The knife dug in just enough to draw a small drop of blood that spread through Blade’s shirt. “That’s yore problem, Blade. You tryin’ to do somethin’ you ain’t bein’ paid to do… think!”
They both heard the click of a pistol being cocked behind them and they turned to see Bear standing there holding his Glock by his side. “Did you really think you could sneak out of camp without me hearing you?” He grunted, “If it wouldn’t wake everyone up within five miles I’d put a bullet in your spine and leave you to die in the dirt,” he said in a mild tone.
Blade slowly raised his hands. “Bear… I didn’t mean…”
“You are truly dumber than dog shit, Blade. Do you really think I didn’t consider doing just what you just thought of? The problem with that plan, you ignorant piece of shit, is that as soon as the villagers found the bodies or the blood or even found the doctor and the lady missing, they would eventually tell someone and the shit would hit the fan.”
“But…”
“But nothing, just shut the fuck up before I have Psycho make you into a shish kebab. My way, the doc and the lady disappear into the jungle and no one will ever know if it was foul play or if some narco-traffickers or wild animals killed them. All they’ll know is they didn’t make it back to civilization with the samples.”
Blade nodded slowly. “Oh, I see.”
Bear looked at Psycho and shook his head. “Now he gets it.” He sighed. “Do you think he’s too dumb to salvage, Psycho, or should we just gut him and forget him?”
Sweat began to pour off Blade’s head. “Now boss, don’t do nothin’ you’ll regret.”
Psycho glared at Blade for a minute, and then he smiled. “Well, he is pretty good with a knife, boss. Shame to waste a talent like that, ’specially if you think he’s learned his lesson ’bout not thinkin’ too much.”
“I have, I have, I promise,” Blade pleaded, sweat running off his forehead to hang in a large drop on his nose.
Bear shook his head again. “Oh, just get the fuck out of my sight before I change my mind and kill you right now.”
As Blade jogged silently off into the jungle, Bear released the hammer on his Glock and put it in his shoulder holster.
“Whattaya think, Psycho?” Bear asked.
“I think long as yore up anyway, why don’t you take the rest of my watch an’ I’ll get me some shut-eye.”
Bear laughed. “Go on, you slacker, I’ll take over till dawn, but you got to fix breakfast.”
“Deal,” Psycho said and he disappeared silently into the jungle.
Chapter 32
Janus walked by the window into the intensive care unit at the Cytotec lab and marveled at the sight of Eduardo Matos laughing and enjoying his first solid meal in a couple of weeks. It was truly amazing how fast the plants that the Indio boy, Guatemotzi, had given them had cured his infection. Now all they had to do was go back through the records of his treatment to find out which antibiotics had been given at the same time as the plants and they would be halfway home to a cure.
Jesus, Janus thought, General Blackman is going to cream his pants when I tell him we’ve already got a potential cure for the anthrax plague even without the additional plants and blood samples that his team of mercenaries is going to get for him.
Janus even thought for a moment of having the general call off the hit team so that there would be no chance of Mason Williams getting seriously hurt or killed. Janus had grown seriously fond of Dr. Williams in the years they’d worked together, and even though their goals in this case were diametrically opposed, Janus did not want the doctor harmed.
No, Janus realized not for the first time that the general could not be trusted. Even though Janus had warned him in the strongest possible terms not to harm Mason, there was still a better than even chance the son of a bitch would have him killed anyway. Mason’s fate was truly in the hands of the gods now and there was nothing anyone could do about it.
What did trouble Janus almost as much was the fact that now that the Wildfire Team knew about the plants and how they had cured Matos and how valuable they were as a potential cure for the plague, they would all almost certainly have to die.
Before Matos’s cure, if Mason and Sullivan had “been lost in the jungle,” the team would have probably forgotten all about the plants and figured they were not worth the trouble of risking someone else’s life to obtain them. But that was all changed now… they knew the plants were invaluable, not to mention the potential value of the blood samples for a vaccine.
In an ironic way, Matos’s salvation meant death for the Wildfire Team, for the only way the plants and the blood samples were of any use to General Blackman was if no one else knew about them. He had to have a complete monopoly on the cure for his blackmail of the world to be effective in securing for him what he wanted.
Janus liked the Wildfire Team and hated to see them all die, but sometimes the few had to be sacrificed for the good of the many. Janus had learned this lesson well from bitter personal experience.
Stepping outside, Janus once again used the sat-phone the general had provided.
“Blackman here,” the general answered on the first ring.
“Janus, General. I have some important news about the plants the Indio boy provided.”
“What about them?”
“They were a complete success. The patient Matos was completely cured less than twenty-four hours after the dosages were started.”
“Goddamn, that’s great news!”
“Yes, and remember, the boy only gave us a few of the plants that the curandera uses. Presumably there are more plants to be tested that might be even more potent against the infection than these are. Once I have all the data, I will text you the antibiotics that were used in conjunction with the plants so you’ll have all the info you need to begin testing in Fort Detrick’s lab.”
Janus paused to let that sink in and then added, “And we’re not even talking about the possibilities the blood specimens will give us as far as concocting a possible vaccine against ever becoming infected with the virus in the first place.”
“Janus, you’ve done great work for me and for your country. I am going to make sure that you get your just rewards for your loyalty when all this is over.”
“General,” Janus continued, in a low voice, “there is something else you need to consider.”
“Yeah?”
“The Wildfire Team here on-site knows of the plants and of their miraculous ability to cure this plague. I’ve managed to temporarily sabotage our communications systems so that no one here can send a report about the plants back to the CDC, but that won’t stop them for long.”
“Uh-huh, I see.”
“So, you’ll take care of keeping them from telling anyone of our success?”
“Yeah, I’ll have Bear’s team make a detour down there as soon as he delivers the specimens to my men who are waiting at the Mexico City airport.”
“You’ll also have to make sure that none of the Mexican soldiers or doctors are allowed to fly down here before Bear has… uh… taken care of things on this end.”
“Don’t worry, Janus, I’ve already given Bear instructions to make sure there are no loose ends down there.”
Janus disconnected the call and took a few steps before the implications of what the general had said hit home. How had he known to tell Bear to “make sure there are no loose ends” before I told him about the success of the plants? What loose ends were there before we knew we had the cure?
Son of a bitch, the bastard was talking about me! Janus realized. That asshole is planning to kill me after all I’ve done and all I’ve risked, just to make sure I never talk about what he’s done. That bastard!