It's 10 in the morning, the massive jungle city of Baghdad comes to life, slowly. Herds of poeple get ready to start another day; doctors, fishermen, teachers, suicide bombers, policemen.
I'm awake, waiting, thinking, stalking my prey.
I park my car next to the large red edifice that is the old Baghdad brothel, throughout the decades, with the new and old regimes and the bloody invasions and revolutions and coups, this whorehouse stood strong and proud, a testament of the state of affairs in this whore city of the world.
The man I'm looking for is Ibn Abeeh, the man in charge, the pimp, one of the most powerful men in Baghdad, and because sooner or later all men must frequent the whorehouse, he knows all the goings on in this cursed city.
Entry was not problemetic as this place was made for men to enter in secret, the dirty corridor is lined with dark hallways going left and right, if one were to stand still and listen out, one would certainly hear the muffled screams of the rape of Baghdad, This place has never been so popular, poverty and corrpution have created a vaccuum in which men satisfy thier hunger, and women... well, women can put food in thier children's mouths.
But today I have no interest in hungry mothers, I walk up the stairs where the only room is his office, usually crowded by gurads with M16s (only Ibn Abeeh can afford M16s). Luckily for me I have surprise on my side, and all I wanted to get was information, I take out my gun as I approach the door, and I kick my way in...
Even though I'm carrying my guns in each hand, I have to be very still. any sudden moves can pronounce me dead from any one of the four gunmen pointing thier very real M16s at my head, so he knew I was coming.
"I'm not here to kill you"
Ibn Abeeh smiles at me from behind his office. "It certainly looks that way from where I'm standing". He had a face you indicriminantly disliked, features that were not iraqi, an accent that hurt your head, and crooked teeth betraying his years or smoking, drugs and alcohol.
"Tell me something Amu Sami, What does a man want from me ? if he kicks down my door armed with smiles and guns ?"
"I didn't come to kill you" he knew I was telling the truth, he wanted to to toy with me first, I will give him that.
"So then these must be flowers and not guns ?"
"I'm here to ask you questions, tell me what I need to know, and I'l leave"
"OK let's see what you are here for", he motioned for one of his guards to grab my guns, the one behind me, I heard him put down his gun and
in the next ten seconds, I made time travel faster. in the split second the guard behind me was grabbing my left gun I could see the others relaxing and pointing thier own guns away, I turned around the guard behind me using my gun as a pivot, all of a sudden I was choking him from behind with my left arm, my right hand did the rest
By then the guards hadn't yet grasped what happened, the first shot from my gun sprayed blood all over the wall and the other two, in pure natural reaction one guard used his M16 to shield himself from me like a child fearing a slap from his father, the other pointed at me in a broad sweep of his barrel and pulled his trigger
the whole east side of the room became instantly hole filled, I feel the blood of the guard I was holding gushing in my face, I smelled his blood and like a shark it made me a thousand times more alert, I shot the panicky guard in the face and he fell alongside his gun.
I dropped the guard I was choking, he fell to his knees, like a worshipper thinking of what else to pray for, and finished the falling trip to the floor.
The last guard was cringing in the corner of the room, I could see Ibn Abeeh looking between me and his guard, unbelieving, all blood drained from his face, in this ten seconds the tables had turned.
"I'll give you anything you want, i have money, I had women, I have weapons, I'll give you anything you want"
"I only want information, someone is trying to kill me
"It's not me I swear I know you I have nothing against you
I picked up my gun and shot the fourth guard in the stomach, this last shot was alot slower and louder, especially with the piercing screams of the guard, I find such screams to be very helpful when scaring people to talk, I shot the guard again, in the head this time, silence filled the room.
I turn around to the pimp. whose face was now painted with horror.
"Answer my question, who is trying to kill me?"
"I don't know I swear to you, no one's come with news like that, just that the big guns in Badghdad are going off one by one, no one knows who's doing it, we though it was you, but then word came that you're in the list as well"
"what list what are you talking about"
"Someone's cleaning the city, someone CLEAN is cleaning up the city"
I was getting very nervous by this time, I didn't know what he was talking about, but I had an idea, in a burst of emotions I slapped him with my gun, I dind't want to kill him I sensed he knew more "WHO IS IT ?"
I had knocked some teeth loose in his mouth, his accent had gotten worse by now
"I'm not sure I swear to you, all the info I'm getting isn't making any sense"
"What information, tell me what do you mean? "
"Well, there is only one reason why I havn't gotten any details about who's doing it, it's because the ones doing it don't come to my brothel,
and there is only one group who don't come here..."
What I understood didn't make sense to me, I got it, but I didn't udnestand it
"The dreamers ?"
"I have no other explanations, and the news from the weapons people is that they've been buying alot of stuff, thier mosques are very well guarded now"
At that exact second, the phone rang, it had a shrill tone and in the deafening silence of the room it made both of us jump, the pimp looked at me, and since I really didn't want to kill him, I let him pick it up.
"Hello,
silence
"what do you want? What ? ?" he looked at me, confusion on his faced meant only one thing, this call was for me.
I took the phone, who would know I'd be here ? and in the office ?
"Hello ? "
a voice answere "Alsalamu alaikum"
It was the voice ! the same voice of the man who threatened me earlier yesterday! I knew the voice and it sent a chill down my back, "WHO ARE YOU ?"
"If you want to meet me, I'll be in front of the Um Altubool Mosque at 2 today, meet me there.
"WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME ? WHO ARE YOU ? WAIT YOU BASTARD !"
"I'll meet you then, alsalamu alaikum" he hung up.
my hand was aching from holdin the phone so hard, my stomach hurt, my face was all of a sudden sweaty. I looked at my watch, it was 12, I had two hours.
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