Chapter 5

Danni woke early to the sound of gunfire. She made her way to the window and realized the gunfire was sporadic and distant. The loudest noise was created by the discharge of large canons which could be heard for blocks. However, a TV news report indicated that although the rebels were still gathered near the southern edge of Bogota they hadn’t managed to fully penetrate it yet. It meant they hadn’t made much of an advance during the night and that the government forces were still holding them back.

Danni decided it was imperative to complete her job as quickly as possible. She knew from experience how ruthless rebels could be when they entered a conquered city. Most likely there would be not only widespread looting but also indiscriminate killing and raping as the victorious troops ran wild. She suspected it would only get worse if the current government collapsed and the rebels began extracting their revenge.

With this in mind, she emptied her travel bag and stuffed in only the bare essentials. The rest would be abandoned, strewn around the floor. It was all extras for show during her school teacher act. Besides, by the time anyone checked up on her, she’d be long gone. And the rebels would actually help her as everything would be total chaos for a while.

When she ready to go she grabbed the two maps she had purchased on her way through the airport. One was the map of Bogota she would need to find the things she was supposed to retrieve. On it, she had found the address she was given. She marked its location with an X the previous night. It was an apartment in a residential area of the city. She noted that although it was in the southern portion of Bogota, it was still some distance from where the rebels had become entrenched. She completed her homework by tracing the best routes so she would have little trouble getting to it. It was going to be a simple grab and run. She intended to get over there as quick as possible, take the valuables out of the hiding place and get the hell out of the city. With any luck she’d be gone well ahead of the rebels.

The second map was of Columbia. She had taken the time the previous night to study it and mark the best transportation routes in and out of the country. Before she left she disposed of her Lenore Hugan passport by flushing it down the toilet. Then she looked over two other documents she had hidden in a secret compartment of her flight bag.

One said she was Ruth Gilmore, a Canadian with UNICEF, currently part of a mission to help villages restore wells for proper drinking water. The other showed she was Gloria Rheumes, a Columbian citizen who was a legal secretary with an American legal firm. The papers indicated she had been hired to help the lawyers negotiate their way through the process of buying a Columbian company.

Unable to decide which one to use, she decided to hang onto both for a while. She stowed them in her bag and headed for the door. She discovered that the hotel was taking no heed of the battle raging on the city’s perimeters because its restaurant was still open for business. She took advantage of it by buying a large coffee and a couple of traditional Columbian pastries.

The coffee was pure Columbian and much stronger than what she was used to. But it was just what she needed, a good jolt of caffeine to start off a very busy day. She was sipping on it and biting into the first of two chicken empanadas by the time she reached the outside door. As she stood outside looking around for a cab, and finishing off pastry number one, she was hit again by the oppressive heat. Even though it was still early, the sun was already beating down without mercy and the humidity was like a sauna.

Danni put her experience to work and ignored it. During the training sessions she had been taught to endure much worse than this, like being dropped in the middle of nowhere where it was either freezing cold or hot as hell with only the clothes on her back to survive. Sweat was running down her t-shirt, making her back and neck itchy by the time a cab came. Since she wasn’t about to divulge her true destination to anyone, she directed the driver to a spot several blocks away from her desired destination.

“No, no good,” protested the driver in stilted English. “Too close to rebels. My friend say this morning they are on the edge of the city. Why you want to go? It’s too close.”
To prove his point, he deliberately slammed the gear shift lever into park, folded his arms and craned his neck around to look at her.

“Why you want to go there? You crazy, rebels too close.”

Danni reached into her bag and pulled out a wad of money.

“See this? It’s US money, not inflated Columbian pesos. I can give you ... say two of these.” She waved the fifty dollar bills at the driver.

“You can have all of it. All you got to do is drive me to that address.”

The driver hesitated for only an instant. He was grabbing for the money, even as he put the car into gear.

Danni pulled her hand back and said. “No way, half now and half when we get there.”

The cab driver nodded in agreement.

“Okay, but I no wait for you. I only drop you off and leave right away. No wait, no return fare.”

“Deal.” Danni said.

What I’m giving him with probably enough for the poor guy to feed his family for a month, Danni thought as the cab maneuvered through the wide boulevards of the downtown area. Since this where the rich lived and the tourists congregated, everything looked clean, green and peaceful. The distant sound of gunfire seemed to be of no concern at all. However, the cab was soon out of the area. The streets got narrower, dirtier and more congested. And the roar of canons and the barks of rifle got louder. They went through a working class neighborhood. It was much better than outright slums but it was much poorer than the tourist area. Instead of large, fancy houses there were rows of smaller ones.

As Danni stared out the window of the taxi cab she noted some residents sitting outside on stoops, but as they got closer to her destination she saw that everyone was on the move. There were hundreds of people, with their belongings piled into carts, bicycles and wheel barrows. They crowded the streets as they fled from the rebels.

The cab driver began to look worried. He took his nervous eyes off the road to look back at Danni. She waved the other $50 bill at him. He eyed it greedily and continued driving. When he finally arrived at the address she’d given him he skidded to a stop and grabbed the bill out of Danni’s hands.

“I go now, not return. You be careful. You crazy. Not safe here. Rebels too close,” he warned.

His cab was already in motion when Danni exited it.

Now the size of the crowd had swelled like an unstoppable raging river it flooded the streets and over flowed onto the sidewalks. It was non-stop and endless. Young people, old people and families with infants all heading frantically in the opposite direction Danni was going.

The gagging smell of heavy smoke hung in the air like low lying clouds and completely blocked out the sun. The roar of howitzers mingling with the sound of gunfire made some of the fleeing people scream. It caused the crowd to surge forward. It was like a stampede.

As soon as the cab beat a hastily retreat, Danni rechecked her city map. She was still four blocks away from her destination and she set out running against the teaming tide of humanity. But because it was moving in the opposite direction it slowed her down until she finally broke free with two blocks to go. Since she wanted to get this over with as quickly as possible she broke into a full sprint until she reached her destination.

It was a three story apartment building. The wooden structure might have been pretty nice at one time but now it looked in very bad shape. Last night’s news reports were correct. The rebels did manage to breach this part of the city but they’d been pushed back. Now, the once fine houses were deserted and in shambles due to the looting that had taken place.

Everything was silent when she entered the apartment and started up the stairs to the third floor where a safe was supposed to be buried under some floor boards. The stairs were littered with garbage, damaged and discarded furniture and broken glass. Bullet holes in the walls made them look like Swiss cheese and stair railings were missing.

Danni listened. It was quiet except for the faint sounds of screaming refugees floating through the smoky air and the gunfire echoing across the area. She carefully crept up the stairs and pulled a crumpled piece of paper from her pocket---38 57 12 22; the combination was barely visible on the paper soaked with perspiration.

It wasn’t until she reached the top level that she realized something was wrong. She stopped and heard voices. They were loud, like people arguing. Then suddenly the argument escalated and there were sounds of bodies being slammed against the walls.

What the hell? I don’t need this right now, Dannie cursed

She turned towards the sounds and listened. She wanted no part of an altercation because it meant a delay she could ill afford.

She crept to the doorway and looked inside. Two men were fighting a third and they seemed to be getting the best of him. His face was covered in blood and he was being held down by one man while the other was kicking and punching him. In the far corner a woman and a little girl crouched down against a wall.

“Make it easy on yourself, you bastard. Just tell us where the stuff is so we can take it and the girl and get out of here,” one of the men demanded. He punctuated his words with a kick into his victim’s back.

There was a muttered protest. “No, I can’t tell you anything because I don’t know the combination. You can’t take the girl either. We promised to protect her.”