NOT FOR THE FAINT HEARTED Further Journeys in Mystery and Suspense through the Occident and Orient. Michael A. Ashton CONTENTS Wrong Turn in Kabul. Voyage to Vladivostok Escape to Hainan Spirits of Africa Rocky Mountain High Heart of London Debtor Caribbean Diversion Amah’s Quarters Hells Gate Cellan Haven Turner Maxwell Books Free Publishing Free Books Free Literature Free Writers Turner Maxwell Books are an independent co-operative of new writers, committed to publishing inspirational literature. Turner Maxwell Books has over one hundred writers, producing original stories not seen in any other bookshop, Turner Maxwell Books has established itself as a successful and viable publisher. This achievement lies in its innovative and daring approach to establish a shorter supply chain that is simply focused on the requirements of the reader.

NOT FOR THE FAINT HEARTED

Further Journeys in Mystery and Suspense through the Occident and Orient.

by

Michael A. Ashton

CONTENTS

Wrong Turn in Kabul.

Voyage to Vladivostok

Escape to Hainan

Spirits of Africa

Rocky Mountain High

Heart of London

Debtor

Caribbean Diversion

Amah’s Quarters

Hells Gate

Cellan Haven

An extract from WRONG TURN IN KABUL

    He must have been out cold for some time but was awakened by the screaming of men giving desperation orders to one another and the blast of exploding shells and tattoo of rapid fire from heavy machine guns. It took some seconds for Hughes to realize in that cold pitch-dark room that they were under attack from the Coalition forces but once he did, warm optimism flowed once again through his being. Death had been threatening for long days in the gloom of that insurgent stronghold somewhere in the stark rock mountains and cliffs overlooking Kabul. Hughes was an ex-British soldier and the Brits were the finest soldiers in the world many claimed, and so he was inured against the fear of dying in action.
    But this was different, a captive to the enemy for days on end, forced to pose for a video so that ransom demands world-wide could be made on the internet – and it was far from a simple solution for the authorities to negotiate his release by coming up with the money. Money wasn’t the objective – this determined enemy wanted no less than five terrorists in American custody, suspected big players in the Al Qaeda game. The chances of the Coalition yielding up such men were remote. He faced execution by firing squad, hanging or worse – far worse. Being caught in a small dank stone-walled storeroom black with darkness most of the time but dimly lit with a weak naked electric bulb for meals and just a few odd merciful hours of light each day, wore a man down. He was not allowed contact with anything, not even reading material, which spoke volumes on the ignorant sadism of his captors.
    But the gunfire announced a battle in progress and he could almost pray for rescue. Rout these bastards he urged, and be quick mates, otherwise I’m dead before you arrive. He wanted to pray but couldn’t sincerely as he was a confirmed atheist. He’d seen too much random suffering of the innocent in his long soldiering career and it had left no room for faith. His captors knew of his godless convictions but how he knew not. They knew a lot about him. Al Qaeda had its tentacles everywhere – their intelligence in the Afghanistan theatre of their world assault seemed always ahead. The fact that he was an atheist categorised Hughes as the lowest of all infidels and made it easier on any conscious of his captors to do “God’s will” with him, including his murder. There again theology or ideology when politically manipulable can rationalize any act in the same way say as when the Nazis gave justification to the Jewish holocaust.
The insurgents knew too many small details they shouldn’t have. With their standing army of fugitive Taliban militants and spies throughout the country, together with monstrously rugged and extreme terrain from which to operate, they were quite an enemy – it seems the world kept underestimating this titanic terrorist force of subversion. With the potential to move like the great plagues of the middle ages, its breeding grounds of religious fanaticism lay inaccessibly in such pious countries as Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, countries that were respectful, at least at governmental level, of international law, and therefore excusable from international sanction. And its training grounds were hard to find and wipe out as they were in countries largely awash with the chaos of ongoing war and civil war as in Iraq and Afghanistan, with vast swathes of disorganized mountainous fastnesses in which only unsympathetic local tribesmen freely moved.
    Hughes waited in hope as the din of weaponry increased. The battle was intensifying. His friends were getting nearer. As hope surged and powerless to join in the fight himself, emotions strained under the static impotent tension of his cell-like room. Any moment some battle raged assassins might tear into this tiny hole and finish him off. He was full of hope though. At least he could move freely, for they had not thought it necessary to bind him in anyway whilst he was surrounded by armed men and whilst no assault by the foreign forces was anticipated. But now this sudden attack which must have caught the insurgents off guard gave him an advantage. He remained seated and collected weighing up options, but knew that the wooden stool supporting him could be quickly used as a crude weapon to disable a careless guard moving in – moreover, the single electric light bulb had been switched off - or was there a power disablement because of the battle - either way he had further advantage with the complete blackness enveloping him.
    Anxiety grew apace with hope and the stress seemed to push his thoughts relentlessly towards an accommodation with the meaning of his life. Was it so meaningless? He just could not help but reappraise his entire take on and rejection of any divine order in the universe. How might faith overtake and change him if only he was spared? If he did go down that road of religious embrace there were sure to be big changes in what he did in future and in whom he became.

Published by Turner Maxwell Books

Copyright © Michael A. Ashton 2009

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