CHAPTER 8

 

Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck. The words ran on a continuous, rhythmic loop in Buck’s head as he ran back to the village. That they hadn’t pursued him worried him even more than if they had. Why wouldn’t they follow him? Was it like an angry guard dog chasing an intruder out of his territory then losing interest and returning home?

The answer came to him as he followed the footpath into the village: They expected him to come back.

Which, of course, he would, assuming they’d got to Mindy first.

Please let Mindy be in the lab.

The village was in chaos. People scurried in and out of houses loading bundles and packs on their backs, or stacking them on small carts or travois. Some had bows and quivers full of arrows hanging across their shoulders.

He headed for the lab, but he was only a few steps in that direction before he heard April’s breathless voice behind him, calling his name.

She ran between a couple of houses, then stopped in her tracks and rested one hand on her knee, wheezing. In the other hand, she held what looked like a little takeout box.

He went to her and knelt down. “Are you okay, April? What happened? Where’s Mindy?”

“They…took…her…” April panted for breath between the words.

“Goddammit.”

“They said to tell the elders they’d be bulldozing the village whether people were here or not.”

“What about Mindy?”

“They took her for insurance that you leave, too. They’ll kill her if you don’t.”

She stood and the worry in her eyes made him tired. April and Cody and Mindy weren’t trained for this kind of thing, and it scared them. They didn’t deserve to be scared.

“Did they say when they’d be logging the area? It’s a couple of miles between here and there. It’ll take them a while to cut through that to get here, even if they started immediately. So we have some time.”

She cocked her head and looked confused. “Time for what?”

“To get everyone packed up to leave. By the look of it, though, they’re already working on it.”

“I think the men who took Doctor Emerson came here first,” April said.

“Some of these guys are carrying bows, like they plan to fight. I need to talk to Pucu and the elders. You go get Cody. I’ll find the others. Meet me at the community building.”

“I’ll take this salamander back to the lab and look for Cody there,” she said, holding the box up.

“She found one?” Buck asked.

April beamed. “You bet she did. And she made sure to give it to me even as those guys were dragging her away.”

Buck winced at that mental picture.

“Sorry,” April said.

“Okay, you go get Cody. I’ll get the rest.”

Buck found Pedro at his family’s house.

“What’s going on?” he asked.

“The men came from the logging company,” Pedro said. “The waved their guns around and yelled and hurt some people. I’m helping my wife’s family pack up to leave.”

The sadness in his voice was awful.

“I saw men with bows,” Buck said.

Pedro nodded. “Some are staying to fight.”

Buck ran a hand over his hair. “I need to talk to the elders. Can you round them up and meet me at the community building?”

They all met a few minutes later.

“What is it?” Pedro asked once everyone was inside.

All the elders of the village looked shaken. And angry. They all wore some kind of weapon, whether it was bows or machetes.

“The logging company came and warned you?” Buck said.

Pucu stepped up, her posture conveying her determination. She spoke to him, and he looked to Pedro for translation.

“She says the men came, and she understand now what you said about them. They will not stop. So she is sending the people to an ancient ancestral settlement far into the jungle.”

“Good.”

“But some will stay behind because they wish to fight these bad men.”

Buck groaned. “They have guns. Lots of them. The villagers can’t win against that.”

“They do not want to win. They want to hurt them.”

“Why?”

“Venganza. Erm...payback? Punishment?”

“Got it. I might be able to help with that, but I need to go get Doctor Emerson first.” He turned to April and Cody.

“Jesus, Cody. What happened to your face?”

The bulge at the bridge of his nose was evidence of a break, and half his face had swollen and turned purple. Blood trickled from a split in his lip.

“Your friends wanted to know where Doctor Emerson was.”

“They’re not my friends. Did you tell them where she was?”

Cody hung his head, and that was answer enough.

“It’s okay, man. You took one for the team, which is more than Mindy would have expected.”

“It’s my fault she got captured,” Cody said.

Buck slapped Cody’s shoulder. “You did good. You defended your superior and held out as long as you could. That’s all any of us can do.” For a Half-ass, Cody surprised Buck. He had more steel in him than he’d expected. “You two go pack up the most important lab stuff you can carry yourselves, including the salamander and any research you’ve done. Go back to Pedro’s truck and wait there. Don’t try to take everything. Just the things you absolutely need.”

“Wait, I want to stay here and help,” April said.

“No, you don’t. You’re safer at the truck.”

“You don’t have to tell me twice,” Cody said, heading for the door.

April crossed her arms and stayed put.

“Please, April? I don’t want to have to worry about you. And you need to protect your work. Mindy’s work.”

She sighed a long, defeated breath. “Fine.”

To Pedro, Buck said, “Tell them to have the villagers packed and out of here before I get back.”

Pedro nodded.

Buck jogged back to the hut they’d been living in. He didn’t plan anything more than a token fight here at the village. The bigger fight would probably be at the logging camp to get Mindy back, and by the time they returned here he’d just want to get her out of the damn jungle. He admired the villagers’ desire to fight back, but there wasn’t much point, even if he wished it would make a difference. This wasn’t a movie where there was a last minute way to save everything. This was real life. He was just glad the tribe had a place to relocate to.

He spent a couple of minutes rebandaging his wounds and changing his clothes, then dug out the rest of the weapons he’d brought. It was a meagre cache, but it would have to do. He could probably pick off a couple of the mercenaries and snag their weapons.

 

He left the village in a state of chaos and jogged off toward the logging camp. Once there, he found what had become his favorite surveillance spot, but after he’d settled in to take a look, what he saw had him seething.

Through his binoculars he saw Mindy slumped to the ground, handcuffed to some piece of heavy equipment out in the middle of the clearing. She was clearly bait for him, and a further scan of the area showed several of Blitz’s men scattered in the open, or hiding—though they weren’t very good at it since he saw them.

He wondered where Blitz was, and why the theatrics? He wouldn’t have put her on display like that if he didn’t expect Buck to return. What was he playing at?

Mindy looked exhausted. Her body sagged against the machine, her arms cuffed above her. She’d be sore after hanging there for so long. Otherwise, there weren’t any visible injuries. That didn’t mean she didn’t have any, though. First thing he’d insist on when they got home, after a physical, was counseling. This after the two Russian incidents could break her already fragile emotional state. She could argue all she wanted, but she’d go even if he had to drag her kicking and screaming.

Buck rocked back on his heels to consider his choices. He could take out the guards one by one then release Mindy, or he could go to the trailer and get Blitz. The problem with the trailer was he couldn’t be sure Blitz was even inside. He could be anywhere, and without being able to see inside, Buck was basically blind.

He still had no idea why Blitz had set the trap, but the why wasn’t as important as navigating it and getting Mindy out.

Some of the other equipment he’d seen on his previous visit was gone, along with the loggers. The camp was far quieter, which meant they were probably out somewhere cutting trees and burning in their wake.

He did another survey of the clearing and counted four guards out in the open and three hidden. He couldn’t discount the possibility of a couple having actually done a good job hiding, but there were seven visible.

He’d need a distraction.

Not that he had a problem going in guns blazing, or going stealth and taking them all out with his knife, one at a time. But if he didn’t strictly need to kill, he didn’t want to, even if all these assholes had already shot at him. He had holes in his arm and leg to show for it.

So he scanned the area looking for potential distractions, settling on a pickup truck parked not far from Blitz’s trailer.

First things first.

He stepped out of the forest and waved his arms. “Hey guys,” he yelled.

They all turned as one, and as they registered it was him, he dove back into the forest just as some of them came for him.

He caught Mindy’s reaction out of the corner of his eye, too. She was smiling.

Good girl.

Cutting toward the truck around the back of Blitz’s trailer, he kept down and quiet while the guards chased after his ghost. While they did that, he dug around in the debris on the ground, settling on a stick about three feet long and the thickness of his thumb, then he walked right out of the woods and between two of the trailers toward the truck, as if he belonged there. The guards may be patrolling the area, but for any loggers or other workers left behind, he looked like just another one of them.

He checked the driver’s side door and found it unlocked. Inside a clipboard and a bunch of other junk littered the seat. This was a work truck, for sure, but no keys. Then it dawned on him to check the visor. When he flipped it down, the keys dropped into his lap. Who actually did that?

The truck started right up. He only had a few seconds before the remaining guards realized where he was, so he wedged the stick between the gas pedal and the seat. The engine revved right before he jammed it into drive, threw the door open, and rolled out onto the ground.

Scrambling to his feet, he jogged to the tree line and melted back into the forest where he circled around for a view of the action.

The truck took off across the clearing, drawing the attention of all the guards. They yelled and chased the truck, shooting at it as it careened under its own power, bouncing over rocks and debris, veering toward the man camp of tents.

It clipped one tent, tearing the grounding peg out and dragging it along behind, then ran headlong into another tent. Buck winced. He hoped nobody was in it. He hadn’t meant for that to happen.

The guards all chased it now, shooting it full of holes. While their attention was focused, he darted out of the forest and over to the heavy equipment, the opposite side from Mindy.

As he rounded the front of it, an enormous explosion rocked the clearing and he ducked out of instinct. Damn. They must have hit the gas tank. He peeked around the corner at an enormous fireball curling into the night sky.

Time to get out of there.

He hurried around the other side. “Let’s go, Mindy…”

Blitz stood over her, pointing a weapon at her head. Mindy’s wide eyes and trembling chin told Buck she’d pretty much hit her limit. She was fucking terrified.

“Where the hell did you come from?” Buck asked.

“I had the same jungle warfare training you did. I may not be a SEAL anymore, but I can still act like one,” Blitz said.

“Step away from her, Blitz.”

“Can’t do that.”

“What is your problem? Why this elaborate trap for me?”

“Still the arrogant prick, thinking everything’s about you. I was the hero, but I lost everything.”

“You got all kinds of medals, an honorable discharge, and this logging operation looks pretty damn sweet. What the fuck are you complaining about?” Buck said. He still didn’t get it. Blitz had been a good guy. A real hero. Now he was nothing more than a whining asshole.

The fire surged behind Blitz, like the roar of an oncoming train. Sparks floated in the sky like sparkling confetti, and the blaze crawled its way through the tents and caught some of the trees. It was mesmerizing.

Until something else exploded. Mindy ducked and squealed. Blitz twitched for just an instant, his instinct to turn and look. He checked it, but not fast enough because in that instant, Buck had his weapon drawn and pointed at Blitz’s head.

The fire would spread fast and Buck still had to get Mindy out of there and avoid the rest of the guards.

“Looks like an impasse,” Blitz said.

“Don’t make me kill you,” Buck said.

“Like you could shoot me. You owe me. I saved your life. You can’t take mine.”

“Hers is more important than yours,” Buck said, and squeezed the trigger. Mindy ducked and screamed again, which Buck had hoped for just in case Blitz’s trigger finger spasmed. The bullet hit Blitz in his uninjured shoulder, and he staggered back a few steps. It should have incapacitated him. Instead, he struggled to bring the weapon up and pointed it at Buck. The snarl of rage on his face didn’t hint at mercy.

“You ruined my career, McCormick.”

His finger squeezed. Buck threw himself sideways, swinging his weapon around and taking the shot before he landed on his side on the ground.

The report of two weapons firing in close range would bring guards running.

“Buck!”

Mindy’s voice cut through the buzz in his ears and he jumped from the ground, running to her side.

“Are you hurt? Did he hit you?”

“No. But the fire. We have to get out of here.”

Blitz lay nearby, a hole in the center of his forehead.

“Dammit.”

“I’m sorry about this,” Mindy said. “But I really don’t want to die in a forest fire right after you saved my life. Can we go home now?”

Buck’s focus snapped back from the tiny space around the heavy equipment to the entire surroundings. The fire had spread in a scary short amount of time. It grumbled and howled like a living thing as it consumed everything in its path. And it had plenty of fuel.

He needn’t have worried about the other guards. Given how out of control the fire had become, they were long gone.

Holstering his weapon, he ran to Blitz and rummaged through his pockets until he found keys. He heaved a sigh of relief to find the handcuff key dangling with the rest of the keys.

When he unlocked the cuffs, Mindy’s arms went around his neck and she practically squeezed his head off.

“Mindy, darlin’, you’re choking me.”

“I knew you’d come for me,” she sobbed. “I was so scared he’d kill you. You can’t die. I need you. I love you. I’m so sorry I almost killed you.”

She bawled, gushing a string of incoherent words into his shoulder as she held him tight. What got through to him, though, was her guilt. I’m sorry I almost killed you. That wasn’t about now. It was about Siberia.

They had a lot to work out, but this felt like an opening of the flood gates. So it was a place to start.

“Come on sugar,” he said pushing her back so he could look her in the eye. “Let’s get out of here. I’m tired of the jungle, anyway.”

She sniffed and smiled. “I owe you my life.”

Buck glanced over at Blitz, then back at Mindy. “No. No more owing our lives. Let’s just share our lives. Deal?”

“Deal.”