Chapter 26 25

Mary stared listlessly at the hand extended by the man.She could only think about one thing for a while: this man didn't take off his black leather gloves when he greeted people, how rude! You must be wondering how I can speak German.Called himself Narif.The man from Auduma said, I studied at the University of Heidelberg, where I also met Andre.berg. Why, are you kidnapping us?After Mary was able to speak again, ask him. Auduma smiled.Sorry, this is forced by the environment, and I have to do it as a last resort.Andre told me that you investigated his laboratory very carefully, and of course we had to intervene.I can't let my old friend be imprisoned!

Mary felt the blood rush to her face.Before she could speak, Rafael said angrily: Berg used orangutans for animal experiments! Auduma nodded.Yes, I deeply regret that.But sometimes painful sacrifices must be made for the greater good. big picture?What's the big picture? just!Auduma replied, for the just rights and interests of African and Asian people.For hundreds of years, the people of both continents have been squeezed by Europeans and local corrupt and pampered rulers. For this, let Berg conduct experiments on endangered animals?Why?Is he combining some kind of poison for you, or a deadly virus?Is this what you mean by justice?Massacre innocent people?

Auduma looked at her deeply.For a moment, the smile disappeared from his lips, but it reappeared quickly.innocent?Do you think Westerners are innocent?Just because they weren't sitting on the shells that killed Afghan men, women and children?When you innocent people go to the supermarket to buy bargains, do you ever think that they are cheap because they are produced by Pakistani children under extremely inferior conditions?You plunder our oil and pollute the ecological environment.You still live in wealth stolen from Africa and India during the colonial era, or created by African slaves.You blame Iran for the oppression of women, but you turn a blind eye to the slaughter of your own people by some pro-Western dictators in Africa.Do you think this is fair?

Anger spewed from his eyes.For a moment Mary was even surprised to realize that the man had a point in what he said.From a terrible point of view, it was not the kidnappers who were unfair, but people like Mary and Raphael. You Westerners believe that because you have more cutting-edge technology and a more developed economy, you are stronger than us.Auduma continued, but your economic foundation is based on the trade of stolen goods, and your technological progress is like playing with fire. It's out of control, you know?Your greed and ego have made it almost impossible for humans to live on this planet.Now, what are you going to tell me about innocence?

Nonsense!Rafael interjected, Europeans did do a lot of unfair things during African colonization, but you can’t do harm to the people living in Western democracies now.Every year, Europe invests billions of dollars in development funds to Africa and Asia, just to help them develop their economies.Also, if I'm not mistaken, the slave trade in Central Africa was not done by Europeans, but by Arabs, long before Europeans came.In any case, there is no law in the world that entitles you to slaughter unarmed people.There is no such thing in Islam. Auduma didn't say a word, his face was expressionless, only a twitch in the corner of his eye revealed his annoyance.Mary glanced at Raphael imploringly.She realized how dangerous it would be to annoy this man!

What do you know about Islam!Auduma was surprisingly calm.However, what you said is also reasonable, the practice of killing people is not right.Also, what I do has nothing to do with religion.I am not a religious extremist, let alone abuse my religion to manipulate young people into suicide.We are not savages, not what you think.We just want to use external forces to fight against the forces that oppress the people with mountain guerrilla warfare.This is our legal right! If that's the case, please let us go.Mary said, we have nothing to do with your struggle! Auduma shook his head, the apology on his face open.Sorry, you have to be my guest for a while.At this time, I will not allow you to interfere with the work of my old friend Andre.He's at a pivotal moment that could very well change the world!

Mary shivered, a chill ran down her spine. I promise you, as long as you stay here obediently, we won't touch a single hair of you.Auduma went on to say, I hope you will be released in a few weeks at the latest.I'll take care and try to make your time here as comfortable as possible.Good night!After that, he turned and left. You felt that Rafael was about to speak, but Mary stretched out her finger, pressed it to her lips, and then pointed to the bed.This kind of place is likely to hide bugs.As long as Auduma listened in, they could be sentenced to death if they said a word wrong.

Raphael nodded.When do you think they're going to let us go?He said with interest. Mary nodded to him, answering as naturally as possible, not knowing.What can we do?There is no way to escape. I'm tired, let's rest! Mary nodded again.She noticed that Raphael was lying on another bed.And at this moment, how much she longed for closeness and warmth.She also lay down. The next morning, an African brought them a breakfast of dried fruit and bread rolls.The exhaustion of being kidnapped made Mary sleep deeply that night. After breakfast, Mary opened the curtain of the tent and peeked out.Several men were loading some long boxes onto the truck.Is it a weapon?On the ground on the left and right sides of the tent were two men wrapped in white turbans. Seeing Mary coming out, the man on the right immediately stood up without saying a word. Although he didn't seem to want to stop her, he followed closely Finally, he kept a distance of four or five steps, as if he didn't want to disturb her.

She decided to walk around the camp to find out.This place is much larger than it appears at first glance.Not to mention that there are hundreds of tents scattered in a large area, and there are probably beds for hundreds of people.There were also jeeps, trucks, tanks and two helicopters covered in camouflage netting.Auduma raised a small army here. At first glance, the camp seems disorganized.But Mary soon realized that this was done on purpose, in order to disguise.The tents are all set up under the shade of locust trees, or close to the bushes.Cars covered in camouflage netting appear to be parked randomly so as not to make lines or geometric shapes easily discernible from the air.

From all sides, the vast, uninhabited African grasslands.Waist-hard weeds are occasionally blocked by bushes and trees.Farther away, Mary saw a herd of animals on the prairie.She couldn't identify those animals as wild?Is it still raised?On the sparse white clouds, a large bird is circling along a point.Perhaps a vulture. Suddenly a sharp siren sounded.The guard stepped forward and grabbed her arm.go!He said in English, go to the tent!Go there now!When he dragged Mary back to the tent, Mary saw the men who had just loaded the truck drive into the shade of a big tree, spread a camouflage net to cover the roof of the car, and then disappeared. in the tent.

Except for the harsh sirens, the camp was silent.Two guards locked the entrance of the tent from the inside. Although they didn't say a word, their demeanor made it clear that Mary and the others were not allowed to go out. What happened?Rafael, who was lying on the camp bed, asked, was he attacked? have no idea.Mary answered.The two guards didn't seem nervous.The reason for the alarm was unknown, but there appeared to be no immediate danger.Marie had the feeling that people here seemed to be used to the siren blare, as if it happened every day. After a few minutes, the alarm was lifted.The two Arabs opened the door of the tent without a word and went outside without even looking at Mary and Rafael.Mary checked her watch.Eleven fifteen. The camp outside was back to normal, as if nothing had happened.The trucks came back out and people continued to load things into the trucks.Not long after, the four men followed the truck and set off. The day passed very slowly.It's hot and stuffy inside the tent, but it's better than being exposed to the hot sun.Because they were worried about saying the wrong thing, Mary and Raphael did not dare to talk rashly, so they had to draw a chessboard with stones on the sand and play German Go to pass the time.When Mary was very young, she was very good at playing this kind of game, and it took no effort to defeat Rafael.Soon, the two lost interest in continuing to play. The game gave Mary a plan.Two people can communicate silently by scribbling in the sand what to do nowshe wrote. Occupy grid.Rafael was writing on the ground. Mary's face darkened.I am not referring to this.she wrote. Raphael looked at her.escape?He wrote, then erased the words. Mary shook her head.impossible.She wrote, but said aloud, the environment here is so beautiful.Surrounded by vast grasslands stretching as far as the eye can see.In another situation, people would have thought we were on an African safari! To tell the truth, I have never been interested in this kind of travel.As Rafael spoke, he wrote, stealing a jeep? Mary shook her head harder.They will kill us.She wrote and said aloud how much other people had to pay for an adventure like this. Others probably think so!Raphael's voice was disdainful, but he wrote again that they would kill us anyway.Either die this way or die that way. Mary stared at the words for a long time.She came to herself suddenly, and he was right.They know too much.Their knowledge of the camp alone would be a treasure trove for counterterrorism officials.Why did Auduma bring them here?Why not just kill them all? The heat is more difficult to overcome.They lay in their respective beds, groggy.Two Arabs chatted softly outside.Sometimes, the two talked and laughed.Mary longed for Rafael's closeness, but she didn't have the courage to lie down beside him. Around 2:30, the siren sounded again.The two guards rushed into the tent again and waited in silence until the siren went down again. At five forty-five, do it all over again.Mary's well-trained mathematical mind quickly figured out that the intervals between sounding the alarm were regular and orderly, and it didn't take her long to see why. satellite.As soon as the guard stepped out of the tent, she wrote on the ground. Raphael nodded.At half past six, Mary was hungry.At noon, they didn't get any food except a few bottles of water brought in by the guards.During the day, the heat made Mary lose her appetite.But now, she was really hungry. The curtain of the tent was raised again, but it was not the Arab who brought them breakfast this morning, but the Arab who had kidnapped them.my name is cardin.He said, then pointed to Mary, you, come with me. Rafael made a statement that he planned to go with her.Cardin shook his head.not you.The commander said, only women.