Chapter 12 — Headstones and Headaches

“She’s coming round”

“You really had us worried you know.”

Sarah wasn’t exactly sure who was talking, she felt rather foggy.

“What?” she croaked quietly.

The room was her berth; she was in bed, and not alone. “Why the fuck did you save me?”

Despite having felt utterly guilty at her actions before, she wondered if it would be better to survive what she had done. Suicide was the only thing you were punished for if you failed to do it.

Sighing, she looked around the room, the ship's doctor and several of her team were present.

”Why?”

Sarah turned towards the voice only to be greeted by a deep sadness in Ari’s eyes. “Why did you do it?”

A single tear rolled down her cheek as his accusing eyes bored deep into her very being.

“I… I don’t know.” She whispered, breaking eye contact, she couldn’t stand to see his sadness, her guilt was overwhelming. “I… Its just been too much; the last few days, this mission. I think I had a breakdown.”

”That’s not surprising Corporal,” agreed the ship’s doctor. Considering what Corporal Weismann has told me of the last few days, and your situation. I’m honestly surprised it took this long to come to a head. Now I’m not a shrink, but I definitely think your mind is the only thing damaged at the moment. We were able to stabilise you before significant blood loss could occur. I’m going to suggest to Major Thesik that you are taken off mission immediately for the duration of the cruise. I’d suggest you stayed at home to recuperate, but I’m afraid that isn’t possible.” He sighed apologetically.

“I guess we can’t exactly blame her for breaking down considering the pressure… I don’t know why the Colonel put her on this mission considering you know what and the shoot out in Jerusalem.” Goni added. “Hell I’d have cracked under this week. I’ll talk to the Major Doctor.” He added shaking the Doctor’s hand before kneeling by Sarah’s bedside.

“You listen to me.” He whispered into her ear, “You do not have permission to do anything. You got that? I want you to get back to operational status, which means dealing all this, however long it takes, ok? Start with this week; you even lift a finger to do anything and I’ll throw you off the boat. Are we clear?” Mussing her hair, he pulled himself up and made his way out of the berth.

Sarah smiled weakly. How could she have hurt these people so much? Realising she had people that truly cared for her only increased her guilt.

“Give the corporal some space people,” announced the doctor, ushering people towards the door.

”Give me a moment?” Ari asked him quietly.

”Ok, but you have 5 minutes, she really needs to rest.”

Nodding, he waited for the doctor to leave before gently sitting on the bed next to Sarah.

“I suppose this is where you tell me what a stupid idiot I’ve been?” She asked sheepishly.

”Nah,” he answered without taking his eyes off her. “You really worried me, but I understand it.”

”I really feel like I let you down; you and everyone… When I did it, I felt so bad I can’t describe it, I can’t really remember why I did it now, but everything seemed false, and broken. I guess I got too upset to think straight.”

”It happens.” Ari agreed. “I’m just glad you’re alive. To be honest, I don’t know how I'd cope if you weren’t around. I ... Uh, yeah I’d better let you rest.”

”What?” Sarah asked, curious at her friend’s almost admission of something.

”It’s nothing, honestly. I’d better go.” Before she could question him further, Ari had left the berth and closed the door behind him.

“Weird!” She sighed to herself as she tried to relax and go back to sleep. Try as she might, all that ran through her head was the faces of her friends; asking her why. She had never been this unstable. What was this doing to her? Was it worth it? Some time later, she wasn’t sure how long, she drifted off to sleep.

When Sarah awoke, it was dark. How long had she slept? She felt a grogginess that hinted at sedation. She eased herself upright in the bed. The dark berth was eerily quiet. In fact, the whole boat was quiet. Had they moored?

Pushing the cover off, she swung her legs off the side of the bed and tried to acclimatise to sitting. The movement caused her wrist to throb. Gently she wrapped her fingers around her wounded wrist. How could she have resorted to that? The very thought made her feel queasy. Pulling herself to her feet on the bulkhead, she began to move towards the bathroom when she felt a tug in her arm. There was a saline drip hung on the wall attached to her via a canula. Slipping the needle from her arm with a wince, she slowly trudged over to the bathroom. However many days in bed had taken a toll on her; she needed to pee badly…

Slumping down on the seat, she felt the pressure leave her. Her headache was less aggravated now too.

There was a report of gunfire somewhere on the yacht. She wasn’t sure where. Sarah began to laugh. She was sitting on a toilet with her panties around her ankles, wondering where the gunfire she just heard came from and what weapon. This week was full of firsts.

‘Shit. Maritza.’ Pulling herself back together, she left the bathroom and went straight for her Glock. After checking the load, she pulled back the covers of Maritza’s bed. The young girl was still sleeping.

Sarah lightly shook the girl’s shoulder till she stirred. “I need to you get under the bed, and stay quiet, ok? I’m going to check on something.”

Groggily, the girl complied. Sarah made her way back towards the door and after locking it, retrieved the silencer and bullet proof vest from her bag. Looking at the vest, she abandoned it in favour of her favourite option; not getting shot. As she attached the silencer, she could hear voices in the passageway and footsteps.

Quickly she dived into Maritza’s bed, and pulled the covers over her head.

(Arabic translated)

“This is the one, careful, that tranny commando is in there.”

“Yeah but the boss told us he’s out cold, sedated after going nuts and trying to kill himself.”

”Pity it didn’t succeed. Fucking disgusting.”

There was a sound of a key in the lock and the door sliding open.

Through the crack in the duvet, Sarah could see 2 men wearing black enter the room holding Kalashnikov carbines.

”The tranny’s gone, Ahmir but the kid is there.”

”Good! Grab her and lets go, remember, the boss said if we harm her, we go straight to hell, do not collect 72 virgins…” chuckled one of the other men.

Two on one, she had a semi automatic pistol, they had automatic carbines. Was it worth trying? She almost wished she hadn’t disregarded the vest now.

As the first man began to pull the covers down, she hoped to hell that the second wasn’t covering her.

“Wait, what the fuck?”

Sarah rolled over and aimed the Glock at the second man; he had his rifle in his hands, where his companion did not. She squeezed the trigger quickly and two hollow point slugs ripped through the man’s skull.

With her free hand she jabbed at the chest of the man closest to her; her fist impacting in the man’s sternum and taking his breath away.

As he dropped to his knees, Sarah was out of the bed and grabbed the man from behind, dropping him face first into the mattress.

“You make a sound, and I will castrate you, you understand?” she whispered into his ear. Something she had learned was that the majority of the Arabs she had come into contact with during combat had no regard for death. They would become martyr’s. Threatening an integral and necessary part of their masculinity however, seemed to always catch their attention.

The man whimpered into the mattress.

“How many of you are there?”

”Fuck you, bitch.”

“Aw, now that’s not very nice…” Sarah whispered into the man’s ear as she grasped his privates through the combat trousers.

The man howled into the mattress.

“Maritza.” Sarah called quietly.

The frightened girl stuck her head out from under the bed. The child looked terrified. “Maritza honey, can you go grab the power cords for my cell phone charger and your’s, and tie this man’s hands and feet to the chair when I move him to it?” She was asking a lot from the girl, but she couldn’t do this alone.

The girl scrambled from under the bed and after nearly freezing when she saw the dead body of the accomplice, returned with the two long black cables.

Sarah dragged the man to his feet by his testicles before guiding him to one of the chairs by the vanity in the room.

”Sit, NOW.” She commanded

The man meekly followed her orders.

As she kept him covered with the pistol, Maritza warily tied the man’s hands and feet to the chair.

“That’s great, Honey. You did great.” Sarah smiled warmly at the girl trying to dispel some of the fear. “Just go sit on the bed, ok?” she continued, pulling the girl to her feet and guiding her to the bed.

By now most of the sedative had worn off and Sarah felt alert. The throb in her wrist had not subsided, and she noticed that her bandage was beginning to turn red with fresh blood.

Moving to the dresser, she grabbed her discarded body armour and returned to Maritza.

”Here honey, put this on, ok? It’s for your protection.”

Once again, the girl meekly followed her directions. Sarah was positive she hadn’t a clue what was going on. The less she knew the better, in this case. She was easier to control and keep safe in this state of shock. As harsh as it seemed, Sarah needed the girl confused and disoriented. She would not become hysterical and loud if she didn’t know what was going on.

Returning to the man she had tied up to the chair. She stood before him regarding her opposition for a moment. In one movement, she swiftly jabbed her heel into the man’s crotch.

He screamed into the cloth Sarah had stuffed into his mouth, before going limp in his restraints.

Kneeling before him she lifted his chin in her hand. “Now you will tell me everything, or I will cause you more pain than you can imagine,” she stated quietly in the same Arabic dialect that the man had used, so as to leave no confusion to her meaning.

Popping the material from his mouth, she waited;

”I’ wont tell you shit you land grabbing bitch!” the man spat.

His turn of phrase left Sarah in no confusion as to his ethnic origin. The dialect and land reference told her the man was Palestinian; possibly Hamas or Hezbollah. Judging by his clothing, she was more inclined to think Hezbollah. While Hamas was dangerous, they were not this organised or well equipped. Hezbollah was better funded and more professional in its attacks. The man wore black combats, and a tactical vest. His weapon was an expensive AKS74U, a compact carbine of the AK74 assault rifle. With its small calibre round, and large magazine, it was deadly on a boat.

Sighing, Sarah stood and regarded her captive. He was unlikely to talk. She had suspected as much, but it was always worth an attempt. Any intelligence was a bonus. Gripping her pistol by the barrel, she smashed the man around the head with the pistol grip; his head lolling forwards to his chest.

She was fully focused now. She had to be, to survive. She did not know the status of her team, or the other packages. She knew there were hostiles aboard the ship, and she was alive, currently safe, and the premier’s daughter was safe.

Sarah stripped the dead assailant of his gear, donning her combat trousers and the boots she had brought along out of habit. She donned the man’s assault vest over her tank. The padded bra she was wearing made the vest feel somewhat different than she was used to.

For the first time in her military career, she was able to sympathise with fellow female soldiers; a woman’s anatomy was not compatible with assault gear.

Checking to see that the AK was loaded, she returned to the frightened Maritza. “Ok I want you to stay in this cabin till I get back, ok? Lie under the bed and stay there till I come back for you?”

Maritza nodded absent mindedly.

“Look at me!” Sarah turned the girl’s face towards hers. Hugging her, she kissed the girl’s cheek. “I promise I will return for you.”

It was heart breaking to leave the girl, but Sarah knew she couldn’t move about the yacht as she could. She would only drag her into danger and slow herself down.

Opening the cabin door, she slipped out into the dark corridor. She slipped the Attacker’s earpiece into her ear and flipped his radio on. At the very least she could get forewarning of any danger to her or Maritza.

Was everyone else dead? Was she alone? Blotting the thoughts from her mind, she began to slowly move down the corridor. She gave up on her friends before. She wasn’t about to do that again.