“This is the heart of the Orinoco Belt,” Ruiz said as they approached the small airport.
The oil exec made a smooth landing and taxied to a beat-up hangar, shutting done the engine and turning to Karl and Maya. “See. I didn’t kill you.”
Heading through the hangar to the front, a beat up white SUV with the oil company logo on it, waited for them. This Toyota had large, oversized tires, and the white paint was splattered heavily with brown mud.
From the front passenger seat, Karl brought up the GPS coordinates of the location given to him. From that, he mapped out their destination and directed Ruiz which way to go.
They were on the edge of the city already, so they didn’t have to deal with much traffic. After a short distance, they were traveling on a lonely country road with sketchy pavement.
Just then a text came in from Roddy at the Agency. It simply said to call him when he could safely do so.
Karl glanced to the back seat at Maya, who seemed half asleep from the travel. Then he looked to Ruiz and asked, “How familiar are you with this area?”
Ruiz shrugged. “We have wells all over this region. Anytime you see a gate across a dirt track out here, it will more than likely end up at a working derrick.”
“Could you pull over for a quick relief?” Karl asked.
Ruiz pulled to the side of a road and put the vehicle in park. “Be careful. There are a lot of wild creatures out there that will do harm. If you have to poop, there’s toilet paper in the glove box.”
“I’m good,” Karl said, and then got out. He moved around to the blind spot and took out his phone, punching in the number for his Agency contact.
“Good to hear from you, Karl,” Roddy said. He sounded out of breath.
“What’s up?”
“I need to brief you on our friends in the Russian ship.”
“Okay.”
Roddy explained the current situation, including the new introduction of the Kilo-class sub trailing them.
“Makes sense,” Karl said. “After leaving Murmansk, the ship passed right by the largest sub base in Russia. It only verifies our suspicions. You don’t send the newest Russian sub if it’s not protecting something important.”
“That was our thought as well,” Roddy said. “Where are you?”
“You should be tracking my SAT phone,” Karl said.
“Well, Big Brother is always watching, but I thought you could verify your location.”
“About twenty miles from our target,” Karl said. He checked his watch and added, “We might have enough light to check out the location.”
“You should have hours of light,” Roddy said.
Karl looked up to the sky. “True, but it looks like a massive front is coming in.” Just as he said this, the wind started to pick up, twisting the tree tops and blowing forest debris in every direction.
Maya suddenly got out of the SUV carrying a roll of toilet paper. She smiled as she headed into the forest a short distance before squatting.
“I should probably get going,” Karl said.
“Wait. Our recent images of the area are inconclusive. The forest canopy could be covering a number of buildings.”
Karl thanked Roddy and then punched off the call, placing the phone back in his pocket. While he was out there, he did relieve himself. Maya came back and smiled when she saw him midstream.
“The opposite of shrinkage,” she said.
“I really had to go.”
“What did the Agency want?”
“Just an update. I told them we were almost there and would get back with them once we verified the site.” He shook off and zipped up.
She nuzzled close to him. “Now you got me all hot.”
“I’d take you up against the SUV, but I don’t think Ruiz would appreciate that.”
“Maybe not. But I would.”
Good to know. “Later.”
She rubbed his arm. “Promise.”
“Scouts honor.”
They got back into the SUV and Ruiz pulled back out onto the lonely road. The closer they got to their location, the more suspicious Karl got about the intel he had gotten from the college professor in Caracas. How in the hell had she simply stumbled across this location?
Soon they turned onto an even more isolated road heading deeper into the jungle. This road was barely wide enough for two vehicles to pass safely.
Suddenly, Ruiz pulled over to the side of the road.
Karl knew immediately why he had done so. A large truck approached from the other direction. The truck was as green as the surrounding forest, and looked to be a military transport with a camo top over the bed.
Ruiz waved to the driver of the truck as it passed, but got nothing back from the driver. “We have to be close now.”
Checking his phone GPS, Karl said, “The location should be up ahead about a mile on the right.”
“Perhaps we should just watch from here,” Ruiz said.
“Watch what?” Karl wanted to know.
“Comings and goings of vehicles. That was obviously not an oil exploration truck that just passed us.”
“It was Venezuelan Army,” Karl said, as he checked out the terrain on his phone map. Then he pointed into the forest and said, “The land rises at least five hundred feet in that direction.”
Leaning forward, Maya asked, “How far?”
“Looks like about a little more than a half a mile,” Karl said. He clicked from map terrain view to satellite view. “And it looks like there could be an opening here, which might give us a view of the site.”
Silence in the SUV as each of them considered their prospects.
Finally, Karl said, “It would be nice if we had a camera with a nice lens.”
Ruiz smiled. “I can help with that.” He got out and went to the back end, returning with two items — a Nikon digital camera with a variable zoom lens, and a pair of 10x50 Zeiss binoculars. He handed both to Karl. “This should help.”
Karl smiled. “Outstanding.” He accepted both, handing the binoculars to Maya in the back.
Now, Karl glanced up at the sky and saw that it seemed to be getting even darker. “What do you think this weather will do?”
“Doesn’t look good,” Ruiz said.
“I could just go myself,” Karl said. “Get some shots and get out. You two wait down here for me.”
“That’s probably best,” Ruiz said, somewhat relieved.
“No frickin’ way,” Maya said. “I’m going with you.”
Karl considered her plea. The two of them had come a long way from simple college students in Murmansk. But he still wasn’t sure if he could entirely trust her, especially after seeing her with the Russian SVR officer in Caracas.
Shifting his head toward the back of the SUV, Karl said, “All right. Let’s go.” Then to Ruiz he said, “I need you to drive up the road and call me with what you see. That’s it.”
“I can do that,” Ruiz said.
Karl got out and went to the back, pulling out their small duffle bags. They couldn’t leave those behind, since none of the clothes would match Ruiz. Plus, Karl had extra Glock magazines, additional passports, and too much cash to explain.
Maya immediately took her own bag and slung it over her strong shoulders. Then she adjusted the binoculars on her chest.
Together, they walked off into the thick jungle.
30
At first the going was easy for Karl and Maya. They had stashed their bags in the jungle near the place that Ruiz had pulled over to the side of the road. But, after about a hundred yards into the jungle, the terrain began to rise up and the tangle of forest became much more intense.
Then came the rain.
This wasn’t a light sprinkle. It was a full-on deluge, soaking them each to the bone.