Part 29 (1/2)

After another ten minutes he began pumping the brakes when, directly to our front, four lights flashed on and illuminated our car. He came to a complete stop, and sat perfectly still.

About thirty meters to our front, I noted, two humvees blocked the middle of the road. A nervous voice in English yelled, ”Driver . . . out of the car now. Hands up, and step out of the car.”

Bian whispered for my benefit, ”Nighttime roadblock. They're edgy. Don't even breathe.”

I didn't move, but I did breathe.

Finder s.h.i.+fted the car into park, twisted around, and said to us, ”Marines. I'll handle it.” He opened his door, stepped out, and stood, frenetically windmilling his arms over his head.

An American voice yelled, ”Do you speak English?”

Finder replied, ”Isn't that a stupid f.u.c.king question? Would I be obeying your directions otherwise? Name's Finder. Get Captain Yuknis.”

This was not the same as the old World War II drill where the Marine asks, ”Who won the '42 World Series?” and the j.a.p is betrayed by his cultural ignorance and blown to smithereens. Without authorized pa.s.swords, however, you have to improvise, and a little colloquial profanity is as American as apple pie. A long moment pa.s.sed without a response before a voice yelled back, ”He's napping.”

”Well, h.e.l.l, boy, roust him. Tell him Finder's here.”

I could overhear young American voices debating whether to trifle their captain with this. This appeared to be part of a Marine infantry company--about 180 short-haired hardc.o.c.ks--and in units such as this, a captain is the commander, and he might not tell G.o.d what to do, though G.o.d pays close attention when he speaks.

After a moment, Finder yelled, ”For Christsakes--would you hurry it up? Wake him up, or I'll have your a.s.ses.”

A moment later I observed a gentleman, tall and lanky, striding through the trail of lights. As he drew closer, I observed the profile of a helmet and fatigues, which were Marine style, and overheard him inform Finder, ”Dammit, Eric, I was having my first wet dream since I got in country. Got a woodie the size of Mount Everest. This better be good.”

”Mount Everest? A white boy? Yeah . . . bulls.h.i.+t.” Finder laughed. ”Hey, better of been your wife in that dream.”

”'Course it was.” He laughed also. ”Both her sisters, too. Especially that big-t.i.ttied one, Elizabeth.”

Bian whispered to me, ”Pigs.”

”Nonsense. Boy talk.”

Somebody punched me in the ribs.

Finder informed Captain Yuknis, ”Got a job tonight. We'll be coming out between four and five. Appreciate it if you'd pa.s.s word to your Marines.”

Instead of replying, Captain Yuknis yelled to his men by the humvees, ”Sergeant Goins, if you'd be so kind, extinguish those d.a.m.n headlights before Abdullah the sniper ventilates me.”

The lights went out, and Captain Yuknis stepped closer to the car and bent forward at the waist. I observed him observing us through the windows. To Finder, he said, ”Who are the Iraqi ladies?”

”You don't want to know.”

He was carrying a flashlight. He turned the beam on our faces and examined us more closely. To Finder, he commented, ”The one on the left's a looker. That other one . . . whoa, my b.o.n.e.r just blew a flat.”

They both laughed.

I mentioned to Bian, ”You're right--pigs.”

Now she laughed.

Yuknis turned around and faced Finder. ”About tonight . . . you might want to reconsider.”

”Can't. This one's not cancelable. Not even postponable.”

”Rethink that, Eric. Trust me on this.”

This sounded like an ominous yet unclear warning and Finder did spend a moment thinking about that. ”Give me an idea of what you're talking about.”

”I can't talk about it, okay? I've already--”

”Just give me an idea of the time, Chris.”

”Early.”

”How early? Help me out here.”

Choosing his words carefully, Yuknis replied, ”You didn't get this from me. Okay? By four, I wouldn't be inside Falluja.” After a moment he amended that. ”By three-thirty I wouldn't even want to try coming out of Falluja. Get my drift?” He then said, ”It's big.”

Finder glanced in our direction, then said, ”Allow us a moment alone. Please.”

Captain Yuknis stepped back a few paces. Bian rolled down her window, Finder stuck his head inside, and in a low voice he asked us, ”You understand what he's saying?”

”I got it,” I a.s.sured him. ”An attack. The artillery barrage will start around three-thirty.”

”Yeah. And by three the whole city will be surrounded and isolated. My guys have been reporting heavy military traffic all day. So now we know why, right? These Marines are royally p.i.s.sed off about what happened to four contractors a few months back. I knew them. These were good guys. It really sucked what they did to them, and it's payback time.”

I looked at Bian. Without hesitating she said, ”But not until three-thirty. One and a half hours from now. Plenty of time.”

Finder regarded her a moment, wondering, I'm sure, if she had a death wish. He thought about it for a while, then said, ”The risk factor on this just jumped through the ceiling. So I'm going to ask you--why do you need to do this?”

Because we're halfwits. But I said, ”We can't afford to lose this man.” But I said, ”We can't afford to lose this man.”

”He's that that important?” important?”

”In a word, yes.”

He looked at her. ”We're private contractors. But we're also Americans, veterans, and we believe in what we do.” He leaned in closer until his face was inches from hers. ”I'm going to ask once more, and I'd better hear the truth. This guy is that that important?” important?”

”You can't imagine.”

He looked at me. I nodded.

”Okay. At three, we're booking, whether we have him or not. This will not be subject to negotiation. Understand? If you want to stay, that's up to you.”

He spun around, walked back to Captain Yuknis, and they held a quick whispered conversation, probably him telling Yuknis what a couple of idiots we were, which corresponded nicely with my own view.

Finder jumped back into the car, saying not a word to us. To be fair, this was more than he bargained for, financially and figuratively. In truth, it was more than I bargained for--or more accurately, it was more than I'd been told told I bargained for. No good deed goes unpunished. I bargained for. No good deed goes unpunished.

He jammed his night-vision goggles down onto his head and his foot down on the accelerator. As he drove, he spoke into his microphone and updated his team on this newest twist. I could overhear only his side of these conversations, and it did not sound like he got any guff from his team. Then he informed us, ”Two cars are three minutes behind us. Yuknis promised to let them through without any delay or bulls.h.i.+t.”