“Help!”
There was no response. He had opened his mouth to yell again when a low voice stopped him.
“Shut up!” it growled.
Juan twisted back again and looked closer. The eyes were still there, yet the more he focused, the more he could see the outline of a dark-colored face. A face painted black.
It was Corso, hiding motionlessly in the bushes. “What the hell are you doing?”
Juan looked back to make sure no one was coming, then whispered loudly to Corso. “I thought you were a wild animal.”
“Well, I’m not,” Corso retorted. “So shut up.” He looked back and forth, examining the area. “Can you walk?”
“I’m losing some feeling, but I think so. What are you going to do?”
Corso shook his head. “I have absolutely no idea.”
Several hundred yards away, Tiewater was watching from the front of the line. Further back, he could see a large base being set up, with several soldiers running tripwire.
They had to move quickly. Once a solid perimeter was established, getting in and out would be much harder.
Tiewater watched several men run past the vehicles. The truck in front was the most logical option. It wasn’t as big, but it would be the easiest to drive out if he could get it started. It was too new to hotwire which meant he needed to locate the keys. Because unlike the movies, no one kept their keys stashed above the visor.
“Talk to me, Tiewater,” Corso’s voice whispered in his ear.
“I’m looking for keys.” He watched a soldier approach and stop at the vehicle. He opened the back and retrieved a large bag. He hefted it over his shoulder and closed the door before marching back up the hill to the other side. “Hold on. I may have the driver.”
Tiewater continued watching as the soldier reached the top and dropped the bag on the ground. After briefly disappearing, the man reappeared and began heading back down toward the truck.
“How fast can you get Juan out?”
“Pretty damn fast. But it has to happen now.”
“Okay.” Tiewater looked back and forth before stepping out of the trees. “I’m taking this guy. Get ready.”
Corso slid a knife out and gripped it tight in his hand. “I’m ready.”
“Ten seconds…”
When the soldier reached the Humvee, he opened the back again and leaned in. Tiewater was already moving. Running low and smooth from the trees, he covered the distance quickly, stopping at the driver’s door. He could see the man searching for something beneath the tailgate’s overhead light.
Tiewater raised his gun and began to move when he glanced through the side window. Sitting inside, in the center console between the two front seats, were the keys.
“You’ve got to be kidding,” Tiewater muttered to himself.
“What?” Corso replied over the headset.
“Shh!” Tiewater whispered. He remained frozen at the door, waiting until the man behind the truck pulled something else out and reached up to close the gate. Without looking up, he turned and continued back up the hill.
Tiewater quietly opened the driver’s door and reached for the keys. He examined them and slid the larger key into the ignition. With a slight turn, the dash lit up. He immediately turned it back off.
“We got wheels! GO!”
With that, he slid into the driver’s seat and laid his rifle across on the passenger’s side. He pulled the door closed until it made a soft click. He then kept the key in the ignition and slid down in his seat as low as he could.
No sooner had Tiewater given him the go than Corso rushed out of the brush and dropped behind Juan. He worked quickly with the knife, cutting the lines, then peered out over Juan’s shoulder. No one was watching.
“Let’s move!”
He jumped up and yanked Juan onto his feet, pulling him back into the shadows.
“Stay on my heels!” was all Corso said before darting back the way he came. Juan scrambled and ran after him.
They had made it less than fifty yards before they heard a yell behind them. Neither of them knew what the words meant, but there was no doubt as to the message.
“Hurry!” Corso barked.
Juan ran harder, but in the darkness, he caught his foot on something hard and tumbled. He scrambled to his feet only to be met by bright lights shining up the slope. One of the lights found both him and Corso, followed by more yelling. Then gunfire.
Tiewater lifted his head in the Humvee just enough to see outside. At the top of the small hill, the driver and several other soldiers looked in the direction of the gunfire and ran toward it.
Tiewater placed one hand on the steering wheel and the other on the key.
“Can you make it?”
“I don’t know.” From his position, Corso rose up and shot into the lights, dropping two of the men. But there were too many. Bullets passed overhead and he threw Juan down before firing another burst.
Back in the truck, Tiewater suddenly noticed movement in the side mirror of the Humvee. Several men were running up the line of vehicles, toward the front. He continued watching as one of them stopped and climbed into a large truck, two vehicles back. The rest of the men continued running and passed the front vehicle before turning back around.
Behind him, Tiewater heard the larger truck roar to life and saw its bright headlights shining out over the dirt road, illuminating the soldiers now waiting for it. It backed up and began edging its way out of line.
“Okay, we may have a problem.”
From further down the mountain, Caesare’s voice broke in. “What is it?”
“They’re moving their trucks. We might be about to get blocked in.”
Caesare stopped running and listened. “Corso, how close are you?”
Corso fired off several more rounds and pushed Juan forward, ahead of him. “Not very.”
Caesare shook his head in the darkness. “Tiewater, we need those wheels. Get out of there while you still can!”
Tiewater paused. “Corso?”
“Go!” growled Corso. “We’ll get there on foot.”
Tiewater shook his head. Their situation was deteriorating quickly. He sat straight up in the car and twisted the key hard in the ignition. The soldiers, still standing several yards in front of him, were startled to see the Humvee’s lights come on. They stepped forward, trying to peer through the front windshield.
In one motion, Tiewater dropped it into gear and mashed the accelerator down.
86
Caesare finally stopped and scanned the area around him. A large hill climbed to the right and he caught a glimpse of movement just before he saw the muzzle flashes. Bullets ripped past him and he dove to the ground, rolling behind a group of small trees. He came to a stop on both elbows and fired back between the narrow trunks.
Two more rounds tore into the tree just above his head, after more muzzle flashes. He fired back, estimating where the outline of the shooter would be, and everything fell silent.
DeeAnn stopped when she heard the shots behind her. After it went quiet, she turned and called forward again. “Dulce!” She stumbled forward in the darkness, listening for the gorilla to answer again.
Here. Come.
There was a slight echo, and DeeAnn looked down to realize that she was standing on a pile of rocks. She leaned forward, placing a hand on the slope in front of her. Under the moonlight she could see a dark opening in the wall, eerily resembling a gaping mouth. “Dulce, are you in there?”
Yes. Come.
She stumbled forward to the entrance and found the first several feet into the cave illuminated by the moonlight overhead. She shook her head and mumbled under her breath. “This feels like a really bad idea.”