Airport security use whips to keep order in the Mogadishu Airport, one barely grazing Amanda's head. Amanda's traveling with her ex-boyfriend, who left his job as a gardener in Glasgow to have some thrills. But on the closer they get to Mogadishu, the more he projects uneasiness. Amanda's received an assignment, but the organization pays for hotel, transportation and food only, NOT security. Since she is not completely reckless, she's arranged for a private security firm.

Once on the ground, it is immediately apparent that Amanda and Nigel are rank amateurs. They're targeted almost immediately, this Canadian woman handing out $5 tips and this Australian man tagging along to take pictures he can hopefully sell.

They are met at the airport. Aside from the driver, there are two other men who pile into the car with them, all holding weapons. They take off for Mogadishu at high speed, at one point passing "a pickup truck with four lanky teen-age boys riding in the bed, their arms clamped over a mounted machine gun that pointed like a spear out the back."

And yet:

Stay tuned, dear blog readers. Stay tuned.