Chapter 8: The Cabin

I was in deep thought as I glided down river toward a now certain, life or death confrontation. Ricky watched his two deputies trying to gauge how they would react if they came under fire. I glanced back to look into their faces from the prow of the small flat bottom boat wondering who wouldn't make it home tonight. I left it in the hands of fate.

I turned my eyes into the darkness surrounding us from all sides, apprehensively searching the banks for any sign of trouble. There was a ominous stillness that stared back from the depths of the deep woods and impenetrable thickets of green briar and scrub brush. It was to still.

There were no sounds of insects or night birds on their evening hunts. We may as well have been on the river Styx. I hoped the evening would bear no closer resemblance after we had contacted the kidnappers of the boy we were here to collect. Fate would be busy tonight.

Ricky killed the motor and let us drift in the current for longer than I thought possible. We ran aground on a sandy bank that rose gently to a patch of high ground that was sparsely vegetated. I stepped out and pulled the small boat securely onto solid ground. Dean and Mark were as somber as a funeral as they stepped onto the bank lugging the riot equipment. Ricky followed and was the first to speak since we had left the bridge," I think you boys should wait here until we get back. We don't know what we're walking into and it would be best until we have a plan of attack."

Dean and Mark started for their sidearms before getting hold of themselves. They were edgy and more than a little scared. Dean spoke for the both of them when he replied," Sheriff, I took this job to help people. You know I'm a little scared, but I just imagine that little boy is even more scared than I am. So if it's ok with you, I'm in this to the end." Mark nodded agreement as he withdrew his Kevlar vest from the duffel.

Ricky beamed with pride at his two young deputies. I heard the admiration in his voice when he spoke," You boys hang back until we see what's ahead. We're still a mile from the cabin and it's damn thick between here and there. If we're caught off guard try to take them out quietly. Surprise is our advantage, we don't want to loose it. Keep a ten meter spread, stay in the shadows and move slow. Watch me. When I stop, you stop."

We were geared up and ready to go by the time Ricky finished his instructions. That was when he took out the bag he had brought with him. He unfolded the meanest looking bow our military could produce. It was followed by a half dozen throwing knives that fit into sheaths along a quiver containing ten broadhead arrows.

I had to ask another dumb question just to lighten the mood," Are you going to make some banjo player squeal like a pig or is this a Rambo thing?"

"My squad thought Rambo was a pussy. If he had been with us, he would have to have been somebody's bitch."

So much for lightening the mood. I checked my.45 and jacked a round into the chamber. I knew it would be a last resort, but I didn't want to arouse anyone's suspicion. I may be hard to kill but they didn't need to think I was. My gift would protect me, but I felt I was here to protect them and a.45 is a lot of things but quiet is not one of them.

Ricky lead us away from the river and into the shadows. We walked in silence stopping every few yards to peer into the woods ahead of us and listen for any noise a base camp would make. After some time Ricky stopped and pointed to his eyes with two fingers and then at the shadows ahead. He had seen something ahead. We froze in our tracks and waited as he lay down his bow and signaled us to stay put. He disappeared in front of the two men between us and crawled forward to meet the obstruction.

I thought this was an excellent time to put my gift to use. I stepped off the trail the others occupied and moved into the brushy darkness with the quickness and stealth of the nocturnal hunter I had become. I saw what no man could see in the near pitch blackness around us.

Ricky was almost onto the man smoking a cigarette in the edge of the clearing ahead when I reached around the cedar tree twenty yards away and pulled the second unseen sentry into the scrub. He didn't make a noise as I clamped a vice-like hand around his larynx, crushing his throat. His hands had instinctively went to his throat instead of his weapon. He went down to stay. He wouldn't be a problem later and I kept his mini 14 for myself. It had more range than my.45 and held 30 rounds in the extended magazine.

I saw no more threats around the clearing and quickly moved back to my place at the rear of our procession. Ricky was waving us forward only moments later with his man dispatched to glory. We gathered at the edge of the clearing to rethink our plans.

I kneeled at the edge of the circle of men and listened to my leader. He was the only one who noticed the additional baggage I had recently acquired though he made no mention of it as he sent his men to circle the clearing to one side saying he would meet them directly opposite us. It was then he spoke to me," Did you find a new toy?"

"Someone left it leaning against a tree."

"Who?", he asked raising an eyebrow I shouldn't have been able to see.

"He won't be a problem, ever."

"You know more than you should. There's something "not right" with you. Do you want to tell me now or will I have to find out myself?"

"Nothing more to tell. Let's get around this clearing and find that boy." I said it knowing my friend would have to not like it. I wasn't ready to share everything yet.

Ricky stated tersely," I'm going this way. You follow my men around and keep low until we meet on the other side and decide on the best action." he didn't like secrets.

It was what I needed to get away from prying eyes. We split up and as soon as Ricky was out of sight I slipped into the waiting darkness. Mark and Dean were ahead of me by almost thirty yards. I moved ahead of them as unseen as a night breeze. I was at the perimeter of the cabins clearing before they had covered a third of the distance. I wasn't ready for the sight that lay before me.

A fortified compound, surrounded by at least twenty armed men. The old cabin had been turned into a major drug processing lab. The smell of methanphentimine being processed was permeating the surrounding area. A lab had been set up in an old building behind the cabin and it was shift change.

The guards were formed around the out building as four naked women waited to enter as four more were leaving the lab. They were greeted with cat-calls from the men surrounding them as they were led to the cabin. As they entered the stone structure they were groped and mauled by the guards at the door. They served a dual purpose it seemed. When they weren't cooking they were fucking the men to keep their crude needs sated.

Once the women were inside the guards nearest the cabin moved inside with them. Only moments later a small boy was led outside on a leash and chained to the porch like a dog. He crawled under the edge of the porch as far as he could to escape the leering eyes of his captives. Only moments later cries of pain rang from the cabin as the off duty guards sought their nightly entertainment.

Eight men remained on duty outside. Two were on either end of the lab, two more were stationed similarly around the cabin leaving four more to roam the grounds. It would be impossible to rescue the boy without someone dying. Firing at the cabin would endanger the boy. He would be their human shield. We needed a miracle.

Ricky was first to arrive at my vantage point and recognized the grim look on my face," How bad is it?"

"Bad as you can imagine. Twenty or so men, armed. Eight outside and maybe as many inside the cabin. Four women in the lab located in the out building. Four more at least inside the cabin getting their brains screwed out. I would summize there are more men in the lab and on sentry duty on the far side of the compound. We're outnumbered out gunned and to top it off the kid is on a chain hiding under the edge of the porch."

"That's bad enough. We need a diversion. Someone will have to draw their fire and attention away from a rear action." Ricky was thinking like a commando again.

I stated my opinion and let it fall where it would," Let's review our objective here. We want the kid. The rest be damned. We have to get all the way to the cabin and out again without being seen. A diversion would bring everybody out and start a firefight."

"So what are you suggesting?", I was glad to hear Ricky was at least open to suggestion.

"We need to give them a problem that doesn't tip them off that we are here and at the same time distracts them from what's going on."

"And what the hell would that be?"

"I'm thinking Agent Webber."

Ricky smiled an evil grin as he recognized the solution to two problems. Agent Webber didn't belong in the F.B.I. anymore and we needed a sacrificial lamb. " I like it. I'll send Dean to get him and give him a boat with directions on how to get here. We'll let him make a group arrest."