Part 12 (1/2)

”Find the Hussein Parkway and head east,” Gypsy said. ”Then watch for the turnoff to Al Kazimiyah. That will be the highway to Jordan. I don't remember its number. It will be close to a small river.”

Ten minutes later they found the parkway, and soon the turnoff to the highway leading west.

”This is the main highway?” Murdock asked. ”It's only two lanes.”

”We're lucky it's blacktopped,” Gypsy said. ”Our glorious president would rather spend money on missiles and bombs than on roads and bread. We're holding on by our teeth here.” She sat up and frowned. ”I guess I should say the Iraqis are holding on, since I won't be with them much longer.” She looked out the window. ”I really didn't expect to be alive by this time,” she said. ”Once the Secret Police get a kill order on you, there's no way to last more than a day or two.”

”That's when there aren't three U.S. Navy SEALs watching your back,” Ching said. ”I hear you can fire an AK-47?”

Gypsy turned to him and smiled. ”Yes, that I can do. I was second in marksmans.h.i.+p in my women's army battalion of four hundred. Oh, I forgot to tell you. The colonel said that he took two hundred troops to the desert to protect the bomb plant. He said they had heavy weapons. Would that be fifty-caliber machine guns and maybe some shoulder-fired rockets?”

”Probably, which is not good news for our side,” Murdock said.

A half hour later they were through the little towns near Baghdad and racing down the road almost due east. The Chevy's odometer was calibrated in miles not meters, so it must have been an import.

”How long until it gets dark?” Murdock asked.

”Probably about seven o'clock,” Gypsy said.

”How big a gas tank on this bucket?” Ching asked. ”Maybe fourteen gallons? If this crate can get twenty miles to the gallon, we'll be lucky. That's two hundred and eighty miles. How far is the target?”

”We figured about two hundred and forty to that little town, then whatever south we need,” Rafii said. ”We might have enough petrol.”

”If we don't?” Gypsy asked.

”Easy,” Rafii said. ”We dump this one, steal a car in that town, Ar Rutbah, and drive south until we hit those two hundred troops.”

”Just how the h.e.l.l do we link up with the rest of the platoon?” Ching asked.

”All we can do is use the SATCOM and tell them where we are,” Murdock said. ”They'll have to come find us. Or if we hear a firefight somewhere, we circle around and try to get behind the good guys.”

”Lights ahead,” Ching said.

Murdock saw them about the same time. Looked like a pair of army trucks parked across the road. They were at a hundred yards now and no way they could fade into the desert. Murdock slowed and Rafii slid under him as Murdock went high and they changed places, with the Iraq native now driving. He rolled up to the barrier. Near the two trucks stood four soldiers, each holding a submachine gun at the ready.

”What's our story?” Rafii whispered. Before anyone could answer, one guard tapped on the window that was halfway down.

”We don't get much traffic this late at night,” the guard said. ”Where are you from and where are you going?”

15.

Rafii held out his papers. ”We're from Baghdad and we're heading for a little town called Ubaylah. Hope we haven't missed it. They didn't tell us it was this far out here. My uncle's funeral. Tomorrow morning. We should have started earlier. What time is it, anyway?”

The guard shrugged. ”You didn't miss it. Not far now. You'll come to Ar Rutbah. A few kilometers past that place you turn right. A funeral? It's a bad time to die.”

”Anytime is bad for dying. Did you see a fairly new Citron coming this way? I thought our relatives would be ahead of us.”

”Haven't seen them tonight. Maybe you beat them.” The soldier guard looked at Rafii's papers in the beam of his flashlight, then handed them back. ”Time? I don't have a watch. Get out of here so I can take a nap.”

Rafii waved at the guard, the trucks pulled apart, and the old Chevy eased through, then sped up and drove away from the soldiers.

”Good thinking, Rafii,” Gypsy said. ”Funerals are highly important in this country. Almost everyone comes to a good funeral.”

”We should be fairly close,” Murdock said. ”We need to decide when to ditch the car and hike.”

”We drive until we get stopped or see lights around the place,” Rafii said. ”If there are any lights.”

”We've got the two sub guns and our pistols if we get stopped at a checkpoint,” Ching said. ”They'll have at least one, maybe two or three, on that dirt road. My guess is we get stopped not far down the dirt road from that little town.”

”If we don't want to advertise that we're here, we better ditch the truck before we get stopped,” Murdock said. ”Gypsy, you have good shoes on?”

”I can hike in what I have. No heels. I could use a s.h.i.+rt if one of you has an extra one. It gets cold out here in the desert at night.”

”Rafii,” Murdock said.

Rafii grinned and took off the s.h.i.+rt he wore as he drove. Murdock held the wheel as he got it off his shoulders. They all had put on two s.h.i.+rts before they left Gypsy's place. Rafii was the smallest of the three; even so, his s.h.i.+rt hung on Gypsy like a blanket. She pinched it in and then tucked it into the top of the long skirt she wore that came almost to her ankles.

”Ready for duty,” she said.

”You get one of the AKs,” Murdock said. ”Let's load up and get ready to travel.”

Ten minutes later they saw lights ahead.

”Has to be the town,” Rafii said. ”Now all we need to do is find that dirt road leading south. I'll turn left off the main highway and work the back streets until we find something that looks like it could take a lot of heavy trucks, which must have had to run down this way just to build a complex out here. Everyone keep your eyes open. Even in the dark we might be able to spot something.”

”Just after midnight,” Murdock said. ”Most of these houses are dark. Let's hope there isn't much military in town, and that the cops are all taking a break.”

Three blocks down on a back street, Rafii pulled the Chevy to a stop. Fifty yards ahead a string of headlights cut into the night.

”Army trucks,” Rafii said. ”Like our six-by-sixes. Covered, haul men or equipment or supplies. Could be a nightly supply train to prevent it from being spotted by the satellites.”

”Let them get a couple of miles ahead of us,” Murdock said. ”Then we'll follow them as far as we can. Move when you're ready, Rafii.”

They waited five minutes after the last truck had gone past.

”I counted eighteen,” Ching said. ”Haul a heap of stuff in all those trucks.”

”Let's hope they aren't two hundred more defensive troops,” Murdock said.

Rafii pulled the Chevy onto the dirt road. The dust had settled, and they saw the camouflage fake trees and shrubs that evidently would be pulled back into the dirt trail before daylight.

”Not a straight road,” Rafii said. ”Taking some gentle curves one way and then the other. Make it harder to pick up by the satellite.”

”We're two miles down the dirt,” Ching said as he watched the odometer. ”I'd say we're overdue for a checkpoint.”