“I wanted to see if FRED could figure it out.” The man picked up a notepad and scribbled something on it. “I’ll have to tweak him.”
“If you said you were going to tweak Rio,” Rock huffed in annoyance, “that I could understand, but a fucking computer program?”
“Rock?” Grif yelled from the far side of the room. “Don’t insult our resident geek; we need him and his tweaky programs, k.”
Rock rolled his eyes in response to Gif’s rebuke. “Get on with it, tell him what you need, Salieri.
“Our resident geek, Cross, is waiting for us to check in,” Rowan said. “If you can do the connection thing, without it compromising your security here, then we can overlay what he has on a map, and figure out how the hell we can get there.”
“It’s a jungle.” Rock nodded permission to his man. “If you go in by helo, while I’m more than willing to lend you one. Your tangos will hear you coming a mile off. Let’s see how close we can get you using the river as egress.”
“Copy that.” Rowan agreed, “Get in. Get her. Get out. Sounds much more fun than landing in a nest of wasps with all the stingers aimed at us.”
“Then let’s get to work.” Rock gestured to the screens, “The boys are doing their thing. Once they’re done, we’ll work the intel and come up with a plan.”
***
Consciousness came to Enya in slow stages as if her body wasn’t entirely sure if it wanted to know what was happening in the horrific place she’d found herself in. Pain came first, bone-deep and raw, a million tiny needles stabbing into her skin over and over. Everything from her fingernails to her hair throbbed. Suffocating heat followed swiftly on pain’s heels, thick and wet in her lungs, coating her throat until it felt like she was swimming through silty quicksand. But worst was when sound crashed over her, accompanied by the non-stop feather-light touches on her skin from the flies buzzing and feasting on something that smelled rancid and rotten.
Oh my god, is it me?
Her eyes flew open. She tried to sit up, but bone-jarring pain in her sides sent her flopping over onto her back. She frantically twisted her head trying to see where she was.
“Ma-Maria?” She managed to get her arms under her and frantically looked for the woman who’d been recaptured with her. She had no memory of being brought here. She didn’t recognize the sticks and earth that made up the walls of her prison.
Where am I?
Struggling to make her eyes focus and her mind work correctly, she closed them briefly, took a shallow breath, and looked around the space. She lay on a dirt floor. The walls were wooden, with dirt and leaves pushed between the cracks. It was empty except for her and the bag hanging from the dodgy-looking rafters.
Why is that there?
What is it?
Is that a?—
The thought cut off in her head as the blanket spun, and she figured out what it was.
“Maaaarrrrriiiiiiaaa,” Enya screamed at the macabre vision before her. She scrambled away from the body as best she could and then mercifully, everything went dark.
CHAPTER EIGHT
“You will need hammocks,ropes, some food and water, toilet paper, and wet wipes can be nice as well.” Grif opened a door that was almost hidden between the weapons cages. He pushed some boxes through the door, “Prepackaged trail mix, and snacks. But there’s a small kiosk on the boat that sells snacks, drinks including soda and beer, and three meals a day are included in the ticket price. “If you need Colombian pesos, tell me now, and I’ll go grab you some while you’re gearing up.”
“We have hammocks in our rucks,” Rowan peered down the barrel of the weapon he was cleaning, “and cash, so we should be good there.”
“Don’t forget to give them ass paper.” Rock grabbed the box of snacks and started tossing some to each of the guys, “the boat doesn’t provide that.”
“The lancha leaves at seventeen hundred.” The voice from the computer, which he now knew was Ghost Three, said. “But with the slow boats, there isn’t really a schedule, and the captain decides, so it’s best to be there a couple of hours early just in case.”
Makes sense to me.
“Man, coming in as a civilian-ish outfit is hella different from fast-roping into a clearing, doing a snatch and grab, and rucking it to extraction.”
“Right?” Rock placed three magazines in front of each man. “Three should be enough. No, you can never have enough bullets when you’re going after the cartels.” He placed another two next to the bullets he’d already provided.
Rowan glanced at Gael and met his gaze. He lifted an eyebrow in silent query.
Is he talking to himself?
