Deadly Journey (15 page)

‘You,’ Perez said. ‘You get out of my
sight.’ He waved the gun in front of my face.

I didn’t need telling twice.

Walking briskly back to the bedroom, I
worried about my escape plan. If he could kill someone for stealing the fruit
from a tree, then even the slightest hint that Leandra had helped me would hand
her a death sentence.

Chapter 26

Interrupted Sleep

Nightfall brought
with it a breeze from the Pacific. Standing outside on the bedroom balcony, my
fingers gripped the metal balustrade. The full moon stood majestically in the
sky. The sun had not quite surrendered to the inevitable. It was setting on the
horizon, laying down a rippled pathway on the ocean, as if rolling out an
invitation to follow its path
–
but then I would think
that. Tomorrow, that’s where I would be heading, out to sea and the unknown.

So much could go wrong. I guess that’s why
my stomach bloated. I’d heard of opening-night butterflies, but these were bad
ass, giant moths fluttering around inside.

I hadn’t thought any further than taking
over the mini-sub, other than skipping ahead to walking down the pathway at
home and a warm welcome from my family. But looking out at the ocean, the
middle part of the journey took over my thoughts. It wasn’t that it would be
like hijacking a car and driving down the highway with directions at the side
of the road to guide me. All I’d worked out was that we needed to turn right
and head north, hopefully to end up on the American side of the border. Saying “we”
assumed I could get the pilot to steer the damn thing. The thought of me
steering the mini-sub alone and ending up trapped on a sandbank, or worse,
smashing into rocks, scared the crap out of me. Still, I took some comfort that
I had my pilot’s license. I hoped the sub would be far less complicated than
flying a light aircraft

A shrug of my shoulders, and I wheeled
around to step into the bedroom. Jumbled voices outside the bedroom door and a
glance at the time on the television screen told me that Leandra was right on
cue. The door opened in time for me to catch a glimpse of the guard taking a
sip from a cup.

She entered, pushing the cart inside, and
closed the door. Stepping over to the closet, she opened the door to obscure
the camera. Moving back to the cart, she lifted a pile of sheets from the
bottom tier, quickly placing them on a shelf. Leandra threw me a tight-lipped
smile as she moved swiftly to close the closet door. Standing in a blind spot,
Leandra held out her trembling hands and whispered.

‘That’s it, uniform stowed away. I’ve
spread some treats around in the pants pockets and a small bottle of water in
case you can’t get any supplies.’

Walking over to her, I took hold of her
still-shaking hands. ‘I’m sorry to have put you through this.’ When I released
her hands, we briefly embraced. She started to sniffle. ‘Hey, what’s wrong?’

‘Nothing,’ she said and turned away,
fussing around, pouring me a coffee and adding sugar.

‘You know I appreciate everything you’ve
done for me.’

‘I know,’ she said and passed me the
coffee. ‘How do you feel about going?’

‘Nervous as hell.’

‘No, I didn’t mean that. I
–
oh, never mind. I think I’d be nervous too. All I did was wheel in
the uniform and I thought I’d blow it. My hands shook so much when I passed
Carlos his coffee, I was sure he would guess I was hiding something.’

She managed a faint smile, but moisture
formed in her eyes and her cheeks flushed.

‘Come on, out with it, what’s wrong?’

‘I... I’m going to be lost tomorrow. I’ll
miss your company. But it’s not just that. I can’t help it, I just can’t stop
thinking about something going wrong.’

‘Nothing will go wrong, trust me.’ I hoped
I sounded convincing, because inside I felt the same way about something going
awry. ‘I’m going to miss you, too, but you know I can’t stay. Plus, when I get
out of here, like I said, I’ll try and get you and Rosa reunited.’

‘Yeah, I know,’ she said. ‘Send me a
postcard from El Paso.’ We both laughed and then I downed my coffee.

‘Come here,’ I said and gave her an
affectionate cuddle. ‘Let’s not say goodbye. I’m sure we’ll meet up in the
future and laugh about all this.’ I gave her a friendly peck on the cheek and
let go of her. This time, there was no mistaking the sweet smell of her
perfume. I drew in a deep breath through my nose in the hope of committing her
fragrance to memory.

‘That had better be a promise,’ she said. A
toothy smile developed and she winked.

The door opened and Carlos walked in,
placing his empty cup on the tray. He didn’t seem to be up for moving.

‘Time for bed,’ she said and then mouthed ‘good
luck’.

The minute she had wiggled out of the room
and closed the door, I felt empty inside. There would be no one to hold my hand
if some injury befell me during my escape, no magic cloak to protect me. It
would be just me, DEA agent Kurt Rawlings, relying on the hand of fate and the
throw of the dice.

Stepping over to the nightstand, I picked
up the picture of my family and stared at it long and hard. My eyes lifted to
the ceiling and I began to cry in a snuffle at first and then with more
abandon. Placing the photo down, I dove onto the bed, burying my head in the
pillow to hide my shame at having broken down and I sobbed my heart out.

***

I thought I was dreaming when I heard a
scream and slamming doors. Outside I could hear vehicle engines and footsteps
running with men shouting. I sat up, groggy and confused. The muted television
and bedside lamp were still on. The time on the screen was 7:30 a.m. There was
only two and half hours to go until my escape. The bedroom door crashed open.
Carlos threw some clothing on the bottom of the bed. Two more guards entered,
one carrying shackles. I prayed the scream hadn’t been Leandra and we had been
rumbled.

‘What’s happening?’

‘You’re being moved. Lie back.’

I did as I was ordered, and they removed my
ankle tracker.

‘Dress.’

There was urgency about their movements and
nervousness in their eyes.

‘Quickly.’ Carlos threw the pants at me.

The pants were lightweight and camouflaged,
as was the jacket. With the pants on, he threw me a pale green T-shirt.

One of the guards threw open the closet
door, obscuring the camera.

‘You have boots?’ Carlos asked.

My heartbeat went into overdrive at the
sight of the guard dragging clothing out of the closet and I prayed the other
guard wouldn’t do the same and open the robe next to him, to discover the
uniform.

‘Yes,’ I said, ‘Bottom shelf.’

The guard threw the boots onto the bed.

‘Get them on,’ Carlos ordered.

The closet door was still open, covering
the camera. I guessed if they knew I was about to escape, the punishment would
be death. It crossed my mind that Leandra could have betrayed my plans. After I
had slipped my boots on and tied my laces, I lunged at Carlos. Removing his
Taser from his belt as we crashed to the floor and spinning around, I fired the
Taser at the nearest guard charging toward me. He danced like a puppet on
strings, his arms flailing, and he dropped to the floor. I should have paid
more attention to Carlos. An arm gripped around the neck from behind in a
sleeper hold. Carlos’s legs entwined in mine, immobilizing me in a vice-like
grip. I thrashed about, but there was no way out. Then the butt of a rifle
smashed into my temple.

It was all a daze after that, until I heard
Leandra’s voice.

‘Kurt, can you hear me? Kurt, wake up.’

I flicked open one eye, but the other
wasn’t up for opening. ‘Where are we?’

‘They’ve dumped us on the back of a pickup
truck.’

Managing to sit upright, I was surprised to
see her in the same type of beige and green camouflaged fatigues that I was
wearing. Both of us were shackled. My head thumped as I glanced around to see
our vehicle parked outside the villa. A large body of guards lined up on the
lawn, standing at attention. Commanders marched up and down, screaming at them.
Perez scuttled by the pickup, staring ahead, clutching his laptop, flanked by
two bodyguards. They disappeared into the maze.

Stony Face appeared and dropped the
tailboard of the pickup. ‘You, out,’ he said, pointing a handgun at me.

‘Don’t you hurt him,’ said Leandra.

‘Don’t worry. He’ll be back this time. I
just need a word.’

I shuffled to the edge. He dragged me off
the back and then hustled me ten feet away.

‘You’re going on a journey. You have a job
to do for me and I promise, if you don’t carry out my orders, or you escape, I
will track you down like an animal and make you suffer a thousand deaths.’

‘I’m not doing anything for you, you piece
of shit.’

‘Not me, you’re doing it for Leandra, but
the promise holds.’

‘What is it I’m supposed to do for her?’

‘Have you ever had jungle, or first aid
training?’

‘No jungle training, but first aid, yes,
why?’

‘Because I’m giving you two survival backpacks
for your journey.’

‘Why don’t you take off our shackles and
send us on our way if you’re that concerned?’

‘That’s my business. There’s a vial of
morphine in each for any serious injury and a medical kit. Don’t drink anything
other than bottled water without boiling it first. In the one of the pockets
there’s some purifying tablets. Use them.’

‘So where are we going?’

‘You’ll find out. Oh, and at the bottom of
your backpack there’s a GPS transmitter. Don’t tell anyone about the
transmitter, not even Leandra. Only use it if Leandra is in extreme danger and
stay put. It’ll scramble a message to my receiver. Your backpack has a red tag
on the straps. Don’t mix them up. Remember, I need you to stick to her like
glue
–
understood? ‘

‘Understood. What’s happening here?’

‘Cobra. We’re going to be under attack from
some of their units as payback for your little film causing them problems. Now
get back in the truck. And remember, if anything happens to her, I’ll hold you
responsible.’

The conversation puzzled me. Why not give
his men a GPS transmitter? But then maybe they had them. Thinking about it, I
reckoned Leandra must be worth more than her weight in coca leaves for them to
lose her.

Back at the truck, he helped me climb onto
the back, and tossed in the two backpacks. Carlos jumped in the back with us.
Stony banged on the side of the truck’s panel and we set off.

‘No more heroics,’ said Carlos. ‘Or six
hundred RPM will cut you both in half.’

I heard him, but didn’t acknowledge him. I
didn’t doubt for one minute how many rounds per minute his FX-5 automatic
assault rifle was capable of, but I doubted his cartridge could hold six
hundred rounds. Still, it was fast enough to do what he said, cut us in half. I
set my eyes to watch Stony fade into the distance.

Leandra nudged me with her shoulder. ‘Kurt,
I’m frightened.’

‘Don’t be. I’ll look after you.’ I lifted
my elbow and she sneaked her head into the gap, laying her head on my chest. ‘They’re
not going to harm us, trust me. Pedro said they’re moving us for our own
safety. At least that’s what it sounded like.’

The pickup passed through the gates and
straight across the road, following a rutted track toward the beach. The
vehicle stopped and I could hear the sound of waves lapping the shoreline.
Carlos dropped the tailgate and removed our leg irons. Two more guys appeared
in ordinary clothing and helped us off the back of the truck. Carlos passed out
our backpacks, donned his own, and prodded us toward the sea. A rubber dingy
with an outboard motor awaited us on the beach.

‘Where are we going?’

‘Fishing,’ said Carlos. ‘Get in.’

I stepped into the rigid base of the
dinghy. Speedboats may look graceful when you’re watching them glide the waves,
but the bouncing on the surf turned me green and I threw up over the side.
Leandra didn’t fare much better and squeezed her eyes closed for the entire
journey. It didn’t seem to affect Carlos, who set his gaze on me for the whole
trip.

We were heading for what looked like a tiny
boat, but it grew bigger as we approached. The dinghy swung to one side and the
engine spluttered to idle. It wasn’t the research vessel, but a fishing
trawler. The swell bounced us up and down alongside the hull of the boat. A
metal arm swung out from the above, lowering chains to the dinghy. The crew set
about fastening the chains. Then they signalled to one of the crew above,
before they winched us upward and then onto the deck.

One of the crew approached and started
shouting in Spanish at Leandra and me, at too fast a pace for me to translate.

‘What did he say?’ I asked.

Leandra sidled up close to me and clasped
her trembling fingers in mine.

‘He’s the captain. He says, try anything
and they’ll feed us to the sharks.’