Chapter 8
When Chico opened his eyes he saw Mike sitting on the jungle floor watching them sleep. Chico rubbed his eyes and looked at Jo sleeping a short distance from where he was sleeping.
"Did they say anything?"
Mike nodded, "There's about thirty more gathering up enough stuff to make a shipment. They should be back in two days."
"We better get our job done before they get back then. It'll be much harder if we have to take on all of them."
Mike nodded. Chico got up and said that he'd start getting some of the gear that they'd need closer to the base camp. That way they wouldn't take a chance on making a lot of noise trying to take everything in at once. Chico packed all that he could and then left the camp with a pack weighing about eighty pounds. Mike grinned; he knew that if a bullet hit that pack there wouldn't be anything left of him.
Mike started to work on gathering the items that they'd need, loading all of the weapons and making sure that all of the electronics worked. He laid out everything and checked and rechecked the items and added and subtracted items each time he checked. He knew that Chico would also check and recheck when he came in. The slightest miscalculation could result in a failed mission and the death of all of them.
"Where are the men that you captured?" a voice behind him said.
He turned and saw that Jo had woke up and was looking at him as he prepared for the mission.
"I let them go," he said as he continued working.
She saw the blood on his clothes as he moved around getting his gear ready. She knew what had happened to the men and she was sure that it wasn't an easy death.
She walked over to him, "Mike what the hell is going on in your head? What has made you like this? I know you killed those men."
Mike turned around and pushed her back down so that she was sitting on the jungle floor. He walked away from her and then walked back to her fast. She was afraid that he was going to kill her.
He reached into his shirt and pulled out the picture then he spat out the words to her, " Look at this. This is my brother and his family. These guys killed my brother and then raped and killed the rest of them. Nine men raped the kids repeatedly. That was what was going to happen to you back at that farmhouse. After those guys were done with you, they probably would have taken you back to that base and passed you around. Believe me lady, if I thought that they were only going to shoot you, I wouldn't have jeopardized the mission and saved you."
She looked at him with a shocked look on her face. Things had been moving so fast that she hadn't even given any thought to what caused the men to kill her driver and then try to capture her. She had thought that the men were just bandits and that she would be held for ransom.
Mike snatched the picture out of her hand and stuck it in his pocket and went back to work. Jo put her face down on her arms and softly cried. She became terrified now, knowing that what he had said was probably true. A vision of what could have happened flashed before her eyes and she shuddered. She kept her face in her arms for a long time.
Mike continued to get ready for the mission. He began to be ashamed for the way that he had talked to her. He knew that she had no idea what they were doing or why. She had probably lived in the US all of her life and really had no idea of what the various groups such as Delta, SEALS and others did. Americans didn't seem to want to know what was necessary to protect freedom and they would be shocked if anyone told them. He walked back over to her and stood in front of her.
She saw his feet in front of her and she raised her head, "I'm sorry. I didn't know what had caused you to act like that. I thought that you were just as bad as they were. You guys are CIA aren't you?'
He sat down beside her, "We're not CIA. We were both in one of the forces that you people never hear about, so was Ben. We were sent down here on a mission to find out how these people are getting drugs into the country without our government finding any of the shit. We thought that maybe the Iranians were helping out with their subs but we weren't sure. We have to go in and disable those subs so that Delta can come in and take out the base properly."
"Who's Delta?"
"Delta Force. They're the people that go in and do missions that America never hears about. I used to be in Delta. I've probably been in countries that you've never heard of."
"Delta Force was the ones that went into Somalia, weren't they?"
"Yeh, I was there. We're not proud of that one. We relied on our government's politicians and other countries to plan our mission for us."
She put her hand on his arm, "Mike when are you going to let it go? You can't kill every bad person in the world. Haven't you done your share?"
He looked off into the jungle, "I promised my family that I'd make them pay for what they did, and I will."
"You're going to get yourself killed too."
He got up and headed toward the equipment to get it ready, "I guess that could happen."
"Mike, don't you realize what's going on in your head? You've got a death wish."
Mike ignored her and started working on the gear again. Chico slipped out of the jungle and sat down to rest.
"We about ready for fun and games?" he asked.
Mike nodded and called Chico over to check the gear and make sure that everything that was needed was ready. Chico checked each item and started to make suggestions about how to pack the gear. Jo noticed that he didn't included her in the plans.
"What about me, what am I going to carry?"
"You're going to stay here," Mike said, "You don't have a clue what needs to be done."
"I can carry things and I can cover you two and watch your back."
Mike looked at Chico. Chico shrugged and smiled. The pair went back to checking out the gear. After the third check, they felt satisfied that they had prepared as much as they could and they sat down.
"When are you going to get some sleep?" she asked Mike.
"After the mission."
Chico jumped into the conversation, "Don't push that one. He wouldn't sleep even if the mission lasted a week."
Mike started to explain what the mission was to Jo and asked her if she was sure that she wanted to go with them. He told her that there was a good chance that they would all die. She nodded and Mike told her that her job would be to cover them and let them know if anyone was sneaking up on them. He cautioned her to not fire the rifle unless gunfire broke out. He showed her how to use the Palm Pilot with the cell phone.
"If we can't call out, you push this button and say, "Mission go". Say it three times with a few seconds between each time. Then get the hell out of there. All hell is going to break loose and you don't want to be around."
She nodded and Mike had her repeat the instructions a couple of times. Chico laid down and closed his eyes. He was asleep in a minute.
"What were you doing back at the farmhouse?" Mike asked.
"I'm a nurse. We were supposed to meet a medical team in the village of Madeira and start immunization shots. My driver got lost and we almost ran out of gas. When we came down the road toward the farmhouse, we hit a pothole and damaged something on the front end. It was getting hard to control the car."
Mike nodded and looked out into the jungle thinking about the mission.
"How does whoever is coming in to help you know what to do?" she asked.
"That's what Chico was doing while he was gone. There's a team on the ground right now looking over the base and radioing the information back to the strike team. As soon as we drop the roof down on those subs, the strike team will come up the river in Zodiac boats and take out the ones that we don't trap in the subs. That's why I said to get out of there when you call in the mission. Good guys get shot sometimes too."
"Mike, you know I'm scared, don't you?"
"If you weren't scared, I'd be worried."
"What are you going to do after this is over?"
"I guess that I own a boat now, it used to be my brother's boat.
I'll probably stay down here and live on the boat until I wear out my
welcome and then find another spot to get lost in."