of Amir al-Saadi.

Their man planted with Amir’s staff kept
feeding them information about his conspiracy to take over the
government. It looked like the coup was imminent.

Another curious factor was the complete lack
of news about Amir’s getting injured. The Iraqi investigators were
still looking for the terrorists that allegedly had kidnapped and
hurt him. Apparently, Amir was still sticking to his story. There
was no insinuation of involvement by Tess’s team. It appeared that
Amir had better things to do than seek revenge, like engineering a
military takeover.

General Turner expressed his misgivings about
the mission.

“You two are the best people to lead the
operation in Iraq, but I am concerned that you may attract
al-Saadi’s wrath when he learns that you are back in Iraq. I have
always suspected that sooner or later he might try again to get his
revenge for the last encounter he had with you, not to mention the
pummeling that Tess gave him and his sister. If you go to Iraq,
it’s going to be difficult to keep a low profile because you will
need to work with senior government ministers to avert a coup.”

“We have to take a chance with this,” said
Jake. If Amir succeeds in becoming the new Dictator of Iraq, he
will gain significant power and he is likely to use it. He is very
competent and experienced. If he has built a skilled and well-led
organization and he could achieve results. Bringing the country
back from chaos would gain him the following of the elites. Beyond
that, I believe he might flex his muscles with the surrounding
nations in the Middle East. Think about what a smarter Saddam would
do.”

“I agree with Jake,” Tess added. “We need to
take the risk of going to Iraq with our team. Nobody knows Amir
like we do. We might be able to stay a step ahead of him and help
to put him away for good.”

General Turner was pensive. “I don’t like the
idea of the both of you going there and risk your lives in such a
risky operation. Perhaps we can use your best operatives to do the
job.”

Tess disagreed. “Our people are excellent
professionals, but I want them to know that I would not ask them to
assume this kind of risk without our direct involvement. It’s
simply a matter of leadership. We need to get rid of an evil man
before he creates chaos.”

“It’s up to you, guys,” the General said, “If
you insist on going I can’t do much. I will make sure that little
Morgan is taken care of until you return. Be safe.”

Tess and Jake hugged him on the way out.

Chapter 66

Jack, Tess, Carmen, and Nicola flew to Iraq,
officially as instructors hired by SRD, their military company.
They had a contract to train Iraqi troops on helicopters, tanks and
avionics equipment built by General Morgan’s company. Their team
consisted of ten experienced men, all ex-Special Forces. Every one
of them was a pilot and they could handle just about every weapon
made.

To avoid suspicion, all of them started to
train Iraqi soldiers. After work, Jake and Tess met with Nizar
Hamdani, their mole within Amir’s staff, to learn about the
progress of the planned coup. Nizar was sure that Amir would make
his move in one week.

Jake and Tess asked for a private meeting
with selected Iraqi civilian and military leaders and presented
them with the detailed plan of Amir’s takeover of the government.
Surprisingly, the men were more scared than angry. Amir was a
national hero and a respected general, they said. The military
units under his command were much better trained than the rest of
the Army. Should a violent confrontation take place, chances were
that Amir’s people would prevail. One minister, Karim Qureshi,
questioned the authenticity of the documents that Jake and Tess had
presented. A senior general wondered aloud if it would be better to
support Amir’s coup rather than oppose it. He was concerned that in
spite of billions spent by the Americans, they were making little
progress in building an effective Army; a strong hand might just be
what the country needed.