Cobra Strike by J.B. Hadley Page B

little like Abe Lincoln with a heavy tan. He spoke good English and told
     the three Americans that they had just achieved what his own men rarely had.
    “We have never brought in anything nearly as big as this,” he said admiringly of the missiles. 44I didn’t think it could be
     done.”
    Baker was interested in Daoud’s accent. 4’There’s only one place on earth you could learn to speak English like you do, and
     that’s New York City.”
    Gul grinned. “I bet you never knew us Afghans are big in the fast-food business in New York. Like the Koreans are taking over
     selling vegetables, the Afghans are moving into die grilled chicken business. One man started it all. He was an engineer from
     Afghanistan, and the only job he could find was as a cook in a fried chicken place. He saved hismoney, developed a recipe for his own special sauce, and then opened his own place after a few years. It succeeded, and he
     opened others. Then he helped other newly arrived immigrants by giving them jobs in his places, and in time they went out
     on their own. For a long time in New York, the only English I knew was words having to with chicken parts.”
    He smiled. “I never really learned the language until I fell in love with a girl who spoke only English. We were just about
     to get married, and I had qualified for a bank loan to open my own chicken place when my father and eldest brother were killed
     by the filthy Russians. I still did not come back here. I was the youngest. I said they don’t need me, I have two older brothers
     here. Then another brother was killed. I said I will come back for a short time—only on a visit. I delayed my wedding and
     the buying of my store. I swore I would be back in two months. I really thought at that time I would.
    “While I was here, my last remaining brother lost his right leg to a Soviet anti-personnel mine. He survived but could not
     fight anymore. My father had been headman of this region, then each of my brothers in turn; now it passed to me. Everyone
     looked at me to know what to do next. I tried to tell them about what I wanted to do in America, but they could not understand
     why I would want to marry a Christian girl who did not even speak our language when I could pick and choose from the prettiest
     girls in the mountains and make an important alliance with a powerful family through my marriage. They could not understand
     why Chase Manhattan Bank wanted to give me money to cook chickens for people—why couldn’t they cook their own chickens? But
     really the question they were asking was this: Has the Daoud family, famous for its warriors and leaders, produced a coward
     and a weakling youngest son? My mother and sisters did not reproach me, my brother was too sick to care. But the people in
     the fields and on the roads avoided me until they knew whether I would run away or stand and fight.
    “Since then, as I think you have heard, I have been making up for my slow beginning. I am the Russians’ publicenemy number one, as your FBI would say. So long as I am free and alive to continue to fight against the invaders, I am a
     hero and a symbol of resistance for everyone in Afghanistan. But I often wake up alone in the middle of the night and wonder
     how someone who really wants to open a fast-food chicken outlet in the Bronx can be a rebel hero to fierce mountain tribal
     warriors.”
    The three Americans liked Gul, and he showed his gratitude to them for the missiles through his hospitality. Winston admitted
     to having wanted to dump the missiles and said he now thought it was worth the effort to bring them all the way to Gul Daoud.
     Turner suggested that if Gul got back to New York City and ran for mayor, Turner would vote for him in the unlikely event
     that he happened to be living there. This was by far the biggest compliment Baker and Winston had ever heard Turner make about
     anyone, living or dead.
    The military situation was desperate. Gul told them, “A