She could feel brutal terror had just walked into the cafe and knew it was all going sideways real fast. By now she should be use to fear but somehow her nerve endings wouldn't work with her logic and tightness clasped her chest, she taking slow deep breaths to control her pure dread of what was about to happen. There was no way out, the two oversize well built men blocking her exit and she without a weapon. She looked back at her contact and quietly asked, "You know them?"
That is when it all hit the fan. Her panicky contact glancing over his shoulder, flinched and swiftly pitched the flash drive at her, raised his hands in submission as he started to run for the cafe door. The metal of the drive making a distinctive clicking sound as it hit the table. Annie putting her hand over the drive, trying to hide it and shifting it closer to her. One of the men grabbed her contact by the shirt pulling him close, nose to nose and uttered a few despicable words in Arabic. The other man took a few steps closer to Annie and watching her. Horror would be an understatement of the panic her contact had on his face and when the man let go, he ran tripping over a chair and table falling, then scrambling to his feet for a quick dash to the door. The two men breaking out in robust laughter and didn't even bother to follow her contact out, it wasn't him they were after. One man, the larger of the two took the seat just vacated across from Annie and the other stood behind her.
"You have something belonging to us." The seated man said in Arabic.
"Don't understand you. I don't speak Arabic." Annie was being truthful, she didn't speak Arabic but could understand some of it, enough to get by in a pinch.
The man taking her tote that was on the table and starting rummaging through it. Finding her wallet he open it and investigating her identification credentials. "We'll speak English Liza Kingman if that is your real name."
"It's my name and leave my belongs alone." Annie half in shock of what just happened but thinking quickly, "What do you want with me? I have nothing of yours."
"But you do." The man lifting Annie's hand that had covered the flash drive. "See you have not been very truthful with me." He holding the flash drive in front of her face.
"I have no idea what that is. That crazy man just sat down and pitched it on the table. My mother has always told me never trust a man who just sit down at your table, I thought she was being silly but now I wished I had listened. How would I ever meet anyone if I didn't trust people well now I know I can't trust everyone but he looked harmless enough and I was drinking alone..."
"Stop your rambling." Both men looked at her slightly confused then the one sitting at the table continued. "What is an American doing in Golan Heights?"
"Vacation, looking for artist and little known art work to buy. Why am I even answering your questions anyway. You have what you want now just leave me alone." Annie eyes burning with fury at her captives and she knew without a weapon she was helpless against two rather large men.
The man standing behind her leaned his head down even with the side of her head and softy whispered, "You are lying. I can tell when women lie." He than straighten back up and placed his hand on her shoulder and in Arabic, "Don't you think Mujahid will want to have a talk with this American?"
"Yes." The first man to Annie, " You're not going anywhere now. A friend of ours would be happy to meet you, fact he definitely would be thrilled."
One of them threw a few shekels on the table and both, one on either side with a strong grip on her arms lead Annie to their van. Annie knew better than to resist, all it would do is make a bad situation worse and with communication black out no one back at Langley would know she is missing. All she could do now was try to come up with an escape plan. During the drive everything she thought of was way too dangerous and for her captives she was sure there were more in the van, she being blindfolded was unable to evaluate her circumstances. She just have to wait for the right opportunity to make her move and hope it wouldn't be too late.
The van came to a sudden stop and she could hear voices all speaking in Arabic, they had reached the compound and the men that had ridden in the back with her pulled her for the van roughly and hitting her back against the side of the opening. She let out a small yelp of pain and quickly was pushed to the side of the van, her hurting back pressing hard against dusty metal. The blindfold ripped from her face and she squinting, trying to adjust to the bright afternoon sun light. A quick glance around she saw several bombed out buildings and tents. A group of men, terrorist combatants with guns over their shoulders watching. There were four men standing near her and the other group looked to be about ten or more but she knew that were even more unseen. As she was led by the group she thought she saw a set of eyes closely watching her, the eyes she knew all too well. She looked down not wanting to make eye contact for fear it would be noticed and blow his cover if it truly was him. How she wanted to take a second look, to make sure it wasn't her wishful imagination and it really was her Israeli friend but she didn't dare.
The four men escorting her were rough as they lead her towards toward a building, the only one with still a roof and knocked on the door. Annie closed her eyes praying that some wonderful escape plan would materialize but to no avail. Shoved into a room with some of the comforts of a home, sofa and reclining chair, a large screen TV and a make-shift desk, two short file cabinets with a wooden door as the top. There two computer monitors and radio equipment on the desk with a stack of files and papers. In the corner was a table she assumed for eating meals with seem odd as most Arabic speaking people seat on cushions around a short table to relax while having a meal. She look for any sign of weapons storage or even a gun when she was confronted by a bearded man in camouflage, muscular, built like a 18 wheeler Mac truck. His head wrapped in a turban.
He just looked at Annie and then at his men, "Who is this?"
"Mujahid this is an American and meeting with that rat Hatim over in the heights. He was giving her this." One of the four men said handing the flash drive to Mujahid. She kept her eyes on Mujahid and the flash drive. Annie recognized the name as being the leader of their target group Qumar but that in itself didn't give her any comfort.
Mujahid just looked at her, sizing her up before speaking, "Tie her up. I'll deal with her later. You two come with me." He setting the flash drive on the corner of the desk and walked out of the building with two men in tow.
Securing her tightly to a wooden straight chair, hands tied behind her back, the last two men left with orders to stand guard outside. Through a small window she could tell the sun was starting to make its decent into the western horizon and soon night's darkness would cover the compound. Good for an escape but not good for her as she didn't know where she was. Her best guess was Syria near the buffer zone that divided the two countries. She would have to make her way west but without the sun it would be next to impossible. She was getting ahead of herself, first she had to get out of her bounds.
Annie wasn't sure how long it had been since she had been tied to the chair and left alone but it had grown dark outside. She feared what might happen when Mujahid would return made her push everything from her mind and just concentrate on freeing herself from the ropes. Moisture started to materialize around her wrists, they being rubbed raw as she struggled against the binding ropes. There, breathing a small sigh of relief as she managed to free one of her hands but the victory was short lived. Voices heard outside just before the door opening and Mujahid walking in, he carried a repulsive smirk on his face.
He walked slowly towards her smiling and Annie know what that repulsive smile meant. He cupped her chin in his hands, his eyes dancing with anticipation, touching her hair, feeling the texture and then kneeling before her. His hand running up her leg and she began to feel bile rising in throat. He leaned forward for a kiss and she spit in his face.
He quickly standing and cursed in Arabic. Annie understood a few of the words as she watched him paced around the room still verbalizing his displeasure. He returned to her, looking down and with one hand lifted her face to look at him. "Who do you work for?" Spoken in clear English.
"Nobody. I'm in Israel on vacation."
"That is a lie. One last time, who do you work for?" Madness now glaring in his dark eyes, a crazy man.
Annie closed her eyes and force herself to stay silent. Her mind racing in a million different directions but no answer she could give him was going to help. She kept her eyes closed and waited for the strike she knew would come.
"Open your eyes and look at me. Who do you work for?" And this time the forcible question was punctuated with a strong whack across her face.
Even though she expected the hit she wasn't prepared for the amount of pain the slap brought. Dazed, she opened her eyes and stared at him with absolute defiance. Remembering her time in the Russian prison Annie was hell bend and determined this man would not win. She muster up every ounce of courage to resist Mujahid. The one thing she had on her side was her resilience.
He could only stare at her clearly surprised she was still conscious. Figuring this might be her only chance she twisted herself free from the ropes and sprang from the chair. A kick to his groin and racing to the only weapon, a lamp she could use against him. She heard him moan with pain but it didn't stop him and before she could get her hands on the lamp she felt Mujahid's arms wrap around her and pitch her down hard on the floor, her head hitting with a loud thud.
Towering over her, his hand on his hips, "Not a smart move girly. All you had to do was tell me who you work for and we could have avoided all of this pain." His declaration ended with a kick to her stomach knocking the wind out of her.
She laid there for a few minutes struggling to get air into her lungs. She watched him move to one side and it seemed he was taking great pleasure in watching her struggle.
"Get up." Came the harsh command.
Annie with great effort struggled to her feet. The room felt like it was a merry-go-round, a whirl of activity that her mind couldn't stop. Feeling nauseous and dizzy from the spinning room she could only brace herself for what would happen next. Mujahid spun her around so her back was to him.
"You're a lot stronger than you look but just how much can you take before you are begging for mercy." His merciless authoritarian voice ringing with excruciating echoes in her ears.