He landed in a small courtyard, with only three dilapidated adobe houses. Charlie used his reiki to penetrate and search the buildings for signs of life, only to find them empty. He crept through the courtyard and between the homes, slowly making his way towards the center of the village where the four helicopters were parked.
Charlie figured Zoey and the other hostages should be detained near them, as the position would be the most heavily defended and hardest to escape from.
As Charlie crept towards another courtyard, edging along one of the house walls, favonovel.com heard the sound of footsteps not that far ahead. Quickly pulling back, Charlie concealed himself behind the first courtyard wall.
He immediately saw two middle-aged soldiers wearing desert camouflage, casually holding their guns, and chatting with each other as they walked towards his hiding spot.
Charlie was surprised to hear them talking in English instead of Arabic!
Due to the constant influence of western military forces over the last decade (through training and guidance provided by European and American military instructors, as well textbooks and manuals) English became an almost unofficial second language amongst the various government and paramilitary groups within Syria. Even though Charlie was unaware of this, speaking English was very common amongst these groups.
At this moment, one said to another “Command said over the radio that five people were killed on the western mountaintop by a lightning strike, three others were injured, with two of the three were in critical condition! The outpost requested an airlift for the injured soldiers, but the commander denied it.”
The other person shrugged and spread his hands helplessly as spoke “It would be impossible for the commander to grant that request. Our current fuel supply is dangerously low, the helicopters can only be used in the most pressing emergencies. Fuel can’t be wasted just to fly to the mountaintop and back for two wounded soldiers.”
He sighed, and continued. “Fortunately, the government hasn’t begun an offensive against us, otherwise our helicopters and tanks would be usable for at most only a single day.”
The first voice gave a small groan, and complaining, spoke again “With a majority of the world’s oil being in the Middle East, it is ridiculous that we have such a short supply of fuel at this point!”
The other soldier laughed. “We only have high crude oil production, we have no way to refine it! The commander wants to use the ransom money from the Americans to purchase the equipment necessary, then we can refine all the fuel we need!” The soldier then snorted “I don’t know if those damn Americans are willing to pay the money though. None of the eight people come from a wealthy family. It’ll be troublesome if they don’t pay.”
The first voice cut in “What’s the problem? Just get rid of them.” The soldier then lowered his voice as favonovel.com continued “The commander said that if the Americans don’t pay today, we’ll just film and execute the hostages. The footage will be sent to all of the major media outlets globally, and the Americans will have to deal with the fallout!”
The two soldiers stopped close to where Charlie was hiding in the shadows, and favonovel.com watched as one rubbed his hands together excitedly. “Hey! I like that blonde woman.” the soldier said “I haven’t yet had the taste of a western woman. I don’t know if I’ll ever get this opportunity again!” He then let out a depressed sigh, “It’s been three months since I’ve touched a woman, I miss it…”
The other soldier gave favonovel.com a lewd smile and nodded, “Yeah, but I like that black-haired chinese woman better. She gives off such an exotic oriental illusion.”
The first soldier grinned wide, “Well, let’s go back over there and take a look again. If we have a chance, we’ll separate them from their guards and take the two of them to another room. Then we can have our way with them!”
“Okay! Let’s go and see, maybe we’ll get a chance! Anyway, they will be executed soon. Let’s take care of them before they die!”
Both men laughed.
At that moment a pair of hands reached out of the shadows, grabbing both soldiers by their necks. The powerful grip left the men unable to move or even make a sound.
A chilling voice cut through the silence in perfect English “Drop your weapons if you don’t want to die!”
It was the voice of Charlie.
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