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The Hostage Chapter ThreeMartin was two weeks shy of graduation from West Point when he had to flyback to Chicago to attend his father's funeral. Martin, Sr. had passedaway suddenly from a severe embolism in his brain. Martin stayed with hismother, Janina, for a few days after the funeral, and then they flew backtogether for his graduation.During the few days he spent in Chicago, he and his mother had a visitor.It was Janina's uncle, her father's brother, from Saudi Arabia. They wereboth shocked to see him because Janina had no contact with her family backhome at all, except for one letter she had received from her sister whenher father died. Nevertheless, they were cordial and hospitable to theman. Ibrahim only stayed a couple of hours, but he made it quite clearthat Martin's place was as a soldier in Allah's army and not the UnitedStates Army. He admonished Martin to honor his dead grandfather. He gaveMartin a card, and said, *quot;I know you will do the right thing. Here's whereyou can reach me when you see an opportunity to serve Allah.*quot;During his stay, Janina was polite and stayed in control of herself, but assoon as he left, she began to scream. She was hysterical and Martin hadgreat difficulty calming her down.*quot;I hate them,*quot; she said. *quot;If your father hadn't rescued me, I'd be dead.*quot;*quot;What do you mean?*quot; Martin asked. He was appalled. His mother had neverspoken of her life back in Saudi Arabia until now.*quot;*quot;They treat women worse than pigs,*quot; she started to explain. *quot;Once my veilaccidently slipped from my face. We were out in public and I was onlysixteen. I adjusted it quickly, but when we got home, my father beat meuntil I lost consciousness. `This is a warning,' he said. `One moreindiscretion like that, and I will kill you. You acted like a whore.' Ilived in a constant state of fear. I celebrated when I heard of his deaththrough my sister.*quot;*quot;When I was eighteen, I got a clerical job at the oil company where yourfather worked. We fell desperately in love.*quot; She smiled remembering thosedays. *quot;I mentioned my growing feelings to my father. He said that if Imarried outside the faith, he would kill me, and it would be consideredjustifiable by the community. When I told your father how much my fatheropposed our marriage, we got married secretly, and he spirited me out ofthe country one day on the company airplane. What gall Ibrahim has to tryto recruit you for his murderous plans.*quot;During his growing up years, Janina had instructed Martin in the tenets ofher faith, but she never encouraged him to embrace Islam. In fact, sheencouraged him to embrace Martin, Sr.'s faith. Unfortunately, Martin,Sr. did not believe in God, so Martin never really felt a part of anyreligion. He attended Protestant services at West Point, just because itwas mandatory kızılay escort to attend any religious service, and to be one of the boys.However, there was one thing that kept him apart, and would never allow himto be one of the boys.When he graduated from The Point he was still a virgin. He knew sincemiddle school that he was gay, but he could never act on it. He had nointerest in women, and he remained a virgin until he settled in at hisfirst duty station in California. There he became friendly with anothergraduate from his class. They knew each other, of course, but had neverbuddied around at West Point. Here at the base, however, they had a commonbond, having graduated together, and they became close friends.On the long Labor Day weekend, they decided to drive to San Francisco andcelebrate the holiday there. They checked into a hotel. As soon as theywere alone together, there was no doubt in either of their minds what theyboth wanted. They just simply read their desires in their faces. Theyundressed and fell into bed without either having said a word to the other.They spent the entire weekend in the hotel room. It turned out that theother soldier was a virgin too, and they were both intent on making up forlost time. They were able to enjoy each other for over a year after thatwonderful weekend, and then they were issued orders which separated them.A short time earlier, Spenser had been called into the office of the basecommander. He was told that he was being deployed to Afghanistan becausehe spoke Arabic, and his services would be vital as a translator. Martinnever questioned his orders, but for some strange reason, he thought abouthis mother's Uncle Ibrahim.He took a commercial flight to Northwest Florida Regional Airport, and fromthere he was to fly on a military transport to his ultimate destination.He was just settling into his seat, when a friendly accented voice said,*quot;Hello Martin. It's so nice to see you again.*quot; He looked up into the icyblack eyes of Uncle Ibrahim. Martin had an uneasy feeling, but he shookhis uncle's hand, and said, *quot;Nice to see you too. Quite a coincidence,isn't it?*quot; Martin did not delude himself for one moment that this was acoincidence.After they were seated and the plane lifted off on its flight to New York,Ibrahim started to talk to Spenser in Arabic. *quot;I understand that you aregoing to Afghanistan as a translator.*quot; Spenser was shocked. How the helldid he know that?*quot;So?*quot; he asked in English.*quot;Speak Arabic. You should practice,*quot; Ibrahim said in Arabic.*quot;I don't need practice,*quot; Martin retorted in English. He actuallyexaggerated his Midwestern accent.*quot;As you wish,*quot; his uncle replied in English.*quot;What's on your mind, Uncle,*quot; Martin tried sounding polite. He didn't mamak escort feellike being polite after what his mother had revealed to him.*quot;This is your opportunity to serve Allah. I am sure there will be manythings you will learn that would serve our cause well, should we be awareof them.*quot;*quot;I'm sure you are correct Uncle. But what makes you think that I would dosuch a thing? More importantly, why should you trust me, and why should Itrust you?*quot;*quot;I trust you because you are a true son of Allah. Your father had noreligion and your mother taught you hers. Your attendance at church at theAcademy was mandatory. I know your heart wasn't in it.*quot;*quot;How the hell do you know so much about me?*quot;*quot;We have been keeping you and your parents under surveillance since youwere born.*quot; Suddenly Martin had a disquieting thought. Could his father'sembolism not have been an embolism at all? He shuddered at the thought.*quot;I know that this is a big decision for you to make, but I will give you mycard again, and I want you to think long and hard about where yourloyalties lie.*quot; Ibrahim turned his back to his nephew, and they neverspoke again until the end of the trip. As they left the plane, Martin'sUncle said to him, *quot;It would be wise for you to consider that we are awareof your hotel stays with that other Lieutenant.*quot; His uncle might just aswell have hit him with a ten ton sack of concrete, but Martin kept hiscomposure. He did not answer, but walked quickly away from his uncle.All Martin had with him was a carry-on bag. Even though he had no luggage,he literally ran to the baggage claim, where someone was to meet him. Heimmediately spotted an air force staff sergeant who was holding a placardwith his name on it. He approached the sergeant, and the man salutedMartin smartly. They exchanged a few swift words, and Martin was led to aprivate parking area where the two men boarded a Jeep and the sergeantdrove to Eglin Air force Base. It appeared that Martin was to fly toAfghanistan in an air force transport.Upon arrival in Afghanistan, Martin was escorted to his final destinationby a good looking young sergeant. He saluted Martin and said, *quot;I'mSgt. Young, Lieutenant. We have about a two hour drive ahead of us. Isthere something you need to do at this airport before we head out?*quot;*quot;I wouldn't mind a good long pee, if that's alright with you.*quot;*quot;Of course. I should do the same before we leave.*quot;Along the way, Sgt Young engaged Martin in animated conversation about whatlife would be like for him in Afghanistan. By the end of trip, Martin wascalling Sgt. Young, Jim, and Jim was calling him Martin. But, when otherpeople were around they addressed each other formally.Martin expected to arrive at a big compound, housing prisoners of war whomhe yenimahalle escort would interrogate. Instead Jim drove them to a deserted village. Theystopped in front of an old shack. *quot;We're here,*quot; Jim said. The two menwent inside. There was an army major sitting at a small desk, and acorporal was taking notes as the major dictated. The major smiled broadlywhen Martin came in. Martin saluted him, and he introduced himself asMajor Jordan Carter. The two officers shook hands, and the major asked Jimand the corporal to leave them alone.*quot;I can see you are looking rather perplexed,*quot; Carter said. *quot;Let me fillyou in on things quickly. Interrogating these guys is useless. They won'ttell us a thing. You can't crack religious fanatics. They want us to killthem so they can fly straight to paradise. If we try to use, shall we say,more persuasive means of interrogations, the outside world brands us asbarbarians. They seem to forget all the terrorist attacks on America,Israel, and I don't know how many other countries. The World Trade Centeris like ancient history to these bleeding hearts. They fail to see that ifwe can break these scumbags by any means, we may well be saving hundreds ofUN and American lives.*quot;Carter paused and gazed at Martin. He was trying to read something inMartin's face, but Martin remained stoic.*quot;We have formulated a plan, but we need help and you have the perfectprofile to be the man we need,*quot; Carter continued.*quot;What is that, sir?*quot;*quot;I'll try to digest it for you. For two or three months we want you at thePOW camp. You will conduct questioning in Arabic and try to gain the trustof the prisoners, if at all possible. During that time, you will makesnide remarks about your superiors and their disrespect for Islam. Letthem know that you are fed up with the non believers. Then you will helptwo or three of them escape, and you will defect with them. Our soldierswill carefully avoid firing anywhere we know you might be. You will try tocapture one of our own. If you can't, we will arrange a capture for you.You will make those phony video tapes, showing how well taken care of yourhostage is. They always hide the hostages and their captors in some remotespot. A courier picks up the film to be aired. We will be constantlyobserving you, and we will follow the courier to their headquarters, where,God willing, we'll capture, or kill if need be, their big guns.*quot;Martin did not say a word. He remained perfectly silent. Finally Carterasked, *quot;Are you in? We can't force you.*quot;Martin reached into his wallet and pulled out a card. *quot;I can make iteasier than you think,*quot; he said. *quot;This is my uncle's card. All I need todo is call him after I have been at the interrogation camp for a few weeks.I'll tell him I'm planning on defecting, because I can't stand how theprisoners are being treated and the total disrespect for Islam. He'll helpme infiltrate the enemy camp. He'll revel in it. He has been trying toenroll me in the Army of Allah for some time now.*quot;Carter stood up and shook Martin's hand. *quot;Good man,*quot; he said.To be continued...