Sally nodded while Jack muttered something incomprehensible into his coffee cup.
“I didn’t quite catch that, Jack.”
He set his cup down. “Yes, I’m ready.” Sally glanced over at him. The tone in his voice carried more than a hint of animosity.
“Morning, everyone,” said Glimmer as he walked into the room. He noticed the tension between Doublecharge and Jack. “What’s going on?”
Doublecharge ignored him. “Since we’re flying as civilians, we need to be at the airport by six o’clock. That gives us just about half an hour to eat and review the mission.” She motioned to someone outside the room, and Juan walked in with a tray piled high with fruit and fresh pastries.
While they dug into the delicious home-baked pastries, Doublecharge went over the salient points of the mission. The primary objective was to locate Destroyer’s base of operations. They had the name and contact information of the CIA’s operative who had originally tipped off the team to Destroyer’s presence. He would be their starting point for the investigation.
The secondary objective was to find out any information about the antimatter woman’s origin. To that end, they would visit her hometown of San José to retrace her steps.
“Guatemala is a small country,” said Doublecharge. “I don’t believe for a moment that her sudden appearance and Destroyer’s presence are unrelated. We’ll try to establish that connection and find out what he’s up to.”
At the end of two weeks, the expeditionary team would return to the States to make a report to Homeland Security. At that point, a decision would be made whether to follow up further and if such follow-up would be performed by Just Cause or by more covert operations.
“I don’t see why the CIA doesn’t just handle the whole investigation on its own,” said Jack. “They’ve got plenty of experts and resources in that part of the world. And they’ve certainly got their own parahuman assets.”
“Any CIA paras are most certainly being used elsewhere in the world at this time, probably in the Middle East,” said Doublecharge.
They filed out of the conference room and headed down to the parking lot. Despite the freezing temperatures and the early hour, the rest of the team had turned out to see them off. Juice wore an oilskin duster and wide-brimmed leather hat over his bald pate. Sondra covered herself with a heavy Navajo blanket and wrapped her wings close about her for more warmth. Beside her, Jason yawned in his sweats and a rag hat. Forcestar kept a shimmering force field around him to trap his body heat and keep out the cold. A man Sally didn’t recognize stood with them in an overcoat and with curly hair around his shoulders.
It began to snow as the van pulled into the circle. Juice stepped forward and shook everyone’s hand. “Good luck,” he told Sally. “I know you’ll make us proud.”
Without much preamble or fanfare, Sondra stepped up and gave Jack a deep, passionate kiss. In a moment, she stepped away and bussed Sally on the cheek, and whispered that she’d had to drag Jason out of bed because the poor kid was all worn out.
Jason stifled his yawns enough to wrap his arms around Sally, who shivered inside her coat. “I’ll miss you,” he whispered. “Be careful.”
“I’ll miss you too, and I will.” She kissed him to savor the experience for as long as she dared delay their departure.
As she regretfully drew away from Jason, she saw Doublecharge embrace the curly-haired man. “Who’s that?” she asked Glimmer.
“That’s Mike, her husband.”
“She’s married?”
“Why not? Lots of people are.” He winced as the wind began to pick up, adding a bite to the snow.
“I’m surprised she has time. That’s all.” Sally climbed into the van. “Don’t you have someone to see you off?”
“Oh, I have a girlfriend,” he said, “but she lives in Kansas City. I go visit her on my days off.”
“Long distance relationship? That’s got to be tough.”
He smiled. “It is at times. But she’s worth the extra hassle.”
“Are you going to marry her?” Sally had never given much thought to marriage before, but she couldn’t help it now. Her developing romance with Jason had given her all kinds of new ideas and perspectives.
“Maybe someday,” he said. “She’s got a career there and I’ve got one here and neither of us really wants to pull up stakes and relocate.”
The others got into the van while the driver secured their luggage in the rear. Sally wiped condensation off the window and waved shyly at Jason. She kissed her fingertips and touched them to the glass. He grinned and blew her a kiss.
“See you soon,” she mouthed at him as the van pulled away.
Chapter Eighteen
“Something people tend to forget is that parahumans are not unique to the U.S. Japan had Rising Sun in World War II. Russia had Steel Wolf. Since then parahumans have surfaced all over the world. Who knows how many there are that we still don’t know about?”
-Dr. Grace Devereaux, appearing on 60 Minutes, October 17, 2000
February, 2004
Porto San José
Sally longed for the hot, dry deserts of home. Phoenix was as pleasant as a city could be this time of year. Guatemala was just as hot, a hundred times as humid, and stank like a cesspool.
Stepping off the plane in Guatemala City had been like getting hit in the face with a hot, wet towel. In climes like this, women were supposed to glow. Not Sally; she sweated and hated it. She couldn’t decide which was worse, the droplets which ran down her back to soak the top of her underwear or the ones that trickled between her breasts. As soon as they got through Customs, she ducked into a bathroom with her suitcase and changed to the lightest tank top she had.
The others waited while Jack retrieved a large trunk from the cargo terminal, full of his special gear. He’d shipped it down separately to avoid any complications from flying public transport. A few bribes ensured the release of his property without any awkward questions about weapons, intrusion gear, and explosives. Being reunited with his equipment seemed to energize Jack, and he smiled a lot as he negotiated with a man for his car. “No way do we use public transportation down here,” said Jack. “Not if we actually want to get where we’re going.”
The car in question turned out to be an antiquated Volkswagen bug with its roof and fenders cut off and no engine cover. It bore oversized tires that wouldn’t have looked out of place on a military truck. A bank of headlights had been bolted to the hood, with exposed wires that ran along the flanks held in place by duct tape.
“Very good car, very dependable,” said the owner. “Never had a problem with it.” He patted it carefully, as if he expected the car itself to contradict him.
Jack had talked the guy down to two hundred American dollars plus two extra gas cans full of whatever passed locally for fuel. Most of the bags fit in the small trunk between the front wheels. They lashed the extra bags to the doors like saddlebags.
“If it dies while we’re still in town, I’m coming back for my money,” Jack told the man. He slipped behind the wheel while the others climbed in and got as comfortable as possible on the patched and cracked vinyl seats.
“Never had a problem with it.” The man tucked the cash into a pocket.
Jack snorted and turned the key. The Volkswagen coughed and spat out a glob of thick smoke before it caught and exhibited a steady if uncertain purr. “Very reliable car.” The man nodded encouragement as Jack ground the gears to find first. The car jerked forward as Jack negotiated his way through the congested streets of Guatemala City. By the map, it was only about fifty miles to Porto San José, where the Antimatter Woman had originally lived.
“How long do you think it’ll take to get there?” Doublecharge called over the thrum of the motor.
“No idea.” Jack leaned on the horn to encourage a man with a troop of mules to move them aside. “It could be late afternoon before we even get out of the city at this rate.”
Glimmer leaned ba
ck in the cramped seat. His eyes were closed behind his sunglasses which reflected the swollen clouds that promised heavy rain later. Sally saw his lips twitch. “What is it?” she asked him.
“I can feel something here. Something hidden.”
“Something bad?”
“It feels bad,” he said. “I foresee we’ll have a big problem when we find it.”
“Precognition?” she asked, wide-eyed. Psionic powers had always fascinated her.
He took off his glasses and looked at her, his intense gaze unfaltering. “No, pessimism.”
Jack burst out in laughter and even Doublecharge cracked a smile. Sally realized she’d been had as Glimmer finally broke his composure and chuckled.
“Jay follows the philosophy of hope for the best but expect the worst,” said Jack. “That way he covers all bases and still gets to act all mysterious.”
They drove for a couple hours before Jack got them onto the road to San José. They stopped on the edge of town at a roadside market and bought some rolled sandwiches, fruit, and bottled water. “Don’t drink anything not in a bottle or can,” said Jack. “I’m immune, but I’d rather not truck around a carload of dysentery sufferers.”
“Has he been here before?” Sally asked Doublecharge while Jack checked on road conditions from some of the other shoppers.
“I don’t know. He’s been a lot of places.” Stacey rolled the remains of her sandwich up in the wrapper and stuck it in a pocket. “I want to talk to you about Jason.”
Sally almost choked on a sip of water. “What about him?”
“I don’t have a problem with the two of you having a relationship, but it had better not affect your performance as part of this team.”
“Don’t worry, it won’t,” said Sally with a frosty tone.
“Good. Then that’s all I’ll say on the matter. You’re a valuable addition to this team, and based on what I’ve seen so far, I’ll recommend you for full membership at the end of your internship.” Doublecharge stood up. “See to it that doesn’t change.” She walked away and headed for the car.
Sally didn’t move, not sure whether to be insulted, angry, pleased, or worried. She settled for worried, since that was the expression on Jack’s face as he came back to the table.
“What is it?” Sally asked as he sat down.
“Road’s washed out about halfway between here and there.”
“And?” She sensed there was more to come.
“There’s a group of bandits, preying on travelers.”
“Is that all? They should be the ones worried about us.”
“Under normal circumstances, yes. But right now we’re trying to keep an extremely low profile, and it’s hard enough just being foreigners. If Destroyer’s really here, he’s going to have one ear to the ground and he’ll find out if any of us use our powers publicly.”
“Oh.” Sally suddenly felt very small.
“And we’re just the sort of stupid tourists bandits will love.”
“So what do we do?”
“Plan B.” Jack collected the remains of his lunch and stood up.
“What’s Plan B?”
“I haven’t figured it out yet.”
They got back on the road. Within an hour, the clouds broke open. Sally knew rain, but this was more like steady sheets of warm water, reminiscent of a waterfall in an amusement park ride. She was soaked through in moments. They had to open the doors of the Bug to keep the seats from flooding.
As quickly as the rain started, it stopped. Sally felt miserable, hot and wet, and the heady smells wafting from the soaked jungle made her nose itch. After only a few minutes, it started to rain again.
“Lovely country.” Jack blew raindrops away from his eyes. “I’m thinking we ought to open a satellite headquarters for the team here.”
The Volkswagen bounced across muddy ruts. Jack had to fight the wheel the whole time. This became the pattern over the next two hours: drenching rain showers punctuated by brief bursts of calm. In several places, the road was so bad they had to act as spotters, guiding Jack so the Bug’s wheels didn’t slip into deep ruts or catch the frame on jutting rocks. By the time they ran into the washout, they were all soaked and covered with mud, and only Jack had any marginal sense of humor remaining.
Sally had never really considered what the term washout really meant until she stared at one before her. A wall of mud had poured down the side of the mountain earlier, and several trees below the road level were mutilated. No longer anchored by roots, the road had collapsed into a trench almost four feet deep. A heavily tricked-out four-wheel drive might have made the crossing okay, but their Bug wasn’t going to get across without some serious labor.
Glimmer suggested they use logs to make a temporary bridge over the trench and ropes to anchor the Bug so it wouldn’t slide. “Great idea if we had any ropes,” said Jack. “Maybe you could lift it across telekinetically?”
“I wouldn’t want to risk it. I’ve never moved anything that heavy, and if I dropped it we might lose it completely. Besides…” His face darkened in consternation. “There’s still something out there. I think it would be best if we all avoided using our powers as much as possible. It could be like striking a match in a dark room.”
Jack sighed. “I guess we do it the old-fashioned way.” He opened his bag and withdrew an axe and a saw.
“What, no chainsaw?” Glimmer grinned.
Jack shook his head. “Too noisy. Let’s see if we can find some deadfall long enough to make a good bridge. I’d rather not have to cut something down.”
They spread out and ranged up and down the hillside to look for fallen trees. Several were available, but they were all wet and extremely heavy. It took all four of the heroes to drag the logs over to the road and to place them over the trench.
“I wish Jason was here.” Jack wiped sweat from his brow. “He digs on heavy work like this.”
“That’d keep Sally happy,” said Glimmer.
Sally glared at him as she tried to dig out a splinter embedded deep in her palm. “Does everybody know about us?”
“I don’t think anybody’s called the Lucky Seven yet,” said Jack, chuckling.
“All right, you two.” Doublecharge wrapped an entire roll of duct tape around the logs to keep them from slipping once the Bug’s weight was upon them.
The sun had already dropped behind the mountains when they finished building their makeshift bridge. Don’t travel after nightfall, advised the State Department’s Consular Information Sheet for Guatemala. Extremely dangerous. Sally looked with apprehension into the darkening jungle as they moved all their gear to the other side of the washout. If the Bug slipped and got stuck or fell altogether, at least they’d still have their supplies.
Jack started the Bug after they were all safely clear. “If it starts to slip, I’m jumping out,” he informed them. “I’d rather not spend the night hiking back up here. And the longer we wait it out, the more likely we are to run into the bandits.” He flipped on the Bug’s lights and began to nudge the car forward. It hung up on the raised edge of the bridge until Jack goosed the throttle and it climbed the bump.
Timbers creaked and duct tape stretched as the logs shifted a couple of inches. “Jay, are you helping?” Doublecharge asked.
“No.”
“Do it if the car’s going to fall. I don’t want to spend the night in this jungle under any circumstances. I’ll take the chance that we won’t be discovered.”
The Bug inched forward as Jack tried to look in every direction at once. One of the logs cracked and splintered, causing the left front wheel to slide to one side. Glimmer raised his arms in preparation to focus his telekinesis, but Jack managed to save it. The falling rain somehow increased in intensity to a roar as the front wheels dropped off the bridge onto the muddy road.
Water coursed down through the washout as Sally watched in concern. “I think this washout is going to get worse fast.”
Jack nodded, white-knuckled, a
s the Bug’s rear wheels spun against the edge of the bridge without climbing up onto it.
“Shit!” He turned around in his seat to see where he was stuck.
“You’re going to have to get a bit of a running start,” said Doublecharge. “It’s like jumping a curb.”
“Says the woman who can fly,” said Jack. “All things being equal, I’d rather be in Philadelphia.”
“Die Hard,” said Sally. “We watched that last week. Jack, you’d better hurry up. I can see more mud washing away.”
Jack carefully backed up the Bug until the front wheels sat just over the bridge’s edge. He took his hands off the wheel for a moment and flexed all his fingers. Then he took a deep breath, hit the throttle, and popped the clutch. The Bug’s rear tires spun in the mud for a moment then bumped up onto the bridge. Wood cracked and duct tape split. Jack floored it in pure panic. The Bug skittered across the bridge and slid to a stop in the mud beyond. Their makeshift bridge collapsed into the trench and washed down the side of the mountain by the torrent of muddy water.
Jack pushed his soaked hair back from his forehead, leaned back in his seat, and closed his eyes. “That’s the longest four feet I’ve ever driven. I’m done for the day. Can anyone else drive a stick?”
“We’re surprised you made it at all, norte americano,” said a voice from the trees. Several men stepped out onto the road, both in front of and behind the team. All wore threadbare fatigues and carried automatic rifles. Several also carried plastic coolers. The brightly-colored plastic was incongruous amid the greens and browns of the jungle. “Hands up.” The speaker was a heavyset man with a thick mustache and a white scar on his chin.
Sally glanced quickly at Doublecharge to see what she should do. Doublecharge raised her hands cautiously, as did Glimmer. Sally lifted her own as well, but shifted her perceptions into high gear in preparation for fight or flight.
Just Cause: Revised & Expanded Edition Page 19
