Tess Awakening (41 page)

The local television stations were silent
because Amir’s people had captured them and shut them down. No one
knew why they were massing troops in the Iraqi capital.

Confusion reigned. A message was sent to the
local Coalition command that an “ominous” development triggered by
insurgents signaled a bid for power by an unnamed source. The Iraqi
Prime Minister declared that he was still in power.

Amir’s men had closed some of the bridges,
trying to lock down the city to prevent a further influx of
additional government troops.

The U.S. embassy started to move staff away
from a possible confrontation.

Some diplomats speculated that the stepped up
security could also be a response to advances by militants. They
thought that the massing of troops could be a show of force. The
diplomats theorized that if the Iraqis are moving to protect
government buildings, insurgent forces may be close to the city. No
one outside of a few people knew there was a coup afoot.

The Shiite-dominated government had been
under enormous international pressure to be more inclusive of the
country’s minority Sunni population, who had been marginalized and
cut out of the political process. American administration officials
repeatedly talked about how their priority should be a political
settlement that creates a more inclusive government in Iraq.

Amir now knew that the raid from his
helicopter squadron to destroy government aircraft had failed, in
part because Tess and her people had reversed the ambush, causing
the loss of his choppers. He still thought that the ground troops
he had dispatched toward the government buildings could succeed. He
jumped on the command Humvee and sped to the front of his moving
units. As he approached the government compound, he saw that it was
already surrounded by tanks. “They knew were coming,” he said to
Kemal. An officer put down his radio. “General, there are
government troops approaching us on both flanks. We will be
surrounded.”

“Order our troops to engage. We can still
defeat them.” The officer looked dubious, but he relayed the order
to the field commanders.

“Did we take over the TV and radio
stations?”

“Yes, General. There is not a word to be
heard.”

“Good, the more confusion, the better.”

Amir had enough experience to recognize that
he had lost. More and more Iraqi troops were moving in to protect
government buildings. Amir had assigned people to close access to
the bridges, but they could not continue to deny access to
government forces. This action merely delayed the influx of tanks
and troops in the critical areas. There was only one thing to do
for him: escape. He gave orders that his troops were to fight the
government units with vigor and announced he was going to go to
direct the battle on his right flank. He jumped on the Humvee and
headed out.

Amir and Kemal raced the Humvee to the
airport and headed toward his private plane on the tarmac. Airport
security had not been deployed; they had not received any orders
and confusion ruled the day. The men ran up the boarding stairs of
the Falcon Jet, closed the door and got into the cockpit. Amir
started the jet engines, rolled the plane onto the runway and
positioned himself to take off. The controllers in the tower
radioed that he could not leave because he had not filed a manifest
and a flight plan. Amir ignored them, moved the thrust levers
forward and soon was in the air, achieving the maximum rated speed
of the aircraft. He did not want to run into military planes. He
was counting on the confusion of the conflict over Baghdad to
distract the air forces.

Two government F-16’s finally appeared behind
his Falcon, but Amir was able to enter Kuwait air space before the
confused Iraqi pilots could decide on what to do. He headed toward
Kuwait City but had no intention to land there. He just wanted to
get out of Iraqi airspace as soon as possible and go to Bahrain
where he had friends in high places. He could stay there until he
figured out what to do next.

Back in Iraq, when Amir’s troops realized
that he had fled, his officers grasped that fighting the government
was futile. There were a few skirmishes, but the fighting quickly
ended. Amir’s officers surrendered and were arrested. The troops
were disarmed and confined to barracks. The coup had failed.

Chapter 69

Jake, Tess, Carmen and Nicola met at a
restaurant in the Green Zone. Jake started the conversation. “That
was close, guys. If it weren’t for you two ladies, we would
probably be pushing up daisies by now.”

“Happy to be of help,” Carmen quipped with a
smile. She always enjoyed a good shootout.

“Tess took a sip of her drink. “We were just
lucky to be in the air when Amir’s choppers attacked. Jake is
right, this was very close. I would like to know who betrayed us so
I can strangle him.”

“It was Kasim Qureshi, one of the ministers
that we met at the strategy meeting. They now have him in
custody.”

Nicola was still processing what happened.
“How about Nizar Hamdani, have they found him?”

Jake nodded his head. “Yes, they found him in
one of Amir’s basement cells. He is battered, but he will live. He
is in the hospital right now.”

Tess added “Let’s go see him when we finish
here. At the very least we should express our appreciation for the
risks he took. He was severely tortured and almost lost his
life.”

“I have already seen him,” Jake added. “He is
in good spirits. His dream for payback against Amir came real. He
is jubilant even though he is in pain.”

Jake sported a worried look. “I hope we did
the right thing. It seems that Amir has quite a following that
believes that he would make a better leader than what they have
now.”

Tess interjected. “Amir is an experienced
leader, and he probably would have done some things right, but he
is a pathological narcissist; he doesn’t really care about the
welfare of the people. He would invest more in the Army so he could
amass even more power and take a leaf from Saddam Hussein by
becoming a nuisance to Iraq’s neighbors.”

Carmen munched on a bread stick. “Too bad he
got away.”

“I am not surprised; the guy was smart enough
to have an escape route. So far, all we know is that he headed
south in his Falcon Jet. The Iraqis have made diplomatic inquiries
but so far nothing has surfaced, or perhaps they are being
stonewalled.”

Jake picked up the menu. “I hope that this
means the end of Amir in Iraq. Let’s drink to that.”

“I am still worried about what he has up his
sleeve this time.” Tess pondered. She was still thinking about
Aara, finally accepting that she would not see the child again.

Chapter 70

Amir was safely ensconced in Bahrain as the
guest of one of the government ministers, a long-time friend. He
fully admitted to his friend that he had attempted a coup because,
he said, he was a patriot and hated to see Iraq mired in conflict.
Now he expected conflicts and insurrections to further afflict the
country. The Army would continue to be ineffective and the
insurgency would become more aggressive. Plus Syria was facing a
rebellion against Assad, which might spill over into the
neighboring countries.

When he retired to his luxurious hotel suite,
Amir poured himself a finger of his beloved cognac and started to
process what had happened.

When he was informed by one of the ministers
who attended the strategy meeting with Jake and Tess that the
government helicopter task force was practicing tactics to move
against him, he had initiated the coup earlier than planned, and it
would have worked it hadn’t been for Tess, his nemesis.

If her helicopter had not surprised his
squadron, they would have been able to annihilate the government
helicopter forces on the ground. She had literally saved the day
for them at his expense, causing the loss of most of his choppers
and alerting government forces to react. Now most of his trusted
men were incarcerated and ran the risk of being executed for
treason. His running away, thus abandoning his troops to their
fate, would not look good. In fact, he was very much aware that he
had now gained a host of new enemies.

The situation was bad. He fully expected that
he would be hunted down by Iraqi operatives no matter where he
went. This meant that he would have to increase his personal
security force and curtail his public activities until things
settled down. He concluded that all three of his houses in Europe
would not be safe at this time. He needed to disappear for a while
and decide on what to do next.

He slept fitfully, and his obsession with
Tess continued to plague him. He still lusted after her, even after
what she did to him. Now he dreamed of her in S&M garb lashing
a whip on his back, inflicting pain and igniting his passion at the
same time. He woke up in a sweat and decided to follow his
cravings.

He logged on an exclusive web site that
managed high-end prostitutes. Their skills were listed by category.
Amir clicked on S&M and landed on a subcategory called BDSM.
The informative site provided the definition as ‘a practice formed
by joining the term B&D (bondage and discipline) with S&M
(sadomasochism).’ He chose Extreme.

He made a call and invited a woman to his
room. When he heard a knock on the doors, he welcomed a blonde
wearing a loose black coat and carrying a black bag. Without a
word, she tossed the coat aside, revealing a tall, statuesque body
in a skimpy black rubber suit.

“Where are you from?” Amir asked while
pouring cognac into a glass. The woman removed some implements from
the bag and put on a mask. “I am Russian, Sir, and I am not gentle.
I am here to give you pain.”

Amir smiled. “You seem to mean it.”

“My name is Galina and you are my slave. You
will do what I command. Now remove your clothes.”

Amir usually was the one to command women,
but this will be different, he thought. He removed his robe and
faced the woman.

“I want you to face the wall,” Galina
demanded. Amir complied. This was different, he thought. You can
always learn new things. Suddenly, the woman cracked the whip on
his back. Amir felt the sting. This was not playing, she was
inflicting real pain. She lashed him again on the buttocks. He
turned around, and she whipped his torso; he struggled not to
scream.

Galina was ruthless. “Get on your knees!”
Amir complied. He couldn’t believe that he was submitting to this
treatment. Usually, it was him that doled out the pain. A crack of
the whip on his back made him gasp.

Strangely, he was now getting into it. “Hit
me again,” he screamed. The woman obliged. She gave him another
lash. “Hit me again and again.”

The lashes kept coming and Amir now
understood what he was doing. He was seeking punishment for losing
Tess and his son, for failing to accomplish his political goals and
for a litany of other crimes. He saw the shadow of Kejal, standing
in front of him, tormenting him with her icy stare. He saw his men
going to the gallows, cursing him for cowardly abandoning them to
their fate.

“Galina was not done. She strapped a huge
dildo on herself and commanded: “Get your ass up in the air!
Now!”

Amir was game for whatever she had in mind
until she grabbed his hips and shoved the implement up his anus in
one swift movement. Amir screamed. She grabbed his hair and started
pumping. Amir tried to get her to stop, but the woman was strong,
vicious and relentless. She kept pounding him until, against his
will, he had an intense orgasm, spewing his seed on the floor. The
Russian kept whipping him, even after she withdrew.

Amir was now in a frenzy, exhorting Galina to
continue hitting him. With each lash, he was now paying for his
past sins. He finally collapsed on the floor. Galina packed her
gear and left.

Kemal came in a half an hour later and found
Amir still on the floor, naked and bloody. “I will get a doctor,
General.”

“No! Amir screamed. Just help me up.” Kemal
complied. Amir was dazed, the lash marks burning like hell, but he
was strangely satisfied. The pain had cleansed his soul. He was now
ready to move on. Kemal helped him clean up and applied antibiotic
cream on his lash marks. He had never seen Amir like this. He did
not know what to think. The man had always been in control. What
happened to him? Was he losing his mind?

Heavily drugged, Amir finally went to sleep.
Considering what had happened in the past few months, he should now
have focused on reordering his life, but that would not do. His
need for revenge propelled him relentlessly to take action. ‘Amir
al-Saadi does not lose, in the end he always wins,’ he kept telling
himself. Tess was his nemesis, responsible for everything awful
that has befallen him. He used to be in control of his world and
everyone around him. Tess would not comply with his wishes. She
rejected his love and respect. Instead of expressing gratitude, she
turned into the Gorgon of Greek mythology, whose hair was made of
living, venomous snakes, turning to stone those who beheld her
horrifying visage.

Tess had given him a night of unparalleled
delight, but ultimately turned vicious; not only she repeatedly
inflicted grievous injuries on him, but also withheld his son from
him, his heir and pride. She was responsible for foiling his
attempt to take over the government. When he woke up in the middle
of the night, he took more painkillers and drank some more, unable
to accept that his own behavior and actions were the real source of
his troubles.

Chapter 71

Jake, Tess, and the gang continued to train
the Iraqis on the expensive military hardware provided by the
largesse of the Americans. Progress was not satisfactory. During
project reviews with the team, the same themes kept coming to the
surface. The troops lacked motivation; they were going through the
motions but were showing little enthusiasm due to a dearth of
leadership. The Americans military was still fighting the
insurgents much too often while the local government troops
assiduously avoided defending their country. The resistance from
the Sunni areas intensified, its leaders incensed at Shiite
militias raiding their cities and towns. The government still
resisted distributing weapons to Sunnis for self-defense. Whenever
the Shiite militias became involved in Sunni areas, instead of
liberating them from the terrorists, they engaged in abuses and
killed people. They were not protectors. Their appeals falling on
deaf ears, Sunni leaders started to gravitate toward other
insurgent groups.