THE GATES OF NO RETURN

Synopsis The Gates of no Return

It was a beautiful day in Kandahar, the day I died. We’ve been on a mission fighting the Taliban. A terrible battle which we only just won. My superior Andy called me and told me we had to do just one thing. A group of men was seen on the mountain and we had to go there to take them out. We were with 4. Andy did not go with us. It was dark when we sneaked out to the mountain. We agreed to go by car the first part of the journey, and then on foot up the mountain to what Andy thought was their hiding place. Just before we wanted to park the car there was one big explosion. It ripped the car open and got me torn into pieces. The other 3 were dead as well. Someone had made sure we were not coming back.

Playing: Shinedown – State of my head

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Many of those villagers depended for their income on the growth of poppies. I got attracted to that right away. Seeing opportunities for providing some extra income for myself. I slowly got my friends into this. Not that enthusiastic in the beginning but seeing the benefits as it went on. We had to be very careful. Meeting our Afghan partners during the day and night. Taking the goods with us. We had to hide the goods in our camp. We buried it deep into the sand until it was time to send it home on one of our planes. I made arrangements to get it picked up from the airport. The advantage of having friends everywhere. Our friend at the airport picked it up, divided it and sent it by mail to our homes, to be sold later.

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(Arriving by car – Walking around the poppy field) (M) Hey man, nice field do you have here. Are you selling? (Afghan field laborer – looking suspicious) You have to talk to my boss. Let me take you to him. (Arriving at a little house near the field) Laborer knocks on the door and goes in. Talks in Afghan to a man in the house. The man comes out of the house and says to M: You are interested in buying poppies? What’s your name? My name is Aswad. (They are shaking hands) (M) Hi, I am Mark (A) Are you from the base close by? (M) Yeah, I drove around to look at the fields and I saw your man working there and I thought: Let’s make a chat. See if I can buy some. (A) Well, you can. I have some in store right now. How much do you want? (M) Do you have an ounce? (A) Sure. Wait here. I will get it. (A goes into the house and comes back 5 min. later) (A) Here it is (M) Thanks. M pays A and leaves.

(Dan) Those are no ordinary men! Those are trained fighters! (A) Let’s take these 4 guys to the camp and question them. Put them in the truck! (Truck has been called) And search the place thoroughly! (They search the place and they find more ammunition and arms plus a few rocket launchers) (A) It’s possible that this place is used as a headquarter. We might have caught a few big shots. (M) Yeah, I hope so! (A) Let’s close this thing up and go to camp. Do you have that book we found? We have to call in a translator. Hear what he has to say about it.

(Translator is called in and starts reading the book) (T) It looks like a diary. I see names, telephone numbers, addresses…. I see orders of weapons, how much they ordered, what they ordered and from who.

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It seemed easy to get away with murder. I got all things covered again. We planned a big shipment of drugs and I wanted it to go smoothly. Missions during daytime and doing business at night. I felt oozing with life. I felt I couldn’t be without the excitement of doing illegal business. In that country, everybody was looking for opportunities. I felt right at home. Being a big guy it was easy to keep people under control. They listened to me and I could easily persuade them.  

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Me being in the drug business, I got to know many people. And they knew a lot of things and a lot of other people. I came across a lot of information like that. I used this to set up people who came to cross me in the drug world. People who tried to damage me or tried to rat on me. With friends working for me in the camp, I usually saw all incoming information first. I had a lot of control out in this world. And I used that to my advantage. My business was booming and we got rid of the Taliban. Great combination!

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So we were sure. And it had to be bombed. We planned that carefully. It became the biggest explosion I had ever seen. The amount of ammunition in there was much more than we thought it was. It was huge! Many casualties. It looked like we had them right at the moment they were together for a meeting or together planning to go somewhere with the bombs. Right on time, we were. It was hard to see those dead bodies, probably burned alive, but I didn’t think about that for too long. We just saved many ordinary civilians on probably the market in the city. I closed myself off for that. Otherwise, I couldn’t do my job. But it ate me from the inside.

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I opened a strip club. Since I couldn’t let Ahmed do that, I hired Martin. Martin already had experience with strip clubs. I knew too much about him, so I knew I could trust him. I used to go to the last strip club he owned. But he got busted and his club was closed. Maybe not that smart to do business with him. But he knew all the tricks of the trade. We set up a good plan and a good deal. Martin was black. And looked just like an old fashioned pimp. That guy was so funny! We could get along very well. We were going to sell drugs there, and it was a good place to launder money.

(M) Hey Martin! How are you? Good to see you! (They are meeting each other in the street) (Martin) Hey Mark! Long time no see! I am good I am good! (M) What happened to your club? (Martin) O well, It got busted! Not too happy about that. You know, cops came in, and I didn’t do anything wrong. Just sitting there, looking at the girls, you know? (acting all innocent) (M) Yeah, I know you (laughing) (Martin) They closed it all up. (M) Looking for a new job? (Martin) Do you have one for me? (M) I might…. Let’s go to this bar. Let’s talk.

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I didn’t want to cut him in too much. That would give him more power over me as he came to know how big the business really was.

But he found out anyway. And we got into a really big argument. He threatened to give me up to the authorities. I threatened to take down the whole camp with me if he tried to give me up. And I could do that. I had drugs stashed everywhere. He had no power over me and he knew it. And that made him very very angry. He knew that he had to be very careful. 

(Andy) How big ís your business Mark? (one day at the office at camp) (M) O well, not that big. Why do you want to know? (A) I like to keep myself informed. I like to know what you are doing. And I have the idea that you are doing a lót more than you tell me. Can you show me how much you have in store at the moment? (M) Ok. No problem. (M takes A to a cleaning closet in the barracks, looks if no one is there and quickly takes out all the stuff and lifts the floorboards) (M) This is it. (there are 4 small packages in there) (A) Is that all you’ve got? (M) I have just sent something home on the last plane. But this is all there is at the moment, yeah. (Andy looks like he doesn’t believe any of it. Mark closes everything up and they go back to the office) (A) Why do I not believe you? (M) This is it. Can’t help it. Next week I have probably more. I will let you know ( tries to walks away) (A) Do you think I am a fool?? Don’t you think I don’t know what you are doing?! (Mark looks disturbed and a little angry) (A) You know your whole business is depending on me don’t you? (angry) You do what I want or I’ll give you up to the authorities! And I want you to tell me exactly what you do, or what you are going to do, and how much drugs you stashed wherever you stashed it, in how many places and how much money you have and you are going to earn!! Right now! (Mark grabs Andy by the throat and brings his face right into Andy’s face) (M) The moment you rat on me to whatever authority I will take you down, and the whole regiment with it! (very threatening) I have been keeping a log on what you did for me and I stashed it away good. The moment you tell someone just a tiny little thing, they will put the whole camp under investigation, and you will never know what comes up! So be careful with what you say and do…. (Andy punches Mark hard in the face and they roll on the floor fighting)

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(Armineh) Oh, it’s so great to see you! (runs towards Mark when he comes in. They kiss and hug) (M) We made it! You are here! I am so glad that it all worked out well! How was your flight? (A) It was strange to travel on my own, but I got used to it fast. It is so different here! I have to get other clothes, can we go shopping? (charming and smiling) (M) I’ve just got in! Let me get some sleep first and then we go shopping. (A) Mmmm, sleep is ok too (looks seductive) (…………………………………………)

I was as happy as can be when I saw her again. I needed a holiday too, after a very busy and stressful time. I wanted to wait with introducing her to my parents, who were living in another state (Ohio) anyway. I didn’t even tell them I was home. Armineh was all I wanted to see. Maybe a little sooner than expected, a baby was on the way. With all the things I could plan and could take care of this one was a surprise. Just out of nowhere. Like it was the first baby ever born. I couldn’t be there when the baby would be born, I had to be back to Afghanistan. I was very sad I had to leave her but I had to be back there. That made me think of quitting the army and settling permanently in The States. Maybe find a decent job here and not working with drugs anymore. Just be a father.

Playing: Armin van Buuren feat. Sam Martin – Wild Wild Son

27 Parts 24 songs – mostly rock and dance and all matched to the story by their lyrics