Impossible Odds

for word, the conflict was obviously over money. Nobody in the upper echelon of thisgang seemed to believe that I really wasn’t worth the many millions of dollars they wanted for my return. In Poul’s case, they appeared to accept that there wasn’t any golden treasure there; at least I never got a sense of their concern over it. The mere fact of my American citizenship was enough to convince these men there had to be barrels of money involved. I wondered if part of the reason America is so resented around the world is the result of the Western entertainment world’s false rendition of our culture. These guys were essentially demanding that we make Santa Claus appear and spill out his big toy bag, just for them.
    The day after that fiasco of a proof-of-life call, which we had no way of confirming, things deteriorated around the Banda place. There was a lot of verbal aggression coming from Abdi against Jabreel. Jabreel was older, smaller, crooked, and toothless, but he stood up to Abdi and was giving it right back to him. We couldn’t get the details, but I also couldn’t avoid the mud-sucking feeling that their dispute was all about us.
    Poul and I were being allowed to sit together that afternoon, close enough to risk quietly rehashing our “phone home” event and trying to make sense of it. Meanwhile, Abdi started shouting with forceful anger at Jabreel. Jabreel kept insisting on something right back at Abdi, and he wasn’t backing down to the younger and fitter man. That sent Abdi into such a fit of anger that he threw a full roundhouse punch to Jabreel’s belly. The older man doubled to the ground.
    Fortunately Dahir, one of the drivers, hurried over and pulled Abdi off him, leaving Jabreel to hobble away, crying out in pain and outrage. This was completely unexpected even in that bizarre environment, and whatever the details of their argument happened to be, there was no way it could be good news for us. Jabreel was our point man, and yet he had just lost a major notch in his standing with these men.
    Before long he limped over to us and whispered, “I cannot stayhere! You see. You can see. He say less than one million not enough for you. Maybe eighteen million.”
    “Eighteen million! They can’t be serious!”
    Jabreel nodded. “Too much khat for them. They want everything.”
    “Oh, my God. Please tell me these guys aren’t insane on top of being morons!”
    “All evidence to the contrary,” Poul muttered.
    Jabreel spoke with real urgency. “I think Abdi kill me now. I must go.”
    “Jabreel,” I protested, “don’t go! You’re important to us! Very important!”
    “Abdi thinks I will keep the money. Because I speak English, he says I work for your people against Abdi. Against the men.”
    “No, Jabreel! We’ll talk to him. We’ll tell them you never did anything to interfere.”
    “He will say you lie.”
    I felt myself starting to cry and hated the feeling. We might as well have been perched on a high cliff in a huge storm, with Jabreel our only lifeline. When I tried to speak, my words got trapped between sobs I couldn’t control.
    “Jabreel, nobody else here can speak with us. Please! Please don’t go!”
    I remember Poul appealing to him, assuring him he was of great value to us. But we also knew it would be a fatal mistake to offer him a side bribe of any sort. If he reported it, we would fall into a sinkhole.
    Jabreel just stared at me for a long time before he looked back and forth at both of us and nodded. He quietly said, “I stay for you for longer, but I am now afraid for my life in this place.”
    “Yes, Jabreel,” I agreed in solemn tones, nodding. I made it a point to acknowledge him out loud in front of the others with anobvious display of respect and gratitude, just in case any of the horde were taking note.
    What I did not allow myself to do was grab him by the ears and scream up into his nostrils hard enough to vibrate the nose hairs, “You’re afraid for your life? You’re afraid for your freaking life? Welcome to the cluuub !”
    But at least he hadn’t left us, even though he was now thoroughly plugged in on our shared afraid-for-your-life thing. It was great to have common ground. If we were going to get more communication with home, we needed someone capable of navigating the language with the others and a clear sense of what we were experiencing here. Jabreel appeared to have a reasonable grip on reality so far. At least he wasn’t screaming