The Lesser Evil

by Jim Magwood

  “Bob, they’re completely untrue. Hammershed did everything possible to document every worker in every one of its plants. At no time did we knowingly hire undocumented workers. However, we are willingly assisting in all investigations by agencies that are concerned.”

  “Mr. Hasting, we heard that the company has said that all company documents are being held as privileged information, and that the company has refused to release information.”

  “Well, of course, as you can imagine, there are certain things that the general public wouldn’t understand if they were released, Bob. Trade secrets and so on. We feel the need to protect the company assets and the privacy of our officers and executives, and will need to be very careful in letting that information out. But, no one should get suspicious about those rumors, Bob. They really have very little to do with the direct activities of the company and the materials are just being withheld for personal privacy.”

  “Mr. Hasting, I understand, though, that many of those materials apparently got into the hands of a reporter in Washington and have already been published. I’m also led to believe those materials have been very damaging to the company and have shown a long-running series of illegal activities, even including illegal sales and international shipments of weapons.”

  (Shouting voice) “That’s a lie. Those charges were completely fabricated. If we…if we…ever shipped weapons to anyone, I know nothing about it. And, I don’t know anything about those guys that were supposedly rounded up at some of the operations without IDs. They were probably just plants.

  We wouldn’t…”

  (Camera and voice returns to Bob Durant)

  “So, Susan, there you have it. No one seems to know anything and everyone is claiming innocence. It looks like it’ll probably be years in courts everywhere to get it all cleared up, and it’s likely going to be a real mess in the meantime.

  “However, just before I sign off, I’d like to show you—if the camera can just zoom in on this—there, good. I’m holding a copy of a Hammershed document that I received in the mail a couple of days ago that appears to be a shipping document, dated October 21 of last year, and down here where I’m pointing, I think you can see the words ‘Ghadr-110.’ I’m told, Susan, that this is apparently an intermediate-range ballistic missile with a range of about 1,500-3,000 miles. And, I believe you’ll also see here, at the bottom of the page, a notation that appears to say, ‘Ship and bill to Kamal,’ and a signature that looks to me to possibly be ‘S. Hasting.’ Now, this is only my opinion, Susan, but…”

  ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

  Henry clicked off the office television and leaned back in his chair. It was late at night, but his work reporting on the vigilante events simply wouldn’t let him take time to relax. He realized that more and more of his time was being spent in the office now. As he reflected on the news reports and all the suppositions people were laying out, he thought with a chuckle, “If you only knew everything that’s going on.”

  CHAPTER 10

  The air conditioning systems in the fourteen buses worked well and, despite the high desert heat outside, everyone was comfortable. Several of the passengers were sleeping well.

  They had had to be ready to leave at 5 AM for today’s trip, and the early hour plus the walking they had already done had them worn out. Others were watching the desert flash by as they drove on to the next stop. Was it more pyramids or another tomb coming up? Most couldn’t really remember anymore. They just got out of bed and into the buses and waited for the guide to tell them where they were and what they were supposed to be seeing. Three more days here before they could go on to the next country, hopefully a little cooler and more comfortable than the desert.

  The Sphinx and the Pyramids of Giza had been interesting, and even fun. Lots of things to tell the folks back home.

  Yeah, I actually climbed that big one. Took me half the day.

  And the Sphinx does look just like the pictures in the books.

  And the light show at Karnak was really something. But, the early hours, the constant security inspections, and the desert heat were now creeping up on most of the tourists and enough was enough. Aren’t we finished here yet? I can’t remember.

  Are we going back to Cairo from here? At least we had a nice hotel there. When are we going back?

  The buses had just turned off the 02 Highway heading into Aswan City. Everyone was looking forward to the stop for the night. Maybe a good shower and a decent bed before heading out to the Aswan Dam and Lake Nasser tomorrow?

  Maybe it would be cooler there? As the buses started slowing down, several people looked out for the hotel but just saw a few shacks and desert. They hadn’t gotten into the city yet .

  What are we slowing for? The people in the first bus heard the tour guide chattering at the driver and then saw the driver pointing a few yards up the road at a group of men standing in the road. They wore headscarves and couldn’t really be identified, but the weapons they carried made them in charge no matter who they were.

  Two of the men were pointing at a side road and motion-ing the bus driver to make the turn. The driver pointed through the window to the road straight ahead to let the men know the buses were supposed to go straight ahead. But when the weapons came up and pointed at the windshield, the driver wisely and quickly made the turn. The road was unnamed and narrow, and seemed to be leading out into the desert again, toward nothing. Suddenly, a jeep pulled out in front of them, and the armed men in it motioned them to follow it out the road. Some of the tourists noticed that all the other buses were also turning onto the little road, and the caravan kept on moving. When the last bus had turned, the men at the intersection behind jumped into a large, covered truck and followed the buses

  By now, all the tourists were wide-awake, and the beginning of panic was spreading through the group. The concern was made even worse because the tour guides and drivers would not reply to their questions. They just turned to the passengers and motioned for them to be quiet and to sit down. No words—just hand motions. And the passengers could see the fear etched on the faces of their escorts. Some of the passengers were crying softly; others were looking stoic, yet distressed; a few brave ones were trying to get the attention of the guides and were demanding answers. A few of the more knowledgeable passengers were trying carefully to shut the brave ones up. Some had been in wars; others had read the news and believed what was said about the overall unrest in the area. Getting one of the new guides mad at them was not going to be anything good for anyone. Just sit down and shut up was one of the nicer things being said by the quiet ones.

  After about thirty minutes of driving, the jeep came to a stop and the armed men jumped out of it and motioned all the buses to pull off the road and park side by side on the sand.

  One of the men came up to the door of the first bus, which immediately opened for him, and stepped into the bus. He spoke quietly to the guide for a moment, then stepped back off and went on to the next bus and repeated his actions. The guide apparently repeated the message to the driver, then turned to the passengers and motioned for quiet.

  “We have been told to get off the buses and move over to those tents in front of us. We have been assured there will be no trouble for us if we just quietly do as we have been told.

  There is food and water in the tents, and we will be picked up in a few hours by some different buses. I do not know what is happening. I have not been told. I do request, in the strongest terms, that we all do what the men have said. I do not know who they are, but they are obviously heavily armed and we have absolutely no means to refuse them.”

  One of the brave men jumped to his feet and started to shout out his anger, but another man sitting behind him, with a hard face that looked to have seen ugly things before, grabbed him by the shirt collar and pulled him back into his seat. When the brave man turned to him and started to protest, the quiet one just held up a finger and pointed it into the other’s face.

  No more words were said.

&nbs
p; The guide said, “Would you all follow me, please. Quietly, and quickly.”

  As the people started off the bus, several were crying with fear. Others did notice, however, there were no apparent menacing motions from any of their captors. Their faces couldn’t be seen, but the men simply made motions for the people to move into the tents. As the tourists entered the tents, they were immediately handed water bottles by some of the captors, and were guided to tables with stacks of good looking food; some salads, sliced meats and bread products; fruit (on ice, even); and lots more water in iced bottles. A picnic? As captives in the god-forsaken desert? What’s happening? The guns were very evident, but were basically just slung over the men’s shoulders and pointed at the tent floors.

  The guides were going among the people trying to calm the emotional ones, telling others that the captors had said there were temporary toilets behind the tents for those who needed them, and generally trying to encourage the people to move to the tables and eat. There were no chairs, but rugs were laid out on the floors and many of the tourists gradually got some food and dropped down onto the rugs. Some calm began to move through the groups as the minutes wore on without any provocative actions by the captors. Within the hour, most of the tourists had seated themselves on the rugs, and quiet had descended. They saw the captors talking to the tour guides, apparently directing them to boxes of some kind of supplies, showing them how to turn on the oil lamps, and giving instructions. They saw the fear begin to leave the faces of the guides and that alone caused many of the tourists to lose some of their own fear and begin to relax a little.

  Then, they heard the buses start up again and the captors who had been in the tents left. A couple of the braver of the tourists looked out the tent openings and watched all the men get on the buses and the buses carefully turn and begin to drive down the little desert road, back in the direction they had come. It only took a few minutes before the sounds of the engines had disappeared and silence settled over the compound.

  A few sobs were heard, and a few voices trying to make sense of the event, but mostly there was a silence that can only come from deserted areas of forest or desert. The guides continued to move through the groups explaining what they had been told by the captors and ensuring the people that different transportation had already been called for by the captors and all would be well shortly. They told the people that all their luggage had been unloaded and was waiting just outside for them. As the end of the day rushed in, the darkness began to settle and the silence became even more evident. Voices began to drop to whispers. People started to move more frequently to the food tables and to the toilets outside. Some moved to regain their luggage. Some prayers were heard. Still some gentle crying, but several comforting words were now being shared with the emotional ones. But, the desert silence continued to creep in, and the people seemed to follow the lead of the desert. It gradually became very still.

  Several of the people had been able to go to sleep after realizing the captors would not likely be returning, and it was about 2 a.m. that they began to be wakened again by the sounds of engines coming across the desert. Shortly, headlights were seen coming toward them, and soon a line of buses could be distinguished. Fear once more slid across many faces, and especially when the buses could be seen to likely be military because of the gray coloring and camouflage striping. The buses stopped in almost the exact spots the other buses had parked, and men in military garb began running to the tents.

  There was the beginning of panic in the tents again until a man in civilian type clothing jogged up to one of the tour guides and had an active, but apparently calming, conversation. The guide gathered the other guides together and seemed to repeat the conversation to them. Then, as the others ran to their individual tents, the guide turned to the people who were gathered and gave instructions.

  “This man is from the tourist council and has been informed of our delay. He has apologized for all the discomfort and disruption and says he has gathered these Army buses to take us on to our hotel. He assures you the hotel rooms have been freshly cleaned and everything is ready for us. He also says your payments for this trip have been refunded because of the disruption, and you will receive First Class treatment for the rest of your stay in our beautiful country. He says there must have been a terrible mistake for someone to cause this switch of buses, and hopes you will forgive such errors as having obviously been caused by a computer malfunction. If you will all kindly get on these buses, your luggage will be loaded for you and we will proceed to the hotel. New tourist buses will arrive tomorrow to take you on the rest of your journey.”

  The people began to move slowly out of the tents and to the buses. At first, the fear they had again experienced had them moving slowly and reluctantly, but gradually the shock and exhaustion caused them to almost stampede to what appeared to be safety. The soldiers tried to control the crowds the best they could, but two people were quickly knocked down and almost trampled and one person seemed to show signs of a heart attack. However, everyone was eventually safely loaded on the buses, the drivers and soldiers got on and the buses slowly turned and started back toward the highway and the hotel. When they finally did pull into the hotel, they found the registrations had been expedited and everyone was soon in their room. The rooms had been stocked on a rush basis with several foods and some liquor that would have normally not been allowed. The alcohol was quickly consumed.

  When the room calls were made in the morning, many people simply did not respond and the entire excursion came to a dead halt until almost noon. Due to the fact that once finally on the new and luxurious buses the people would simply not get off, the visit to the High Aswan Dam and Lake Nasser took only minutes instead of hours, and the buses were rapidly moving through the remainder of the daylight and into the night back to Cairo.

  CHAPTER 11

  Within a few hours after the tourists had been removed outside Aswan City, the hijacked buses were stopped in a group outside a palatial new city just off the 02 highway toward the river. The city had started as a simple Bedouin camp many years ago, but had grown to be the home of one of the richest families in the country. Except for its size, the city could have been called just the family home because the family owned virtually everything there. However, as with many of the ruling families of the country, they couldn’t just accept the riches that came with their land, the oil and trading, and their being the supplier of almost everything to almost everyone in the area. They had to move on into all the illegal activities as well. Anywhere close, if there was alcohol, it came through the family. If people were needed to do construction work, or to provide entertainment, or were needed by another wealthy family in a neighboring country (or across the ocean), the family provided the people. Was there a food shipment coming from the rich Westerners for a refugee camp? Ah, but the family knew how to take better care of it than some foreign religious aid group. And anyway, who could need the food any more than the people from the city? And the family.

  Throughout the city, there were warehouses of supplies that had been liberated from people with lesser needs and were waiting for the people of the city—for the right price. The central refinery and pumping plant in the north-west corner of the city was where all the oil was pumped in, refined and pumped back out to be delivered to trucks or ships. The electrical station in the southern area of the city provided all the power for users for miles around. The family hadn’t gotten around to setting up many of the people with the ability to use the power, of course, but the family put on spectacular light shows on holidays, and there was plenty of power to run the factories. Of course the palaces of the various family members were brilliantly lit at night. Who wouldn’t be pleased with the way the family was showcased to anyone who visited the city?

  Many tourists had taken many pictures of the palaces and the light shows. Of course, no one actually lived in the palaces; they were simply too hot or too cold or too drafty. But, the adjoining family estates were magnificent in t
heir own ways and were also tourist attractions. Several international branches of foreign banks were also in the city, in buildings specially built for them. The family did need places to wisely invest their hard-earned cash, did they not? And to have it close at hand?

  The ruling family had decided to build a world-class city to rival all cities, a major global financial center, on the banks of the river where only three generations ago there was little but sand. Skyscrapers were planted in the desert sands. Lakes were made by diverting water from the river. Casinos, magnificent restaurants, theaters, 5-star hotels. All were created where there had been nothing. The world’s largest airport was created, with passenger walkways and terminals completely enclosed from the outside extremes and luxurious transport systems with see-through enclosures for enjoying the views to the various hotels and tourist centers. An indoor amphitheater was built that included a half-dozen amusement parks, a full-scale air-conditioned golf course, a chilled lake for water ski-ing—while the heat outside pushed 125 degrees.

  Shopping was easy with a mall housing more than 2,000

  shops and restaurants. You could buy a $200 steak dinner (for one) and a $150 glass of wine. Pick out a dress for Madame to wear to dinner for only $4,000. A limousine would pick you up from the airport and deliver you to your hotel suite, which would include a bar with any selections you might want, a package deal for a week for only $34,000 (food and excitement not included.) The magnificence and fascination of the city was the talk of the rich and famous of the world, and 15