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.

Castle saw that the crew were raiding the cargo for machine guns.

"How about we use machine guns, too?"

Cowboy, LoDon, Sundance and Daud ran to the cargo hold.

"No machine guns left, but we got something better."

"What?" Castle asked.

There was no reply, but Castle soon saw the four men each dragging boxes of something behind them. When they got closer, he could see what he thought was some sort of ideograms on the wooden crates.

"What are those?" He asked as the men began opening the boxes.

"Chinese made RPG -7s. These'll stop a lot of tanks and it's sure gonna be hell if we can hit that bastard."

As Castle nodded, something zipped past his head. He realized he was being shot at.

Cowboy called Castle, Beckett, Majida and Marian over and gave them a quick lesson in how to fire the weapon. It turned out that Majida was very familiar with the weapon and Marian knew the basics.

"It's best to use a two-person team, one to fire and one to reload. So that'll be me and Sundance, LoDon and Daud, Majida and Marian and Rick and Kate. Now get going. Those folks are coming too damned close.

"I'll fire." Kate said, grabbing the RPG from Castle.

"Shouldn't we…"

"No." she said. "Get ready to reload."

Within seconds, four RPG rounds were headed for the attacking dhow. All missed. All four teams were finding it was hard to aim from as ship that moved up and down and back and forth.

"Damn it!" Kate yelled. "Can't they keep this thing from moving?"

"I could try…" Castle's response was cut off by Kate's next shot. They had finally gotten a hit on the enemy dhow, but on the very top of the ship's mast. There did appear to be some wounded from the shrapnel from the hit, however.

"I think I'm getting the hang of this." Kate said.

But her next shot went into the sea about fifty yards from their own ship and disappeared.

Both Cowboy and Sundance, and Majida and Marian fired simultaneously. There was an explosion on the quarterdeck of the other ship.

That didn't stop the fire coming from the enemy dhow.

"They're going to try to board us." Sundance yelled.

Sure enough, the other dhow was now headed straight for them with what seemed like dozens of men gathered at the bow, shooting and screaming.

Kate took careful aim and fired her RPG. The round hit the bow just at the water line and exploded, tearing a gaping hole in the ship. The ship's forward motion cause water to pour into the ship and it began to sink. The crew began to run to the small boats on the ship or anything else that would float. The crew of the dhow Castle was on began pouring fire into the helpless men.

"Do they have to do that?" Castle yelled.

"It's what they'd have done to us, but if you want to go talk to the captain and try to stop him, be my guest." Cowboy said.

Castle could see the captain spraying the men in the water with automatic fire and laughing.

"It wouldn't do any good, would it."

"Not a bit."

The crew was in a much happier mood after that and that night the captain invited his passengers to dine with him. Dinner was rice, vegetables and fish, none of it fresh, but it was filling. Castle thought about asking for a discount on their ticket fees but decided to let well enough alone. He could still remember the captain killing the men in the water and laughing.

The wind died down to next to nothing and it took another three days to reach the port of Aden. Presumably because the dhow was smuggling weapons for President Saleh, the authorities in Aden completely ignored the ship. The passengers got off and began looking for a boat that would take them to Djibouti.

They eventually found an old fisherman who'd take them across. He had a fairly large fishing boat with an outboard motor and his three young sons for a crew. All four were armed with AK 47s.

"The youngest boy can't be more than ten." Castle said. "What's he doing carrying a weapon?"

"Around here you're a man as soon as you can haul a weapon around, Jefe. He probably started carrying a pistol when he was six years old."

Castle just shook his head.

"I'll be glad to get back to New York." Kate said. "At least there, teenagers only carry pistols. Mostly."

"If you're trying to make me feel better, it's not working."

"One thing that worries me is that here we are, eight obvious foreigners, armed and mostly wearing camouflage fatigues, and no one is even looking at us funny."

"There are al sorts of odd folk in the Middle East, as you call it." Majida said. "We could be Russian mercenaries, advisors from any number of countries, or just bad people any sensible Yemeni should stay away from."

"I'll be happy to get home."

The old fisherman allowed them to sleep on his boat so they could get a start at dawn. As usual, they kept one of their number on guard.

The next morning, they headed out across the Red Sea, headed for the US base at Djibouti. The sea was as smooth as glass, with only the wakes of any number of large cargo ships to ruffle the water, The fisherman easily avoided any trouble.

They were approaching the coast when they noticed there was nothing like a base or a city where they were going. Daud spoke to the fisherman.

"He says that if he goes into the harbor, the Djibouti government will stop him. If he can't pay the bribes, they'll accuse him of being a pirate, take everything he has and toss him and his sons in prison. He says that we're going to land just south of the US base. When we climb to the top of the hill, we'll be able to see it."

The old man ran his boat up onto the beach and his passengers jumped out, splashing the last few yards through the water. The old man waved at them as his sons pushed the boat off of the beach and he headed home.

They climbed the hill and when they got to the top, they were surprised.

"Where the fuck is the base?" Cowboy demanded. "There's nothing but fucking desert here." He turned around and brought his assault rifle up to his shoulder, but the fishing boat was already out of range.

"You lying shit!" He screamed.

Cowboy looked like he was about to head down the hill and try to swim back to Aden to catch the man who'd cheated them.

"He's gone, Bro." Sundance said. "Nothin' we can do about it now. Just calm down and let's decide what to do next."

"It looks like there's a road down there." Majida said, pointing down the hill.

"I'm damn sure that crooked bastard let us off in Somalia. They don't much like Americans around here."

"We haven't got much water." Castle said. "If we just sit up here, we'll die of dehydration. On the road, we maybe have a chance."

They headed down the hill and began walking north. At dusk they got off the road and settled down to sleep. As usual, they put out guards.

They woke at dawn and gulped down a little of their water, then went back on the road. In minutes they saw a large truck coming up behind them.

The driver honked and stopped. Daud spoke with him.

"He says he'll give us a ride if we'll help protect his cargo. He says there are a lot of bandits in his area."

They all looked at each other and nodded.

"Better than walking." Castle said.

They climbed up on top of the cargo, which was stacked in large bags.

"What's his cargo?" Kate asked, bouncing up and down on a bag. "Vegetables?"

"He's carrying khat." Marian replied.

"Cat?"

"K-H-A-T." Marian spelled it out. "It's a mild narcotic grown throughout the Horn of Africa. Chewing it is quite common here. It makes you more alert. It's something like coffee for Westerners."

Kate shook her head.

"If this ever gets out, I'm done for."

"What?"

"Castle, first I've been running guns to some Middle Eastern warlord and now I'm riding shotgun for some drug dealer."

"I wouldn't worry about it."

She rolled her eyes.

"Castle, I'm a cop. I could get fired for this."

"I don't think so. For one thing, as far as everyone, specifically the NYPD, is concerned, we're in a safe house someplace in the US. Secondly, you were transporting guns for good President Saleh of Yemen and I bet anything he does is legal by definition. Thirdly, khat is a mild stimulant, no more illegal around here than coffee is in the US. In fact, given the total collapse of anything vaguely resembling a government in Somalia, I doubt if anything is actually illegal here. Lastly, if we somehow manage to get in trouble for this, my lawyers will run circles around the NYPD."

"I can take care of myself. My dad is a lawyer, you know."

"And I'm sure he's a good one. But, we're in this together. If you're in trouble, I'm in trouble."

"I'm a cop, you're not."

"But I am a famous best selling author. Do you think Black Pawn, or my fans, want to hear that Rick Castle transports weapons and drugs, even if he does so legally? I've been with you the whole time, Beckett. Well, except for the time you took a bath in that oasis and came out without your shirt."

That got a glare from Kate.

"If I defend myself, I have to defend you. I'll be happy to pay half of your dad's fee since it works both ways. You have to defend me as well."

She smiled at him.

"Let's just hope it doesn't come to that."

Well before dark, the driver and his two assistants pulled off the road. They noticed the three all had AK 47s. They took out a smaller bag of khat and began chewing. The driver offered them some, but Daud declined. It seemed to cause no hard feelings. Probably the driver decided it was just that much more for him and his friends.

Around noon the next day they came to a roadblock. It seemed that the soldiers at the roadblock and the driver knew each other. They chatted for a while and the driver off loaded a large bag of khat for the soldiers. They drove on.

It took two more days, but they finally arrived at a port.

"This is Bosaso." Daud said. "A fairly large city of maybe a hundred and fifty thousand people. Also, a major port. We should be able to get a ship to Djibouti from here."

The truck stopped in front of a large building and the driver told them it was time to get off. As they did, several dozen armed soldiers walked out of the building. One of them approached Castle, smiled and saluted.

"Good afternoon, Captain. We are always glad to see our friends from the United States of America."

Castle reacted swiftly, returning the salute.

"And we're always glad to meet any friends. Um, I'm afraid we seem to be a bit lost. We're now in…"

"Puntland." The soldier replied, still smiling. "Although I fear that your government doesn't recognize us as an autonomous part of Somalia. But we do quite well with our other American friends."

"We're trying to get back to Djibouti. I wonder if…"

"But of course, Captain. The Puntland Maritime Police Force will have a boat ready for you before you get to the harbor." The man waved and a truck came up and stopped in front of Castle and his friends.

"Have a good journey, Captain and be sure to tell your comrades how friendly we are." He saluted and Castle returned the salute.

"Puntland?" Kate said, once they were in the back of the truck. "The land of NFL kickers?"

"The Biblical Land of Punt, Beckett. Hang with the cool kids."

TBC