Free Seals (2005) by Jack - Seals 0 Terral

victims. "Uff da! " Gutsy Olson said, falling back into a Norwegian-American expression. "I thought they was just nuts the way they were singing and yelling. It never dawned on me they was a bunch of idiot kids."
    Connie Concord, holding his combination M-16 and M203, rolled one over. "There ain't any sense in searching these guys, Senior Chief. Nobody is gonna give 'em anything important to tote around."
    "You're right:' Dawkins agreed. "The sound of our shooting irons is gonna attract attention. We better pull back."
    "Well, the Skipper said he wants to keep the sons of bitches off balance," Concord said. "Mission accomplished for today?'
    The Bravos turned and followed their fire team leader back up the mountain.
    .
    WARLORD COMPOUND
    1800 HOURS LOCAL
    WARLORD Ayyub Durtami seethed in silence, ignoring his tea. Across the table from him Ahmet Kharani kept his eyes averted. This was a dangerous time. Even though he had brought back two valuable hostages that would net them a million afghanis, his chief was in a black mood. When Durtami finally spoke, his voice was low in a subdued fury.
    "Just before you arrived, I was told that six of our youngest fighters were discovered slaughtered," the warlord said. "We heard the firing and I sent some men to investigate. It was a massacre."
    "I was not aware of that," Kharani said.
    "This was supposed to be a pleasant outing for the lads:' Durtami said. "The instructors let them go up onto the mountain ridge to have some fun after weeks of hard training. They were obviously victims of some vicious treachery by an older, more experienced enemy."
    "Are you going to punish the instructors?" Kharani asked. He knew the men were probably fearfully anticipating certain death for the mishap.
    But Durtami shook his head. "We have done this a dozen times to reward youngsters who have been training hard. Today was a most unusual event."
    Kharani was relieved by this uncharacteristic mercy. One of his cousins was among the instructor cadre of the warlord's small army.
    "It is now obvious that numerous enemies have invaded my fiefdom," Durtami said. "Perhaps they are Americans."
    "It is possible," Kharani said. "And I think they are here to stay awhile. There is only one place for them to remain out of sight. They must be skulking atop the far mountain from here:'
    "I agree. But they could be anyplace up there. The entire ridge is a natural fortress."
    "What about your brother-in-law Hassan Khamami? Does he not number mortars in his arsenal?"
    "Au," Durtami replied affirmatively. "He has a large cache of weaponry. Some of his arsenal is new."
    "Ask Khamami to help you, Amir," Kharani suggested. "With mortars we could shell that mountain from one end to the other."
    "My brother-in-law would want too much money," Durtami said.
    "With the ransom money for the two hostages you would get enough to refill your war treasury very quickly," Kharani said.
    Durtami looked over at his second-in-command and smiled. "You are most clever, Brother Ahmet. In fact, you are so intelligent that at times you make me nervous."
    "I desire only to serve you with loyalty, Amir," Kharani said, humbling himself. To be too assertive could lead to a summary execution as a serious potential threat to the warlord's leadership.
    "Make arrangements to send a message to Khamami." "I will take care of it, Amir."

    Chapter 6
    STATE DEPARTMENT
    WASHINGTON, D. C.
    10 AUGUST
    1400 HOURS LOCAL
    IN the complicated environment of international diplomacy, there is a clandestine segment of most proceedings that only a few insiders know about. The talented people of these secret negotiations are known outwardly as undersecretaries, envoys or attaches in their various state departments or foreign offices. But whatever the official title, they perform their surreptitious tasks in two phases; the first is "preparation" and the second is "wrapping up." The former paves the way to concurrence and the latter assures that the deals and treaties thus