CHAPTER SEVENTY - TWO

The flight attendant reappeared from the ****pit and began to quietly prepare breakfast for the passengers, nothing fancy but nourishing as he had been instructed. The smell of coffee began stirring the restlessly sleeping men and Elena woke, a little stiff from not moving for several hours but refreshed never the less, able to think clearly again.

For a moment she lay against Urs, enjoying the feeling of his long body warm against hers, thinking of the old days before a mission and how different it had been, her nerves sharp and ready, the darkness and cold of her trained mind over powering any emotion…. All gone, only the training and years of experience of use to her now. Still,she felt no fear, merely calm, assured that with the help of Urs and the others they could accomplish what they were setting out to do. It wasn’t necessary to kill Emilio, though she knew he deserved it for even thinking of selling children in to a life of pain and degradation at the hands of the pornographers. Punishment could be left to Ghost, to the agents who still operated in the shadows as she no longer could or wanted to.

Urs was awake, watching her and he smiled when she looked up and found his eyes on her face.

“Good rest?” he inquired and leaned in to kiss her softly.

“Yes, thank you Herr Mattress but you don’t want to kiss me now…. My mouth tastes like something died in there.”

“Mine too…Too much coffee I think. Ladies first on the bathroom, if you’re quick. The others are waking too.”

She giggled and scooted for the loo, grabbing her small pack as she went and grinning at David who had sprinted for the door but lost out rather than colliding with the much smaller woman.

Minutes later she reappeared, face washed and teeth brushed, braiding her hair neatly over her shoulder. She flipped up the cover on her ‘work’ watch, specially designed to glow in the dark and with a cover so it wouldn’t be detected by others.

“We should be about half an hour out. The pilot has already blacked out the windows to avoid detection and we’ll be flying very low, not much above sea level. There’s nothing at Jaque so eat now…it may be a while before the next meal.” She watched the others, saw no real apprehension on any of the men and sat at the table to tidy her sketches and make room for the food the attendant was bringing out from the tiny kitchen.

“Senor Armando requested supplies for the boat, some food and drink, combat first aid supplies and extra blankets. There will be a friend waiting at Jaque with a cart to take the supplies and yourselves to the boat.” The attendant made the statement matter of factly, used to strange requests from several years of working for Armando.

One by one the others trickled over to join Elena at the table, eating cereal and fruit, reviving with coffee, gradually ready to talk about the coming operation.

“You all need to become very familiar with the coast line since we must do most of our moving about in the dark. Remember, it is shaped like a ‘W’ with the village at the first lowest point, the rocky peninsula at the seaward middle point and the cove where we will make the pick up at the second low point. The cove where we will hide the boat is outside the last down-stroke of the ‘W’, each area hidden from the other by trees, higher land and boulders.
We will land at the hiding spot and walk inland, through the jungle to reach Abuela Teresa’s and adjust our plans as necessary once there. The last message from Hawk, just before we left was that he would come to the casa after he has seen the children. He will be able to tell us of Ghost’s plans and the best way to get in the shack to rescue the children.”

“And how many there are,” Seb said.

“Why do we not just let Ghost rescue them and then collect the boy?” Carlos asked and they all looked at Elena.

“Ghost will be operating in co-operation with the Columbian government and will be obligated to turn the kids over to the officials. They will then go back into orfanatos, even Flip and it would mean years of red tape to get him released. This way new identities will be created for them before we reach Mexico and they will be assured of decent families and better lives…and Flip will be home where he belongs. The officials will be blind to what happens unless forced to follow the letter of the law by public knowledge.” She smiled at Carlos, knowing that beneath his bold Latin Lover façade he was really a gentle, trusting person, not understanding the intricacies of the work she had formerly done.

The attendant came back and rapidly tidied up the breakfast dishes and announced that they would land in less than 5 minutes.

Everyone strapped in and waited quietly while they listened to the changes in the engines, heard the landing gear descend and felt the gentle nudge of the wheels hitting the tarmac. Moments later they were taxiing and Elena set the example by rising and scrambling about to collect her pack, weapons and equipment. They came to a stop though the engines did not get turned off, the lights dimmed and the door opened on darkness.

“Let your eyes adjust,” Neto advised and they all waited a moment by the door until Elena and Neto stepped out, followed by Urs then the others.

They looked around and saw only tarmac and jungle coming right up to the edge. There were no buildings, at least none that could be seen in the moonlight, no people, until Carlos spotted a horse drawn cart coming from under the trees and a man leading it.

The cargo doors opened and the attendant began unloading boxes, passing them to the man to be loaded in the cart, the doors shut and the plane taxied further down the runway to disappear from their view.

Wordlessly the man with the cart turned his horse in a circle and started off, expecting to be followed.

“Anyone wants to ride, hop on the back. It’s about a two mile walk to the river. Keep up or you’ll get left behind.” Neto jogged after the cart and hopped into the back followed by Seb and Carlos. David, Urs and Elena chose to walk alongside while they could, soon finding it impossible as the track they followed was very narrow so they walked close behind.

Keeping a steady pace they made good time. The jungle growth thinned and soon they could hear the water trickling, rounded a bend and found a wide river in front of them with several boats pulled up on wooden rails on the sand. All appeared to be fishing boats, none in particularly wonderful repair but the cart-man knew which one they would use and went directly to it, unloaded his packages on the sand and left, speaking not one word during the entire trip.

It appeared that Neto had also done this trip before for he knew exactly how to winch the sturdy boat into the water after they loaded the supplies aboard and while they stowed them in the cabin he got them floating.

“This area and the mouth of the Jaque River are fairly heavily patrolled. Neto and I will stay on deck but the rest of you should go in the cabin for a bit, unpack the supplies as best you can, no lights so use your goggles and if you speak do it softly and only Spanish.”

Urs gave her hand a squeeze and shepherded the others into the cabin quietly as Elena and Neto drew on worn ponchos over their dark clothing. She started the engine and began to steer the boat down the river.

The vessel itself was shabby, needing paint and a good cleaning, a typical working boat, the afterdeck piled with crab pots and netting hanging from hooks on long masts. The engine was another matter, purred quietly with restrained power as they sped down the fast moving river. Neto watched as she guided it from the wheelhouse built above the cabin, at ease with the sure way she avoided sand bars and a few partly sunken trees, a little nervous when he saw the ocean ahead of them, the rollers where the river met the waves of the ocean looking high and offering a very bumpy ride.

“Warn them to hang on to something,” she said softly and he ducked his head to the open transom and passed the message on.

It was timely, for she suddenly opened the throttle, judging the waves just right and they smashed head first into the series of combers with a bone jarring thump that sent the spray up and over the entire vessel. She spun the wheel and let the boat slide down the other side of the wave, spun back again to meet the next one, four more times until they were through the swirling eddies at the mouth of the river and into the calmer swells of the ocean.

She steered out into the ocean, going west by south for a while, checking the dials in front of her, then turned more southerly, keeping her distance from the coast until she passed a small group of islands on the land side. Now she turned on an easterly tack, drawing closer to shore and relaxed a bit, gave Neto the wheel and pointed out the course on the dials and went below to see how her passengers had survived.