Alpha Threat (40 page)

The man’s eyes widened.
 
Dane had guessed well.
 
“Yes.
 
Most of us grew up here.
 
A few came from Germany but most were born here,” explained the man.
 

“How long has Fortress Alpha been here?” Dane asked, sensing that this cook would probably answer any question he asked.
 

“Since the end of the war,” the man answered calmly.
 

“Which war?” Dane asked hoping he wasn’t going to hear what he expected.
 

“World War II, of course.”

Dane’s theory was confirmed.
 
Still he was shocked.
 
“You mean to tell me that the Germans set up this place after World War II and have been here ever since?” he asked in disbelief.
 

“Yes,” answered the man, clearly puzzled at Dane’s shocked facial expression.
 
  

Dane looked back at Hugo.
 
“You getting this?” he asked.
 

“Yeah,” answered Hugo.
 
“Holy crap, what the hell have we found here?”
 
He looked at Dane.
 
He knew this confirmed what Dane thought but he didn’t want to let these two know that they weren’t surprised.
 

“I don’t know, but I do know this is much, much bigger than I thought.
 
Dana and Randall are in worse trouble than I imagined.”
 

“And what are you two doing here?” asked Hugo.
 

The man stood up.
 
“I must get back to the kitchen,” he said, hoping to get out of the room.
 
The girl stood too.
 

“I guess you have to go too,” said Dane.
 

“Yes, I must return to work.”

“Work, what kind of work do you do?” asked Hugo.
 

“I am a technician and he is a cook,” she answered quietly.

“You two sit your asses down,” barked Dane.
 
“You aren’t going anywhere until I learn more about you and this Fortress Alpha.
 
You can talk now or you can sit here until we leave and you go with us.
 
It’s your choice.
 
Do you understand?”
 

The two looked at each other.
 
The man reached out and held the girl’s hand.
 
“We will cooperate if you don’t hurt us.”

“I got the door,” said Hugo as Dane began to interrogate the technician and the cook.
 

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

The Jungle, Brazil;
 
10:00 a.m.

Ben and Tecal sat silently in the rain under a small tarp that was part of a tent.
 
Their camp, as it was, sat beside a stream underneath several large palm trees and lined with a few oversized ferns.
 
The site provided extremely good cover.
 
The noise of the rain beating on the tarp overhead blocked out much of the background jungle noises.
 
Tecal’s men were dispatched into the jungle back in the direction of Dane and Hugo.
 
There had been no contact with Dane and Hugo since Ben had retreated to the stream to wait.
 

“I hope the guys are okay,” said Ben.
 
“Hopefully they have made contact with someone by now.
 
I have a bad feeling that something has happened.”

Tecal looked at Ben.
 
“Mr. Dane is good man.
 
He will be back soon.
 
You see.”

Ben smiled.
 
“Damn, I hope so.”
 
Regardless of Tecal’s words of encouragement, he was still concerned.
 
Ben constantly monitored the GPS frequency of Dane and Hugo’s unit for their location.
 
Dane was instructed to check in with a GPS signal if everything was all right, but there had been no contact in hours.
 
It was possible Dane didn’t want to use the GPS since he thought the men in black might be monitoring the frequency.
 
If Dane used the GPS, not only would Ben know they were all right and where they were, but the bad guys may be able to find them as well.
 
That made sense, thought Ben, trying to rationalize why there had been no contact.
 
At least that was what he wanted to believe.
 

The rain was letting up slightly.
 
Both Ben and Tecal heard an odd sound at the same time.
 
It was one of Tecal’s men running back into the camp.
 
Tecal pulled him under the tarp and began talking to him.
 
The man was speaking very fast and was very animated.
 
Ben thought the worst.
 

Tecal and the man talked for a few minutes.
 
Then he sent the man back out.
 

“What’s happening?” asked Ben excitedly.
 

“He found two men in black tied up,” explained Tecal.
 
“Looks like Mr. Dane caught two bad men.
 
Tracks show Mr. Dane moved on.
 
Also say many other bad men in jungle.
 
None near here, but he saw three groups of three men around trail waiting for us to come.
 
Not good.”

“Damn,” said Ben under his breath, staring out into the jungle toward the trail.
 
“Those bastards really want us bad.
 
They must be protecting something important.
 
I wonder what the hell it is.”
 

Tecal nodded in agreement.
 
“Second man should be back soon.
 
Maybe he has more to tell.”
 

Ben stood up.
 
The rain stopped but the humidity of the Brazilian jungle seemed to squeeze the life out of everything.
 
It was oppressive.
 
You felt you could cut the air with a knife.
 
Ben remembered a summer once many years ago in Savannah, Georgia, where the temperature was in the high 90’s with 100% humidity and no breeze.
 
At the time, he thought there was no place on earth that was more miserable.
 
He was wrong.
 
The Brazilian jungle is worse, hands down.

He turned around and picked up his pack, still under the tarp.
 
He removed the radio.
 
He was bitching about not hearing from Dane when he realized he had not contacted Lee back at base camp.
 

He turned on the radio and adjusted the squelch to get rid of the static.
 
He ensured the proper frequency was tuned.
 

“Ben to base camp, Ben to base camp, come in base camp, come in Lee, over...”

There was no answer.
 
He decided to call again.
 

“Ben to base camp, Ben to base camp, come in base camp, come in Lee, over...”

He waited.
 
About a minute later he heard Lee’s voice.
 

“Base camp to Ben, base camp to Ben, God, where have you been?
 
I’ve been dying to hear from you, over…”

Ben smiled.
 
“Hi, Lee.
 
All is okay here.
 
Dane and Hugo have gone ahead to make contact.
 
One of Tecal’s men reports they found the dangerous guys and went on.
 
So far we have not heard from Dane or Hugo, over…”

“Understand.
 
All okay.
 
Do you need anything?
 
Over...”

Ben took a few steps trying to get rid of some of his tenseness.
 
“Roger, Lee.
 
We are waiting on Dane and Hugo.
 
We don’t need anything now.
 
Everything back there okay?
 
Over...”

Lee responded, “All okay here.
 
I’m in contact with Princeton.
 
They are sending personnel down now.
 
I don’t know what their intention is yet.
 
Over...”
 

Ben grew concerned.
 
“Lee, do not let anyone follow us.
 
It is very dangerous.
 
We need to find out what we are up against before we send anyone else into the jungle.
 
Do you understand?
 
No one comes in no matter what anyone says. Over...”

“Roger, Ben.
 
Understand.
 
If they get here before you get back, I will keep them here.
 
Any idea when you will be back?
 
Over...”

Ben answered, “No.
 
We are waiting for Dane and Hugo to return.
 
Hopefully they will be back soon.
 
I will call you back tomorrow and let you know where we stand.
 
Over...”

“Not a problem.
 
Call me back tomorrow to let me know what is going on.
 
Over...”

“Will do, over and out.”

“Roger, over and out,” Lee responded.
 

Ben placed his radio back into his backpack.
 
So the Princeton guys were sending someone down.
 
That’s all we need; some administrative bureaucrats getting involved to help us out.
 
Bullshit!
  
They haven’t a clue as to what is going on.
 
He hoped they would all be back at base camp soon to help Lee with those folks.
 
Then Ben smiled and laughed to himself.
 
What was he saying?
 
Lee could handle anyone short of the President of the United States when they got here in the jungle.
 
She was one helluva lady even though she was his sister.
 
Ben went back over to the tarp and sat down to wait for Tecal’s other man to return to report in.
 
He looked over at Tecal.
 
“Hey, what’s for lunch?”

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Fortress Alpha, Brazil;
 
10:00 a.m.

Hugo used a pallet jack to move several stacks of flour and other supplies around in the back of the storage room.
 
They decided to make this area a small base of operations.
 
The sheer size itself lent its use as an excellent hideout.
 
Since the room was a secondary storage area, according to the cook, Dane and Hugo decided that it was as safe as they were going to find.
 
Besides, if the cook and his girlfriend thought this was a good place for a discreet rendezvous, it was good enough for Dane and Hugo.

Hugo set himself up behind some flour sacks near the door so that he could hear anyone coming down the hall and trying to enter the room.
 
Dane was in the back with the two captives going over the setup of Fortress Alpha.
 

“You are Americans,” said the cook.
 
“Why should we tell you anything?”

Dane silently pointed his weapon at the girl.
 
He did not say a word.
 
The cook’s eyes got big and he swallowed hard.
 

“I think you are smart enough to answer a few questions or…”
 
Dane looked him in the eyes.
 

“Why do I care what happens to her?” the cook said indignantly.
 
Dane smiled and glanced at the girl.
 

“Well, number one, she’s pretty.
 
Number two, you guys did not show up unannounced.
 
If I were a betting man, I would say you two have a thing going.”
  
The cook swallowed hard.
 
His bluff had been called.
 
The girl sat there quietly.
 

“Okay.
 
She’s my girlfriend,” said the cook meekly.
 

Dane sat back.
 
“Well, in that case, I would think that you would want to tell us what we want to know so no one gets hurt.”
 
Dane had no intention of hurting the girl but using her to get info from this guy was another thing.
 
The cook sat there and said nothing.
 

“
Ich spreche nicht.
 
We have nothing to say,” said the girl defiantly.
 
“You go to hell!”

“Yeah, right, two tough guys,” smiled Dane.
 
Dane stood up over the girl.