Interdiction - W.Addison Gast (great novels TXT) 📗

he sat down at the table and turned on his lap top. He would have supper and try to get a few hours sleep before they moved the tangos to where they could question them and get more results. As DJ started transcribing his after action report he tried to remember when he last had a full nights sleep.

Chapter 17

On the run. Faisalabad air terminal
The photographs were hanging from every security station in the terminal. Haydar saw the first as he passed by looking for the men’s room. He then looked at other locations in the terminal. The photos were everywhere! There was no way that the group was going to slip past any of these security checks without being seen. He gathered the group and told the astonished Badra who in turn made a carefully executed surveillance of the nearest check-in. The photos were all over the place. Badra began looking at the second floor where the offices of the airlines were as well as offices for the airport administration department. She saw the office she needed and called the group to come with her in the elevator. When in the elevator by themselves, Badra pushed the hold button and stopped the elevator at the first floor with the door closed. She then instructed the group as to what they would have to do to get out of the terminal without being captured. She then pushed the button for the second floor and the group moved together out of the elevator on the second floor. She stopped in front of the door marked “Airport Security employees only The door opened easily it was not locked. Once inside Badra could see the time clock and lockers for the airport security force. No one was in sight with the exception of two clerks at their desks in the adjoining room. Badra listened to their conversation and then quickly moved over to the lockers and started down the line quietly opening each that was not locked. The four men behind her searched each locker for weapons or equipment that they could use in their escape from the area. As Goat opened the first locker quietly, he could not believe his eyes, right there on a hanger was a nine mm pistol and holster. The belt held probably 50 extra rounds. Haydar found another Nine mm and also a mace canister. Badra pulled a knife from the side of a boot that was in one locker. Actor immediately pulled the set of car keys he saw hanging beside another holster. This one was empty however so he took only the car keys. Badra then found the bonanza of the search. An employee had actually left his security ID badge and shirt hanging in an unlocked locker. She immediately grabbed both and then motioned for the group to move out the door. Badra was only inches away from the door when one of the clerks got up from his desk and started into the locker area. Badra stepped back as the small man turned the corner into the room.
“Wha,………..” Was all the man got out of his mouth before Ali Baba had his arm around the man’s head and the knife in his back. The man made a short gurgle sound and slumped to the floor. The second man heard the noise and was coming to see what was going on when Badra rushed out of the door between the office and locker room and stuck the knife in the mans throat before he could utter a word. She looked around the office and found what she was looking for. The keys to the patrol vehicles were on a board that was secured to the wall and the keys were held in place by a hinged bar that extended across the row and was locked on the opposite side with a padlock. The padlock was not in place. It hung there useless and open. Badra grabbed three sets of keys and as they left the room she removed the ID badges from the dead officers on the floor. No one saw them leave the office or out the elevator on the first floor.
Dinjar Mubar had just parked his patrol vehicle in the designated spot and was starting to enter the terminal and punch out from his shift when the five people carrying only a small wooden case by the rope handles approached him leaving the security parking lot. He had just turned to lock the gate behind him when he heard the voice command. “Hold that just a moment, my hands are full please.” He turned to see a woman holding a security badge and carrying a wooden case. There were four men behind her. Seeing this, Dinjar moved aside and held the gate as the lady followed by the men behind her came through to the parking lot. As the last of the group came thru the gate the last one , the largest one in the group grabbed Dinjar and pulled him between two of the white nine passenger security vehicles and as he fell to the ground blood was gushing from his slit throat. Goat reached down and retrieved his weapon, badge and keys to the parked security vehicle. Within seconds, the group was in the vehicle and the engine running. Badra was driving. As soon as she backed out of the parking spot she looked at the fuel gauge. Dinjar, obedient to his training, had refueled the vehicle prior to bringing it to the parking lot for the next shift. The vehicle was the most excellent bit of luck the group had encountered yet. It was fueled, held valid security plates and the windows were darkened so that outside, no one could tell if anyone except the driver was on board. They could drive this vehicle almost to the Indian border. There they would have to find another means of crossing the border but after they were on the other side, Badra’s connections could get them new passports and identities in order to continue their mission. Lahore was only two hours away. Badra drove at the designated speed as the group continued east toward New Delhi. After leaving Lahore they would have to change vehicles before they approached the Pakistan India border as by this time the airport police had put together the assault on the airport office and surely they had reviewed the security tapes and discovered who the killers were. Lahore would have to provide the vehicle for all of them to use and it was only a short distance away. When the rain started it was just a mild summer shower but as they started climbing the mountains on the Pakistan Indian border, the rain turned into a very strong storm complete with lightening and it became difficult to drive and navigate the mountain roads especially without any reflective markers or lines. This slowed the groups progress to the extent that they were barely crawling when they came to the bridge crossing a small creek. It was a small creek most of the year but now it was starting to get very large and wide. Water was about to start coming over the top of the bridge when Badra looked down from the top of the hill approaching the bridge. The bridge was about 300 feet from where she stopped the van and got out to look at the possibility of crossing without incident. There were several vehicles on each side of the bridge that had stopped and were thinking the same thoughts can we make it across?
“We can wait here until the water recedes so we can cross Badra. I don’t think it would be wise to try to drive across the bridge with that much water coming across. It looks very swift from here.” Advised Haydar
“And wait for the Army to just pull up behind us here and surround us with no escape route? That is not a good plan Haydar, get into the Vehicle, we are going to cross.”
“Wait. Let us walk across holding onto the bridge railing and you then drive the van across. That way we will endanger only part of our mission Badra! Haydar was looking at the woman’s face only inches away.
“Go then. Get the others and make it quick. We do not have time to lose here.” The consenting Badra yelled back above the rain that was now pelting the area harder.
“”I will stay in the van with you Badra.” Said Actor.
“Why such bravery, tall one? Go with the others and cross holding onto the bridge rail.” Said Badra motioning with her hand to get out of the van.
“I will stay,……….I can not swim.” Admitted the young man.
The group started walking down the slight incline to the bridge approach Haydar was the first to slip and roll down the rest of the hill and grabbed onto the bridge approach railing. Goat and Ali Baba were no more agile and they also slipped in the slick clay. The three held tightly to the bridge railing and started walking across the bridge with the water up to their knees moving swiftly. It was getting dark and as the moon came out from behind a cloud, the rain stopped as fast as it had started. With the three men on the opposite side of the river, Badra started down the slope in the van. Actor was in the seat just behind her and as she started down the slope to the bridge approach, she turned the lights on bright and turned the van to the center of the bridge. The water was still running at a fast pace and covered the bridge. Badra turned the van slightly to the left and increased the speed thinking that she could drive through the water and get across faster if she were going faster.
Wrong!
The van was ten feet from the bridge when it turned to the left and as Badra turned the wheel in the opposite direction, the van slid in the clay mud and headed for the bridge railing post. The front of the van hit the side of the bridge and forced the rear of the van to continue to the left swinging the van, Badra and Actor into the swift river current. The van rolled under the bridge and stuck there. The driver’s side door to the van opened and Badra made her way out of the entrapped vehicle and with water up to her neck, worked her way back to the rear of the van where the back window was open. She could see Actor thrashing around in the rear seat trying to get to the window. The interior lights in the van were on and you could see Actor thrashing around in the seat.
“The box! Get me the box. Do not let it get away! Commanded Badra of Actor. Suddenly, actor raised his hand and handed Badra one end of the wooden box. The box was broken and straw that had been used to cushion the glass jars inside the box started to float past Actors head. Badra grabbed the handle on the opposite end of the box and pulled it away from Actor through the back window. When she had the box outside the window, she took her scarf that had acted as both a scarf and a veil from around her neck and tied it to the box. By this time Haydar and Goat had ran to the middle of the bridge and was pulling Badra from the current which was slowly but definitely slowing. Badra dragged the box up onto the edge of the shoreline and treating the small box like it was extremely heavy, drug it up higher on the shore. It was then she saw in horror that the side of the