Surviving (5 page)

              “Quit acting like a kid and take it like a man, you wuss,” John told him.

              Scott also spread some of the same gook on the wound and applied a large Band-Aid.

              Scott said, “Steve I think you’ll live, but it only missed your balls by an inch or two. The ladies would have been very sad back home.”

              The rest of them just needed a few Band-Aids and were okay.

              John told Jim and Scott to go back to the plane and try to dive down and get some of the gear. They swam out and dove down to the plane. Scott brought some gear to the shore while Jim continued to dive. They had only gotten John’s Bug Out Bag, a black powder rifle and some assorted gear. The plane had rolled over and was blocking the hatch to the hold.

Gus spread out all the gear that they were able to salvage. They found:

•    
  a 9mm Berretta,
  
•    
  a 9mm KEL-TEC,
  
•    
  a .22 Ruger with ammo,
  
•    
  a .22 Ruger MK1 and 500 hollow point rounds,
  
•    
  a black powder 50 cal. Hawken rifle,
  
•    
  a compass,
  
•    
  field glasses,
  
•    
  a bag of candy,
  
•    
  one pint of black powder,
  
•    
  a seven inch hunting knife
  
•    
  four pocket knives,
  
•    
  about 30 feet of nylon rope,
  
•    
  a first aid kit,
  
•    
  several cans of tuna,
  
•    
  two jars of peanut, butter. 
  
•    
  the rest of the contents of John’s Bug Out Bag.
  
•    
  magnesium fire starter
  
•    
  thermal blankets
  
•    
  one flare gun with three flares
  
•    
  five chocolate bars
  
•    
  their Concealed Carry weapons, 5- .380s with 10 – 6 round magazines.
  

              Gus laughed and said, “It’s not much, but we can shoot some game, cook it and keep warm. It could be a lot worse.”

              John replied, “It would be nice if we had some bullets for the Hawking.”

              Jim said, “Sorry, I could not find any.”

              Roger stood up behind them and blurted out, “We had better get off the shore and into the woods before they spot us.

              Gus heard him and quickly turned and aimed the 9mm at him. “You had better not move again or I’ll put a big assed hole in you, you worthless piece of shit.”

              Roger yelled back at him, “They had a plane stashed in a cove back there on the other lake. They should have already been here by now. We must get into the woods now!”

              Gus took over the conversation and said, “Let’s get out of here.”

              They quickly gathered their equipment and headed into the wood line. Gus had tied Roger’s hands behind his back and was pushing him ahead as they walked under the canopy of trees. John was in the lead and Steve was bringing up the rear. Steve told them to keep going and he would go back so he could listen to see if the plane was approaching yet. While Steve was gone, Scott took the Hawken and loaded it with a double load of powder and three small pebbles in a piece of cloth for a patch.

              Scott said, “It won’t go far, but it will do up close.”

              Steve had walked back towards the lake and was out of sight for a minute. He came back running wide open yelling for them to move out quickly. He told them he had seen a plane circling over the lake as if it were looking for them. They took off at a quick pace into the woods heading northeast towards higher ground. Steve was joking that the plane was probably coming to rescue them or was full of women.

              John stopped and told them to go on about half mile then wait for him. He then told them that he would catch up after he found out who was in the plane.

              John said, “I know there ain’t any women, but it would be a shame to starve in the woods hiding from our rescuers. If I don’t show up in one hour, just keep heading north for about a mile then head due east. This will take you away from the lake and I will know where to find you. We crossed a highway about 30-40 miles back and that is our best bet to find help. I’ll be up in an hour or so if everything goes well. If not, then good bye.”

              Scott protested and tried to come along with him, but John told him to take care of the others and keep his head low. Gus tried to make John take the 9mm, but he refused and took the Hawken instead.

              John told the team, “There are five of you and if those bastards catch up, y’all will need as much fire power as you can get. If they see me, I’ll take one shot and run like hell. Remember I still have my .380 and this hunting knife for close up fighting.”

              John added, “This has already started out much more exciting than any of our other trips.”

              He only got a couple of halfhearted laughs in reply.

• • •

              Manny and the four GAO thugs watched as the missile struck the floatplane. They saw the explosion blow off the pontoon and shred the bottom of the plane.

              Smoke rolled from the right engine and Manny yelled, “The bitch is coming down.”

              The others cheered. Then the plane rocked side to side and bucked like a horse as Roger poured the coal to her. The plane stabilized and started to gain altitude.

              Manny told the others, “Karl won’t like it if those bastards get away, let’s get airborne.”

              They piled into the plane and took off in hot pursuit.

              The pilot, Red, was a sinister looking man who was 6’2’, bright red hair, very muscular and had scars all over his arms and a real ugly one on his face that went from his nose to his left ear. He had been with Manny for over 10 years. He seldom spoke, but was loyal to a fault and would die for Manny. He had been in the Russian Air Force before settling down in South America where he and Manny met and became friends. He probably had some weird Russian name, but went by Red Smith. Only Manny knew that he was wanted by half of the governments of the free world and the entire break away Russian states for god knows what.

              Manny Cortez was afraid of Karl, but was not afraid of anyone or anything else. He was a trained killer and combat veteran of many South American bush wars. He was 36 years old, 5’6”, 160 pounds, black wavy hair and brown eyes that cut through people at a glance. Manny was a midlevel operator in a major crime family based in South America who specialized in drugs and smuggling people into the USA. His wife, Carla, and six children lived in Paraguay in an old mansion on a large compound. Manny was dedicated to The Cartel first and his family second. Manny was a trusted right arm man in Karl Mendoza’s North American operations and would soon be moving his family to the states. This would enable him to spend more time on his business and less time traveling.

              As the plane climbed, Manny got on the radio and called Karl.

              Manny said, “The plane was hit and going down, but it appears that there will be survivors.”

              Karl replied, “Check the crash site and call me if there are survivors. I have plans for them.”

              Another GAO soldier in the back seat was Jesus Sanchez. He was a cold-blooded killer who had been with Manny since their childhood. Manny had a crush on Maria, but she never showed any interest and called him her brother. She had joined the group about a year ago and had become like family. The two remaining thugs were Jose and Pepe who had just flown up with Karl the other day. They were now assigned to Manny to help him get ready for the big push.

              Karl was only visiting the outpost in Idaho when the security breech occurred. When Manny told him that the plane had been hit, but got away, Karl thought that he would mix business with fun. He thought that he would show these lazy Americans the other side of the hunt.

              He replied to Manny, “Allow the Americans to escape. Stay close, but don’t let them know you are following them until I arrive. I am also going to personally take care of your pilot; he will never foul up anything else in the future.”

              He then ordered his personal pilot, Maria and his three bodyguards to load up his plane for a two-day hunting trip. He told one to bring along a good hunting rifle and plenty of ammo. He then went to his luggage and gathered clothes and his shaving kit just in case. Even though he would come back to the outpost at night, he always thought it was best to be prepared. He searched his suitcase, found his little black leather case of his special tools, then smiled, and thought of Roger.

              Manny’s plane landed and taxied to the end of the lake where the crash had occurred. The water was still muddy and there was an oil slick. He had one of his men dive down to the plane and search for survivors. The man surfaced and told Manny that no one was left in the plane. Manny quickly got on the radio and told Karl that the Americans had survived, but that he could not determine the extent of their injuries.

              Karl received the message and ordered his crew to prepare to leave. They taxied to the far end of the lake and then took off.

              Karl enjoyed the beautiful landscape and thought how these Americans took this wonderful country for granted. He would remember to teach his children to never spoil the land, God would not like it and Karl was a very religious fellow.

              Karl passed away the time until landing by reading. Karl’s plane landed and taxied alongside of the other plane, which had been nosed into the shore. Manny greeted them, shook Karl’s hand and began telling him that from what he could tell all of the Americans and Roger had survived the crash.

              Karl asked, “Are they armed?”

              Manny replied, “We cannot tell for sure, but they only brought black powder muzzle loaders with them. The guns were loaded in the planes’ cargo hold and the door is jammed in the mud. “

              Karl thought that perhaps a few old weapons in the hands of a couple of businessmen “want to be hunters” would only add excitement to a dull hunt.

              Karl turned to Red and said, “Red, are you still able to track man or beast without them leaving bread crumbs to mark their trail?”

              Red laughed and said, “Karl, you know that I can track anything that leaves tracks. I can track a fish if you want me to.”

              Karl joined in the laughter and said to all, “Let’s start this hunt so we can be done before dark.”

              It was about 1:00 p.m. and there were about six more good hours of day light. Manny reminded Karl that the Americans had at least an hour and a half lead on them and that Roger may have a pistol. Karl was not concerned, if it takes a couple of days, so be it. This was to be the highlight of his visit to the states.

• • •

              John backtracked and came out of the woods about one hundred yards from the crash site. He kept low and spied through the field glasses on the people as they were apparently searching the crash site. One dove down to the wrecked plane several times and then swam to the shore. Another came out of the woods and looked familiar, he was Manny from GAO! Manny appeared to be directing the others. He had a tall red haired guy searching up and down the shore and a small Latino checking out the spot where they had regrouped before hiking into the woods.

              He thought Scott and Jim were correct; the bastards from GAO were the ones that tried to kill us. John thought that he had better get his ass back to join the others when he heard a noise a few yards away. He crawled under a brush pile and tried to disappear as best as he could. While John could not see much, he could catch a glimpse of the one with the red hair standing behind the brush and the Latino was walking up towards the pile from the direction of the plane.

              That saved his ass because he walked over John’s tracks and Red did not notice his trail. Red and the Latino were discussing what they thought that someone called Karl would do to us when they caught them.

              The red-haired thug said, “Jesus, what has made Manny so mad at Roger, he seemed to be a fair pilot?”

              Jesus answered, “I don’t really know, but the fool dropped a box of cash and drugs and the gringos had to have seen them. You know how Manny and the GAO are about keeping this operation secret. Karl will cut his tongue out and gut him.”

              Red laughed and said, “I guess it is just lucky for us, we get to have some fun and hunt the hunters.”

              John thought that no doubt Roger was a dead man and would die a slow death; the rest of them would be hunted down for sport.