Blood Lily Company - Afghanistan, year 1

XXXIX

After dinner, that same day, we had a general briefing with Lin and the patrols that had returned. Brumby (the motorcycles, south) was still out, but otherwise we were all there.

We didn't mention the Kitty problem, because it was a little fuzzy still. However, I did talk about my idea for Duran Duran. I cleared my throat and went for it.
- It's a remark from Baby Jane that gave me this idea. You know that this time we were spying on the Pashtun stud farm. And you all know about Baby Jane's love of horses...

There were laughs but no silly jokes, thank goodness.
- Basically, as a good Englishwoman with a proper upbringing, I winked at her, she knows her horseflesh. And the Pashtun horses are, it seems, splendid specimen. But it's when she said he must be proud of them that this idea popped up. But first... Baby Jane, can you tell us what kind of horses was there?
- Kind? You mean races?
- No rather... uh, males, females... or their use...
- Ah. Most of them are stallions, with a few mares waiting to be served. Absolutely beautiful animals. There is one, in particular, an Akhal-Teke with a golden coat, which is a true beauty. And it must be worth a small fortune. But you don't mean to hurt it, do you?
- That would be the easiest and most effective, but that's not what I want. It was, also, the story of the Siberian tigers, Erk, that inspired me. I'll tell you little bit about what he said to us when he told the story.

And I explained the principle of the Native Americans "counting coup" technique.
- OK, Stig said, we understand the principle. But how would you like to apply it here?

I smiled somewhat nastily.
- We're going to steal the horse, then we'll tie it, with food and drink, and a blanket or something, at about 500m or 1km from the stud farm.

Lin burst out laughing.
- I love it! We take the horse out, as silently as possible, we give it back. You know, if we can, we should tie it at the stud gate.
- Yes! Awesome! And we can go on and on...
- No, he will be ready for the next time.
- The stud farm is big, we could go to the mares stables. I'm sure they're somewhere else, you don't mix stallions and mares until breeding time.
- I have an idea, Kitty said.
- Go ahead.
- We could replace the beautiful mares of Duran Duran with the horses of the people here. It would be a win/win, right?
- No, said Baby Jane.
- Yes and no, said Erk at the same time.

They looked at each other, amused.
- Go ahead, darling.
- The horses of the local people are trained for a certain type of work. They are sturdy and tough animals, able to work on poor fodder. Thoroughbreds are fragile creatures, not able to do farm work just eating thistles. And we are not sure of the training of these mares. It could be they don't know how to pull a cart or a plow and frankly, this training is such a pain in the neck, it's better to have a nag that knows the job than a thoroughbred that has to learn everything and may not understand why. But, Erk, why did you say yes?
- Because I hadn't thought about training. Your idea is good, Kitty, on paper. But it puts people in danger, because you can be sure he will get revenge and even though Lin wants him to come out as a bastard, I... not for that, not for horses.
- Fine with me, Lin said. And the good thing is that this tactic falls neatly into destabilization. On the other hand, for his cars, we will be more... brutal, even if we will start with one or two flat tires, we will end up with one or two exploded cars.

She was silent for a while, letting my comrades to chat and discuss tactics a bit.
- Fine. Viking's patrol, come up with a precise plan of attack, use the satellite photos to plan it all, I want him to think he's dealing with jinn or efrits. You are off duty for three days, since your patrol lasted two days longer. We will then advise. Any other ideas?
- Yes, said Curly. I thought we could find a way to shut off the fountains or dry out the gardens he is so proud of.
- It's a good idea, needs more work, Kris said. We must continue to focus on poppy fields.
- Yes, absolutely, Lin said. Good, Curly, you and your men will leave tomorrow to spy on Duran Duran's gardens, with the truck. Shorn and Fatso, give me an inventory of all the poppy fields in our territory. Fatso, I'll give you the email address of someone who can help us find the owners of these fields, you'll ask her for help. When we know which ones are his, we will go burn them. What is certain is that we will go after processing labs, airfields, anything that looks like a way to move his shit from one place to another. But as Erk pointed out before Christmas, poppy cultivation supports peasants around here and the military needs the morphine extracted from it, so...