Russell Brooks: Pandora's Succession

One of the devils had a key attached to the waist with a chain. It must be the one used to unlock the metal case. Fox placed his foot onto the devil’s waist at the end of the chain, grabbed the end with the key, and broke it off. He then closed the metal case, locked it, and took it with him.

Fox went back to the marketplace where he suspected the three remaining devils were. There was still minimal activity at the marketplace, just as when he had left it. Then he saw them, each of them taking things off the tables of the stalls and looking at them. They kept what they wanted and threw to the ground what they didn’t, just as Musa had described.

Speaking of Musa-he unexpectedly heard loud bawling…It was Musa. He was running after one of the men who had taken his soccer ball and was holding it high above his head, making Musa jump for it.

“Please, he’s only a child. It’s the only toy he has. Aren’t the clothes you took from me enough?” pleaded a woman that ran up to the bully and grabbed onto his other arm.

“You dare touch me, filthy peasant woman.” With a single blow to her head, he sent her to the ground. Musa rushed to her, as the man spat on her.

“Is that your mother, you silly little boy? Tell her you’ll get your ball back once you’ve earned it,” said the man, as he tossed the ball in the air repeatedly, laughing.

That was none of Fox’s concern. These villagers went through these problems on a daily basis. Fox had what he came for-there was no time for pit stops.

Less than a dozen paces later, Musa’s crying still went on. A few more seconds went by and Fox closed his eyes hard, hoping somehow it would block Musa out. It didn’t.

Christ, this wasn’t some kid that was crying over a video game he didn’t get for his birthday. Some asshole just slapped his mother right in front of him. The same guy would probably kill Musa’s mother in front of him, too. He sighed as he turned to look at them. Fuck. How did I become so selfish?

“Leave my mother alone.” This was all Fox heard from Musa as he looked back and saw him on the ground beside his mother. The devil took out his assault rifle and waved it in the air. Musa screamed and quickly jumped on his mother as though to shield her.

The sight of the gun even startled Fox. You got to be shitting me. He headed towards them and clenched a fist that grew tighter as he got closer to the devil from behind.

Fox put down the briefcase. “Hey!”

The devil hardly had time to turn and look in Fox’s direction before the rifle was pulled out of his hand. By the time he had fully turned, Fox’s left fist was already in full flight. The blunt of the impact got both the upper level of teeth and the lower bridge of his nose and lifted him into the air briefly before he hit the ground. Heads turned and people rushed from way inside the marketplace to catch what was going on.

Fox looked down at him as he shook out the stinging of his hand. He pulled the magazine out, pocketed it, and looked at the gun. It was a QBZ-95 Chinese Assault Rifle. He then looked at Musa who looked back at him with a tear-stained face.

His mother sat up and pulled her son into her tightly. Musa glanced at the unconscious devil and then back at Fox. “You came back. You did come to save us.” Fox felt a rush of heat to his face as Musa’s face lit up with a smile.

Fox breathed heavily and looked to the growing crowd. The two other devils would be showing up soon. And he knew they were coming, when people in the crowd dispersed, as two men in fatigues emerged.

Fox turned to Musa and his mother and motioned them to the side. “Move away, quickly.” Musa backed up as he helped his mother slide backwards in a seated position as Fox stepped away.

The bullies glanced down at their fallen colleague and then at Fox. He could’ve easily disposed of them with his HK, but doing so in front of the children would have been inappropriate. That’s a line he would never cross.

He tossed the empty rifle aside, picked up the briefcase and held it out in front of him while he faced them. “You know what’s in here, don’t you? You know you can’t risk damaging the contents of this briefcase?”

There was a pause from the two men as they appeared to think about what he just told them. They both looked at each other briefly before lowering their rifles. The one on the left handed his gun to the other, and from inside his robe, he withdrew a machete and rushed Fox with a war-like cry.

What an amateur.

The man was quick with the blade as he swung downwards to the left. Fox leaned back on his right leg and pivoted to the right to dodge it. He did the same thing but to the opposite side as the man swung the machete downwards to the right, missing him again. The man swung across, but Fox raised the briefcase and caught the blade with it, then kicked his assailant in the groin. The man doubled over, dropping the machete. With his free hand, Fox grabbed the devil’s head and pulled it downwards into his upward swinging knee, dropping him.

Fox looked up at the remaining devil. He seemed to have trouble managing both assault rifles. Fox was about to rush him as he fumbled with them, but a frying pan suddenly crashed down on the devil’s head from behind. When he dropped to the ground, a few others jumped at the opportunity to have a go at him by kicking him while he was down-including the woman who had sacked him with the frying pan.

The confrontation was brief, but ended with the three devils being lifted and carried overhead by small groups of men. Fox observed this and decided that the townspeople would take care of them as they saw fit, now that they were unarmed and posed less of a threat.

Fox felt something at his feet and saw Musa’s soccer ball. He picked it up and walked over to Musa, who stood next to his mother. She was back on her feet, surrounded by a few more of the villagers. Fox knelt down and handed Musa his ball.

Musa took it with both hands and smiled. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. That was very brave what you did, standing up to that Janjaweed bully. You’re a good kid, Musa. Take care of your mother. She’ll always need your help.” Fox rubbed Musa’s bald head, making him laugh. “I’ll see to it that some help comes soon to keep those bad men away.”

Just then, Ibrahim and Adam ran up to him, laughing as they all threw their arms around Fox. For a second, Fox felt an emotional attachment to the three boys that made him not want to let them go, but he had to. For the moment he couldn’t do anything more for them.

The boys let go of him and Fox stood up, walked up to one of the camels that belonged to one of the devils and climbed onto its back. He then waved to the crowd before he rode off.

The entire village waved back to him and cried out their thanks and praises. Musa, Ibrahim, Adam, and dozens of other children ran after him, up until the edge of the village, cheering and waving their goodbyes to Fox as he rode away into the desert.

Fox didn’t quite reach a mile before he pulled the reigns of the camel to make it stop. He dismounted and took out his satellite phone from under his robe.

“There’s no need for that, Warrant Officer,” came a voice from the sand.

At that point, five figures sprouted up from the sand, dropping their sand-colored robes to reveal their army fatigues.

Warrant Officer Pat Hiller, Fox’s friend in the SEALs, walked up to him. “I take it things went smoothly.”

Fox handed Hiller the metal briefcase without answering. Something stirred at the bottom of his gut and it got worse. A familiar acidic taste followed and he ran off to the side, fell down to his hands and knees and threw up.

Hiller ran to him. “Whoa, buddy. You okay?”

Fox waved him off without answering. A mother and son were nearly slaughtered, maybe more, and I was about to walk away. How the hell could I be okay? Shit, Jessica would still be alive had I followed up on my instincts on her employers instead of ignoring them.