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A loud clang of the metal latch being lifted and squeaky hinges a
“In the name of Allah, what have you done?”
Ke
“You fools!” he yelled.
Ke
Ke
At some point a chair was brought into the room and the man helped her up so she could sit in it. She was beyond caring that she was naked under the blanket. The man tried his best to keep the blanket wrapped around her chest, as he took the bucket of water and began rinsing the urine from her hair. He then wet a washcloth and cleaned her face.
When he got to her shoulders he stopped and placed the washcloth in Ke
Ke
Muhammad entered the room with a towel, a stack of neatly folded clothes and some sandals. He set them down on the chair and said, “Please put these on. We have much to discuss.”
After he left, Ke
“I am sorry for the behavior of those two animals. They were not raised properly.”
Ke
The man set the camera down and asked, “How do your clothes fit?”
“Fine.” Ke
“Good. Now I have been talking to many people about your release, and I think we have something arranged. The men who took you…I can’t tell you who they are, but they are a nasty lot. More than half of them want to kill you because of what you have done to their country and who you work for. There are a few, however, who think that this is a waste. They are split. Half of them want to torture you and sell the information to the highest bidder and the other half want to ransom you and be done with it. I think I have them convinced to ransom you, but before I can do that they want you to read a statement.”
“What kind of statement?” Ke
“I want to remind you they are only words. Once you are free, you may say whatever you’d like.” The man handed over the sheet of paper and then busied himself with the video camera. “Smile for me, please,” he said as he pressed play.
Ke
“Yes, you can.” The man handed the paper back. “All you need to do is read it and you will be free to leave with me.”
“Those are all lies. My country had nothing to do with the destruction of the Isfahan nuclear facility. We did not invade Iraq for oil, and we are not plotting to invade Iran to steal their oil.”
“I am not arguing with you.” The man said with his hands held up. “And when you are set free you can scream from the mountaintops that you were forced to read this statement at gunpoint.”
Ke
“You must, or they will kill you.”
There was something in the way the man said “kill you” that gave Ke
The man moved with great speed from behind the camera. He slapped Ke
“No,” Ke
“Twenty men!” he screamed. “They will line up to rape you for a week straight. Is that what you want?”
“No.”
“Then read the statement.” The man let go of her and handed her the piece of paper again.
Ke
The man stepped away from the camera and help up a finger. “You have one hour to reconsider, and if your answer is still no, there is nothing I can do to help you.”
56
Ted Byrne stayed on the president’s left elbow, matching him step for step, which was not easy, considering he was almost a foot shorter. The debate had been as heated as anything Byrne had ever seen in his nearly twenty-five years of politics. He’d known Josh Alexander since he was a little tyke. Byrne had played high school football for Alexander’s father and had coached for the father after college. When Alexander looked at him with those same dead, serious eyes that his dad used to shoot him when he’d pushed an issue as far as he could, Byrne knew he’d lost the battle. It didn’t help that the majority of the National Security Council, as well as the Joint Chiefs, had sided against him.
Even so, Byrne felt so strongly that the president was making a mistake that he had to give it one more try. “Josh,” he whispered so no one else could hear, “I really think you need to sit on this one for an afternoon. Probably a whole day, but at least an afternoon.”