29

Jack

 

 

The Forest, Refugio Tatí Yupí, Paraguay

 

 

The unit moved in a single, silent line at the edge of the pathway. They each wore a communications system around their neck that allowed them to be heard by the movement of air over voice box. They didn’t need to speak aloud. The jungle could be tricky: sometimes, sound waves was muffled by the density of air and foliage; sometimes, noise carried for long distances like it could over water. The operatives meant to limit the chances of arousing attention. They intended to slip in and save the PCs –precious cargo—and grab their mark, get them out before they moved to the next step of their mission. Destroy the cell.

Their ATVs were hidden among the trees two klicks out. They rounded the northern corner of the encampment, heading to the farthest side away from where the terrorists slept. They scanned for a night watch and found none. The jihadists probably felt complacent out here hidden in the thick of the forest. The operatives moved silently into the tree line as their breacher stepped forward, using the bolt cutters to open a pathway in. The sharp metallic snip echoed loud. As soon as the fencing was moved away, they held their position watching for any movement coming from the tents through their night vision goggles. Nothing shifted or changed.

After ten minutes, Rivka pointed her open hand at Ezra and Adam and signaled them toward the commander’s tent. She pointed to Jack and signaled him toward the tent they believed held Suz and possibly Suz and the boys. Low and slow the three edged through the opening. Keeping close to the fence line, they peeled off in their own directions.

Jack came up behind what they were calling “tent B” and used his KABAR to slice the tie downs to open the back flap. He stood for a moment taking in the scene. In the center of the tent a propane heater glowed red. That was the only heat source in the tent. His night vision didn’t pick up the heat signatures on any human forms. He hauled himself over the edge of the platform and flipped up the blankets that covered humps, momentarily afraid that he’d find Suz’s deceased body.

Rivka’s voice played in his ear. “Alpha two, sitrep.”

“Alpha two, confirmation that Molloy was here. There is no one in this tent now.”

“Alpha one sitrep.”

“Alpha one, we have mark secured. There are no other targets in this tent.”

“Alpha one hold tight. Alpha two move to tent A and wait for signal.”

“Alpha two, Wilco. Over.”

The team moved quietly into place, each operative had one tent to disable except Adam; he’d take the whole south-western corner with the latrine, shower, and eating tent. All bullets were to point toward the western face to prevent accidental injuries.

“Males, not females or children,” Rivka said. “Check in.”

“Alpha two in position,” Jack responded.

“Alpha three in position.” And so went the calls until everyone had done their check.

“On my count: three, two, one, move.”

Jack burst through the tent opening and with one step in, trained his gunfire on each of the jihadists. His bullets made popping sounds as they blew through his suppressor. He checked his work, did a headcount, and exited the tent.

“Alpha two complete.”

As each unit member exited their tent, Rivka brought in a remote area lighting system. The terror commander was brought out and made to kneel in front of her. She spoke to him in Arabic. “We are looking for the woman and two boys.”

The commander pointed at tent B.

Rivka looked at Jack, and Jack shook his head. She nodded at Ezra who lifted the commander by the scruff of his neck and moved him to the tent.

“Here? Here is where you kept them?”

The commander nodded. “Yes, Molloy and two boys. They sleep here.” Everything about his face and body language screamed confusion.

“What were the names of the boys?”

He shook his head.

Adam showed up with the cell phone in his hand. He pushed the camera file and showed the video of Ari and Caleb to Jack and Rivka.

“That’s them,” Jack said in English.

“And that’s the interior of the command tent,” Ezra said. “The newspaper is from Sunday.”

“Ezra and Jack stay with me. Over her comms she called, “Beta One, there was a thorough check of the latrine, the shower and dining tents? No sign of the hostages there?”

Adam responded, “Beta One, I have no one in my locations.”

“Copy. Let’s gather what intel we can. We’ll take it back to Base to examine.””

 

Rivka cupped a hand around her mouth and hollered their names to see if Suz or the children would come out into the open. She shot a look at Jack, and he tried too, hoping Suz would know and trust his voice if somehow she were hiding somewhere within the camp.

Ruby came forward, “We checked the fencing, ours is the only breach.”

While the rest of unit finished up its task, Rivka worked on the commander, trying to gather where the precious cargo had gone. All he gave up was that he was supposed to send the video via satellite to the person who had requested it. Code name “the Bear.” The SAT phone had not worked in the weather. He was hoping to get it out today. It had to be out today.

Why?

He didn’t know. Or if he did know, he didn’t say.

“That’s it,” Rivka said into the comms in English. “Have we accounted for all thirty-seven in the cell?” Once that was affirmed, Rivka ordered the unit to exit. They would talk to the commander back on their own turf where they could run his image through the computer system. Find out if he had any vulnerabilities they could exploit to gather more intelligence on the reason for their cell activity.

“Ma’am, I’m going to hang back,” Jack said.

Rivka tipped her head to the side.

“Something happened to Molloy and the children, they didn’t just vanish into thin air. The turd who was running this place seemed damned surprised that she wasn’t in that tent. I need to stay here and see if I can’t figure things out.”

“I’m not going to leave support with you. You’ll be parting ways with us.”

“Understood.”

“I can’t leave you a vehicle, either. We need them to get everyone out.”

“Understood.”

“We’ll be back during daylight if the weather holds. We need to pack the weapons and ammunition out of here. The bomb materials. We’ll destroy the camp then. So depending on how things turn out, we can rally here.”

“I appreciate that.” To be sure, hiking that far to the road on his bum knee, and then finding a vehicle to requisition dressed the way he was and with an AK and molle pack. . .Well, slipping onto the back of someone’s ATV seemed the better route.

“Good luck to you. I’ll leave the lighting and pick it up when we get back in.” And with that, Rivka signaled the unit. The breacher clipped the heavy chain that laced through the front gate, and they trekked toward their ATVs, pushing their prisoner ahead of them.

Jack was in a camp with thirty-six newly dead bodies. The smell would quickly fill the forest and call the predators in. He shut the front gate without a lock, he wasn’t sure how much good it would do. He’d seen it time and again when he was on maneuvers in Africa with the UN, that smell drove the beasts crazy. He needed to work fast.

 

Having angled the lighting over to tent B, Jack did a thorough search. There was a small pile of wrappers from the meal replacement bars he had recently updated in Suz’s zombie bag. This was definitely her queen sized sleeping bag and ground matt. She had definitely been here. Her bag had been, Jack corrected himself as Lynx came to mind. Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of water. If Lynx’s knowing was interpreted correctly Suz should be here. Even if it was just her body he found. Jack swallowed hard and dug into his conviction. He could feel Suz alive and thinking about him. That was what he was telling himself. It kept him sane.

He wondered if Lynx had any knew intel. Any updates. That there had been a video made of the boys scared the hell out of him. Once the captors got what they wanted, there was no reason to keep the prisoners alive. The only flicker of hope he felt in that moment was Lynx’s ominous knowing. He pulled out his phone and got nada. He hadn’t expected to.

With his high powered headlamp, Jack found Suz-sized boot prints where she jumped backwards from the tent opening. Deeper than he would have expected, that meant she was carrying some weight. Perhaps her zombie bag. It was interesting that she was allowed to keep it. If she were the one staying in this tent like the cell commander said, she definitely had the bag coming in to camp. Perhaps she was allowed to keep it to supply herself and the boys. He wasn’t sure. That was odd. But in the field he’d seen plenty of odd things. Jack bent to examine the foot prints. They twisted to the left and two more sets of small foot prints showed up in the muddy soil. Carefully, he followed along. The drizzle that had started as they stood in the tree line waiting to enter the compound had stopped, he could actually see a bit of sky.

It was pre-dawn. Time for those of the Muslim faith to rise and pray. He thought of all of the devout Muslims he had met over his life time, and he was sad that the actions of the extremists, who used and manipulated the religion for their own goals, made life so difficult for so many really good people. He wasn’t the least bit sad that this cell of would-be suicide bombers was history, he thought as he passed the silent tents. The heaters now turned off. There was no one to keep warm.

Where are you Suz?

The tracks lead towards the latrine tent. He thought they would end there, and he was going to be out of luck. Except they didn’t. At the far corner of the shower tent, Suz’s feet had stopped, her prints side by side, weight on her toes. She had pushed off, leaving deep marks in the mud. The boys as well. At the front corner of the latrine tent, she had turned and leaned forward before turning back and walking on. She was checking to make sure she was alone with the boys.

He followed the tracks to the corner of the fencing where a wide puddle had formed. He checked to see if it was deep enough to show she had dug under, but it wasn’t. As he rose, he found mud on the fence on either side of a fixing, where someone with short arms would have grabbed for balance. When he twisted the nut, it spun smoothly loose, despite the rust.

“Son of a gun,” Jack whispered. “Suz dodged three dozen armed terrorists with two six-year-olds in tow.”

He shined his light out of the fencing and could see scuffling at the edge of the puddle.

Jack backtracked, moving to the front entrance. How long ago did she leave? He pulled the opening wide and shut it again. If the Mossad unit was coming back in tomorrow, they’d appreciate it if they weren’t fighting panthers and wild boar to gather up the munitions.

With a slow steady pace Jack followed the trail. How far did you get, Suz? You had to have left after they went to bed. We should have passed you on the trail. A frisson on fear trickled like sweat down his spine. Two kids in the forest? He thought about how fast a predator could move and how little power even a trained soldier had against their attack. With his gun in hand, even he didn’t have a huge chance against one of these beasts. On the way toward the camp, they hadn’t seen any remains on the ground, but that didn’t mean a thing. Jack forced his mind in a different direction. His head was on a swivel as he watched the forest and the tracks, slow and steady, he followed the trail. Until there was no more trail.

“Suz?” Jack stood on their last set of footprints that shifted into the tree line. “Suz?”

The sky was just starting to show color. The trees were still black. He faced his headlamp toward the tree line, then bent to examine their treads. Here, where the foliage was a thick carpet, the footsteps had to be found in the shift of flora instead of mud puddles. He took two steps in.

“Jack?” Suz’s voice wobbled with incredulity. In a moment, Suz had sprung into his arms and was sobbing hysterically against his chest. He leaned over and breathed in her scent — rain, dirt, and fear. He wrapped her tight against him and let himself sob, too.

It was only now that he held her in his arms that he realized he had assumed she was dead. He had been mourning her. He hadn’t believed he’d ever hold her again. Never believed he’d even get the closure of bringing her body home. She’d just be gone from his life, leaving an echoing void.

He kissed her hair. This was what a miracle felt like. This was the pinnacle of his life. This moment was every emotion that he had ever experienced balled tight and exploding outward.

He wrapped his palms around her cheeks and tilted her face up so he could inspect her. She tucked her chin and squinted her eyes against the bright LED in his headlamp.

“Sorry,” he said. Flipping the light to dim. “Are you okay?”

Suz wasn’t to the point she could speak yet. Rescue was always a shock, and he had seen this particular look a few times. The brain stutters and tries to re-align itself with hope and relief when it had decided on consequences that looked very different.

“Just nod. Are the boys under the tarp?”

Suz nodded.

He bit at his middle finger of his tactical glove and pulled it off so he could touch her skin. He swept his thumb across her cheek, muddy from her tears, exposing a green and purple bruise beginning to fade.

“It’s not safe out here. We need to go back to the camp.”

Suz’s eyelids stretched wide, and she took a step back. Not out of his arms – just enough that she could take in the information.

“I came in with a foreign unit working in the area. I jumped in on their mission, because our intel pointed the search for you and the boys in this direction. The jihadists were eradicated and the unit took the commander off to learn what he knows about life. The camp is clear.”

“Of live people,” Suz finally said.

“Yeah, you and the boys aren’t going to want to visit the sleeping tents. We can go to the eating tent and wait. The unit plans to come back during the day. They’ll have transport with them.”

Suz snuggled back into Jack’s arms, form fitting her body to his as if she didn’t want a molecule of air to come between them. “The boys are pooped out. I’m not sure they’re going to make it back that way. We came this way far.”

“You only made it a few miles, Suz. We’re still a hell of a ways from civilization. Back is our best bet.”

Suz nodded but didn’t move.

“Come on, let’s gather everything up. We’ll help the boys. And you need some sleep.” His voice was gruff. He bent over to kiss the top of her hair, she leaned her head up and his lips caught on hers. It wasn’t a passionate kiss. There was no tongue or desperately seeking lips. The kiss was soft and moved through his body. It was a kiss of exhaustion. And sadness. A kiss that tasted of a heart-break that Jack didn’t understand. A kiss that bruised his soul. And all Jack wanted in that moment was to get Suz safe, and comfort her.