Chapter 369

"Simon, I need you to lead that little pack train down the native path to the drop site. I will go ahead to be sure the path is open," I suggested.

"Let me at least go with you, Williams can relay anything we need to say to them," Jerrod suggested.

"Simon, one or five of us, it isn't going to make any difference. It is going to be just make a lot of noise and run like hell, if they are set up on the path. If not, it's just a walk in the park. You wouldn't be anything but another target. You couldn't be of any real help." What I didn't tell him is that he would do more harm than good. I could crank my hearing up, without the distraction of him, I could hear a monkey fart at a thousand yards.

"I guarantee you that if we are compromised, you will hear a gunshot. If you hear that, you need to figure out what to do next on your own. I will call you on that cell phone I gave you, if I can give you any advice. Now one thing I will tell you, everybody fights and everybody unloads the pallets. We want to be in and out of there in a very, very short time."

I made sure he had the group ready to depart before I slipped through the gate. The Monastery had been positioned where it was for a reason. It was both close to the river landing, but still on higher ground. They had easy river access for centuries, and they also had some protection from the heavy rains of the monsoon seasons.

The quarter mile down hill passed quickly, but I knew that it was going to hard on the men and animals going back up. We also were never going to be able to get in more than enough food for a couple of weeks. After that it was going to be eat the animals to keep from feeding them. I'm sorry, but it would likely come to that. I'm also sure that not even Helen could make an old jackass taste good. She would probably make a large enough stew from it to feed everyone in camp for a day or two, but that bitch would be tough and stringy, even after she worked her magic on it. That was another good reason to end the coming siege quickly. Not so much for me, since I could really care less basically, but for the others.

Of course I got to the clearing first. I made it to the riverside quickly and listened closely. All the sounds were normal, except for the clanking of metal coming down the path. That I knew to be our people. They were on site when I sent the message back to the farm. I just wanted to be assured that they could get the plane into the drop zone in a hurry.

The hurry turned into ten agonizing minutes. Even my perception of time changed a little while we waited. I was nervous, even though I knew the government troops were not on the way to the drop. They had no way to know it was even planned let alone on the way. We were the ones with the advanced information.

The Problem would come only if they got between us and the Monastery. If that happened it would be a run and shoot, since they were going to have no time to dig in either. They would be just as out in the open as us. We might lose everything on the animals, but then again maybe not.

When the drop came, it was something I had never seen before. There were two twin engine planes. Not even as large as the old C47 and their cargo doors were under the tail. They came low up the river. Then when they got over the drop-site they pulled almost straight up with the rear cargo doors open. The G forces jerked the cargo pallets out of the plane. They had what amounted to the parachute of a base jumper. It was open by the time the cargo was out of the plane. The pallets swung wildly a couple of times then hit the ground with a terrible force.

The strangest of all things was that the pallets were sitting on very large commercial truck inner tube looking things. They bounced about six feet into the air then settled back down. The only thing I recognized from either of the pallets at first glance was a tiny blue gasoline generator from harbor freight, and a ten gallon gas can. I knew exactly what it was for, I had been worried about having to run on half charge while I used a solar vest to charge. It was a huge relief.

The workers from the Monastery were a combination of priests and pendants I supposed. Whatever they were, they made quick work of the cargo on the pallets. Before I knew it, we were headed back up hill. The climb was nothing much to me, but the burros and the fathers had a bit more trouble with it. Even the strong looking Simon Jerrod was huffing and puffing here and there. Mr. Williams was a complete wreck before we got back.

"Too many good restaurant?" I asked as I walked back to encourage him to keep moving. "Trust me dude, you don't want to get left behind."

"The head of the pack animals said he didn't expect so much crap. We could have used more animals. He wanted to leave some of it." Jerrod informed me.

"You did explain about how bad a siege could get?" I asked.

"I have never been in a siege, but they are legend with the Legion," he replied.

Once we had the animals inside the courtyard, we began to unload them. As the boxes got stacked by the chapel door, the animals were led away. Once they were no longer needed. they would be taken to a farm several miles away. They would return to carry our dead away after the siege. It was going to be a very efficient system. The Monks thought of everything, except that we might need them for food. I should have kept them, but I knew that if the siege lasted more than a week, I would be gone and their food problem would be up to the monks. If that was the way they wanted it, so be it.

By the time the animals were gone, the stacks of wood and heavy cardboard boxes were piled high. Williams and Jerrod went through them, I held back waiting for the final tally.