Note: So close to that reunion! It's coming.
Chapter 55
When they arrived in Mopti, McQuaid got on the phone again with the AMFHI's Executive Director, they were working with their kidnap and ransom insurance company to garner Katie Porter's release, but the looming threat that Katie Porter would be sold sex traffickers made them nervous. Their K & R insurance company took over communication with the kidnappers. They requested another more recent proof of life. McQuaid convinced her to carry on with the kidnappers, but that he would work behind the scenes to try to free her.
Auggie had already tapped into the phones of the Executive Director and their insurance company. He was providing real-time intel on the behind the scenes interactions.
"We can't let the K & R group get to Annie first, there will be too many questions. We need to take control of the situation and do our best to maintain her cover as Katie Porter," said Calder. "What's the news on that front?"
"I have all her employment files with the Initiative, we'll be ready to make her cover stand up to scrutiny. We've got her a mother and father here too, they have been looped into the 'negotiations' that happened while you were in flight," said Auggie, who was providing intel from his office at the DPD.
The NGO employing Katie Porter was advised to negotiate Katie Porter's release. But the executive director was troubled and worried that if his female employees were kidnapped and threatened with being sold into slavery or worse, it would be a terrible blow to the work of her organization so she wanted to pay the ransom not negotiate. The K & R consultants advised her against giving in so easily as it would endanger her other employees in the region as news spread that they were willing to pay ransoms. They were skilled at this sort of thing, it was the reason companies paid for K & R insurance, so they implored her to let them do their jobs. The director wanted to strip back the number of workers in the region, the State department had already issued travel warnings for Mali though Annie or Katie worked mostly in the safer Southern region.
McQuaid Securities worked behind the scenes and convinced the Executive Director that he could try to rescue Annie/Katie without incident and press involved. He would do so pro bono because her "fake" parents were friends of his, but she could not let her insurance company know about their arrangement. The executive director spoke with Katie Porter's family and they agreed to the arrangement so McQuaid Securities was given the go ahead to extract Annie.
The CIA had ascertained from the looks of the situation, chatter on the ground, and information collected from the doctor and nurse traveling with Annie at the time that her captors were too ill-equipped to be part of a larger more organized terrorist group like ISIS, al-Mulathamun Brigade, MUJWA, al-Qaeda or Ansar Dine, the predominant militant Islamic terrorists in the region. Judging from the way they grabbed Annie, they seemed to be one of the many loosely formed bands trolling the countryside for whatever they could get their hands on, they would then barter or sell the goods they stole to other groups with more money. All most of these men wanted was food and luxuries such a cigarettes, televisions, and cell phones. They wanted out of their own country too, to escape to the US or UK. This brought tremendous relief to Ryan, but he was still worried for Annie and would do so until she was in his presence. He hadn't allowed himself to go there yet, to picture seeing her in the flesh.
The various groups smaller bands in the area were like gangs fighting each other for territory and a piece of the spoils they raided from villages and opportunities like Annie's broken down jeep. They had to consider that a larger better equipped militants. If they got wind of Annie's capture they would for sure mount an attempt to kidnap her from her original kidnappers. It was critical to get to Annie first, before the K & R consultants actually hired by the Initiative and before the MUJWA or Ansar Dine realized they could nab Annie for their own purposes.
/
The sun was no longer directly overhead based on the movement of the light coming through the small openings of the hut. Slowly the interior of the hut cools by a few degrees, something to be thankful for. Annie needed water, but didn't want to draw attention to herself as she did earlier, the fewer interactions she had with her captors the better off she would be, she didn't want their hands on her or their voices in her head. Her present situation triggered memories of her ordeals in Russia and most recently in Cuba. Her awareness of her teetering psyche drove her to shake off her growing claustrophobia and nyctophobia.
Annie moves her body to be under a sliver of light and tries for what seemed like hours without success to free her hands inside the sweltering hut. Her lips are cracking and she's parched. Earlier Annie lost it, but she managed to collect herself through prayer and meditation, coping mechanisms she had picked up in the last few months as she tried to avoid medication for her occasional anxieties and insomnia. In the present moment, she knew she had to remain calm if she was going to have a fighting chance at getting out of her predicament. Her memory of what happened was fuzzy, but she was sure her capture had nothing to do with her ties to the CIA. Annie recalls the details of how she landed in the hut.
The jeep she was riding in with another local doctor and nurse came to a stop when it became overheated. It was her new route, she had to give up the safety of her route in the south with Dr. Baba, aka Bobby Musa in order to get closer to the rebellions and insurgency in the northern portion of Mali held by various splintered rebel groups. Everyone at the clinic warned her against taking the route, many foreigners began leaving the region and moved farther south away from the rebel held zone, but Annie had a job to do for Rachael, Calder and the CIA.
The doctor left on foot to find water and assistance in the next village leaving Annie and the local nurse to keep watch over the supplies and medicine in the jeep. They carried no weapons with them as per her employer's policy. Something Annie deeply regretted at the moment. They had a crowbar that she started to grab from the back of the jeep as they saw a band riding a beat up pick up truck and picking up speed in the distance. As soon as she saw the dust kicking up in the distance, she hid her camera's memory card and texted an encrypted message to Calder, but her signal was weak. As the pick up showed no signs of slowing down, Annie stuffed her phone into an opening in the car door. The nurse began covering her head and entire face only revealing her eyes and instructed Annie to quickly do the same. "They believing in Sharia law, quickly cover hair and face, we try to hide that you American. Only I talk okay?" Annie nodded and did as she was told.
When the band of men three men approached, the nurse spoke to them in a local dialect and tried to negotiate with them. They wanted everything in the jeep to sell as well as the jeep itself. The nurse continued to implore them to no avail, telling them the jeep was broken and that women and children needed the medicine on board. Annie followed about fifty percent of the quick exchange, but things were not going as planned, one man got into the driver seat of the jeep to start it. It didn't work, so they popped the hood and tried to assess the situation. Another said, "Forget it!" as they unloaded the jeep's contents and stripped it of its battery, which was still good.
Then the men started to grab the nurse and then motioned to Annie. Annie told them to stop, she said to leave the nurse, she was a great help to their people who needed it. As soon as she spoke another man pulled off her scarf and started hooting and hollering. "We have our gold here men!"
The rest of the men started hooting and even shooting in the air in jubilation. The nurse, said "No, no, please and they knocked her down."
"Okay, you go, we take this one." Annie struggled and as they spirited her away with the jeep's supplies leaving the local nurse shouting after them. Annie struggled with all her strength, she had managed to stay in shape after her body healed from her injuries, but she was unable to fight off her captors. One of them knocked her out as she heard another say, "Don't hurt her, we'll get more money for her if she's kept pure and in one piece." It was a little too late for that as Annie suffered a mild concussion. Blood trickled down from her head as one of her captors went to her and cradled her head in his lap. Annie looked up at him as fear filled her chest, it was the last thing Annie remembered before passing out.
/ /
The CIA tasked her with looking into the chatter on the growing violence and strength of Islamic militants in the region. There were reports, mostly unverified, of entire villages being slaughtered and women and girls taken. Rachael Musa had been collecting data and interviewing people in the villages of Northern Mali long before they were taken over by rebel groups, when they were just the front lines against their encroachment. She had been working on a longitudinal study, but she had just died less than a month ago during childbirth. It was a needless death, she went into what seemed like a normal labor, albeit nearly three weeks earlier than expected, but even her Duke medical school trained husband couldn't stop her hemorrhaging. There was no time to get her to the nearest hospital. Rachael bled to her death while holding her newborn daughter on her chest. Her last words were to implore Annie to make sure her life and work weren't a waste, to help Bobby care for Sabine, to make sure Bobby took her to the States as soon as he could, and to make sure she grew up to know that her mother loved her so dearly.
That day, the day Rachael died, Annie made contact with Calder to inform him that Rachael was gone. It was also the day she agreed to continue Rachael's work, but with conditions. Calder had to keep her identity and location from everyone back home, he had to guarantee her a new cover if needed, and lastly, she wanted to be done after this "favor." He readily agreed to her conditions.
Annie went on to remember the day Racheal and Bobby's baby was born about a month ago. Annie saw the tiny daughter daily at the clinic that was her primary workplace when not out in the field visiting villages and camps. She couldn't believe how small the baby girl was when she was born. The nurses and a few ex-pats including Annie worked together to take shifts caring for the newborn who was born at only five pounds and five ounces. But the delicate little girl grew stronger and gained weight despite not having her mother to nurse her. Dr. Bobby was distraught in the days that followed, he deeply regretted not leaving the country earlier as Rachael had wanted. The baby was a comfort to Annie, not a source of sorrow as she had feared. At first she didn't want to hold her, she thought the baby was too small, but once she held the teeny girl, she was smitten by her.
The sound of someone at the door startled Annie who was reminded of her present predicament. A man came in and stood in front of her. He stood and looked her over before handing her a newspaper, another one. He took a few photos of her. When he was done, he started to touch her necklace which hung just between her breasts, a small pearl encased in wire that hung on a silver chain, she had bought it to remember her son. As he played with the pearl and his fingers rubbed against Annie's skin, her head filled with images of Ivan Kravec touching her, she closed her eyes to convince herself that this was a different time and a different place, but the emotions she felt in that moment were the very same, she was taken back to a hell she worked so hard to forget the last eight months.
The man yanked off the pearl necklace startling Annie who had started to cry. He then reached down to her cheek and wiped away the tears that escaped Annie's eyes. He then took out his water bottle, opened it, and held it to Annie's mouth. Confused, but unable to resist, she drank from it. She drank as if her life depended on it and emptied its contents. He started touching her hair, he had probably never seen blond hair before. He was fascinated by Annie and took out his knife. Annie's heart raced as she shut her eyes tightly. They were supposed to keep her pristine and alive, these were kidnappers who wanted money, ideologues who would kill her in front of a camera to broadcast their message of revenge and terror. They didn't want to trade her for their brethren, their brethren were in NYC and London trying to live an immigrant dream. He took a lock of her hair and cut it off, carefully laying it in a cloth before another man called from outside. He loosened the ties on her hands and retied her with her hands in front of her instead of behind. He opened a second canteen and left it on the ground next to her. "Soon, you will be free, soon we get money." Annie's relief was apparent.
Annie was hopeful that the negotiations with her employers appeared to be successful. Calder might not even have received her message yet. Her phone was in hidden in the door of the jeep she was in and she hoped Calder got her message as soon as the jeep was towed or recovered and entered an area with a signal. She was supposed to hand off her intel earlier, perhaps Calder had been told she missed her drop and would be looking for her too. Her situation was for sure an "express kidnapping" judging from the amateurs who grabbed her. She hoped that the captor was right and that she would be free soon. She was beginning to crawl out of her skin.
Before she arrived in Mali she had a stop in Cairo, Egypt where she went through a weekend long orientation and training with a dozen other new hires about to go to various corners in Africa for The African Maternal and Fetal Health Initiative. She looked over her shoulder the entire time she was in Egypt because McQuaid Securities had plenty of clients and therefore employees there. One of her workshops during the Orientation was on minimizing the risk of harm and kidnappings while working in volatile regions and how to handle oneself if in the unfortunate situation of being held captive. Annie was no stranger to being a prisoner, but being held for ransom was different from her previous experiences in captivity. Kidnap for the sake of ransom or extorting money was a whole different ball of wax.
Annie tried to tap into what she learned during her two-hour workshop on Personal Safety in Cairo. She recalled that 40 percent of all kidnap victims were unharmed and safe after a ransom was paid, but she found it hard to stay put and do nothing because that went against her training at the Farm. There she was taught that it was critical to get out in the first hour or her chances would diminish rapidly, however in this particular case, she was valuable to her captors, if her employers didn't come through with the funds, they would shop her around to other groups to get as much as they could for her. They meant her no physical harm beyond keeping her quiet, they would keep her alive because she equaled dollar signs to them.
Annie was just starting to pick up more and more of the local Tuareg language, but the many dialects and related languages spoken by the people in the region still tripped her up. She could hear her captors arguing about what to do and how to negotiate, one had feared that they asked for too much money, one said to wait and see the response from the employers. Another said his cousin's friend was a rich man and went to America with his 10,000 USD and was living in a mansion in NYC. Then another piped up about his second cousin who was able to get his entire family to London with his cut of ransom, and so the legends continued as Annie sat wondering how many more hours she would be stuck in the hut with her hands tied.
/ /
Calder gets off his satellite phone. He has covers made for himself and the team sent to extract Katie Porter. They are part of the African Maternal and Fetal Health Initiative's headquarters and Ryan is his private security. Dex and Jim are two aid workers bringing supplies of infant formula, vaccinations, and water purification filters.
He had an operative from Morocco head to the region of Mali to see prepare papers for the group and to see if he could gather any new intel. By now Annie had been gone about 24 hours and they were awaiting a new proof of life.
"What's the word?"
"They appear to be amateurs, I mean they went to an Internet café for crying outloud. They have no means of uploading at their own location, probably nothing more than a moving campsite."
"What about on your end McQuaid?"
"Got the go ahead to extract, we have to do it soon because the actual K & R group asked for a new proof of life and as soon as they get it, they will set up the exchange and we need to get to Annie before that."
Auggie, "Calder's man corroborates the satellite footage we have, she doesn't come in and out, but they have been going inside with canteens. The last time, a guard carried what looked like a newspaper in his hand and left short of a canteen."
"That's where she's being held," said Ryan.
"We have no eyes on the prize, boys," says Jim fearing Ryan's emotions are in the way of sound judgment.
"What we have is good enough," says Calder. "based on the type of vehicle these men are driving and the area of the abduction and time of the videotape, we've pinpointed her location. We've got to get to her before. . . "
"Before what?" asks Jim.
"Any number of scenarios. . . they could change their minds and ask for more money, they could sell her like they threatened, in some markets, a blond American can fetch a lot of money, or there's the ever popular threat of another more organized group with more fire power stealing her so they can leverage her for their cause," says Auggie.
"That gives me an idea. The only approach is to just ride on up, it's flat and open, there's nowhere to hide and there's no element of surprise. . ." says Calder.
Ryan is quiet, it's dawning on him that he's so close to seeing her for the first time in a long time and he can't afford for any of this to go south.
"We need to get her out of this place, what are the Ansar Dine sporting these days? Get us some local clothing and an Ansar Dine flag."
"Sometimes Calder, you're a real genius," says Auggie.
"Don't load on the praise yet, we haven't got our girl yet," responds Calder. He feels utterly responsible for Annie Walker. She had given so much for the agency, he had come to respect her and he wasn't a man without compassion, especially since Stephanie Banks died. Calder left to escape her memory in D.C. so he also understood Annie's flight from D.C., and he hated putting her in the position he put her in. He needed Annie to get out alive, he didn't want another woman to die because of a decision he made.
They gear up and start heading out to the desert.
Calder has come to know the terrain and rattles off a plan. Calder checks in with Jim, Ryan seemed off point, "Is your boy going to be a liability out there? He seems lost."
"Don't worry, when the time comes, he'll snap out of it and get in mission mode," but Jim was equally worried.
