The Caliphate by André Gallo (booksvooks .txt) 📗

first place had been to hit back at the Assad family, Hussein had never been successful in his attempts to influence Tariq into taking action against the Syrian rulers.

     Al Khalil’s last words to Hussein on the stairs were, “According to the scientists, there is a sliding roof to allow the laser gun to shoot. Get some men up there.”

     He went back upstairs and walked to one of the window openings being defended by one of his men.

     “Ayyub, take some men up to the roof. Part of it opens up. Find it and keep the Israelis off the roof.”

    Ayyub and three men went up through the damage done by the UAVs. Staying low to avoid being seen by the Israelis, they made their way to the wider part of the roof to the west.

     As they moved, Ayyub saw several black boxes. At first, he paid them no attention, not knowing if they were part of the roof construction. Then he stopped and lifted a box, revealing a wire going into the roof. He called one of the other men. They both examined the box.

     “I wonder if the Israelis put these up here to listen to us. What else could they be? Bombs? They look new, not weathered like the rest of the roof.”

     The second man was about to pull the wire, but Ayyub stopped him.

     “Not now. It would reveal we are up here,” he said.

     They resumed their inspection of the western part of the roof.

     At that moment a clinking noise was followed by a grappling hook on a nylon rope being pulled back toward the roof’s edge. Ayyub crawled closer to the edge and the three others started looking for other places where the Israelis might be trying to climb.

     Ayyub and his men waited for the commandoes to show themselves above the edge. Another hook and then a third hit the roof. Three men were on their way up. One climber’s head became visible, then the second and the third. It wasn’t until the third appeared that Ayyub and his men fired, killing all three instantly, their bodies falling to the ground below.

     Ayyub threw a grenade to the base of the wall, assuming there were others down there waiting their turn to climb. He paused a second and then looked over the edge. He barely had time to note with satisfaction the Israeli bodies at the base of the wall before his head exploded from a dum-dum bullet fired by a Shaldag sniper.

     Meanwhile, al Khalil sent one of his men to send photos of the American hostages to the ambassador. He remembered that both Kella and Steve had cell phones that had been taken from them.

14:38

Steve and Kella were on the second step of the unlit stairs, plastered against the wall at a right angle from the end of the corridor, listening to the footsteps coming toward them. The reflection from the beam of the man’s flashlight pointed at the floor in front of him was illuminating the wall with increasing brightness.

     The voice shouted again, “Ahmed!”

     Steve and Kella looked to their right up the dark stairs. Steve wondered why the voice thought Ahmed was somewhere in front of him. Or, had he heard their footsteps and assumed that they were those of Ahmed?

     Steve’s mind was racing, trying to decide how to deal with the company, whether to simply kill him as quietly as possible, or capture him and tie him up. He had concluded they couldn’t deal with a prisoner when the man reached the end of the corridor and looked up the stairs.

     Steve had the shoulder stock of his AK-47 cocked and ready to smash him when Kella stopped him.

     “Wait!”

     At the same time, she stepped forward spoke Tamasheq rapidly while pointing her AK-47 at the man whose face was hidden by a Tuareg tagoulmoust.

     Steve had come within a millisecond of releasing his blow to the man’s head. He could see the man’s eyes wide with shock and surprise. Taking advantage of the element of surprise, Steve disarmed him and watched the dialogue, only guessing at what both were saying. After several exchanges, the man seemed to ask a question, to which Kella replied by showing him her bracelet and a few seconds later the tattooed design on her hand. The Tuareg paused a second and seemed swayed. Steve recognized Izem’s name in Kella next sentence and she appeared to have closed the deal.

     She turned to Steve and said, “He’s with us but he also wants confirmation from Izem.”

     “Tell him you want full allegiance now or his family will never live down the shame.”

     Kella looked at Steve with surprise and translated. The Tuareg looked at both Steve and Kella in turn and replied in Tamasheq. Kella said, “That did it.”

     “Well, I think I’ll keep his weapon for now,” Steve said. “Tell him we’re going upstairs to save the rest of his Tuareg brothers from annihilation. Ask him how the Salafists are positioned upstairs.”

     “He said there are about fifteen to twenty left, but some are downstairs watching the prisoners,” Kella said. “Upstairs, they’re fighting from the windows, and he said some are on the roof, but he doesn’t how many.”

     “Let’s go,” he said, moving up the stairs first. He stopped suddenly, turned around, and asked, “What’s his name?”

     “Yubba,” said the Tuareg.

     Kella and Steve both looked at him in surprise, and Steve led them up the stairs again.

     When they reached the door at the top, it was half open and hanging on one hinge, the doorframe a jagged hole.

     “Here we go, ready?”

     He looked back at Kella. She clutched her AK-47 more tightly to her