Chapter 7

When Jo woke up she saw that by the position of the sun that it was close to noon. She looked around and saw Mike sitting with his back to a tree watching them. She saw that he still had the same expression on his face that he always had.

He motioned for her to come over to him. She crawled out from under the ghilly net and sat down next to him.

"I'm going to need you to carry some equipment when we move out to the target. Take this gun in case you have to defend yourself. Have you ever fired a rifle before?"

"Yes, I was on the Olympic Rifle Team in the last Olympics."

"Could you kill a man if you had to?"

"I don't know. I've never fired at a human before."

"If you have to fire this rifle, make sure you kill whoever you're shooting at. These people don't value human life at all and they feel that a woman is made for only one thing. If you see that you're going to be captured, kill yourself."

He moved away and woke up Chico. They pulled out rations and they all ate quietly. Mike buried their food wrappers and started checking out the weapons and explosives in the cache. He set out the items that he thought that they might need. They packed everything on their bodies that they could carry. Jo was weighted down by many packages and ammunition for her rifle.

"What's all of this stuff?" Jo asked, pointing at the equipment that she was carrying.

Chico smiled and whispered to her, "Don't let anyone shoot at you. You're carrying all of the explosives."

Jo got white and almost passed out. Mike motioned for them to move out and he took the point again. They headed toward the spot that intell had indicated was the most likely place that the subs would be if there were any subs. They made much better time in the daylight and Mike threw up his hand for them to freeze in the late afternoon. Chico motioned for Jo to stay where she was and he moved up next to Mike.

They could hear voices ahead. Mike listened and heard that they were speaking Spanish. He signaled for Chico to stay where he was and moved forward to get a look at the base. He was gone for over an hour and when he came back he passed them and continued into the jungle. Chico motioned for Jo to follow him. They walked until it got dark and then stopped.

Mike started talking to Chico in a low voice, "The camp is big. They've spent millions on this thing. There's a big building that looks like it's a barracks or something and a huge building next to the river that looks like it might be big enough to hide two subs in. All of the buildings are covered with netting to camouflage them. The camp looks like most of the people are somewhere else. If the subs are there, there doesn't seem to be anyone to drive them."

As he was telling Chico about the camp, he drew in the dirt to show him the position of the buildings.

"We have to go in there and get a close look. We'll check out the guard situation tonight. If it's possible, we can go in tonight and figure out what we have to do."

"Chico smiled, "It sounds like we're going to have fun blowing it up."

"Let's get our ghilly suits on and we'll go in after midnight," Mike grinned.

"Did you see Guevara?" Chico asked.

"He's there. He walked out of the big building while I was watching what was going on."

"Mike, remember that Guevara isn't our main focus here. We'll get him but we have to put this place out of business."

Mike got up and started to get ready to go into the base. Chico shook his head and started to put on his suit also. They checked each other's gear to make sure that they had everything that they would need and that nothing would rattle or make noise.

Mike turned to Jo, "We need you to keep that rifle trained on the base while we move around. If we get in trouble, kill anything that moves. Don't be the first one to fire. I don't care what happens, don't be the first one to fire. Make every shot count and try to get the leaders. You'll be able to figure out who the leaders are after the shooting starts."

She started to say something, but he moved into the jungle followed by Chico. Jo ran to catch up with them. She was shaking inside. She had never even killed an animal; she had no idea if she could kill a man under any circumstances.

They walked through the jungle until Mike threw up a clenched fist and Chico and Jo froze in their tracks. They crouched down, looking into the camp for any sign that they had been spotted. Mike pulled out a ghilly net out of his pack and threw it over Jo to hide her from anyone looking into the jungle.

There were only two guards walking around and Mike noted where they were and the path that they took to make their rounds. Chico was making notes in his head about where to place the explosives to make the base history. Mike kept checking his watch and looking for any changes in the base. One of the guards walked over to the other one and said something. They heard a laugh and the guard walked behind a building and sat down on the ground and leaned against the building. In a short while they saw his head go down on his chest and he went to sleep.

Mike motioned for Chico to get ready to move out. He put two fingers up to his eyes and moved his hand back and forth to signify that he wanted Jo to keep watch on the base while they scouted the it. Mike and Chico moved out and slowly made their way to the first building. They walked by the sleeping guard without waking him and moved to the building that seemed to be the barracks. Mike looked in the window cautiously and saw that he was looking into a room that was apparently a communications center. He moved to the next window and looked in the window. The were about five men sleeping on cots. He didn't see any weapons. He heard a noise coming toward him and he lay down next to the building. The guard walked by him and continued his rounds. The ghilly suit had broken up Mike's outline and had made it appear that he was vegetation growing next to the building.

Chico slipped next to him. Mike motioned for Chico to keep an eye out for the guard and then follow him while he checked out the large building next to the river. He darted from building to bush to building. And finally made it to the building. He covered Chico while he made his way to Mike.

Mike peeked around the side of the building and couldn't believe what he was seeing. The building was built like a hanger for submarines. Two submarines where sitting under the roof of the building. The building was made up of concrete tilt-up panels and had beams and a concrete plank roof. He wondered how they had been able to build all of this without our satellites picking it up.

There was a wide sidewalk on the inside of each of the walls and they started walking to the back of the building. They didn't hear any sounds coming from the submarines. Mike searched for anything that could reach out and grab them. There was an open window at the back of the building with a light inside. They heard voices coming from the window. Mike and Chico made their way to the back of the building with their rifles ready. When they got to the window they saw a large barracks at the back of the sub hanger housed the sub's crews and was covered by vegetation and netting to conceal it from our spy satellites. Chico cautiously looked in the window and then couched down under the window. He motioned for Mike to get out of the building.

They backed out of the building making sure that they were not seen. Mike and Chico slowly retraced their steps and reached the jungle without being seen. He found Jo and motioned for her to follow them. They walked through the jungle until they were far enough away that the people at the base wouldn't hear them. It was starting to get light when they stopped.

They couched down on their heels and Mike was the first to speak, "My god that place is huge. How in the hell did they get that built without us seeing it?"

"Nine-Eleven remember Mike? We were busy in Afghanistan. I saw a crane covered up with camouflage netting when we were making our way back. It looks like they hurried up and built this place and then abandoned the equipment in the jungle. It looks like they're just going to let the equipment rot in the jungle now that the place is built."

"The guys in that building at the end of the sub hanger were talking Farsi. They're definitely Iranians," Chico spat.

Mike stared at Chico, "I wonder if the Russians sent any techs with them to show them how to maintain and operate the boats?"

"We can't worry about who or what is in there Mike, we have to put this place out of business."

"I checked out the sub hanger when we were going in and when we were coming out," Mike said. " It isn't built very well; it will be easy to bring it down. I'm half afraid to even go in there again. They don't have enough supports holding that roof up. Do we have any magnetic mines in our gear?"

Chico nodded and Mike continued, "What I was thinking, was that we put a couple of mines on each sub's hull and sink them in place. A few seconds later we can drop the roof of the building on the subs, trapping them in place. Then our people can come in and show the world proof of what's going on."

"What about the Iranians?"

"I don't care about them. Just think what the world would do when a bunch of Iranian sub drivers are found in South America running drugs for a bunch of sleazy drug lords. How were you supposed to call in Delta if we found anything?"

"Call them in with the cell phone on your Palm Pilot. That's the only phone number that's programmed into it. If we found the subs here I was supposed to call and tell them that the fishing is good down here. There's a Delta team on a merchant ship cruising off-shore in International waters."

He looked at Chico, "How does my plan sound?"

"It's going to take some planning. It's risky as hell, but I think it can be done. I love UDT anyway. I'll swim under them tonight and plant the charges. We can blow everything else after we set the charges for the building."

Chico raised his clenched fist. Everyone got quiet. Mike looked sternly at Jo and put his finger to his lips, telling her to be quiet. Soon they heard the sound of voices speaking in Spanish. Whoever was talking was making no attempt to be quiet. Mike and Chico maneuvered into position to ambush the pair if they got close to them. When the men were about twenty feet from the trio, they unzipped their pants and both of the men started pissing on the vegetation. Mike recognized the guard that had almost stepped on him back at the base. After hey zipped their trousers up, the two men pulled something out of their shirts and seemed to be discussing it. Mike finally heard one of the men talk about sharing the cocaine and he knew that they had slipped into the jungle to snort some cocaine.

Mike motioned to Chico that he wanted to get them and Chico nodded. They both knew that it would be possible to get information from them and maybe find out where most of the people were. The men were laughing and talking so loud that they didn't hear Mike and Chico slid up behind them and take them down. Chico quickly knocked his man out and then ran over to help Mike who was having trouble with his man. After the other guard was out Mike stuffed sections of their clothes in their mouths and tied the gags in place with more torn clothing. Chico tied their hands and sat down to let his breathing return to normal. After resting for a while Mike and Chico threw the men over shoulders and started walking away from the base.

The men came to after a few minutes. Mike made sure that they understood that they had better be quiet or else. After about two hours they dropped the men on the ground and sat down to rest. Jo was starting to show the strain of the mission. She really had no idea what was going on and she was scared, both of Mike and what they were going to do.

"Chico, take the woman back to the weapons cache. I'll interrogate these two."

Chico motioned for Jo to follow him and both headed toward the cache. After they had walked for about a half an hour she put her hand on Chico's arm.

"Go ahead, but talk softly," he told her.

"Why did you leave them with him? I don't trust him."

Chico looked at her and then turned and continued walking. Jo knew she wasn't going to get an answer, so she fell in behind him and started walking.

Mike squatted in front of the pair watching them for a while. He knew that this would unnerve them a little and make it easier for him to get information from them. One of the men started trying to talk through his gag and Mike got up and held his knife to the man's throat and told him to shut up in Spanish. The man looked into Mike's eyes and was quiet.

He studied the two men trying to figure out which one would be the most likely to talk. He finally got up and walked over to the one that he felt would talk and took out the man's gag.

"Where is everybody? Why aren't there more people in the camp?'

The man didn't answer. Mike shoved the gag back in his mouth and dragged him over to a tree and tied the man to the tree, standing up, with a piece of clothing around his neck. He went over to the second man and did the same to him. He took the gag out of the first man's mouth and held the knife to his throat and drew the knife down his throat making a long cut through the skin.

"Please, don't kill me. The others are getting the coca for the next shipment. They will be back in two days."

"How many are there?"

"About thirty."

Mike shoved the gag back into his mouth and tied it off. He walked away from the pair and squatted on his heels again watching them. They kept their eyes on him trying to figure out what he was after and what he was going to do to them. Mike squatted silently for about ten minutes and then rose and reached into his shirt and pulled out the photo of Eve, his brother and the kids. He walked over to the man who had given him the information and held the photo up so that he could see it. He held the flashlight to the photo and waited for recognition to set in.

The man looked at the photo and then at Mike. He looked at the photo again and his face started to change as he began to recognize the people in the photograph. He shot a look over to the other man and tried to scream something to him through the gag. The second man looked at him trying to figure out what was going on. Mike walked over and showed the picture to him. He eyes became fearful when the realization of who the people were in the photo dawned on him

He struggled to break free. Mike pulled his knife and cut the man's belt. His pulled the man's pants down to his knees. The man became silent and was as stiff as a board, knowing what was about to happen. Knife shoved the knife into the man's lower abdomen and quickly pulled the knife up. The man's bowels spilled out and hung from his body while he stared at his bowels in shock.

Mike walked over to the other man and drove the knife into his gut and drew it upwards. The man screamed into the gag and stared at Mike, knowing that he was looking into the face of death. Mike went back to where he had been and squatted on his heels again and coolly watched the pair die.

After they were dead, he went over and cut the tie around their neck and let them fall to the jungle floor. He knew that the vegetation would make their bodies harder to find and the animals would devour the bodies quickly. He watched them for a while, wishing that he could see their trip into hell. He turned and headed for the weapons cache.

Chapter 8