The Lioness (17 page)

Rose, Noori and Daoud all sat in the back seat of the
old Russian built car that belonged to someone connected with the captors. They
were just pulling up to the barricade and the checkpoint. After being flagged
in, they pulled up to the front.

“Noori, I need to talk with you in private so if you
can come up with me. Daoud, why don’t you go save us some seats in the restaurant
and we will be right down.”

Noori looked at his friend. She seemed like she was
ill since leaving Ty. “Are you okay?”

Rose nodded and as she grabbed her knapsack she felt
dizzy. “Yeah, a bit dizzy but I will be fine after we get a bite to eat and
some tea. What I wouldn’t do for your sister’s teapot soup. I miss her.”

Noori knew what Rose wanted was everything to be like
before. She didn’t care where she was, as long as it was with Ty and out of
here. “I know. She would love to be clucking over you right now. I know she
would have you eating and having tea. You haven’t been eating enough. If it
weren’t for the few meals we have had at Abdul’s and Fatima’s house you
wouldn’t have anything in your stomach.”

Rose and Noori got out. The driver and Daoud got out
at the same time. “Fatima reminds me of your sister.”  She stood but felt like
she was going to fall over. God, she felt dizzy. She slipped and would have hit
the ground had it not been for the driver. He yelled to Daoud, who ran over and
got Rose on her feet. Noori was at her side in an instant and then she heard a
voice. Looking up, she saw Sergeant Mitchell come running to her, concern
written on his face.

“Rose, are you okay? Here, let me help you.” He took
her arm, dismissing the driver. Looking at Noori and Daoud. “Do you think she
needs some water or something to eat?”

Noori liked the young man. He could size up a
situation quickly. “Yes, she’s not eaten all day except some tea.”

Rose looked at her friend with exasperation “Noori I
am fine… really I am, just a little dizzy. Nothing a little tea and a chance to
sit down won’t cure.”

“Sergeant?” Lance came running up. “Is there anything
I can do to help?”

“No, but we need to hurry.” Looking at Noori, “see if
you can get her something quick that she can eat on the move. We have to get
out of here… we have…” looking at his watch, he saw they had thirty minutes at
best before the shit hit the fan.

Rose looked at her companion. “What’s the matter?”

“I haven’t time to explain but things are going to
happen and we need to get as many people out of here as quickly as possible.”

Moving her in as fast as he could, he could feel her
stiffening up. “Tell me what’s happening or I am going to stand right here and
start screaming. Is this the US government’s plan on getting me out of the
country? Because if it is I’m not leaving.”

Mike whirled Rose around. Grabbing her by her arms,
looking her in the face he could see how tired she was. Dark circles framed her
big blue eyes. “I wish it was, because then I wouldn’t be here. I wouldn’t help
them. I’d help you find a safe place to hide until you got Ty out, no it’s the,
never mind. You have to trust me on this one and we have to get as many of the journalists
out of here as we can or in a safe place before thirty minutes is up.”

Rose studied Sergeant Mitchell. She was a pretty good
judge of character and she could tell when someone was lying and he wasn’t.

“Okay, tell me as we get upstairs.’

“That’s a girl. Now what floor you on?”

“Fifteenth.”

Omar and his son got to the service doorway and
started climbing the stairs two at a time. They had a key from a cousin of his
wife’s that worked here and they could use a room whenever they wanted. Looking
at the key it was on the fourteenth floor. Good, not that many to go.

“Are you all set with the rifle? Does it have a scope
so you can see clearly?” Omar asked.

“How many times do I have to tell you I always know what
I am doing? This is going to be so easy. That delegation from Afghanistan
helping the American woman will be there and I will pick them off. That will
then make it right for us to take that American spy because the negotiations
will have come to a dead end. No third party to help and we are giving till
tomorrow then we take him and get rid of him. Show them we mean business, that
we are a group to be reckoned with.”

They reached the fourteenth floor and started to hunt
for the room. They found it and opened the room. They noticed it hadn’t been
cleaned yet. “Hamid, go look out the balcony, see if you can see our friends.”

Hamid went to the balcony, opened the sliding door and
walked out. Shielding his eyes it took him a minute but he finally picked out the
truck and the car. Yelling back, “Yeah they are in place.”

Omar glanced at his watch. “Good, ten minutes to go,
then we see these Americans squirm. Now you remember, if the Afghan delegation
misses getting hit then you take them out.”

“Okay, okay.” Hamid watched the sights below and then
he heard the drone of jets. Looking up, he saw a jet pass over. “You know what?
Jets are making their way back here.” Then looking down he could see a tank
take up position. “Hey look at that, that tank is pointing up here.” Hamid
could hear what sounded like Spanish overhead and some oriental, maybe Japanese
or Korean yelling. They must see the tank too.

He looked up to see the plane making a closer pass and
then he heard the sound, like popping sounds. Somehow he always thought shots
from a plane would be louder. It was making a sweep in front of the hotel and
he knew he was a target.

He heard a scream from above, a woman’s scream and
then the blast from the tank could be heard. Looking down, he saw the flash. So
was this what it was like to get killed? He heard all the noise, heard his
father’s yell. He hoped his father was out of the way because he saw the shell
come and at the same moment he felt a burst of something hot and saw metal come
flying so fast it hit him and blood gushed out of his body. He felt so removed
from everything that was happening. This was just a dream but he knew deep down
it wasn’t and this was the end. So he was going to die the same day as his
friends below. He sure hoped the explosion took care of those Afghanis. They
deserved it, spies for those pigs.

The whole world was exploding. He heard the crash of
glass behind him and he heard his father’s scream. As he started to fall he
turned just in time to see his father falling. His eyes rolled back. His hand
went to his stomach but there was a hole where his stomach was supposed to be.

“You know Mike, I don’t know how you found out about
this but…” Rose was walking one minute and the next minute she was on the
floor. “My God, what was that?” the building shook, dust falling from the
ceiling.

Noori was down. He fell behind Rose. He looked up and
saw Sergeant Mitchell getting to his feet. “Rose, are you okay?”

Mike turned, saw Rose was getting up. “They have
started twenty minutes early. We have to get out of here. They will not stop
till they reach their objective. We need to start now, evacuating.”

They were all on their feet when the second hit took
place, slamming them against the wall.

Rose fell first against the wall then felt Noori fall
into her. “Is this what you were talking about, Mike?” she screamed.

Mike got hold of his radio and was about to call for
help when they heard a scream.

“It’s coming from that room.” Rose said as she tried
to get herself into a standing position, but her legs felt like rubber. She
fell back down. She was trying to shake her head to clear it, but nothing felt
right. Everything sounded strange too.

Noori took Rose’s hand. “You stay here.” He started
for the door where the scream came from.

Rose steadied herself, looking at the door where dust
was pouring out.

“Oh no, that’s the Reuter’s headquarters.” She tried
to make a dash past the men but fell.

“Rose!” Noori was after her, followed by Mike and
Lance.

Rose stood in the door of the room where the Reuter’s journalists
were embedded. All they could see was dust and rubble. Rose started to pick her
way through the room when a scream rent the air.

“My God, Kim.” Rose ran in the direction of the scream
when all of a sudden an explosion that made the last one feel like a fire
cracker shook the whole hotel. Everyone was on the floor. Silence. Then she
could hear movement in the next room and Kim let out a scream again. She knew
it was Kim because she was the only woman, at the moment, with Reuter’s that
was embedded at the Palestine. Rose tried to get up but as she did she felt
glass in her hands and her face. Looking down, she saw it was just from where
she fell. She had fallen into a pile of broken glass from one of the blasts.

Noori knew they had to get out of the building. He
knew, whatever that last blast was, was not what initially hit the building.

“Mike, that last blast was a suicide bomber, it was too
strong to be anything else.” He got up and over to Rose. Pulling her up to a
sitting position and then he and Mike headed for the next room. What he saw
would stay with him forever. Destruction. The room no longer resembled a hotel
room but a page out of a war story. Why not, this was a war, but why the
Palestine Hotel? The woman Rose said was Kim sat in a pile of glass and blood,
rocking back and forth, crying hysterically. One man was obviously dead. Then
he saw a man who looked like most of his insides had been blown out, his legs
torn open. Noori jumped at the sound of Rose and Mike behind him, heard Rose gasp
and, when he turned, saw her face going whiter by the second, if that was
possible. Her hand was over her mouth. “Oh my God, that’s—”

At that instant the building was rocked again. This
time closer. All hell broke loose as the men who were trying to staunch the
flow of blood were thrown to the floor.

It seemed like that blast woke Rose from her daze. As
the dust swirled around her head she saw the Spanish reporter who she had
talked to a few times. He was talking, trying to stay awake and not die. He was
telling them what he saw before he was hit. Asking questions. “Why did the tank
shoot at me? Why did they do that? I don’t understand.” Then he would switch
and try to look down at his legs and was saying, “Why am I like this? I was
just outside on the balcony.” All the while the men worked on him to get him on
a makeshift stretcher.

Rose got up and made it over to her friend Kim. “Kim,
you need to get up. I should check you for injuries.”

Kim looked up at Rose, her eyes vacant. “I need to do
a story, don’t you think?” Rose could feel a hand on her arm, looking up she
saw Mike at her elbow. “We need to get them and you out. I have sent Lance to
get the Humvee to get the wounded to the hospital.”

Mike knew now just getting Rose and the wounded out
was priority. He would bring her to the base.

They moved like a band of ghosts, trying to be careful
with the wounded, but knowing the makeshift stretcher wasn’t the best and each
movement and turn must be murder, though the man never complained. He said he
had to stay awake, up his chances for survival. Then he would say “This is just
like a movie, just like a movie.” The rest just moved, one foot in front of the
other.

Rose had been counting the floors when they got to the
bottom floor. They were about to open the door to the lobby when Lance came
through and then a blast that if it was being measured would have been like
something a B52 dropped. Rose was standing and then all went black.

**********

He looked up at the sound of the door opening. The captor
stood there, just staring at him, his hands holding onto the door jam, white
knuckled. Ty’s thoughts swam. This was it or something has happened to Rose.
That would be the only reason for the strange look and expression on the captor’s
face. He had so much as told him that he, too, loved Rose. Who couldn’t, who wouldn’t
love Rose once you came in contact with her? She was so full of life, love. She
showed compassion for all she came in contact with. His Rose, the one who had
been like a quiet mouse. She had turned into a stormy tempest when he had been
captured. The insurgents called her The Lioness trying to get back what
belonged to her. They admired but hated her in the circles of those who held
Ty. She had been bullying people from the Ambassador to the leaders and clerics
of the country, trying in vain to win his release. Then she went to the very
President of the United States. She left no one out in her campaign to win his
release. When all else failed in the proper channels, he heard she started moving
in circles that were too dangerous. He hadn’t slept in what seemed weeks but in
reality it had only been days. Wondering, worrying what she would do, how far
she would go.

She had admitted she’d go to any lengths, short of
selling her body or soul. Then she said, on second thought, she’d sell her own
soul if she could get him back.

Ty put his head down in his hands. Whatever his captor
had to tell him, he would tell him in his own good time. He felt sick. If it
was of his impending death then he would go, at least knowing Rose had tried

If by some miracle he ever got released he would then
ask her how she had done everything but from the looks of things, well it
didn’t look good.

“Her hotel was attacked.” Ty’s head shot up. He wasn’t
sure if he’d heard right or if it was a dream.

“What did you say?”

His captor came in and sank to the floor, his head
low. “Her hotel was attacked by multiple bombs, from what it looks like then an
air strike or a tank. Reports are confusing. We still don’t know and we don’t
know about Rose. She was just dropped off. She didn’t look good. The driver
said when she got out, she stumbled. He said he would have helped but too many
army personnel were around. They got through the barrier. She got out and
stumbled. A soldier came up and escorted her in, took her arm. They went
straightaway into the hotel. He said it wasn’t long, maybe ten minutes when the
first explosion happened and then.”

Ty stood up. He walked to the door, then back,
forgetting himself. Looking down at the captor, he saw only sadness. “What do
you know? Is she among the dead? Tell me, you have to tell me. Or better yet,
let me go, let me go search.” He sank to his knees and faced his captor.
“Please for the love of Rose that we share, and I know you love her, let me go.
I can’t live not knowing.”

He was met by empty eyes. “My life is nothing if I let
you go and it’s nothing if she dies. I would never have a future with her. She’s
from another world, I would be imprisoned. She deserves better, much better.” He
brought his hand up to Ty’s shoulder. “She deserves so much more.”