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.John Robert didn t seem to harbor the slightest resentment 0306817434.qxd 9/22/08 2:09 PM Page 156156 BIG BOY RULESabout his father s choices, then or now.He called Young a hero and my best friend. The last time he was here, we talked about everything, and Isaid, You are going to end up dying over there if you keep doingthis. I tried to talk him out of going back.And he said, Never liveyour life in fear.You have to live life to the fullest. I just think he was bored, John Robert said.It was nearing midnight, freezing, winter fast approaching. Yeah, I think he was bored.He wanted some action. John Robert paused. Well, he got his action, he said softly.Inside the VFW hall, a band was playing Riding the Storm Out to a few stragglers.The door opened, and one of Young s friends,Gordon Love, staggered out on the porch, drunk, singing along withthe band. Riiiidin the storm out, he sang. Riiiidin the storm out. Love walked up and shook my hand.He began to tell stories aboutYoung, about how he had fought with him and drank with him andhunted ducks with him in the woods outside Kansas City.Then he turned to me and became sober.His face was just a fewinches from mine.He said the last memory he had was sitting inYoung s van the day before Young was scheduled to return to Iraq. I told him, man, Love said. I don t know how I knew it, but [I]told him.We were just sitting there in the driveway and I told him, I got a feeling, man: don t go.Just don t go. When I looked up from my notes, he was crying.Picco invited me to Kuwait to get the fullstory behind the kidnapping.As tempting as it was, the invitation gave me pause.It was hardto know what to expect from a company that would lock its ownemployee in a shipping container at gunpoint, or shoot policemenand leave them bleeding by the side of the road, or drive through asmall Iraqi town, guns blazing.And those were the true stories.There were others out there stories of beatings and mock execu-tions, even murder but you didn t know whether they were real or 0306817434.qxd 9/22/08 2:09 PM Page 157HOSTAGE AFFAIRS 157false or something in between. Steve, whatever you do, do not meetthem anywhere except in public, one former Crescent operatorwarned me.I laughed and told him he was being melodramatic, butit stayed with me.When I told Francis and Nancy I was going back to Kuwait,they asked me to deliver a letter to Picco.It read:Mr.Picco:Several months ago we were awakened in the middle ofthe night by a telephone call from you telling us you were very close to getting Jonathon and the other four hostagesback.You told us that you were confident that they would bereleased or captured soon.Although we tried NOT toappear anxious, with a phone call like that it was hard not tobe.You told us that some of your sources had seen the menand that they were alive, BUT, we have not heard from yousince!We have PATIENTLY waited for word and have onlyheard discouraging news.We are quite helpless in doing anything to secure theirrelease other than waiting for word from YOU as to whatyou are doing or have done to secure their release.What are you planning on doing?PLEASE think about not only your employees but of theMANY family members and friends back home who trustthat you will assist in their safe return to the United States.We await word from you.Francis and Nancy CotéI arrived in Kuwait City with my luggage missing, seven hourslate after being rerouted through Amsterdam.It was around 10:00p.m.when I checked into the Kuwait City Marriott.I called Piccoand told him I could take a cab to meet him the next day.He saidhe would send a car around to pick me up.Late the next morning, a striking young Indian woman namedReema pulled up in front of the hotel in a white Suburban.The 0306817434.qxd 9/22/08 2:09 PM Page 158158 BIG BOY RULESweather was typical for Kuwait like being on the sun and the airconditioning was broken in the SUV.It didn t strike me as a majorproblem, because I remembered that the Crescent villa was neardowntown.But then I noticed that we were driving out of the city. Where are we going? I asked [ Pobierz caÅ‚ość w formacie PDF ]
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.John Robert didn t seem to harbor the slightest resentment 0306817434.qxd 9/22/08 2:09 PM Page 156156 BIG BOY RULESabout his father s choices, then or now.He called Young a hero and my best friend. The last time he was here, we talked about everything, and Isaid, You are going to end up dying over there if you keep doingthis. I tried to talk him out of going back.And he said, Never liveyour life in fear.You have to live life to the fullest. I just think he was bored, John Robert said.It was nearing midnight, freezing, winter fast approaching. Yeah, I think he was bored.He wanted some action. John Robert paused. Well, he got his action, he said softly.Inside the VFW hall, a band was playing Riding the Storm Out to a few stragglers.The door opened, and one of Young s friends,Gordon Love, staggered out on the porch, drunk, singing along withthe band. Riiiidin the storm out, he sang. Riiiidin the storm out. Love walked up and shook my hand.He began to tell stories aboutYoung, about how he had fought with him and drank with him andhunted ducks with him in the woods outside Kansas City.Then he turned to me and became sober.His face was just a fewinches from mine.He said the last memory he had was sitting inYoung s van the day before Young was scheduled to return to Iraq. I told him, man, Love said. I don t know how I knew it, but [I]told him.We were just sitting there in the driveway and I told him, I got a feeling, man: don t go.Just don t go. When I looked up from my notes, he was crying.Picco invited me to Kuwait to get the fullstory behind the kidnapping.As tempting as it was, the invitation gave me pause.It was hardto know what to expect from a company that would lock its ownemployee in a shipping container at gunpoint, or shoot policemenand leave them bleeding by the side of the road, or drive through asmall Iraqi town, guns blazing.And those were the true stories.There were others out there stories of beatings and mock execu-tions, even murder but you didn t know whether they were real or 0306817434.qxd 9/22/08 2:09 PM Page 157HOSTAGE AFFAIRS 157false or something in between. Steve, whatever you do, do not meetthem anywhere except in public, one former Crescent operatorwarned me.I laughed and told him he was being melodramatic, butit stayed with me.When I told Francis and Nancy I was going back to Kuwait,they asked me to deliver a letter to Picco.It read:Mr.Picco:Several months ago we were awakened in the middle ofthe night by a telephone call from you telling us you were very close to getting Jonathon and the other four hostagesback.You told us that you were confident that they would bereleased or captured soon.Although we tried NOT toappear anxious, with a phone call like that it was hard not tobe.You told us that some of your sources had seen the menand that they were alive, BUT, we have not heard from yousince!We have PATIENTLY waited for word and have onlyheard discouraging news.We are quite helpless in doing anything to secure theirrelease other than waiting for word from YOU as to whatyou are doing or have done to secure their release.What are you planning on doing?PLEASE think about not only your employees but of theMANY family members and friends back home who trustthat you will assist in their safe return to the United States.We await word from you.Francis and Nancy CotéI arrived in Kuwait City with my luggage missing, seven hourslate after being rerouted through Amsterdam.It was around 10:00p.m.when I checked into the Kuwait City Marriott.I called Piccoand told him I could take a cab to meet him the next day.He saidhe would send a car around to pick me up.Late the next morning, a striking young Indian woman namedReema pulled up in front of the hotel in a white Suburban.The 0306817434.qxd 9/22/08 2:09 PM Page 158158 BIG BOY RULESweather was typical for Kuwait like being on the sun and the airconditioning was broken in the SUV.It didn t strike me as a majorproblem, because I remembered that the Crescent villa was neardowntown.But then I noticed that we were driving out of the city. Where are we going? I asked [ Pobierz caÅ‚ość w formacie PDF ]