Read Online Escape from Baghdad! by Saad Hossain - Free Book Online Page B

unwillinglynow around imaginary triggers, the hollows of his eyes darkening with the sight of some invisible enemy, and he seemed adrift in time, loose from the moorings of reality in some hyperplane where he was free to pursue justice in any way he saw fit.
    â€œThirteen months ago, Commander Ismail Al-Abdur-Rashid of the New Iraqi Army arrested a young woman on the street. She was the fiancé of my grandson, the daughter of an old friend, the deceased Dr. Erban. The commander took her to his holding cell, where he and his squad repeatedly raped her for four days. They let her go afterwards, claiming that they had gotten the wrong person. She lodged a complaint with the court. The judge threw out the case and subsequently alerted his friend, the commander. That night, a squad arrested both my grandson and his fiancé on charges of prostitution. Their bodies were found in a ditch later, apparently victims of suicide. No note or condolence, however. The New Iraqi Army does not deal in such niceties.”
    â€œEighteen months ago, the imam of the Al Sha-”
    â€œEnough,” Kinza said. “Enough. These things happen every day in every street of Baghdad. I am not here to seek vengeance for borrowed causes.”
    â€œSomeone must speak for them,” the lady said.
    â€œI am not the person you need, old mother,” Kinza said.
    â€œI know, dear, not yet,” Mother Davala said. “But one day you will be.”

7: HEAVILY DRUGGED AND DEMENTED
    â€œK LONOPIN , Z OLOFT , A MBIEN , O XY C ONTIN ,” H OFFMAN READ OFF a list. “Tommy, what the hell is this?”
    â€œPrescriptions, admiral,” Tommy said. “For Private Ancelloti.”
    â€œAncelloti? Our main gunner? Is he trying to get high?” Hoffman asked. “Does he think I’m an idiot? Don’t answer that.”
    â€œNo, sir,” Tommy said. “He’s hurting bad, sir. No joke. Last night I woke up to take a piss. Found him chewing on my leg, sir.”
    â€œGnawing on your leg?” Hoffman puffed on his cigar, incredulous. “Is that some kind of gay slang? Are you gay, Tommy?”
    â€œNo way, Hoff,” Tommy said. “I like women. You remember that titty bar we went to, and I pulled down that stripper in the black nun’s outfit?”
    â€œAhem,” Hoffman said. “That was not a titty bar, Tommy. Not by a long shot. How do I know? No titty bars in all of Baghdad. Fact. And that was no nun’s habit either. That was a hijab. And finally, Tommy, that was not a stripper. Not by a long shot, no.”
    â€œRight, Hoff.” Tommy looked down, abashed.
    â€œAbout Ancelloti,” Hoffman said. “You woke up to find him actually biting your leg, you say?”
    â€œYeah,” Tommy rolled up his pants to show a purpling circular wound denoting a marked overbite. “He was sleep-walking. Bit my leg and then started to make a house out of all our gear. And then he tried to make a bullet soup.”
    â€œTommy, this is a terrible failure in leadership,” Hoffman said. “I made you, er, vice admiral of this fleet. I gave you rank, status, actualduties. I put you in charge of the whole squad. Now I see you’re messing around making bullet soup. What the hell is bullet soup by the way?”
    â€œCampbell’s canned tomato with bullets in it. Everybody knows that,” Tommy said. “I’m sorry, Hoff, but Ancelloti does crazy shit when he runs out of Klonopin.”
    â€œI see. And you’ve spoken to his doctor, I suppose?” Hoffman asked. “Or are you hiding a medical degree under that helmet, kid?”
    â€œNo, Hoff, honest,” Tommy said, worried. “I ain’t a doctor.”
    â€œHmm, must be the hash then,” Hoffman said. “Even makes me paranoid sometimes.”
    â€œThe psych told him to take it,” Tommy said, relieved. “He’s been taking it for a year now. Except they stopped