The night air carried a surprisingly coolish feel, although their clothing, heightened sensory awareness, and continual activity more than offset the unexpected chill.
The moon was absent in the clear-night, star filled sky, the repetitive celestial calendar notching forward one day as always, working its predictable progression in their favour by blanketing them in an added layer of cloaking darkness.
Three figures stealthily moved through the dark, confident through thorough and continual surveillance that they were the only ones outside of shelter in their immediate environs. Their goal was a well-hidden cave that analysts aboard AISV llhaesa ahrella t’yaeli located, the detention venue for Jahrae Khentavra, wife to one and mother to another of the determined team of three.
Addison won her reasoned argument in favour of llhaesa, Commander H’ahlser, and she comprising the rescue team, although it was not absent contention, with approval remaining in doubt over the day following the White House meeting.
Ronnie and Elsrensia both vehemently objected, but after an articulate and convincing defence of the proposal by Addison, one llhaesa seconded, ultimately both reluctant parents realised that the unique talents of mother and daughter might prove invaluable, perhaps indispensable, in a successful rescue of Jahrae.
When Chekresu dropped off the team to begin their approach and rescue, Ronnie cried as soon as the door closed behind them, unbelieving that she ever agreed to Addison’s participation in what was after all a military operation, with real weapons and people willing to kill, with people likely to die.
Elsrensia futilely attempted to offer comfort to her distressed partner, finally trying to return to the practical reason that led to the earlier decision to allow the mission to proceed. “Addison never would have accepted a sideline role, Ronnie, no longer. You know that, we both do. She is of an age now, of a stage of life, of almost peerless ability, in a family that has a tradition of acting. It is her heritage, and we have to give Addison greater leeway and respect.
You heard her defend the proposal; you heard her analysis. Did that sound like a child to you? Is she someone who has little clue of how to handle herself? And you have seen her workouts, her demonstrated agility, strength, and stamina.
Llhaesa told me she tried every possible way to refute Addison, to find a hole in her logic, but there were none. In the end, she felt more harm might result by denial of her reasoned point of view than by allowing participation.
Addison is ready, Ronnie, and we need to trust in her. I know that is not easy to accept, rationally or emotionally because of the danger, but we are better served working to assist now.
Shall we observe systems data, and be ready to assist if need be?”
Saying nothing, Ronnie swiped at her eyes with a sleeve, walking away from where she stood by the door, remaining ready to release and open, wishing Addie would come on back through.
Inside the cave, the Taliban scattered throughout its slightly curving and dropping length, some deep in the cave, within a chamber where they kept Jahrae tied up and tethered to a chain set on one end in rock. Six were in a wide segment mid-cave, where there was ample light provided by candlelight, enabling them to play cards, others sleeping or on guard duty. There were 22 in or around the cave in all.
Two guards were on duty outside the cave, another two were just inside, sleeping.
The cave walls were mostly of rock, with some parts relatively smooth and unbroken, while in other sections there were jagged elements, with large outcroppings of boulders or overhanging stalactites. The size of the cave varied, from an initial opening of just three meters, widening and narrowing until one reached the larger interior chamber that held Jahrae.
Scanning revealed no one outside other than the two guards, who were first to draw the coolly analysing, planning, and calculating interest of the approaching team. Twenty metres above the guards, the team perched on the 30° slope, their advanced clear-vision eyewear wrap-glasses providing excellent vision in the dark, unlike the surreal imagery provided by the cumbersome electronics of the guards. The team patiently observed, taking careful measure of what would soon be their first prey.
Their special eyewear instantaneously adjusted to all light conditions, making removal in brighter light unnecessary. Each carried a compact, directed light weapon, something llhaesa loathed doing, but which was deemed necessary by Commander H’ahlser. These would be for last resort use, but all knew their use was likely.
Dressed entirely in black from head to feet, with black caps concealing their hair, and faces darkened as individually needed to avoid detection, the team was patient, but ready.
Using her hand to signal her intent to begin, Llhaesa moved slowly to their right side and downward, placing her just beyond the cave opening. Commander H’ahlser emulated llhaesa, moving to the opposite side of the cave from llhaesa.
Addison threw a stone coloured, three centimetres in diameter electronic device off to the left side of the leftmost guard, the device landing with a soft ‘tick’. She followed this with a second toss beyond the guard on the right. Five seconds later, each device began emitting natural sounds, slowly increasing in volume, drawing the guards off, yet with an expectation it was typical night sounds. It was their duty to check and so they casually moved to verify, given the closeness of the originating point.
The nearest guard to llhaesa moved forward slowly, until he stood with the unseen sound emitting device just to the front of his feet.
Befuddled that sounds originated from this spot yet he could not see the animal making it, he crouched down, carefully searching until he found the device. Picking it up, Addison watched his curiosity build, his mind processing, too late.
Llhaesa pounced upon the guard as if dropped from the sky, knocking him unconscious with a single, well-delivered blow.
Addison turned just in time to see Commander H’ahlser reprise this action, finishing by reaching for a specific medical device that would administer a sedative, one that would sustain the guard’s current state of unconsciousness for hours.
With the guards out of the way, Addison slid down the slope and rejoined the others, ready for the next phase of the operation. Using language skill acquired from a heavy day of study on the Arrhazonan ship, she deepened and disguised her voice, calling to the two sleeping Taliban just inside the cave entrance.
It took a second urgent calling, but the slumbering guards stumbled and wobbled out of the cave, never seeing the two Arrhazonans who jumped and took them out, each now falling back into rest, joining the initial cave guardians.
Eighteen Taliban remained between the team and Jahrae, the next task not as easy: overcoming a group of six casually playing Betrinu, a popular card game in Afghanistan. The six laughed uproariously at times, their conversation almost continually loud and animated, all of which played into the needs of the approaching team, masking any screams from unusual action.
Watching from ten metres away, the team split in two, with llhaesa and Sohrae on one side of the cave, Addie on the other. Two of the card players called a pause to the game, purposefully walking out towards the cave entrance, passing the team without seeing them as they pressed tightly into their concealed space.
Addie and llhaesa followed behind the exiting soldiers, ready to take them out. The two men reached the cave entrance and walked to the edge of the trail just outside, where the trail dropped off and continued the 30° mountain slope downward.
The two swung their weapons over their shoulders while standing in place, this action followed seconds later by a distinctive sound of liquid striking earth. The men relieved themselves, pissing over the side of the trail, down slope. Addie and llhaesa looked at each other and smirked, not quite believing their good fortune. Both sprung, immediately giving a strong shove to the Taliban soldier in front of them.
“Watch out, it’s steep. Oh, and avoid the wet spots, two idiots peed right in that area,” Addie called out in Pashto after them, the soldier’s screams receding as they slid hundreds of feet downward.
“All right, Ms Punster, we have more work to do. Let’s go,” llhaesa played along, but she had to make sure Addie stayed focused on task.
Making their way back in, Sohrae advised nothing had changed since they left.
“Mum, one of them just wondered where the other two are, but no one responded.”
“They might send someone to look for the two that disappeared, let’s wait a few minutes,” Sohrae suggested.
One of them, apparently in charge, ordered two of those remaining to go find their missing comrades. Once again, llhaesa and Addie waited, following the searchers to just outside the cave entrance, watching as they looked side to side and called out, to no avail.
One grumbled, and Addie translated quietly for her mum. “Idiots. Where in hell did they run off to, and what did they run off to do? They must have the good stuff. Wait until I get my hands on them – and that stuff!
While I am out here, I may as well pee.”
Llhaesa and Addie looked at each other, not quite believing it was this easy, bodily need as their way past this fierce group. The second mimicked the first, and as with their predecessors, both found themselves experiencing rock rash as they flipped, rolled, and slid down the mountain slope.
“Two to go and I will not wait for them to pee. With no one returning, they will go the other way, to warn the others,” llhaesa reasoned.
Reaching their temporary observation point, llhaesa drew her weapon and, pointing it at the two weapons leaning up against the cave wall, vaporised both. The soldiers, hearing what sounded like a sneering hiss, turned and jumped, before them they watched their weapons glow and then vanish, as if the weapons never existed.
Their astonished puzzlement gave the others time to reach these two remaining men, both turning into a hard palm thrusting forward into their face, one from llhaesa, and one from Addison. Each received a sedative to see them through the next several hours. The mop up team, now closing in, would deal with them and those who slid down the mountainside.
“Twelve left. These odds are getting better,” Sohrae wryly remarked. Taking out her communications interface, she called for an update on the position of the remaining twelve, as well as of Jahrae.
“There is no one close to Jahrae at the moment,” came the first piece of information.
“Of the twelve, four are sleeping off to the right side of the chamber. Jahrae remains at the far end, no one within fifteen metres of her.
Two are about to walk out towards you, but it will take them a couple of minutes to get there. Three are gathered and planning, based on the documents before them.
The other three are eating. They are the closest to you in the chamber.”
“Thank you for the update. We are preparing for the two exiting strollers; H’ahlser out.”
“Addie, blow out those two candles on the opposite wall, I’ll get these,” llhaesa advised. “Take that side of the cave this time; we will take this one.
A minute passed before the slow moving guards came within earshot, grumbling about the lack of light that apparently maintained in the area. One lit a match, searching for the candles, followed by the other repeating this action, each finding and moving to relight the candles. They never made it, courtesy of llhaesa and Addison.
“Twelve down, ten to go. It gets tougher now, and more dangerous,” llhaesa cautioned, once again for Addie’s sake. “There might well be loss of life ahead of us, but it is important to be decisive and make the right choice. Hesitation can mean the difference between success and failure.
Watch the ten of them. If any of them moves on Jahrae, anyone aims a weapon at Jahrae, use your weapon first, and take them out.
We have about an hour of time we can use and wait, evaluate what we see, but I fear reaching Jahrae unnoticed is not likely.”
The three moved inward, the air growing stagnant, more humid and dank. After five minutes, they were within hearing distance of some inside the chamber. Moving yet closer, they gained visual over 60% of the chamber; the rest would be impossible to see without revealing themselves.
While they watched, the planning meeting ended, with candles doused, darkening that side of the cave.
“I don’t believe our good fortune,” Sohrae remarked.
“I am going to Jahrae,” llhaesa announced. Be ready to act. Addie, stay in close touch to what you feel.
I will bring a second weapon for Jahrae; she will fight once free. Wish us luck!”
Llhaesa set off alone, working the left side of the chamber, staying low to the ground, the darkness of this side providing excellent cover. The effort to reach Jahrae took a half hour of nerve racking and tense minutes of starts and stops, but Addie knew when llhaesa successfully arrived, sharing this with Sohrae.
Jahrae was in diminished light rather than the darker area of llhaesa’s passage. Llhaesa saw that Jahrae was asleep as she moved closer, softly but steadily, still hugging the ground as she crawled along, pulling forward with her elbows.
Reaching Jahrae, llhaesa whispered in her ear, once, twice, thrice. Finally, Jahrae stirred, her mind taking time to adjust and take in that this was not dream, that llhaesa was in fact here with her.
“Shhhh.” Llhaesa whispered, putting a hand over her partner’s mouth. Drawing her weapon, she risked vaporising the chain tether; no one noticed as it glowed and faded away. Thereafter, she used her hands to untie the rope and pull off the duct tape that confined Jahrae.
“’Essa, you are a sight to see!” Jahrae whispered. “Are all the Taliban defeated?”
“No. There are ten left of them. There are four of us, counting you. Here, I brought you something,” llhaesa produced the second weapon.
“Who is with you, a team from AISV?”
“Um, Sohrae is with me, as is Addison.”
“Addison! Are you crazy?” Jahrae reacted with incredulity, her body pulling forward, her eyes looking for explanation.
“Shhhh! Yes, Addison; long story, no time, tell later. Trust her, trust us. Now you are the military whiz kid, we need your mind focusing on this tactically.
Addie and Sohrae are just outside the chamber on the other end. All of the Taliban are now off to our left, Addie and Sohrae’s right.
Wait…” llhaesa paused, holding up a hand, gesturing for Jahrae to give her space to sort through and evaluate the strong sensation stirring within. “Addie is upset…someone is coming toward us, J’har. This is it.”
Jahrae looked up just as llhaesa said the words, the approaching person reacting as he saw llhaesa with Jahrae. He raised his weapon, but before it reached a 45° angle on the uplift, Jahrae fired her weapon, the Taliban soldier disappearing.
Shouting erupted as nine men scrambled for their weapons and moved to get themselves into defensive positions. One fired his weapon towards the outside of the chamber, the bullet striking stone, ricocheting, and in another fortuitous event in favour of the team, the bullet struck one of the Taliban soldiers, wounding him sufficiently to prevent further involvement in the fighting.
Llhaesa could see the tip of a weapon about fifty meters away, an outcropping of rock well protecting its bearer. Calculating options, llhaesa fired her weapon at an angle, searing the exposed barrel to glowing, melting the metal just enough.
The soldier called out with laughter, thinking her effort futile. Knowing attention was upon him, he intended to show his fierceness, doing so by peaking out and firing the weapon. The barrel exploded as the misshapen blocked passage prevented discharge of the bullet, the soldier screaming as the explosion impacted his face and hands.
“Seven others left by my count, J’har. Things are looking up,” llhaesa dryly deadpanned, dropping another off a higher ledge within the chamber, the soldier trying to use height to his advantage. Intentional in her aim, the weapon struck a point just behind the soldier, shattering rock and tossing him off his flimsy toehold and to the cave floor, unconscious.
A momentary sense of fierceness washed through llhaesa as he struck the floor, taking her a split second to differentiate and realise Addie fought another soldier physically. Although she knew not the details, the feeling lasted ten seconds and stopped, with a new sense of Addie running high on adrenaline.
“Five left, J’har.”
“What? How do you know-“
Llhaesa looked at Jahrae and said nothing, her proud smile telegraphing the reason.
“Addison; you sensed it right?”
“Yes.”
“Wow! You know Omar is one of the remaining Taliban, right?”
“Yes. I would like to take him with us, alive.”
“We think alike, ‘essa, most often, including now, but he is mine to subdue.”
“He is all yours.”
“By the way, what took you so long?” Jahrae remarked, teasing, adding a bit of levity in surreal conditions.
“Took me so long? You were captured two days ago!” llhaesa looked at her partner with a quick, disbelieving glance, her attention immediately returning to surveying cave environs. “How much faster can one rescue a hostage from this primal area?”
“Immediately?”
“And how was I to know you were a hostage, Ms ‘I think it should be me who meets them’?” Before Jahrae could say anything, llhaesa remarked, “Damn, Addie just physically took out another one. Our daughter, the proud and fierce warrior, protector of life; who knew?
Make that four on four now, J’har. Damn, but she is driven. She could take out a tiger right now.
It is time to ask for their surrender; enough of this.”
“No! If you ask, Omar will evaluate circumstance, see no way out, and likely take his own life. I wish him to remain alive.
That means we have to capture him whilst fighting, overcome when he does not think he will lose.
Jahrae yelled out in Pashto. “Mohammed Omar! Two days ago, you spoke of your strength, of the weakness of women compared to you.
Are these the words of a boastful man who is all talk, unable to back up what he tells his compatriots of his great prowess?”
Pausing, Jahrae waited to see if he would take the initial bait. Not yet. While awaiting a response, llhaesa communicated with Sohrae, advising of their intent to capture Omar, and to keep any advancing troops away.
“Mohammed, are you listening to me?” Jahrae tried to push further. “I know you can hear me, and to pretend you do not is yet another manifestation of your idle and empty boasting, your incapability of doing.
I propose you fight me. You, who claim bravery as your mantra, you who claim women should be uneducated, you who believe women weak, who believe women should be subservient. Are you man enough to back up your words with your deeds…or are you all talk?”
Jahrae stopped there, waiting. Seconds passed, although in the current conditions, knowing exact passage of time was at best a poor guess.
A voice echoed from off to her left side. “How is it you propose we fight, woman?”
“Hand to hand, no weapons.”
A laugh claimed audible dominance within the chamber, replacing the anticipated words of acceptance or denial. As the laugh ended, his response followed. “This is foolish; you give yourself up, anticipating you might prove your feisty delusion of equality? Very well, I accept your terms. Drop your weapon and come out, as will I.”
Jahrae dropped her weapon where it would be visible from afar, watching from cover to see if he did the same. He did.
Addie, Sohrae, and llhaesa remained behind cover, their weapons ready.
The two adversaries moved tentatively, finally reaching the centre, standing but a metre apart. Llhaesa caught a glimpse of movement out of the corner of her right eye, one of the three remaining soldiers moving on Addison. She stood and fired, ending that threat, and his life.
Addie’s surprise and dismay at the surprise attack stirred strong within llhaesa, these emotions washed over and replaced by steadfast will, a mind determined. Seeing another soldier exposed but six metres away intently watching the imminent skirmish between Jahrae and Mohammed Omar, Addison charged, catching the soldier off guard. Two solid strikes with forceful, mercurial moves made short work of him, leaving but one other soldier in cover and posing a continuing threat.
Panicking, this last soldier sprang from his hiding place midway between llhaesa and Addison, taking aim not at Addison, but at Jahrae. Llhaesa, hurriedly reacting to the threat, fired, striking the man’s forearm and weapon, both disappearing. He collapsed into unconsciousness, the wound instantly cauterised, a scream caught in his throat.
Using this last wounded and collapsing solider as a deceitful diversion, Mohammed Omar drew a knife from behind his back, the covering diversion failing to deceive the witnessing Addison. Seeing the long and serrated blade now held by the wildly grinning Omar, Jahrae’s hands came up in defence, while Omar worked for advantage in positioning, the two circling around a common centre of gravity, eyes locked one upon the other, searching for weakness.
Llhaesa stepped forward, moving toward the centre chamber and the two combatants, carefully watching their circular dance. Addison joined with her, both moving closer; each knowing that before them was a high stakes match that must end with only one outcome.
The positions between Omar and Jahrae remained the same relative to one another, but shifted to the others as they circled, looking for the right moment to strike.
Omar circled to a spot that left him with his right, weapon held side to Addison, who having had enough, leapt forward through the air, seizing Omar’s knife wielding arm with both hands while in mid-leap, forcefully bringing the arm down against her rising knee, snapping the limb as if a twig. The knife fell away as Addison resettled to the ground, other sound within the chamber lost in a scream formed of anger and physical distress.
Unfinished, a millisecond after her feet regained purchase, Addie spun the shocked Taliban leader around with her left hand yet retaining a firm hold, her right hand coming up to strike square in his face, knocking the broken leader unconscious.
“Weak my arse, you moron,” Addie softly declared, to Omar, to the Taliban, to the universe, while pulling her striking hand away. She let loose her grip upon his limp body, turning and walking away toward other tasks, letting Mohammed Omar symbolically drop in place, to insignificance, upon the hard cave floor.
