Chapter One
‘I have a particular talent.’ The speaker was young, in his mid-twenties. He was dark-haired, brown-eyed and stood ramrod straight.
He was casually dressed—shirt tucked into a pair of jeans, belt around his waist—as he stood in the room in front of five seated men in suits. All of them had a presence.
The speaker guessed they were men who decided on war; how it was fought and where. He knew he was looking at military men. That had been made clear before the interview. Now, on observing them, he guessed they were three- or four-star generals, or their equivalents from the Navy or Air Force.
No names had been exchanged when he entered the room, in an anonymous-looking building in DC.
He had looked it up. It was occupied by various private companies and also rented out rooms by the hour.
‘What talent is that?’ said a balding man, as he removed his glasses and rubbed his eyes.
It had been a long day and they seemed to be nowhere near making a decision. That’s what it felt like to the speaker.
‘Finding people, sir.’
Several suits snorted.
‘The military has enough of such soldiers, son,’ a silver-haired man spoke. ‘We don’t need another one.’
‘And killing them, sir. Killing those who are threats to us.’
That stopped them.
Those who were good in the killing arts weren’t uncommon in the military, either. Or on the outside, in the private-sector world.
But the way the young man had spoken struck them.
He was utterly confident, without being arrogant. He was calm, his voice so soft they almost had to strain to hear him.
It was rare for men of their seniority to come together and interview candidates. Most men or women would have felt intimidated by them, even without knowing who they were, what rank they held.
Yet, the man facing them seemed unaffected.
He stood, arms crossed behind his back, legs spread apart slightly and looked them in the eye.
No hesitation. No fidgeting.
Many of the previous candidates had been arrogant. One had boasted about the kills he had made. The panel had shown him out quickly.
A squat, suited man picked up the speaker’s folder and rifled through it. Somalia. Iraq. Lebanon. Israel. Greece. London. Belfast. Several redacted portions, to which they had access.
The current candidate had been to several of the hot spots of the world.
He had led units. He had worked independently. He had been in hostile country, undercover for months.
He spoke several languages fluently.
A superior had jotted a comment. Has an ear for languages. In just a few weeks, in a new country, can speak well enough to get by.
He was a master sniper. He had won several unarmed-combat trophies. Those who knew him, respected him.
The man lingered on the last country the candidate had been to while in the military.
Afghanistan.
He whispered to his peers. The file was passed around.
‘We didn’t know we had Superman in our ranks,’ Silver Hair said sarcastically.
The candidate’s reaction astounded them.
He unbuttoned his shirt, all the while looking at them.
‘What? What are you doing?’ the suit roared.
The candidate didn’t stop.
He removed his shirt. Removed his vest.
And then pointed to a badly healed wound just below his heart.
‘I don’t think Superman has such a scar.’
‘You think this is a joke?’ Silver Hair rose. ‘Do you know who we are? Just because you aren’t in the military, you think you can get away with such behavior? You are walking that close to the edge, young man.’
The speaker finished dressing and stood smartly, waiting for the outburst to finish.
‘Yes, sir. And I apologize for offending you. I meant no disrespect. Way I figure, you have been sitting there all day, listening to other candidates like me. You are trying to decide who’s the best person for the job. You made a comment. I do not know if you were serious. I could have said something. Lots of words, but I thought you probably have had enough of words, and hence my action.’
He paused a beat. ‘I will understand if I am not selected. For whatever you have in mind.’
The suits did the bent-heads-whispering-furiously thing again.
‘You are not afraid?’ the balding man asked him.
‘Yes, sir. I am.’
‘I don’t mean that stunt you pulled off,’ the man waved. ‘I mean in the field.’
‘I am often afraid, sir.’
‘And yet you came here.’
‘I was told it would be a good idea to offer my services to my country,’ the candidate said, smiling sardonically.
‘You know you won’t get paid?’
‘Yes, sir.’
‘Driven by noble intentions, no doubt,’ Silver Hair said sarcastically.
The candidate didn’t rise to the bait.
‘You know what this is about?’ The balding general threw an irritated glance at the interruption.
‘I can make a guess. You are looking for an outside contractor. That means whatever you are planning is high-risk and has to be deniable. I was told your candidate should speak Pashtun. Right now, Afghanistan is our hottest spot. Maybe you’re thinking of rescuing those three Delta operators. Using someone like me?’
Silence in the room.
‘You are still bound by the declarations and non-disclosures you signed,’ Silver Hair barked.
‘Sir,’ the speaker said, smiling fully, ‘I am sure you vetted all the candidates before interviewing them. None of us would have been in this room if we were in the habit of running to the nearest newspaper, TV channel, or website.’
More silence.
‘That’s the most hostile terrain in the world,’ squat suit said, shifting in his metal chair. ‘The most dangerous fighters out there.’
‘Yes, sir. I have been there. I have fought them.’
‘Indeed, you have. And you still want to go back? Assuming that’s the operation. You could die.’
‘I don’t mind dying, sir.’
‘Let me get this straight,’ Silver Hair said brusquely. ‘You are willing to go on something that’s pretty much a suicide mission. Involves no payment, no fame, no movie or book deal out of it. Why? Love of country?’
‘I was Delta. Those men are Delta, sir,’ the speaker said, as if that explained it all.
‘You could be tortured.’
‘I have been tortured, sir. Quite a few times.’
Silence.
The men stared at him.
He held their eyes.
‘You like killing?’ Silver Hair said, no inflection in his voice.
‘No, sir.’
‘What do you like?’
‘Saving people, sir.’
A clock ticked somewhere. A chair scraped.
Outside the small room, faint voices could be heard.
The bald man spoke finally. ‘Someone will let you know.’
‘Yes, sir,’ he squared his shoulders and turned to leave.
‘A moment?’
‘Sir?’
‘Why did you leave Delta?’
‘I was getting promoted, sir. That meant a desk job.’
‘You don’t like management? The administration side of operations?’
‘I do, sir. But not if it’s what I have to do all day.’
‘You like the money as a private military contractor?’
‘I am a mercenary, sir,’ a smile ghosted over his lips and disappeared quickly. ‘There’s no need to use fancy words. To answer your question, I do, but I don’t do it just for the money.’
‘What’s your name? All the folders are anonymous.’
‘You don’t have to share it, if you don’t want to,’ he added quickly.
‘Zebadiah Carter, sir.’
‘Zebadiah. That’s quite a mouthful, son.’
‘Everyone calls me Zeb, sir.’
And Zeb Carter left the room.
Chapter Two
Sori.
It was a small village in the Badakshan province of Afghanistan.
The region, nearly seventeen thousand square miles, was spread across Afghanistan and Tajikistan, with two major mountain ranges defining it.
The Hindu Kush mountains that ran in the northeast of Afghanistan, and the Pamirs, which were more on the Tajikistan side.
Noshaq was the highest peak in Afghanistan, rising well over seven thousand meters. Foladi, to the southwest, rose to just over five thousand meters.
The region’s terrain soared sharply to the skies and fell away to valleys. In the winter, snow blanketed the peaks and lower lands, cutting it off from the rest of the country, from the rest of the world. Avalanches were common, sometimes destroying entire villages in one blow.
Travel by horse or donkey was the most common mode of transport in the mountains. A villager owning such an animal was considered to be rich.
Even in such an environment, with several small villages in the district, Sori stood out.
It was not just high up on a mountain, it was perched on a cliff.
A dirt path, two feet wide, skirted the steep descent and snaked through the village. A rugged vehicle could climb the rubble road, its wheels kissing the sides of the steep drop.
Even then, the vehicle wouldn’t be able to go inside the village. The driver would have to park a mile away, and to return, do a heart-thumping U-turn.
It wasn’t unheard of for grown men and women and children to fall off the cliff in the dark, never to be seen again.
The village didn’t have more than two hundred people at any point in time, most of whom farmed the poppy fields in the valley below.
Poppy.
It was the main cash crop in Badakshan. It was what made Afghanistan the world’s largest opium supplier.
Badakshan was at the heart of the narcotics trade in the north of the country.
Its valleys and plains had the poppy fields. Its villages had factories that turned the harvest into heroin.
Several villages across the province and in other parts of the country, acted as marketplaces, where smugglers and sellers met. The drug changed hands and, in return, American currency or weapons were accepted in payment.
A significant amount of the heroin produced in Badakshan traveled to Europe, through Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Central Asia.
The immediate beneficiaries of the narcotics trade were the farmers, but they were paid a mere pittance.
The biggest beneficiaries were the traffickers, the drug mafia.
And the Taliban.
The terrorists extorted tax from the farmers. They received tax from the smugglers for safe passage of the drugs.
They extracted a price for the import of chemicals needed by the factories.
The Taliban were everywhere, siphoning off money from Afghanistan’s narcotics manufacturing and supply chain, because they had realized that as long as there was a demand for illegal narcotics, there was money to be made. And that money could fund their terrorism.
And so, back to Sori.
The village was home to one of the province’s heroin-producing factories.
Farmers, when they weren’t tending to their poppy crop, helped out in the manufacturing.
The village had huts made of mud bricks with holes in the walls for windows. No sanitation.
One of the largest houses was where the drug was produced. Black sheets covered the windows. The stench of chemicals filled the air and permeated the hamlet.
But the villagers didn’t care. Poppy growing gave them a living. Working in the factory gave them a semblance of daily wages.
And even if they wanted to escape, they couldn’t.
Because the Taliban ruled Sori.
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