Three Wrong Turns in the Desert

by Neil S. Plakcy

  “I’m glad,” Aidan said. “Whatever happens, I’m so happy I met you.”

  “I’ve walked into firefights without a second thought,” Liam said. “I’ve parachuted into war zones. I disabled a ticking bomb underwater. And none of it scared me because I didn’t care if I lived or died. Now, though, I’m scared as hell, because I’ve seen what kind of life I can have. But I’m determined to get through this, and bring you with me.”

  Liam grabbed him and squeezed their bodies together as their lips locked. When Liam’s mouth turned to Aidan’s neck, and he felt the wetness of the bodyguard’s face against his cheek, he whispered, “I’m scared, too, Liam. But knowing you’re here makes things easier. I hope you feel the same way about me.”

  Liam didn’t have to say anything. Aidan could feel it in the way the big man held him.

  38 – Taking Risks

  Friday morning, the camp was quiet, as the members of the caravan rested from the hard labor of unloading the camels and dragging the goods into the school’s catacombs. Aidan and Liam sat on their sleeping mats inside Ifoudan’s tent and spoke in low voices as the camel herder slept.

  “Can you get away from the rest of the men long enough to place the anthrax in the air handler?” Aidan asked.

  Liam explained the way the camels were being unloaded. “Ifoudan and I alternate shifts underground, supervising the unloading,” he said. “I’ll only need a minute between groups. There’s an air intake vent in the main storage room, and I can unscrew the vent cover, place the anthrax, and get the cover back on while I’m on my own.”

  Even though it was hot under the tent, Aidan couldn’t help shivering. He was scared, but trying not to give in to the fear. He thought that if he kept talking, kept his mind on the details, he wouldn’t have time to focus on the danger, to himself and to Liam. “What if you’re searched on the way in?”

  “The guards aren’t inspecting what we bring in, but just in case, the package will be camouflaged. It’ll look like something that’s been riding a camel for a week.”

  “What about precautions?” Aidan asked. “Anthrax is pretty dangerous.”

  Liam shrugged. “They’re bringing doses of Cipro with them,” he said. “It’s the only antibiotic that works against anthrax. If I start taking it immediately after exposure I should be fine.” He looked at Aidan. “And in case you were worrying, they’ll have doses for everyone who’s been in the school and the hospital. If we do this right, nobody gets anything worse than a case of the sniffles.”

  “You’re not going to unwrap the stuff until the end of the day, right?” Aidan asked. “So that you can get out right afterward?”

  He shook his head. “Too dangerous. Too many ways things can go wrong. As soon as I’m alone, after the first set of deliveries, I’m sticking it in the vent.”

  “But then you could be breathing it for hours.”

  “It’s going to take some time to travel throughout the ductwork,” he said. “Most of the men have scarves wound around their faces, so that should minimize the impact. I’ll do my best to be careful.”

  “You have any idea how we’re getting out of here when this is over?”

  “There will be a chopper to extract the team,” he said. “We can hitch a ride with them. The only thing is, they need to get in and get out before the Libyans realize we’re in their air space. If the chopper gets caught here, it could cause a major international incident.”

  “As if the stakes weren’t high enough.” Aidan shivered again, and Liam put his arm around him. Aidan nestled his head against Liam’s shoulder.

  “It’s going to be OK,” Liam said softly. “This is what we do. These guys, they’re the best. You’ll see, it’s going to go like clockwork.”

  “I’m scared. I’m scared you’ll get anthrax, or you’ll do something heroic and get yourself killed. I don’t... I don’t want...”

  “I took a lot of risks when I was a SEAL. I admit, sometimes they were dumb risks.” He kissed Aidan on the lips. “But that’s all different now. You’ve taught me something, Aidan. You’ve shown me that there’s a life out there for me, one that I want. And I’m coming back for it, don’t you worry.”

  They slept through the heat of the day, and ate dinner with Ifoudan. He and Liam spoke in Arabic, and Aidan wondered how much Liam was telling him. How did they know that they could trust the camel herder? Sure, he’d helped them get rid of Hassan el-Masri, but Ifoudan’s loyalties could lie with his people, with his friend Ibrahim, not with two Americans. And what would happen to him, and his people, after Liam and Aidan jumped on a chopper full of SEALs and terrorists and winged their way out of the desert?

  Aidan couldn’t eat much dinner, and what he did eat, he threw up, out of sight and sound of the camp. He buried the evidence under the sand, wiped his mouth, and went back to the tent, where Liam handed him the sat phone.

  “I rigged it to vibrate,” he said. “But just in case, we’re going to have to sleep in shifts. I don’t expect the guys to get here til nearly dawn, so I’ll take the first shift. But if that phone starts to vibrate, wake me up ASAP.”

  “Will do, commander,” Aidan said, saluting him.

  “I’ll have a few commands for you when we get out of here,” he said. “Once we’ve both had a couple of good meals and a shower.”

  Once again, Liam amazed Aidan with his ability to fall asleep. Aidan knew that he’d have been tossing and turning for hours if he had the burdens the ex-SEAL had.

  Aidan was scared to leave the tent, because he worried that the phone might go off while he was out somewhere and he wouldn’t be able to get it back to Liam in time. So instead, he sat there in the tent as Liam and Ifoudan slept, as the rest of the camp slept around them. The next day everything would come apart, and things would change in big ways. Aidan tried to relish the moments of peace, but couldn’t manage it.

  He was sitting there, his mind back in time somewhere, when the sat phone began vibrating. He nudged Liam, who was awake instantly. He grabbed the phone from Aidan and jumped up. He was out of the tent before Aidan could even register that Liam was awake.

  He was back a few minutes later. “They’ve landed, closer than they expected, but it doesn’t look like anyone’s noticed. There’s no activity at the school. If someone’s monitoring the radar in Tripoli they haven’t let these guys know what’s going on.”

  “There’s always the possibility that because this is a secret facility, anyone monitoring air traffic in Tripoli wouldn’t even know it’s here.”

  “That’s a good thought. Keep that in mind as this starts going down.”

  He encouraged Aidan to sleep for a while. “You’ll need your rest for tomorrow,” he said. “I don’t want you falling asleep as we’re running for a chopper.”

  “I doubt that’ll happen.” Aidan was sure he wouldn’t be able to sleep, but maybe knowing that Liam was there with him helped him doze off after a few minutes. When he woke, it was still dark, but Liam was moving around in the tent.

  “They’re setting up camp just over the next rise,” he said. “I want you to come with me. You’ll be safer back there.”

  “Is someone going to babysit me?” Aidan asked. “Or are you leaving me alone out there?”

  “Don’t be scared, Aidan. I don’t have time now.”

  “I’m not scared, I’m logical. I’m safer here, in the middle of a bunch of people, within sight and sound of the school.”

  “Fine. Stay here, then. I’ll be back.”

  Aidan couldn’t tell if Liam was angry with him, or if he was just economical with words because he was in a hurry. Aidan had put up with a lot of nasty comments from Blake, about everything from his ear hair to his book collection, and he’d developed a thick skin. But somehow, even the mildest reproach from Liam hurt more than a dozen of Blake’s sharp observations.

  39 – Deployment Plan

  Liam knew the SEALs were somewhere in the area. It was a feeling in his bones. He’d left the team
abruptly, after that conversation with Colonel Hardwick. He’d been transferred stateside for the last few weeks of his commitment, and then received his honorable discharge. Nothing in his paperwork said that he was gay, or that he was leaving because of that. He supposed he owed Hardwick thanks for that.

  But he was tired of apologizing for who he was. His brief time with Aidan had taught him that; he had been a damn good SEAL, and it was the Navy’s loss that they couldn’t accept him as he was. He stopped in the middle of a flat open area, between dunes, and said, in a loud voice, “My name is William McCullough. Once a SEAL, always a SEAL.”

  “Hoo-rah to that, brother.” Liam recognized the voice of Joey Sheridan, his best friend on the team, standing up from his camouflage behind a dune. All around him, the rest of his SEAL team, including the colonel, popped up like moles.

  Joey was the first to reach him, enveloping him in a big bear hug. “Missed you, brother,” Joey said. “You dropped off the face of the earth.”

  Liam hugged him back, self-conscious at first. He didn’t want his old friend to misinterpret anything. Then he figured, what the hell, and hugged Joey with a strength and fierceness that surprised him.

  The other SEALs surrounded them, each of them eager to greet their former teammate. Liam realized, on an almost visceral level, how much he had missed the comradeship of these guys, the sense of purpose in carrying out missions together.

  “All right, men, listen up,” Colonel Hardwick said. “Let’s get a situation briefing from Mr. McCullough, and then we’ll make a plan.”

  Liam ran through the details of the Tagant School and Hospital. Occasionally one of the SEALs would ask a question— “How many of the soldiers are armed?” – for example. Within ten minutes, the briefing was finished.

  “You organized all this yourself?” Hardwick asked.

  “I have an associate.” Liam was embarrassed to call Aidan his boyfriend, and trying to explain how he’d ended up traveling the desert with an ESL teacher from Philadelphia would take too long. “He’s back with the caravan.”

  “Sounds like everything is operational,” Hardwick said. He was a bit shorter than Liam, with close-cropped brown hair and wire-rimmed glasses that made him look more like a university professor than a highly-regarded SEAL team leader. “Sheridan, you’ve got the anthrax?”

  “Glad to get rid of it, sir,” Joey said, handing Liam a package about the size of a hardback book, wrapped in brown paper.

  “You have a plan for deployment?” Hardwick asked.

  Liam nodded, and explained his intentions. “Goodwin’s our new medic,” Hardwick said, motioning to a SEAL Liam didn’t know. “He’s got the doses of Cipro you’ll need. While the rest of us are sorting through the evacuees from the premises, he’ll be handing the meds out to the people in the camp.”

  “Here’s your dose, sir,” Goodwin said, handing Liam a bottle of pills. “You’d better start taking them tonight, just to be safe. May I see your hands, please?”

  Liam held them out, and Goodwin, a young, red-haired guy who looked barely old enough to drink, held a flashlight and examined them. “Just ensuring that you don’t have any open wounds, sir,” Goodwin said. “Breathing anthrax is bad enough, but if it infiltrates below the skin you’re in much worse shape.”

  “Understood,” Liam said, as Goodwin finished his exam.

  “You’d better get back to your encampment,” Hardwick said. “We’ll be in position tomorrow morning.”

  “A muezzin calls the prayers every day,” Liam said. “I’ll have everything in place by the time he calls the dohr prayer at midday.”

  “Sheridan’s our best Arabic speaker, now that you’re gone,” Hardwick said. “We’ll put him on the bullhorn shortly after that prayer.” He clapped Liam on the back. “Good luck, son. We’ll back you up.”

  “You’ve never disappointed me yet, sir.” Liam saluted his former colonel, who returned the salute, and then he began the long walk back to the camp.

  He returned to the tent just as dawn was rising, carrying the package of anthrax. “Is that it?” Aidan asked.

  Liam nodded. “Don’t worry, it’s well-shielded.”

  “How are you going to open it? It’s taped up pretty securely.”

  “I’ll figure it out. Some of those storage containers have sharp edges.”

  “Hold on.” Aidan went over to his pack, and dug around. “Take this.”

  He handed Liam a silver knife with intricate carvings and sharp blades. Liam looked at it, popped the blades open, and nodded. “Where’d you get this?”

  “Tunis. While you were picking up your duffle bag, you left me in the cab, remember? While I was waiting, I went into a knife store.”

  Once again, Liam realized that the ESL teacher had surprised him. Way back then, before things had gotten crazy, Aidan had realized he needed to be armed, and gotten himself a decent weapon.

  Blake had sure missed out when he let Aidan go, Liam thought. He slid the knife into his pocket, and Aidan asked, “What can I do here while you’re inside?”

  “Just be ready to run. Listen for the bullhorns, right after the midday prayer. The rendezvous point is just behind the rise; get there as fast as you can.”

  He kissed Aidan, and felt a fierce determination to make this operation a success, to return to this man and continue what they had started.

  “I will be back,” he said. And then he left.

  40 – The Bullhorn

  As the men prepared for what would be their last delivery trip into the Tagant School’s catacombs, Liam walked over to the pile of materials that had yet to be carried inside. He hefted a long box of rifles onto his back, feeling his muscles strain.

  He stretched and felt the paper-wrapped package under his cloak, pressed against his body. He hoped that the packaging was secure, and that anthrax wasn’t somehow leaching from the box through his skin. But there was no way around it. He had to trust in the actions of the men he worked with—or had worked with—and in the plan itself.

  He took his place in the line, sweating under the cloak. As he walked, the package worked its way loose and threatened to spill out at his feet unless he got it out fast. With one elbow, he kept it pressed against his stomach. But that gave him an awkward purchase on the box of rifles. If he dropped his cargo, he’d call attention to himself, and he couldn’t do that.

  As the line of men approached the gate to the Tagant School, an open Jeep passed them, kicking up sand in its wake. Liam recognized Wahid Zubran at the wheel. He kept his head down, waiting with the rest of the men while Zubran argued with the guards and then drove into the courtyard.

  As Liam watched Zubran park the Jeep next to the arched doorway and stride inside, he felt the package against his hip press shift again, angling against his kidney. The military in charge of the Tagant School had listened to Hassan el-Masri and summoned Zubran. Once they pieced together Hassan’s story, the guards would begin searching for him and Aidan.

  Liam was sixth in line as the men traipsed past the guards, through the lobby, and down the hallway. They passed the entrance to the soldiers’ dormitory, which was quiet. Liam assumed that all the men were either on duty, eating or sleeping. They turned the corner, passing the gym, but the door was closed and Liam couldn’t tell if there were men inside or not.

  How much time did he have? There was no way to get word to Aidan that Zubran had arrived. He had to hope he would be able to get the anthrax in place before the guards went on full alert.

  When the line of men reached the staircase down to the catacombs, Liam put the box of rifles down and adjusted the container of anthrax against his skin, relieving the pressure on his kidney. He picked up the rifles again and descended the staircase, feeling the cool air.

  Liam followed the man before him to the room where most of the arms had been stored. He stacked his box of rifles on the top of the other man’s, then took over below-ground supervision. As soon as the last man had returned upstairs for another
load, Liam shifted a couple of boxes to create a makeshift stepladder, so that he could reach the air intake vent above him. Using one of the blades of the knife Aidan had given him, he attacked the vent cover.

  One of the screws had been stripped, and he wasted an extra minute prying it loose. Despite the cold air around him, sweat dripped down his forehead, and he used the sleeve of his cloak to wipe it away. His body was on alert for the sound of a guard, or another delivery, approaching.

  With a painful twist of Aidan’s knife, the last screw came loose, and one side of the vent cover dropped open. Liam removed the package from under his cloak, and, using another of the knife’s blades, he slit the tape wrapped around it. There were several layers, though, and he kept having to stop and look around to make sure no soldier had stopped by, no bearer had returned with the next load.

  He unearthed a glass vial, pulled out the stopper, and poured the contents into the air vent. Some of the white powder blew back onto him, and he sneezed, just as he heard the heavy tread of a man on the stone stairs. He gripped the knife, ready to throw it if the steps should belong to a guard.

  Instead, if was a bearer carrying a rectangular box on his shoulder. The man looked at him, but Liam ignored him. Maintaining his focus, controlling his breathing despite the need to cough, he screwed the vent cover back in, then stepped down and asked to see what the man was carrying.

  AFTER LIAM LEFT, AIDAN packed his backpack and Liam’s duffle, then carried them with him to the rise behind the camp and watched the Tagant School’s gate. He knew the SEALs were behind him somewhere in the desert, and worried that they might have appeared on a radar screen in Tripoli, that even as he waited and sweated in the sun an air strike was on its way to destroy them all.