“Nicht schießen! Nicht schießen! Ich bin ein Koch! Nicht schießen!” he cried.
“Quiet! Get back here,” demanded Dane as he grabbed the man by the arm and slung him toward the back of the room. Hugo grabbed the girl by the arm and stepped up to the door and listened for anyone else coming down the hall. He locked the door from the inside and moved the girl back behind the pallets of flour where Dane was with the man. They sat them both down on flour sacks.
“Sprechen Sie Englisch?” asked Dane in German to the young man.
“Yes, yes,” cried the man. “I speak English.”
“What about you?” asked Dane. He looked at the girl. He expected a yes answer from her as well.
“Yes, I can speak English.” Her tone was deliberate and cold.
“Excellent,” said Dane, looking over each of them. “Are either of you armed?”
“No, sir, we are not armed. Please don’t hurt us,” said the man quietly. “We will do anything you want.”
“What is this place?” Dane said forcefully, his weapon’s muzzle still in the man’s face.
“What do you mean?” said the man, scared to death. “It is dry food storage.”
“I don’t mean this room, you idiot, this complex. What is it?”
“This is Fortress Alpha,” the girl said as if everyone should know.
“Sit down,” demanded Dane. “Tell me about Fortress Alpha.”
“This is our home. We have thousands of people here,” said the girl defiantly. “Who are you and how did you get in here?” she asked, her voice showing contempt.
Dane was stunned at her answer regarding thousands of people. But he did not show it. “You say you have thousands here. Are they all Germans?”
The man’s eyes widened. Dane had guessed well. “Yes. Most of us grew up here. A few came from Germany but most were born here,” explained the man.
“How long has Fortress Alpha been here?” Dane asked, sensing that this cook would probably answer any question he asked.
“Since the end of the war,” the man answered calmly.
“Which war?” Dane asked hoping he wasn’t going to hear what he expected.
“World War II, of course.”
Dane’s theory was confirmed. Still he was shocked. “You mean to tell me that the Germans set up this place after World War II and have been here ever since?” he asked in disbelief.
“Yes,” answered the man, clearly puzzled at Dane’s shocked facial expression.
Dane looked back at Hugo. “You getting this?” he asked.
“Yeah,” answered Hugo. “Holy crap, what the hell have we found here?” He looked at Dane. He knew this confirmed what Dane thought but he didn’t want to let these two know that they weren’t surprised.
“I don’t know, but I do know this is much, much bigger than I thought. Dana and Randall are in worse trouble than I imagined.”
“And what are you two doing here?” asked Hugo.
The man stood up. “I must get back to the kitchen,” he said, hoping to get out of the room. The girl stood too.
“I guess you have to go too,” said Dane.
“Yes, I must return to work.”
“Work, what kind of work do you do?” asked Hugo.
“I am a technician and he is a cook,” she answered quietly.
“You two sit your asses down,” barked Dane. “You aren’t going anywhere until I learn more about you and this Fortress Alpha. You can talk now or you can sit here until we leave and you go with us. It’s your choice. Do you understand?”
The two looked at each other. The man reached out and held the girl’s hand. “We will cooperate if you don’t hurt us.”
“I got the door,” said Hugo as Dane began to interrogate the technician and the cook.
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
Ben and Tecal sat silently in the rain under a small tarp that was part of a tent. Their camp, as it was, sat beside a stream underneath several large palm trees and lined with a few oversized ferns. The site provided extremely good cover. The noise of the rain beating on the tarp overhead blocked out much of the background jungle noises. Tecal’s men were dispatched into the jungle back in the direction of Dane and Hugo. There had been no contact with Dane and Hugo since Ben had retreated to the stream to wait.
“I hope the guys are okay,” said Ben. “Hopefully they have made contact with someone by now. I have a bad feeling that something has happened.”
Tecal looked at Ben. “Mr. Dane is good man. He will be back soon. You see.”
Ben smiled. “Damn, I hope so.” Regardless of Tecal’s words of encouragement, he was still concerned. Ben constantly monitored the GPS frequency of Dane and Hugo’s unit for their location. Dane was instructed to check in with a GPS signal if everything was all right, but there had been no contact in hours. It was possible Dane didn’t want to use the GPS since he thought the men in black might be monitoring the frequency. If Dane used the GPS, not only would Ben know they were all right and where they were, but the bad guys may be able to find them as well. That made sense, thought Ben, trying to rationalize why there had been no contact. At least that was what he wanted to believe.
The rain was letting up slightly. Both Ben and Tecal heard an odd sound at the same time. It was one of Tecal’s men running back into the camp. Tecal pulled him under the tarp and began talking to him. The man was speaking very fast and was very animated. Ben thought the worst.
Tecal and the man talked for a few minutes. Then he sent the man back out.
“What’s happening?” asked Ben excitedly.
“He found two men in black tied up,” explained Tecal. “Looks like Mr. Dane caught two bad men. Tracks show Mr. Dane moved on. Also say many other bad men in jungle. None near here, but he saw three groups of three men around trail waiting for us to come. Not good.”
“Damn,” said Ben under his breath, staring out into the jungle toward the trail. “Those bastards really want us bad. They must be protecting something important. I wonder what the hell it is.”
Tecal nodded in agreement. “Second man should be back soon. Maybe he has more to tell.”
Ben stood up. The rain stopped but the humidity of the Brazilian jungle seemed to squeeze the life out of everything. It was oppressive. You felt you could cut the air with a knife. Ben remembered a summer once many years ago in Savannah, Georgia, where the temperature was in the high 90’s with 100 % humidity and no breeze. At the time, he thought there was no place on earth that was more miserable. He was wrong. The Brazilian jungle is worse, hands down.
He turned around and picked up his pack, still under the tarp. He removed the radio. He was bitching about not hearing from Dane when he realized he had not contacted Lee back at base camp.
He turned on the radio and adjusted the squelch to get rid of the static. He ensured the proper frequency was tuned.
“Ben to base camp, Ben to base camp, come in base camp, come in Lee, over… ”
There was no answer. He decided to call again.
“Ben to base camp, Ben to base camp, come in base camp, come in Lee, over… ”
He waited. About a minute later he heard Lee’s voice.
“Base camp to Ben, base camp to Ben, God, where have you been? I’ve been dying to hear from you, over… ”
Ben smiled. “Hi, Lee. All is okay here. Dane and Hugo have gone ahead to make contact. One of Tecal’s men reports they found the dangerous guys and went on. So far we have not heard from Dane or Hugo, over… ”