Chapter 9

Several moments later they were approaching the glen that held the Canadian soldiers. Danni made sure they were they making lots of noise. She wanted to be noisy enough to alert the guards of their arrival so they wouldn’t get accidently shot. She also wanted them to believe they were mother and daughter who had gotten lost while fleeing the uprising. There was no way she wanted them to know about her Special Forces training as that would bring up a host of unwanted questions.

Corporal Harry Miller heard them first. He was the guard stationed to the right of the group.

“Quiet, you guys. I hear something. I think we got company.”

He announced it softly through the mic on his shoulder. The four who had been relaxing reacted instantly.

“Damn, we don’t need this”. Sergeant Ronald Durant replied.

“It’s getting more and more fucked up by the moment. It was supposed to be simple mission. As part of a United Nations peace keeping force we were supposed to just parachute in, get info about possible rebel activity in this sector and then get the hell out. Instead we get taken by surprise and two of us get shot up. Now, while were waiting for extraction somebody else discovers us. What else can go wrong?”

“They’re closing in. I can’t see them yet but I can sure the hell hear them. It sounds like they’re up on the crest of the valley and headed right for us.” Miller announced it as if he were calling a play by play.

“Take cover, all of you.” Sergeant Durant ordered. “Grab your guns and be prepared but don’t use them unless I give the order. Understand?”

He heard whispers of agreement through his radio and continued giving orders.

“Miller, keep right and make your way up the valley. Mansi, you stay left and do the same. I don’t really want a fire fight but I want whoever this is, surrounded. If they decide they want to party we’ll accommodate them.”

Yvonne Mansi, a tall skinny woman who was the guard on the left, acknowledged and then moved out. She was lean and wiry and easily slipped through the jungle bush.

She reached the top of the valley, stopped and listened. They were very close and stumbling through the bush like a herd of buffalo. They were also talking. She listened to the voices and frowned. They definitely were not soldiers. It sounded like a woman and a girl. They were chatting back and forth as if they were out on a Sunday excursion. Only it was here in the middle of nowhere.

She stayed down and out of sight as they passed her. Then watched them begin the descent into the valley. When they were gone she whispered into her radio.

“You see that Miller?”

“Yeah, but I don’t believe it. What the hell are a pair like that doing out here? It doesn’t make sense,” her counterpart responded.

“Hey, I can hear you guys too you know. What’s up?” Sergeant Durant interrupted.

“We found our visitors,” Mansi replied.

“And it’s not exactly an army,” Miller interjected with a laugh.

“I think we can relax. It’s just a woman and girl. They’re walking through here like they’re on a Sunday picnic and they’re headed right for you,” Mansi explained.

“Got you,” Durant replied. “I’ll tell the guys to stand down but you two follow them in. Just in case, you know.”

“Roger that,” Mansi and Miller acknowledged.

They fell in behind the woman and the girl. It felt ridiculous tailing the pair with rifles ready but they obeyed the Sergeant’s orders to the T.

Danni was well aware that at least one of soldiers was following her. She caught a glimpse of the female soldier when they walked by her but she gave no indication of it. Instead, she held onto Sarina’s hand and walked steadily towards the encampment. It was part of her plan to make them think she and the girl were nothing more than a lost mother and child.

As she approached the encampment she caught sight of the four men she spotted earlier. At that time they were relaxed but now everything was total business. Two were partially obscured by some bushes, rocks and fallen trees with their weapons trained on her and Sarina. Although it didn’t scare her because she knew Canadian soldiers wouldn’t fire on a woman and child, she hoped that it wouldn’t frighten Sarina too badly.

She glanced at her and saw that she was hobbling a little because of her feet, but steadfastly walking beside her. It indicated the perfect trust the girl had in her and Danni was secretly pleased. However, she still had no idea of the bond that had already developed between them.

It wasn’t until they were almost on top the soldiers that they acknowledged their presence. A stocky man of average height suddenly stepped out from behind a tree. Although his rifle was pointed downward and not at them, his posture indicated he was ready for any action that might be required. The other soldier held his position.

“Halt, stop right there,” the soldier ordered.

Danni immediately obeyed the command and began to implement the plan she had earlier rehearsed in her mind.

“Okay, okay, just don’t shoot,” she pleaded in a frightened voice.

Then she dropped Sarina’s hand and shot her arms up into the air in a gesture of total surrender.

“We’re unarmed and as you can see and we’re just woman and child, please don’t shoot us.”

“Relax, I’m not gonna shoot you,” the soldier responded in a voice that indicated total disgust she would think he would even consider doing such a thing.

With that, the remaining soldiers stepped out of the bushes and the two soldiers who had been following them appeared from behind them. Although they were totally surrounded now, Danni knew she had nothing to fear. She glanced down at Sarina and saw that not only were her hands also raised up in the air, she was slowly turning in a circle and smiling at the men. It must have seemed like one big game to her. It seemed so funny to see the girl imitating her she almost burst out laughing but she kept a straight face, feeling proud the child was playing her part so well.

“I think you can put your arms down,” the soldier said. “You too half -pint,” he grinned at Sarina.

He stepped forward and held out his hand in greeting. “Sergeant Durant. Mind telling me what you are doing out here?”

Danni totally ignored the question.

“Ruth Gilmore, my daughter Sarina.”

“I see you’re Canadians.” She added and pointed to the maple leaf insignias on their uniforms.

“Thank God, maybe you can help us. I’m Canadian too,” she continued.

“You still haven’t answered my question,” Durant persisted.

Knowing when telling a lie that it was best to stick as close to the truth as possible, Danni kept her answer as brief and as simple as possible. She didn’t elaborate. Instead she let the sergeant draw his own conclusions regarding her story.

“Same as everybody else in the country. We were running from the rebels. When they neared Bogota we got scared and left the city. We were trying to make our way north to a port on the Caribbean but I guess we got lost.” She shrugged in a hopeless way to make it seem as if what else could be expected.

“And what was a Canadian woman doing in Bogota, especially in times like this?” Durant asked with a skeptical tone in his voice.

“My husband was a doctor here. We both worked in a hospital but he disappeared months ago. He’s Columbian and warned me that if anything happened to him I should leave the country immediately but I stayed on. I kept hoping he would return but I guess it’s useless now so I decided to get out while I still could.” Danni explained.

Just as she figured they would, the Sergeant’s eyes lit up when she mentioned working in the hospital. During her earlier unseen spying on the group, she had noted that there were a couple of wounded and decided to use it to her advantage. Although she was far from being either doctor or nurse, her Special Forces training involved handling medical emergencies such as gun shots. She had been taught hygienic basics and shown how to remove bullets. She also had the lessons from her earlier nursing courses to rely on. Her knowledge was still only rudimentary but Danni figured it would be enough to keep the men alive until they could get proper help. She also knew that tending to the wounded men, even with her limited knowledge would help ingratiate herself into the squad.