Waterkill (Dave Henson Series) (12 page)

“Gentlemen, it looks like we have some company,” whispered Dave.

Ben and Murad turned to observe the man walking towards them. He was wearing what once looked to be a white tee shirt, a blue checkered skirt, or sarong, a Muslim skull cap and sandals. As he approached them Murad said hello to the man in Arabic. The man reciprocated the greeting.

The man looked like the life had been sucked out of him. He was extremely thin, as his ribs visibly protruded against the threadbare tee shirt he was wearing.  He also held his head low and his voice was nearly a whisper when he responded to Murad.

“Ask him what his name is and if he is from this village” commanded Dave to Murad.

Murad asked and the man responded in a hushed worn-out voice. Murad continued to converse with the man in Arabic for a couple of minutes before there was silence. Murad looked back at Dave and Ben.

“His name is Hamza, and yes, he is from this village,” said Murad. “He is a fishermen and one of the few survivors of the village. His wife and only daughter were killed, as well as most of his other extended family members and friends.”

“Killed?” asked Dave. “Were they killed or did they die from the cholera epidemic?”

“I asked him what he meant by the meaning of killed. They died from the cholera disease. However, he believes they were purposely killed by someone. Allah has told him so in his dreams every night since he lost them.”

Dave looked over at the water samples on the ground next to the well. “He is correct and you can tell him so. They were murdered. We now have clear evidence that this community well was sabotaged. Someone introduced the cholera bacteria into this well water for the purpose of killing the people in this village.”

Murad turned to the man and spoke rapidly to him in Arabic. The man became visibly agitated. He responded to Murad’s news in an emotional and animated way. As he spoke, Dave could see tears beginning to roll down the man’s cheeks. Dave could imagine the loss the man must have felt, particularly now knowing that they were indeed killed, and that it wasn’t by accident or from Allah’s calling. He remembered how he personally felt when he had received the phone call about the loss of his parents. He remembered the horrible sense of loss and the devastation it caused in his life. Learning how they died, in a horrific plane crash, at the hands of terrorists, had also affected him severely.

As he listened to the man talk rapidly and in a hostile and angry voice, with tears still streaming down his face, he remembered his own personal anger that he experienced back many years ago. He felt a close connection with the man as he watched and listened to him visibly vent his suffering. Though they lived worlds apart in geography, culture and economic backgrounds, Dave could very much relate to the poor man. Both Hamza and he had lost their most precious family members to Islamic extremist terrorists. To this day, Dave had still not gotten over the horrible and useless killing of his parents.

Murad reached out and put his arm around the man and spoke quietly to him in an attempt to console him. He explained that the two men that were with him were here to help find the men who killed his family, and that they would do everything in their powers to bring the murderers of his family to justice. And that the killers would ultimately pay for their sins to Allah.

Hamza looked over at Dave and spoke rapidly to him in Arabic.

“What is he saying Murad?” asked Dave.

“He is asking the two of you if he can help you find the men that killed his wife and little girl.”

Dave spied a glance over at Ben before responding.

“Tell him that if the path to bringing the men to justice that took his family from him, leads us again through Yemen that we will indeed enlist his help.”

Dave looked over at Ben again who was looking at him as if he was crazy. Dave turned his gaze back over to Murad who spoke to Hamza.

The two men spoke rapidly back and forth for several minutes. Dave noticed that Hamza began to stand straighter and talk more forcibly as he exchanged words with Murad. It was obvious that Hamza was feeling a purpose for living again. Hopefully, Dave thought, the feeling was not solely for revenge, but instead to bring closure to the loss of his family so that he could rebuild his life again.

When Murad and Hamza had finished talking, Hamza came over to Dave and Ben and shook both their hands forcefully. Though he was not smiling, and trails of tears stained his dust covered cheeks, Dave could see that life was returning to Hamza’s face.

After they finished shaking hands, Murad explained to Hamza that they were packing up and would be leaving for now. While Murad spoke, Dave put the water test kits into specially designed sealed plastic bags and stuffed them in his knapsack. Ben in the meantime poured the bucket of water back into the well.

Ben also told Murad to tell Hamza to tell the rest of the villagers in the small town to continue to not drink the water until they heard back from them. Hamza energetically shook his head as Murad gave him the message.

They all shook hands one last time before parting ways, Hamza walking down a side row in the direction of the Red Sea, and Dave, Ben and Murad climbing into the Land Cruiser to head back to the military air base.

As Ben drove the Land Cruiser and Murad was speaking to him, Dave’s SAT phone started to ring. He picked up the phone that was sitting on his lap and observed on its front screen that the incoming call was from Dana. Dave instantly felt a sense of relief. “It’s Dana,” he said out loud. He hit the green accept button on the phone to establish the connection, and put the phone to his ear.

Murad had stopped speaking when he heard Dave’s phone ring, and both him and Ben were looking over at Dave as he spoke into his phone.

“Dana I was wondering where the heck you’ve been,” blurted Dave into the phone.

“Doctor Henson, you have a problem,” said the male voice on the other end of the line.

Chapter 19 (April 15, Friday 11:00am, Germany)

Dana fought in panicked desperation to free herself from Spencer’s grip, but he held her firmly. She tried to scream out for help but nothing came from her mouth. Not that it would have mattered. The rushing sound of water in the nearby river would have prevented anyone from hearing her. They were also standing at the foot of a steep and wooded embankment, far out of sight and sound of anyone from the village center. And even then, nearly everyone in the town was either sick or dead.

As Dana continued to struggle to free herself from Spencer’s arms by twisting and contorting her body and kicking savagely at his ankles, she glimpsed back towards the river’s edge for a brief second and saw Abdul approaching them. He was carrying Sam and Denzel’s video and recording equipment. Beyond him, she saw the blood stained bodies of her colleagues lying where they had fallen.

“No, no, no, she mouthed out from her silent lips,” as Abdul approached her, his gun still in his right hand.

Spencer barked out something to Abdul in a language that Dana was not familiar with. Abdul lifted the back of his coat and returned his pistol to where it had previously been hidden.

“What do we do with her Ahmad?” asked Abdul in broken English so that Dana could appreciate his mastery of the English language. Spencer had pushed Dana to the ground and was now holding her hands behind her back in a vice grip and twisting her arms upwards. Dana screamed out in agony from the shock of pain in her arms as Spencer was nearly breaking them.

“We will call Aref and tell him who we have captured,” responded Spencer in English. “I believe he will be very pleased to know that we have caught her, particularly when he learns who she is. Ms. Dana Cogswell is a major journalist with the American Broadcast Corporation. She can be an extremely useful tool for us in communicating our message to the Great Satan of America and its brethren in Europe. Her husband is also Doctor Dave Henson, a technical advisor to the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee. He is also currently working with the United States government to sabotage our plans. To that point, his wife may also be useful in slowing down their efforts. Also, Doctor Henson, and the U.S. government team he was with, killed our brothers in Alaska in the past twenty-four hours.”

With Ahmad’s last revelation Abdul looked over at Dana with extreme hatred visible on his face. One of the men sent by Aref to Alaska to recover the canister of Waterkill had been his blood brother.

Spencer again yanked Dana’s hands and arms up behind her back causing her to once more scream out in agonizing pain. Simultaneously, Abdul pulled out of his knapsack a couple of large tie wraps. Spencer held Dana’s hands tightly while Abdul secured the tie wraps to her wrists, interconnecting the two tie wrap loops. As they secured her wrists, Dana twisted her head and neck around and looked back at Spencer with frightened and incredulous eyes.

“Why are you doing this Spencer?” she asked.

He said nothing.

She could not believe what was happening. Spencer was an old friend. Why was his partner calling him Ahmad? She and Spencer had gone to college together. How could he have changed so drastically she thought to herself? Who was he? What had he become?

              Spencer pulled Dana to her feet and pushed her forward in the direction of the embankment. Dana tripped on a rock and fell face first, her hands tied behind her back unable to catch her fall.

              Abdul grabbed her right arm and yanked her back up on her feet. She had hit her head on a rock. Dana was dazed by the impact and blood ran down the side of her face. Neither man did anything to stanch the flow of blood. Spencer again pushed her forward and told her to walk.

              Upon reaching the top of the embankment, Ahmad checked to make sure the road was clear. Abdul and him each grabbed one of Dana’s arms and walked her rapidly to their car, which was parked directly across the street in a parking lot from where they had come up from the river bank. As they started to walk across the street Abdul said to her in his broken English, “Open your mouth and you’ll immediately lose your front teeth.”

Before they got to the car Ahmad pulled out of his pocket the car’s FOB and hit the door unlock button. When they got to the vehicle Abdul opened the back passenger door and Ahmad shoved Dana into the Mercedes. The two men then jumped into the front seats and Ahmad started the car’s engine.

“We will drive a few kilometers out of Eberswalde and then give Aref a call,” said Ahmad as he began to turn the vehicle’s steering wheel and pressed down on the accelerator pedal.

Twenty minutes later and ten kilometers outside of Eberswalde, Ahmad pulled over into a restaurant parking lot. The lunch crowd had already started to arrive so he parked the Mercedes at the far end of the lot where it was void of any restaurant patrons.

After turning off the key to the vehicle’s ignition Ahmad pulled out his cell phone while Abdul simply stared at Dana in the back seat. Ahmad punched the speed dial number for Aref. A few seconds later, Dana began to hear Spencer speak in a language again that she was unfamiliar with. However, she knew he was talking about her as she heard her name, and Dave’s, mentioned several times. She was shocked to see how animated and rapidly Spencer spoke into the phone. When Dave and she had met Spencer for dinner a couple of weeks ago he acted and sounded so reserved. The difference in behavior between then and now was uncanny she thought. It was as if he was on something, possibly amphetamines.

The phone conversation went on for several minutes. As it did, Ahmad occasionally looked over at Abdul. Finally, he pulled the phone away from his ear and hit the red off indicator button on it to terminate the connection.

“We are to bring Ms. Cogswell to Tehran as soon as possible,” said Ahmad to Abdul. Aref said for us to drive from Germany to Istanbul, Turkey. He will work out the logistics for us so that we will have no issues crossing between borders. Once we get to Istanbul, he will arrange for a charter flight to fly us to Tehran. He is very anxious to meet Ms. Cogswell.”

“Drive from here to Turkey?” asked Abdul with an incredulous look on his face.

“Yes, we will drive non-stop to Istanbul, other than short breaks for fuel and food,” responded Ahmad.

Abdul glared back at Dana and slapped her hard across the face with the back of his hand. “For this swine?” he said in disgust.

Spencer instantly grabbed Abdul by the throat with the speed and force that Dana could never have imagined possible from him. In a gritty sounding voice, laced with vicious animosity he said, “Do not injure Ms. Cogswell or you will lose your head my brother. Aref wants her in one undamaged piece. He has plans to show her off to the world.”

Abdul stared back at Ahmad, his eyes bulging from the lack of oxygen reaching his brain. Ahmad held his firm grip on Abdul for several more seconds before he finally let go. Abdul grabbed his throat with both hands and gasped to recover from the near suffocation.

“Aref also wants us to call Dave Henson on her cell phone,” said Ahmad, still in a fit of suppressed rage. He shifted his head in the direction of Dana as he spoke. “He gave me a message for us to give to Doctor Henson.”

Dana looked at Spencer in silent disbelief. “Doctor Henson?” she said to herself. Dave was one of his closest friends in college.

“Go in and order us some food from that restaurant,” said Ahmad to Abdul. “When you return, you will make the call while I hold a knife to Ms. Cogswell’s throat.”

While still clutching his throat Abdul opened the front passenger car door, stepped out of the Mercedes and began walking to the restaurant’s front entrance. When Abdul had entered into the restaurant, Spencer turned to Dana and said, “You do what I say and I will do my very best to keep you alive.” He then turned back and looked out the front window staring at no particular thing.

Dana stared at Spencer for a few seconds before responding. “Why? Why are you doing this Spencer? What changed you? Dave and I are your friends.”

There was a moment of silence before Spencer turned back to face her. “Because the U.S. government continues to kill my people on a daily basis. Your government indiscriminately kills our children, mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, and wives, while the people of the United States, like yourself, simply look the other way and go on with your self-centered lives.” Spencer then turned his head away from her and looked out the Mercedes’ front windshield again.

Dana did not speak as she tried to absorb what Spencer had just said to her. A few seconds later he turned to her again and continued to talk. She noticed tears were now in his eyes.

“Aaila and I had only been married just over a year. We were visiting her family in Ankara, Turkey. It was the first time we had been back to visit them since our marriage a year earlier. It was a mild spring day and Aaila, along with her mother and sisters, were preparing a feast for that evening for the entire family. Most of the men, along with the children, were outside enjoying the outdoors. The men talked and relaxed under shade trees, while my nephews and nieces played with each other.”

Spencer went silent again. Dana could tell he was trying to gain strength to continue.

“I, however, was visiting Ankara University at the time. I was meeting with a friend of mine who was currently working as a visiting professor there. We used to be colleagues when we worked for the same company in San Jose. This friend was also the man who introduced me to Aaila, who also worked with us. After he introduced us, we quickly fell in love. To show my love and devotion to her, I converted to Islam so that we could marry. Previously, I had been non-religious due to my parents mixed religious backgrounds. My mother being of Turkish decent helped in my decision to convert.”

Dana noticed that Spencer was becoming increasingly agitated as he spoke.

“While I was at the University...” Spencer paused before continuing. “While my wife and her family prepared a feast for a joyous evening, a United States F/A-18 Hornet, launched from the decks of the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier, released a smart bomb over Ankara that obliterated my in-laws home in the blink of an eye. Aaila, along with her entire family, were virtually vaporized in a fraction of a second.”

Spencer drooped his head and went silent.

“It must have been an accident,” whispered Dana.

Spencer looked up at her. She could see the hatred in his eyes again.

“Yes, that is what the United States government said as well,” said Spencer in a slow and seething voice, punctuating every word as he spoke. “But it would never have happened if the United States Marines and Navy were not constantly present in the Middle East. And if it were not always meddling in the affairs of other countries, and particularly the ones in that region of the world.”

Dana dared not respond to Spencer’s last comments as he appeared to be on the verge of exploding in anger.

“And with the loss of my precious Aaila, as I walked through the rubble of her parents’ home the next day, I swore an oath to Allah that I would seek justice for her, and her family. That I would do everything in my power to bring the Great Satan of the West to its knees, along with all of its allies. And as a final act, I would sever the head of the monster that has tortured and killed my people of the Arab world for decades. And only when I hold the monster’s head in my hands will I rest. For it will be at that moment that I know I have finally brought justice to my wife and her family.”

Spencer’s eyes had welled up with tears, but none spilled down his face, though Dana would not have noticed. She had turned her head away from him as he spoke, partly out of fear and partly from shame. When Spencer had finished speaking he turned away from her to collect himself before Abdul returned. Dana remained silent and stared out the window. She knew at that moment that she would not be released, despite what Spencer had said to her. Though she understood and could sympathize with Spencer’s feelings and motives, she realized that he had become a psychopath, and that ultimately he did not have the final say on her destiny. Whether it be directly by his hands, or indirectly through his partners, such as Abdul, she was not going to walk out of this situation alive.

Dana jumped with a start when Abdul yanked the front passenger door open and flopped down in the front passenger seat. From the smell of the food, she guessed they were having some type of vegetarian sandwiches. She also smelled the aroma of strong coffee.

Abdul began to pull out the food, but Ahmad stopped him abruptly.

“We need to make a call before we eat.” He glanced back at Dana. “You will keep your mouth shut while Abdul speaks to your husband. Say one word that I don’t ask you to say and I will cut your throat from ear to ear.”

Spencer pulled out a large eight inch blade hunting knife and flashed it in front of her face. Abdul grinned at her when he saw Ahmad raise the knife.

Spencer picked up Dana’s cellular phone from the front console and quickly scrolled through it until he found Dave’s number.  He looked at Abdul, and told him what to say.

“What if he asks to talk to her? To know she is alive,” asked Abdul.

“We will allow her to speak to him,” responded Ahmad. He looked back at her. “But if you say anything to give me away or what our plans are, the last thing your husband will hear is the blood gurgling in your throat after I slash it.”