Battlecraft (2006)

can go two or three weeks without eating anything at all after that.'

'You did not anything say to me about this when you take me on this trip,' Hildegard said.

'I took you because you wanted to go,' Mike said. God! he thought. You stupid broad. I guess you just want to keep being a punchboard for a goddamn Middle Eastern letch! 'When we get back to civilization, you'll forget all about this hardship. When the sheikh is nailed for your friend's murder, you'll be happy.'

'But I am not being happy right now!' 'Please, God!' Mike said, looking up to the sky. 'Just get me back to the Brigands! That's all I ask.'

.

ROYAL YACHT SAYIH

FORTRESS MIKNBAYI

1030 HOURS LOCAL

THE five European women were terrified.

The Italian Lucia, Frenchwoman Blanche, the Portuguese Teresa, and the two Russians Olga and Adelaida had been herded into their lounge and now sat on the sofas and chairs. The Russians huddled close together. All the women were dressed relatively modestly, wearing halters, shorts, and sandals. The rules were that they were to never go bare-breasted with thongs when aboard the yacht at Mikhbayi. Even an accidental sighting of a woman's body was punishable according to the tenets of Islam, and Sheikh Omar Jambarah didn't want any morale problems with his mujahideen or their families.

The modem courtesans knew something was wrong, and expected to be blamed for it whether they were really at fault or not. It had to have something to with Hildegard Keppler. The German bitch had already caused trouble when she made a row over her stupid friend Franziska, and now both were gone. Hildegard had gotten uppity when she caught the attention of the American. The sheikh put her off-limits to other men, allowing her to have Mike as a lover while keeping her on the payroll. Hildegard continually boasted to the other women she didn't have to take battering and rape from the sheikh anymore or service any of his friends who came aboard.

The door burst open and Sheikh Jambarah stormed in, startling the women. He was followed closely by Hafez Sabah and the two bodyguards Alif and Taa. The women feared the sheikh for his power, the bodyguards for their cruelty, and the Arab Sabah for his hatred of them as infidel whores. None of the women dared look up, and kept their gazes on the floor. Nothing happened for a few moments; then Alif suddenly grabbed the Portuguese woman and pulled her to her feet.

'Deixe~me so!' she begged. 'Leave me alone!'

The sheikh approached her, putting his face close to hers. 'Where is Hildegard?'

'I do not know,' Teresa sobbed. 'I am not a friend to her. I never talk to her. If she goes someplace, how am I to know?'

Alif slapped her hard, then looked over at the sheikh. Jambarah nodded his head, and the bodyguard pushed her roughly back to the sofa where she had been sitting. Taa reached down and hauled the Italian Lucia off the settee. He shook her hard, slapped her face, then shoved her toward the sheikh.

'Per favore!' she cried. 'I know nothing.'

'I think you are lying,' the sheikh said. 'I have noticed you being chummy with both Hildegard and her friend Franziska in the past. Where did she go?'

'I am not a friend to them,' Lucia protested. 'Nobody like those Germans. They are stuck up, both of them!'

Jambarah believed her and he nodded to Taa to let her go. The Italian ran to a spot behind the settee for safety. Blanche stood up, hoping to put off getting a hard slap. 'I do not know where she go, but I see her in her cabin putting things in a bag. I say what are you doing? She say she go away with her amant americain Mike.'

'Now we are getting somewhere,' the sheikh said, smiling. 'Where did she say she and Mike were going?'

Blanche cringed, her voice tinged with fear. 'She did not tell me nothing except they go out on a picnic and come back when it is dark.'

The sheikh suddenly laughed loudly. It seemed Mikael had developed a very special sexual attraction for the German, and wanted to be alone with her in some intimate place outside the yacht and fortress. He looked over at Sabah and motioned for the al-Mimkhalif agent to follow him to the stem deck. When they were out under the canvas awning, Jambarah asked, 'What do you think?'

'Mikael is not yet a complete Muslim, Sheikh Omar,' Sabah said. 'His morals have long been corrupted by exposure to Western culture in America. I fear he has sinful passions for the German whore.' He started to say something about fornication, but stopped short as he remembered that the sheikh had regular sex with the foreign women.

'How much do you know of Mikael Assad?' the sheikh asked.

Sabah shrugged. 'Not much,' he admitted. 'I met him after he had returned to Camp Talata after escaping from the Americans.'

'We have been informed that a whaler boat is missing,' the sheikh said. 'I was wondering if Mikael would have been able to operate it. It would take some skill to handle such a vessel.'

'As far as I know, there is nothing that indicates Mikael has any experience with boats.'

'We must also consider the attack on Baa,' the sheikh said. 'Would Mikael be capable of such a thing? Baa is a very large and skillful fighter.'

'I have learned nothing that indicates Mikael is an expert in hand-to-hand combat,' Sabah said. 'Perhaps he sneaked up behind your bodyguard.'

'Baa was hit from the front in a most devastating way,' the sheikh said. 'The doctor in the dispensary has reported that the fellow remembers nothing of being attacked.' He fell into a few moments of silence before speaking again. 'How did Mikael enter al-Mimkhalif?'

'What I learned from Kumandan was that Mikael was sent to al-Mimkhalif from a mosque in America. The cleric who recruited him has been involved in obtaining mujahideen for a long time.'

'All right' the sheikh said, 'but I am beginning to feel that there is more to Mikael Assad than we figured .'

.

WHALER BOAT

VICINITY IF 5deg NORTH AND 57deg EAST

1800 HOURS LOCAL

MIKE Assad throttled the motor of the whaler back to slow ahead. He had picked up a rapid current, and the GPS indicated he was making extremely fast progress; hence there was no reason to use up fuel unnecessarily. The afternoon had been an unrelenting hell of baking heat as the sun flared down on the boat, making all the metal parts too hot to touch. Mike had taken a rag from the toolbox and put it on the wheel so that he could handle it with a minimum of pain. A flicker of movement behind him was reflected in the windshield, and he whipped around to see Hildegard chugalugging a bottle of the precious water.

'What the fuck are you doing?' he bellowed.

'I am thirsty!' she said defiantly. 'And something else I tell you. I eat a sandwich too.'

'Do you really want to die out here?' he asked. 'Some controlled, temporary discomfort is a hell of a lot better than dying of thirst. Because that's what will kill you. You'll dry out like a mummy before you manage to starve to death.'

'Too much you worry,' Hildegard said. 'Ships will we soon see and plenty too.'

He reached back and grabbed her arm, jerking her up beside him at the wheel. 'Take a look at the fucking horizon! What the fuck do you see?'

Hildegard obediently looked around, noting nothing within sight. 'Talk to somebody on your radio again.'

'I haven't talked to anybody yet,' Mike said, 'because I haven't been able to raise anybody.' He reached over and clicked the set on, then grabbed the microphone and pressed the transmit button. 'Any ship at sea. Any ship at sea. Mayday.

Mayday. Position five degrees, six minutes north and fifty-four degrees, twelve minutes east. Mayday. Over.' He repeated the transmission twice more and waited a few minutes for a reply. None came.