by SJ Hailey
Luis Alfredo paused, ‘You said artefacts, you mean the amulets? I thought you were only interested in mine, this one, you can do no harm with one!’
Jones stepped off the boat towards the young man, his size intimidating, ’Hand over the amulet boy!’
‘No you cannot, I just wanted to share the knowledge! This is wrong!’ He began to turn and run, but Jones pulled his SMG and fired a burst into the back of the young man, no effect. He grabbed his knife and deftly threw it at the back of the retreating boy. The blade penetrated mid-spine, the pain caused him to fall to the ground. Laurent could not believe the vicious attack, and the lack of effect the bullets had. Luis Alfredo struggled, attempted to crawl away, the knife had perforated his back, blood poured from the wound. The henchman walked up sedately, the determination of his struggling victim admirable, but pointless. Laurent yelled at him, running up to the side of the young man, stopping Jones from finishing the job.
Luis Alfredo was barely alive, but he was trying to say something, barely a whisper from his blood soaked lips. Laurent bent down, the words causing a red splatter on his cheek, ‘que necesita el amuleto quinto’.
Jones threw Laurent out of the way and used his other knife to stab the young man in the eye, finishing the job.
‘No more delays Laurent, he is of no use to us now.’
Laurent knew Luis Alfredo had given him the advantage he required.
‘Before we leave you must all swear not to say anything about this place.’ They all agreed with Osvaldo Rodrigo request and ascended the stone staircases to the surface, the group waiting crouched near the hatch, Kevin appearing nervous. Jacob was about to ask what was wrong, when he heard for himself and instinctively ducked.
‘Gunfire coming from the other side of the wall!’
‘We heard some just before you came out, then that!’
‘Relax Kevin, right, everyone over to where we came out, use the wall for shelter.’
The group moved hurriedly against the substantial wall, Katherine and Jacob followed, looking up at the wall above, handguns drawn. ‘Katherine, if someone gets up onto that wall, we are sitting ducks, we have to climb and get out of here.’
‘Agreed, I will go first, check the other side.’
Katherine set off up the wall, bounded away like a mountain goat. Jacob looked up opposite to ensure no one was trying to flank them, get a better shot. However since the second burst, there were no further shots. Katherine called Jacob from the top of the wall, a collapsed section about eighty feet above.
‘No one here, or within sight now!’
Jacob told the group to move up to Katherine’s position in pairs, bringing up the rear himself.
Laurent turned over the young man‘s body, his eye open wide, mouth gaping, blood glistening on his cheek. Laurent pulled the necklace from the boys limp neck, snapping the leather strap holding it in place. He pocketed it and strode back onto the boat, leaving the naïve young man’s body for the jungle to reclaim.
Laurent sat silent in the back of the boat, staring at Jones.
‘Is there a problem Mr Laurent? Do you disapprove of my methods?’
‘We may have needed information he has!’
‘Enzi has secured all the information at the camp, and now we have four of these amulets, we can discover what Enzi requires.’
Laurent did not bother to argue or respond, he was obviously ignorant of his actions. He turned on his satellite phone, normally the number he required was in the phone memory, but it was not there, he ignored this fact and dialled it manually, ‘I have them, no all three and I have information to share.’
Jones presumed that Laurent was calling Enzi to update him, his presumption was misplaced.
Osvaldo Rodrigo discovered Luis Alfredo’s body near the water’s edge. He examined him, and then insisted they wrap him up and remove him. He sat in the canoe with the misguided man’s corpse. Jacob was concerned on what Laurent’s betrayal also involved and the possible dangers to the camp, analysing various scenarios as the canoes travelled back.
TWENTY FOUR
Teddy was treating the old hovercraft like a racing car, cutting tight on the corners of the river, refusing to donate any speed to the meandering water. Archer and Debra in the rear, braced themselves against the body of the beast. They had tied up the canvas flaps giving clear views to front and rear. Archer had filled up the grenade launcher with six 40mm grenades, and had the other rounds ready in a bag by his leg. Debra was holding an older M16, heavier than Archer’s M4, but effective in her experienced hands.
They rounded the bend, Teddy shouting out above the drone of the engines that he had three boats on radar, about half a mile ahead nearing the river mouth. Enzi’s boats would have to steer to the right of the river estuary, avoiding the sand banks and silt deposits blocking most of the channels, this would slow them down as they reduced speed to improve navigation.
Enzi had come up on deck now, the oppressive jungle heat behind him, taking in the refreshing familiar sea wind. The three boats were spread out, navigating the narrow channel at the river mouth. Enzi’s boat in the middle, being jostled by the current, unaware of his pursuers. The artefacts he had recovered were safe in his boat, the remainder in the forward boat. The third boat had their fuel, and once they were at sea, they would tie up and refuel before heading for the rendezvous point sixty miles away.
Teddy could see the boats just leaving the estuary ahead, the first one was in open sea, engine idling awaiting the others. Archer had moved up to the cockpit and was standing with his head out of the top hatch, previously reserved for a machine gun now unfortunately absent. His binoculars trained on the three boats, assessing their cargo, and passengers, then returning to his seat next to Teddy who had reduced their speed to a crawl. Debra came forward, ‘so what’s the situation boss?’
‘Ok, first boat has more men so less cargo, Jones is in that one.’
‘The bald guy who went after your Dad?’
‘That’s right Teddy. The second boat has just Enzi, a driver and one guard, sitting lower in the water, so that has the artefacts.’
‘How can you be sure?’
‘Because I know Enzi, there is no way he would allow anyone else near to something he was after, not even Jones.’
‘And the third boat?’
‘That’s our target, two men, and a lot of fuel drums; they are setting up pumps on some of the containers, probably to refuel before heading up the coast.’
Enzi’s boat had just cleared the constrictive estuary and was pulling up alongside Jones; he was shouting instructions to Jones when Archer hit his first target.
They did not hear the hovercraft, the wind blowing off the sea into shore disguising their approach. Archer had fired three rounds in quick succession, spreading them across the expected course of the boat three hundred metres away. He did not have the luxury of a shot to check range and wind direction that may affect the grenades trajectory as he needed surprise. The shots were a few seconds apart and the wind did factor in their path, but in his favour.
The first missed its target, hitting the water in front of the boat, causing the driver to throttle back his engines, fearing an attack from the front. This caused the second and third grenades to hit the bow and stern of the boat, the high explosive rounds igniting the fuel drums, and incinerating the crew and boat in a rapidly expanding fireball.
Archer and Debra could feel the heat wave rush past them in the rear of the hovercraft. Teddy accelerated and adjusted course to avoid the pool of burning fuel that remained. They passed no wreckage or bodies, nothing survived the blast. Teddy shouted back, ‘Archer save your grenades, I don’t want to be retrieving those artefacts from the sea bed!’
Enzi was startled by the explosion of his fuel boat, his men on deck knocked over by the concussion wave. Jones yelled something but Enzi was unable to hear, the explosion had stunned his eardrums. Then he followed Jones extended arm and realised that it was no accident, the yellow and black ho
vercraft was closing on his position. Enzi could not see the occupants, and for now it did not matter, he gestured to Jones to get between him and the threat, while his boat was brought up to speed in an attempt to retreat. He looked at the fuel, they would not make the rendezvous and at this speed perhaps get ten miles. He reached for his satellite phone, now operational outside his jammer placed by Laurent earlier, ‘Get to me now, we are near the estuary! I don’t care we are under attack and out of fuel! Well how soon? Good!’
Archer could see Enzi’s boat increasing speed, and although he wanted to just fire a grenade and blow him back to hell, he resisted. His focus was on the boat containing Mr Jones which had turned around and was moving to their left side, out of range of the grenades. Teddy had spotted the boats course, and Archer knew what Jones was trying. The hovercraft appeared to be pursuing Enzi and ignoring the other boat, allowing it to move closer on the port side, just one hundred metres back, in the fans wake.
Jones could see the hovercraft increasing speed after Enzi’s boat, but his orders remained, protect Enzi’s retreat. He moved outward to the left of the hovercraft, aiming to draw alongside and open fire on the rudder fan, and any occupants with sustained machine gun fire at close range. He was behind and left of the craft, his men standing in the centre of the boat to balance it, and generate a good field of fire along the enemy vessel. The pilot appeared oblivious of their approach, too focused on Enzi. Jones raised his machine gun and the boat began to pull up alongside the hovercraft.
Teddy had been watching Jones come alongside what was perceived as a blind-spot, but Teddy was never blind-sided. Archer and Debra had loaded up their M4 and M16 carbides and four of the handguns in reserve. When Teddy shouted, they stood up from their position on the floor of the passenger compartment, rifles came to bear on Jones and his crew less than fifteen metres away.
Jones saw Archer and his companion too late, the bullets from the two rifles thudded into his crew with repeated accuracy. Jones instinctively dived into the forward hatch, a bullet missed him and slammed into his driver’s side. The barrage of fire ceased and Jones jumped back up, taking the opportunity of his assailants reloading, in a few seconds he had emptied both machine guns at the hovercraft, bullets pounding its body.
Archer and Debra had taken the advantage, their attack wiped out the men in the adjacent boat. They had dropped back down to reload when the expected return fire hit, bullets hissing past through the window above them, and some ricocheting off the lightly armoured bodywork. In seconds the fire had abated and Teddy had maintained speed as the driverless boat slowed. Archer came up firing into the hull of the ship as the hovercraft sped off after Enzi.
Jones did not fire a second round at the hovercraft; he knew when to retreat, his crew dead or dying, the boat holed. He knew the documents in the hold would survive, confident their containers would protect them from the seawater now permeating the punctured hull. He took out the only life-raft, pulled the ripcord to release it from its constrictive plastic shell. With a gentle pop it inflated and fell over the side with its own weight. Jones tied it to the listing vessel and began rapidly transferring the documents and some weapons off his wrecked boat. In less than ten minutes he was aboard and rowing away, one of his men shouting from the sinking boat, Jones ignored his plea for assistance.
Teddy was about one mile behind Enzi, the powerboat at full throttle not quite outpacing the old hovercraft which was now at over thirty-five knots in the open calm sea. With Enzi’s heavy cargo the powerboat was at a disadvantage, which Teddy exploited. He was about to call Archer, when he landed with a thud in the right hand seat, ‘What’s up Archer my boy?’
‘Tactics, get behind them, ride above their wake, and take out their crew at range with the M4, out of range of their machine guns.’
‘No problem, we are nice and stable, ideal firing platform, with the buffeting of the powerboat at speed, even in this calm sea, they will not hit us easily.’
‘We get Enzi, and then recover the artefacts and back to camp.’
‘Simple Archer, there is just one problem!’
Enzi’s ears had stopped ringing since the first attack minutes ago, they were about ten miles up the coast and the fuel light had begun flashing a few minutes ago. He had his men at the rear of the boat, nervously scanning the horizon for their pursuers; the boat hitting small waves allow them to see nothing clearly. Enzi’s radio crackled into life, ‘Boat one this is Seabird.’
Archer saw the plane above, it had over-flown Enzi and was cruising towards them, flying in low, banking and turning back. Teddy shouted out from the cockpit, ‘that’s a Warrior Centaur, single engine, six passengers, quick. If he can get near it, we will not catch him.’
Teddy gave the hovercraft full throttle, pushing the lever forward into the console; the machine roared as it hit almost forty knots with no resistance. The plane banked and turned, slowing down. Archer trained his binoculars on it, one of the rear doors opened, and then a puff of smoke from behind the mono wing.
‘INCOMING!’
Teddy hit a red button on his left side, a clatter of pong noises came from the roof, and swung the craft hard to the right, while reducing the throttle. Debra and Archer were knocked off their feet by the violent manoeuvre, and Teddy hit the red button again, and accelerated away from the plane. The explosion followed a few seconds later, from where they had been, Archer looked back out the flaps towards the source. Teddy shouted back to him, ‘That missed us, heat seeker missile, we have some flare dispensers on the roof, and the cool air from the fan made us appear cooler than them, missile hit the flares.’
‘Nice work Teddy!’
‘Don’t celebrate yet, I fooled them once, but I don’t think we will get a second chance.’
‘We are still going after Enzi?’
‘Not today mate, he hits us with one of those missiles and we’re all dead!’
Enzi saw the missile explode; he always ensured his transports carried a shoulder fired missile, a last resort. He was disappointed when the smoke cleared, he could only see the rear of the hovercraft retreating, the plane had fired its only missile. He radioed the plane to land ahead of them, and prepare for loading.
Archer was frustrated at not getting Enzi, or the artefacts, but he knew Teddy was right, too risky. The hovercraft turned, returning to base at a more sedate pace to conserve fuel, a gentle twenty-five knots. Archer monitored the sky, all too aware of Enzi’s vengeful tendencies.
The small Centaur seaplane landed with little trouble, the swell barely half a metre, well within its limits. It had blue and white bodywork, the small stubby wings on the hull providing stability. Enzi had chosen this craft for good lifting capacity and a small radar image. There were six seats in the plane, but he did not require all of them, ‘You in the boat, you can keep the boat, I am not taking you with us.’
The man waved in appreciation, and did not argue, he had seen what happened to people who disagreed with Mr Enzi. Laurent clambered out of the forward hatch, ‘Well Mr Laurent it appears that when you decided to get onto my ship before the attack, it was a good decision.’
‘Yes Chui, it was, where is Mr Jones and the other documents?’
‘He has radioed me, he is fine, and so are our precious documents, we will collect them shortly.’
‘I don’t see how much more help they can be? I have read most of them.’
‘You forget my dear Christophe; I have information that may connect with them, from a different source.’
As Enzi spoke the young man on the boat passed containers to Laurent and the pilot, Enzi watched them work. ‘I obtained a parchment in Russia, hidden in an old Soviet archive for decades, but mine for the price of a new games console. It tells of an old Chinese legend, and its link to an actual event in history.’
Laurent did not respond, concerned that he may not have the advantage he thought. The information from Luis Alfredo could be inconsequential. Enzi climbed into the aircraft, speaking to the pil
ot, ‘How long to Isla Joya Verde?’
‘With this load, about two and a half hours.’
‘Will we have any problems with border security?’
‘No your friend The General has seen to that.’
Laurent climbed into one of the vacant passenger seats, leaving just one free for Jones to join them. They took off, making a short low-level hop to see Jones steadily rowing. They collected him, sank the dinghy and turned around into the wind to return to Isla Joya Verde.
TWENTY FIVE
Jacob and his team returned to camp, dropping Osvaldo Rodrigo off in Borbon to attend to Luis Alfredo’s body, and contact his team in La Tola. The scene greeting Jacob upon his arrival in camp was bullet ridden semi-sunken boats. He left the canoes and ran up to the main walkway, blood stains and drag marks on the decks, seeing no one he called out, and was met by Michael. He was clearing up the dining hall, lifting someone into a makeshift body bag. Jacob stopped, not recognising the person, ‘What happened? Is this Laurent’s doing?’
Evelyn approached carrying food in an overfilled box. She appeared solemn and withdrawn, ‘a man called Chui Enzi and some men came here after you left, Nick here shot one of his men, he was killed and Miguel, whose blood you passed on the walkway, was shot for no reason other than to warn us against resistance.’
‘And where is this Enzi now?’
‘He left with all our research. Archer, Teddy and Debra went after him.’
‘Archer is here? When? How?’
‘I don’t know, he checked we were okay, told us to pack up and get out fast, then he joined Teddy in The Wasp and went after those men.’
‘How long ago?’
‘Maybe an hour?’
‘How many dead in camp?’
‘Two of us, and four of them, we put their bodies over by the bank. Nick here is the last person we have to take care of, and all our boats are shot up.’
‘Yes, I saw them, we have the canoes we took upriver, use them to go back to the Arcadia.’
