“What girl?”
“Mastana, the one allowed to visit the communal bathrooms.”
Divband cursed. “Why weren’t you watching her? That was your job.”
The man flushed. “I was, Master, but she…she attacked me as I stood guard at the door to the bathroom.” Walid cast his gaze to the floor, unable to meet his leader’s eyes.
Divband studied the man. He looked to be lying. Probably the escape had involved something less dramatic, but it hardly mattered now. “Do you have any idea where she is?”
“No. She fled into the halls. She could be anywhere.”
Divband turned to Ghoyee, who had arrived at the sounds of confusion. “Alert the perimeter guards. Don’t let her slip past them.” He faced Walid again. “Did Mastana change into her new clothes?”
“Yes. She wore them to the bathroom.”
“Where are her old ones?”
“Still in her cell. I saw them when I took her out.”
“Go get them, and take them to the bathroom. Hurry!” Turning back to Ghoyee, Divband continued. “Collect the dogs and take them to the bathroom. We’ll give them a good smell of her old clothing, then let them track her down from there.”
Ghoyee nodded and raced down the hallway, nearly colliding with a zealot headed in the opposite direction.
Scarcely five minutes later, Divband’s phone rang.
“It’s Ghoyee. The dogs are on her scent. She made it off the west end of the building.”
“Good, but you must hurry. Don’t give her a chance to escape into the hills, or even the dogs may not be able to find her.”
“Don’t worry. If she made it outside the compound, I’ll pursue on horseback. She won’t go far.”
Divband ended the call. He paced his office’s cramped space, running through scenarios in his mind. If the teen made it to freedom, would she be able to lead authorities back here? That is, would she have time to do that before other authorities, those in the Brotherhood’s membership rolls, eliminated her?
He continued to pace, wondering how this crisis would play out.
CHAPTER 46
Through a blur of tears, Mastana looked into Divband’s furious face. She had eluded the Brotherhood’s human members but had been unable to find any water to put the dogs off her scent. She had returned to the dry riverbed, but the dogs had hugged her trail, leading the horse-mounted Ghoyee directly to her.
Several supplicants had dragged her into their master’s presence and dropped her onto the floor, grinning at their trophy.
“Leave us,” ordered Divband.
Once alone, he raised a hand as if to slap her, then let it drift to his side. “It wouldn’t do to leave a mark,” he muttered more to himself than to her. “My followers might consider you an unsuitable bride for Iblis if I did.” He fixed his gaze on her and scowled. “You are deceitful—the curse of your gender. I blame myself for wanting to trust you, wanting to believe your eyes could hold a glimmer of truth.”
Mastana said nothing, certain any words would enflame his wrath.
“I told you you’d get only one chance,” he said, his eyes raw with betrayal, “and you’ve used it.”
He stepped into the hallway. “Guards, come here.”
Three followers entered the small office.
“Search her. Ensure she has no weapons or objects on her, then return her to her cell—fully chained on all four limbs.”
A guard, the husky one, ran his hand over Mastana’s body as commanded. The damp, clammy surface of the man’s fingers made her skin crawl.
“Master, look at this,” he said, handing over a stone bearing a sharp edge.
“Where was it?”
“In the rear band of her undergarments.”
Mastana continued to remain silent with averted eyes. Resistance would only fan the flames of Divband’s anger.
“Take her from my sight. I will not see her again until the day of her marriage to Iblis.”
The trio of guards led Mastana back to her cell. The husky one secured the shackles around her ankles and wrists, then attached them all to the chain bolted to the cell’s floor.
As the guard slammed the door shut, Mastana hung her head and wept. Yes, she had escaped the jihadist schemes of her uncle, but did she await a similar fate in the hands of these madmen?
CHAPTER 47
The following morning, Kamaal served a breakfast of naan, apricots, pistachios, and tea to his American friends. Hanif had once again taken the morning off from his job at the electric utility, opting instead to help them in their search.
The dawn song of a swallow provided a tranquil, natural score to their meal. As sunbeams spilled through an open window and took the chill out of the air, Alton’s optimism warmed as well. Surely today they would make some progress tracking down Mastana—they had to.
Reaching for a piece of fruit, he received a call from Captain Poya.
“I wanted to let you know,” said Poya, “I did some checking in my department to see if anyone has heard anything about the Brotherhood of Stones, but no one is familiar with the name. I wish I had better news to tell you.”
“I appreciate the follow-up,” said Alton. “I know you’ve been given marching orders to focus on terrorist crimes.”
“That is true, but I thought during morning report, it wouldn’t take much time to ask all my policemen if they know this group. No one said anything. But I will keep checking and will let you know if I learn anything.”
“Thanks again, Captain. Who knows? Maybe something will turn up.”
Alton ended the call and shared the content of his conversation with the others.
“Well, Miss FBI agent, what do you recommend next?” Alton asked his wife.
“That’s missus FBI agent now…and I’ve been thinking about that question,” said Mallory as she chewed on the end of a pen. “Kamaal, do you have a map of the city?”
“Yes, in the spare bedroom. Let me go get it.”
“What do you have in mind?” asked David. He stirred the green tea in his mug with a dejected look, one that spoke of a need for coffee.
“Old-school charting,” said Mallory. “Let’s mark the location of each kidnapping on the map and see if any visual patterns jump out at us.”
“Kamaal,” called Alton. “Do you have any thumbtacks?”
“Yes, I will bring them.”
They soon had the map of Kabul tacked to the wall. Alton accessed the violent-crimes database of Kabul’s police department. Once in, Hanif pulled the date and location of each of the nine reported kidnappings. As he called out the information, Kamaal located the spot on the map, which Mallory marked with a thumbtack while scribbling the date of the attack next to it.
When all the thumbtacks had been placed, they surveyed the pattern.
“It’s pretty random,” said Mallory, “but there is a bit of clustering in the northeastern section of the city.”
“Northeastern section, you said?” asked Hanif.
“Yes, why?”
“When Alton was pulling the kidnapping files out of the database, I noticed a report of an attempted break-in last night at a residence in the Pule Charki neighborhood. This is in the northeastern part of Kabul.”
“So you’re wondering if the criminals were trying to burglarize it or had a more sinister motive?”
“Yes.”
“Let me log back in so you can see what additional information the report contains.” Alton’s fingers flew over the keyboard, bringing up the police system in the space of thirty seconds.
Hanif accessed the record and scanned it. “There’s not much more. It just says someone broke into a first-floor bedroom. When the father entered the house, the burglar ran away.”
“I wonder if there’s a teenage girl in the family,” mused Alton. “Does the report list the family members?”
“Yes, there is a mother and a son of nine years in the family, but they were attending a soccer game. The family also includes a f
ather …and a girl of thirteen years.”
Alton’s blood ran cold. “So before the father entered and scared away the burglar, the girl was there by herself?”
“It reads that way.”
“Just like Mastana,” said Mallory.
“Do you all think it’d be worthwhile to swing by the house and see if there was any evidence left behind?” asked Alton. “Based on Poya’s comments, I doubt the police spent much time on-scene, if any.”
“It won’t hurt,” said Mallory. “It’s the only promising lead we have, even if it is a long shot.”
CHAPTER 48
Divband called Ghoyee into his office. The man hadn’t been himself lately, and Divband intended to get to the bottom of it. He couldn’t afford to have the mind of his right-hand man wandering.
“You called for me, Master,” said Ghoyee as he poked his head through the opening of Divband’s office. Ghoyee’s countenance seemed to match the gloom of the narrow space.
“Yes, come in.”
The sidekick entered but did not meet his master’s eye.
“You missed the initiation ceremony for the new members two nights ago.”
“I’m sorry, Master.”
“You know how important that meeting is. Why weren’t you there?”
Ghoyee’s hangdog look grew more pathetic. “I will not lie to you, Master. I was visiting the home of the girl we rejected in favor of Mastana.”
“The skinny girl with thirteen years?”
“Yes.”
“Why? What were you doing there?”
“Do you remember how Mastana tempted me by asking me to take her home?”
“Yes, and you did the right thing to tell me at that time.”
Ghoyee nodded without meeting his master’s gaze. “I kept thinking about her words. They drove me wild with desire. Then I remembered the other girl we didn’t choose, and I came up with an idea, a perfect idea, I thought. I already knew much about the other girl. Since you had rejected her, I decided I could collect her for myself.”
“And did you?”
Ghoyee sighed. “No, master. I made it into her house, but her father returned, and I fled.”
An alarm bell sounded in Divband’s mind. “Did they see you?”
“No. At least…I don’t think so.”
“Ghoyee, I can see something else is troubling you. What is it?”
The man shuffled his feet, looking for all the world like an oversized schoolboy who had been caught stealing money from the teacher’s desk. “I entered the girl’s house through a window in an empty bedroom. When I heard the father come home, I scrambled back out the window. I am afraid I may have touched the window sill.”
“And left fingerprints,” concluded Divband. “You may have been collecting the girl for your own benefit, but if you’re caught, you could lead the police back to us. Did you leave prints anywhere else?”
“I…I don’t know. When I heard the front door open, I ran. I may have touched the wall. Maybe the bedroom doorframe, too.”
Divband knew he had to take decisive action. “Take Meskin and the rest of Alpha Squad. Burn down the house.”
“Master?” Ghoyee looked shocked.
“It’s the only way of ensuring all potential evidence is destroyed. And take your weapons. We can’t run the risk of your being caught in the middle of committing an act of arson. If the father comes home again, he’ll be the one running.”
CHAPTER 49
Kamaal, Hanif, and the married couples departed for the house of the recent break-in within minutes of connecting it to the string of recent kidnappings.
“What kind of evidence are we looking for?” asked David as Hanif’s Mercedes bumped over the ill-maintained roads of Kabul.
“Anything, really,” said Mallory. “Hanif, you don’t have a fingerprint kit, do you?”
“No, not anymore.”
“Well, there may be other forensic evidence left behind, right?”
“I hope so. We can also ask the family what they saw. Perhaps they witnessed something that wasn’t included in the police report.”
As the two cars approached the house, they spotted a clutch of men in dark robes and masks circling the exterior of the property.
“Do you see that?” asked Alton. “Hanif, keep going. We don’t want them to spot us.”
“Do you think they came back for the girl?” asked Mallory.
“If they did, we’re not going to let that happen,” said Alton with grim determination. “Not again.”
Hanif sailed past the house, as did Kamaal in his Corolla. They pulled into an alley a block away and huddled between the two cars.
“What was going on back there?” asked Kamaal.
“We’re not sure,” said Alton, “but we think the kidnapper came back for the girl.”
“Make that kidnappers—plural,” said Mallory. “There must have been seven or eight of them. Maybe more, if there were any in the back yard.”
“That’s about what I counted, too,” said Alton. “I wonder if it’s the Brotherhood of Stones. Whoever they are, they’re armed. I saw rifle straps on the ones closest to the street.”
“What do we do now?” asked Fahima, her eyes wide.
“We still have all our combat supplies in the trunks of these cars,” said Alton. “I say we treat this like a military operation. We move in. Capture them if possible, kill them if not.”
David and Mallory nodded.
“Fahima and Kamaal, you stay here and call the police. Let them know what’s happening. Hanif, I know you didn’t sign up for…this,” said Alton, gesturing his hand back in the direction of the masked men. “Can you go to the end of this alley and put eyes on the back of the house? We could use some intel.”
“Yes, I can do that.”
“Okay, let’s gear up before those guys leave. We’ll need to coordinate our movements, so be sure to put on mikes and earpieces.”
Alton, Mallory, and David slipped on the communication equipment. They snapped on web belts and stuffed the pouches full of thirty-round magazines, then slung A4 rifles over their shoulders.
Alton glanced at the afternoon sun glowing behind the victims’ house. “We’ll arrive at the southern edge of the property line separating the front yard on the left from the street on the right,” he said. “David, there was a drainage ditch between and yard and the street. Can you low-crawl through it to the northern edge of the property?”
“Sure, Al. I was hoping I’d have a chance to do some low-crawling today.”
“Good. We’ll have the advantage once you’re in position. If they try to escape out of the front yard, we’ll have them trapped in overlapping fields of fire.
“Mallory, I’d like to send you to the back of the house. I noticed a fence between the girl’s house and her neighbor’s. But even if you travel on the other side of the fence, those goons will see you if you try to crawl over. So, can you wait with me on the southern edge of the front yard? If Hanif says the fence has a gate or door, you can move down there and be in position without being spotted.”
“Okay.”
“Everyone ready? All right, let’s roll.”
Alton performed a mike check as they traveled to the house. He also asked Hanif, who had already moved down the alley, to look for a gate in the fence.
In a flash, the terrain changed, and Alton could only see Gazib, the Afghanistan desert in which he had been stationed four years ago when the IED had ended his Army field command. He stopped and looked around, incredulous.
“Sweetie, are you okay?” asked Mallory. “Is it your leg?”
He snapped back to Kabul. “Sorry—I’m fine.”
They continued walking at the fastest pace Alton could muster, reaching a garbage dumpster at the house’s southeastern border. The dumpster emitted a horrendous smell but provided first-class cover and concealment.
“You ready, David?” said Alton.
His friend nodded and dropped to the ground. Alton w
as surprised at the speed David made low-crawling along the bottom of the ditch.
Alton peered around the dumpster, studying the hostiles. What were they doing? They lugged plastic containers that created sloshing sounds when moved. He turned to Mallory and whispered. “What’s in the containers, do you think? Gas?”
“I don’t see what else it could be, but why? How does that help them with a kidnapping?”
“I don’t know.”
“The parents’ car isn’t here,” said Mallory. “Maybe they plan to grab the girl—or maybe they have already—and are planning to torch the place once they leave.”
“It looks like it, but I still don’t see why. Unless maybe they’re afraid they left evidence the other day during the botched kidnapping.”
“Alton, we need to be careful. If they have the girl, she could be caught in the crossfire.”
“Good point.” He raised David on the mike. “Watch out for the girl. They may have her. Don’t fire unless you have clear line of sight on the target.”
“Roger, Al.”
At that moment, a dilapidated Accord pulled up to the house. It started to pull into the driveway, then stopped. Alton could see the wide eyes of a boy of nine years and a girl of thirteen in the back, while the children’s parents occupied the front seat. The father had spotted the activity in his yard and seemed undecided how to react.
“C’mon,” murmured Alton. “Get the hell out of there.”
The robed thugs turned at the sound of the car and froze. All except one, who pulled an AK-47 assault rifle off his shoulder. The father jammed the car into reverse and pealed out the driveway. After shifting gears again, the man lurched the car forward and careened down the dusty road.
“So why did the kidnappers come back, if not for the girl?” asked Mallory.
“Maybe it’s just about the evidence they left behind. Perhaps they needed to get rid of it.”
“Al,” said David over his mike. “The girl got away, so do we still engage?”
The chatter of multiple AK-47s erupted before Alton could answer. Two of the thugs lay flat on the ground and kept a steady stream of rounds pouring into David’s position.
The Devil's Due (The Blackwell Files Book 5) Page 15
