THIRTY-NINE
Cooper
Jade and I landed at the Kandahar airport in one piece. I had sent word to a few contacts I still had in the country. A Land Rover waited outside, ready to take us all the way to Samangan.
A man riding shotgun smelled of goats and sour cheese, but he looked tough enough to protect us. I had spent a lot of money setting up this trip to be sure nothing would happen to us.
I glanced over at Jade as she sat beside me in the back of the Range Rover. She was looking out the window at the landscape as the sun rose in the distance.
Arabic music flowed from the speakers as the driver and his security guard in the passenger seat yapped back and forth about the best way to dig a well.
“We have to be ready for anything,” I said. “You shouldn’t have come.”
She turned to face me. Her eyes were red, with bags under them.
“The man contacted me, not you. Plus, I want to be here. You couldn’t have stopped me.”
“This will all be over soon. We can put it all behind us and get on with our lives.”
As I watched her smile weakly, I realized how much I loved her. It was as if we were made for each other. A perfect fit. True love.
“I can’t think of a better plan,” she said, still staring into my eyes.
“We should arrive early enough to scope the place out before it gets too packed. Are you sure you remember where his booth was in the market?”
“It’s been so long. My memories are a little hazy, but I think so.”
“Good.” I turned to the passenger up front. “I need the gun.”
He twisted around, eyeing me suspiciously.
“Do it, do it, he’s been vetted,” the driver said in English.
The other man reached into the glove box and pulled out a revolver old enough to be in a museum.
“Wait a minute,” I said. “This isn’t what we agreed I would be getting. I’ll need more firepower than this if this turns out to be a trap.”
“That what you pay, that what you get,” the driver said.
Meanwhile, the passenger continued to stare at me menacingly.
“It’s okay,” Jade said. “We’ll be fine.”
I wanted to call her out for being so naïve, but I held my tongue in front of the strangers. Every decision I made concerned her. I couldn’t forget that now if I tried.
The two in front returned to arguing amongst themselves as we bounced around in the backseat. Outside, the unforgiving Afghanistan landscape stretched to the horizon.
Coming back to the war-torn country was stupid in so many ways, but if we wanted any chance of a future together, it was necessary.
* * *
At the outskirts of Samangan, the so-called escort specialists dropped us off and zoomed away, a cloud of dust rising in their wake.
“Fucking assholes,” Jade said, wiping off her baggy white blouse and jeans.
“I’m sorry. It’s the best I could get on such short notice. We’re here now. Let’s find out what this old man claims to know.”
“Thanks for supporting me with this,” she said.
“Why wouldn’t I? It’s you and me. We’re in this for the long haul.”
“I’d kiss you, but my lips are full of sand and dirt.”
I smiled, squeezing her arm briefly.
“Let’s do this.”
We walked side by side into the city which had only begun to awaken. Everyone who saw us stared. I gripped Jade’s hand tightly, increasing our pace.
At the center of the city, we arrived at the market, already bustling with vendors setting up shop and locals arriving for early bird specials and the freshest produce.
“It’s this way,” she said, leading me toward the left side of the plaza.
She stopped a few stalls down. We both peered inside, seeing nothing.
“Where is he?” she asked.
I had already turned to glance around the plaza.
“What the hell?” she asked.
“I told you it was a trap,” I said, scanning the crowd still increasing in size. “There…”
Her gaze followed my finger as I pointed across the market.
“Isn’t that Max?”
“Yeah. I should’ve known he was behind this.”
“What are we going to do?” she asked, holding onto my arm.
“Don’t worry. I’ll get us out here.”
“I’m sorry, Cooper…”
“It’s not your fault,” I said, trying to reassure her. “You need to keep it together now, okay?”
She nodded.
“Let’s go this way,” I said, taking her hand.
We only made it a few steps before two Afghan men with AF-47’s stepped out from an alley and pointed their weapons at us. I pushed Jade to the side, sliding in front of her in case they shot.
I stared into their eyes, knowing they were hardened mercenaries and did not give a fuck about anything, let alone Jade or myself. Think fast, I told myself, weighing all the risks.
The only way out would be to overpower them, but if I tried, they would likely shoot Jade. She had no training and would be a liability if we tried to run. Our only other choice was to cooperate and hope for the best.
“You come with us,” one man barked, moving his assault weapon erratically.
“Do what he says,” I whispered to Jade. “Stay calm. We’ll get through this…”
She said nothing as the men led us to a waiting van around the corner. They put hoods over our heads. Why the hell did I agree to come back and put both of us in danger?
I had no answers to my simple questions, let alone the more difficult ones.
* * *
As soon as the hood came off, I realized they had taken Jade somewhere else.
“Where is she?” I yelled.
Unseen hands pushed my back, sending me forward, almost falling to the dirt floor.
Are we in a fucking cave?
“Settle down, Cooper,” Max said as he emerged from the darkness.
A half-dozen other men, all heavily armed, formed a circle around me.
Surrounded by strong and intimidating men, my thoughts were still solely on the safety of Jade. Where is she?
“What? You’ve got nothing to say?”
Max laughed. I glared at him.
“Where’s Jade?”
“The bitch is fine.”
I lunged toward him. He pulled out a stun-gun and hit me with at least fifty-thousand volts, sending me to the ground. As I writhed in pain, he laughed, followed by the other men.
“Where’s Jade?” I yelled as I slowly got to my feet.
“You don’t need to worry about that bitch,” Max said, staring into my eyes.
His were devoid of life.
“Why are you doing this?” I asked.
“Why not?” he said with a chuckle. “You could have been on the winning side in this, but you had to be a punk-ass pussy and drop out. We were going to let you go until that bitch published her story.”
“You were behind the Afghani calling her?”
“Wow. You really are dense, aren’t you?”
He shoved his hand with the stun-gun forward and pressed the button, causing me to flinch. Another round of laughter filled the cavern.
Think, Cooper. It’s sink or swim time. You HAVE to save her.
“You should have stuck with us or kept your mouth shut. Now you will pay. Bring the woman in here.”
I watched in horror as they dragged Jade, kicking and screaming, into the cavern.
“Leave her alone,” I said, rushing over.
Before I made it to them, they shoved her to the floor of the cave. I went down on my knees next to her.
“Are you okay?”
“They drugged me,” she said, slurring her speech.
I stood up and turned to Max.
“What the fuck did you do?”
He grinned. I bolted forward, hoping I could at least knock him over before he stunned me again. As I approached, in the last moment, gunshots rang out somewhere deeper in the cave, followed by an explosion.
Unable to stop myself, I changed direction, running into one of the surprised men in long white robes. I punched him in the face while grabbing his AK-47.
The rest of the cavern had erupted in chaos. I didn’t see Max, but most of the other men were running toward the sound of the explosions.
When I saw Jade curled up in a fetal position, I rushed forward, intent on protecting her. The others had all left by the time I reached her. I crouched down, the AK slung over my shoulder.
“Are you okay?” I asked, holding her head.
“What happened?”
“I don’t know, but I’m getting you out of here. Can you walk?”
She shook her head.
“What the hell did they give you?” I muttered. “Never mind, I’m going to carry you.”
I picked her up in my arms and turned to look at my options. More gunshots rang out in the distance, then silence. Hoping I didn’t have to drop her to get my gun, I headed in the opposite direction.
A few hundred feet later, I saw sunlight from the entrance of the cave.
“Just a little longer. Hang on,” I said, more for myself than her.
She looked up at me, oblivious to the severity of the situation.
“I’ll leave you here. I need to see where we are and if anyone’s outside the cave.”
“Aw… you’re leaving me? So soon?” Her speech was so slurred and practically inaudible.
I set her down on the floor of the cave and grabbed the AK-47, pointing it toward the sunlight.
“Hold on, I’m a friend,” someone yelled behind me.
I spun around, ready to shoot, but I held off as I saw a man with his hands raised in the air.
“I’m here to help,” he said, taking a step forward.
“Watch it,” I said, raising the gun.
“Dad?” Jade said, sitting up.
“Are you okay, dear?” the man asked, walking toward her.
“I said hold it,” I shouted. “She’s been drugged. How do I know I can trust you?”
“You don’t, son, but if I were you, I would lower your weapon.”
He nodded toward the entrance of the cave. I turned and saw a half-dozen U.S. Marines with their weapons pointed at me. I lowered the assault weapon immediately.
“It’s okay,” the man said.
I turned and saw he had reached Jade.
“I’m in the CIA,” he explained to me bending to check on her. “Come and help, will you?”
“Dad?” she asked again then giggled. “Jen was right for once!”
I walked over and picked her up in my arms. Outside, a helicopter waited to take us away. As soon as we were in the air, I turned to her father.
“How did you know?” I yelled.
“I told you. I’m CIA. We know everything.”
Jade sat next to him, her head resting on his shoulder.
We were so lucky to have made it out of the obvious trap I had led us into.
Hate for myself increased as we flew over the mountains.
I didn’t care where we were headed, as long as it was outside of Afghanistan.
* * *
In a private room at the Kandahar airport, Jade slept curled up on a string of chairs as we waited for our flight back to the United States.
Harry, her father, sat next to me. I adjusted in my seat, partly because the chair was extremely uncomfortable and partly because this was the way I had met Jade’s father for the first time. And because he was in the CIA.
“You did good in the market,” he said.
“Huh?”
“We were watching, but we didn’t have time to move in before they took you. I liked the way you handled things. You could have run for it, but you stayed behind and tried to keep her safe. That’s someone I can respect and stand behind.”
“Thank you, sir. I love her.”
Both of us glanced over at her as she slept.
“She never told me you were in the CIA.”
“I never told her,” he said. “Maybe I should have, but I wanted to protect her.”
“I’ve got to ask you something.”
“Yeah?”
“I’d like to ask your daughter to marry me. Can I have your blessing?”
“When she came to me about you and Max, I did some digging on both of you. That’s when I realized just how dirty Max was and how hard you were trying to protect Jade. If that’s not worthy of my blessing, I don’t know what is.”
“Thank you, sir.”
“Quit calling me sir. Makes me feel old. And don’t call me dad yet either. We’ll see what she says first.”
“She’ll say yes. We’re in love. It’s what brought us back to Afghanistan. We are in this together and for the long haul.”
“She told me about you saving her. I never thanked you for that, so thanks.”
I turned to him.
“Just doing my duty. You know how it is…”
He nodded.
We both turned our attention back to Jade, still soundly sleeping.
“She snores,” he said out of nowhere.
“You don’t need to tell me.”
I saw him glance at me out of the corner of my eye, but I stared straight ahead, not ashamed of the truth. In that moment, sitting with her father, I vowed to spend the rest of my life with Jade, building our love on a foundation of honesty and trust. She had done so much for me, and she deserved nothing short of the best.