"William W Johnstone - Ashes 32 - Destiny in the Ashes (txt)" - читать интересную книгу автора (Johnstone William W)

Farrar nodded and gestured for Mustafa to continue.

"I have located the caterer that is to provide waiters and serving staff
for the dinner next week. I already have two of our group hired by them.
When the time comes for the delivery, we will have little trouble
stopping the trucks on their way and substituting our men for all of the
other waiters and cook staff."

"Then all is in readiness?" Farrar asked.

Kareem nodded. "It should pose no problem when it comes time to exact
our vengeance for what has been done to our families."

Farrar nodded, his gaze wandering to look out the window as he recalled
his first meeting with Kareem. . . .

41

41

The desert sun baked the streets of Baghdad, and the heat waves dancing
upward through the sand haze in the air made the whole world seem to
quiver. The teenagers playing in the streets seemed as insubstantial as
ghosts outlined by the 110-degree glare in the haze. They were playing
their usual game of taunting the UN. soldiers, calling them names and
throwing garbage and rocks at them as they rode by in their
SUSA-supplied jeeps.

Farrar, although a couple of years younger than the others, joined in
and gleefully hurled a rock in the general direction of one of the
jeeps. He was fully as surprised and scared as the soldiers riding in
the jeep were when the rock struck the front windshield and shattered
it. The jeep screeched to a halt and the soldier in the passenger seat
jumped out, and began to chase the suddenly scattering boys.

As he rounded a corner at full tilt, Farrar felt himself grabbed by the
scruff of the neck and lifted off the ground. Screaming, shouting, and
flailing out with his arms and legs, he was silenced by a ringing blow
to the side of his head. With the world suddenly darkened, and as things
began to shrink and swell in his vision, Farrar saw the grinning soldier
draw back his fist for another blow to his face. He closed his eyes,
waiting for the inevitable.

Out of nowhere, a tall skinny teenager barreled into the soldier,
knocking both him and Farrar to the ground. Farrar lay in the garbage in
the alley, trying to clear his still-spinning head. The boy and the
soldier rolled over and over, each struggling for an advantage over the
other.

Finally, due to his superior size and strength, the soldier ended up on