Tess Awakening (6 page)

Another nod from the General. One of the
guards approached the prisoner with a wireless electric drill in
hand. He started the tool, grabbed Archie’s hair to raise his head.
He pointed at the drill and said with a grin “Made in USA.”

Amir grabbed Tess again, making a show of
smelling her perfume. “Where should we start, my beautiful? A small
hole in his thigh? Perhaps though the eye?”

Archie tried to kick his tormentors, to no
avail. “Major, ignore them! After they get through with me, they
will kill you!”

Amir, still holding Tess, nuzzled her cheek
from behind her. She could not stand it anymore. “General, stop
this. I will go with you if you let him go.”

Amir took another whiff of her hair and held
up his hand, stopping the goon from inflicting any more damage on
the sergeant. He spoke in her ear. “Are you sure my beauty? You
want to come to come to me of your own free will?”

“Yes, I will come to you!” she angrily
responded.

“Are you sure, of you own free will? Will you
beg to have me?”

Tess was desperate. “I beg you to take me,”
she moaned through her tears.

The General made another gesture to his men.
“Take him down, and clean him up! Put him back with the others! Now
go, go!” The men worked fast, dragging Archie Powell with them; his
face was the picture of despair.

Amir let Tess go, went back to the table,
poured some wine in Tess’s glass and brought it to her. She
collapsed on a chair, took the glass and downed its contents. She
felt defeated, lost. Amir sat in his chair and lit a cigar. He
remained silent until Tess composed herself. He blew a circle of
smoke in the air.

“Now, my dear, no more unpleasantness. Let’s
celebrate our coming together. You will soon get used to it and
even enjoy it. Now, if you would, please go to the apartments and
prepare to receive me.” With a quick hand gesture, the General rang
a small bell. Kejal appeared almost instantly. “The lady needs to
freshen up and change; see to it,” he commanded. The woman took
Tess by the hand, helped her get up from the chair, and gently put
her arm around her waist to guide her out of the room. Tess felt
like a helpless ghost.

In the bedroom, the woman asked Tess to sit
on a sofa. She returned with a warm washcloth and washed her tears
away. “You must endure this. You must survive tonight. I will come
later, and help you.” Kejal heard the General approach and
disappeared like a whisper.

Amir appeared wearing a magnificent robe, and
then sat on a plush chair, crossing his legs. “Morgan.” He paused.
“A masculine name, not at all suitable for you. We must find a name
that fits you.” Another pause; “Now, if you please, I would like
you to reveal yourself to me. Take your clothes off slowly.”

Tess felt nauseous. Amir stared at her,
patiently waiting for his wishes to be obeyed. This is the end of
the charade, Tess thought to herself. I must be smart. There is
more than me involved here. I must think straight.

She rose, and slowly removed the slinky
dress, letting it fall on the floor. She remained upright in her
bra, panties, and high-heeled shoes. Amir smiled, obviously pleased
with what he saw. A statuesque splendidly fit young woman; tight
abdomen and legs that belonged in Hollywood. Exquisite lips,
stunning green eyes framed by blonde hair. Allah is indeed great to
bestow such a beauty on his humble servant.

“Now take the rest of it off,” he commanded.
Slowly, deliberately, Tess removed her bra, letting it fall to the
floor. The sight of her perfect breasts and nipples was more than
Amir could bear. He stood up and gently placed his hands on them,
thrilling at the heavenly texture so unique to fine females. He
started to tremble, his erection now visible. He planned to take
her slowly, unhurriedly and assert his dominance by bringing her up
to ecstasy against her will. He wanted to reduce her to a
supplicant for more of what his manhood could provide, but he
started to lose control. He must have her. Now! Tess appeared to be
affected by the erotic moment and parted her lips in a sign of
receptivity. Amir took one step back to remove his robe.

In what seemed to be an instant, Tess flexed
her body into what appeared to be a dance pirouette, swung her
right leg up to her shoulder, and with a swift turn of her body
planted the tip of her high-heel shoe in Amir’s temple. He crumpled
to the floor, not knowing what hit him. Tess, expecting a
counterattack, stepped back and adopted a martial arts posture. She
waited a few seconds, but there was no movement. Cautiously, she
moved closer to the collapsed body on the carpet. The General was
still alive, but unconscious.

Chapter 7

Almost on cue, Kejal appeared. ‘Obviously,
privacy in any form is not the norm in this place,’ Tess thought,
but she was happy to see the woman. As Tess tried to restore her
beating heart to normalcy, Kejal began unpacking a bag. She spread
a chador, the traditional head-to-toe dress of conservative Islamic
women, across the bed; a pair of sturdy shoes next to it.

“Hurry, you must wear this,” she urged. “We
must leave now!” Tess did not need further encouragement. She put
the gown back on and slipped the chador over her head.

“We can just walk out the door?” she asked,
almost incredulously. Kejal made sure that Tess was entirely
concealed under the garment.

“It is almost dark. Soon the guards will
leave to eat. Only one guard will be left outside. We must go
around him. He will think you are the cook going home. I always let
her out of the gate when she is done here.”

‘Risky, but workable,’ Tess thought.

Kejal continued her instructions. “If the
guard suspects something, you will need to harm him.”

“Oh, I think I have something that will harm
him, all right,” Tess said while silently appreciating all the
years of martial arts lessons.

Kejal handed her a large kitchen knife. “When
we leave the room, we will go to the left; the hallway should be
deserted and at the end there is a door that opens to the outside.
As usual they assume that a mere woman, even one that is an
American officer, is no match for any of them, so there are no
additional guards outside. Besides they don’t want people to think
we are doing something in this building.” Tess did not want to know
what that ‘something’ was.

“Will you come with me? Together we can get
back to the American lines. I will help you ….”

“Thank you for your kindness Major,”

“Please, call me Tess.”

“Tess,” she said the name as others say the
names of the saints. “I will go with you. The General will kill me
when he finds I have helped you. I am not afraid of dying, but I
must find my daughter soon before he orders her killed.”

“If we get out of here, we will try to find
her together,” Tess replied.

“I would be grateful,” responded the woman.
“When we go outside, act modest and humble. Remember, they think so
little of women that we grow stronger under their eyes and someday
vengeance will be ours. But for now, you must wear the chador. They
will not suspect it is you. The garment will cover your hair and it
is dark enough that unless you look directly at someone they will
not be able to see your shining eyes.”

The women worked together to fit the clothes
on Tess. When she looked in the mirror, she couldn’t believe her
eyes. No wonder women were so easily oppressed here. The clothing
itself took away anything that could have been an individual.

“You are ready.” Kejal fought to stop the one
tear that escaped. “I am thankful to you. I thought that I could no
longer cry.” Anything else she wanted to say was lost. “We must
leave. I hear the guards going to eat now.”

Tess reached Kejal in three strides and took
her hands. “Thank you, my friend. We will find you child, and the
world will know of your pain and your heroism.”

Tess needed to eliminate the guard outside.
Impatience made the time stretch and Tess was about to crawl out of
her skin when Kejal began to moan loudly enough to be heard.

The guard entered. Tess was not sure what he
said but was pretty certain they were not words suitable for mixed
company. As the guard raised his hand to hit the impudent woman,
Tess suddenly freed her hands from under the chador, and punched
the man in the stomach with as much strength as she could muster.
The blow sent him flying to the floor, allowing her to pounce on
his chest and to administer one good jab to crush his Adam’s apple.
The man jerked violently, staring at Tess, apparently incredulous
at being felled by a woman. He quickly suffocated.

Tess eased to the door, taking Kejal’s hand,
and carefully scoped both directions as she headed down the
hallway. About halfway down she could see the exit that Kejal had
told her about. But she could also hear voices. She turned toward
the source as a hand reached out from a nook and closed on her
mouth. “Shhh, don’t say a word.” The words were in English, but
Tess feared she had been caught — again.

The man pulled her into a room and turned her
to face him. One look at those eyes and he knew. One look at his
face and Tess knew too. “What the hell are you doing here Vickers?
I thought you were out playing your CIA games!” Tess’s tone was all
Jake needed to know that she was all right.

“Apparently I am doing the same thing as you
are, trying to get the hell out of here. I landed a short distance
from here, caught the Iraqis off guard and sent them to Allah. By
the way, how did you get out? And who is this?” he inquired,
pointing at the other woman in tow.

“She is okay,” Tess said. “She helped me
escape!”

“Good enough for me,” Jake responded. Let’s
get the guys out. You stay back here and I’ll take care of
things.

“Spoken like a real chauvinist,” Tess
commented. “Get real; you will need all the help you can get! And
don’t forget who is in command!”

Jake smiled, “How are you going to command
with a tent over your head? Take it off!”

Tess was about to do that when she realized
that wasn’t exactly wearing combat fatigues underneath. “Not now!”
she responded, irritably. “Let’s go get the guys out!”

Jake couldn’t help but smile. He snatched a
glimpse of her creamy skin under the chador. When had he begun to
think of Tess as his? ‘Shake it off, Vickers and get with the
program,’ he thought.

As they stealthily approached the prison
building, Jake, Tess and Kejal hid behind a large vehicle. “Tess, I
have to tell you. Dan Gardner died from his injuries.”

Tess felt her world falling apart. “What do
you mean he died? Are you sure?” He could hear the desperation in
her voice. The thought of losing Dan was unbearable. He had been
Jake’s best friend for 20 years, and a beloved mentor to Tess ever
since she graduated from the Academy.

“Tess, I am sure that Gardner is gone. I
talked to the guys through the gates of the jail and they told me.”
The tears again threatened, but she knew she had to maintain
control. “Now, unless you want to stay at Club Hell for the
remainder of your reservation, you
will
follow me…”

Jake reached around his back and pulled a
handgun out of his belt. “I borrowed this from a guard. He won’t
need it anymore. It is not your regular Army issue, but I assume
you know how to work it,” he said as he pushed the gun into her
hands. She almost felt insulted but postponed punishment until they
got out of there. “Don’t use it unless there is no choice. Silence
is our best friend for a while. Let’s go.”

Tess and Kejal followed Jake through the
unguarded door of the prison. The guards were having their meal and
weren’t paying much attention. Jake burst through the door, shot
one of them with his silenced gun, and was about to dispatch the
other three until Tess screamed “Don’t kill them!” Both of them
held their weapons pointed at the guards.

“Are you nuts?” Jake screamed at Tess. How
are we going to babysit them?” Tess insisted. “Don’t kill them.
Lock them up in a cell; they won’t be a problem there.” Jake made
an exasperated gesture and encouraged the men to drop their weapons
and enter the cell. He closed the gate and locked it with
deliberate clangor. He ran around the corner, found Tess’s men,
battered but otherwise okay, and let them out.

The small group took advantage of the dark so
that they could quickly exit the building and soon found themselves
several hundred yards away at the outskirts of the compound. The
downed choppers were still there. Tess ran to the cockpit of her
disabled aircraft and checked the radio. It was still working.
Immediately, she issued a rescue request. She then went back to the
men. “We must lay low until we get rescued. They have been waiting
just behind that berm.” The men took her to heart.

Less than 20 minutes later, a Black Hawk
helicopter and two Cobras appeared. The Blackhawk landed, stirring
a storm of sand while the Cobras hovered overhead. Jake hustled the
soldiers, who loaded the wounded and Dan Gardner’s body on board,
and urged the women to go next.

As Kejal entered the craft, shots rang out,
followed by several more. Iraqi troops ran toward them. The two
Cobras overhead opened fire with devastating effect, neutralizing
the attackers. Tess, Jake and the other two men on the ground
quickly boarded the chopper, and they rapidly flew away. Both the
ex-prisoners and the crew exulted and exchanged hi-fives until Tess
cried “Oh, no!” She was holding Kejal in her arms.

The woman had been shot and was bleeding
profusely. The medic that had joined the crew immediately assessed
the situation. He examined the woman’s wound and turned to Tess.
“She won’t make it.”

Tess refused to accept the diagnosis. “Of
course she will make it. I wouldn’t be here now if it weren’t for
her! There must be something you can do!” The medic did not raise
his head. He just stood there.