Yasir didn’t seem to care if we used our hand-held radios or sat-phones or that our automatic rifles were on our laps, so maybe I shouldn’t be paranoid. We were on our way to the safe house, the Crow Fortress. However, if we found Chet there with his throat cut, that would not be a good sign. Or was I ambivalent about that?
I reminded Kate, “The Predators are watching us.”
Kate reminded me, “You have a Bedouin sitting next to you with an AK-47.”
“Right. I’m on top of that.”
Buck said, “This is all going as planned.”
And it was. So I said to Yasir, “Where did you go to college?”
Buck translated, and Yasir replied, and Buck said to me, “He thanks you for your compliment.”
“What compliment?”
“I told him you said you admired his shiwal.” Buck added, “He might give it to you. Then you have to wear it.”
“Thanks, Buck.”
“And if you keep making me translate silly remarks, you’ll be wearing his underwear.”
Kate thought that was funny, and I was happy she was starting to relax.
Anyway, I gave up on trying to make conversation with Yasir, and I paid attention to where we were going.
Within ten minutes we intersected the wide dirt road that I recognized as our landing strip, and we turned right toward the plateau where the Crow Fortress stood.
Kate said to me, “Try Chet.”
So I opened my window, leaned out, and dialed Chet.
He answered and I said, “We’ve been kidnapped.”
He replied, “I saw that.”
I reminded him, “In case you forgot, we’re in the two small Hiluxes. Tell the Predator pilots.”
“Thank you. Anything further?”
“Any dust?”
There was a short pause, then he replied, “No dust tonight.” Chet let me know, “You should be here in fifteen minutes.”
“Keep the beer cold.”
“Further?”
“Negative.”
So I sat back and relaxed.
Chet thought I was funny, but annoying. Maybe even a bit silly. And it was good that he should think that. There are a lot of felons in jail who thought that.
Brenner, however, ex-cop, recognized the act. Zamo, too, may have seen beyond the jokes, and Buck had also been perceptive enough to figure out my M.O.
Kate, of course, had seen me play dumb and funny with suspects, as well as supervisors. Playing dumb is smart. People let their guard down. And make mistakes.
Buck and Chet were my colleagues, my compatriots, and my teammates. But they were not my trusted friends. In fact, they were up to something.
We got to the ravine at the base of the plateau, and up we went. This was actually scarier in the daylight.
We made it to the top and headed toward the Crow Fortress.
I had no idea how long we were going to be here waiting for the Al Qaeda delegation to come check us out and confirm who we were. But if I had to spend more than a week with Chet and Buck, I’d surrender to the first jihadist who came through the door.
Meanwhile, I had to keep an eye on Chet and Buck. Especially Chet. I could wait to see if Chet was here to settle an old CIA score with Kate and me, or I could confront him with it. If I waited, it might be too late to tell him, “I knew you were up to something.” So maybe I needed to make a pre-emptive strike. Before he did the same.
CHAPTER SIXTY-FIVE
The five-vehicle kidnap convoy drove through the open gates into the walled courtyard of the Crow Fortress and we all got out of the SUVs.
The two Bedouin hadn’t cut Chet’s throat, and he greeted us and said, “It looked picture perfect on the video monitor.” He added, “I hope enough locals saw it happening, and that by now the word has gotten back to Al Qaeda.”
I asked Chet, “What if the locals or Al Qaeda know or suspect that we’re in the Crow Fortress?”
Chet replied, “That’s possible. But Al Qaeda is not going to interfere with a Bedouin kidnapping or mount an operation against a fortress occupied by Sheik Musa.”
Probably not. But I wouldn’t want to leave here again until The Panther and his jihadists were ready for the goo bags.
We thanked our Bedouin hosts for a pleasant kidnapping experience and climbed up to the second floor of the tower, where we would await further developments, as per Chet’s briefing in Aden.
Chet had retrieved a sat-phone antenna from the van that he’d rigged up in one of the windows, and he plugged his phone into one of the antenna cable jacks, saying,