No Man's Land - A Russell Carter Thriller by Roland Fishman Read Free Book Online Page A

responsible for supporting the original intrusion and for subsequently sustaining the Jewish state in the Middle East.
    Ironically, in the 1980s, the United States worked with the Afghan Muslims in their fight against the Soviets. The CIA gave over nine hundred surface-to-air Stinger missiles to the mujaheddin, handing them out like they were lollipops.
    All that changed in the early nineties, when George Bush snr sent armed forces into Saudi Arabia. Osama bin Laden described the huge influx of US troops into what he regarded as the holiest land of Islam as the greatest disaster since the death of Mohammed. He saw it as the final insult after centuries of western victimization of the Muslim world.
    According to bin Laden, that was the action that drove him to strike back at “the American soldiers of Satan and their allies of the devil.”
    In the current international climate, post 9/11, there was a tendency to view the historical relations between Islam and the West in simplistic terms. The current conflict was often portrayed in the western media as the struggle of freedom versus oppression, tolerance versus fanaticism, civilization versus barbarism. When put into religious terms, it became Christianity versus Islam, and finally it was reduced to the ultimate moral battle of good versus evil.
    A flock of squawking white cockatoos flew across the sky above Carter, interrupting his thoughts. He watched them swoop down as if dive-bombing the ground before flying away.
    Again he scanned the property and the bushland surrounding the perimeter. Still no sign of activity.
    Like most people, he had no time for fundamentalism of any sort – and that included Christian fundamentalism. He believed every individual ought to be free to worship any god and follow their own path to him or her. Many roads led to the top of the mountain.
    The struggle between religions brought out the worst in both sides. He’d seen it firsthand, and it was ugly. The fact that Alex had joined the Sungkar clan disturbed him. Alex was highly trained, dangerous and almost certainly driven to seek revenge against the order.
    But that didn’t mean Carter had to be the one to stop him. If Thomas had listened to him earlier, none of this would have happened.
    He made a decision.
    As soon as this present trouble with the Sungkar clan was resolved and Thomas, Erina and Wayan were free to go about their business, he’d head back to Lennox, grab his stuff and disappear.
    Margaret River with its cranking waves and remote location was looking as good as anywhere.
    A movement to his right on the highway that ran alongside the property caught his attention. He pointed his binoculars toward it. A large white freight truck, with the words Rapid Transfer painted on the side in red, slowed. It passed the entrance, stopped and then started reversing into the dirt track leading to the property.
    “Thomas,” Carter said.
    There was no answer. The line had dropped out. He pressed 1 on the keypad.

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    Thomas answered on the first ring and said, “What can you see?”
    “There’s a freight truck backing into the property. It could be just turning around, but I doubt it.”
    “Maintain your position and monitor the situation for one minute. Then report.”
    “Will do.”
    Carter scanned the track again all the way back to the homestead.
    Nothing.
    He looked back at the truck. It’d reversed most of the way in and stopped. The front half of the cabin jutted out onto the highway. A man stepped out of the cabin’s passenger seat, followed closely by the driver, who walked around the front of the cabin and joined him.
    Carter focused on them. They were Caucasian and both wore T-shirts, dark blue jeans, baseball caps and wraparound sunglasses. Nothing out of the ordinary, except for the intricate tattoos leaking from under their sleeves and the handguns they shoved down the back of their pants.
    The driver put a phone to his ear and began talking.
    Carter was about to give