Chapter 6

The flight to the capital was routine. An Embassy employee met him and took him to the boat. When he asked about the bill, he was told that the bill had been taken care of. Mike checked the boat over and made a list of groceries and other items that he would need for the trip to Casasantanas. He figured that he ought to buy a gun in town also, but when he looked in the head he found a.308-caliber semi-automatic rifle neatly stashed behind the door.

He went into town and bought the things he needed, being careful to not flash too much of his money around. It wouldn't do to have someone hit him in the head and kill him. He had to avenge his brother and his brother's family. He had the boat's fuel tanks filled and made final preparations to get under way.

As he pulled out of the harbor he made sure that everything on the boat operated perfectly before he hit the open waters of the Atlantic. He turned south toward Casasantanas and brought the boat up to cruising speed. The engines purred and propelled the boat smoothly through the calm waters. He turned on the radio and radar and made sure that they were working. The radar worked perfectly and he wondered how the pirates had gotten to his brother's boat and managed to get on board. He knew that he would never find out.

He pulled out the pictures that had been on the piano. He had laminated the pictures before he left so that he would be able to preserve them in this South American humidity. He took the picture of the whole family smiling into the camera and put it above the steering wheel. The picture had been taken on the boat. He pulled out the next picture and saw that it was one of Eve. Tears came to his eyes and for the first time he admitted to himself that he had loved her. He knew that she had loved him too, but that no one would replace his brother as the number one man in her heart. He wiped the tears from his eyes and put Eve's picture next to the other picture.

He concentrated on getting the boat to Casasantanas. He had his war mentality back and he would allow no emotion to get in his way. He had a job to do and he could not and would not be deterred. The blind rage that had almost consumed him after he had identified the bodies was now replaced by a case hardened steel resolve. He had no doubt about his finishing the mission. He was determined to send the murderers of the last of his family on earth to hell in a way that would take as long as possible. Every one of the men that he sent to hell would know why they were being killed.

Anyone who had never been on a covert mission, such as this, would never understand the emotional state that had crept into his body. All emotion was washed from his body and a cold, calculating, single focused resolve took hold of his being. He had only one purpose in life now, to complete the mission. All normal body functions were second to the mission. All thoughts of injury to his body or even his death never entered his mind once he left the US, for maybe the last time. From this point on, until the mission was complete, he would not kill any person. He would only destroy targets. Targets had no life, they were things meant to be destroyed.

He arrived in Casasantanas in the late afternoon. He tied up to a fishing pier and negotiated with the owner for a permanent slip. He knew that one of the fishing boats had been lost in a storm about six months ago. After shopping around he found where he could have the head pumped out when he needed it done and got the name of the man who was supposed to be the best mechanic in town. The owners of the other boats that were tied up at the pier remembered him as the crazy gringo that was best left alone if you didn't want a world of hurt coming down on you. The crazy gringo must have snapped while he was up north, he had that dead look in his eyes.

Chico slipped onto the boat late that night and Ben came on the boat two nights later. The pair stayed below to avoid being seen and when the three talked, they talked in a low voice. Ben had stopped at the Embassy and got the latest intell and the outline of the mission. The word around the area was that the drug dealers had been taking their marketing tips from OPEC and had been holding some product off of the market to drive the price up. There was supposed to be a big shipment of cocaine headed north in a week or so.

The mission was set to go in three days. They would leave the boat after dark and make their way to a farm just out of town. A small plane had supposedly had engine trouble and had made a forced landing in the farmer's field. In reality, the farmer was a paid informant for the CIA. His job was to keep an eye on the drug dealers and report everything he saw or heard. The plane was ready to take off on a moment's notice.

"We'll bail out at a low altitude, so we won't need our high altitude suites. There will be four cows tied close together in a clearing about ten miles from Guevara's camp. We'll wear our night-vision goggles and steer the chutes to the cows. An infrared flare will be set off close to the cows to guide you until your night vision goggles can pick up the cows. As soon as you hit, gather up all of your gear and get into the woods. We'll rendezvous in the woods and head out for the cache of weapons about five miles from the camp."

They left the boat one by one under the cover of darkness and made their way to the plane. At the plane they suited up in the camouflage suits and face paint for the trek through the jungle. There was very little talking, as they all knew what had to be done.

Ben turned to the others before getting on the plane, "If any of us is hurt, we leave him, no exceptions, right?"

They all nodded and boarded the light plane for their landing site. The night was cloudy so no moon would give them away to an observer on the ground. The plane flew due south. Mike recognized the pilot as one of the pilots that he had flown with in Somalia. He knew that he was CIA.

The pilot turned and told them that they had two minutes before they hit the jump site. Ben opened the door and stood, waiting to be told when to jump. The pilot yelled Ok and Ben was gone. Chico and then Mike quickly followed him. The plane continued to fly south. They floated down to the ground staying just close enough to make out each other in the darkness. The night goggles illuminated the field and they could just make out the infrared flare and later the four cows tied below them. They steered toward the cows and soon landed a short distance from them. They quickly gathered their chutes in their arms and dashed for the woods.

Once in the woods they met up and with hushed voices made sure that each of them was Ok and able to travel hard and fast. They started out using the Palm Pilots to guide them. The night goggles illuminating all of the nocturnal animals made the going eerie. Many of the animals stopped to stare at them, surprised to see the humans, as the humans were to see them. They traveled as fast as possible and Mike was glad that he had put so much effort into getting back in shape. He knew that if had to do this when he was drinking in Casasantanas, that he wouldn't have gotten a hundred yards in the jungle. Once they flattened themselves on the ground when they thought that they were being followed. After a minute a wild pig ran past them. The animal had apparently not seen or sensed them until he was on top of them. They did not know who was more surprised, the pig or them.

They kept off the roads and paths to avoid detection. This made the going much slower but the jungle gave them cover. They occasionally came across isolated farms and after surveying the farms for possible drug manufacturing activity, they continued on. They kept out of the fields to avoid leaving footprints and possibly startling the farmer's livestock or dogs. Their one hundred and twenty pound assault packs and the drag packs holding their sniper weapons required them to rest often. The heat was oppressive and they were rapidly losing water and had to replenish their body fluids often. The face paint began to streak and smell.

They came upon a small stream just barely inside the tree line next to a small cleared area the contained several buildings. From the looks of the small shrubs slowly reclaiming the land, it had once been a small farm. It now was being used as a cocaine-manufacturing factory. The cocaine cooking sheds were camouflaged and trees and shrubs were being allowed to hide the building. A small one-room house sat at the middle of the clearing. Ben and Chico refilled their canteens while Mike kept an eye on the farm, watching for any movement As soon as the canteens were filled and they had rested for ten minutes they would start out for the weapons cache again.

A movement caught Mike's eye and he raised a clenched fist to tell the other two to freeze. None of them made a sound as they scanned the edge of the jungle for what had spooked him. After a minute, two men, carrying AK-47's, walked out of the jungle and headed for the house. They were dressed in khaki pants and a sport shirt and it was obvious that they were not trying to hide themselves. An older man came out of the house and exchanged a few words with the two men. The conversation became heated and one of the men threw up his arm in disgust and turned away from the old man. The old man walked after the man and shook his fist at him and continued yelling at him repeatedly. Mike could not figure out what the men were arguing about. The three men walked into the house. They could hear the three men arguing heatedly inside the house.

Mike turned and motioned for Ben and Chico to head into the jungle. The sound of an approaching car froze them in their tracks. They slowly lowered themselves to the floor the jungle. Chico slowly raised his hand and pointed at the approaching vehicle. The Land Rover was throwing up a cloud of dust behind it and the driver was trying his best to avoid the potholes in the road. From where the trio were observing, it appeared that there were two people in the Land Rover. The Land Rover continued toward the farmhouse. Mike could see the two people talking and then pointing at the farm. The vehicle paused at the driveway leading to the farmhouse then turned into the driveway and headed for the farmhouse.

The Land Rover stopped in front of the farmhouse and blew the horn twice. There was no sound from the farmhouse. The doors of the Land Rover opened and two people got out. Mike realized that one of the people was a woman. The woman appeared to be in her mid-20s and was dressed in a khaki uniform. The man and woman walked up to the front door of the farmhouse. Mike saw them freeze and start to back away from the farmhouse. The man and woman put their hands in the air. The two men that had walked into the farmhouse with the farmer came out of the farmhouse toward the pair holding the AK-47's on them. The two men holding the AK-47s started screaming at the pair. The woman appeared to be pleading with the man. Suddenly the man who had been driving turned and started to run away from the farmhouse. One of the men raised his AK-47 and fired at the running man. The bullet hit the man in the back and he went down on his knees then fell on his face.

The other man advanced toward the woman and started yelling at her. When he got close to her he grabbed her wrist and started pulling her toward the farmhouse. The woman broke free and ran behind the Land Rover. The man started to laugh loudly and gabbered at the frightened woman. Mike unzipped his drag bag holding the sniper rifle. Ben quietly whispered no. Mike ignored him and set up the rifle. The man had grabbed the woman's wrist again and was dragging her toward the farmhouse. She was screaming and begging for her life. Mike knew that she had more to worry about than her life. He drew a bead on the man dragging the woman. The movements of the woman and her captor made any shot impossible. Suddenly the man let the woman's wrist go and hit her in her jaw with his fist. He stared at the woman laying on the ground. This was just the moment that Mike was waiting for and he squeezed the trigger. A second later the man's head exploded and blood and brains spattered all over the woman. The other man stared at his dead partner and Mike squeezed off another round, exploding the other man's head. Mike kept his rifle trained on the farmhouse door. The farmer cautiously stuck his head out of the door, as Mike had known he would and the old man joined his friends in hell.

Mike motioned for the other two to remain in the jungle and he slowly made his way to the Land Rover. As he inched around the Land Rover with his rifle ready he saw that the woman was laying on the ground looking around for whatever had killed these people. He motioned with his rifle for her to get up and he checked to make sure that the three men were dead.

He turned to the woman, "Get out of here and don't tell anyone what happened here."

"I can't. The Land Rover is almost out of gas and something is wrong with the steering. We hit a big hole in the road and damaged the suspension. We were going to see if the farmer had any gas that we could buy. Why did you kill those men? Who the hell are you?"

Mike pushed her around to the side of the vehicle that was closest to the jungle where Chico and Ben were.

"Sit down with your back to the vehicle. If you move or make a sound I'll kill you like I did to the others."

He grabbed the farmer by his shirt and started to drag him toward the jungle. When he got to where Ben and Chico was, he continued past them and dragged the body further into the jungle. He went back for the other bodies and dragged them into the jungle also. He motioned for the woman to get up and she got up and raised her hands.

"Put your hands down and walk to the jungle. Head for the spot that you saw me go into. There's two men there and they'll tell you what to do. Do as they say or they'll kill you."

The woman headed for the jungle and Mike saw her stop for a second and then walk further until she was out of sight. Mike quickly erased all signs that anything had happened at the farm and he checked to make sure that all of the blood and brains were gone and then headed for the jungle.

The woman was standing in the jungle with fear in her eyes. Ben and Chico stood over her with their rifles ready to kill if they decided that they had to. Mike walked past them and motioned for them to follow him. They walked for a while until they were sure that they could not be spotted from the farmhouse.

They sat down in a circle and were silent for a few minutes, trying to catch their breath. The woman was standing behind them, watching them fearfully.

"You make a hell of a good target there," Mike snapped at her.

She quickly dropped to the ground. Ben and Chico looked at Mike with a concerned look on their face. He knew what the trouble was. He had compromised the mission. In the days when he was active in the Delta Force he would have let the men rape and kill the woman and they would have slipped away into the jungle without letting anyone knowing that they were in the area. He would not have jeopardized the mission by saving the woman.

"Now what, Mike?" Chico asked.

"The car was out of gas. She couldn't have made it out of there. I couldn't let those guys rape her like they did to my family."

Ben threw his cap on the ground hard, "God damn, Mike. We can't take her with us. She walks like an elephant. She makes more noise than a regiment. She's not in shape and she knows nothing about surviving on a mission like this. She'll get us killed."

"Just who the hell are you guys?" the woman snapped.

Mike jumped up and grabbed the woman by the front of her shirt and threw her down on the jungle floor and pulled his knife and held it to her throat, "I told you that if you make a sound I'll kill you. Now shut up and let us think."

The woman looked at him with terror in her eyes. Mike walked back to Ben and Chico. He was madder at himself for being so weak that he felt that he had to save the woman than he was at her for talking.

"We'll take her with us until we find a place to drop her off. If we don't find a place, we'll leave her at the weapons cache. She'll be out of the way there. If she can't learn to walk quietly, we'll just have to leave her in the jungle."

"No Mike, she can't go with us." Ben snapped.

"What do you propose to do with her? If she starts out of here and she's captured, they'll torture her until she gives us up."

Ben stood up and walked into the jungle until he was out of sight. Mike and Chico squatted on their heels and waited for him to come back. After a minute or two he walked back to the pair.

"We'll take her with us until she becomes a liability. If I feel that she's going to jeopardize the mission in any way, I'm going to kill her."

Mike moved over to where she was still laying on the ground, "What's your name and what are you doing here?"

My name is Jo... Josephine Conner. We were working with USAID and we got lost. They gave me a driver that didn't speak much English and he pretended that he couldn't understand my Spanish. Please who are you guys?"

He moved back to the others, "Let's move out. I'll take the point. Since we've got her now, I'll stay about a hundred yards ahead. Listen for a click on the radio. If you hear a click hit the ground and be quiet. Ben you'd better bring up the rear. Maybe you'd better stay back a bit so that no one can seek up on us."

Mike went over to the woman and snapped, "You heard the conversation. Be as quiet as you can or you'll never leave this jungle. I'm going to show you some hand signals. Learn them the first time. Don't talk after we start out. We communicate by hand signals."

He went over the basic hand signals then got up and started out without a word. The others followed after a few minutes. Joe tried to learn how to walk quietly and within and hour she was doing almost as good as the men.

It started to get dark and Chico leaned over to her and whispered for her to put her hand on his shoulder and walk where he did. He slipped on his night goggles and she followed him in the dark. They walked a long time in the dark and she stumbled into Chico often. They walked past a heavy concentration of brush and Chico froze when he heard a light hissing. He hissed back and Mike walked out of the underbrush.

Mike signaled for them to sit down a while. None of them said a word. Jo was afraid to say anything; she really wasn't sure if Mike would really shoot her and leave her in the jungle like he had threatened. They waited about a half an hour for Ben and Mike began to get worried. Ben should have met up with them by now. He told Chico to stay with the girl and to leave without him if he wasn't back in a half an hour. He retraced his steps; watching for any signs that they had been followed. He was worried that someone with night goggles might be waiting for him in an ambush. He heard a groan about twenty meters ahead of him and slowly moved toward the sound trying to be as silent as possible.

He picked up Ben on the night vision goggles and froze. He checked to make sure that no other persons were around him and then moved toward him.

Ben saw him as he approached and lifted his hand. Mike looked at him to see what the problem was and saw a black spot on Ben's wrist.

"Mike," Ben whispered, "I got hit by a bushmaster. When I fell down he either hit me again or there was another one."

Mike took out his flashlight and shined it on the wound. Both wounds were black and he saw that the skin was deformed and was starting to rot.

The bushmaster snake is a large snake, native to Central and South America. When it strikes it injects a large volume of venom into its victim. The bushmaster is a member of the viper family and is a nocturnal creature. Mike knew that the venom was digesting Ben's flesh.

"Mike, you have to go on. There's no way I'm going to make it."

"How long ago did it hit you," Mike asked.

"Right after you left, I guess about an hour or more now. Go, Mike. The venom is doing its work fast."

Ben pulled out his knife, "Go now, Mike. I'm sorry. I should have been more careful. Leave and I'll do what I have to do."

He handed Mike his rifle and his night vision goggles. Mike nodded a goodbye to him and moved back the way he had come. He knew that Ben was going to kill himself with the knife so that he wouldn't start screaming when the pain got really bad. It was the only thing to do.

Mike made his way back to Chico and the woman. Chico stood up as he approached, having seen him in his night goggles. Chico looked at him, trying to figure out if something was wrong. Mike made a gesture with his hand to signify that a snake had bitten Ben and Chico nodded. He knew that Ben wouldn't be coming with them on the mission.

Mike started out on the point again and they stopped just before dawn and checked their position. They had gone a little further than they should have and had to backtrack a little to find the cache of weapons and other toys that had be placed in the jungle for them. Chico found the cache by tripping over it. The cache had been covered by a ghilly net and it blended into the jungle perfectly. They opened the boxes and found the personnel sensors and Mike left to set the detectors out so that their camp would be protected. They would be able to either hide themselves from any "bad guys" of they would have time to set up a defense.

Mike slipped back into camp just as the sun was starting to come up. He sat down next to the pair and listened for any sound that was out of the ordinary. When he was satisfied that he had made it back to the weapons cache without being followed he slipped off his backpack.

"You can talk here when you have to," he said in a very low voice to the woman.

"Who are you guys, CIA?"

Chico grinned, "Just concerned citizens."

Mike looked at Chico sternly, and then turned to the woman, "We're on a mission. That's all you have to know. What I said back there still stands. If you hold us back or jeopardize the mission in any way, I'll kill you and leave you in the jungle. Do you understand?"

The woman nodded and looked down at her hands. Mike leaned over to Chico and told him that he was going to scout around the area and see if there was anything that they had to be concerned about. He turned and disappeared in the jungle.

Chico leaned to the woman and whispered, "Try to get some sleep. We'll probably move out when Mike gets back."

She tapped her lips signifying that she wanted to speak. Chico nodded.

"Who is that man, he's a killer? He scares me."

"Lady, that man is a killer. His family was raped and murdered a couple of months ago. The only thing that he thinks about is revenge. Believe him when he says he'll kill you if you get in his way."

She shuddered and Chico pulled the netting over them and he fell asleep in about one minute. Jo was so scared that she couldn't get to sleep for a while, finally exhaustion took over and she fell asleep next to Chico.

Tallorder64

Chapter 7