Khadid went into his Special Forces mode. It is not an insurmountable calamity, Orakzai Mesher. I admit it is an unexpected blow for which I know of no explanation. There must have been treachery, no doubt, but the Iranian Army is more than capable of dealing with it. If we have indeed been betrayed and I strongly believe that is the case the culprits shall be eventually found out no matter how much care they take to remain undiscovered. We shall have our vengeance and, ultimately, a great victory not only for Iran but for the Pashtun people. Let us keep in mind that your main goal is to establish an independent nation.
That seems out of reach now, Orakzai said, close to weeping. Let us go to my quarters.
The Pashtuns, particularly the women, picked up on their leader's distress. This set off more wailing and loud moans as they watched him turn and walk toward his cave in the company of the Englishman and Iranian.
Khadid leaned close to Sikes and whispered, These Pashtuns will quickly develop a keen resentment toward us foreigners because of this calamity. Somehow, they will place all the blame on us. I suggest you keep your Arabs close by.
Bluddy good idea, Sikes agreed in a soft voice.
He gestured to Warrant Officer Shafaqat, who obviously had been having the same thoughts. The Arabs, all armed, formed up into a column of threes and began to follow their leader at a slow pace. Every man of them sensed the tenseness and sensitivity of the situation. The Pashtuns glowered at Sikes' men, but took no overt hostile action against them.
.
SHELOR FIELD
NOON
THE three EPWs brought back from the battle by the Brigands were being kept in a jury-rigged jail set up in the corner of the hangar. A barbed-wire barrier had been hastily erected to hold them, and a port-a-potty donated by Randy Tooley served their sanitary needs. Senior Chief Buford Dawkins set up a watch bill to make sure they were kept under constant guard. All had been wounded and had received treatment at the base infirmary. Now properly medicated and bandaged, they were under the skilled care of Doc Bradley.
None had life-threatening injuries, but one was suffering from a broken leg. This was the only Iranian. His companions in captivity were Pashtun mujahideen. The oldest, a fellow with a gray beard, had second-degree burns on his chest and arms. His buddy, a young guy who looked to be in his twenties, had taken a grazing hit in the side that tore across his body without damaging any vital organs. The massiveness of the injury came from an M-2's heavy .50-caliber slug.
The Iranian soldier, a machine gunner, had been discovered out in the open, lying helpless with a compound fracture of the fibula just above the ankle. He was also badly bruised from the fall off the back of the speeding pickup truck where he manned his weapon. The SEALs spotted him at the battle site when they returned from the excursion into the foothills. The injured soldier expected them to shoot him straight off. He knew no English, so there was a marked lack of conversation between him and his captors. He tried to be as brave about it as possible, but a very obvious trembling, paleness, and continuing struggle to keep from crying showed he was badly frightened. Later, when he received first aid prior to the trip back to Shelor Field, the Iranian relaxed a bit. An offer of food further calmed him, and by the time they brought him to the Shelor Field infirmary for treatment under a doctor's supervision, the soldier was in a very relieved state of mind. It was obvious no summary execution loomed in his future.
When the Pashtuns were picked up, the pair was sitting cross-legged among their dead brethren in the midst of burned transport hulks. Unlike the Iranian, they were ready to die, though not exactly pleased about the prospect. Once more, the application of care to their wounds brought about a relaxation of inner tension. When they were handed hot rations warmed in an FRH, they realized they would be treated with dignity and a degree of kindness. The old man, who had worked with an American CIA agent during the war against the Soviets, showed a gap-toothed grin as he slurped up a spoonful of spaghetti. T'ank you, he said.
Before returning to Shelor Field with the EPWs, Brannigan allowed Frank Gomez and the Charlie Two team to make a quick trip to the smugglers' rendezvous site to put out additional feed for the donkeys. When they arrived, they saw that local villagers had looted the place and led the animals away. The guys will be glad to hear about this, Frank remarked. They were worried about those little burros starving to death.
Are you kidding? Chief Matt Gunnarson remarked. If they hadn't been stole, the wolves would have got them long before they died from hunger. You can bet a prowling pack had already sniffed 'em out.
THE first thing Brannigan did after returning to their hangar at the airfield was to have Frank Gomez send a transmission to the USS Combs to inform them of the prisoners. The encoded message gave all the available information about them, but that wasn't much. All that was determined was that one was an Iranian soldier in the uniform of his army. This seemed incongruous since he was on a clandestine, illegal mission, but nobody ever accused the Iranian Government or military of operating in a logical or smart manner. After all, the Iraqis had kicked their asses in a drawn-out war back in the 1980s.
The other two prisoners were described as mountain Pashtuns who appeared to be illiterate, but with an innate self-reliance and a natural ability to endure hardship and discomfort. This last bit of info wasn't included to compliment the two EPWs, but to make it clear they were not operatives in disguise. The pair of stoic men were genuine Pashtun mujahideen.
The S-2 aboard the Combs radioed back, instructing the SEALs to continue to take care of the prisoners' wounds, feed them well, and see that they were comfortable at all times. When the senior chief informed the detachment of the orders, Bruno Puglisi gave a snort, saying, Hell! I wish they'd see that we got the same treatment.
Senior Chief Dawkins showed a sardonic leer, saying, That ain't never gonna happen on my watch, Puglisi.
Jeez! Puglisi exclaimed under his breath to Joe Miskoski. Even them donkeys is luckier'n us.
Yeah, Miskoski agreed. You never hear about a donkey going through Hell Week.
They wouldn't allow nobody to be that cruel to animals, Puglisi pointed out. The Humane Society wouldn't permit it.
The intelligence officer also forbade any attempts at interrogation. This was to be handled by persons unnamed who would arrive to tend to that most important matter. The Brigands could read between the lines of that latter instruction. There was something above and beyond the ordinary that had been thrust into Operation Rolling Thunder.
.
PASHTUN STRONGHOLD
GHARAWDARA HIGHLANDS
26 MAY
0615 HOURS
SIKES Pasha's Arab unit and Captain Naser Khadid of the Iranian Special Forces were formed up to leave both the stronghold and Afghanistan. Yama Orakzai Mesher had seen that a donkey was provided for them to make the journey a little easier. Although the Arabs had no need of the pack animals since they had arrived carrying everything they owned on their own backs, Khadid had his radio transmitter, field desk, and other items that were too bulky or heavy for human beings to tote through mountainous terrain.
This exodus was not a voluntary one. Orakzai had made a decision the day before that the best thing he could to for his people was to get rid of the foreigners, then make peace with the Afghan government in Kabul. Khadid, secretly upset about the Iranian mission being ended, had given a subtle warning that this would displease another government, that of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and there would no doubt be a reaction from Tehran. This was his understated way of saying that the Iranian Army would be given full rein to either get the Pashtun group back into their operation or destroy them. Khadid had learned much during his time with Orakzai's people, and knew that a full-blown threat to a Pashtun would be answered by him and Sikes getting decapitated and their heads sent back to Iran in cardboard boxes. Thus, even the subtle warning was given with a friendly smile, along with assurances that the Pashtuns and Iranians would always be brothers.