Finally, Buck turned to me and said, “Two hundred. That’s as low as he’ll go.” He reminded me, “In Yemen, it’s all about the deal. This man needs to save face now. And we’re not exactly bargaining from strength, and we don’t want to go back to Yarim, so I’m giving him two hundred dollars and we’ll be on our way.”
“Until the next shakedown.”
Buck said something to Captain Dammaj, who replied, and Buck said to me, “He’ll give us… let’s call it a laissez-passer, in diplomatic language. A written pass to Aden.”
Sounded like bullshit to me, but Buck was getting stressed, and the police were finished urinating in public, and they were getting restless, plus Brenner was totally pissed off, and Kate looked worried. Or pissed at me. Also, she was unveiled, and these clowns were giving her the eye. So… I said to Buck, “All right.”
Buck said something to Captain Dammaj, who nodded and smiled at me.
I asked Buck, “Do I hug him?”
“Just shake hands.”
So I extended my hand to Captain Dammaj, we shook, and I smiled and said to him, “You’re a thief.”
He smiled in return and said something that Buck translated as, “You are a brave man and a hard negotiator.”
I don’t know if Dammaj really said that—maybe he said, “You’re a total asshole and you eat goat shit”—but Buck was intent on smoothing things over.
Buck got on his radio and said, “We’ll be on our way in a few minutes.”
Captain Dammaj walked to one of the trucks, I guess to write a pass or something.
Buck said to me, “I could have handled this without your help.”
“I made it fun.”
Captain Dammaj returned with a piece of paper, and he and Buck exchanged the pass and the money. As Buck was reading the pass, I asked him, “Did he sign it Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves?”
Captain Dammaj smiled and said to me, in English, “You are not so funny.”
Whoops.
Buck almost dropped his laissez-passer.
Captain Dammaj said to both of us, “Be very careful on the road. And have a pleasant stay at the Sheraton.”
“And you have a nice day,” I said.
Before he turned to walk off, he said to me, “Go fuck yourself.”
Buck looked at me, but he seemed at a loss for words.
On the walk back to the Land Cruisers, I asked Buck, “Do you think there really is a security problem ahead?”
Buck replied, “We’ll find out soon enough.”
We got to the lead Land Cruiser where Brenner and Kate were standing. Brenner, showing a lot of restraint, said to me, “I appreciate your initiative, but it’s Buck’s job to handle these situations.”
I didn’t respond to that and kept walking.
Kate caught up to me and asked, “What is wrong with you?”
Sounded like a rhetorical question, so I didn’t answer, but I said, “You were told to stay in the vehicle. Follow orders.”
“Me? How about you?”
“I don’t take orders from Paul Brenner.”
She didn’t reply to that, but said, “I’ll see you later,” and kept walking.
I got in my Land Cruiser, and Mike asked, “How much?”
“Two hundred.”
“That’s about right.”
Clare asked, “Is everything okay?”
“We’re good to go.”
The police truck that was blocking the left lane moved over, and Brenner’s lead vehicle pulled out and led the way for the Land Cruisers to pass the stopped trucks.
I looked in my sideview mirror and saw that the police trucks were doing a U-turn. We were on our own.
Within a few minutes we were clipping along and the police convoy was out of sight.
About twenty minutes later, we were on a steep upgrade, and the road narrowed and turned through a mountain pass.
Brenner got on the radio and said, “Niner-niner”—meaning all personnel—“it gets interesting here. Spread out, but keep the vehicle in front of you in sight.” He added, “Stay alert.”
Goes without saying, Paul. But I wasn’t worried. We had a pass from Captain Dammaj.
There was no oncoming traffic on the mountain road, and Mike informed me, “That’s not a good sign.”
“Right.”
Mike asked me, “Did the police say anything about the security situation?”
“I think the chief did say something about the road being closed for security reasons.”
“Yeah? And?”
“Just a sales pitch. He wanted five hundred bucks to escort us.”
Mike didn’t say anything for a while, then suggested, “He may have been telling the truth.”
“We’ll see.”
“Yeah… anyway, you can’t trust the police to provide protection—even if you pay for it.”
“Right.” I thought about those Belgian tourists at Marib. They didn’t get much for