The War Stage by Andrew Watts EPUB & PDF – eBook Details Online
- Status: Available for Free Download
- Authors: Andrew Watts
- Language: English
- Genre: War & Military Action Fiction
- Format: PDF / EPUB
- Size: 2 MB
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The Persian Gulf, Present Day
Fifteen Nautical Miles South of Abu Musa Island
Hamid rubbed his eyes with the back of a greasy glove. He then looked at the
analog clock positioned next to his boat’s magnetic compass. Almost time.
He peered out into the sea. He could hear nothing but the drone of the loud
diesel motors.
This was madness, he thought to himself.
The sailors under his command didn’t know any better. They would
follow orders, just as the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy (IRGCN)
had trained them to do. But as the boat rocked in the blackness of the sea,
Hamid knew just how unusually dangerous their task was.
He called out, “Cut the engines.”
One of his sailors pulled back a lever and the noise of the engines dropped
to nothing. Then he looked at Hamid with curious, expectant eyes. The dim
yellow light hanging from the pilothouse ceiling illuminated his face. They
stood quiet, looking at each other for a moment. Nothing but the sound of the
small waves of the Persian Gulf tumbling into the hull.
Hamid said, “You have a question for me?”
The second sailor climbed up the ladder to the pilothouse. He too looked
curious. The first sailor said, “No, Chief.”
“Good. As I told both of you before we left Abu Musa, it’s best not to ask
questions about what we are doing tonight. Whatever you see out here, you
are never to speak of it. Never. To anyone. Just remember to do as you’re
told tonight, and don’t ask any questions.”
The sailors nodded. They were good men. Not men. Boys. The older of
the two couldn’t have been more than twenty years old. Hamid had picked
them because they were hardworking and trustworthy. And also because they
had no families on the island. He hated himself for it, but that had been a
consideration.
“The stores are laid out on the main deck as you asked, Chief.”
“Thank you.”
“It’s enough supplies to feed a company of soldiers for a month. I’m not
sure who would need that out here…” The sailor seemed to realize that he
was asking a question and stopped. He said, “Is there anything else we need
to do before the rendezvous? I checked the charts, and this is the right
location.”
Hamid had triple-checked the time and location himself. He didn’t want to
upset any of the men that worked in the Grey Buildings on Abu Musa. Life
could get very bad for Hamid and his men if those men became unhappy.
They had a schedule, and Hamid was but a component in the machine that
produced according to that schedule. If things were not delivered on time,
those men got angry. If anyone spoke of the work they did, they got angry.
And when they got angry, Lt. Col. Pakvar got involved. No one wanted that.
Hamid had seen firsthand what happened when the rules of secrecy were
broken. They had forced Hamid to watch the punishment of someone who
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