“It looks pretty much the same as the last time we were here. Except for all the new stuff.”
Mike had to agree, except for all the new stuff. Afghanistan never changed, and no one could coerce the Afghani to make meaningful change, including their own people.
They’d watched the valley floor turn from night into day from the backside of a pine-covered hilltop. As the sun rose above the mountains behind them, illuminating the valley below, it reminded Mike of that day ten years ago. Not a good memory. He forced his anger down. He needed to block it out. He was here now and needed to focus.
The drive through the night and an arduous trek through the dark had been no easy task. However, it allowed them to find the hilltop they lay on without detection. They’d seen two observation posts on each side of the valley, both on high ground. The hill they took refuge behind afforded them excellent observation of the valley and remain undetected.
The local clothing Cpt. Amadulah had provided them they wore over their Western clothes. It wasn’t much in the way of camouflage, but it was something.
“Did you notice the road entrance to the south of the valley? Whoever put those fortified guard positions up upgraded the hell out of the road.”
“Those JADMs did a number on the road, that’s for sure,“ Tom said. “Now, you can’t even tell.”
Mike kept his eyes on an early morning truck as it ponderously drove up the dirt road. Now graded, the road in the middle of the valley no longer presented hazards to unwary drivers.
“What I don’t get is the entrance to the tunnel. There are the guard positions and what appears to be a large cleared parking area.” Tom handed the binoculars back to Mike. “What’s also a little weird is they all have Afghan National flags flying above them. It's almost like it’s Government-run. Is it?"
“Doubt it. But I agree.” Mike had seen plenty of local, tribal, Taliban, and a few National flags over buildings or towns. His lips twitched upward, remembering some of those towns. One he remembered distinctly had appeared, from a distance scenic, idyllic, even tranquil. Then, they drove into the town. It was nothing more than some dirty mud buildings along a ridge line.
This had a different feel. He couldn’t explain it, but those flags, here, he frowned and looked south at the guard positions. Hotak had Government officials on his payroll. The flags flew proudly above, flapping in the breeze blowing up the south road. It wasn’t only the flags. There were the guard shacks. They were exceptionally well made. And when compared to anything else he’d seen in Afghanistan, they looked expensive to construct. Made from reinforced concrete, they had two rooms with doors and windows and a smoke stake above. The men manning them didn’t have uniforms. They instead wore their dirty man dresses. But their weapons looked new. More interestingly, the men carried AK-74s. Mike knew the AK-47 was pretty much the standard in this country. He had seen a few AK-74s in his travels. The Russians had begun to arm their Afghani soldiers with them during the occupation. There were far more AK-47s floating around. These guns looked new, and they all had folding stocks, not something he’d expected to see here.
A light suddenly went off in his head. “Everything, it's not just new but upgraded.”
Tom turned. “What’s that?”
“Everything we see down there, maybe it can be explained, maybe.” Mike continued to watch the truck plodding along the dirt road below them. Everything we've seen is upgraded, or improved, or new. All of it to accommodate or facilitate the movement of commercial trucks like the one down there.”
Tom scanned the valley again. “Hmm. Nothing new ever gets built unless the U. N. did it, especially this far from Kabul. And that isn't the U.N.’s doing. After the bombs tore up the road, it and the parking area would have needed a lot of work. Some heavy equipment would have been needed to grade and improve what’s down there.”
Mike looked back at Al and Julia, who were ten meters below, keeping an eye out for any stray patrols. The Afghans manning the hilltop observation posts appeared stationary, but they didn’t want to risk it.
The blue cab of the lumbering old truck had weeks worth of dust covering its faded paint. The long shipping container attached to the trailer was dirty brown. It had ten times the dust on it. Some wreck had twisted the frame, leaving the cab to lean to the side. Probably happened before he joined the Army. The tired old vehicle leaned to the right as it drove, but it never faltered. There were far more miles on the truck than the manufacturer had envisioned, but the ingenuity of people trying to make a living with some duct tape and baling wire never ceased to amaze.
A dust cloud followed the truck north to the tunnel. The sand-colored dirt settled on the sparse grass and plants on the sides of the road. The brakes’ squeal reached their hilltop as the truck slowed to a stop at the guard position a hundred meters from the tunnel. The barrel of a machine gun extended from the window of the second guard post near the tunnel entrance. The man behind the machine gun had tracked the large vehicle up the road. Two guards walked out into the light. It wouldn’t be stifling hot down there yet, but it would be hot as hell in a couple of hours.
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The driver opened his door, spoke with a guard, got out, and walked to a bench next to the building. Another Afghani guard pulled himself up into the cab. He drove it to the entrance, past the guard shack, and into the tunnel.
“Captain Amadulha said Hotak would be here today or tomorrow. I’m guessing he’s not in the back of that truck.”
“Huh, agreed.” Mike looked south. Another truck prepared to enter the valley. “Another truck.”
“Grand Central Station,” Tom grunted. “Again, unusual. You rarely ever see those trucks traveling that close together. Not enough commerce or money to justify it.”
“Do me a favor, get Julia. I want her to see this. Maybe she’ll have some insight.”
Tom shimmied backward, turned, and slid down the slope to avoid exposing himself.
Mike watched Tom talk to Julia and take her place on security.
The original truck with the blue cab drove out of the tunnel and stopped between the guard shacks. The driver traded places with the guard, got the truck running, turned around in the large parking area, and drove back into the tunnel.
Julia crawled up on hands and knees and settled in Tom’s spot. She’d kicked up a few small rocks as she moved into position, but not enough to cause anyone to notice.
“You did say the trucks came through the valley and continued north?”
“Yes, why?”
“You missed a truck doing something strange, but it did go north. First, let me tell you what we got here.”
“Okay.”
“There’s an observation post there.” He pointed to a hilltop across the valley. “And, another one on this side.” He pointed to a hilltop to the south. “So stay low. Try to keep trees between them and you.”
She looked in each direction he’d pointed. “Got it.”
“Take a look.” He handed her the binoculars and dipped his head toward the second truck driving north.
She scanned from the south to the north, watching the oncoming truck. This truck didn't crab up the road as the last one had.
“You missed the first truck entering the tunnel. A guard drove it in, came back out, the driver got in, turned around, and drove back into the tunnel.”
“That is odd. What am I looking for?”
“Right now, I’m interested in what input you may have. You’ve seen satellite photos of this valley. Has anything changed between now and the last time you looked?”
She pressed the binoculars tighter to her eyes.
Mike looked down with his naked eyes. “My spider sense tells me something is wrong here. Since I was here last, the entrance to the valley and the tunnel have both been expanded. There are now fortified guard posts at each end, observation posts, the graded road, and the flags.”
“The flags?”
“Yeah, why are they flying them?”
“That’s not typical?”
“Not in a place like this. This isn’t Government-run or sanctioned that we know of. I don’t see any soldiers or anything else indicating Government involvement.”
Julia closed her eyes after pulling down the binoculars. “I don’t remember ever seeing flags,” she said. “If they were there, I guess I don’t remember. The satellite pictures showed the construction of the guard posts and the expansion of the road about six months ago.”
“I guess the flags don’t matter. Probably, in the grand scheme of things, they aren’t important. Other than that, they tell the same story as everything else down there. Everything is new or upgraded and probably approved by the government in Kabul.”
Lifting the binoculars to her eyes, they moved with the truck’s progress.
"You said someone had brought in some workers and equipment here?"
Julia turned. “I only know what’s in the pictures and the reports I’ve read. Six months ago, they started improvements. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Intelligence determined there was some equipment brought here to do some work. It was all sanctioned and verified by the Afghani Government. Unusual, we thought back in the office. Sometimes, it seemed like there was far more equipment and workers for the job, but not so much so that it was alarming to anyone who saw the intel.”
Mike looked down. The truck had reached the north guard post and was directed to an open area to park. The driver got out and sat on the bench just as the first driver had sat on.
Julia watched the truck park. “Interesting. What's that about?”
“The traffic could be due to the harvest season.” He rolled onto his side. “Hotak's involved in the opium business, and opium gets harvested this time of year. ”
She looked at him, not sure if she believed him. “How do you know that?”
“It’s not because I’m a druggy.” The left side of his face lifted in a smile. “On one of my tours here, the base we worked out of was across a river from some opium farmers.” He looked down at Tom and tapped his leg to get his attention. “When the season ended, they planted corn.”
Tom looked up.
Mike pointed at him and Al and waved them up.
Al and Tom climbed up on hands and knees and crouched below Julia, looking up.
“What’s up?” Al said.
Mike pointed to the valley with his thumb. “We got some strange stuff going on in the valley. If Amadulah is right about the opium connection, which I’m sure he is, some of it makes sense.”
“So what do you want to do?” Tom said.
“Our target will be here soon enough, but looking down there, I don’t know where he could be staying.”
“This is all there was in the satellite photos,” Julia added. “My guess is he has something inside the tunnel. He had construction workers here and plenty of materials to build with. There’s probably some hollowed-out area in the tunnel.”
“That’s my guess, too.” Mike slid down and lay on his back. “We’re going to stick around here until nightfall. I don’t want to move around during daylight. There’s too much activity. Tonight, we’ll split up.” Mike tilted his head toward Al and Tom. “You two will check the north side entrance of the tunnel and see if there is any way for us to access it. Julia and I will check the south side of the valley. We’ll link up here in the morning.”
Al gave a thumbs up.
“This is a recon only. Captain Amadulah said Hotak would be here for at least a week, so we have some time to plan this out.”
“What are we going to do between now and tonight?” Julia said.
“We’re going to stay low, get some rest, and watch the valley for Hotak’s arrival.” Mike tapped Julia on the shoulder. “Let Al take your spot so I can show him the enemy positions.”