The SecEn said, “I must let you know that the Strategic Reserve is gone for domestic consumption.” He shifted uneasily in his chair and sipped on a water bottle. “There is enough there to run our military for about ten days. This was the main factor in the president’s decision to try Operation OMAN. Our contracts with Venezuela disappeared with the Chinese coup and that begins in two weeks.”
“May I ask,” interrupted Prottenger while he popped a stick of pink gum into his mouth, “how much of our imported oil comes from these contracts?”
“Somewhere around twenty-five percent. This alone would send our country into turmoil under ordinary circumstances. We have our domestic production as you would imagine at its peak capacity, however we are far short of any stabile market. The oil from the tankers was critical as it was for the EU and any country that imports it oil. Russia is the big winner here as it has brought in many oilfields this year, completed pipelines and exports it in large quantities.”
Deshano suggested, “It makes one wonder if somehow they may have had a hand in all this.”
Costanzo answered, “I can’t imagine how. We are talking about events and countries from all over the globe, all which are not particularly friendly with the Russians. Certainly they cannot control pirates that have been raiding the tankers for a decade. In the end we have ourselves to blame for that. We have the Fifth Fleet patrolling the waters at great expense and then we have made no effort at all to go after the source of the problem and hunt them down with a land invasion. You can pick up any tabloid and that is one of the questions regularly asked on the front pages.”
“And we knew where they were all that time,” interjected Shaughnessy. “Now we don’t even know where they are. We could not put an end to it if we tried now. The Russians seemed to have scared them off and they could be anywhere.”
“That makes one wonder,” said Morrell, “if this is the end of it. After all we never paid the ransom, either the hostages are dead or somehow still in custody. Mahdi’s goal was to make money off this. Can we anticipate that this is merely the beginning and that he will try something even bolder?”
“Heaven help us if this is the beginning,” said Farnsworth. “What could he possibly do?”
“Prottenger thought he had the answer, “He could go after other markets. For all intents he has bottled up Iran. What is to keep him from going after the EU producers — the South Americans. He picked up his operation once. There is nothing to keep him from doing it again.”
“What’s to keep him from going after our offshore oil rigs? That would be an easy target. Hostages are already in place — Americans working the rigs.”
“My God!” exclaimed Farnsworth. “We are so vulnerable.”
The VP spit out his gum neatly in a tissue and stuck it in his pocket. He summed it up, “We should have seen this coming a long, very long time ago.”
Chapter Twenty-nine
“FIVE …, FOUR …,THREE ….”
“OK, I am calling Mr. Dee. You can put the gun away.” Turner speed dialed the number. She hoped he would answer. Up to now she had not had any luck.
“Hello Carol.” She recognized the Russian voice.
“Yes, Dad — how are things at General Motors today?” She hoped he would catch on.
Al-Bukhari jerked the phone out of her hand and pushed her aside. “Mr. Dee — I have your daughter. Would you agree that she is very beautiful? It would a shame to see something happen to that pretty face.”
“Who is this?”
“Never mind who I am. I know you and that is all that matters.”
“Let me speak to her.”
“I’ll let you speak to her in a minute.”
“You want money? My God, you want money. That is it, isn’t it?”
“Yeah, I want $2 million dollars in unmarked American dollars and I want it quick before I change my mind and up the ante.”
“That’s a lot of money. If you hurt one hair on her head—”
“She is fine as long as you can come up with the money.”
“OK I may be able to do this, but I must speak to her.”
He handed the phone to Turner and held his ear close so that he could overhear the conversation.
“Hi Dad — I’m alright, but I don’t know for how long. These are not very nice people. Please pay him and come get me as quickly as you can.”
“Carol, do not worry. I will pay the ransom and come to get you. I want this over with as quickly as possible. You are too precious to call the police or any funny business.”
“Thank you. It is a nightmare here.”
“You have an old friend who is coming with me when we make the drop.”
“Friend?”
“Robinson, Houston Robinson.”
“Oh!” Her heart skipped a beat. My God, Mrs. Robinson relayed the message to him and he is here! He is here for me! There is no doubt that Dimochka and Houston were hatching plans to get me out of here when I called. Thank God for both of them. “May I speak with him?”
“Hi, Carol.”
“Hi, Houston. You sound exactly as I remember. I would recognize your voice anywhere. You are coming with my Dad, then?”
“Yes, of course I will be there. We will talk about the good times we had many years ago.”
Al-Bukhari said, “That’s enough,” and wrenched the phone from her hand. “Put Mr. Dee back on the phone.”
Dimochka said, “I want this over as quickly as possible and I want assurance that you will not harm my daughter. Tell me where to make the drop and we can get this nasty business over and done with.”
“That is very good my friend. I want exactly the same thing. I would have anticipated some delays. You understand that you are not to call the authorities. If you do that—”
“Do not worry. Tell me where you want me to bring the money. You bring my daughter and we will go our separate ways.”
“You are to bring the money to a camp about fifteen kilometers inside the border of Ethiopia. Take the main road heading west out of Beledweyne and stop. We will find you on that road.”
“We are talking about crossing the border. Passports…, border guards….”
“Do not let that be a concern. There is no one at the border.”
“I have a helicopter that I have leased from the Russians. I don’t travel around in an auto. Could I drop the money off that way to you in about an hour?”
“Very good! You will see our camp about a mile off the main road to the north.”
“Be ready with Carol in an hour then and we will make the exchange. If for some reason I am not there, please call me and I’ll let you know where we stand. The only thing that could go wrong is getting that much cash at the bank.”
“Goodbye.”
Wagner was upset. “Hey, what about me? I never heard my name mentioned once!”
Al-Bukhari smiled wickedly. “You are out of luck. If they want you it’ll cost’m an extra million. Personally I would not give’m ten cents for—”
“What? I’ll scratch your eyes out you… you… evil man!” She lunged for him; however he saw it coming and tripped her up as she passed by.
“Put the pair in the tent and nobody goes near them,” he snarled.
“You’ll pay for this!” screamed Wagner as she was hauled off.
“Don’t worry Tanisha,” whispered Turner. “He will pay for this sooner than later.”
The sound of the massive flying tank Russian Hind-Flarge helicopter signaled the arrival of the “President of General Motors.” Unlike the smaller Super Cobra’s the Hind-Flarge with its jet stub wings propulsion and double deck dwarfed everything like a supertanker alongside a tug. Al-Bukhari calculated it looked more like an armadillo than anything else — one big ugly vicious reptile… something you would step on and kill without hesitation as it was repulsive, a monstrosity spawned by an evil spirit.