Motzi, who had been watching the jungle below from the middle of a thick bush next to a boulder, said, “I think three, maybe four men below. Two moving around to other side of hill behind us.”
“So, what’s the plan, boss man, since it seems from your phone call the cavalry isn’t going to be riding to the rescue any time soon?”
His face was serious as he answered, “I think we have only one shot, Lauren. If we can hold out until dark, then we can send Motzi with the samples down the hill and into the jungle. From there he can hopefully make it to our lab at the excavation site. At least then the cure and possibly the vaccine will get out to the world.”
“You think Motzi can sneak through four armed men who have us surrounded?” Lauren asked over her shoulder.
Mason grinned, glancing at the small boy almost hidden in the bush nearby. “I think the jungle is Motzi’s home, and no matter how good those mercenaries are down there, it is not their home. Yes, I think he has a fair chance to make it through them.”
She stared at him for a moment. “From what I could hear of your conversation, there is a spy in the Wildfire Team? What makes you think they’ll let the samples get tested and sent back to the CDC?”
He shrugged. “I just don’t think someone who’s worked on the team for several years could simply kill the rest of the team in cold blood just to steal some plant samples. I don’t know of anyone on the team who could be that cold-blooded.”
She marveled at his naiveté and faith in others’ innate goodness, but then she realized that was probably one of the things that drew her to him like a bee to nectar. “And us?” she asked.
He hesitated. “I think we need to stay here and keep the men at bay for as long as possible so that Motzi can get a good head start.”
She gave a low, sad laugh. “Like I said, boss man, this is a helluva first date. First we traipse through miles and miles of tropical jungle, and then we get to be sacrificial lambs in order to save the world.”
“Ummm, maybe I can make a bargain with them to let you go… plead that you’re a woman who has nothing to do with all this.”
“Not on your life, Mason,” she said, raising her rifle and snapping a shell into the firing chamber. “I’m in this for the long haul.”
She aimed and fired, eliciting a shout of “Shit!” from below as her bullet clipped a tree trunk inches from a man’s face.
“Whoo-hoo!” Lauren hollered. “Why don’t you come on up here and get us, tough guy?
Jinx put his hand to his cheek and it came away streaked with blood. “Goddamn, the bitch almost blew a hole in my fuckin’ head,” he exclaimed.
Bear chuckled to himself. It was a good lesson to his men not to underestimate their enemy as he had done.
He took out his radio and keyed the mike, “Hoss, come in,” he said in a low voice.
“Yeah, boss?”
“We’ve got the group surrounded so you can bring the boat back to this side of the river and join us. Just follow the trail and you’ll find us.”
“Roger that, boss.”
Bear cupped his hands and put them to his mouth. “Ahoy, the hill!” he shouted. Time to do some bargaining. Maybe they’d be able to get out of this without losing any more men or having to kill any more innocent people.
Mason kept his eyes glued to the jungle at the base of the hill in case the shout was a distraction for an attack. “Yeah, whattaya want?”
Bear smiled. As if they didn’t know what he wanted. “You know what we want. Give us the plant samples and the blood specimens and we’ll be on our way and let you go free.”
“Yeah, right,” Mason yelled back sarcastically. “And I suppose you’ll even give us a ride back to Mexico City in your helicopter and maybe buy us a couple of beers?”
Bear had to laugh. This guy had stones the size of basketballs. In any other situation he felt he would probably like the doc. “Yeah, I guess you have a right not to trust us.”
“Ya think?” Mason called back, chuckling himself now.
“I’m getting tired of yelling. How about meeting me halfway up the hill under a flag of truce? Your people can keep me covered and mine will keep their sights on you.”
Mason glanced over at Lauren. “What do you think? Do we trust him?”
She shrugged. “Sure, ’cause he’s seen me shoot. If he so much as blinks I’ll put one right through his eye.”
“Okay, I’m coming down. You come up without a weapon,” Mason hollered, and then he bent down and gave Lauren some instructions, which caused her to smile widely.
Jinx whispered hoarsely from behind a nearby tree. “Are you crazy, boss? That broad almost took my ear off at a hundred yards. She might just take you out to even up the odds.”
Bear put his MP5 down and stepped out from his cover. “Naw, Jinx. These guys are civilians. They’d never kill anyone in cold blood, especially under a truce agreement.”
“You want me to take him out when he steps out?” Jinx asked. “That would cut them down to just the woman and the boy.”
Bear glanced at Jinx. “Yeah, and what about me?”
Jinx scoffed, “You could be ready and duck down into the grass when you hear me shoot.”
Bear glanced at the grass and realized even lying flat parts of his body would be exposed. “How far did she miss you, Jinx?”
“Uh… I see what you mean.”
“No, stand down for now. Let’s see what they’ve got to offer to keep us from just rushing them and killing them and taking the samples.”
But in spite of his brave words, he knew a tactic like that would be suicide and that two experienced shooters with rifles that they obviously knew how to use could hold that hill against many more men than he had. No, it’d be much better if he could let them know how hopeless their situation was and try to get them to trust him to let them go if they gave him what he wanted. Right now, his greatest ally was the scorching tropical sun overhead. They’d be lucky to last until dark in this temperature.
He held his hands above his head and began to climb up the hill through the knee-deep grass as the doctor did the same thing and headed down toward him.
They met halfway down the hill and Bear stuck his hand out. “Hello, Dr. Williams. My name’s Bear.”
Mason just stared into his eyes. “Forgive me if I don’t shake hands with the devil.”
Bear laughed and spread his arms. “Devil? Me? I’m not the devil, Doc, just a man trying to make a buck.”
Mason noted Bear’s high and tight haircut and glanced at a tattoo of a globe and anchor on Bear’s right forearm with the words Semper Fi on a banner underneath. It was the symbol of the Marine Corps.
He inclined his head at Bear’s arm. “Marines?”
Bear’s eyes narrowed and he held his arm out to stare for a moment at the tat. “Yeah. You?”
“No, I was a Navy doc. The Marines used our doctors and corpsmen, as you know.”
Bear nodded. He’d always been impressed with the medical care the Navy docs provided to the Marines. While the Marines and Navy had a fierce rivalry among themselves, it’d never extended to the Navy doctors or corpsmen who provided both services with excellent care.
“So I guess you’ve forgotten what that means?” he asked, again inclining his head at Bear’s tattoo.
Bear sneered as he looked at the words. “Naw, I know what Semper Fi means… always faithful.” He gave a short laugh. “But I don’t believe in that shit anymore. I was dishonorably discharged for striking an asshole officer who got a bunch of my friends killed.”