Chapter 101

The called came on the small hand held radio, "Sylvia are you alright."

"Yeah I think I have about ten more minutes before they arrive," I said. "What is the word on the buses?"

"They are on the way, but it's going to be a while," Island girl said.

"If they bypass me or worse, you are going to have to hold on till they get there." I said. "I wonder why I feel like James Bowie at the Alamo."

"You are going to have a better ending," Gator said. "I promise you.

"Stay with the clients till that bus gets there. That's an order," I replied. "I can hold them off long enough I expect, but if not, they will be coming in blind so take advantage of that." I demanded.

"I'll be just fine." I really wished that I believed it. I expected to die in that rotten smelling jungle. I regretted using that first bandit as bait it was one of most inhumane things I had ever done. The torture had been necessary to save lives, but what I did in the end was murder. I had committed murder before, but it wasn't the same. I had always justified it as just necessary, or the right thing.

"The difference is, I enjoyed this one for all the wrong reasons," I whispered out loud. Maybe it was because I was pretty sure I was going to meet him face to face that I asked god to forgive me.

I watched the man with the AK47 carefully approach the body. When he was close I tried to gut shoot him, but the red patch appeared on his body mass several inches to the right and much higher than I wanted. The result was still pretty much the same even if the strike was off. He was out of the battle and he was making a lot of noise. It would be hard for his friends to ignore him.

The wise and most strategic thing to do would be to leave him and bypass me. The problem was, like the conquistadors had found out before, it would take a long time to bypass this bottle neck. Unlike the native Indians, I wasn't luring them deep into the kill zone. When the conquistadors walked into the trap that the Indians had set for them, there was no going back. I had left a wide area for the bandits to retreat.

After about twenty minutes, during which time I changed my position, half a dozen mean came toward the screaming man. They came up in squad formation. I opened fire on them from the new location. I hit three of them with my first burst. I quickly switched the empty magazine one out for a full one. The second three men had gone to ground. They were trying to acquire a target. I knew that I needed to move quickly.

They were about a hundred yards away. It might have only been seventy five, but it was a long way off. My guess was that they were spray and pray marksmen, so I wasn't too awfully worried. I was more worried by the phone call which came at the same time.

"Sylvia," the colonel said. "They are coming up the creek on your right flank."

"Roger that," I said. You had to love satellites, I thought. I rolled over to the washed out creek. When I was sure they had all turned the corner I opened fire with the A4. I fired for their bellies. I was trying to inflict maximum damage and still leave them screaming. I got three more and the others turn and ran to regroup. I went back to the original position to check on the three I had left alive there.

"Colonel what happened to the three I left by the body?" I asked. They dragged their friend into the bush. It looks like they are coming though the bush for you." he said.

"Well, I still have to buy them some more time at the base camp," I said.

"The good news is the bus is ten minutes out," the Colonel said.

"The bad new is the bus is ten minutes out and the bandits are five," I said.

"That's about it. I have no idea where the bandits are," he said.

I turned the phone's volume up, then placed it under a bush. I moved about about twenty yards away, which is a lot in dense foliage. I heard their boots moving fast toward the sounds coming from the phone. When they were close, I stood and emptied the magazine into the four men coming up the trail.

Then I heard someone speaking English behind me. "Don't shoot it's us," the voice said with a thick British accent. Before I knew it there were two more guns on my side of the ledger. They actually stood beside me and sprayed the jungle. Suddenly there was a hell of a lot of lead outgoing. I was pretty sure by then the price of the Senator's Daughter was too fucking high for the bandits, if there were any still capable of thinking.

"Well, do you want to hunt them down," Gator asked in his slow drawl and a nasty smile on his face.

"Fuck no, I want to get out of here before the government knows for sure what happened." We got back in time to get on the bus and drive away. Island chick explained to the driver what would happen, if he stopped for anything at all. He was terrified and it showed. I didn't feel one bit sorry for him. I was sure I was more frightened than him.

We drove and stopped only to gas the bus. Then we drove some more. We got to a border crossing just in time to be met by the border patrol. The senator's daughter had called home and made the arrangements.

"It helps to have friends in high places," she said to me. It was the first time I had smiled during the almost twelve hour bus ride.

"That's probably why I'm always in shit. All my friends are in low places," I said with a smile.

"You know my dad is going to be in Dallas to meet us, you probably should at least take a shower," she said.