Ok, so she's back in Afghanistan

And their going after Lucky.

Chapter 13

And How She Fought

Marian

"Down! Crawl! Up! Shoot!" Nigel shouted at us as we got muddy and dusty at his command back in Afghanistan.

It was a week after we'd met my dad and we were going after Lucky tomorrow. But in the meantime Nigel was putting us through our paces and making us shoot and move as fast as we could.

Ten minutes later we were covered in mud.

"Ok, boys. Take a shower and get to bed. Up bright and early tomorrow."

I rolled over onto my back and gasped for air. Vick towered over me and grinned.

"No! Go away! No mocking now." I said and he laughed. Reaching down he grasped my hand and pulled me to my feet.

"Shh, look at this." He said and pointed to Betts. She was still sitting on the ground but was talking to Nigel who was looking at her ankle. I think she'd twisted it. Nigel simply bent down and picked her up princess style. I gasped and watched a he took her over to a wall and placed her down gently. He sat next to her and pulled her ankle onto his lap. She caught my eye and made the go away face.

"Come on Vick. We're not wanted apparently." I said and Vick rapped his fingers around mine. Together, we walked back to the barracks with the sun on our backs.

…..

After I had showered and was all clean and beautiful again, (I know what you're saying. Marian, when are you not clean and beautiful?) I was lying on my bed and fiddling with the piece of pottery the man in the village had given me. It was all so weird. Why did he give me pottery? It was part of a bigger piece.

Oh, Eureka! I am a genius.

I rolled over and pulled the plastic bag I got from the potter's wife out from under the table. I upturned it onto the floor and sifted through it.

There, right at the bottom, was a tiny piece of blue and green pottery that matched my piece in depth and design. It didn't fit, but they were part of a massive bowl.

But it was exactly the same design.

"Betts! Vick! Nigel!" I yelled and ran out to find them, clutching both pieces of pottery.

I ran smack into someone and looked up to see a worried looking Vick. He grabbed my arms and looked me up and down, making sure I was ok. "What's wrong? Why did you scream? Are you hurt?"

I shook my head and waved the pottery as Betts and Nigel ran around the corner.

After explaining my theory Nigel held both pieces under the light and looked at them closely.

"Yep. Matches. Good work Turner. We have a lead on Lucky."

"What?" Betts looked lost.

"The potter. These are his pieces and they match. We need to ask him."

Nigel nodded. "In the morning. Turner, people like you, so you're coming. Vick, you need to come too."

"What about me?" Betts asked.

Nigel looked her up and down. "Do you want to come?"

She nodded.

He frowned. "Ok, but be careful."

She nodded and dragged me back to our room. She forced me to bed and we actually managed to sleep really well.

When we woke up Betts threw my clothes at me and we were ready in half an hour.

We met Vick, Nigel and the other guys who were coming for backup in the conference room.

"Ok, Betts, you're with me. Stay with me. Turner, you're with Benedict. Stay with him." Nigel rubbed his hands together. "Ok, we have a plan. Go to see the potter, Turner, that'll probably be you. The rest of us recce around the village and have a look. Good?"

It was a bit ropey but that's all we knew.

…

Again, it was quiet in the village. People were still acting strangely. I winked at Vick who was told to stay outside as I went into the potter's house. He didn't look happy at the thought of me going in there alone but I was only here to talk and I would be able to do that better if I didn't have an intensely handsome man with a gun hovering over my shoulder.

I went into the dusty workshop and saw the potter bending over a plate.

"Manhabba." I said and he jumped.

I switched to halting Arabic and English mixed into one. "I'm sorry, asaffa."

He stared at me for a while. It's not every day an American soldier turns up in your house and they were still getting over the fact that I was a woman.

"Why here?" He said quietly.

I smiled. "I wanted to talk to you. Talk, hadith?"

He paled slightly and gripped the spatula he uses for the clay.

I walked slowly towards him and stopped when I saw him shift. I held out the two bits of matching pottery and he stared at them.

"I found these. They are yours? Lakka?"

He stiffened and looked at me worriedly. He nodded quickly.

"Ahmed?" A woman's voice sounded from the next room and his wife came in and smiled. She remembered the money I had given her.

She greeted me and saw the pottery in her husband's hands.

"Aah!" She laughed and smiled fondly at him. "But you see Miss Turner, we have a lot of pottery and this is just a tiny fragment. You don't need to worry about this anymore."

I frowned. That was English. How did she know that much English?

Then I saw a glow in her hands. The woman brought them up to her face and I saw they were full of fire.

I had time to scream and hit the deck.

The woman cackled and shot a ball of fire where I had been a second ago. I heard Vick sound the alarm and I rolled into a kneeling position.

I grabbed the pistol I kept under my vest and fired a whole magazine at her. She ducked and twisted, managing to come away with only a scrape from a bullet over her arm.

Pottery smashed and fires everywhere. A piece shot across my face and I felt a bit of blood oozing down my chin.

She emerged from the dust and grabbed my hair.

She dragged me away.

And I heard Vick shout.

Dun Dun Daaaaa!