Read Online Ultimate Power by Arno Joubert - Free Book Online Page B

when they had arrived.  
    She squinted her eyes and looked up at the sun; it was almost noon. Goat herders walked behind their goats, hitting the ground with a stick to keep the stubborn animals moving in the required direction. Woman sat around a well, washing clothes in plastic drums.
    She lowered the binoculars. Her hands were shaking, probably because of the strain of staying in the uncomfortable position for long. She turned her head sideways. The damn migraines were back. “Suggestions?”  
    Neil looked up from his binoculars. “There’s open terrain for six, maybe seven hundred yards around town, which means we won’t be able to sneak in.”
    “Could we flush them out?”
    “How?”
    Alexa shrugged. “Bomb the place.”
    Neil frowned. "What about the collateral damage? Like our beloved general, for instance."
    She wiped back a strand of hair that stuck to her forehead. “Shit.” She felt emotionally drained. She placed a hand on her feverish brow and closed her eyes.
    “You okay?”
    She grimaced, opening her water bottle and forcing herself to swallow some of the tepid liquid. “We need to do something, soon,” she said. “I need to get out of the sun.”
    Neil stood up, crawled down the dune. “Let’s rest a bit.”
    Alexa followed him down the steep dune. They crawled into their small tent they had pitched at the foot of the sand bank and Alexa collapsed on her back. “ Merde , I’m whipped.”
    Neil unwrapped an energy bar and gave it to her, but she shook her head. “No, I’m not hungry, just tired.”  
    He shrugged and took a bite.
    She closed her eyes then sat upright. “I think I have an idea.”

Alexa followed the goat herder on the rocky track that led to the small village. Whirlwinds swept up the dust and blew it across the path, only to die down and start up again fifty meters away. The wind felt warm and it sounded like a million sighing voices, each one trying to be heard above the other.
    She had dressed in the traditional garb, the burka covering her face. She wore a long, loose-fitting black dress which dragged in the sand as she walked. The dress was warm and scratchy, she shifted the uncomfortable garment on her shoulder as she felt beads of sweat running down her back. Why these woman allowed themselves to be treated this way she didn’t know. It was pure torture.
    She strolled along, her sandals flopping in the dust. She had a basket with a dozen eggs slung over her shoulder. Kids ran past, and a dog stood up from beneath a bush and barked at her. She ambled towards the centre of the small village, her eyes on the ground. Two woman hurried past and greeted shyly, and she nodded her head.
    Neil was probably watching her through the telescopic sight. He wasn’t too enamored with her plan, he never was when it meant that she had to walk head-on into imminent danger. He had wanted to go, but she convinced him that would be stupid. What threat could a woman possibly pose? He reluctantly agreed.
    She shifted the basket onto her hip, she felt shaky as she plodded along on numb legs. She would have to have it checked out, she had never felt this way before. Alexa rounded a corner and cast her eyes downward when she saw two men with rifles in front of a building. They leaned back casually, one man smoking, the other cleaning his nails with a toothpick or a twig or something. They looked bored.
    They wore dirty long-sleeved robes and sweaty headscarves, the rifles slung casually over their shoulders. She sauntered towards them and repeated the words that Neil had made her memorize.  
    “Would you like to buy some eggs?”
    The men snorted and shook their heads and said something she didn’t understand. To say they sounded cross was an understatement, pissed off was more like it. They pointed fingers at her, talking excitedly, gesturing and waving their hands. One guy slipped the gun off his shoulder.  
    “Now, now, gentleman, no need to get your knickers in a knot.” She