In a well-concealed cave at the foot of the mountain ridge, Abdul had just replaced the radio microphone in its cradle. “Sayeed, take one man and check out the smoke plume, see if the pilot is alive. If he is not, bring his body and all papers here, if he is alive, do the same. Any questions?” He asked.
“It is almost dark; will it do any good to search for anyone now, would it not be better to try in the morning when we can see?”
“You will go out and search tonight! Allah will guide you. Do you understand?”
“Understood.” He said picking up his rifle, yelling as he went. “Saif, meet me at the vehicle with your rifle, now! We are going hunting.”
A few minutes later, the two men threw extra canteens of water in the bed of the beat-up Japanese made pick-up. The engine turned protesting at first then with a cough it began a labored weak whining roar. “We are to look in this area, are you familiar with it?”
“La” stated Saif. ‘I am not, but with your expertise and Allah’s guidance we can not fail.”
“Yes, when we capture the infidel, we will be looked upon with favor by the Imam.
“Turn your lights on high, you stupid son of a camel driver. How do expect to see anyone out there.”
“A thousand pardons, I was not thinking.” He said flicking the lever of the light switch from low to high beam. As he worked the lever, he was thinking to himself, if we can see them better, could they not see us better also? After years of battling with the Americans, Saif was well aware martyrdom can come without warning from the skies.
As the hours passed, the driver spoke up. “Sayeed, we are dangerously close to running out of fuel and I added the last extra can we had during our last stop, as you remember.”
“Very well, turn back toward our station. It should not be more than twenty kilometers away. We will get an early start tomorrow.” Making a wide turn in the dark landscape, their vehicle's headlights sweeping the barren, rocky plains, they began the trek back to the makeshift headquarters located in the cave
.
Not far from where they turned around, the two Americans picked themselves up from the ground. “That was close. The only bad thing, it may have been tribal people who are friendly, but it may have been Taliban or Al-Qaeda troops just as easy.” Captain Poole was saying. “It is 0400 hours, and will be getting light very shortly. Start looking for anyplace we can hole up Colonel.” Both men were shivering in the cold of the desert night.
“I don’t know what I want most, a jacket or a drink of water.” Colonel Housley replied. The Colonel was pointing to a rock formation in the distance that appeared to be the start of the ever-rising terrain leading up into the mountains. “Looks like a place to lay low about two or three klicks off to the left just a little.”
“Looks good Colonel lets head over that way.”
The sun was breaking over the mountains, when the two men found themselves climbing into the rock formations. “Captain, look over there, is that a pool of water?”
Looking where Colonel Housley was pointing, he said. “Yes it is.” Holding his side, he climbed down into the small valley in the rocks to see the source of small pool. Looking around, he saw tracks of small birds and animals. “It’s safe to drink.”
“How do you know that?”
“Animals don’t drink bad water.” He said pointing out the tracks.
Sating their thirst, they sought the security of the rocks, taking up positions from they could see the surrounding area without being seen. One could safely serve as lookout while the other could sleep.
“Get up! You have slept long enough, or do you want night duty like those two over there?” Sayeed was telling the conscript.” Get some breakfast and then I want to put an extra can of gas in the vehicle and get ready to hunt the American pilot. We know about where the aircraft crashed, that will be our starting point. We should be able to see where he headed from there.”
“I will take care of it right away.” Saif said as he was hurrying away from the senior Mujahedeen.
“These new fighters are so worthless, they would be better off back herding goats.” He said to the two sleeping forms.
Fifteen minutes later the vehicle pulled to the front of the cave. “If you are ready, this worthless individual is at your disposal.”
“What supplies did you bring?”
“As you requested, I have loaded an extra twenty liters of gas, four canteens of water and food for the day.”
Surprised at the properness of the fresh fighter, he said nothing. “Well, what are you waiting for, let’s go!”
Without further words, the young Mujahedeen put the pickup in gear and began the long drive to the area where they had seen the smoke plume the day before. As they traversed the rough trail along side the towering mountain, the senior soldier kept a sharp eye toward anything unusual in the area. At last, they came upon the area where they thought the aircraft had crashed. “Stop here fool; this is where the airplane is.”
Stopping the pickup, the young man thought to himself. “You are mistaken, the site is about five kilometers further north. “Yes Sayeed, would you have me wait here or accompany you to the crash site?”
“Wait here, but be alert. I will return with the American dog in a few moments.”
“Na’am, I will keep alert.”
“OK Colonel, let me sleep about three or four hours. I haven’t seen anything moving. You may see a pickup or two, but just let them go by. It is too risky to flag one of them down. Here, take this pistol, don’t use it unless it’s an absolute emergency.” Still favoring his side, Captain Poole tried to make himself more comfortable. Watch the sky for a drone, helicopter or aircraft, higher up’s know where the crash site is, so they know we are not far from it. If I am thinking right, they will guess we headed southeast toward the road and will be looking it this area. If you see a drone or aircraft, try to signal them with something shiny, don’t expose yourself, wave your arms and hope they see you.”
“I never thought I would find myself in the sort of predicament.” Housley said.
“Everyone needs a little excitement in their lives every once in a while.”
“Yeah, this sort of excitement can get you killed graveyard dead.” Housley remarked tartly as he took his place on the rocks, trying to stay in the shade as much as possible.
Chapter 5