Interdiction, W.Addison Gast [room on the broom read aloud .txt] 📗

release required or anything, I’ll just give you to him and his group. They don’t keep very good records of prisoner exchanges either from what I have heard. After the Moussad get you, there is not much record keeping that takes place. People just seem to disappear. One thing I want to leave with you. Never think about going into business Pal because you certainly don’t know a good deal when it’s presented to you and I want you to think back on this conversation every time they stick a needle in your ass in the next week or so. CIAO and adios”
DJ instructed the guard to return Raj to his restraint area.
“Hard case huh?” DJ said as he looked into the lap top.
“Not very smart I’d say DJ. Did you see his body language when you mentioned that torture with the kid—is that true?
“According to the good colonel Danny, according to him it is.”
“DJ, we have a situation alert from the Pakis. An event has taken place that they are going live on the system in twenty minutes that may have some importance to your operation there. We’ll keep on top and pull you in if it is relevant”
“Roger. We are about two and half hours out of Kabul so give us a call if it rings any bells. Sheepherder out.”
DJ closed the lap top and leaned back in the seat. His thoughts turned to where the clandestine “Bio-Five” had disappeared to. That was a good name he thought, the Bio-Five, even if he did know all of the names in Badra’s group thanks to Abu Al Khayr.


Chapter 19
Eighteen miles from the India Pakistan border

The road was full of shrapnel from the aircraft that bombed and patrolled the road on a daily basis. Badra had changed a tire twice now since they stole the truck from the goat farmer at the river crossing and there were no more spare tires. It made little difference as the group should soon meet their contact that would get them into India without alerting the allied command. Only a few more miles to the maintenance station and there they would get the next set of plans from a contact there. As the truck pulled into the large open area used as a maintenance station by the local transport companies, it was obvious that things were not normal. There was a large crowd of drivers surrounding a large recreational vehicle with a government license plate. Badra drove by very slowly and saw what the attraction was. The TV in the RV was showing the catastrophe at Lahore. The news commentator was moving from talking heads in the station to live on the spot scenes by the canal in downtown Lahore. Badra immediately turned the truck away from the crowd and drove to the most remote spot on the parking area. There, she drove the truck into the trees as far as possible with the front pointing out to the main road. To any drivers pulling into the area it would appear as if the driver and occupants of the truck were just looking for some shade to rest in. It was too risky for Badra to return to the TV in the recreational vehicle to see more of the news event so she instructed Haydar to go see what he could. Dressed in his levis, sweatshirt from the airport that said CORONA in gold letters and his Lakers cap, he looked like the typical long haul driver that stopped in the area. Goat took off his large dark sunglasses that he had purchased at the airport and gave them to Haydar. Haydar now looked like any of the others looking at the TV.
The commentator was giving the horrible details on the event and at the same time in the upper right corner of the picture was……….a video of BADRA talking!!! It almost made Haydar let out a loud O No! However, his training told him to be quiet, observe as much as possible, speak to no one and then get back to the truck. It was not a pretty sight. There were hundreds of bodies laid out in the open parking lot by the canal that ran through the center of the city. Red Cross trucks, ambulances and several military trucks were around the area. Men in protective gear were bringing the bodies to the parking lot where they were immediately placed in sanitized body bags. The commentator was saying that all along the river from the bridge crossing of the highway into Lahore to the city itself, dead bodies were piling up and more were being added to the casualty list as people were disregarding the warning not to go into the water and as they did, they collapsed after several minutes and were dead.
The TV then went full screen to Badra and her threat to the city fathers for not giving aid to the Taliban group that requested their help only two weeks earlier. AS Haydar watched in horror at the happenings on the screen, he heard the trucks. Looking back at the highway, a large, long convoy of Indian Military was heading west to Lahore. Several had the BIOHAZMAT symbol painted on the side.
Haydar tried to keep from running but eventually broke into a jog-like run back to the truck and his group.
“Your video is running on all the stations and there are thousands of people dying alongside the river and in town.” His voice was trembling and he was very animated. “They are comparing what happened to the use of an atomic bomb Badra!! They are threatening reprisals on the Taliban wherever they may be. These people are very upset!!”
“Praise Allah! We have given the infidels reason to know now that we are very much alive and a definite threat to those that oppose us and refuse to work with their Islamic brethren!” Badra was almost financial as she danced and gestured in her rejoicing
Haydar pulled out the radio he had taken from the policeman he killed back at the restroom and turned it on. It had a lot of static but there were emergency crews coming to Lahore from all over the country. India was sending relief teams by air and the Afghan Red Cross was on the scene doing what they could. The description that the officer was calling into the headquarters on the radio indicated that there were more bodies than the morgue was going to be able to handle. He heard no mention about their group or any transmissions about the dead officers they had left at the rest stop.
Badra’s cell phone rang twice. It was the first time any of their phones had rang since they were given to them back at the training camp.
She answered in Farsi and continued to speak to the caller in straight talk-no code or call names.
We will be at the far end of the parking area when you get here. No, we have only the clothes we left the camp with…..hurry because as you know by now, they have seen the video. Yes, we will be ready. Out. Badra turned off the cell phone and told the group to stay together under the trees and out of sight if possible.
It was about an hour later when a yellow Mercedes with dust and much road residue drove slowly past where the group was assembled. It turned and as it approached the area where Badra and the others were standing, Badra placed her hands on top of her head then on her hips. The Mercedes stopped and two Indian men with turbans climbed out of the car and walked toward Badra. They greeted and then the three came over to the group. The first Indian looked closely at all the men’s faces and then asked if any of the group spoke a dialect of Farsi that was peculiar to a certain part of Saudi Arabia. None answered in the affirmative. He then asked if anyone in the group considered their English to be of college quality and could they inject a British accent. Haydar stepped forward and told the man that he considered his English ability qualified to perform whatever the man needed.
“From this point on and until you are safely on the Indian side of this border, do not speak anything but English. Do not speak Farsi, Pashtu or Urdu among yourselves even when you think you are alone. There will be people around you that will be listening to your words and if you break this instruction, you will all be captured and turned over to the Indian authorities and most likely executed on the spot. Is this instruction clear to all?” He asked the group.
Haydar answered “Yes Sir”
The Indian looked at Haydar, smiled and in English said; “Very good”
The Indian then spoke with Badra and returned to the Mercedes where he brought back to the group several jackets, coats and other apparel that indicated they were about to start a hike into the mountains behind the parking area. After all the clothing was distributed and the group properly outfitted, the Indian led them to an opening in the trees just off of the parking lot where there was now a trail that headed east into the mountains. After they had walked less than a mile from the parking area, they were met by six mountain tribesmen on horseback. The Indian was talking to Badra and the older tribesman in a language Haydar had never heard before. The other tribesmen had dismounted and were feeding and watering their animals. While they were waiting on Badra or the Indian to return with more instructions, Haydar pulled the stolen radio from his pocket and turned it on thinking that he could learn more about the scene back in Lahore. The Indian quickly turned to look at where the sound of the radio was coming from. He saw Haydar with it in his hand and came over and grabbed it from him.
“Where did this come from? You were not given this radio from the training camp were you? Where did you get this?”
The Indian was furious. He took the radio and slammed it to the ground and then took the rifle from the tribesman standing watching in astonishment and smashed it again and again as if he was taking out his frustration on the stolen hand held device rather than Haydar. Then, he straightened up and looked at Haydar and slapped him very hard across his right cheek. When Haydar tried to get up, the Indian again kicked him in the chest. Badra stepped in and the Indian got a hold of his composure and yelled at Haydar; “You fool, you idiot. Did you not get training on such devices? You have compromised our position by using that radio!”
“I did not transmit anything! The microphone was never keyed how could that compromise anything?” Haydar was screaming back at the Indian.
“The police use a combination cell phone and radio frequency device such as this one was. It has a built-in GPS that transmits the global position of every time it is turned on. When you turned that radio on, it sent a GPS signal to the main headquarters indicating where it is now located. Our only hope is, that they have not thought of looking at the log of where that device has been used today. .Come we must hurry”
At this point, five of the tribesmen that had ridden in with their leader started walking back up the trail. Haydar mounted the small horse and adjusted himself in the saddle and watched Badra do the same. The group then headed up the trail into the mountains. It was