Chapter 6
Going on Vacation
Cairo, Egypt – Spring, 1998
Elspeth had been trained as to what she might expect, but she was nonetheless surprised on her arrival at the airport in Cairo. From the moment she landed it was a struggle. Not only was the airport rather shabby, customs was a disaster. It took three hours for her to clear customs, not because the line was long, but more so due to the fact that those in traditional Islamic attire simply cut in line. And of course, they were nearly all males, but where they were not, they were followed by one or more ghostly beings dressed in flowing black burkas that Elspeth assumed must have been their female family members.
To make matters worse, everyone ignored unaccompanied women, especially those in western garb. Elspeth was thus obliged to wait until there came a break in arrivals sufficient for the lines to disappear altogether. When the opportunity finally arose she approached one of the windows, and although she was treated condescendingly by the border agent, her visa was in perfect order and she was finally admitted to Egypt.
Fortunately for her, she had reserved a limousine to the Mena House Hotel. Otherwise, she might not have been able to get a taxi. Such was the treatment of women. Furthermore, although she was fluent in Arabic, she could locate no one that would speak with her due to the fact that she was clearly foreign. She had been forewarned, but she was nonetheless surprised to discover that this was a world that would require significant adjustment.
Once she had settled into the hotel, she slept straight through for eighteen hours. Awakened refreshed, she was now ready to tackle the challenge at hand. The hotel arranged for a local advocate, their version of a lawyer, to accompany her everywhere and speak on her behalf. She assumed that he was spying on her, but under the circumstances there was little alternative. Besides, she was really only there on personal business.
The first place that she went was to the American Embassy where, due to her position with the DIA, she was able to gain entry to the records section. Shortly thereafter she was able to verify that Farhan Rahman had entered the U.S. legally in 1991, and that there were no suspicions regarding him at the Cairo office. Unfortunately, there was little else of use to be gleaned at the embassy.
Later that day she visited the Cairo City Records Bureau, where she hoped to find any official records regarding Farhan. Her guide was able to help her somewhat in this regard. There were no records regarding Farhan, other than that he had attended parochial school in Asyut. On a whim, Elspeth decided to check records for Anna Morton, and her guide was able to determine that Anna had been born the daughter of Sefira Yemeni and one Alexander James Morton, a citizen of England, in January, 1971. Subsequently searching for marriage records, her guide was unable to locate records that Anna’s parents had ever wed, at least not in Cairo. Interestingly, her guide could also find no records whatsoever regarding one Alexander James Morton.
After that Elspeth hit a dead end. It was time to fly to Asyut, so Elspeth booked a flight the following morning. Arriving in Asyut, she found it to be much less hostile to western women, and she was able to go directly to the Asyut City Records Bureau, where she was able to determine that Farhan was born in February, 1971, the son of Alfred James Wharton, a citizen of England, and Tarraza Rahman of Asyut. Once again, she could find no record that Farhan’s parents had ever married, at least not in Asyut.
That afternoon Elspeth caught the return flight to Cairo, whereupon she returned to the Mena House. Since she still had two days before her scheduled return flight to the U.S., she decided to go over everything she had discovered and see if any ideas struck her.
She realized almost immediately that there were some suspicious similarities between Anna’s and Farhan’s parentage. First of all, they were born only a month apart, with Farhan’s home being in Asyut, further up the Nile than Cairo. Secondly, both were sired by an Englishman, and in each case the father had seemingly failed to marry their mother, but had imparted to both children pale blue eyes. Now came the really strange part – both fathers seemed to have startlingly similar names, as if the same person had chosen one or both names as aliases. Elspeth was now uncomfortably concerned that Farhan and Anna might in fact be half-siblings. Given this possibility, the trail now pointed towards England, where Elspeth hoped to discover more about the father or fathers listed on the two birth certificates. She didn’t want to think about the possibility if he turned out to not be from England. Still, given these revelations she decided it best to forego contacting Anna.
The following day produced no further evidence of significance, so that with yet another day to go before her return flight, Elspeth was inclined to see the sites. Accordingly, the hotel booked a private tour for her to visit the Great Pyramids, as well as Dashur and Saqqara. And just to reassure her, they booked the selfsame advocate to be her guide for the day.
Elspeth locked her passport in the hotel safe and set off to visit the sites, with Saqqara being the final stop. In Saqqara she was treated to the Step Pyramid, the very first pyramid ever built, having been constructed by Imhotep for the Pharaoh Djoser. Afterwards, her guide took her through several smaller pyramids, ending with one that was separated from the others by quite some distance. Unlike the others, this one was not lighted, so that they were obliged to carry a torch within. Once inside, her guide began speaking, when his torch suddenly blinked off, and Elspeth felt her heart jump into her throat as she heard an ominous sound from quite close by, and then she felt a hand grabbing her by the throat as another covered her mouth with what she could only assume was chloroform. Her attempted scream was muffled, and a moment later she lost consciousness.
Mountainous Desert – Days Later
Elspeth had been dreaming. It was a very dark dream, one that she had not had for many years. She had been running along a dark alley, a small light in the distance her only avenue of escape. And then suddenly, her eyelids fluttered and, a light shining into her eyes, she was dragged into consciousness.
“Ow!” she complained in half-conscious irritation, “Get that light out of my eyes. It hurts, damn it!”
“She is awake, Muhamed!” the man called over his shoulder. “Better come quick, she is coming around.”
Elspeth understood what he was saying, but she realized that he was speaking Arabic.
Now replying in Arabic herself, she queried, “What the…where am I? Who are you?”
“Shut up, Western woman!” the man replied, and to make his point, he raised his hand as if to strike her.
At that moment a second man appeared before her, saying, “Do not hit her, Assan. You know what Sheikh bin Laden ordered – we may use her as we wish, but we may not hurt her physically in any way.”
“I wasn’t going to hit her,” Assan responded in apparent frustration, “I was just attempting to show her my superiority over her.”
“Good, Assan. That is excellent thinking. These Western women are very cunning. We must be on our toes at all times. She shall never escape us out here in the desert, but we must make her bend to our will. And if we are successful, she will make a fine slave, one that will serve our every need until such time as Sheikh bin Laden orders her return to headquarters,” and at this he turned and spat forcefully on Elspeth.
Silently standing back for a moment, he gaged her state of awareness and, seeing that she was by now fully conscious, he ordered, “We know not who you are infidel woman, therefore in this camp you will be known as Kichik It, which is Uzbeki for Little Dog. You will do our every wish, and I mean every wish, and you will never EVER speak unless spoken to. Am I clear?”
Fear welling up within her, Elspeth silently nodded her understanding.
“Excellent. Now, there is no point in attempting to escape. You have no idea where you are, and you shall never know. But suffice it to say that you are deep within the Islamic world, and from this world there is no escape. We shall feed you and keep you alive,
but you must always remain completely enshrouded within your burka. In the world you now live in, showing any portion of your body other than your eyes is severely punishable. Do you understand?”
Elspeth nodded yet a second time.
“Excellent. Now, Muslim men are like western men in that they from time to time need the intimacy of a woman’s body. You will provide that intimacy for all of us in this camp. However, you are to take no proactive action of any kind during this intimacy. The man who approaches you will be responsible for such actions, and he will undertake to maintain your personal privacy and comfort throughout such intimacy. Do you understand?”
Elspeth could do naught but nod forlornly yet a third time.
“Excellent. Now, get some sleep. Tomorrow we will give you your work assignment. We will begin at sunrise.”
Elspeth closed her eyes to block out the reality that she had just been apprised of, but for her there would not be, indeed could not be, any sleep that long and horrifying night.
The Following Morning
Elspeth was nudged shortly before sunrise and, feigning sleep, she sought to put off the impending day. But to no avail, the second signal was quite beyond a nudge, forcing an unintended yelp from her lips. Seeing she was awake, Muhamed ordered, “Up, Kichik It! Time for you to become a follower of Allah. Up, woman!”
At this, Elspeth rolled over and tugged herself upright. Standing uncertainly before him, she realized that he was nearly twice her size. And his beard gave him a particularly sinister appearance in the grey morning light. She started to say something but, recalling the lesson of the previous night, she staunched her response to a tiny grunt.
Observing her self-effacing demeanor, Muhamed muttered briskly, “Good, you are a fast learner. I believe that you will serve us well, Kichik It. Now, follow me,” and with that Elspeth’s enslavement began in earnest.
By noon she was exhausted from performing whatever chore she was commanded to do, but that was as nothing compared to the searing afternoon heat. Immediately regretting having chosen to visit Egypt in summer, Elspeth suddenly realized that she was in mortal danger just from the elements. Fortunately, it was clear from the mountainous terrain surrounding her that she was no longer in Egypt, there being no mountains of this type in that country.
Recalling the events of the previous evening, she reasoned that she was most likely in Afghanistan, this due to the fact that one of the men had mentioned the name bin Laden. Assuming that it was indeed Osama bin Laden that he had referred to, it was nearly certain that they were in Afghanistan, since Bin Laden’s last known location had been there. Furthermore, bin Laden’s assumed current location, together with Elspeth’s knowledge of the geography of Afghanistan, led her to believe that she was somewhere north of Kabul. If an opportunity ever presented itself for her escape, she knew that this knowledge would prove to be invaluable.
She somehow managed to survive the searing heat, and as day progressed into evening, the heat relented rapidly. By nightfall her chores had abated, and she was allowed to rest. Food was now presented to her and, having eaten nothing since the previous night, she wolfed down as much of something she could only describe as stew as she possibly could. An hour later she was fast asleep.
Awakened in the middle of the night, she felt a hand over her mouth. As she had anticipated it would be, it was Muhamed. Apparently there was some sort of pecking order in the camp, but that made no difference to her, as she was aware that, sooner or later they would all have at her. He was in fact surprisingly gentle, but it in no way lessened her feelings of violation. Reasoning to herself that this was what she would have to live with in order to survive, she did her best to get through it. Afterwards, ignoring the reality of her circumstances no longer a possibility, she sniffled silently to herself until, far into the night, she fell into a tormented sleep.
Boston – The Following Day
Sabrina tugged the phone from its receiver and dialed the number. On hearing the voice on the other end, she inquired, “Is this Roger Preston?” Hearing an affirmative response, she blurted, “Sir, I am Sabrina Stewart. I am the grandmother of Elspeth Moorehead. She appears to be missing. As near as I can tell, she did not come home from vacation.”
The voice responded, “Where exactly did she go, Ms. Stewart?”
“Why, she went to Egypt.”
“Egypt! She isn’t supposed to go to the Middle East without permission!” he replied in obvious concern.
“Yes, I know that,” Sabrina responded, “She just went to visit a friend from college. Her name is Anna Morton. I tried to stop her, but she said it was important.”
“Did she say why it was important, Ms. Stewart?”
“No, she never tells me anything, if you must know.”
“Alright. I will look into it, Ms. Stewart, and I will get back to you shortly. In the meantime, tell no one about this, understood?”
“I understand, but why?”
“Ms. Stewart, it should be apparent to you that if your granddaughter did not return from Egypt she may in fact have been kidnapped, in which case she may be somewhere in captivity within the Middle East.”
“Yes, I know that! Why aren’t we notifying the authorities?”
“Madam, we are the authorities! Your granddaughter is a federal agent. If she is in the hands of insurgents it is best if they do not know that she is an agent until we determine otherwise.”
“Oh, I see. Well, then, please do call me when you know more, Mr. Preston.”
“Certainly,” he responded, “I promise you, Ms. Stewart, you will be the first to know,” and with that he hung up.
Bolling AFB – The Following Day
Roger paced about within his office, eventually inquiring, “Alright gentlemen, have we covered everything? We’ve notified the CIA, and they have been able to ascertain that Elspeth was kidnapped while visiting some damn pyramid out in the desert. A search of her hotel room turned up her passport, so we can presume that the kidnappers may not know Elspeth’s true identity. The CIA is therefore planting false information, that Elspeth is little more than a secretary working for a beltway bandit company here in Washington. Hopefully, that will protect her from being exposed as a U.S. agent for the time being.”
At this, agent Wilson chimed in, asking, “Sir, what did you say was the false name that the CIA planted for her?”
Roger glared at the agent and responded, “I didn’t say, and that’s the way it will remain. We’re trying to keep this unfortunate incident from reaching the press, because if it does, all hell could break loose.”
“How so, sir?” Wilson queried.
“The terrorists are surely attempting to discover whether the false identity that we planted is a fake, and if they discover it is, not only will Elspeth be in mortal danger, she will likely make headlines across the entire world. I don’t need to tell you, Wilson, that could result in an international scandal, not only for the CIA and the DIA, but also for the entire U.S. government. So let’s leave it to the CIA to keep this thing contained. After all, they’re the pros at this stuff. Got it?”
“Yes, sir,” Wilson responded nervously.
With that admonition, Roger commanded, “Alright then, if there are no further questions, let’s get on with it. You each have your assignments. Now get back to work, and may God be with Elspeth Moorehead.”
Afghanistan - Late Summer
Elspeth awoke in the middle of the night, something she had become accustomed to doing of late. Night after night she lay in terror, attempting to find a way through the maze that was her predicament. By now she had been had by the nine men within the camp so many times that she was constantly sore. How she had managed to avoid becoming pregnant, she could only attribute to the fact that she had been on the pill up until her capture. But she had no idea how much longer it would be before she became pregnant, and God help her when that occurred.
To make matters w
orse, she was losing weight rapidly, the food being at times insufficiently nutritious, at other times inducing painful physical discomfort or worse. She was beginning to believe that her true identity had somehow escaped her captors, something that was in the short term probably a good thing. But in the long run, she just might be another nearly forgotten captive, thereby leading to the possibility that she might never be rescued.
The thought that she might live whatever there remained of her life in such circumstances haunted her more and more with each passing day. She was rapidly coming to the conclusion that she would rather die attempting to escape than to become a permanent ‘little dog’ for her captors.
It was no wonder that she remained awake much of each and every night. When they weren’t using her body for their personal pleasure, her waking horrors were exceeded only by her nightmares. She had held on now for three months in hopes that something positive would happen, but her options were rapidly diminishing. If something didn’t happen soon, she was afraid that the possibility of suicide would begin to consume her thoughts.
Saudi Arabia - Fall, 1998
The scribe knocked on the door and, hearing a summons from within, he entered, announcing in Arabic, “Sir, we have received a message from one of our agents in the U.S. I believe it may be of interest to you.”
The elderly man reached toward the scribe and took the paper from his outstretched hand, saying, “What’s so important, Razza?”
“Sir, I believe I heard you mention the name Elspeth Moorehead on more than one occasion.”
At this the elderly man cocked his head and, peering at the sheet of paper, he inquired, “I don’t understand…what does this mean?”
“Sir, it appears that a woman by the name of Elspeth Moorehead was kidnapped by Al Qaeda some months ago in Cairo.”
“What! Why wasn’t I informed of this?”
“Apparently, the CIA gave us false information, thereby leading us to believe that she was someone else, someone of little importance to Al Qaeda. We have just been told today that the woman we captured is in fact named Elspeth Moorehead, perhaps being the selfsame person that I heard you mention.”
At this the elderly man jumped up from his desk and paced about, then inquired, “Where is she now, Razza? Do we still have her in captivity?”
“Yes, sir, I am told that we do.”
“Where is she then?”
“Our agents transported her to Afghanistan shortly after she was captured. She was taken to the main camp, and from there she was placed within a small detachment north of Kabul as a means of ensuring she could not escape. I am informed that she is still within that encampment at this moment.”
At this the elderly man scratched his chin, then commanded abruptly, “Alright, contact Sheikh bin Laden immediately. Tell him to send out a team to bring her back to his camp. Tell him it is extremely important! And tell him that I am boarding my private jet within the hour. I should be at his camp by nightfall.”
“Yes, sir.”
That Same Night
It had now been more than five months since Elspeth’s capture. She was exhausted and distraught, the only piece of information of use she had managed being that she was surely somewhere north of Kabul. She knew that sooner or later she would either become pregnant or ill, and when that occurred she would not live for long. She was by now aware that no help was coming, her only means of survival therefore being escape. Unfortunately, the only possible means of doing so was the small pocket knife she had braided into her hair beneath her hijab. The problem was that there were too many of her captors to even consider the possibility of fighting them off with such a pitiful weapon. But she kept hoping that an opportunity would come when there were not so many of them present at one time.
An opportunity arose unexpectedly one night when three of her captors were sent out on patrol. That left only six, a number still far too numerous for her to defeat, but on that night an idea that had been forming in her mind for several months seemed to crystallize. Waiting until well into the evening, she finally saw her chance. The men had been drinking a bit, and she decided to risk it all in a desperate bid for freedom.
Timidly approaching the group as they sat around the fire, she suddenly grabbed a bottle from one of them and danced into the center of the group, whereupon she swallowed a long drag from the bottle. Then, as if suddenly drunk, she drew one hand to her mouth and stared directly into each man’s eyes, something that Muslim women were explicitly forbidden to do.
And then she blurted inanely, “I can do things you’ve never seen before!”
Bemused by her sudden forwardness, Muhamed blurted nonchalantly, “Like what, infidel woman?”
“I can show you things you’ve never seen before,” she purred and, extending one leg from her burka, she followed with, “perhaps more like this.”
Flapping one arm towards her, he murmured, “Go away, woman, we’ve already seen enough of you, every one of us.”
Having prepared for this comment, she tugged her burka upwards to her waist and writhed seductively as she offered, “Perhaps so, but not like this!” And so saying, she continued to show her attributes to their best advantage. Within seconds she had every man’s full attention, thus allowing her to continue unabated.
“You like this?” she purred as she continued her ministrations and, seeing their unanimous nods of approval, she added, “You see, only an American woman knows these moves. We are highly skilled at using such means to pleasure our men.”
“Infidels! You’re all wicked,” Muhamed muttered, but it was clear that he nonetheless wanted to learn more.
Seeing that her chance had finally arrived, Elspeth slowly removed her burka entirely and, taking another drag from the bottle, she tossed it back with the challenge, “Drink! Drink, you naughty men. Let us party into the night, like you’ve never partied before!” And, just as she had hoped, the bottle was passed and each man took a deep swig from it. Fortunately for her, after one more passing of the bottle one of the men was by now too far gone to be effective, thus reducing her odds to five men.
At this she thought to herself, “This just might be doable.”
She danced about for a few further moments, in the process allowing the alcohol to perform its intended purpose on her captors. Then she slowly removed her hijab, and in the process she secretly withdrew the pocket knife from its long-hidden place within her hair. She was now quite naked and, somehow feeling totally empowered, she writhed slowly about, each man’s eyes following her every bodily move.
Sensing that it was now or never, she moved nervously to the outside of the ring of men and, the firelight by now sufficiently diminished, she writhed very close to Muhamed and, leaning forward from behind with her face to his, she kissed him full on the lips, and as she did so she carefully drew the knife to his throat and, pressing hard and deep, she slashed him discreetly from ear to ear.
Having severed his vocal chords, he was unable to speak, so that she was able to stifle his gurgling as she held him up with one arm such that the others could not see exactly what had transpired, while with the other hand she grabbed his rifle. Then, in one swift motion, she shoved him forward directly into the fire and shouldered the weapon. Firing off three quick rounds, she managed to shoot three of them before they realized what she was about.
Unfortunately, the fourth man got to her before she could get off another shot. He was onto her like a wolf and, being undernourished and small of frame to boot, she was no match for him. Still, she fought him off as best she could, the two of them rolling about in the sand. Then, just as he was about to knock her senseless, she bit him viciously on the ear, and it was just enough to cause him to loosen his grip. Grasping about for any means of escape with her free hand, she suddenly felt the knife, laying directly within her grasp and, gripping it for dear life, she thrust directly upward into his throat, severing his carotid artery in the process and spilling his l
ifeblood over her in a gushing stream of hot liquid.
Exhausted, Elspeth fell to the ground beneath him momentarily but, suddenly realizing that she was still in mortal danger, she squirmed free and quickly checked the surrounding bodies to ensure that they posed no threat. Then, though he was still passed out, she stabbed the lone remaining uninjured man.
She then stood passively surveying the carnage for several moments, in the process considering her next move. With three men still at large out there somewhere in the dark, she realized she needed to escape immediately, the gunshots quite possibly having alerted them to return to camp. She therefore moved as quickly as possible to obtain whatever she could from the campsite that would be of use to her for her impending trek across the desert. Having no earthly idea how long it might take, she gathered food and water to last her for at least three days, more than that being too much for her to carry. Then she cleaned the blood from her body as best she could and garbed herself in a particularly dirty kaftan.
After that, without so much as a backward glance, Elspeth set off into the desert night. Guided by the North Star, she headed south in hopes that she was heading towards Kabul. Traveling at night and hiding in the daytime, she spotted distant lights two nights later. Since it would clearly take an additional day of travel to go that far, she bedded down and prepared for the coming challenge.
The following day she cut her hair short, dyed it black with charcoal, and did her best to make herself look like a grimy teenaged boy. Because she was already drawn from months of near starvation, it wasn’t too difficult a task. Although she spoke Arabic fluently, she knew all too well that as soon as she spoke she would be identified as a female. She therefore determined that her best course of action was to pretend to be mute. That evening she set out, and two hours before daybreak she entered the city. She quickly sought out a hiding place where she would be safe. Locating a rooftop enclave, she remained there throughout the following day.
That night she emerged from hiding and made her way to the town marketplace, where she camped out in hopes of finding food. Within minutes she became aware of several waifs in the crowd who seemed to be orphans like herself. She began scrutinizing their movements, and sure enough, several were well-practiced thieves, some skilled at picking pockets, and others at simply stealing small bits of food from street vendors. She decided to watch carefully and learn. She had enough food to last perhaps one more day, and by then she would need to have acquired the skill of deception.
The following night she made her first attempt, and sure enough, she was able to steal a small fruit without difficulty. She had now found a means of survival, and thereafter she settled in to contemplate her next move. The following day she discovered that she was in the town of Parvan, which she knew to be perhaps twenty miles north of Kabul. She now knew what she needed to do, and the following night she made her way south to Kabul. Given that the U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan was located in Kabul, with luck her ordeal was nearly at an end.
As it turned out, her ordeal was nowhere near its end. Making herself as inconspicuous as possible, she watched the marketplace from a rooftop for two solid days before even attempting to enter it in search of food. Within hours she was concerned that her cover had been blown. Unlike Parvan, there were authorities everywhere, and to make matters worse, they appeared to be focused on people of slight build just like herself. This presumption was heightened when they swept through the market and carried off several females, all of them resembling Elspeth to one degree or another.
Elspeth understood now that she was in serious trouble. It was time for her to seek out the U.S. Embassy. It being located on the far side of the city, she made her way there on the third night under cover of darkness. Once there she decided to hold off entering until she could be certain it was safe. Within hours she noticed a young woman approaching the embassy, but before the woman could make her way to the gate, Afghani authorities arrested her and carried her away.
Elspeth now had evidence that the Kabul police force might indeed be searching for her. To make matters worse, she was by now out of food. Accordingly, she put as much distance between herself and the embassy as she could that night, and the following day she managed to steal a single piece of fruit from the market.
Elspeth now realized that there was no hope of escape for her as long as she remained in Afghanistan. Unfortunately, the nearest U.S. installation was the embassy in Islamabad, some 250 miles away in Pakistan. Reconsidering her situation, she set about the task of locating sufficient foodstuffs for her to make the arduous trek through the Khyber Pass.
Unfortunately, Kabul turned out to be a much more difficult place to survive within than Parvan had been. Elspeth was nearly captured the next time she attempted to steal food. Thereafter, she became much more adept at practicing her newfound profession. Still, she remained on the edge of starvation for several days before she had learned sufficient skills to manage a small store of food. This, she knew, would be the first requirement before even considering a trek to Pakistan. Furthermore, the nights could be painfully cold, and she had little to protect herself from the elements. Fortunately, it was not quite winter yet, and the rainy season had passed. But she would need to make her move very soon, or the winter weather would prevent all possibility of escape.
One night the police swept through the city in an apparent attempt to capture homeless persons. But on that night Elspeth overheard a group of policemen conversing from her rooftop hideout. They were discussing a particular woman who was the object of their search, and the description she overheard sounded like herself. Creeping closer to the voices, she suddenly heard her own name! It was pronounced rather badly, but there was no mistaking it – Elspeth had definitely been identified, and she was now the object of a country-wide manhunt - or more precisely in her case – a womanhunt.
After nearly a month in Kabul, Elspeth decided that she could not wait a moment longer. On a cold November night she passed through the city gates, just another orphaned child of no interest to anyone, and shortly thereafter she disappeared into the night. Walking steadily night after night, she made it through the mountain pass, and on the sixth night she arrived in Peshawar. By then she was exhausted and out of food and water, thereby forcing her to revisit her former profession.
Her stay in Peshawar was prolonged by the first snowstorm of the winter, thereby amplifying her necessity to continue her trek as soon as possible. Accordingly, her physical state restored within the week, she set off at night with a new cache of food and water. Her intended destination was Islamabad.
By now winter was closing in rapidly, forcing Elspeth to travel by day. She also traveled for part of the night, halting only when she was completely exhausted. In this way she reached Islamabad in three days. On her arrival she knew exactly where to go, as she was well prepared by her studies of the Middle East. Still, it took her an entire afternoon to locate it, and when she did she discovered that there was absolutely no impediment stopping her from entering the embassy. Accordingly, around an hour before sunset on the 14th of December she trotted up to the embassy security gate and, raising her hands overhead, she announced that she was an American citizen seeking refuge.
Immediately ordered to lie face down on the ground, she was ignominiously searched by the military guards. Finding no weapons of any sort, one guard yanked her to her feet and demanded, “What is your name, boy?”
“My name is Elspeth Moorehead, and I’m not a boy!” she spewed in utter exhaustion.
At this absurd admission he glanced over his shoulder at the other guard and inquired, “Elspeth Moorehead! Isn’t she supposed to be dead?”
“Yeah,” the other guard agreed, but then he added, “Wait a minute, if you’re Elspeth Moorehead, how in hell did you get here? Weren’t you kidnapped in Egypt?”
“That’s right,” she responded, “And in answer to your question – I walked.”
/> “Walked! From Egypt to Pakistan? That must be three thousand miles!”
“Right, but I didn’t walk all that way. I only walked perhaps four hundred miles. I was kidnapped in Egypt, transported to Afghanistan, and held prisoner in the desert.”
“Damn!” the first guard spluttered, “I think this here waif may be the genuine article, Sergeant. We’d better take her inside and check out her story.”
And that is how, after nearly eight months in captivity or on the run, Elspeth escaped her captors.
Three days later Elspeth was back in Washington, and to her relief there were no headlines or public disclosures of her escape. It seems that, given her sensitive position with the DIA, her capture had never been publicly revealed, so that her escape was necessarily treated in the same way. The debriefing was lengthy and tortuous but, given what she had been through, Elspeth felt little discomfort. After all, she was put up in a four-star hotel near the White House, and the food was to die for.