Chapter 8

Dalton landed at the international airport in his motherland in the middle of the day. Obviously he had heard about the terrible virus spreading across the nation – before boarding the plane he had to sign a thick stack of legal works, taking full responsibility for his own safety. But he had concluded that it must be some over cautious official who came up with that. I mean, how bad could it be?

He picked up his bags and started moving towards the customs.

“Fancy meeting you here.” A voice said from behind

Dalton turned around and to his great pleasure discovered that it was no one less than his old friend Lance.

“I could say the same.” He said, shaking Lance’s hand

“How long have you been here?”

“I just landed. I’m on my way to the exit.”

“Big mistake. The guards will either refuse you entering or put you in quarantine. If you want to get home you’ll need to another way.”

“Seriously? It’s that bad?”

“I don’t know what they’ve told you over there, but there’s a military curfew.”

“Wow. That’s bad. Why the hell didn’t they stop us from going here?”

“Didn’t you have to sign a neat stack of legal documents before going here?”

“Well, yes. But I thought that was just some bureaucratic nonsense.”

“It wasn’t.”

“Oh well, never mind. I would have come here anyway. Do you know a way past those guards?”

“No, I’ve been here for three days, but I haven’t found one yet.”

“Gentlemen!” A voice called from a few meters away.

The two young men looked up, and to their great surprise they saw Kingsley. I don’t really know why that would surprise them really, since he was living in the same country as Dalton.

“I suppose you both came here without knowing how to get past those guards?” Kingsley said after he had shaken their hands.

“Well, yes.” Dalton said. “I didn’t realize that it was so bad.”

“Well. It doesn’t really make a difference. I tried to get on a plane to a neighboring country, but they refused. For some insane reason we are only allowed to travel to our home country.” Kingsley said

“So you went here, even though you knew there was a curfew?” Lance asked

“Of course! I have to get to my family, and make sure they are safe.”

Dalton nodded. “I would have done the same.”

“So how do we get past those guards?” Lance nodded towards the exit, where a heavily armored military squad was standing.

“Hey! That’s my buddy from the platoon.” Dalton said when he recognized one of them.

He walked straight up to the guard, with the others following a bit behind, and grabbed his hand. “Hello! It’s great to meet you man!”

“Uh… hi.” The guard said a bit confusedly. He had recognized Dalton immediately, but he did not really know what to do with his gun, and the other guards were staring at him.

“They put our lot in charge of the airport?” Dalton asked

“Yes. Because of our language skills.”

“Yes, of course!” Dalton said. “My plane just arrived. I have to report to my officer right away.”

“Uhm… I’m not sure really. I’m sorry, I can’t let you pass.”

“Don’t worry, they’re expecting me. I was called home from my studies to go back into service. They need every man they can get.”

The guard looked hesitant. His officer had gone to the bathroom a few minutes ago, so he was now in charge of this checkpoint.

“Oh, come on! You know how angry the captain get’s if you’re late. I don’t want to think about what he’d do to you if he found out you had stalled me.”

The only thing that scared the guard more than his own weapon was the captain.

“All right, but don’t tell anyone, ok?” The guard said

Kingsley looked at the other guards, standing right behind him, looking very astonished.

“Uh, sir…” One of them said

“Quiet, private!” The guard said. “This man was in the same platoon as me. He is going to report to the captain.”

The guard opened the gate and stepped to the side, to let Dalton pass through. Kingsley and Lance hesitated, but Dalton motioned them to follow.

“Hey! Who are they?” The guard asked nervously.

“They’re also in our division. The year before us.” Dalton said and leaned forward to whisper in the guard’s ear. “They’re military intelligence, ok. If you expose them they’ll send you to Afghanistan as punishment!”

The guard looked like at Lance and Kingsley.

Kingsley made no expression whatsoever. His face was a stone cold mask. Lance, on the other hand, looked very secretive.

The guard went pale and looked like he was going to start crying. He let them pass right away.

They wasted no time, but ran jogged out to the parking lots, where Lance had his car parked. By sheer luck they managed to sneak out of the airport just between two patrols.

“How the hell did that man manage to get through military training?” Lance asked as they turned off the motorway and onto a smaller one.

“As far as I know he is the only person in this country that speaks a tribal language of Iran and is in no way suspected of being a terrorist.”