Chapter 27
Muhammad Abbas nearly killed me. It took a few moments for the words to sink in as Jules stared at Marc. He couldn't look her in the eyes for longer than a few seconds but when he did she could see that they were filled with emotion ranging from anger to shame.
"I-" Jules swallowed as she looked away from Marc and towards Carlos, "I- I don't remember." She squeezed her eyes shut as she tried to hunt for the memory. Something like that should have been seared into her mind but all she came up with was a big blank nothing.
"It's okay," Marc said, trying to brush it off as nothing, "I wouldn't want you to remember it."
"But-" Jules started when Marc held up a hand.
"-Really, don't worry about it. Let's focus on getting Safia back." Marc turned around towards Ridgeway and the others as he began to map the situation leaving Jules stood there in stunned silence.
She had been about to say that he'd had to go through it alone because she could not remember and that was not what married couples did to each other. They didn't let the other one go through something alone. Marc had always been there for her even when she did not remember who he was and Jules was slowly realising that she couldn't do the same. How could you be there for someone when you don't even remember what happened?
"Come on," Carlos reached out a hand and gripped her shoulder, "Let's get out of here then I'll tell you everything."
Jules nodded but she could not get away from the feeling that Marc had put more into their marriage then she had and she felt like a failure. She had failed Marc, but she couldn't fail Safia too so she walked over and crouched behind the rubble beside the others as they looked out at the scene unfolding before them.
Safia was still stood in front of Muhammad Abbas whose features were minuscule from this far away but she could seem to feel his eyes boring into her.
"Why has he come back?" Twitch asked, "He was free and clear. Everyone thought he was dead. He must know that coming back would have exposed him to the world."
"He's probably going to kill us all, that's what he's thinking." Cromwell muttered off hand.
"Bet he wasn't counting on the drone though," Carlos scoffed as his eyes looked upwards even though he could not see the drone anywhere nearby.
"There must be something here that's worth the risk for him to expose himself," Samantha MacAndrew voiced from the corner causing everyone to turn and look at her. They had almost forgotten she was there. "But what?" She asked to take the attention taken off of herself.
"Jasmine?" Ridgeway offered, "She'd offer some leverage being the prime minister's niece."
"What?" Samantha blurted out as she looked at Jasmine. How did she not know about that?
"Excuse me, I can hear you," Jasmine retorted from across the room where she sat on the ground with the children, one of whom had their head resting in her lap.
"No," Marc thought, his eyes turning wide, "He's not after her."
Everyone waited for Marc to elaborate so when he didn't Jules reached over and slapped him on the arm. For a couple the action shouldn't have made her feel awkward but it did and it was worse when he turned and looked at her in question.
"Who is he after then?" Julia asked, trying to cover her unease.
"The bloke in the other room," Marc shook his head a little as he turned back to the group, "I knew he knew something," Marc cussed under his breath.
"If that's true then we can't let him go," Samantha said.
"Thanks for that Captain Obvious," Carlos rolled his eyes. Samantha stuck her tongue in her cheek as she glared across at the Marine but before she could retaliate a loud crackling sound, like that of a radio, cut through the silence.
Everyone's heads swivelled to look out across the sand towards the line of jeeps towards Muhammad Abbas, unsure of what the noise was, when they saw him stood with a white and red megaphone raised to his lips.
Everyone remained silent as he began to speak in his native tongue, his voice as rough as bricks and Jules suddenly found herself imagining him and Marc in a small room together with Abbas torturing Marc. It made a shiver run down her spine and her eyes close briefly. When she opened them again Marc had turned to Cromwell and sent him to scope out the rear of the compound with one of the other operatives in case this was a diversion.
As Abbas continued to speak, his voice travelled into the other room where his comrade in arms, still strapped to the chair and bleeding, began to shout in reply.
"Shut him up," Marc turned to her and Carlos.
Jules wanted to stay and keep an eye on Safia but she wasn't about to disregard an order and she knew the importance of keeping him quiet. Right now they were at work in a warzone and Marc was her commanding officer, not her husband. As the man's shouts grew louder she pushed herself up off the floor and followed Carlos into the adjoining room, and the moment she did the smell of blood and body odour hit her like she had just walked into a wall. Gagging she tried to breathe through her nose to overcome the smell when the man yanked at his bindings and his arms flung out wide as they gave way. Reaching for the ropes at his ankles he gave them a few swift tugs and they loosened dramatically allowing him to stand.
Rushing over Jules and Carlos grabbed a side each to prevent him escaping. As Jules stood next to him their faces were level with each other and she saw large red welts across his face which she could only imagine were the impressions left by Marc's fists. Pushing him back down into the chair Carlos held him down whilst Jules went around and tied him back into the chair, tighter than before. Once he was restrained once more they stepped back and she began to see the small signs of torture that Marc had inflicted including small cuts along his upper arms and torso.
Carlos and Jules both saw this but they could not do anything about it then. Unwinding the scarf from around her neck Jules ripped off a length of fabric and stuffed it into the man's mouth. He tried to bite her fingers as she did so but a well-placed thumb into one of his many cuts made him open his lips in a scream allowing her to stuff the fabric inside and shut him up. For good measure she ripped off a second length and tied it around the lower half of his head, leaving his nostrils clear for him to breathe.
Happy that he wasn't about to be shouting his mouth off anytime soon Jules headed into the other room whilst Carlos hovered by the doorway to keep an eye on him and check that he didn't loosen his bindings once again.
As they re-entered the room Jules noticed that the megaphone crackle had disappeared along with Abbas's voice. Gazing out through the gap she saw that Safia was still there but now she was positioned beside Abbas rather than in front of him. "What did he say?" She asked.
"He wants us to give him the man in the other room," Twitch replied quietly.
"Or?"
Twitch ran a hand over his face, "Or he'll kill us all," He held his hand out, "and let's face it, he can. He has the numbers and he has us surrounded. I say we give him over."
"No," MacAndrew blurted out, looking around at a sea of loss faces, "We can't. He obviously has vital information about the attacks due to happen in London. We can't let him go."
"Well do you have a suggestion how to get us out of this then?" Cromwell shouted from out in the hallway, "Cause all I'm seeing is a big group of militants that are ready to open fire and I'm the first in the firing line."
Samantha looked around as if searching for inspiration, "If we hand him over then they're just going to kill us anyway. As long as we have him we have leverage."
"I'm loathed to admit it," Ridgeway stood, straightening out his clothes, "But I agree with the spook."
MacAndrew glared up at Ridgeway for the sly remark.
"That still doesn't help us," Twitch held out his hands, "Either we hand him over and die or we don't hand him over and still die. I would really love a third option right now." Twitch begged.
"I've got one," Marc spoke up and as everyone turned to look at him Jules saw the expression on his face and she knew she wasn't going to like what came out of his mouth next.
As he spoke he looked directly across to her with something close to an apology in his eyes, "A trade."
"A trade?" Ridgeway's female operative scoffed sceptically, "What have we got to trade?"
Marc was still looking at Jules when he said, "Me."
"What?" Jules blinked, her heart felt as if it had dropped into her stomach.
"We'll give him what we wants-"
"No-" Samantha began to speak when Marc stood up straight and turned to glare at her, silencing her immediately.
"We give him what he wants. We give him the man in the other room as well as me in exchange for letting Safia and the other children and all of you go free." Marc's offer left everyone speechless as it felt like the air in the room dropped a few degrees.
Marc kept looking at Jules apologetically whilst Jules stared at him in confusion as anger began to slip through. Why would he offer himself up on a platter like that?
"No offence," Ridgeway interjected, holding up a hand, "But who says he'll accept? Why would he want you?"
Marc slowly turned away from Julia and looked at Ridgeway, "Because I killed his son. He thought he had me a few years ago but I escaped-"
"-Like hell you're going over there!" Twitch shouted.
"Twitch," Marc stepped over and squeezed his shoulder but Twitch brushed him off.
"No, we barely got you back last time, it was only because . . ." Twitch's voice wheedled out when Marc's expression turned almost to stone and he gave a slow shake of his head in warning
"Only because of what? Twitch?" Jules stepped over looking between the two, feeling as if they were stopping because of her. Twitch was biting his lower lip and Marc kept watching him to make sure he didn't break down.
"Can we dispose of the daytime drama please?" Ridgeway rolled his eyes, "We have-"
"-Ba ba ba," Jules held up a hand to Ridgeway's face without taking her eyes off of Marc, "Marc, what is Twitch talking about?"
"This isn't the time," Marc turned and stared down at Jules, "We came here to get Safia back and that's what I'm doing. You can't save me from this one," Marc snapped as he stormed over to MacAndrew.
"Marc!" Jules shouted but he ignored her.
"Translate for me," Marc told Samantha who slid up the wall from being crouched on the ground and gave a reluctant nod, "Tell him that Marcus Langdale, the man who killed his son, is willing to hand himself over along with his comrade in the other room in exchange for letting Safia and the other children in his possession, to withdraw his militia from here and let all of you go free."
Samantha nodded, turned to the gap in the wall and began to shout across.
"You're going to have to speak louder than that," Marc told her and afterwards MacAndrew shouted loudly and clearly towards Abbas.
Jules turned away from Marc in anger as he willingly handed his life away to a terrorist.
* * *
"Where are they?" Kazeem shouted out of the open top jeep across to Hasan who was driving an identical vehicle parallel to him. As they slowed down beside a cliff face Kazeem placed the vehicle into neutral, stood up and looked around them but all he saw was dessert, no people, "They said they'd be here."
"Perhaps they're running late," Hasan offered but he knew that night time was approaching fast, they couldn't risk getting stranded out here in the dark.
"They sent us to get the vehicles hours ago after Jules turned the other one into her little demolition project," Kazeem replied, "They should be here."
Worried, Kazeem turned off the engine and stepped out. Reaching into the back he retrieved his rifle and told Hasan to stay put, "I'm going to go and check it out. I'll be back in a minute." Traipsing out into the dessert, Kazeem knew that the compound was just behind the next hill. As he walked he thought he could hear a slight buzzing overhead but when he looked he could not see anything. Putting it down to a bird of some kind he was still looking at the sky when he walked around the side of the hill towards the compound.
When he looked back to face the front he stopped dead when he saw a bundle of sand-covered vehicles spread out around the compound along with over two dozen men stood around with an array of weapons dangling from their fingertips.
Forcing himself to lift his feet Kazeem began to slowly and quietly retrace his steps back until he was safely under cover behind the hill at which point he turned and ran back to the vehicles.
Seeing his brother run towards him Hasan stood in confusion and called out to him, "Kazeem? What is it?"
Kazeem swung his hand wildly in front of his throat in an almost 'cutting' motion as he told Hasan to be quiet, "We need to get out of here now." Throwing his rifle into the back, Kazeem leapt into the driver's seat of his vehicle.
"What do you mean?"
"Theres a horde of terrorists over there," Kazeem stated, "We need to get to safety and get in contact with Jules." Starting up the engine Kazeem prayed that they didn't hear as he anxiously revved the engine too loudly and spun the car around, driving back the way they had come.
* * *
Strong was debating various tactical assaults and operations they could put into place when the satellite phone at his designated desk in the control room began to ring. Ignoring it at first as he thought that it was just the office phone someone pointed it out to him and grappled to answer it.
"Hello? Marc?"
"No," A foreign voice answered, "This is Kazeem. Is this Commander Strong?"
Strong closed his eyes in disappointment, he had been hoping to speak with his team, "Kazeem, yes this is Strong. Where are you? Have you got eyes on Marc and the others?"
"Um, kind of." Kazeem replied.
Strong frowned, "What do you mean? Where are you?"
"I'm at this compound and your team are inside. At least I hope they are. We sort of have a situation here."
"You're at the compound?" Strong turned and looked up at the large screen where the drone was still circling as the afternoon set, "Where? I've got the drone footage up on my screen here."
"Oh that's what it was," Kazeem seemed to say to himself, "I'm with my brother on a cliff top looking over the compound. Jules sent us to get vehicles after she blew ours up."
Strong clicked his fingers at someone passing and told them to fetch Truro, he needed to know about this development, "Kazeem is it just you and your brother there?"
"Yes," Kazeem replied.
"Have you been seen? Does Muhammad Abbas's men know that you're there?"
"Muhammad Abbas!?" Kazeem exclaimed, "He's alive?"
"Kazeem," Strong drew him back, "Have you been spotted?"
"Oh, um, no," Kazeem answered.
"Right, Kazeem, I'm going to fill you and your brother in on the details and after that I need you to do everything I say okay?" Strong said, "You're going to be our wildcards."
"Wildcards, sir?" Kazeem frowned, "I do not understand."
"You will in a minute Kazeem, you will in a minute and then- Aah Truro!" Strong called Truro over, "Hold on a minute Kazeem."
"Okay," Kazeem replied.
Holding a hand over the receiver Strong began to tell Truro about the two men that on their side when Truro's gaze turned towards the screen and Strong got the distinct impression that he was no longer listening to him.
"Truro? Michael?" Strong snapped when he looked past him and saw that everyone had begun to stare at the screen. Following their gazes Strong saw the drone camera zoom in on the ground where Muhammad Abbas stood with a young girl beside him.
A moment later the camera shifted a few millimetres to show two people walking towards Muhammad Abbas. Strong immediately recognised his marine Marcus Langdale on the right but the person to his left he did not recognise. Dressed in a tunic with a bag covering their head they seemed to be injured as they limped slightly behind Marc.
After a few seconds they stopped in front of Muhammad Abbas.
"I think," Truro turned to him, "you just ran out of time."