The Emmanuel Sisters

Chapter 16. Faint, Fear, or Fight

The commotion outside Hope's prison cell kept getting louder. Hope hated to have Amir leave her. She worried as much about Amir's safety now, as she did about the safety of her troops. Having children was something Hope never wanted, she didn't feel as if she had that maternal instinct gene most women have. But spending so much time with Amir was making her feel motherly. She knew she would kill anyone who hurt him.
Amir ran outside to see what all the commotion was about. His father was back earlier than he had expected. Amir saw that his father and his men had returned with more children, but these children were not the young male recruits they usually brought back from the surrounding villages. These children were the ones Amir had heard about that were cared for by the orphanage. They all had on school uniforms. There were also UN workers tied up with the children in the caravan.
Amir's father walked over to him. "Son, have you been watching over the camp well while I was gone?"
"Yes father."
"Good, help the men confine these children. I will decide later which of the boys are worthy."
"Father, what about their caregivers?"
"I've already told my men to confine the foreign ones in the stone cells with the other foreign prisoners. They may be valuable to us later. The native women and girls, they are of no value. I've given the men permission to have them tonight. We can dispose of them later. My men have served me well they deserve their reward. You too son, it is time that you have a woman. The men who stayed back here in camp and yourself can watch over the camp tonight. The rest of my men will take a well deserved break tonight and enjoy their drink and their women. Come and see me when you are done assigning posts and confining the hostages. We have much to talk about."
Amir felt like he was drowning in a dark pool of deep water, now that his father was back. He could not go on living this life and following in his father's footsteps. He knew if he didn't obey his father, that his father would kill him. It was time for him to choose between his father's life; a life of darkness, or to choose to live his own life filled with light. In his mind Amir asked God for guidance. Until God's guidance was revealed to him he would pretend the best he could that his time spent with Hope while his father was away had not changed him inside.
Hope was anxiously wondering what all the noise was that she heard outside. She was concerned about Amir, and she kept listening at the door hoping he would come back and tell her what was happening. It sounded as if a hundred men were in camp. She also heard women and children screaming, and gun shots. It had been dark for a few hours now. Amir had not come back to Hope's cell yet. Then finally Hope heard footsteps. But the footsteps sounded like there was more than one person approaching. The footsteps stopped abruptly at her cell door, and then the door opened. Hope didn't know what to expect. She thought they were coming for her finally, but then two women were thrown down on the floor inside her dark cell. They sat on the floor just sobbing. One sounded younger than the other. The younger woman seemed more distraught than the older one. Hope asked them if they spoke English.
The younger woman was in no condition to talk yet, but the older lady spoke to Hope. "Yes, I speak English. We work for SACAA, it's a US based humanitarian agency. We take care of the orphans here. Who are you? I can tell from your accent you're not from here?"
"No I'm not, I'm American. I'm also with a UN agency. We were assigned by the UN to assist the locals here also. However, as you can see we were not very successful. I'm not really sure how much time has passed since I was taken hostage. You women are the first people I've seen or spoken to, besides the young man who brings the food to me once a day."
Hope noticed how the young woman, was still sobbing. "Is she okay?"
"No, she isn't. The rebels wasted no time raping her in the back of the truck on the ride to camp and right in front of the children. They also raped the Ethiopian women that assist us in caring for the children, and I overheard them saying they were going to kill those poor women when they are finished with them. They are hoping they can ransom us for guns and money."
Hope walked over to the sobbing young woman the older lady was holding her. Hope smoothed the young lady's hair, "I know things seem hopeless, but I believe God will save us."
The older lady looked at Hope and said, "I believe it too. I may be an old lady, but I believe God still has plenty of work left for me to do."
Out in the rebel camp, Amir finished assisting the other rebels with confining the children and he observed in disgust as they molested the young girls. Then he did as his father ordered him to do, and he reported back to him. His father was sitting in his tent, drinking, and looking at his map. Amir walked into the tent and realized his father was so engrossed in thought that he did not even notice he was there, so he announced himself. "Father you told me to report back to you."
"Yes, son, come sit. I wanted to talk to you about how we are gaining support from the surrounding countries, and we even have a few secret supporters within our own government. Soon Amir, soon we will have the power we need to make this country a better place."
On the outside Amir listened obediently to his father, but inside he was thinking of all the awful things he had seen his father do in the name of his "revolution".
Amir's first memories were watching his father give the young boys in the village talks about politics and power. Back then Amir thought his father was a good man, even great and inspiring. But as he grew older he saw how his father used his quest for political power to rationalize all of his evil deeds. Amir remembered the first time he saw his father murder someone. His father had made him stay and watch as he shot two boys. When his father shot the boys Amir was standing so close that the boys blood sprayed onto his forehead. His father turned to him and wiped the boy's blood off of his face with the bottom of his shirt, as if it was merely sweat on his son's brow. While his father wiped the boy's blood off of his forehead he remembered how all along he talked about politics, and the greater good for their country.
Throughout the years Amir had come to learn many things from his father, but he could never kill like his father did without remorse. If not for his mother, Amir was sure he would have become a monster just like his father.
There was nothing that Amir feared more than his own father. He knew his father would be able to rationalize killing even him if he was disobedient. Never once had Amir ever thought about betraying his father, until now. Now things had clearly changed. There was an internal struggle growing inside of Amir and he had to decide between obeying his father, or obeying God.
No longer could Amir ignore the voice coming from his mother's grave. No longer could he ignore the voice screaming at him from his own conscience. No longer could he ignore the new voice that his new friend Hope had brought into his life. But the voice that spoke louder to him than all the others and cleared all the confusion in his head, he knew was the voice of God.
"Amir are you listening to me?!"
"Yes father I was just thinking about mother. Today would have been her birthday, if she was still alive."
"Amir, the time for mourning your mother is done, and now it is time for you to take your rightful place as second in command. All of your blood brothers are dead and you are now my only living son. Still my men will not respect you until they can see you are willing to do whatever it takes for our cause to be victorious. So it is time for you to choose."
"Choose what, father?"
"Choose if you will go on to lead after me. To start with, you will be tested by choosing the new recruits. No longer will I choose which ones are worthy and which are not. You will choose. Just like when you first were brought into the camp, and you had to show your worthiness by pledging your allegiance to our cause. You did what I told you to do, and always have, but I knew you were "my son" and you were born to lead one day. Even so you know that being my son, will not help you escape the consequences if you could not complete the tasks that were given to you. So I'm giving you the important task of deciding, by tomorrow morning which boys you think are worthy enough to join us and which are not worthy. Those you deem worthy we will give the rifles to in the morning. Those you deem not worthy will meet their end in the morning. Yes, you my son will decide for me from this day on which ones you deem as worthy. So go in and get to know these boys. See which ones you think will be courageous and loyal enough to join us, and strong enough to fight for our cause. Do you understand Amir?"
"I understand father. I will choose by tomorrow, as you have commanded."
"Very good son. Now why don't you sit down and have a drink with me?"
"No thank you father, this is an important task you have given me, and I want my head to be clear when I make my choices."
He was proud that his son Amir was already taking this assignment so seriously. "I believe you will be a strong and effective leader one day. I will see you in the morning then son."
Amir left out of his father's tent. He had decided he could no longer follow his father's way, but he had not figured out how he could escape it, and how he could escape, with Hope. He knew he couldn't leave Hope behind. He felt a responsibility for her now and affection. He couldn't save his mother but he promised himself he would save Hope. Amir headed out to the confinement area where the young children were located. He did not want to make his father suspicious. He knew he needed to appear to be following his father's instructions. So he decided he would get to know the boys as his father had ordered. It was then when an idea to escape came to his mind.
The boys were fearful when Amir entered their cell. Some of the boys looked to be the same age as Amir, around 13 to 15 years old, but some of them looked much younger. Amir walked in and talked to the many boys with authority. He ordered the boys to tell him their names and what villages they were from before they came to live at the orphanage. Some of them wondered how a mere child like themselves could have so much authority in the camp. They saw how the other rebels allowed Amir to pass by and how they obeyed his orders without question. Amir told the boys that he would speak to them individually in order of age, oldest to youngest. Then he commanded the oldest boy to follow him. The boy immediately got up, and followed Amir out of the cell as ordered.
The boys prison was an iron pen that the men kept outside. It was meant for animals to be held that they planned on slaughtering eventually for food. Two of the soldiers were assigned to guard the boys' pen and they sat at a table close by playing cards. The guards kept their rifles close by as they enjoyed drinking gin and playing cards. There were also men assigned to the enclosed cells where the hostages they considered valuable were held. The men who were not assigned to different posts were the men who had just returned to camp that night after raiding with Amir's father. Those men were in their tents resting, drinking, doing drugs, and raping the native women and girls that they had captured. The rebels were all confident that they had not been followed back to camp, and therefore they were feeling very relaxed for the night.
Amir walked the oldest boy over to a sitting area. The area was still in sight, but far enough by the edge of camp so that the guards could not overhear their conversation. Amir asked the boy his name and what village he came from.
"My name is Razeeq, and I do not know what village I came from, because I was left at the SACAA's orphanage when I was just a baby."
"My name is Amir and my father is the leader here. Do you understand that your life as you knew it is over now? You will have to make a choice between joining our cause, or death. If you join us you will have to pass some difficult trials. First, you will have to kill, whomever we command of you, without any question. Second, you will have to give your life to the cause, and forsake all that you knew and all that you were in the past. Then you will be ordered to swear in a blood oath your loyalty to my father, our Commander and to us, for the remainder of your life; whether that be a short life or a long life. If you ever betray us you will be killed. Do you understand?"
"Yes I do."
"Do you have any questions for me?"
"No, I don't."
"What will you choose then?"
"I don't know, must I decide this moment? I don't want
to die, but I don't want to kill anyone either."
Amir knew he was not the right one, not the boy God was guiding him to choose.
"You have till sunrise."
Amir, escorted the boy back to the iron pen, and Amir ordered the next oldest boy to follow him out. This boy looked strong, just as the last one did. He was even older than Amir. Amir knew if his father was choosing he would want these two boys to join them. They were the oldest and the strongest ones in the bunch. Amir told the next boy to sit down and he told this boy the same things he had told the last boy. After Amir was finished the boy put his head in his hands and said, "I just don't want to die." Amir knew once again, this boy also was not the boy he needed to help him; this boy was full of fear. Then Amir walked the second boy back to the confinement pen. There were almost twenty boys in the pen.
About two hours had passed by and Amir had spoken to five of the boys. He decided he was not getting anywhere with the method he had chosen. So when Amir returned to the confinement pen, this time, he decided to pick one of the less impressive boys.
He had noticed a young boy, who looked very unremarkable, but yet stood out somehow. The boy appeared to be no older than nine years old. What made this very young, unremarkable boy stand out to Amir were his eyes. The boy's eyes were filled with hatred for Amir, and he did not try to hide it. The boy never once looked away from Amir's glance like the other boys did. Amir pointed with his rifle to the young boy.
"You, you get up and come with me."
The boy stood straight up as Amir had instructed him and he came forward. The boy never did break the hateful stare he had on Amir. Amir was more cautious with this boy than he had been with the others. He kept his rifle pointed at the boy at all times. Once they were sitting, he told the young boy all the same things he had explained to the other older boys. After he was finished explaining what was required of anyone who joined the rebel force he asked the young boy, "what will you choose? Will you join us; will you do as we demand?" The boy just stared at Amir with disgust for what seemed to be a very long time; and then Amir impatiently shouted to the boy, "don't you know how to speak boy, or are you deaf and dumb. Just nod your head if you have nothing to say so we can be done here."
Then the boy began to talk, and his voice sounded steady, and mature for his age. "I can talk, and I have a question for you. Do you believe in God?"
Amir was surprised by the young boy's question. "Why, what does that matter to you boy?"
"I believe in God and it matters to me if you believe in Him or not. I have never killed a man before, but I can't tell you that I couldn't or wouldn't ever kill a man. When I look at you in your uniform, I remember how someone like you, a rebel in a uniform just like your uniform killed my parents and my sister. If I had a rifle back then I would have killed those men, and if I had a rifle now I wouldn't hesitate to kill you. So my answer is "yes", I "could" kill a man if I needed to, and if I hated him enough. But I will never kill for you or your cause! So you don't have to wait till tomorrow, kill me now, at least I'll be with my family and my God in heaven, while all that awaits you is hell!"
Amir was quiet. He listened to the young boy in amazement of how he could be so bold to say the things he was saying to him while he was pointing a rifle at him. Even more so Amir was amazed at how all the time the boy talked to him he still had not broke his stare. The boy's eyes were filled with fire and ice, almost as if he was daring Amir to shoot him.
Amir knew God had chosen this boy to help him. Then Amir quickly explained to the boy, that he too believed in God, and how he was trying to plan an escape. Amir asked the bold boy, "Can you trust me? If you say you can trust me, then I will believe you, because God is telling me to believe in you, then together we will try to escape and rescue the others."
"Why should I trust you? You are a rebel."
"I have no time to try to convince you to trust me. So you said you believe in God. If you trust God, if you have faith in him, then close your eyes, and ask God what you should do, because I cannot wait much longer for your answer."
So the boy closed his eyes and within seconds his eyes were wide open and he said, "I will trust in God, and I feel he is telling me to also trust you."
"Good. This is my plan; I will tell the men that I am taking you in to see my father. I will tell them that I have found that you are from the next village on our map in which my father plans on raiding. They will understand then why I would bring you inside my father's tent, so that we could extract information from you. My father has been drinking and smoking since he
has returned, like most of the other men that left out with him. The last time I saw him in his tent, his speech was already slurred and he did not even notice I had entered into his tent until I announced myself to him. That was over two hours ago. So I'm sure by now he is asleep. I will take you into his tent, and in the state he is in he will not be much of a match for the two of us. There stands one guard outside. I am the only one who is allowed to enter and leave my father's tent unannounced, and with a weapon on. No one else in camp is allowed to enter his tent with any weapon on their body. If he is not asleep then I will tell him that I think you are the best pick out of them all, although you are very young. I will tell him that I have discovered you are a skilled scout and runner from your village. He will not question why I have brought you into the tent.
Then Amir told the boy how he should answer his father's questions if this happened. Hopefully my father is asleep. If my father is asleep, then we can quietly take some rifles from the tent. I will leave you in the tent. I will tell the guard my father wishes to not be disturbed so that he may ask you some difficult questions. The men trust me they will not question any of my actions. Then you wait for me in the rear of the tent where a secret escape hole is located. When you hear me come behind the tent, pass me the rifles through the escape hole. Once we have secured the rifles out of the tent, you can slide under the crawl space and follow me. I hope you are fast. You will then need to follow me into the marsh. I will give you the key to the boys' confinement cell. When you see that the two guards have left the areas they have been assigned to, on my command, free all the other boys and give them the extra rifles. Then all of you run as fast as you can into the marsh. You have the advantage of the night to cover you. Do you understand all that I have told you?"
I understand what you have said, but why are you doing this, when your father is the leader? Are you ready to betray your own father?"
"I don't believe in my father or his war. Just know that I believe it is God's will that I must go against my father."
"Fine, I will remember everything you have instructed me to do and I will do exactly as you say."
Amir escorted the boy to his father's tent and he told the men guarding the other boys where he was taking the young boy. No one questioned his intentions. Once Amir and the boy entered his father's tent Amir announced himself again to see if his father was awake.
"Father, it is me."
This time there wasn't an answer. He slowly approached his father's bedside, until he was close enough to see his eyes. As he suspected, his father was in a deep sleep from drinking and using drugs. Amir unlocked the rifles and ammunition that was in his father's case. There were twelve weapons at his disposal in his father's tent, and he gathered up all of the weapons. He also wanted to take the side arm that his father usually kept strapped to his hip. He walked over to his sleeping father, he was afraid he would awaken his father if he took the sidearm off of his body, but he didn't see it on him anyway. So he proceeded to leave out of the front of the tent as he had planned, leaving the young boy inside.
When he was leaving the tent he explained to the rebel that was guarding his father's tent that his father wanted to question the young boy and that he said he did not want to be disturbed.
Once Amir was out of the sight of his father's bodyguard, he sneaked behind his father's tent. Everything was going as he had planned. The boy followed Amir into the marsh after they had completed the transfer of all of the rifles through the rear escape hatch in the tent, then they ran with the rifles to an undetected spot close to the boys' confinement pen. The two rebels who guarded the boys' pen were seated in front of the entrance. Amir told the young boy to wait in the spot he had taken him in the marsh until he gave him the signal. Then he started running back towards the rear of his father's tent, so that the two rebels guarding the boys' pen would not see him walking out of the marsh and wonder why he was in the marsh in the first place.
While he was heading back he thought he heard a noise in the marsh. Amir was raised in this terrain, and he had developed a keen sense to detect what was a natural sound of the surrounding habitat versus something unnatural. The sound Amir heard he could have sworn sounded like a snapped reed beneath someone's feet. It was too crisp, a little too loud to be from one of the small animals that lived in the marsh. He knew none of the other men were outside of the camp perimeter. Only the young boy he had left there should be in the marsh, but the sound did not come from that direction. He got down low. Then he did a low crawl over towards the direction he heard the sound. Something else surprised him even more so than the sound he had just heard. He smelled perfume. It was not the native scent of the oils the Ethiopian women wore that he was use to, but a scent somewhat like the perfumes his mother use to wear on special occasions. What Amir smelled was the faint scent of Faith, still lingering on Darryl from earlier that day. He thought maybe what he heard was the sound of one of the female workers from the orphanage, hiding in the marsh. He decided he would take a chance and announce himself, so he whispered,
"I am trying to help. I know you are out there. I will not hurt you, show yourself."
Darryl decided to trust him and he stood up. The Ethiopian Commander whispered to Darryl, "you fool get down, it's a trick." Darryl and the Ethiopian Commander and his Scout, Sidney had been scouting out the rebel camp for hours waiting for their reinforcements to show up. But so far no one had come. Darryl had a feeling that it was not a trick. After all they all observed Amir and the young boy sneaking rifles into the marsh. Darryl silently motioned to Amir and Amir started towards Darryl's direction. The Ethiopian Commander kept a close eye on Amir, and a close grip on his gun. It did appear that Amir was alone and he had also observed how Amir and the young boy had snuck a bunch of rifles out of one of the tents, so maybe this rebel was a defector.
When Amir approached them he saw by the Commanders uniform they were with the Ethiopian army, he asked why they were hiding in the marsh.
Darryl told Amir how they were waiting for reinforcements but they had a vehicle hidden a few miles away.
Amir saw this as a sign from God, that God had sent him more helpers to escape. He explained to them that he was attempting to release the hostages and that there was no more time to waste, they had to act now.
"Follow me and I will show you where the boy I positioned in the marsh is waiting with the rifles. We can use your help in releasing the others. After we release the others we can ride away from here in your vehicle. We have no chance of trying to win a fight. There are hundreds of men here in the camp. All of them are skilled killers. We can only hope that most of them are too drunk and high to respond quickly enough to stop us once they realize we're gone. Don't do anything until I give you the signal."
Amir planned to find a way to release Hope. He didn't want to leave her behind. He started to worry that he had been gone for too long and someone might notice. After he explained things to the young boy helping him, he left Darryl, the Commander and Sidney with the boy and headed back towards the rear of his father's tent through the marsh. When he got back to the rear of his father's tent his father was still asleep. His father's bodyguard had not even noticed anything was out of the ordinary. Amir made sure to be very quiet so he would not awake his father.
The bodyguard sat outside with his back facing the entrance of the tent. He didn't hear Amir approaching him from behind. By the time he felt Amir grab hold of his mouth from behind, it was too late. He didn't even have time to scream when Amir plunged a knife into his neck. Amir was careful not to get the bodyguards blood on him. He dragged the guard's body into the corner of his father's tent and concealed it completely from sight. Amir didn't have any pleasure in killing the man, but it wasn't by far the first man he had killed. His father's bodyguard had a perfect view of the rear of the cell that Hope was confined in. Amir knew there was no way he could release Hope without the guard seeing and waking his father to report Amir. Hope and her troops were the only hostages that were not allowed to leave there cells unless the rebel leader personally retrieved them. Any rebels that noticed the missing bodyguard would assume that he was inside talking to their leader. There were two guards posted in the front of the cells. One was posted in front of Hope's cell and the other one in front of Hope's troops cell, but Amir already had a plan in place to deal with those guards. Now that he had eliminated his father's bodyguard Amir proceeded to walk back towards the pen that held all the boys' from SACAA.
The two guards sitting outside the boys' confinement pen noticed Amir coming back, and one of them asked him if his father was in a good mood.
"He is in the same mood he is always in. Why do you ask?"
"He's assigned us to guard these boys all night, so that the men coming back from raiding can rest and drink. But we were thinking, maybe they could let us have one of the women they brought back if one of them were finished for the night? One of us is due to go on a break soon, and the other one can continue to stand watch."
Things were going smoother than what Amir had ever expected; he was just wondering what excuse he would use to get the two rebels to leave their post. "Well my father did say he does not want to be disturbed while him and his bodyguard question the young boy inside his tent. He also told me that I can have my pick of any women that they brought back. I've decided on the young, foreign girl with the long red hair. If you want I can share her with you men when I finish. Whichever one of you that is due for your break can come with me now, and I'll take the other one afterwards."
The outspoken rebel that had made the request got up and followed Amir.
"Since I was the one who spoke up, I get first dibs and you stay here and keep watch."
The other rebel begrudgingly agreed. Only Amir and his father's right hand man, had the keys to where the important hostages that his father planned to ransom were held. His father's right hand man was drinking and relaxing also, like the rest of the men who had returned. So Amir escorted the ignorant outspoken rebel to Hope's cell and as they passed the two rebels that guarded the front entrances of the two hostage cells, one of them asked Amir where they were headed.
"Just on our way to enjoy the reward my father has bestowed upon me. Don't worry you don't have to check with my father, I'm not going to take any of them out of the cell, what I'm here for we can do inside the cell."
The guard understood what Amir was implying, and he let them pass without any more questions or suspicion.
Hope and the other two women heard the footsteps coming. Their hearts stopped when they heard the key being used in the door. Then Hope felt relieved when she saw it was Amir, but the other two women were paralyzed with fear. The young woman had just recovered enough to talk again, and she said, "I'd rather die than have them touch me again."
Hope understood how she felt. The three women just stood there staring at Amir and the other rebel who were standing at the door.
Amir held the door open for the other rebel who entered the cell first. After Amir closed the cell door behind him he shined a flashlight in the young red-head girl's face and said, "see isn't the young one very pretty".
Before the man could barely get a good look at the young woman, Amir slit his throat from behind with his K-bar. Then he quietly laid the rebel down on the floor. The man was three times Amir's weight, but Amir took him down swiftly and with ease.
The two women didn't know what was going on, and the young girl started screaming; but the screams of a woman in the camp would not concern any of the rebels in the camp. The young Ethiopian women in the camp had been screaming all throughout the night. Amir looked over at Hope and said, "it's now or never."
Hope explained, "Ladies, he's here to help us escape." Then Hope stripped the clothes off of the rebel that Amir had just killed. She put on the rebel's uniform, and armed herself with his weapons. Then Hope and the two women followed Amir to the door of their cell. There were two guards outside the hostages cell that they had to get pass. Hope had to get her troops out of the other cell. She was not escaping without them. Before Amir and Hope left the cover of the cell, Amir turned around and gave the oldest women a rifle, and he said, "wait in here for us to come back. Do you know how to use this?"
The old lady calmly answered, "yes".
"Ma'am, you and the girl stay here. If you don't hear my voice saying, "it's okay", before this door opens, shoot whoever comes in and run for your lives. There are three men waiting in the marsh right next to the boy's holding pen. They have a vehicle to get all of you out of here. Run into the marsh towards them, and don't look back. Do you understand?"
The old lady had been through worst situations during her lifetime of missionary work. "I understand, and God bless you child for risking your life to save us."
Amir gave Hope a knife, and he didn't think he needed to give her any advice, "I know you know what to do." Hope just nodded.
Amir and Hope walked out of the cell together, Amir walked towards the direction of the guard that stood watch to the east of the hostages' cells and Hope walked towards the direction of the guard that stood watch to the west.
When Amir reached his guard, the guard said, "that was quick, was she no good?"
"I wouldn't know. The young red-head surprised me. She had something in her mouth and cut me, down there! If she wasn't an important hostage to my father I would have slit her throat! Look at what she has done to me!"
The guard put his rifle against the wall. He had no reasons at all to not trust Amir. Then he stood up to take a look at Amir's wound. Amir had rubbed the blood from the rebel he had just killed all over his pants, and the guard could clearly see the blood.
"God man, it looks like she really got you good."
Then while the guard was looking down and distracted without his rifle still in his hand, Amir grabbed him by his neck and he shoved the rebel's face deep into his chest. The guard was caught by surprise and he was totally confused about what Amir was doing. They both fell to the ground and the rebel fell on top of Amir. Amir kept a tight grip on the guard's head. He smothered the guard's face into his chest as he simultaneously shoved the K-bar he held in his right hand into the rebel's back. No one could hear the guard's screams because Amir made sure he never loosened the grip he had on the guard's head. He made sure no sounds escaped out of the rebel's mouth. Once he felt the rebel's body go limp he released his grip.
While Amir was quietly killing the one guard, Hope was approaching the guard to the west. She was trained to recognize when her physical strength was not an advantage and she needed to use an alternative strategy. This was clearly the case. The guard was visibly much stronger and larger than she was. Also the uniform she was now wearing from the guard Amir had just killed was much too big to fit Hope properly. The rebel guarding the west side of the hostages cells looked up at Hope when he heard her approaching. He immediately noticed how the uniform she was wearing seemed to fit strangely. He remembered that the soldier he saw walk into the cell with Amir was much larger than this soldier that was now coming out of the cell. He felt that something was wrong and he stood up from his chair. He was getting ready to yell out "halt", but he hesitated just a few seconds too long.
Hope had been walking towards him very swiftly. She didn't want to alert him by running, but she realized it would not take him long to notice she was not the guard that he had previously saw. Her right hand was gripping the knife that she had concealed. Hope kept her head down while she walked towards the guard so that he wouldn't see her face. But she could still see his hands, his rifle and his chest from under the rebel's cap she wore. She knew she had no time to get close to him before he would make too much noise, and alert the other rebels in the camp. Hope also knew she had to be quick and precise, or he could just shoot her if she took too long to attack or missed her target. So as soon as Hope saw the guard stand up, and make a motion as if he was going to lift his rifle, she threw her knife. She threw it with all of her strength and accuracy. In one smooth, swift motion she aimed for his heart. The knife plunged into the exact spot she aimed for on her target. She was close enough to not miss him, but still not close enough to kill him with one throw. His hands moved towards the knife which was sticking out of his chest, and Hope ran towards him and leaped on top of him. With all her forced she made sure the rest of the knife plunged deeper into the rebel's chest. The guard let out a yelp, that Hope quieted with her hands. Then to her horror she heard someone approaching her from behind. Her heart was racing but when she turned around, she saw Amir.
Amir was already walking back towards the cell to retrieve the two women that had been placed in the cell with her earlier that night. Hope heard Amir whisper to them, "it's okay". It didn't appear that anyone else had heard the guard's brief yelp of pain. Hope got to her feet, and she saw Amir and the two women come out from behind the cell door. Amir and Hope dragged the bodies of the rebels they had just killed into the women's cell, and they unclothed them of their uniforms. Then the four of them proceeded to the door of the cell where Hope's troops and her Major, second in command were being held. There were no rebels nearby anymore for them to worry about for the time being. Hope could not wait to see her men's faces, but another part of her worried she may find that the rebels had killed most of them. When they reached the door of the men's cell Hope asked Amir and the two women to wait outside. Amir agreed and handed the keys to the cell to Hope.
Hope took her cap off as soon as she walked through the cell door. She had her hair down from the bun she usually kept it up in at all times. She didn't know what her men's mental or physical condition was, but she thought they would try to attack anyone with a rebel uniform on entering their cell. So she wanted to make it obvious to them that she was a woman, even if they didn't recognize that it was her right away. This may have been the first time anyone had opened the men's cell doors since they had arrived. After all no one had ever actually opened her cell door until tonight when they placed the other two women in the cell with her.
As soon as the cell door opened Hope's Major who was the second in command stood up ready to attack. All of the men were readied behind him. The Major paused in disbelief when he saw the person opening the door to their cell was Hope. After the initial shock he felt a flood of joy and relief.
"Colonel, you're alive."
Hope saw that all of the men that had made the mission with her were still alive. She thanked God. It was obvious to Hope that some of her men were in very poor physical condition, but at least they were alive.
"Major, are all the men able to move on their own without assistance?"
"Yes Colonel."
"Good, then take these rifles and I have two rebel uniforms, whoever is the healthiest, change into them. This boy, Amir, is helping us all escape. He was forced to join and he's defecting. We have one guard left to get rid of, he is guarding the young boys from the orphanage. Amir has told me there are three men with the Ethiopian military and a boy waiting in the marsh with a vehicle to help us all escape. The rest of the rebels are in their tents drunk but they also have the Ethiopian women and girls in the tent with them."
The only information Hope left out was the fact that Amir was also the rebel leader's son, that she had confided in him, and that she had told him her real name. She decided it was best to leave out any information that wasn't helpful in regards to them escaping.
"Men, Listen to what the boy says to do, Major, I trust him."
The men followed Hope out of their cell. Once outside of the cell, the Major looked at Amir standing there in his rebel uniform with suspicion, but he trusted his Colonel. The Major thought to himself, "she has never led me astray or ever lied to me before. I trust her completely. The troops need to see me show him trust." So as soon as they approached Amir and the two other women the Major whispered, "Colonel, what do you and him, (motioning to Amir), need us to do?"
"Send our two men who put on the dead rebels' uniforms to act as if they are standing guard at those posts; this way if one of the other rebels comes out of their tent tonight it will look like the rebels are still at their post. We have to get out of here without any commotion, so we can't do anything to cause suspicion. The rest of you position yourselves in areas close by the stone cells for the time being, ensure you all maintain your cover."
Hope decided it would be best for her Major to put on the rebel uniform she was wearing. It was much too big on her anyway. She thought Amir may need assistance taking down the last rebel guard that was left on duty over at the boys' confinement pen. She knew her Major could pass at first glance for the rebel guard Amir had just killed because they were similar in size and color. Hope positioned herself with the rest of her men, and they all maintained their cover. They were all able to observe Amir and their Major walking towards the boys' confinement pen with the SACAA women from a far off distance.
The Major told Amir to just keep the rebel guard distracted and that he would take care of the rest.
The rebel that was left guarding the boys turned around when he heard the approaching footsteps.
"You guys are back already? Why are you bringing those women out here? Amir, did your father give you approval to take these women out of their cell, because you know how he is, I wouldn't want to upset him. Besides, I thought you were going to take me with you to their cell when you were finished?"
"Don't worry my father has given me permission to take them out of the cell. See these women asked to see the boys, and they swore they would do whatever we desired, if we would only show them all the boys were still alive. We've already explained to them the girls are alive but busy in the men's tents for now."
"Well I guess it is always better when they are willing participants, isn't it? You have blood on you Amir, what happened?"
Amir was trying to keep the guard distracted while he walked towards the boy's pen, so he made sure to answer all of his questions quickly and keep the guard engaged in their conversation.
"That red-head one did it. She has a lot of fight in her, but once I told her I would start killing the children if she didn't cooperate she calmed down. Then when I told her I would take her here to see the boys; that was when she promised she would do whatever I asked. She is worth the cut she inflicted on me. Look at her she is indeed as beautiful as my father told me she would be."
This really got the guard's attention. He had not had the opportunity to really look at the female hostages yet. The man rested his rifle against the card table to approach the young woman and take a good look at her. The rebel didn't even notice the man with Amir was not his friend who had left out with Amir earlier. When the rebel came within an arm's length of the young woman he reached out his hand to touch her, beautiful flowing red hair. It was at that moment that he felt a sudden, sharp pain in his back.
The Major had stabbed the rebel from behind. Once they had the last guard down, the Major turned around and waved his arm. He was giving Hope the signal that all was clear. Hope gave all of her troops the same signal, and they all moved out quickly and cautiously.
Amir had already given the young boy hiding in the marsh the signal that they were safe. Amir knew the young boy and the other men from the Ethiopian military were in the marsh observing everything from their position. Then the young boy, Darryl, the Ethiopian Commander and Sidney, the Scout came out of hiding. They all worked quickly to release the boys from their holding pen. Darryl, the Ethiopian Commander and Sidney were handing out the weapons to Hope and her troops.
The whole interaction took a matter of seconds. There was no time to waste. If a rebel came out of their tent now they would see that there were no guards left at their post and that all of the boys were missing from the pen. They all knew they needed to get to the truck they had hiding many miles from the rebel camp now to escape. They were all about to head out towards the vehicle when the older women, Olga whispered, "Just the boys are here. What about the other Ethiopian women and girls? Are they alive?"
Amir said, "they are alive but they are in the tents with all the other rebels."
Olga protested, "But if there alive, we can't just leave them behind."
Hope looked at her men and she said, "Olga's right we can't leave them behind. I can't leave them. Major get our men that are too weak to fight out of here. Myself, my Major, and my troops that are still in good physical condition will try to get the other women and girls out. After all that's what we were originally sent here for before we were captured. Our mission isn't over yet. We were not sent here just to save ourselves."
The Major looked at his men and he asked them, "who is too hurt or too weak to stay and fight? If you know you are too weak and would only be a liability to us, don't try to be a hero, just leave now and get to the vehicle." But none of the troops would volunteer to leave their Colonel or Major behind. They were more than a squad of military men, they were a family. Hope hated putting her troops in this position once again. They had the chance to escape after months of being imprisoned, and she was asking them to stay and fight, and possibly die, but this was their duty, their responsibility, and their sworn oath to protect and defend the innocent. But this was not Amir's duty. Hope thought, Amir is really still a child. He has a chance to escape this horrible way of life. He should not stay.
"Amir you go with the other boys."
Amir had formed a bond with Hope. He felt a motherly love from her and he wasn't about to let his father murder Hope the way he suspected his father had murdered his own mother. "I won't leave without you Hope. I will stay in fight with you."
The Major and the rest of Hope's men were shocked that this young boy addressed their Colonel by her first name. They all knew that no one in their unit was suppose to give out their true identity to anyone, outside of the unit, especially someone considered a possible enemy. But these men had been under Hope's command for many years and they trusted that if their Colonel gave out her name to this boy, she must have had a good reason. So they all put their momentary doubts aside. Since it had been established that neither the troops nor Amir were leaving they needed to now come up with a plan and listen carefully for their next instructions.
Hope said, "well it looks like we are staying back." Then she looked at Darryl, the Ethiopian Commander and his scout, and she said, "But you should all go now, with the two women and the boys, and send back reinforcements."
The Commander replied, "I will send the Doctor back with these two women and the boys, but me and my Scout, we will be staying back with you to try and rescue the others. You don't think I would leave a foreign woman and her foreign soldiers behind to fight my country's battle? We consider these women and girls our mothers and sisters, and we are sick of what is happening to them by the hands of these rebels."
Hope expected he would refuse to leave. She would have done the same thing if she was him. "Okay Commander, Thank you."
The Ethiopian Commander continued,
"Before we move out to rescue the other females, I want to make sure the Doctor, these two women and the boys are safely out of here. If things go wrong I want to make sure they have a decent head start on the rebels."
So him and his scout, Sidney escorted Darryl and the two SACAA women with the boys back to the vehicle they had hidden. The Ethiopian Commander made sure Darryl was sure of the way back to the military base camp.
"Don't worry doctor our reinforcements were already on their way and should be coming soon. You may even pass them on your way back to base."
Darryl suspected that what the Commander was saying wasn't true. He thought, "after all it took them over eight hours to get to where they were from town, so it would probably take reinforcement eight hours to get here." Darryl felt guilty leaving the Commander and Sidney. During their short time together he felt as if they had already developed a sort of kinship. All the help the Commander and Sidney had against hundreds of rebels were six men in poor physical condition, a young boy and a woman. Even if she was some kind of military Colonel, she was still a woman. The odds were definitely against them." But Darryl knew his first responsibility was to the children and to Faith. He promised Faith that he would return safely with the children, and he was going to keep that promise. Maybe he would be coming back with only the boys, but that was better than nothing. So Darryl got all the boys and the two women in the vehicle. He said goodbye to the Commander and Sidney and then he gave them his cell phone so that they would still be in contact with the base camp. They were both surprised by Darryl bravery, knowing he was not a soldier and they knew the women and boys were in good hands.
The Commander said, "Doc, rest assure, you will see us in less than 24 hours."
"I know Commander, God be with you all."
Darryl rode off slowly with the lights off, until he felt he was a safe distance away from the rebel camp. Once he thought he was a safe enough distance away, he put the lights on and he put his foot to the gas pedal and drove as fast as the vehicle would take him, back to safety, and back to his Faith.
Meanwhile, Hope and her troops were ready to come up with a plan to rescue the remaining women and girls. They had to also figure out how to get one of the rebels' vehicles to escape with now that the boys were own their way to safety in the Ethiopian Commander's vehicle. They needed to escape without being detected and that meant no gun shots. They knew it all seemed like an impossible task, but they were all prepared to die trying.
Then the Major said to Hope and the Ethiopian Commander, "maybe we should wait it out until reinforcements get here? Commander didn't you tell the doctor they were already on their way and may be here soon?"
"I only told the doctor that to ease his worries. I could see the dread all over his face about leaving us, the woman, and this boy behind. He needs to have hope, because they have a long ride ahead of them. Although we did contact someone back at the base camp with this here cell phone by text message it will still take them at least eight hours to get here by land. Our General knows if they came by air the rebels would spot them miles away and kill everyone and abandon the camp immediately. So if we wait for them chances are all the men would have recovered from their drunken states and we also will no longer have the cover of the night to help us escape."
Hope agreed with the Ethiopian Commander. "Then we have to do this now. If we have any chance of succeeding we can't wait any longer." Everyone agreed. The Commander took charge and gave instructions, he said, "you and the boy, (pointing to Hope, and Amir), will wait here. You can be in charge of driving the vehicle we take. The rest of us men will go in and retrieve the women."
Hope was not offended by the Commander's orders. She was use to men wanting to protect her, simply because she was a woman. It didn't matter to most men that she was a
skilled and decorated military leader and officer herself. She always had to prove herself. She had proven herself to her Major and her troops many times in the past, but the Ethiopian Commander did not know of her or her abilities. So she simply responded without offense, "Commander, with all due respect, I can't let my men go into danger and sit back and wait. You have to understand. I am a woman, but I am also their leader and very well trained. I am trained well enough that my country has placed all these mens' lives into my hands."
The Commander looked at Hope and reluctantly conceded. "Okay then what are your thoughts?"
"Commander, I think it would be safer for myself and Amir to retrieve the women versus sending all you men into the tents. Amir can move in and out of the tents without raising any suspicion at all because they know him as one of them. All of the rebels know him and trust him. And if you haven't noticed I already traded my ragged military clothing I had on for the young woman's SACAA t-shirt and khaki's. So the rebels will think I am one of the native women who cared for the children at SACAA if they see me in their tent. There are hundreds of rebels. If we have to fight, we will never win. We need to try to escape without a fight, if at all possible. If you go into those tents there is more likelihood of trouble. You don't have a rebel uniform on Sir, besides even if you put a uniform on the rebels won't recognize you as one of their own, or even worse they may recognize you as part of the Ethiopian military. If they've used intelligence to identify the military members here they may know what you and your Scout look like already. Even my three men who have the rebel uniforms on won't be recognized by the other rebels up close as one of their own, but we can send them in as a last resort. But Amir is trusted, and I'm a woman, and women don't concern them. We should be the ones to go."
So much was going on that none of them had even noticed that Hope had switch clothes with the young SACAA woman. Then Hope continued.
"So myself and Amir will quietly try to slip into the tents and retrieve as many of the women and girls as we can without using gun fire or causing any noise. Hopefully the rebels will think I am one of the native women roaming around if they see me. I'll take the Commander's small 9mm and my K-bar so I can hide my weapons in the cargo pockets of these khakis I have on. Amir can walk in plain view with a rifle because they already trust him and believe he is with them. The rest of you men, stay ready close to the outskirt of the camp keeping us in your eyes' view. You can cover us if there is any trouble. Two of the strongest men here need to retrieve a vehicle. The largest one you see, since we don't know how many women and girls we will be bringing out. Quietly push it to the road, hot wire the vehicle when it's out of ear shot. So does anyone have any questions?"
The men all nodded that they did not. There was no time to come up with a perfect plan, and her plan seemed like a good enough one to them all.
"Just one more thing, try not to fire your weapons, unless there's absolutely no other option, because as soon as they hear shots it's going to alert the whole camp, and then...., well God help us if that happens." Hope didn't want to or need to go on. They all were aware that they were outnumbered and with less firepower. They all knew if they got out of their alive it would be a miracle. So they proceeded to put Hope's plan into action.
Amir was checking the tents to the east and Hope took the tents to the west. There were twenty tents in the camp all together. At least one hundred rebels altogether were in the camp not counting the ones that Amir, Hope and the Major had already killed. One by one they would have to go through each tent to check for women and girls being held in there. They didn't waste any time getting started.
Amir had already gone through five tents and brought out twelve young women and girls. It was simple for him. Many of the rebels were asleep, and the rebels that were still awake asked Amir no questions, they assumed Amir was bringing the women to his father's tent or to have for himself. All of the females were in poor physical and emotional condition. Some of them were still suffering from the shock of all that had happened the previous day and that night. They all had been raped. The one's that fought back were beaten the worse. Once Amir got the women out of one tent he would quickly escort them to the edge of camp. Amir would briefly explain to the women as they were walking that he was helping them escape, and that they needed to be quiet. He didn't want them to think he was taking them into the marsh to kill them. Then the Ethiopian Commander and Hope's men would take over and rush the women to the vehicle they had taken. So far retrieving the women and girls was going very smoothly for Amir.
On the other hand, Hope wasn't as successful. While Amir was close to finishing up on his tenth tent, Hope had only retrieved five women out of three of the tents so far. Hope would find that the women were too afraid to just follow another woman that they didn't even recognize. They didn't trust that Hope was there to rescue them, and they were too afraid to try and escape with her even if they did believe her. It did help that in most of the tents the rebels were already asleep. This gave Hope the time and opportunity to try to whisper to the women and explain who she was and what she was doing. But still some of the women were in shock, and too afraid to move for fear of being raped, beaten again, or even killed. So Hope had to plead with them to trust her, and follow her. Unlike Amir she couldn't just grab the women and muscle them out. They needed to voluntarily sneak out quietly with her to not wake up the rebels' and make them suspicious. She had only retrieved a handful of girls and she still had seven more tents to go.
Amir was finished retrieving all the women out of the tents to the east. He headed in the direction of the tent that he had last saw Hope go into. Then he heard a woman belt out a blood curling scream. He immediately feared that it was Hope and she had been discovered. When he got to the tent he saw that the scream came from a young girl. The girl looked to be no older than nine years old. The little girl was standing and pointing at Hope. Her scream had awoken all the men in that tent. She was in shock after being raped. She was screaming at Hope, "leave me alone, they'll kill us, they'll kill us."
Then one of the rebels that was awoken by the girl's screams walked over to Hope and sleepily said, "Who are you, I don't remember you being in here?"
Amir immediately stepped in. "She's with me now. I came because I saw her walk into this tent from the tent across from here."
The rebel looked at Hope curiously. "Oh, were the men in that tent not enough for you, you want real men now?" Then he grabbed Hope by her breasts.
Amir didn't know what to do. Hope was concerned that the rebel would feel the weapons she had hidden under her clothing, and that would immediately blow her cover and ruin all their chances of escaping. But then all of a sudden they all heard a loud commanding voice yelling from outside the tent.
"Amir, Amir where are you!"
All the rebels knew the sound of that voice. It was the sound of Amir's father, and their leader. The rebel in the tent holding on to Hope's arm said to Amir, "you better go see what your father wants."
"Yes, I know what he wants. It was him who sent me out to bring the prettiest women back to him, and he probably is growing impatient because I've taken too long. I've been to all the tents and I think she is the prettiest, motioning to Hope."
The rebel grabbed Hope's face and he was much too drunk to recognize where he saw her last. "I agree, she's the prettiest woman I've ever seen. I know I've seen her before, but for some reason I can't remember her traveling back with us after the raids. She must have tried her best to hide her beauty. Take her to your father Amir. We don't want to keep him waiting any longer. You know how he gets."
Amir grabbed Hope's arm and then he said, "And if you are finish with this young one, I'll take her too. So I can let my father take his pick."
The rebel had no objections to Amir taking the loud girl who had woken all of them up. They were indeed finished with her and now he just wanted to sleep.
Amir took Hope and the young girl who was still in shock out of the rebels' tent. Unfortunately his father was already standing in the doorway of his tent looking for Amir.
"Son where were you? Oh I see you've decided to take a woman or make that two, I see. I am sorry now that I interrupted you."
Amir's father was still so drunk he did not even recognize his most valuable hostage, Hope from afar. Amir threw Hope to the ground to conceal her face from his father's view, and then he said, "stay here you women, don't even think about moving or I will kill you both!"
The young girl was confused, she believed exactly what Amir said, and she still did not realize that he was actually working on helping her escape. Then Amir ran to his father's side.
"Father, what do you need me to do for you?"
"Amir, I woke up and yelled to my bodyguard to go get me some soup and coffee. The dog didn't answer me. So I looked outside my tent and he is not here either. Do you know where he has gone son?"
Amir became nervous. He had killed his father's bodyguard by stabbing him from behind before he had even released Hope and the other hostages. Unbeknowest to his father his bodyguard's dead body was hidden right inside his father's tent. Amir knew if his father woke, it would be a big risk leaving his tent unguarded, but it had to be done. Now all his father had to do was take a walk around the camp to notice that all the men he had assigned to guard the camp that night were no longer at their posts. If it wasn't for the fact that his father was drunk he would have already went walking around camp by now. He needed to get his father back into his tent as soon as possible.
"Father I know where your bodyguard is. Go back into your tent and I will bring you food."
"So where is he then?"
"Father I hope you don't mind, but you did tell me to
take more of a leadership role in the camp. So I relieved him long enough for him to have himself a woman also."
This explanation made Amir's father furious. "You relieved him for him to have a woman and you left your father, the leader of this camp, vulnerable, with no protection? I do not understand this stupid thing you have done?"
"Father no, you misunderstand, I took his place at your tent myself. I only left for one moment because I saw this woman running out of the tent with the young girl. She was trying to escape, while the men inside her tent had fallen asleep. I left for one brief moment to retrieve them."
Amir's explanation calmed his father's anger towards him slightly, but he was still upset. "Son this was still a stupid decision you made. I am disappointed in your poor judgment. My protection is always of the upmost importance, much more important than some women trying to escape. She wouldn't have gotten far anyway. One of the other men would have caught her. Even if she did escape, she would not survive so far away from any civilization and if she did who really cares. Women are no threat to us. These women are expendable to us they are of little value. You know we will dispose of them eventually once we have no more use for them, son. So that was poor judgment to leave my guard even for a brief moment. Perhaps you are not ready to lead yet, as I had hoped."
"Yes father, I see now, and you are right. I'm sorry. I am not ready to lead yet. I am not as smart as you or as experienced with making the right decisions."
"Son, don't be discouraged in the beginning you may make bad decisions. At one time I showed mercy, but then I learned that the weak don't deserve mercy. But you will see you will become a great leader. It is in your blood, you are my son."
"Thank you, father, I will do better. Please, go rest now. I will go get your food and your bodyguard."
"No, I've changed my mind. I am wide awake now, and I've had no woman tonight. You stand guard outside my tent until he returns and bring that one who tried to escape to me. I like my woman with a bit of spirit. From here she looks very pretty, and still in good condition. The other one you can do what you want with her she is a bit too tiny for my taste."
Amir stood there still not knowing what to do or say next. He felt paralyzed as his listened to his father yell his demands to Hope.
"You, long hair women, come here."
Hope didn't dare move. She stayed on the ground with young girl. She couldn't risk blowing her cover and risking everything. Amir's father would surely recognize her up close. He was the one who had initially interrogated her.
"I said come here girl! You, the older one!" Hope still refused to move and obey his commands. He was drunk and he didn't want to have to walk over to her so he yelled again, and this time his tone was much more irritated. He was a man not use to anyone not immediately responding to his commands.
Amir knew he had to do something. "Father she is a stubborn one. Are you sure you want this one? If you go back into your tent, I will bring you a tamer one, that's just as pretty."
His father was so focused on Hope not responding to him that he didn't even acknowledge his comments.
"Woman are you dumb and death! If I have to go down there and get you myself, it will not go well for you later, do you understand?"
Hope still did not move. Hope knew that Amir had plenty of opportunity to stab his father from behind, quietly. But he had not done it. Then it dawned on her. This was not just another obstacle to Amir, not just another rebel, this was indeed his flesh and blood, his father. How could she expect Amir to kill his own father so easily. Amir may have wanted to escape his father's way of life, but that didn't mean that he wanted to kill his father.
The furious rebel leader started to take a step forward to go retrieve Hope, when he felt dizzy. He turned around and started to vomit. All of the alcohol he had consumed that night had gotten the best of him. When he recovered he yelled to Amir, "bring me that insolent woman now!"
Amir ran to Hope. As he grabbed her he whispered, "I don't know what to do?"
Hope said, "punch me in the face."
"What?"
Hope pretended to struggle from Amir's grip on her, and
she started swinging at him, while she was swinging, she whispered again, "punch me in the face, it's the only way, so your father won't recognize who I am. You have to hit me hard enough so that he can't recognize me."
Amir understood. He punched Hope several times in the face. He made sure he punctured her skin so that blood was covering her once pretty face. Amir's blows were even more forceful than she had expected. She was stunned. Her eye swelled up fast, and there was blood running from her lip and her left eyelid, she made sure she also used her hands to cover her face with more blood and dirt. Then Amir took a good look at Hope's face. He felt disgusted over what he had just done to her; he couldn't recognize her at all, so he knew his father wouldn't either. He dragged Hope over to his father and threw her to the ground. His father stood there with his breath reeking of vomit. He was amused by watching his son beat on this insolent woman who had disobeyed him.
Hope's Major, her troops, the Ethiopian Commander and his Scout Sidney were quietly observing and prepared to attack when there seemed like there was no other option. They understood that Hope and Amir were simply trying to maintain their cover.
After Amir had dragged Hope to his father, his father grabbed the back of her hair and said to his son, "good work, even though I do like to look upon a pretty face. But even so, good work son. Stand guard here for me until my bodyguard returns, then you can go get me my food. I should be finished with her soon."
Then the rebel leader dragged Hope into his tent. Amir watched in silent horror, he was not sure what to do. Hope motioned to Amir secretly to leave. She knew he had to get the rest of the women out. She also knew she could kill this man easily with her knife in his drunken state. After all even though he was a huge man, Amir said there were no weapons left in his tent and he was drunk and sluggish. It was only a matter of waiting for the right moment then she would attack him and make sure she did it quietly.
So Amir reluctantly left Hope alone with his father. He knew at the moment he had no other choice. He had to finish getting the rest of the women and girls out of the rebels' tents. Amir quickly ran towards the Major and handed him the one young girl.
"What's going on with the Colonel Amir?", asked the Major.
"She told me to hit her in the face so that he wouldn't recognize her, and then she motioned to me to leave her alone. I know she has a 9mm and K-bar in her cargo pockets. He doesn't have any weapons in the tent, and he's still drunk."
"She will be fine then, she knows what she is doing."
"I hope you are right Major. If not it will be all my fault, I should have..."
"The Colonel can take care of herself Amir. You just get the rest of the women and girls out."
Then Amir started to run towards the last of the tents that Hope didn't get to. Despite the near disaster he still was able to retrieve the rest of the women and girls out of the remaining tents quickly and without suspicion. He couldn't stop thinking about what was happening between Hope and his father. He kept reminding himself that Hope was not a normal woman she was a woman trained for war. After all, he had actually observed her kill with ease earlier that night. Surely she could kill his father with no problem in the drunken state he was in with her K-bar. She seemed to be very good with a knife. He didn't even think about how he had betrayed his father, and how he was now also going to be the cause of his father's death. His father was a monster, this Amir was sure of, but he didn't have it in him to kill his father. As far as Amir was concerned, Hope was his father's angel, his angel of death. But if anything happened to Hope because he could not bring himself to kill his own father, he knew he would never forgive himself.
After Amir had retrieved the last of the women and girls out of the tents, he was walking back towards the Major and his men in the marsh. It was then that he noticed something shiny in the dirt. It was Hope's K-bar, and gun! They must have fallen out of her cargo pants during the struggle the two of them had staged for his father's benefit. A huge wave of guilt came over him, he should have ensured she had her weapons on her before he dragged her over to his father. "How could I have been so stupid? I will be the death of her." Amir knew that if he left Hope alone with his father much longer she would have to fight him off with her own body strength or give in to him raping her. Either picture was torture for him to imagine. He was only comforted by the fact that he had previously taken all of his father's knifes and weapons out of his tent earlier that night with the young boy's assistance. He looked back at his father's tent and knew he couldn't leave Hope in there alone with his father any longer. So he turned around and headed inside his father's tent.
The Major and the rest of the men were watching Amir from their positions in the marsh. They saw him pick up Hope's fallen weapons from the ground. The Major told his troops he wasn't going to leave without the Colonel.
"Hopefully, Amir will be able to get her out without any commotion. If they don't come out after a reasonable period of time, I'm going in after the Colonel. But I'm ordering all of you to leave out now since we have all the women and girls."
Inside the tent Amir's father had already pushed Hope unto his bed. He was kissing and groping her. At first she just pretended to put up a fight because she knew it would be what he would expect, but she was secretly reaching into her cargo pockets to retrieve her k-bar. It was then that she realized her weapons were no longer in her pockets. She looked around sporadically to see if there were any sharp objects or knifes or anything that could be used against him close by. He was an extremely big man, at least five times Hope's size, but even in his drunken state Hope was realizing he was incredibly strong and she was no match for him.
She didn't want to do anything further to arouse the rest of the camp, but at the same time there was no way she was going to let any other man rape her ever again. She had made that promise to herself a long time ago. She would rather die than be raped ever again. So Hope knew that someone in this tent was going to die tonight. The question was would it be him, or would it be her. All she knew was she wasn't going down without a fight. So she bit down with all her force on his ear, tearing a piece of it off.
He was indeed a hard man. He didn't even scream when she bit his ear off, and he never once loosened his grip on her. Instead he responded by punching her in the face again. His punch was so hard it almost knocked her out cold, but it didn't and she continued biting him and fighting for her life. Her teeth were now the only weapon she had. He had arms and legs pinned underneath him. She was able to finally free one arm. Her nails had grown while she was in captivity; she dug them into his eyes.
Meanwhile, Hope's Major also saw the two rebels heading towards their leader's tent. He ran after them holding a knife in each hand. By the time the two rebels heard the Major's steps from behind, it was too late. The Major was already straight behind them and he drove his k-bars into both of their backs. The Major dragged each one of the rebel's bodies into the marsh and then he waited outside the tent, pretending to be the rebel leader's bodyguard that Amir had previously killed earlier that night. The Major
was ready to take out anyone else who tried to enter the tent before Amir came out with his Colonel.
Amir was standing inside the doorway of his father's tent, and he saw Hope struggling for her life underneath of his father. His father was also busy struggling to keep Hope from biting and gauging out his eyes. Neither of them noticed he had entered the tent. Then Amir realized his father was reaching under his cot, with his right hand, while he fought off Hope with his left. Amir remembered his father kept his side arm either on his person, or hidden close to him beneath his cot. When he didn't see his father's sidearm on him earlier that night he had forgot then to check for it under his cot. Before he could react and come to Hope's aid his father had retrieved his sidearm and already had it shoved into Hope's chest. Then he heard his father say to Hope in a raspy, pain filled voice. "You're not worth this!"
Hope froze instantly. She was not aware Amir had just entered the tent. She thought she was alone, and that this would be her end.
It was clear to Amir that if he didn't do something now his father would kill Hope. So he yelled out, "Father stop!"
This surprised his father and kept him from pulling the trigger. "Son, this demon possessed woman tried to kill me. She has bit off my ear, and gauged out my eye. Go get me the first aid kit, and when you come back you can dispose of her body. She is not worth all of this." Amir had saved Hope's life for the moment. His father was now up on his knees kneeling over Hope. "Amir Why are you still standing there?! Bring me the first aid kit. Didn't you hear me? She just bit my ear off and dug her nails into my eye. Better yet, just wait there until after I shoot her so you can take this trash out on your way to getting the first aid kit."
"Father please don't shoot her here. You will get blood all over yourself and your bed. Give her to me and I will kill her for you, outside of your tent."
His father stared at him with fury. He had no patience for his son's ridiculous suggestions right now. "I'm bleeding already all over my cot you idiot! Just get me the first aid kit. Where the hell is my bodyguard already, and where the hell is my food I asked you to get me?! You don't even have that with you. What have you all been doing tonight?!" While he continued to yell at Amir, he held the gun he had shoved into Hope's side in place, and he stared at Amir in anger wondering why he was standing there and doing nothing.
Amir knew he had no other choice he was going to have to stand up to his own father. He pulled out his rifle and pointed it at his father. "Son, what are you doing?"
"Father I said, do not shoot her. Put down your gun." Amir's voice was filled with desperation. He hoped it would not come to this.
The rebel leader only had a few people in the world that he had trust in, his bodyguard, his second in command and his son. His son is the one person he trusted the most. Now his son was standing there, holding a rifle at him. "What is this Amir?! What does this woman mean to you?"
Hope was still too afraid to move with a gun shoved in her chest ready to go off at any moment. Amir was now her only chance of living.
"Just know you can't kill her father."
"Answer me! Who is this woman to you, that you would defy your own father, and threaten to kill me?"
"I just can't let you kill her."
His father continued to stare at his son confused by what he was saying and doing. He did not put down his gun. He didn't feel any fear, only irritation and anger towards Amir. As usual he had underestimated his son. Amir was determined to keep Hope alive, by any means necessary.
"Son, I don't know what is going on in your head, but I'm going to kill her and if you are still standing here when I am finished with her, I will kill you too. So you are going to put that rifle down, turn around and leave my tent now, or I swear by Mohammad and Allah, you are my own flesh and blood but I will kill you, when I finish with her."
Then the rebel leader turned his focus once more towards Hope. She closed her eyes as she prepared herself for the end. When the shot went off, it alarmed the entire rebel camp. Hope's heart stopped when she heard the gun shot pierce through the air. Then she felt the full weight of his heavy, sweaty, bloody body fall down on top of her. After a few seconds of shock she realized he was dead. She pushed his body off of her, and she looked up at Amir. Amir stood there with his rifle still smoking and pointed in the ready position. He had a blank, empty expression on his childlike face. Hope realized this was the second time in her life that someone she barely knew had saved her life. Ms. Armstrong was dead she promised herself she would keep Amir alive.
From the very first time Amir talked to Hope he knew if it ever came down to it he would choose her life over his own father's life. He had prayed it would never come to that. He prayed that he would not have to add his father's murder to the many other faces he had murdered that haunted him in his dreams. When Amir shot that one shot that went straight from his rifle into his father's right temple, he whispered "father forgive me." He really wasn't sure who he was asking forgiveness from when he whispered it, whether he was talking to his earthly father, or his heavenly one. A part of him was seeking forgiveness from them both.
Hope wanted to grab Amir and hold him tight. To her he looked like a lost little man child. He was technically an orphan now, just like she was when Nana died. Hope knew this would haunt him possibly for the rest of his life. It would also haunt her, knowing that he had killed his own father to save her, but there was no time to tell Amir how sorry and grateful she was for what he had just done. Right now she had to think about how the two of them were going to get out of there alive, now that all the rebels in the camp had heard a gun going off and out of their leader's tent, of all places.
Amir snapped out of his momentary shock and motioned to Hope to follow him to the hidden exit in the rear of his father's tent. "Quickly Hope, we have to get out of here." The Major came inside the tent when he heard the gun shot. He saw what had happened, and there was no time for any conversation. So Hope and the Major followed Amir out of the hidden exit behind his father's tent. The Major had told his troops if they heard any shots to immediately run towards the vehicle and leave out with the women and girls.
The rebel men just as Hope had expected were alerted by the shot which came from their leader's tent and they were already running out of their tents armed and ready. When the other rebel men came out of their tents they saw their leader's tent was not guarded.
Hope, Amir and the Major had already left out of the rear of the tent by the time the other rebels got there. The rebels saw their leader's dead body on his cot, with his brains splattered across the tent wall. By then Hope's troops had all of the women and girls boarded on to the vehicle. The Ethiopian Commander and his sharpshooter had stayed back in the marsh waiting for Hope, Amir and the Major to make it out, or if not to go and rescue them. They did not believe in leaving fellow soldiers behind, even if they were foreign soldiers, they all fought for a common cause. They were just about to move in after hearing all the commotion when they saw Hope, Amir and the Major running towards them. Unfortunately, the Commander and his sharpshooter weren't the only ones that saw them running from the rear of the rebel leader's tent. Some of the rebels had also spotted Hope and the two men running towards the marsh, and they started shooting at them. They were all hit. The Commander and his Scout were expert shots, and they returned the rebels' fire with accuracy. Hope, Amir and the Major kept running for their lives, and the rebels wasted no time pursuing. They wanted vengeance and the blood of the people who had murdered their leader. The Ethiopian Commander made sure to head off any shots as he fell back to return gun fire in hopes of giving the others a chance to get away alive. The rebels were coming at them from all directions now. The situation seemed hopeless.
So the Commander yelled out to them to just keep running and to not look back. He had been saving two grenades in his cargo pockets for just this type of occasion. Sidney fell back also, assuming his Commander would want him by his side. But the Ethiopian Commander ordered his trusted and loyal Scout to run with the rest of them to the vehicle. When Sidney paused the Commander yelled, "that's an order, Go!" Then Sidney ran and caught up with the others.
The Commander stayed hidden and allowed the rebels to approach. When he felt like enough of them were close enough he stood up and threw both grenades one towards the east and one towards the west, then he turned and ran away from the blast. The blast killed many of the rebels heading towards him, but the force from the blast lifted the Commander several feet off of the ground. After he landed he tried to get back up and run again, but then he realized the fall had broken his leg. The others now had a slim chance of escape, but escape was no longer an option for the Commander. The blast from the grenades didn't kill all of the rebels and he was out of grenades. More rebels were already in pursuit. He couldn't run anymore with a broken leg so he dragged himself to the cover of a nearby tree. He accepted his fate and thought to himself, "at least the woman Colonel and the other's are out of sight." Then he felt the first bullet hit him. He propped himself up with his back to the tree and decided he would shoot and kill as many as he could, before he died. With his last breaths he would try his best to take out as many of the rebels as possible to give the young women, and his new foreign friends a chance to escape and live. With his last breaths he squeezed out perfect, precise rounds that were shot with the intention to kill each target he aimed at with only one shot. He knew he didn't have any time or bullets to waste.
On that night the Ethiopian Commander killed twenty five rebels that were running towards him, and towards the road where the vehicle holding the women and young girls waited. He died knowing that he did what he declared he would do with his last breaths, he gave his sisters and his friends a chance to escape and live.
Hope's troops refused to abandon their Colonel and Major. They were all waiting until the last possible moment to drive off with the women. Finally they saw Hope, Amir, the Major and Sidney appear. They had reached the vehicle in just enough time. All of the women and girls were staying down low on the floor of the vehicle for cover. The troops had positioned themselves in the vehicle to cover the gun fire if it reached them. The Major and Hope had given their troops orders to leave them if it meant staying would put the women and girls they were trying to rescue in jeopardy, but their troops for the first time ever had disobeyed their orders. Sidney, the Commander's Scout took the driving seat, he knew the terrain and the route back better than anyone else. As the vehicle drove off some of the rebels continued shooting and pursuing their vehicle on foot. Hope had gotten hit again while getting into the vehicle. That last hit made her fall into the truck. The women tended to Hope and the others that were wounded as Sidney drove the vehicle away.
There was no way the rebels could continue to pursue the vehicle on foot, so they headed back towards camp, but once the rebels returned to camp they realized Hope's troops had immobilized all of the other vehicles in the camp. The rebels were furious over their leader's murder and they were not ready to give up so easily, but every minute that went by they knew the men who had killed their fearless leader were gaining distance away from them. They realized then there was no way they were going to be able to repair the vehicles in time to stop Hope and her troops before they reached the military base. The rebels started debating amongst themselves about whether following behind the ones who had escaped was the best thing to do.
Then the rebel leader's Second in Command spoke up. He had an undying loyalty to his now dead leader. He had been a follower of Amir's father since he was a young boy himself. For twenty years now, he had served his leader without question. He took his leader's murder very personally. Above all he realized that Amir was missing and that he must have betrayed the entire camp, and his own father. He wanted to kill Amir for his betrayal and treachery. He made killing Amir his new mission in life. It was then when he was cursing and mourning over his leader's dead body, that the thought occurred to him to try his murdered Commander's personal jeep. The jeep was small and only fit about four or five men. Amir's father kept it parked right outside of his tent, unlike the other vehicles in camp. The Second in Command feverishly searched his dead leader's tent for the jeep keys and he found them inside a pair of boots sitting under the cot. He ran to the jeep and it automatically started when he turned the key. He swore to his dead leader, "I will not let those dogs or that traitor who called himself your son get away with this." He took four rebels with him, as many as he could fit into the small jeep. Then he yelled out orders to the remaining rebels in the camp before he drove off, "I am your leader now, since I was Second in Command to murdered leader. Once the other vehicles are repaired follow fast behind. We will avenge our leader's death!"
While the remaining rebels waited for the vehicles to be repaired they hung the Ethiopian Commander's body upon a tree. They celebrated his death and showed his body no honor or respect. These rebels were not honorable men and being in the rebel army had made them survivors with no code of honor. The rebels main thoughts were on their own survival. So they decided they would not follow the orders of their new leader, the Second in Command. Instead, they made plans to abandon the camp as soon as they had the vehicles running again. Within two hours they had repaired all the vehicles. They abandoned camp and traveled North towards the neighboring country that sympathized with the rebels' cause. They knew it was only a matter of time before the Ethiopian military would be there to try to attack and eradicate the rest of them that were left in the camp. To follow behind the Second in Command was suicide, this they all knew.
Meanwhile, Sidney, the Commander's Scout was driving the truck as fast as it could possibly go. Sidney knew the terrain well. He grew up in the villages. He drove the vehicle off road to make it harder for the rebels to detect them in case they were still in pursuit. Hope was still alert. She looked at her troops, her Major and Amir, and she realized it was only by God's grace that they were able to get out alive. It was a miracle. Hope sat back and began to feel the adrenaline keeping her conscious fading away. As the adrenaline subsided she unfortunately was also able to feel the pain from the bullets that had hit her. She was losing a lot of blood. Her troops all looked near exhaustion and they were also wounded. She thought to herself, "it could be hours before we can stop driving and get somewhere safe." She wondered if she would make it, because she was in so much pain and she could feel herself slipping away. She was feeling light headed and weak. Then the young girl, who had screamed in the last tent and caused Hope to be discovered by the rebels, crawled up to Hope. She was no longer in shock, and she realized now what Hope had done for her, she had saved her life. She brushed Hope's hair back and wiped the blood off of her face. Then she took off her dirty, torn school dress and tore it in half. The little girl started wrapping it around Hope's waist to try and slow the bleeding. She had been beaten and raped and wounded herself, but she no longer thought about her own pain, she only wanted to heal Hope. The other women started doing the same for Amir, the Major and all the other troops who needed medical attention. For the rest of their journey, the women and girls put aside their own trauma and thought only of caring for their rescuers.
Sidney looked back briefly at the road behind. Hope saw Sidney's look and she knew he was thinking the same thing as her, "what if the rebels were pursuing them, would they make it?"
She yelled to Sidney, "continue to stay off road, and whatever happens don't stop driving, don't stop this vehicle until you're positive we are somewhere safe!" That was the last thing Hope said before she passed out from the pain that was now piercing through her entire body.
The rebel who was Second in Command knew Amir and the others had a huge head start on him and his men, but he was an expert tracker and he knew the terrain very well. He was determined to catch up with them. He now was driven by his hatred of Amir, and he was blinded by his revenge; so much so that his own survival no longer mattered to him. He only wanted to kill the boy who had betrayed them all and had forsaken his own father.