Chapter 5B
"This is bullshit," Kyle exploded and threw the clipboard with a few printed files across the military tent. It hit the fabric quietly and then fell to the ground, kicking up a little dust cloud.
The Commander glanced up from the computer and glared at him before his eyes followed the files he had thrown. "Keep it together, Private Valenti."
"This isn't getting us anywhere! We have two hundred tips about where Ibrahim could be or not and you know as well as me that most of them are ridiculous." Half a day had passed again and they were running in circles without getting anywhere. "The informants don't know anything about his whereabouts and our transmitter just tells us where some stupid cars are that Ibrahim's been seen with. They're spread over the whole fuckin' country."
"Getting impatient won't get us anywhere," Sullivan said and got up to stretch. He walked over to the mobile radio and squeezed the button on the mouth- and ear-piece. "Come in, Alpha team, over."
Crackling could be heard and after a few seconds a male came across along with several disturbing sounds. "Here, Alpha team, over."
"Termination of Operation Desert Eagle. Please confirm."
Kyle bounced his left leg unconsciously while he waited for Sullivan to finish his order for team Alpha. He lifted his eyebrow in surprise when he heard him terminating a different operation because of the situation.
"Terminate Desert Eagle," the voice said through the radio and it was easy to read the surprise in it.
"That's right," the Commander barked. "Confirm termination, over."
"Team Alpha verifies the termination of Desert Eagle. Waiting for new instructions. Over."
Sullivan wiped his eyes tiredly and pressed the button again. "You're meeting with unit ASCT. Coordinates will be sent to your Captain. Confirm, over."
"Meeting with unit ASCT. Understood. Over." Again, there was surprise in the other voice, but the Commander ignored it this time.
"ASCT, over and out."
"You're ordering the Alpha team over here?" Kyle asked, surprised when the Commander threw the mouth piece back on the table in front of him.
"If we find Ibrahim, we'll need help as much as possible."
"Yeah, if," the younger man grumbled and kicked a stone on the ground.
"We will!"
"No, we won't!" Kyle got up from his chair and started to pace. "Not without any help."
"Help?" Sullivan growled and glared at him.
"We should contact Kalil Chalid, if –"
"Chalid is not to be trusted," the Commander dismissed him before he could finish the sentence.
"He's the only one who might know where Ibrahim's hiding Michael," the younger soldier countered back, agitated.
"And no one knows if his information would lead us into an ambush. Last time we trusted that man, it ended in a massacre."
"That wasn't his fault! We put him under pressure to give us information and he warned us SEVERAL times about the uncertain factors."
"And after that he refused to work with us. We almost had him," Sullivan yelled and slammed his fist on the table, making everything on it shake, "and that asshole knew that but kept his knowledge to himself."
"Half of his family was killed in that ambush and after that our troops were removed… we left him alone with a village of dead bodies and havoc – NO ONE would've helped us after what we did." If his hair was long enough he would pull it out right now, Kyle thought, frustrated.
"Chalid is not helping the US Military anymore, Private."
"Maybe not the military," Kyle said calmer and looked at the Commander intensely. "But he would help if he knew Michael is with Ibrahim." He had no doubt it was true. Kalil Chalid may be fed up with the US Army, but Michael and he had formed a friendship. They had saved each other's lives more than once and they had made it clear to him that leaving after the ambush a year back wasn't a choice they had made on their own.
"We can't trust him."
"No, we can," he insisted. "Let me go and talk to him. He's the only one who could give us some worthwhile information."
Sullivan narrowed his eyes to small slits while he stared at the young man. "If he defects, we're screwed."
"He won't! Chalid hates Ibrahim, he won't do anything to help that bastard." Kyle walked up to him, almost nose to nose. "I trust him and so did Guerin."
A hardly visible nod could be seen in the Commander's posture. He knew that his men had spent a lot time with Kalil and if anyone knew him, it was Valenti and Guerin. His information had always been right and a lot more possible to work with than what they had obtained from their other informants. "You have to go alone and you won't share any information other than the few things he would need to know to help us. No slip about our coordinates and I don't want him to be there when we operate."
"Understood," Kyle straightened up and saluted. "Do we know where Kalil is right now?"
"It won't be a problem to find out." Sullivan pointed his index finger at the exit of the tent. "Now get the hell outta here, Valenti. I'll give you the necessary information as soon as we have it."
"M'ria, you should really sleep longer," Tess complained in a tired mumble when she opened her eyes to check the time and detected her friend already dressed and sitting on the window ledge.
"It's already after nine."
"After a party," she pointed out and sat up to rub her eyes. "We used to sleep till noon."
"Sorry, right now I'm happy if I make it through the night with any sleep at all." Another day had passed and there was still no sign from Michael. It was really getting harder and harder to convince herself that everything was okay.
"Are you staying for breakfast?"
"Sure, why not? I like the coffee at your house better than mine anyway."
Tess rolled her eyes. "It's so good to know that you're staying because of the coffee, ya know?" She swung her legs out of her bed and grabbed the dressing grown on the armchair to slip into it.
"Hey," Maria stood and walked up to her friend. "I know it's really no fun to hang out with me right now. I'm just so full of sorrows and it seems like I'm unable to switch them off…"
"M," the curly blonde wrapped her arms around her. "You don't have to apologize for this. I was just teasing, you know that, right?"
"I'm really going crazy."
"I can deal with crazy." Tess pushed her away slightly. "Why don't ya spread some pillows on the ledge and I'll get everything for breakfast? My parents probably still have some visitors here from yesterday, so I think staying here would be a better idea. Unless ya wanna get wrapped up in some political talk already this morning?"
"Ungh, no. I'll wait here then."
"Gimme a few minutes. Maybe I can sneak some croissants as well," Tess winked at her before she left the room.
Alright, Maria thought and grabbed some pillows and the blanket from the bed to place them on the wide window ledge. The weather outside was cold, windy and rainy, so she wasn't looking forward to walking home anyway. Just when she was about to get comfortable there was a knock on the door.
She walked over and opened it, her gaze low since she expected little Daniel on the other side. Her eyes collided with deep blue cloth pants though so her gaze snapped up. "Ed," she said, surprised to see Tess' father in front of her.
"Good morning, Maria," greeted in a warm voice, but there was also something else. Nervousness maybe? "Can I talk to you?"
"Sure," she nodded and was about to step aside so he could enter the room but he made a sign for her to follow him.
The weird feeling in her chest increased when they walked down the hallway to the lobby in front of the second entrance to the building. Through the milky glass of the door, she could see a black-coloured car parked, the engine already running. "What's this all about?" she asked, her voice revealing the worry and fear in her.
"Maria," Ed stopped to face her. "You trust me, right?" He placed his hands on her shoulders and looked at her intensely.
She nodded dumbly.
"There's a car waiting for you in front of the door. Two men from the Secret Service are going to drive you to your apartment."
"Why?" She frowned, her heart hammering like crazy.
"I can't explain it to you right now," he said gently, but it also didn't leave room for questions. "I want you to pack some things for a few days, maybe a week or two. Clothes, bathroom articles and whatever else you may need. Food isn't necessary."
"This has something to do with Michael, hasn't it?" Her eyes filled with tears as she stared up at him. "Please Ed, you have to tell me."
He sighed and gave her a small nod. "I'll explain everything later, okay? For now I just need you do to what I tell you."
"But what if he gets home and I'm not there?" She started to babble while her mind tried to make sense of the situation. "I can't just leave. Where do I go?"
"Maria, he won't be home anytime soon, okay?" Ed hated to see the hurt in the girl's eyes. She had always been like a member of his own family and he felt the need to protect her like he would protect his own daughter.
"Is he hurt?"
"We don't know."
She frowned and wiped her tears away. "How do you not know?" This had to be a bad dream.
The door was opened from outside and a man in a black suit stepped in, looking at them in question.
Ed turned to her again. "I know you have a lot of questions, but there's no time to answer them now, Maria. Do what I've told you and I'll meet you later. You can trust these men and they won't leave you alone. Don't doubt anything they do and don't make their job any harder, okay?" He gave her a slight gentle push in the direction of the car.
Maria hesitated and glanced back down the hallway. "I need to say goodbye…"
"You need to go, I'll inform my daughter."
With that she was rushed into the car and the door was slammed shut behind her as soon as she was inside. The windows were darkly tinted so it wasn't possible to see anything from outside.
"Miss Deluca," one of the men said, startling her with his voice even though it hadn't been loud. "We need the directions to your apartment."
Maria looked at him as if he was talking to her in a different language and it took several moments before the question registered in her brain. "This way," she pointed down the street and her hand was shaking when she lifted it up.