Chapter 38
When Mason sauntered back up the hill like he didn’t have a care in the world, Lauren grabbed him by the front of his shirt and shook him like a rag doll. “What the hell did you do down there? You guys looked like you were going to tear each other’s throats out and then suddenly you’re best buds.”
When Mason just grinned and hesitated, she shook him again back and forth yelling, “Tell me… tell me… tell me…!”
Mason glanced back down the hill and saw Bear explaining the change in circumstances to his men. “There, Lauren, is at least a partially honorable man.”
She stepped back aghast. “What the hell is that supposed to mean? The bastards chase us all over God’s creation trying to kill us and steal a cure for the world’s worst plague in history and all you can say is he’s a partially honorable man?”
“Come on, help me get our things together and I’ll tell you the damnedest story.”
When he’d finished, she just shook her head. “Men!” was all she’d say as she finished packing up the specimens and blood samples. “Do you really think we can trust them to keep their word and allow us to leave with the specimens?”
He stared down the hill, watching Bear and his men pack up their gear and head off into the jungle. “I think so, as long as our interests and theirs coincide.”
He smirked, “But I would hate to be on the other side from Bear… he is one tough son of a bitch.”
He turned from staring at the jungle to look at her. “You know,” he said, pulling out his phone. “Battersee said Congressman O’Donnell told him Blackman had turned one of the Wildfire Team’s members into a spy for him… one code-named Janus.”
Lauren laughed sourly. “Imagine that! A spy on the team, just like you suspected, Mason.” After a moment, she added, “Janus, well that’s an appropriate name for a spy anyway.”
Mason raised his eyebrows. “How so?”
“Not up much on your Roman mythology, huh?” Lauren teased. “Janus was a god with two faces, one pointing to the front and one to the rear.”
“Two faces, huh?” Mason asked, nodding. “You’re right; it is an appropriate name for a traitor.”
“Did Battersee say why this spy had suddenly had a change of heart and decided to work on the side of the angels?” Lauren asked.
“Evidently Janus had suddenly figured out Blackman was going to tie up all the loose ends by killing the Wildfire Team… along with his spy Janus.”
“Why in the world would he do that?”
Mason shrugged. “Think about it. If Blackman’s mercenaries had succeeded in getting the plants and blood specimens from us and eliminating us, the only other people who knew about the existence of a possible cure would be the Wildfire Team. There’s no way he could leave either us or any members of the team alive to talk, otherwise every law enforcement agency in the world would be after him… he’d have no place to hide.”
After a few minutes of dialing and then redialing, he gave Lauren a puzzled look. “I can’t get through to the team. I keep getting a busy signal.”
She shrugged. “Maybe one of them is on the phone.”
He shook his head. “Nope, if the line is busy, I’m supposed to get a voicemail where I can leave a message.”
“Then something’s wrong with the satellite hookup.”
“Maybe,” he said doubtfully. “Or maybe this Janus had sabotaged the lab’s communications gear before he or she decided to change sides.”
“Why, what would that accomplish?” Lauren asked.
“Well, for one thing, it would keep the team from alerting the CDC that we had a lead to a possible cure, and that would give Janus’s mercenaries a chance to kill us and get the plants before anyone in the States knew anything about them. But since Janus has now changed sides, it might just be to keep Blackman from suspecting his spy has turned until the congressman has a chance to nail his ass.”
“So, what do we do now?”
He shrugged. “We meet the boat that the congressman has hopefully sent for us and arrange for transportation back to the lab.”
“What about Janus?” Lauren asked.
“Our one big advantage is that Janus doesn’t have any idea that we know there is a spy among us. For all Janus knows, the only person aware of his/her existence is Congressman O’Donnell and Colonel Blackman, and Janus will have no idea that O’Donnell will have called Battersee and alerted him to the existence of a spy on the team.”
“Especially since Janus has presumably made the team incommunicado,” Lauren said.
“That might just give us enough of an edge to smoke this Janus out before he/she can escape.”
“So we’re going to go back into the jungle and join up with the Wildfire Team, a team that we know Colonel Blackman has targeted for elimination?” Lauren questioned.
“Uh, when you put it that way…” Mason responded.
“And not only that, we don’t have any idea who he has hired to do the killing or when they are scheduled to attack?”
“Ah… again, no we don’t.”
“Any chance we can get a squad of Marines to go back to the lab with us?” she asked.
“That might not be such a bad idea. Let me think about it.”
Lauren gave him a sideways glance. “And since the sleeping arrangements are already tight, if any of those young, muscular Marines need a place to bunk…”
“Hey lady, Marines are used to roughing it. They can sleep in their pup tents, or sleeping bags, or whatever!”
She leaned over to put her hand on his shoulder. “Does that green look in your eyes mean you wouldn’t want me sharing my bed with a Marine?”
“No, ’cause then I’d have to kill him, and Marines are notoriously difficult to kill.”
They heard a laugh from behind them and turned to see Motzi, his face flaming red, laughing at them. “Señor Williams is… how you say… jealous!” he said, grinning at Mason.
“Sí, Motzi,” Mason said, returning the grin, “mucho jealous!”
With that, they gathered up the rest of their gear and headed down the hill toward the river to see if the mercenaries had left their boat intact.
When they got there, they found a note attached to the bow of the boat. “Doc, I’m leaving your boat intact with the understanding that you will delay contacting the CDC or your team in the jungle until I’ve had a chance to sting Blackman. I should have our fees collected by midnight tonight since he can release money from his Cayman bank account into ours at most any time. After that, you’re free to do with him what you will.”
Bear had scrawled his name at the bottom of the note.
Mason let Lauren read it. “Are you going to give him the time he asked for?”
Mason shrugged. “Sure, we had an agreement. And besides, I don’t mind seeing some of Colonel Blackman’s ill-gotten gains going to a good cause.”
“A good cause?”
“Yeah, Bear said this was his retirement money, so he’s going to be out of the mercenary game, which is better for all concerned in my mind.”
Lauren laughed. “I can’t disagree with that.”
They loaded their packs into the boat and Mason and Motzi pushed the boat out into the current, where it lazily headed toward the village of Tehuantepec a couple of miles downriver.
On the way, they heard the staccato roar of a large military helicopter taking off in the distance. Bear was on his way, Mason thought.
After about thirty minutes, they began to see dwellings and small buildings and shacks on both sides of the river, along with dozens of natives up to their knees in the river water washing out clothes and utensils and generally doing what they did every day of their lives.