no idea that it was the CIA and not the FBI who had saved their daughters from a grisly fate.
Back at the office, the team was debriefed. Lynda was becoming quite the hero at saving young girls; that was not the task of the CIA, it actually belonged to the FBI. She was now considered to be an experienced field agent, even though she had not yet had her nineteenth birthday.
A few weeks later, they celebrated her birthday in style. Her parents were invited to the office.
Tom called Lynda into his office the morning after her birthday. He said, “I am giving you what is called a ‘field promotion.’ It comes with a sizable increase in salary. You will now be making fifty thousand a year.”
Lynda was ecstatic. That was more money than she could imagine. She wanted to kiss Tom. She took the afternoon off and went shopping. She bought herself a new wardrobe. She was tired of wearing miniskirts to work. She still felt naked with them on. She bought expensive clothes, some that were tailored to fit her. They made her look even better than she already did.
Two weeks later, Marilyn came back to work on Monday morning. They had a little party for her in the break room. Bobby called her “The Red-Headed Wonder.” Bobby gave everyone nice nicknames. He called Lynda “The Blonde Bomber.” Because Ted was an expert marksman, he named him “One-Shot Ted.” He called Tom “Da Boss!” Because Wayne was a little grumpy, Bobby named him “Wicked Wayne!” Being somewhat arrogant, Bobby labeled himself, “The Main Squeeze.”
Tom, a.k.a. “Da Boss,” called Ted and Lynda in. He was sending them to Afghanistan, to Kabul. The local CIA operative had been assassinated, and they were to run the office until he could find a replacement. Lynda would be head of the center, and Ted would be responsible for security. Ted was about six feet tall, had blondish brown hair, blue eyes, and rugged good looks. Lynda was somewhat attracted to Ted, but not as much as she had been to Billy. Ted was very attracted to Lynda, but tried hard to treat her as a younger sister. They had no romantic inclinations, yet.
They were outfitted in regular army-style camo clothes. They were to blend in with the American Army Troops. They even had camo backpacks. They were given two guns each, but Ted was not allowed to take his sniper rifle. This meant that each of them had three guns, and boxes of ammo. Ted treated Lynda like she had never used a gun before, and loaded her clips for her.
They flew on the company jet to Germany, where they spent the night, in different rooms. Ted wanted to save money and have only one room, but Lynda nixed his plans.
They flew from Germany to Kabul and landed at the airport that was surrounded by US Troops. Ted felt right at home. He had been here before. Lynda was a little intimidated when they were given helmets and Ted was given an M-16. They were given body armor. Lynda’s did not fit too well, and squeezed her breasts, but she made it work. “One-Shot Ted” offered to give her a massage, but she declined. She was getting irritated at him. Ted thought that he was being cute. Lynda thought that he was just a nuisance.
Upon arrival they went straight to the CIA center. Lynda was expecting one like she had already been to. This one was high tech. Lots of computers, technicians, and it was a real hub of activity. They were tracking various persons, using satellites. Lynda and Ted had been trained on the systems, but had not really believed that they would ever see them in action. They were impressive.
Immediately people began to come up to her and ask her for decisions. She knew that she was in way over her head. She tried reading the documents that were handed to her, but there were just too many. Ted was no help. He was busy checking their security. He found several weak spots and beefed up security immediately.
Whenever Lynda wanted to go somewhere, Ted was always there with her. He had found four men to stay with her in a circle, and she was guarded heavily.
Finally, she had enough. She called “One-Shot” into a private office and sat down with him. She said, “Ted, you are making me out to be quite a target. I don’t need so much security. If you just left me alone, no one would know who I am, and I would be left alone.”
Ted stood up. He took a deep breath. He said, “Lynda, you just don’t get it. You are a beautiful young woman; you clearly stand out in a crowd. You have to let me do my job!”
She responded, “Ted, I am giving you an order: leave the security behind. I will tell you when I need security. If I don’t tell you that I need it, just protect the facility here, understand?”
Ted backed down. He said, “I got it, boss!” She had really hurt his feelings.
That very afternoon, she put her hair in a ponytail, put on her helmet. Took a back-up gun, and went for a walk down the main street. It was full of US troops. She felt safe.
A car was following her. Her mind went to Ted. If he didn’t stop following her everywhere, she was going to send him back home.
The car pulled up even with her and three men got out all wearing US uniforms. They all had long beards. This was not unusual for Seals and Rangers: they often had to blend in with the locals. Only these three men surrounded her, hit her in the face, and dragged her to the car.
A US military policeman saw the incident and yelled, “Halt!” He fired at the three men, but only hit the car.
The car zoomed off with Lynda inside it. Her wrists were taped together quickly and tape was placed across her mouth. One of the men stuck a gun barrel into her stomach. She was as scared as the day that Billy had been shot.
The MP recognized Lynda, and hurried back to CIA headquarters and notified Ted. By using satellite reconstruction, they were able to see the incident and follow the car to a house. Now they knew where they were keeping her. Ted notified local military command, and was given use of a squad of Army Rangers.
Ted and the Rangers drove in an Army deuce and a half to the house, and the squad got out and surrounded it. Ted had no idea what to do next.
Shortly a combat squad showed up, dressed in heavy armor. They would make a forced entry into the house and attempt a rescue.
The car wheeled into the house’s garage and the door was closed quickly. Lynda was literally dragged out of the car and hauled into the house, and dragged down into a cellar. Her helmet was ripped off, and a man stood in front of her with a long knife. He looked closely at her long blonde hair and cut a few strands off. Lynda wiggled, but could do or say nothing.
The man attempted to cut her clothes off, but her body armor resisted the knife. He cut the tape off her hands, and men appeared and held each arm. She tried to break free, but two more men came in and held her from the back. They unbuttoned her shirt, took it off, then unfastened her body armor and removed it. They pulled her pants and boots off, and she was tied with her arms outstretched.
A movie camera was brought in and a man in a hood stood by her. He was holding a very long sword. He stared into the camera and said, “If our demands are not met, in twenty-four hours we will behead the American woman.” Their demands were shown on a piece of paper. Lynda was photographed in just her bra and panties. She was just happy that she was not naked. She was told that she was to get nothing to drink or eat unless she begged for it.
She had stood there stoically for two hours when a man came in and tightened the ropes holding her arms out. It was painful, but she could stand it. It was just that her arms were going to sleep. He stood in front of her and ran his fingers all over her body. She got cold chills from it. There were constantly men coming in looking at her neck. She knew that it was to intimidate or scare her into submission.
After two more hours her legs were starting to give way. She sagged, but the pain in her arms was terrible.
Ted was watching the house. No one had gone in or left. A new instrument was brought up. It would let them look through the walls with infrared radar. It showed some men inside, but no Lynda. Where could she be?
Ted held off on the raid until he knew exactly where Lynda was. Then he saw me
n go through a door, and disappear. They must have a cellar. That really complicated things. The men in the cellar would have warning, and plenty of time to kill Lynda if the US troops made entry as they had planned.
An informant came up and talked to them. He wanted to be paid in US dollars. Ted paid him.
The informant told them that this was the house where people were taken to be beheaded. They were tortured, and movies were taken of the beheading. The informant said that they were probably torturing her right now. Ted did not know what to do.
An American Major showed up and said, “We need to plan a raid, where we sneak into the house during the dark of night.” He showed Ted how they had done rescue missions before. To Ted, the Major seemed experienced in all this, and Ted trusted him. The Major took command of the situation.
Lynda was now in extreme pain. The ropes had been tightened again. Her arms felt like they were going to be pulled off. The man came in and ran his fingers all over her again. When he stood in front of her she kicked at him, catching him in the groin. He doubled up in pain and fell to the floor. She said, “You son of a bitch, let me go, do you hear me!”
He pulled out a pocket knife and came at Lynda from the side. He held the knife up to her neck, and pricked at her chin. She could feel blood