They’d all stopped at a convenient location about two miles past the warehouse and discussed what they’d noticed. The place had a large fence all around it and they’d noticed two surveillance cameras; most likely there were others. Getting in undetected didn’t look good.
Tracy’s plan seemed feasible and, not seeing any other way to get into the place, it was decided to proceed with it. While the location was remote and the men inside the warehouse were members of a terrorist group, they would have no reason to suspect Amanda and Tracy of anything. Thus, the risk seemed minimal.
On the way back, as they’d approached the spot they’d selected to stop their car, Tracy had asked, “Amanda, are you sure you’re okay with our doing this? We can keep going and just tell the guys we changed our mind. Even though everyone agrees we should be okay in there …”
Amanda had laughed and said, “Look, I’m fine with everything and really want to do just as we planned. I mean … it’s like what I told Gene. I’m with the girl who canincinerateanyone who might want to hurt me, right? What can go wrong?”
Tracy had said, “Geez! And here I was thinking I was okay since you’d be ripping their throats out as a wolf. All righty then! Let’s do this!”
Now, after walking up to the office door, they were committed. It was late in the afternoon and time to become damsels in distress. The door was not locked and as they went inside, Amanda called out in German, “Hello? Is anyone here? We need some help … our car broke down.”
There was a long counter which was mostly empty except for a computer monitor and keyboard. There were no chairs in front but on the other side, in a back corner, there was a single desk. The desk had several piles of paper, another computer monitor and keyboard as well as a telephone sitting on it. There was an empty chair behind the desk with two more empty chairs in front. Cases and cases of beer were stacked all around in several places. Then, there was a doorway which led back into the rest of the warehouse.
There had not been any bell over the entry but, on the counter, there was a button with a prominent sign which stated in German, “Ring for service”. They pressed that and waited.
After less than a minute, two men came through the back doorway and approached. They were somewhere in their twenties although one looked somewhat older than the other. They had beards, were dressed in work clothes and did not appear very friendly. The older one demanded, in heavily accented German, “What do you want?” It was obvious the girls were not welcome.
Amanda said, “Our car broke down and we need to call a tow truck but we don’t know where we are or who to call. Can you help us?”
“Where is your car and what is wrong with it?”
Amanda walked towards the window next to the outside door and pointed. “See? We are right there. It stalled and now it won’t start.”
The younger man asked, “Do you need gasoline? Maybe you ran out.” His German was also heavily accented.
“No, no. We have more than half a tank. I don’t know what is wrong. Can you help us call for a tow?”
The men were not pleased and looked at each other. The older man grumbled in Pashto, “We don’t need this right now. See if you can get them going.” Then, looking at Amanda, he said in German, “Tariq will look at it for you.” He gestured to the younger man to go out and look. Amanda went outside with him while Tracy remained inside, pacing aimlessly in the limited space in front of the counter. The man didn’t seem interested in talking to her, which was good. However, he did keep a close watch on her which, since he seemed to be undressing her with his eyes, wasn’t so good.
Five minutes later, Tariq returned with Amanda right behind him. He announced, in Pashto, “It will not start. You should probably call Talib. He will know what to do.” He went back around to the other side of the counter where the older man was waiting. “I wrote down the license number in case Talib wants that.” He handed over a piece of paper.
The older man grunted as he took the paper. Then he said, also in Pashto, “I don’t like this. We will be stuck here until Talib arranges for a tow truck to come out. What are we supposed to do with these two women?” Turning to look at Amanda, he said in German, “I must call my boss. He will know who to call.” With a shrug, he added, “We are new here.” Then he walked back to the desk, picked up the phone and dialed a number.
Tracy was only able to hear part of what the man was saying, but she did hear him say Talib’s name and it was clear he was providing an explanation of their situation, to include reading off the license number of their car. After a couple of minutes, he finished and hung up. When he returned, he told Amanda someone would be coming in an hour or so. Maybe longer.
Amanda said, “Thank you, thank you.” Turning to Tracy, she told her about the tow truck coming in French. Although neither of them was all that fluent in French, she had picked up enough living with Gene, who was fluent, and she knew Tracy could manage a few words as well. She hoped these men were not very familiar with the language and, watching their expressions as she talked to Tracy, it looked as though they weren’t. Switching to German, she told the older man and Tariq, “My cousin is from Paris and doesn’t know very much German.”
Both men seemed to accept this. Since Tracy hadn’t said anything up until now, this explanation probably made sense to them. They both studied Tracy with interest but, since she was now removing her coat and folding it over one arm, that interest seemed directed more at her trim female figure than at whether or not she could speak German.
After watching them looking at Tracy for a few moments, Amanda glanced around the room and then asked, “Can we use a restroom, please?”
This request apparently caught the older man by surprise. Where was his mind and what had he been thinking about?
Tariq chuckled and said in Pashto, “Saeed, you must let them use our facilities. I doubt they can wait until the tow truck gets here before they can relieve themselves, right?” He turned and headed toward the doorway leading back into the warehouse. “I will tell Dhanial and the others to stay out of sight until we can bring these women back out here.”
Saeed grunted and said, also in Pashto, “Make sure nobody tries anything with them. Talib was very clear … we need to avoid drawing attention to ourselves until we know it’s safe.”
The younger man stopped and looked back, answering, “Sure, but if Dhanial gets a good look at them … especially that young pretty one …”
“Make sure he doesn’t,” snapped Saeed. “He’s not supposed to even be here. If Talib …”
“Yeah, yeah. I know. I’ll make sure,” interrupted Tariq as he turned and continued on into the warehouse. Not long after the door closed behind him, the sounds of muffled shouting could be heard. Then it quieted down.
Turning to Amanda and Tracy, Saeed said, “He will be right back to show you where our restroom is. He’s just checking to make sure it’s available for you right now.” Then he went over to the desk and sat down. He began studying the monitor while moving a mouse around and clicking some keys on the keyboard.
He sent brief glances over at the two women while he quickly reviewed the various surveillance camera views during the past thirty minutes. He was annoyed with himself for not closing and locking the gate after Dhanial had shown up with three others an hour earlier. Talib was not going to be happy about that and, now that these women had shown up, his day was just that much more complicated.
He also was annoyed with himself about all the things that French girl was making him think about. He had not been with any woman since coming to Germany and seeing how attractive she was … well … he couldn’t help getting an erection just seeing her take off that coat.
