Beckett of Arabia

By UCSBdad

Disclaimer: It is written that I do not own Castle. Rating: K. Time: An AU period slightly after A Deadly Affair.

As soon as they saw the tank headed for them, the technicals began moving to the right and left of the tank.

"Damn it." Castle said, looking out of a viewport. "One of them will get behind us and shoot up our engine."

"Not if I can help it." Cowboy yelled back over the roar of the tank's engine.

They heard Daud firing from the very top turret.

"I got one. He's stopped." He yelled.

"Keep at it. There's a hell of a lot more out there."

They got lucky.

"Two of the bastards hit each other." Marian yelled. "They're stuck. I'm gonna ram them."

Cowboy tried to tell her not to in case the tank's tracks were damaged, but she was determined.

"Never knew such a damned stubborn woman." Cowboy grumped.

"I'll take Kate Beckett and give the points if you want a stubborn contest." Castle shot back. That got a laugh from Cowboy. Castle was glad that Kate couldn't hear him over the noise.

The people in the two technicals were too busy screaming at each other to notice the tank at first, but that soon changed. Most of the two crews made it out, but as the tank's front end rose and then fell with a loud mechanical crunch, they could hear anguished screams suddenly cut off.

That convinced the technicals to back off for a moment. They backed off even further when they finally got a round off from the 75mm gun. Not only did the round fire, but it exploded near a group of technicals. The explosion didn't seem to injure anyone badly, or do major damage to the vehicles, but it did convince their enemies that they were dealing with a well-armed tank. They drew off further.

"I believe that they're arguing with each other." Daud said from his vantage point. "I'll bet each one wants the others to go first."

"I'm turning around while they argue." Marian said. "The engine is starting to overheat. There's a rock formation ahead. Maybe we can get our backs up against something and stand them off."

Seeing the tank move off convinced the attackers to go after their prey. They stood well back, but fired a rocket propelled grenade, which missed the tank.

'I think I can see a place to fort up in the rocks ahead." Marian called out. Then she screamed. "Even better! I can see the sea. The Indian Ocean is straight ahead, and I see a road."

"Which way do we go?" Kate yelled.

"East, I think."

"Good as any."

The road was relatively smooth, and the sides of the road were not. To their left was a beach with soft sand dunes. Two technicals that tried to go on the beach quickly bogged down. To the tank's right were rough, rocky hills. The rest of their enemies couldn't keep up with the tank from there and soon got onto the road.

The road was just barely wide enough for two of the pickups and not wide enough for any pickup to pass the tank. Both Daud and Cowboy fired their machine guns at the technicals and kept them at a distance.

"There's a seaport ahead!" Marian yelled. "And damn it. We've gone too far west. They're flying the Yemeni flag."

"What's that mean?" Kate yelled.

"Yemen and Oman are not the best of friends. We'll see."

The seaport turned out to be on an island connected to the mainland by a causeway. The causeway was wide enough for the tank, but also wide enough for the technicals to follow them.

The tank came to a sudden stop.

"Keep going!" Castle, Cowboy and Daud screamed.

"They're right behind us." Daud yelled.

"There are two tanks in front of us. Modern tanks."

Cowboy looked through the vision slit.

"Shit. Soviet era T55 tanks. Not modern by today's standards, but they could open us up like a can opener."

"We need to get out." Marian said. "They want us to get out."

"Okay, we'll keep our weapons, but keep them slung over our shoulders." Cowboy said.

They quickly dismounted from their tank and ran towards the two tanks. They ran past the two tanks and were stopped by a uniformed man with a large black mustache, a dozen soldiers with AK 47s, and a really bad attitude. He was screaming at them in Arabic.

"This is Colonel Saleh, the commander here. He wants to know who we are and what we're doing here." Daud said. "He's quite angry." He added, unnecessarily.

"Tell the colonel that we're American tourists with some local guides and the very latest in a modern sport utility vehicle." Castle said. Before Daud could translate all that, Castle grabbed Colonel Saleh's hand and shook it, smiling and thanking him in English.

To Daud's surprise, Colonel Saleh smiled back and slapped Castle on the back.

"He wants to know what he can do for us?" Daud said, not quite believing what Saleh had said.

"Tell him we're being chased by bandits, and we need a boat ride to Masirah Island."

Daud translated that and the colonel yelled something in Arabic to his tank commanders. In seconds the tanks began firing at the technicals that were now stopped on the causeway. Those that weren't destroyed, ran for it. A few managed to escape.

The colonel smiled at Castle, and they shook hands again.

"The colonel says there are two dhows in port now. We should go ask about passage."

As they walked away, Kate moved closer to Castle.

"What did you do? He looked like he was about to shoot us."

"I can get a table at any restaurant in New York, or anyplace else for that matter, by greasing the palm of the maître d. The first time I shook his hand, I gave him five hundred US dollars and another five hundred after he ordered his tanks to fire. But let's get out of here while we can."

Daud and Marian looked back at their great grandfather's tank.

"Great grandfather will be so sad that we had to leave his tank behind." Marian said.

"Don't worry." Castle said." I'll buy him a new one. A better one."

Kate stared at him.

"You know a used tank salesman?"

"Doesn't everyone know one?"

Kate just shook her head.

Daud spoke to some people about the dhows in port. One was headed for India. It was a large, motorized vessel that looked like it would be perfect for them. All the captain needed to do was stop at Masirah Island, and they were home free.

To their surprise, the captain refused to even let them on his ship and told them that he would not consider stopping at Masirah island or anyplace else other than his destination in India.

They trudged away, very discouraged.

"He's probably smuggling gold to India." Marian said.

"Why?" Beckett asked.

"Most people in India, especially those in rural areas, don't trust banks, the government or much of anyone or anything else. They want their savings handy and portable so they can grab it and flee in case of wars, revolutions, riots, or natural disasters. The government would rather they not tie up all that capital and so people smuggle gold. And it's traditional for women in India to have lots of gold jewelry."

Castle thought for moment.

"That might be a good idea. How do you think I'd look with some gold bling around my neck?"

Kate raised an eyebrow.

"Really?"

"I'd buy some for you, too." He added. "That way if we have to flee Manhattan for some desert outpost, we'd have money."

"You're more likely to be fleeing from me, Castle."

If she hadn't been smiling when she said that his feelings might have been hurt.

"But you chase me all the time, Beckett."

That got a Beckett eye roll.

The other dhow was smaller, had no engine and looked shabbier. However, the captain welcomed them aboard. Daud did the talking.

"He wants one hundred American dollars apiece for the trip. He's going to the port of Aden, in Yemen. "

"That'll be fine." Cowboy said. "There's a big US base in Djibouti, just across the Red Sea from Aden. We can get a boat there easy."

"Do you have that much cash, Castle?" Kate asked.

"I do, but I don't want our friend here to figure out how much money we do have. He and his crew look like something out of a pirate movie. Let's move over to the railing and pretend were trying to scrape up seven hundred bucks between us."

It turned out that Cowboy, LoDon and Sundance had money stashed on them, and Kate had a few twenties. Neither Daud nor Marian had any US money, but Majida had some.

Castle took the money, went to the captain and counted out seven hundred dollars, apparently leaving him with just seven ones. The captain smiled, took the money and the dhow set off.

"I guess we'll have to stand watch tonight and until we get to Aden."

"Got that right, Jefe." Cowboy said with a smile.

Daud went to talk to some of the crewmen who were cooking some lamb over a small fire. They generously shared some with Daud, giving him enough food for all of the passengers. But he also came back with some distressing news.

"It appears we're on a gun runner. Their cargo is weapons."

"For whom?" Rick, Kate and Cowboy asked at once.

"President Ali Abdullah Saleh of Yemen."

"Any relation to Colonel Saleh back in port?" Kate asked.

"Probably. The colonel had on Yemen Republican Guard insignia and President Saleh likes to reward his loyal relatives with military commands. The Republican Guard is President Saleh's power base. He won the only election in Yemen's history with over 96% of the vote, but like many autocrats, his power depends on firepower, not votes."

"If he's the president of Yemen, why would he be smuggling weapons?" Castle asked.

"Yemen isn't so much a country as a collection of tribes, religious groups, political parties, and for want of a better word, criminals. President Saleh is the strongest of them all and he plays his enemies off against each other. The Republican Guard has some twenty brigades…"

"Twenty brigades?" Cowboy said. "That's one hell of an army. Maybe half of what the US Army has."

Daud shrugged.

"The brigades are understrength which allows Saleh to promote more men to be colonels and generals and keep them happy and loyal. Plus, the Guard has no function other than to keep Saleh in power. They lack the kind of logistics you have that enables the Americans to support an army halfway around the world from their homeland."

"But why smuggle guns?" Kate asked,

"I would guess he's trying to make some kind of a deal with one of the other groups in Yemen. If it fails, he's not involved since the weapons were smuggled in, unknown to him. If he succeeds, the people who got the weapons know where they came from."

"Think anyone would believe he wasn't involved?" Castle asked.

Daud laughed.

"No, but he's still the strongest warlord in all of Yemen, so no one will say anything openly."

The sun set and the dhow plowed on through the Arabian Sea in the dark. Castle got an early shift and sat up marveling at the stars above them. With no lights at all here, he could see far more than he'd ever seen in Manhattan or anyplace else.

I'm a product of the bright lights and lots of fun. He thought. A trip where I could see stars like this might be nice. As long as no one's trying to kill me, of course.

He spent the rest of his watch finding ways to get Nikki and Rook onto a quiet sailing vessel somewhere where they could see was the ocean and the stars. It sounded romantic and he wondered how Beckett might like it. He already knew Gina would hate it.

Castle was woken up at dawn by the sound of people yelling and crewmen running back and forth, doubtlessly doing something important.

He tossed his blanket aside and got up. Cowboy was over by the railing looking at something with his binoculars.

"What is it?" Castle asked.

"A big, motorized dhow is headed this way. I'd guess from the way everyone's acting, they're not friendly."

Daud came up and confirmed that.

"The captain says we should get our weapons ready. If we're caught, they won't take any prisoners."

TBC