The Man Who Would Be King by Addison J. Chapple

Author:Addison J. Chapple
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Level 4 Press, Inc.
Published: 2020-05-08T14:37:58+00:00

9

“In the latest scandal to rock the military, it has been reported that military operatives have been using drones to spy on women changing.”

—Taken from the Welch Watcher, page seventeen

Along the side of the old dirt road stood a sign. It was a relic of a time when Somalia was considered part of the Italian Empire. It said:

Villagio di Mussolini

2 Kilometers

***

Jam brought the Jeep to a halt as he and Jim gawked at the sign. It was the first they had seen in miles. They wiped the accumulated dust from their faces and tried to make sense of the old metal sign.

“Villagio di Mussolini,” Jim said, sounding out every letter in a slow, pronounced manner as his dyslexic mind sorted through them. “Do you think this is the village we’re looking for?”

Jam spat out a chunk of dust and rubbed the back of his hand across his lips. “Nah,” he said. “Hassan said it was Tuulada Mussolini. The sign says Villagio di Mussolini. It’s probably the next village over. Like Welch by the Bay. I bet they can give us directions to Tuulada Mussolini though.”

With a resolute nod from Jim, Jam hit the gas again, propelling the Jeep down the road toward the village that definitely was not Tuulada Mussolini and instead a completely different town known as Villagio di Mussolini, at least in Jam’s mind.

***

It was slightly before sunset when the old Jeep came barreling through the square of Tuulada Mussolini and screeched to a halt mere inches away from two nonplussed Somali pirates lazily holding AK-47s. It was the first time in decades that a vehicle of that make had entered the town, and indeed it could have very well been the same exact Jeep from the previous visit.

There was a collective moment of silence as the two Somalis and the two men in shoddy uniforms stared at each other, each group deciding how to proceed. Neither party had expected the other. The pirates hadn’t expected a pair of soldiers in an ancient Jeep rumbling into the middle of their village, and the two Welchers certainly hadn’t expected to stumble upon a pair of armed sentries outside a nondescript village.

The Somalis acted first, raising their AKs and pointing them at the occupants of the Jeep as they screamed in Somali. From the surrounding Mediterranean-style houses, a flood of pirates all holding AKs came storming out, forming a circle around the Jeep.

Jam and Jim leaped to their feet on the seats of the Jeep, M4s grasped nervously in their hands. They spun around, trying to face the force that was surrounding them all at once, but that was quickly proving impossible, as more pirates joined the cordon, trapping the Americans.

“Holy fuck! Holy fuck!” Jim yelled. “What do we do?”

Jam wasn’t listening to Jim at all. “Drop your weapons!” he yelled back, trying to sound defiant and brave and not like he was consumed by a pants-shitting level of terror.

The two groups continued to yell at each other and shake their guns in anger, to no avail.

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