Chapter 11

It was mid-morning the following day and Sergeant Will Mansconi was hiking through the Columbian jungle with his squad.

He suddenly held up his hand as a signal for his squad to halt. He stopped, took a swig of water and wiped his lips.

“How far away do you figure we’re from Durant’s squad? He asked his navigator.

Corporal Lena Godfrey studied her compass and GPS for a moment before replying.

“Well, according to the co-ordinates they gave us I think a mile, maybe, at the most. Maybe even closer and it’s straight ahead.” She replied.

“So let’s go find them and save their dumb asses so we can get ourselves out of this god damn place” the Sergeant said as he led his squad forward again.

However, they hadn’t gone very far at all when he suddenly stopped and his group crowded up behind them.

“Listen, anybody else hear that?” he asked.

The whole squad listened slack jawed as the sounds of the song Oh Canada floated over the sounds of the jungle.

Manconni frowned. It wasn’t only that it was unusual to hear anybody singing any kind of song in such a hell hole. It was the voice. It struck all of them ... strong ... beautiful ... crystal clear and youthful.

“Yeah, I do. It’s somebody singing the national anthem and she’s really belting it out. Kind of makes me feel proud just hearing it sung like that,” announced Corporal John Boyden.

“Not only that. I think it’s a girl, and a very young one,” stated Private Jack Richmond.

“No kidding. You two guys are such mental giants I’m gonna have the Brass pin a Genius Medals on your chests when we get back to base camp,” Mansconi announced.

The rest of the six person squad laughed loudly but the pair took it in good humor.

“Well, I guess one of those would be welcome ‘cause I don’t think one’s ever been presented to a soldier before,” Boyden, ever the wit, replied.

“Good, then you and the other genius can go on ahead. Find out what the fuck the girl is singing for and what the hell she’s doing out here. I think she might be with Durant’s guys ‘cause we should be almost on top of them by now. Just make fucking sure they aren’t in any trouble before we move in on them. Okay?”

“We’ll wait here for you to report back. I just hope that Durant hasn’t gotten himself in more shit so be careful and observe carefully ‘cause we don’t want to stumble into anything unprepared.”

The pair nodded and moved off down the trail while the rest of it sat down and waited.

“Moments later Mansconi heard a voice over his radio.

“Found Durant, Sarge, and all his men, the girl, and a woman. How’s that for success,” Boyden, still the wit, chuckled.

“Yeah right. That’s exactly what I figured. Now I just wonder what Durant is up to. His mission said no civilians and here he is with a girl and a woman. That guy sure knows how to fuck things up, eh.”

“Right, he sure does. But they seem friendly and the girl is belting that anthem out like it would do any Canuck proud,” Boyden continued.

Mansconi sighed in frustration and told the pair. “Just stay where you are and don’t do anything. We’re on our way. Just give us a couple of moments. Then we’ll see if we can get to the bottom of this.”

Durant and his group stirred when Mansconi and his squad walked into sight.

“About time you got here. What kept you?” Got lost in the jungle or something? Durant good naturedly chided his fellow army buddy.

“No, just the usual fuck up. Somebody couldn’t read your co-ordinates properly and dropped us about 10 miles short so we spent the morning busting our asses hiking to you. Also, we thought we had better things to do than come out here and save your sorry ass so we took our own sweet time,” Mansconi parried with a laugh.

Then he got serious. He pointed at the woman and the girl seated beside Dempster.

“What gives with them eh? I heard that girl singing a fucking mile away and who’s the woman. The mission said no civilians, remember? We just can’t pick civilians up in the middle of nowhere and take them out of a foreign country, you know.”

“She sure sings sweet, doesn’t she? Durant stated with a smile

However, when he saw the look on Mansconi’s face, he said. “It’s a long story but to make it short and sweet they stumbled into our camp yesterday. Said they were fleeing the rebels. Then it turned out the woman, says she’s Ruth Gilmore, knew a bit of nursing. Well, more than we did anyway. It was enough to fix up Simpson’s shoulder. He had a bullet in him from our skirmish with the rebels and she took it out. It probably saved his life.” Durant explained.

Mansconi nodded but refused to give in.

“So, what part of no civilians don’t you understand? We bring them back with us and the Lieutenant is going to be extremely pissed, you know. He’ll have our asses for breakfast every day for a month.”

Durant shrugged his shoulders and said apologetically. “Look, she saved Simpson’s live so we owe her, and the girl, well, she’s such a sweetie, my group kinda’ adopted her. They wouldn’t hear of us leaving them behind.”

“So?” Mansconi retorted with a snort of derision. “Now your squad leads and you follow.”

“Well, I thought they had a point. The woman did save a life you know so we thought we had to do something because we just couldn’t leave them out here. And so yeah, we kind of taught them a few things Canadian like our national anthem. That way when the Lieutenant questions us we can say, sorry we must have made a mistake because they sure seemed Canadian to us It took Dempster part of last night and most of this morning but now that girl sings that anthem as if she’d been singing it forever,” Durant explained.

“Fuck, you out of your mind Durant? The Lieutenant’s never going to believe that cock and bull story. You’ll be fucking lucky if you’re still in the army when he gets finished with you.” Mansconi exploded.

“Yeah, but as the old saying goes. That’s our story and we’re sticking to it. We know the Lieutenant will be pissed but since the whole squad is willing to swear on it we figure we just might be able to get away with it. Look, she did save Simpson’s life. There’s no denying that. So, you with us or what? Durant demanded as Mansconi attempted to walk away.

He turned around and said. “What? Now you want to drag me and my crew into your shit.”