a tip of the iceberg
About six kilometers North of Az Zalaf, Syria, there is mansion, it belonged to Ali Mansur, a leader of a well known terrorist group called Al-hukuma. Al-hukuma claimed to be fighting for the people. They committed National and international crimes and where never caught. They kidnapped ambassadors of different nations in and round the neighboring countries of Syria they demanded for millions of dollars as ransom and sometimes if their requirements wasn't kept, they kill the ambassador and broadcast it internationally.
In the morning during breakfast in the Ali mansur's house, a man entered the dinning room where Ali was already seated and eating. entered the dinning room. "sahib alsaeda, good morning" the man said speaking in Arabic. "you called me" the man added. Ali kept quiet for a minute like he didn't hear the man speak. "They are in the camp where his master works. You can do to the mother as you wish just bring back my heir" Ali finally replies also in Arabic. The man then rushed down to the compound and assembled men.
Two days later at eleven o'clock in the morning, John and his team where resting in their tent when all of a sudden the marines on duty where shouting stop at the main gate. Shawn and Chess got up first. they wore their bullet proof vest, picked their rifles and hurried out. Alex and Toby followed shortly after then John left the last. As John approached the gate, he saw his friends and the other guards on duty aiming and ready to fire at something. He slowed down a bit to process what he saw then hurried up to join them. When John got to the gate, five gun trucks where parked in a barricade form outside. John looked around his friends where taking cover behind sand bags with other marines, his friends and other marines were tensed and ready to pull the trigger. John positioned himself beside Shawn who was standing alone opposite the camp's wire gate. After a while. One of the doors of the truck opened slowly. A man came out slowly with his hands in the air. He wore a long brown robe and his face was wrapped in an ash turban. He had body armor and an AK-47 rifle was strapped beside him. He took a few steps forward then stopped and looked at all the marines at the gate and watch tower. After a moment of silence, he lowered the cloth wrapped around his face. "I want to talk to your leader!" the man shouted. After some seconds, "who are you? and state your business!" Shawn replied. "my name is Muktar! I was sent by his master sahib alsaeada Ali!" said the man. Immediately Shawn knew who he was looking for "we are here to pick up his wife Aminat!, We were told She came here about a week ago with her son!". "who told?!" Shawn asked. The man didn't reply. "who told you?!" Shawn asked again. "give us the woman and we all go in peace!" said the man. "I am sorry I cannot do that!" said Shawn. The man bowed his head and laughed confidently to himself. With a smile on his face he said "I wasn't asking you if we can take her my friend. I am telling you" then immediately, fifteen armed men came out of the gun trucks and took position behind the trucks. The man looked back and when his men got ready behind the trucks, he looked at Shawn with a smile and said "are you bringing her or do we come and get her?". Immediately, John and Shawn took cover behind the sand bags. Some refugees behind them in the camp started screaming in confusion behind them. Minutes later, the camp was dead silent. Everyone hid in their tents in fear. "Should we open fire?" John whispered to Shawn softly. "no hold your fire. We don't know who they are or where they are from" Shawn replied also whispering. Shawn then slowly stood up and lowered his weapon. "ok we will bring her. Give us some time" said Shawn. The man smiled proudly "you have five minutes!" . "Shawn then quickly went into the camp to the tent of the UN personnel of the camp. When he entered the tent, he found them all standing with the fear in their eyes. "sergeant Shawn, what did they say?" said one of the personnel while the rest looked at him with their eyes opened wide. "they are here for a woman that came here together with the other refugees last week" said Shawn. "her name is Aminat" he added looking at the personnel who recorded her name. "what do we do now. Should we give her to them?" one of the UN personnel suggested. Another added "well we don't have a choice. If we don't they are going to…". "we can handle the ones at the gate" interrupted Shawn "but when their leader knows about it he is going to come with more men and then that's when these people's lives will be in danger" Shawn added. "we have to give her to them. But find a way to follow her to where she is going then after that we figure out how to rescue here" suggested Shawn. "okay.., so.. how do we track them? I mean we don't have a tracking device" one of them asked Shawn. "I was thinking we give her a phone then we track the phone's location before going there to examine the place and plan for a rescue" replied Shawn. Yes they all nodded in agreement. One of the personnel went to a drawer in the corner of the tent. He opened it and brought out a file. After going through it with his fingers he said "she is in tent 65C". Without hesitation Shawn rushed to tent 65C.
When Shawn entered the tent, a group of refugees where sited in a group with their head down in fear. Shawn looked around and saw Aminat with her son among the group. "you" Shawn said "Mrs Aminat" Shawn emphasized. Aminat slowly rose her head. "pick your things and come with me" Shawn ordered. Aminat quickly picked a bag and held her son. Aminat and her son followed Shawn back to the UN personnel's tent. When they entered, John was standing there talking to the personnels. When John saw them, he went and whispered in Shawn's ears "they are getting impatient sir". Shawn looked at the Personnels "lets hurry, where is the phone?" Shawn asked. "here" a personnel said while handing the phone to Shawn. Shawn collected the phone and buried it deep inside Aminat's bag. He then instructed her " make sure the phone is on when you get home. We will track it and find you". "what, what do you mean?" Aminat asked in confusion. "some people where sent by your husband to come and pick you" Shawn explained. Aminat's eyes grew wide and fear gripped her "No No No please No I can't go back. He will kill me please don't let them take me I beg of you please" Animat started crying and begging in a trebling voice. Her son also started crying seeing his mother in fear. "I promise we will get you back as soon as we can" Shawn explained to here while holding her shoulders to calm her. Aminat still insisted and begged. "listen!, if we don't give you to them we are putting the whole of this camp at risk!" Shawn yelled. Aminat kept quiet for a moment then wiped her tears and agreed to go with them. Aminat gave her son their bag then followed John and Shawn. The UN personnel followed them behind.
When they reached the gate, Muktar and his men were ready to enter the camp. Shawn, John and the other UN personnels stopped at the gate while Aminat and her son walked slowly towards Muktar and his men. When Aminat and her son got to them, Muktar turned and looked at the team of UN personnels standing at the gate. "he comes with us too" Muktar said pointing at one of the UN personnels. They all turned to see who he was pointing at. "Dr. Donald, I think he means you" Said one of the personnel. Dr. Donald was the general overseer of the camp. He served there nine years. As Dr. Donald took a step to go to Muktar, Shawn held him back with his hand. "its okay. Let's not cause any problem" Dr. Donald said to Shawn. Shawn looked at him and then removed his hand. Muktar put Dr. Donald and Aminat's son in one truck while Aminat in another then they all zoomed off and left. Shawn and his team stood there for a while before leaving the soldiers on duty.
Later that evening After patrol, Shawn and his team were in their tent. "Hey guys, John Almost shit himself today when those guys came" Alex teased. "what?! That's a lie" John replied in defense. Everyone but Shawn laughed "Come on man. You were soaked in your sweat" Alex insisted. "it was hot, okay" John argued. Chess started observing Shawn during the argument. Shawn was lost in his thoughts. "what's wrong?" Chess asked Shawn after getting his Attention. "The man said someone told him that woman came here. That means there is someone, a mole among us" said Shawn. The five of them kept quiet for some time and thought about what Shawn just said. "We should start keeping an eye out. Some of them might not be actually refugees" advised Shawn.