No seas pandeja, a Spanish medical orderly scoffed. They are armored cars. See? They have tires, not tracks.
Five minutes later, a trio of EE-3s pulled up to a stop. Nine men wearing desert camouflage uniforms and Arab keffiyehs rapidly and efficiently appeared from hatches in the tops of the vehicles. They jumped to the ground and one took the lead, striding toward the UN crowd with the others respectfully following. Dr. Bouchier stepped forward to greet the visitors. He noticed the lead man wore the three-pip insignia of a British captain.
How do you do, Monsieur le Capitaine? he greeted. I am Dr. Pierre Bouchier, the chief of this UN mission.
The man stopped. Good morning, sir. I am Captain Arsalaan Sikes of the Army of Jihad Abadi.
Bouchier, alarmed by the word jihad, looked closely at the man. He spoke in an English accent and, except for the headgear, looked like a typical Brit with brown hair and blue eyes. But he conducted himself as if he were an Arab officer. I fear I am confused, Monsieur le Capitaine.
Sikes suddenly turned and barked orders in Arabic. Six of his men immediately trotted toward the Pashtun village, and he turned his attention back to Bouchier. You are in territory controlled by the Jihad Abadi. And I want to know what you're about, yeah?
We are a relief mission, Monsieur le Capitaine, Bouchier explained. We offer these people medical care and instruction in sanitation.
You'll put a halt to your operation straightaway, Sikes said. Do not have no further contact with the Pashtuns here. Me men are already in the village warning them buggers that they ain't to have nothing to do with foreigners. And that means you, mate!
But we are here under an agreement between the United Nations and the Afghan government, Bouchier protested.
Such agreements don't mean nothing, Sikes said. You got three days, yeah? He checked his watch. It's getting close to noon, so I'll be back here on the tenth. And this place better be bare and empty. Got it? You'll be bluddy sorry if you and these people are still hanging about.
The half-dozen men he had sent into the village now reappeared. On his command, they reboarded the armored cars.
Bouchier's people crowded around him. What are you going to do, Docteur? the French surgeon asked anxiously.
I'm going to contact the UN office in Kabul and ask them how we are to respond to the threat, Bouchier said. He shook his head. I cannot believe what just happened. We are in the middle of a most frustrating situation when an Englishman dressed like an Arab officer appears out of nowhere and orders us to cease our operations and depart.
Out in the desert, Captain Arsalaan Sikes led his three vehicles back to join the rest of his armored car company, waiting some five miles away across the sandy terrain.
WHEN Archie Sikes left Iraq through the courtesy of the Jihad Abadi, he went first to Syria in their E&E net. After a three-day stay in Damascus during which he was given a quick but comprehensive indoctrination on the terrorist group, he was transported to Saudi Arabia in a private civilian airplane. At that point, the deserter was taken to a place where he began classes in the Arabic language as well as the tenets of Islam. Archie, who hadn't attended church much as a youngster, had never received any serious religious schooling whatsoever.
First, an earnest young cleric told him the story of how the angel Gabriel had come to a man called Muhammad to inform him that God, i.e., Allah, had chosen him to be his final prophet. From that point on, Muhammad received divine revelations that made up the Qu'ran, which was the Muslim Bible. At that point, the Qu'ran was brought into Archie's life, and he received intense daily instruction in what it contained. His preliminary response was lukewarm, but as the subject matter deepened, it became all-encompassing to the young Brit. He began to feel a pull toward the religion. His instructor noted this, and put the pressure on.
Meanwhile, between religious classes, his Arabic lessons continued, with a heavy dose of the Muslim side of current world events involving international politics and diplomacy. With no opposing views being expressed, Archie began to feel that the Western nations he came from were indeed decadent and evil, and the United States and Israel were supporting the causes of Satan with the help of Europe. He began to reason that the Royal Regiment of Dragoons had declined to have him commissioned in their ranks because of the ingrained prejudice of the wealthy upper classes who wanted to keep the common man from improving his status in society. In other words, they perceived a serious threat in Archibald Sikes. Even if he had received a commission in another regiment, they would have seen to it that his career went nowhere in the British Army. These were the same people the mullahs accused of conducting Satan's campaigns against Islam.
While the religious and political aspects of the lessons were winning over Archie Sikes, it was the rules about women that brought about his total conversion. He had gotten along even less well with girls than he had with boys when growing up. His first attempts to establish relationships with his feminine classmates during his teen years were rebuffed. This spurning of his artless, clumsy advances made him angry and frustrated, and he found it humiliating that not only did the girls not seem to like him, but they demonstrated a marked disapproval of him as a person. Many seemed to consider him a buffoon. An angry inferiority complex developed out of this, and the lessons of Islam turned that all around to a feeling of superiority and even divine authority where the fair sex was concerned. Those English girls had not been properly subdued and indoctrinated.
Archie happily learned that Middle Eastern nations had an established, legal system of discrimination against human females. They were subordinated to men in every aspect of life. After all, they were not only created from the rib of a man, but from the weakest part, the curved tip. That was written in the Qu'ran.
The laws of Islam demanded that they wear khimar head coverings along with burqas that concealed their entire body. Women could never leave their homes unless in the company of a male relative. They had weak morals and needed constant surveillance, or they would become promiscuous with any man they found attractive. Leave it to them, Archie was told by his mullah instructor, and women would give birth to innumerable bastard babies from all their casual love affairs.
Archie also liked the laws of marriage. A Muslim man was allowed to have up to four wives as long as he treated them all equally and could afford to support such a family, which would produce many children. Fantasies of having four humble, compliant women to tend to his every want and desire danced through his head. It would be justified revenge against all the snobby girls he'd had to endure in his schooldays. When the entire world was converted to Islam, they were going to get their comeuppance but good!
With that thought in mind, Archie took the final step one memorable day six months after his desertion from the British Army. He announced to his pleased instructors that he wished to convert to the Islamic faith. And he expressed this desire in fluent Arabic.
Archibald Sikes took the name Arsalaan, which meant Lion, King of the Jungle. However, in spite of his mentor's insistence, he refused to take an Arabic last name. The day's coming, he said, when the name 'Sikes' is gonna ring across England! As part of his evolution into a Muslim, Archie even submitted to circumcision, though this was done as an outpatient under anesthesia in a doctor's office.
A few weeks later, he was told he would be taken to a special military training camp in Iran. It was there he was to be formerly inducted into the Jihad Abadi the Eternal Holy War.
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SHELOR FIELD
1400 HOURS
WITH nothing much to do, SCPO Buford Dawkins distributed the men among their vehicles and had them get out the manuals. The idea was to get them to perform some maintenance and go through immediate action drills in case of breakdowns. Everyone, including Lieutenant Bill Brannigan and his 2IC Lieutenant Junior Grade Jim Cruiser, joined in the activity. With the hoods up on the patrol vehicles, all the Brigands were either leaning over the motors or beneath the chassis checking out the various mechanical, hydraulic, and electrical functions while referring to the workbooks. Fortunately, the batteries were installed, but the men had to be careful about running them down. Brannigan had Frank Gomez radio in a requisition for a couple of chargers, knowing it would probably be a month before they came in.