THE TRIPOLI MISSION
by
Lon R Maisttison
SMASHWORDS EDITION
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PUBLISHED BY:
Lon R. Maisttison on Smashwords
The Tripoli Mission
Copyright © 2011 by Lon R. Maisttison
Smashwords Edition License Notes
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The Air Rescue Story
It all began in the 1980’s, when Air Rescue started-up a helicopter rescue business. The company’s main line of business was transporting medical patients from hospitals, picking up people at car accident sites, taking people off ships at sea and basically specialized in air pickups of all kinds. Accident rescues was Air Rescues most profitable business for years, there bread and butter so to speak and they were very good at this line of work. Business was good.
In 1982, the business took a down turn due to the Miami riots that year. During that summer, and appreciating those times of American history, some overbearing cops in Miami beat to death a black motorcyclist which started the Miami Riots. Air Rescue was of course doing rescue work during the rioting period. The official story told by the sister aircrew flying that afternoon with the downed helicopter, indicated that the helicopter came under fire from rioters and was hit in the tail rotor, always the most variable spot for a helicopter and the chopper crashed. Everybody onboard including the patient they picked up was killed. That was a very bad day for Air Rescue. So, some of the rescue aircrew members with military backgrounds started carrying weapons and on several occasions, they shot at rioters and snipers who were shooting at them.
In 1985, Air Rescue decided to officially start-up the combat rescue business and started hiring commandos out of various militaries. The commando unit of Air Rescue began from an idea of one of the aircrew personnel, who had a background in Special Forces. He took upon himself to do a little freelance work and went on a mission to rescue a businessman kidnapped in a South American country. He successfully rescued the businessman being held by drug lords and received a nice reward payment from the man’s company for a good job. He returned back to work at Air Rescue and of course Air Rescue wanted to hear all about his rescue story because Air Rescue liked the idea behind the rescue operation. So, he started up the commando unit of Air Rescue with one person and business grew and grew.
Once, the U.S. Government got wind of the military operations in the United States, the U.S. Government forced Air Rescue into U.S. Federal Court and through court action forced Air Rescue to either leave the United States or cease operations under a federal mandate of the Private Militias Laws brought on by all the problems with the Cuban National Front in Florida in the 1960’s. So, Air Rescue made a deal with the U.S. Government that the military wing of the business would move out of the United States, leaving only the medical rescue business.
That year, Air Rescue Special Forces moved their entire business office for Special Forces Operations to Harrogate, England, under the direction of Frank James, Lieutenant-Colonel (Ret.), Royal Marine Commandos (1984) as British laws are more relaxed about par-military organizations. Once the Harrogate Office was established, Frank established the supply office in Northampton which had operational control of assets being kept off shore in various friendly countries.
By the late 1980’s, Air Rescue was a well established and successful paramilitary-for-hire business. Commandos were used extensive on special rescue operations, especially during the Beirut Civil War to save kidnapped victims for large sums of money. One of the hero’s of that period of time was “Jimmy West” who was so successful in sneaking into and out of Beirut that his paid fee increased to one million dollars per mission. Jimmy was known by several intelligence agencies and especially Egyptian intelligence for his work.
This action-adventure story appeared in the first book of Air Rescue Stories titled: “The Two Sisters of Kuwait.” The story is about the exploits of commando Jimmy West and the report he filed titled: “The Tripoli Mission.”
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The Tripoli Mission
The story begins early evening on 22 March 1987 with Air Rescue Special Forces Commando Jimmy West is onboard a Gulfstream Jet that is airborne over the City of Tripoli, Libya. He has been sent to rescue an Egyptian envoy’s wife and two daughters and he is awaiting last minute instructions to skydive into the city.
“Jimmy!”
“Get ready to go into the chamber, we are approaching the target area,” announces the pilot over the airplanes intercom system.
Jimmy keys the intercom mike.
“Roger!”
I sat back into my seat at the rear of the Gulfstream Jet, waiting for instructions to enter the chamber to skydive into Tripoli. I couldn’t help, but think about the mission I was about to going on. I was sitting there wondering what was going through the minds of the mother and two daughters being held by the secret intelligence agency. The mother had to be scared shitless thinking about all the things the guards might do to them, and especially her daughters, during their captivity. As its three women, and from what I was told, very pretty women, sex will definitely be on the guards minds.
My involvement in this mission started yesterday, when I received a fax from Frank titled “The Tripoli Mission.” The fax detailed a Libyan News Flash with the background data, about what had transpired since the disappearance of the envoy’s wife and two daughters, which was sent to me, to bring me up to speed, before my mission briefing by Air Rescue.
News Flash: Libya
20 March 1987: News reports say that American intelligence agencies have not detected any new resumption of construction at a suspected chemical weapons plant in Libya, a facility the United States threatened to destroy with a nuclear strike if necessary. The American Arms Control and Disarmament Agency Director says U.S. intelligence agencies, which primarily rely on satellite reconnaissance and close scrutiny of shipping records for items that might contribute to a chemical arms program, have found nothing indicating renewed activity at the site. The Director tells reporters, "Our latest reports are that construction has halted at that plant. An Egyptian envoy who inspected the Libyan chemical site last year has said he found no evidence to refute Libyan claims they were building a fertilizer factory.
Background data
The Egyptian envoy has reported to the American Committee on Arms Control and Disarmament that an inspection he made at a Libyan chemical site found no evidence to refute Libya claims that it was fertilizer plant. But, American intelligence agencies are under the assumption that the plant is suspected to be related to Libyan’s nuclear program and it is a place where Libya is making weapons of mass destruction.
What has not been reported by the Egyptian Government is the envoy’s wife and two daughters have been kidnapped on their way to a party at the Egyptian Embassy in Tripoli, Libya, and are being held at a secret location by a secret intelligence agency so that the envoy will not talk about what he really saw at the Libyan plant. The Egyptian envoy has been told that his family will never be seen again if he talks to the Americans.
The Egyptian Government has secretly put up two million dollars for Air Rescue to find the envoy’s family and get them out of Libya alive, without being detected.
The telephone calls, made by the envoy’s wife, were traced to a building on Al Mada Street, just a few blocks from Green Square in Tripoli, known in the past as a secret hideaway location utilized by an intelligence agency to make troublesome people disappear.
As Jimmy reflects over the fax he received, he is interrupted again by the pilot speaking over the intercom.
“Jimmy!” “Enter the chamber and depressurize.”
Jimmy keys the intercom mike.
“Roger!”
Jimmy enters the chamber and closes the door. He sits down into position at the back door of the tail section of the airplane to get ready to bail out.
Jimmy keys the intercom mike.
“Depressurizing!”
“Roger,” replies the pilot.
Jimmy keys the mike again.
“I am opening the back door.”
“Good luck Jimmy,” replied the pilot over the airplanes intercom system.
Jimmy keys the mike, “the back door is open and I am in position to jump.”
“Get ready Jimmy,” replies the pilot.
“On my mark!”
Pause!
“Get ready!”
“1...2...3...Go.”
I slid out of the back of the Gulfstream Jet into the darkness and started my free fall to earth over Tripoli, Libya. As soon as I left the plane, I rolled over onto my belly to point my face earth bound so I could see where I was going and I extended my arms and legs out to give myself balance. I raised my head-up and for a second, my eyes caught a glimpse of the back of the airplane as it flew off into the night.
Again I turned my head downward to look down upon the illuminated City of Tripoli below me. I could feel the warm Mediterranean air going past my face and body as I fell towards earth at a speed of around 120 miles per hour. I could see the lights of the City of Tripoli below me, the harbor, the illuminated castle, and I could see the street lights reflecting on the black looking water along the shore line. Just a little east of the Harbor Castle, I could pick out in the blackness of a vacant lot along the shore line, a place where I could land undetected. I repositioned my arms and legs to give me a little air resistance so that I could glide like a plane and maneuvered myself towards the open secluded lot along the eastern shore line of the harbor.
At 2000 feet, I deployed my black parachute and began maneuvering the guide strings to pitch and yaw the parachute to control a soft landing as I sped towards the landing site. I hit the soft sandy ground of the vacant lot and quickly laid down on the ground for a few minutes watching for anyone who may have seen me land. It was early evening and it had just got dark. I could see that people were out walking along the shore, but no one was about in the isolated area where I landed.
As I lay quietly on the ground, thoughts of being captured in a foreign country were racing through my head. At least, on this trip, I wasn’t really concerned about the dangers of being shot-at on this mission as Libya is a pretty friendly country, not like some of the shoot-them-up-places that I have been to on previous missions. This was a covert, secret mission. I have been instructed in my briefing that it was off limits on this mission to shoot at anybody who gets near me. I could obviously protect myself if needed, but that was it. In fact, on this trip, I was not even carrying my normal AK-47 assault rifle and box of hand grenades. I was limited to a couple of 9mm’s with silencers, a couple of pocket guns and my blow gun, a few ninja throwing pieces and my 24 inch straight blade sword with case. Basically, I was directed to use my wits, my ingenuity and resourcefulness, and if at all possible, I was to disable the guards in such a fashion as to bring embarrassment upon the government. Well, you know how that goes in a covert operation, if you succeed, the mission never happened and most likely these intelligence people will be taking a long vacation, that is, if they are ever found again on this planet.
I continued to lay on the ground for several minutes to watch and listen for human movement and seeing no one or having no one run to my aid. I gathered up my parachute into my arms and walked over to a group of palm trees about 30 feet away from where I had landed. The palm trees gave me plenty of good cover. I paused amongst the hanging branches of the palm trees for a few minutes and had a good look around the area. I had landed in a pretty secluded spot, an isolated area along the eastern end of the harbor near to Al Fat’h Street. From my vantage point to the right, westward of my location, I could see the distant harbor lights and one of my marker target locations - The Al Kabir Hotel, which appears to be only about a 10 minute walk away from my current location. To my left, I could look eastward towards some office buildings along a main street with a little side street or kind of alley with a white looking building at the other end of it. What I was looking for was a building that may have a trash can or dumpster behind it where I could discard my parachute and change clothes. It was pretty dark along the street except for a few street lights. No one was around, so I ran across the street and down the alley along beside the white building. I stopped behind the building and sure enough, there was a dumpster behind the building. I looked all around and no one seemed to be watching me from any windows in the buildings lining the alley, so I opened the lid and threw in my parachute and harness into the dumper to get rid of them and closed the lid.
I continued to look all around for anyone who might be watching me from one of the many windows in the surrounding buildings. As I looked around, I also listened for human movement and sounds, but it was all quiet. So, I put my travel bag down on top of the dumpster lid and took off my black jump suit, folded it up and put it in my bag. This left me wearing normal Libyan street clothes, composed of a black pair of pants and black tee shirt. I took out of my bag, a dark long sleeved shirt and put it on, letting it hang unbuttoned like most Libyan men do. I wanted to look like the locals and not bring attention to myself. I searched around in my bag and found my Libyan stamped passport and stuck it in my shirt pocket. I was now ready to get started finding the location of where the envoy’s wife and daughters were being held in protective custody. Well, that’s what the secret intelligence agency was calling it, but we knew it was for a different reason.
I spent about 15 minutes behind the white building getting ready, before I again walked up the alley and crossed over the street to the open lot. It took me about a minute or so to walk the 100 to 150 feet across the open lot to get to the sidewalk adjacent to the street that trailed around the harbor. At the sidewalk, I started walking westward on the street light illuminated sidewalk, that was lined with a sandstone balustrade which separated the sidewalk from the black looking waters of the harbor. As I walked towards the main harbor street of Al Fat’h and one of my target locations - The Al Kabir Hotel, I couldn’t help but have very awkward feelings. Here I am walking along the harbor, at night, where I am more accustomed to sneaking around after landing in places like Tripoli. But here I am walking on a sidewalk like a normal person. No one is paying any attention to me and in most cases; all the people who have passed me were couples who were more interested in themselves and each other then me. At least on this mission, there shouldn’t be anyone shooting at me which makes me pretty happy.
It was a pleasant walk along the harbor and it only took me about 10 minutes to reach the crosswalk that was across the street from the Al Kabir Hotel. I crossed over Al Fat’s Street at the pedestrian walkway and sat down on a park bench in front of the hotel to get my bearings and enjoy the illuminated sights of Tripoli.
I made myself comfortable on the bench and got out my map like any other normal tourist would do and studied the building locations of where I was to go in relation to my map. I could see down the street towards the lit-up Harbor Castle and Green Square. I could also see the illuminated Medina Gadima entrance to the old city, just off the Green Square. I had been told to go west on Omar Mukhtar Street for about one block then I would see another side street called Al Mada Street that was more like an alley street. I was told to go along the alley street for about a half a block. There on the right would be a brownish sand stone colored building with five arched terraced balconies decorating the top of the building. The structure would be surrounded by brownish colored iron gates atop a two foot high stone wall. This was the location of where the telephone calls were traced to, that the envoy’s wife had made, to inform her husband that she and their daughters were being held in protective custody by a secret intelligence group.
As I sat there on the bench looking all around like a normal tourist, I was also plotting my escape path, which for me is a force of habit. I thought to myself, I know once I get them out of the secret hideaway building, there would be absolutely no reason why I couldn’t walk right down the street to the Green Square, over to the Castle and get into the plane behind the Castle and leave. I can see hundreds of people just walking around which makes a perfect cover for me and the ladies. I am told that on any given night, there are thousands of people out on Green Square and we would blend right in with everyone else on the street. Well at least that was the plan.
From my bench location, I had a good view of the entire harbor and especially the far eastern end of the harbor where I had landed several hours ago. In the moon light reflection on the water in the harbor was the shadow of the flying boat bobbing in the waves. Heather had done her job of silently sneaking into the harbor without attracting too much attention to herself and anchored the “The Mississippi Goose Flying Boat.” Her instructions were to just sit tight and wait at the edge of the harbor for me to do my thing. When I rescue the ladies, I will radio her and she will on a moments notice, move the flying boat up to the castle, pick us up and we all would get the hell out of dodge. Once we rescued the envoy’s family and were airborne, we were scheduled to fly along the coast to a prearranged place on Egyptian soil and turn the ladies over to Egyptian authorities who would be waiting for them.
I must have sat on that bench for about 20 minutes, just becoming familiar with the area. I finally decided that it was time to make my move and I got up from my seat and slowly strolled down Al Fat’h Street passed the illuminated Castle Museum. I passed over the crosswalk and strolled over to the huge open Green Square acting like any other tourist looking around enjoying the sites. I strolled amongst thousands of people of all ages sitting on motorbikes, in cars, on bicycles, people just basically walking and milling around the Green Square that evening. I strolled across the huge open square to the crosswalk at Al Mukhtar Street and over the pedestrian walkway. I continued along the illuminated sidewalk, along the arched arcaded green and white painted building on Al Mukhtar Street for about one block to Al Mada Street. At Al Mada, which turned out to be a dark, very poorly lit, back alleyway tucked away between a sea of white painted two story buildings. It was a real great place to get jumped by someone. As I started walking up the dirty cobbled stone back street, I saw in the distance, the illuminated arched top of my target building. Just as I was briefed, it was surrounded with a dark brownish iron fence set on top of a two foot brown stone wall with sand stone columns either side of the fence. As I slowly strolled past the stone wall, I noticed that the courtyard was poorly lit and the front gate was unlocked and partially open with no intercom system and no outside cameras, which was a good sign.
My target building looked quite normal and you wouldn’t have suspected that it was a place of death. Well, people are held here and most likely taken for a ride and killed at another location. But, it still just looked like a normal building tucked away off a back street with well landscaped gardens, with a fence, green lawn, palm trees and scrubs; nothing out of the ordinary. Even though it was pretty dark except for an occasional street light and the illumination of lights from other buildings, I knew from experience that I was most likely being watched. You just don’t walk up to the front door of a secret hideaway house and knock on the door and ask if anyone is home.
As I walked past the building, I started plotting my entrance into the building. I was especially looking for cameras and guards and much to my surprise from what I could see, there was nothing. I thought this was very interesting. I passed the building and continued on down the street for a hundred yards or so and stopped near some bushes at the other end of the brown iron fence where no one could see me, and especially from my target house.
I stepped back out of the street, back along the iron fence, out of sight and into the darkest. I put down my travel bag and I took off the dark shirt, folded it up and put it in the bag. I felt around in the bag and pulled out my hood and mask. I pulled the hood down over my head and attached the mask over my face so that I was completely covered. I opened my travel bag and pulled out the two 9 mm guns and holstered them in my uniform jacket. I reached back into my bag and pulled out two pocket guns and put them in my jacket pocket. I pulled out my 24 inch sword and slipped the case straps over both shoulders with the sword on my back and the handle hanging above my shoulders, and clipped the straps together in the middle of my chest. I pulled out my blow gun and took a dart out of its protective box and put it in the mouth piece end of the blow gun. I clipped the dirt box to the outside top of my travel bag for easy access when I needed a new dart.
I was ready for action.
I put my hands on the iron gates atop the stone wall and rose up on the toes of my feet and looked over the stone wall into the compound. I was looking especially for guards or cameras and I saw nothing. I thought it was very interesting that no body seemed to be around. I climbed upon the stone wall and stepped over the brown iron fence and down onto the ground where I sat down to have a look around in the dark shadows of the wall. It was all quiet, which was the way I wanted to keep it. In the distance, between several palm trees, I could see the arched doorway that led to the steps to the main compound. I sneaked across the lawn over to the trees for cover and then up to the door way and entered.
Inside the doorway, I could see that the stone steps had a small two foot high stone wall all the way up the steps which would provide cover for me. I got down on all fours and began to climb the steps so that in the darkness if anyone was watching or watching by cameras, they couldn’t see me in the dark shadows of the wall. At the top of the steps, I laid down on my belly while I paused by the last step for a minute, next to the wall and had a good look into the darken compound. In the distance, I could see a set of six arch shaped connected columns ahead of me that I had to pass through to get into the building. I couldn’t see any cameras, there were no guards so far and it was still all very quiet. I got up on my feet and moved forward silently in a fast walk the 50 to 60 feet to the six arches and paused by one of the columns. I thought, so far, so good.
From where I was standing next to the column, I could see a short fight of steps that led into the building. I continued to watch and look all around for guards and cameras. I even turned my head so I could listen for human sounds, but I could hear nothing, no one appeared to be around. I thought this is very strange, as it was supposed to be a hideaway place for an intelligence agency, but no-one appears to be here. I sneaked up the steps into the hallway of the main building. The white painted arched hallway led me to another open air courtyard inside the building.
As I started to enter the open air courtyard, I paused by the doorway and leaned up against the wall. I looked into the courtyard; the floor was a mosaic of Roman style tiles with white square clay pots with small trees dotted about the floor. The building had an arcade of arches supported by columns forming a gallery. The white Roman arches span from column to column going all the way around inside the courtyard. The second floor balcony was also another set of white Roman arches also spanning from column to column with iron banister railings between columns continuing around the courtyard. Between each set of columns were doorways to rooms with what appeared to be air conditioners mounted in the wall above each door.
As I stood at the entrance to the courtyard, I could hear distant voices echoing off the walls. People were talking from what appeared to be the second floor balcony above me. I slowly moved around the courtyard to a point where I could get a look upstairs, but staying under the second floor balcony for cover so no one above could see me. I eventually got into a position where I could see the second floor balcony above the entrance where I came in. Sure enough, there stood two big hairy men in the door way. I thought, well we now know where the envoy’s wife and daughters are being held. I asked myself, are these guys guarding a room or an entrance to a hall with other rooms off the main hall.
While I was pondering this matter, I heard foot steps coming down the hallway from the front entrance to the courtyard where I had just came in from. The courtyard was not well lit so I crouched behind a big planter and watched.
In the entrance doorway walked a man carrying a tray of food. He ducked into the doorway beside the entrance and I could hear his feet shuffle as he was going up the steps. I kept watching and I saw him come out the doorway on the second floor by the guards and stop in front of the two hairy men.
They talked to him for a few minutes and looked over the tray of food. I watched the guy with the tray exit into the hallway behind the two hairy men. It was only seconds and I could hear a distant knock on the door and voices. The guy with the tray said “room service” and I heard the door open. I couldn’t see down the hall, but it sounded like he turned over the tray to a third person. The guy walked back out to the hallway, passed the two guards and down the steps and out of the front entrance way.
I thought to myself, ok, we have two guys on guard duty, most likely one or two people on the inside of the room as minders, and the minder opened the door to the words “room service”.
So, I started thinking about my options and how I could take out these two guards without one of them setting off an alarm.
At my current position, I would have about 60 to 70 feet shot with a blow gun, which is no problem, but most likely the other guard would see his partner fall and raise the alarm. I could make some noise and maybe one of them would come down the steps to investigate and then I could shoot him.
I could go up the stairs and maybe distract one of them and shoot them, one at a time.
The more I thought about it, the more I liked the last idea, because I wanted to drag everybody into one room to hide them.
So, I looked around and found a couple of small rocks and put them in my pocket.
The next thing I needed to do was get back around to the front entrance where I could go up the stairs. So slowly, I started working my way back around to the first floor arcade to the front entrance where I came in.
It only took me a few minutes to arrive back at the front entrance. I looked into the hallway entrance of the stairs and the stairs turned out to be a one light bulb lit stairway which was subdued and very dimly lit which was ideal for me.
With a blow gun in hand, I started quietly easing myself up the stairs to a point where I could see the two guards who were busy talking amongst themselves.
I put my bag down gently on the stairs, trying not to make a sound. I reached down and repositioned the attached box of darts so that they were available for fast access and got ready to take out these two guys. I pulled a rock out of my pocket and pulled back my arm to throw it and then I heard from down the hall, a door open.
I heard from the distant hallway “come here” in Arabic and with that, one of the guards disappeared down the hall.
I thought perfect.
I raised my blow gun and took good aim and blew down the mouth piece. The dart hit the guard right in his left arm and he looked down at the dart and just slid down the wall to the floor fast asleep.
I opened my dart box and took out another dart and inserted it in the mouth piece. I grabbed my bag and ran over to the doorway where the guard was laying. I put down my travel bag as I watched all the doors down the hall for the second guard, and it was only about a minute or so that passed, and out the door came the second guard, pulling the door shut behind him. I took aim at him and blew down the mouth piece and the dart hit him in the chest and he just dropped to the floor like a rock.
I opened my dart box again and took out another dart and loaded the blow gun. I reached down and grabbed a hold of the guard’s shirt collar and pulled him into the hallway out of view. I picked up my bag and walked down past the second guard to the room door that he had just came out of and put my bag on the floor.
I was thinking to myself, we may have one or two people in this room. So I pulled out my silencer fitted 9mm and took it off safety, just in case I needed to use it, and then put it back in the holster.
I thought, ok I am hoping that if there are two people, one will be in the other room and I can surprise both of them.
As thoughts raced through my head, I thought, ok room service worked once tonight, maybe it will work a second time. Holding my blow gun with my left hand, I raised my right hand and knocked at the door and I could hear - “who is it” and I said, “room service” in Arabic. I heard someone on the other side turning the lock and I raised my blow gun to get ready to shoot.
In a flash, the door flung open and it was a startled minder who answered the door and looked at me. At that second, I blew down the mouth peace, hitting him in the chest, he just looked at me as he dropped to the floor asleep.
I knelt down on one knee, reached over to my dart box and quickly reloaded my blow gun with another dart as I looked around for human movement in the room.
I picked up my bag and slowly entered the room with my hand on my 9mm and looking all around, I could see a light from an adjacent room and I walked over to the doorway and put down my bag.
I could see that there was a fourth person sitting at a table and I could also see, the mother and one daughter sitting on the bed in the room, but they were not paying any attention to what the guard was doing at the table. I leaned up against the door frame, just like I owned the place and took aim at him and blew down the mouth peace, hitting him in the upper back. He just fell forward onto the table with a thud, fast asleep.
From the corner of the room, I heard a high-pitched, loud screeching sound of a scared girl as I caught a glimpse of a white flash going across the room. I looked up to see a teenaged girl jump upon the bed behind a middle aged woman who was staring at me with almost laser eyes. I looked directly at the envoy’s wife and I held my hand out.
I said to her in Arabic, “don’t be afraid, I am here to rescue you and get you out of here.“
I continued talking to her in Arabic, “All of you stay here in the room as I need to secure the area.”
I saw the nod of her head which I took as she understood what I was saying.
With that I left the room where the envoy’s wife and daughters were located and pulled the third guard into the room from the doorway where he had fallen. I walked out into the hall and grabbed the second guard by the collar and dragged him also into the room. Back out into the hall again, I grabbed the first guard by the collar and dragged him down to the room and in the door and closed the door behind me. After closing the door, I paused for a minute, as I reached over to my gun holster with my right hand and pulled out my 9mm far enough to put it back on safety.
By this time the envoy’s wife and two daughters had walked out of their prison room from where they had been held captive for the past few days, and was watching me drag in the last guard from the hallway. I could tell they were scared to death of me and who wouldn’t be. I am dressed in total black from head to foot with a big sword handle towering above my right shoulder, a black face mask and the only thing visible that they can see, are my eyes in the slit of the mask. There was a very concerned look on the mothers face. It would be an understatement to say the least that this mother was scared shitless of me and I wouldn’t have blamed her.
But, there they stood; mother and two daughters in there party dresses for a party that they didn’t get to attend. The envoys wife was a fairly attractive lady in her late 30’s. She had long black hair down to about her shoulders, dressed in a light blue floor length dress with an Egyptian style half moon embroidery collar. The first daughter, the younger looking of the two, looked to be about 14 years old. She was wearing a white dress bow-tied on the right shoulder with white ties down the front of her dress and a silver rope belt tied around her waist which also hung down the middle of her dress. Her sister, the older looking daughter was about 16, maybe 17 and drop dead gorgeous. She was wearing a dark black dress with purple inlays with a wide collar and a black choker around her neck. All looked fairly well dressed, and it didn’t appear the guards had tried anything with them. I think if they had tried something with the girls, the mother probably could have killed them by herself as she looked the type.
The envoy’s wife looked me up and down and then she spoke, “I have been associated with military people all my life, but I have never seen anybody who looks like you.”
“Who are you” she asked.
I replied to her in Arabic, “I am with Air Rescue Special Forces” as I removed my hood and mask so they could see my face and reduce her fear level.
I looked at her and said “I am a commando.”
I reached down and put my mask and hood in one of my lower pant pockets.
I continued, “your government has hired me to get you out of here“.
I said, “there is a flying boat in the harbor waiting to fly us to Egypt.”
I could see her eyes light up to the suggestion of getting the hell out of Libya.
“Are you ok,” I replied?
“Yes, we are ok,” the mother replied.
She continued looking me up and down and wouldn’t take her eyes off me for a second. I could tell she didn’t know whether or not to believe me. She was especially interested in my big black handled sword towering above my right shoulder, because she kept glancing at it.
She finally got up the courage to ask me.
“How do I know this is not some kind of trick, she replied?”
“You are quite right lady,” I replied, and with that I reached into my travel bag and pulled out an envelope and handed it to her.
“I was instructed to give this to you.”
With that the lady opened the envelope and much to her surprise when she looked into the envelope, she found her underwear, or as the Europeans like to say, her knickers that she had been ordered to take off by the guards.
Her knickers were sent to her husband as a reminder to be a good boy and do as he was told or worse things could happen to his wife.
She looked back at me with a smile and a very red face.
I looked at her and said, “your husband said that you may need them, since you’re going to be traveling back to Egypt.”
I looked at her again and said, “it’s a pretty common intelligence trick in the art of intimidation of a target person in this case your husband into thinking worse things would happen to his wife if he didn’t cooperate.”
“Are we ok now, its ok, you can trust me,” I said.
“Yes,” she replied.
I leaned over and held out my hand.
“Hi, I am Jimmy West,” I replied.
She smiled and shook hands with me.
“I am Isis and these are my daughters: Iset and Tara.”
“Pleased to meet you Isis and hi daughters,” I replied.
“Ok, let’s get down to business of getting you all out of here.”
I walked over to a closet and opened it.
I walked back to where the guards were laying. I said to Iset and Tara, “grab hold of a leg and help me put these guards in the closet.”
They looked at their mother and she nodded approval.
The daughters walked over and did as I requested.
Tara said, “are they dead?”
“No,” I replied, “they are not dead.”
“They are just asleep.”
“I shot them with a tranquilizer dart used for putting bears to sleep in the wild.”
“These boys will sleep for a few days,” I replied.
I could see a big smile come over Tara and Iset’s faces.
I looked at the girls and said with a kind of a smile on my face, “but girls, when their boss finds them locked up in the closet, they may shoot them for me, because someone is going to be very embarrassed over this mission.”
We finished putting the last guard in the closet and shut the door.
“Thanks girls,” I replied.
Isis who was watching us put the guards in the closet, asked, “How are you going to get us out of here Jimmy?”
“Isis, we are going to walk right out the front door,” I replied.
Isis looked at me with a very puzzled look on her face.
“Ok Isis,” I explained, “this is a hideaway or half-way house and they were just keeping you here.”
“It appears that there were only a few guards here and they are all asleep in the closet right now.”
I continued, “when I came in to the building, there were no guards outside of the building; no camera’s, nothing.”
I said, “so I don’t see why we can’t walk right out the front door.”
Again, I see this puzzled look appear on Isis’s face, “don’t worry Isis, I replied.
“I am very well armed.”
“I have guns on me if I need them and I know how to use them.”
I continued, “now hear is the game plan, if we run into any problems, you get your daughters together and just get out of the way and hide behind something.”
“You let me do all the fighting, because this type of mission is my specialty.”
I said, “are you ready?”
“Do you have everything?”
“Yes,” was their reply?
As the women watched, I walked over to my travel bag that was setting on the floor.
I unclipped my sword case straps and took my sword off my back and put it in my travel bag.
Isis spoke-up, “Jimmy, was that a sword you just put in the travel bag?”
“Yes,” I replied, “it’s a Japanese sword.”
I see this puzzled look on her face.
“Isis,” I replied, “I am trained in all forms of Martial Arts including sword fighting.”
As we talked, I continued to reach into my travel bag and pulled out my shirt and put it on. I left the shirt unbuttoned, but it did cover the presence of my guns.
She asked, “have you ever used it?”
I looked at her, “yes,” I replied, “I have used it a couple of times.”
I continued, “I use it in close-in fighting when I don’t have time to grab a gun, so I will go for the sword.”
“Ok,” was her rely.
I again reached into my bag and pulled out a small walkie-talkie and clipped it onto my belt.
“Now girls” and they both turned towards me, “I want you to know that this is only for show as the girls looked at me with a puzzled look.”
Much to the surprise of Isis, I reached over and took her hand, “Isis,” I replied, “this is only for show, because no one is going to question a couple holding hands with two daughters trailing behind.” I could see this big smile on her face as she gripped my hand with approval. But by this time the two daughters are holding their hands to their mouths, giggling like a couple of school girls.
“Come on girls,” I replied.
“Let’s go” and with that I picked up my travel bag and we went to the door.
I opened the door and looked out into the hallway and it was all clear.
“Ok everyone be very quiet,” I replied.
I walked out into the hall first with Isis behind me and the two girls followed.
I turned to Tara and Iset and in a low voice, I said, “one of you take the key out of the inside of the door and lock the door from the outside.” Tara responded to my request by taking the key out of the inside of the door and locked the door from the outside as we left.
“Tara!” I replied, “Hang onto the key for a few minutes and when we get outside, drop it somewhere.”
“OK,” Tara replied.
I started walking down the hall looking and listening for anyone who maybe coming to check on the guards. We only walked a few steps to the doorway where the guards had been standing, I looked out onto the balcony into the courtyard and then I looked over at the doorway that led to the stairs and nothing, no one seemed to be around.
Isis and I walked onto the balcony holding hands with the two girls following, and then over to the stairs. I peaked into the stairwell and it was clear and I couldn’t hear anyone coming up the steps.
As we entered the stairway, I told Isis to be careful going down the steps with her high heels. She took hold of the stair railing as she went down each step. I am glad no one was around because all we could hear was the clicking of Isis’s high heels all the way to the bottom of the stone steps.
I peaked into the hallway and looked all around and no one was around. I led Isis out of the stairwell and into the downstairs courtyard and then into the hall to the outer courtyard. I paused at the steps and looked into the open courtyard and it was also clear. I said, “let’s go” as we hurried across the open courtyard and down the steps to the ground level.
I paused at the door and looked out over the garden lawn and could see no one outside; not a single person. We all hurried down the driveway to the open iron gate and out onto Al Mada Street where I paused for a minute just outside of the iron gates.
I was still holding hands with Isis and the two girls were right behind us. I put down my travel bag.
I said, “girls will you carry my bag down this little stretch of alley for me.”
“Sure” was their reply as they picked up the bag.
I looked over at Isis as she watched me reach into my shirt and take hold of one of my 9 mm’s and pulled it out of the holster and took it off safety.
I turned to Isis and said, “I will feel a little safer once we get a few hundred yards along the alley street.”
I turned to the girls and said “you stay close to us.”
“Ok” was their reply.
There was no one about in the close quarters in the alley and I guess that was normal for the area, but I don’t like dark streets.
Holding my 9 mm in my hand next to my pants leg, we slowly walked down the alley as I looked from side to side expecting someone to jump out at any second without notice. But, I guess it was my nerves. It only took us a few minutes to walk to the illuminated sidewalks of Omar Mukhtar Street with the high rise white and green building and again I paused at the corner with Al Mada Street.
Isis and the girls were all standing around me as I put the 9 mm back on safety and slipped it back into the holster inside my shirt.
“Ok everybody, we can relax now it’s not going to be long before we are out of here.”
I could see smiles on all of their faces.
“Ok ladies” as Isis and the girls turned their heads to the direction.
I pointed down the street.
“Do you see that lit-up building at the end of the street with all the spot lights,” I replied.
“Yes” was their reply.
“That’s where we are going, and its only going to take us a few minutes to walk down the street to that building and then around behind the building and get picked up.”
“Now, don’t worry about the people we are going to encounter on the street, they don’t know you guy’s and to them we are just tourists.’
“You maybe a little over dressed, but that’s not a problem.”
I looked all around and no one was near us.
I said “this is a good place to radio Heather.”
I pulled the walkie-talkie from my belt and keyed the mike.
“Heather!” “Do you have your ears on?”
I paused for a minute.
I repeated, “Heather!” “Do you have your ears on?”
It was a few seconds before I heard from the walkie-talkie. “Roger Jimmy.”
I said, “start moving, we will be at the pickup location in a few minutes.”
“Ok Jimmy”, was her reply.
I said, “Ok guys, now remember, you are tourists.”
I took the travel bag from the girls as it’s more appropriate for the male to carry it out in Arabic cultures.
I squeezed Isis’s hand and said, “it won’t be long now before you and the girls will be out of here.”
“Good,” was her reply?
I said, “Ok let’s go” and with Isis and me hand in hand with the girls in toe behind us, we all started strolling down the lantern lit sidewalk on Omar Mukhart Street towards the Castle Museum which we could see ahead of us in the distance. I could tell that the mood amongst the women had changed to a happier feeling as I could see smiles on their faces as they could see an end coming to their captivity. As Isis and I strolled along the street hand in hand, I could see her making an occasional glance at me with a smile on her face. As we continued to walk along, she leaned over to me and said to me in Arabic, “You’re flirting with me aren’t you”.
“Yes I am,” I replied.
“Why not,” I replied “you’re an attractive women and very nice to look at.”
I saw this warm smile come over her face, she squeezed my hand with approval and I saw her look at me again and on her lips she whispered “thank you.” I smiled back and we continued to walk down the street.
It only took us a few minutes to walk the block to get to the crosswalk at Omar Mukhart and Green Square. As we waited at the crosswalk for the traffic light to change with the other twenty or so people who were waiting to cross the street.
I turned my head towards Tara and Iset and said to them, “stay close to us girls.”
I said, “you two girls are very nice to look at, so this is not the time to turn on the charm and pickup any strange young man you see.”
I turned back to Isis and I feel a rap on my shoulder from both girls and something spoken in Arabic which I didn’t understand. But, I looked at Isis and we both had to laugh.
As the light changed, Isis and I casually walked across the street hand in hand with the two girls in toe onto Green Square. The girls came up beside Isis as we strolled across Green Square. The girls were amused by a carnival like atmosphere with all the people sitting around on motorbikes, cars and horse drawn carriages and some of the events brought smiles to the ladies faces as we walked over Green Square to the crosswalk directly across the street from the illuminated Castle Museum.
As the light changed and the traffic stopped, we strolled across the crosswalk that was located in front of the Castle Museum.
I said, “follow me” as we walked pass the square column with the sail boat atop. We stayed to the left of the balustrade that marks the beginning of the harbor. We followed the castle wall around to the back of the castle next to the harbor.
It was a beautiful view of the harbor lights from the castle and the moon illuminating the black water in the harbor. As we walked around the castle wall, I could see in the blackness the flying boat bobbing in the harbor water about 10 feet off shore, next to a break in the balustrade along the harbor wall where boats come in and tie up behind the castle.
There were only a few people walking behind the castle and they were mostly couples. We hurried up to where Heather had parked the flying boat. As we approached the flying boat, I could see the back hatch door open at the back of the plane and Heather appeared in the door way. She was no more than about 10 feet away from the boat dock steps.
“Hi Jimmy”
As Heather tossed a rope to me so I could pull the back of the plane up to the steps, trying to keep the wing pod away from the balustrade and the lantern light poles that dotted the balustrade about every 50 or so feet.
I looped the rope around a post a few times to secure the plane. I stepped down from the castle step and grabbed hold of the handle by the door of the “The Mississippi Goose” as the plane bobbed in the harbor water. With a firm grip on the handle of the flying boat, I helped Isis step down one step on the other side of the doorway and take hold of the other door handle.
“Tara!” “You’re going to be first to board.”
As she came closer, I took Tara’s hand and Isis grabbed hold of her daughters arm to steady her on the other side, she put one leg into the plane and then the other and disappeared inside of the plane.
Iset was second to board the plane. As Isis grabbed the arm of Iset to steady her and I took her hand and helped her as she put one leg inside the plane and then the other as she also disappeared into the plane.
Last was Isis. I took her hand as she held onto the other handle on the other side of the doorway while she stepped one leg inside the plane and then the other one as she too disappeared into the plane.
With everybody on board, I untied the rope and tossed it into the doorway and stepped into the plane and pulled the bottom part of the door shut. I grabbed hold of the long 10 foot pole that hangs just inside the door and pushed the back of the plane away from the castle steps.
I yelled, “Heather, we are clear of the castle steps.”
I closed the top part of the door and latched it.
I shouted into the cockpit, “the back door is shut.”
“Go Heather.”
I could hear the right engine starting up as I glanced out the right side port window and saw smoke go by the window from the muffler pipe of the engine. Heather pulled away from the castle steps on one engine as she started into a hard right turn out into the harbor. I could hear the second engine starting up and again I glanced out of the left port window I could see smoke going past the window from the muffler pipe as the engine started. With both engines running, we started gaining speed in the water. I could hear the pitch roar of the engines ramp-up as the plane started to accelerate.
“Jimmy, get everybody in a seat, we are just about to take off.”
“Roger, Heather,” I replied.
Each of the girls had sat down on either side of their mother. So I sat down next to Tara and checked that she had buckled up and she had. Isis was helping Iset, buckle up as she had just completed buckling herself.
As the plane gained more speed, it starting to bounce in the water. We could hear the water splashing against the hull of the plane as we skimmed through the water. There was a big bump and then a few seconds later, a second bump, and I could feel the plane lift out of the water. I looked over at a very concerned mother and two girls.
I said to Isis and the two girls, “you can relax now, we are airborne” and I could see a smile come over all their faces.
About that time, I hear Heather shout, “we are airborne.”
“Roger, Heather,” I replied.
Heather yells back, “Jimmy, I am going to be doing some low flying to get out of the harbor, so I may be doing a little rocking and rolling for the next few minutes.”
“Roger Heather.”
I thought to myself, that I could tell by the way Heather was flying that we were no more than 20 feet off the deck and she was hot footing it out of dodge.
As I looked at Isis and the girls, I noticed out of their right port windows behind them that we were passing ships docked in the harbor and I could see the lights along the sea wall.
I said to Isis and the girls, “Heather is going to be flying low to avoid Libya radar as we get out of the harbor and into open sea.”
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