Surviving (8 page)

              Beth leaned against John and buried her head into his chest and sobbed as she heard the abuse that her friends were taking. She said that she was thankful that Janet’s husband, Bill, was too far away to hear the discussion. Damn, John had forgotten the connection. Bill must be going through hell knowing that his wife was in the hands of these bastards. She moved so that she was sitting in John’s lap to help them both stay warm. He placed his arms around Beth and hugged her; he whispered to her that they would get them free and make the bastards pay for what they had done to the girls. She hugged him back and he thought that he wanted this over so he could get up enough courage to ask her out. He kissed her on the head and continued to console her, the best that he could. She continued to cry as the rain kept pouring down. She was dry from her waist up thanks to the jacket that they took from the camp.

• • •

              “We cannot camp for the night at this location,” Red exclaimed.

              Karl replied, “Red, what is your hurry? The men need a little rest and some loving.”

              “Karl, you are the boss, but we need to catch the tourists and kill them today before they escape. Besides, haven’t any of you noticed that this is a dry riverbed and it is raining? Look, you can already see small streams of water under our feet. In an hour, this could be a river washing us into those rocks ahead. I am not worried about the tourists; however, I do not want to drown tonight in my sleeping bag. Let’s move on downstream to the high ground on the other side of the ravine ahead,” Red implored.

              The voice that John had figured out was Karl’s, told them to get up and move out. They could see them pass in front of them and they were only about fifteen feet away.

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Chapter 12

Ann

Mobile, Alabama

May 17, 2020

              Ann kissed Dan on the forehead as she got out of bed and went to the bathroom. She got into the shower and watched him for a while. She thought about him and wondered would this go anywhere. While Dan was filthy rich, he was only a midlevel manager in the city government. He had family money and did not have to work, but wanted to get into politics and his goal was to become the mayor of Mobile. He was adequate in bed, but was he marriage material? She was looking for Mr. Right, but wanted to make sure that she chose the correct guy instead of Mr. Right Now.

              Ann looked at herself in the mirror and was pleased at the beautiful body that was in front of her. It was the best body that Mobile’s plastic surgeons and personal trainers could deliver. She had spent John’s money wisely on making herself beautiful and the rest was invested very wisely. She got dressed and made sure that she had everything before checking on Dan as she left.               He was sleeping peacefully, but snoring very loudly. He looked like a little boy since he was curled up in the fetal position, hugging his pillow. She checked her bag to make sure she had not lost anything and saw her wallet, keys and .380 KEL-TEC. She saw the KEL-TEC, was thankful to John for the many hours on the firing range for she was secure in her life and did not worry a lot about bad guys.

              Ann locked the door as she left, got into her Jag, started it and left quickly. She saw the black Explorer following about 100 feet behind as she pulled out on the highway. The SUV turned off at the next exit and Ann thought she was getting paranoid. She drove down Highway 65 to Azalea Blvd. and stopped at her favorite café for coffee and a blueberry muffin. As she got out of her car, she looked over her shoulder and saw a black Explorer parking at the end of the block.

              She remembered seeing a black SUV outside of Dan’s house. She remembered one of John’s sayings, “Just because you are paranoid, doesn’t mean they’re not out to get you.” She went in to the shop and ordered her usual. While they were getting her order, she turned on her Kindle Fire and checked out her Facebook account. She peered over the top of the Kindle at the two men who had gotten out of the Explorer and sat on the bench across the street. They were trying to look like they were reading their newspapers, but she could tell that they were looking over the papers and not at them.

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Chapter 13

The Ambush

Deep Woods Somewhere in Idaho

May 17, 2020

              Bill and Steve were in place and only had to stay still as the point man came up to their position. Gus could hear the point man’s feet disturbing the gravel as he walked. As he came into view, he appeared to be talking to himself. Gus thought for a brief moment that the guy might be praying or maybe he was just singing to himself. Gus kept the 9mm aimed at the bastard’s heart, as he got closer. Somehow it made Gus feel better about what was about to happen if he thought of the guy as a very evil person. He made sure that Bill and Steve were not in the line of fire.

              The guy was a Latino in his late 30’s.He had jet-black hair and a pockmarked face that could have been in the movies. He was the classic bad guy. Gus wondered if he was married, did he have any kids, where did he live. The gun bucked in his hand; the flash was bright, the noise deafening. He had pulled the trigger without giving it a second thought and he did what he had to do. Damn, he thought that might be his epitaph. The guy fell down, but was not dead; he grasped his chest and raised his M-16 just as Steve landed on him. He got off a few rounds into the air before Steve slit his throat. Bill grabbed the AK-47 and Steve got the dead man’s ammo belt with his 9 mm and all of the magazines for both weapons.

• • •

              The going was rough and the footing rougher for the GAO group as they entered the streambed that had been chosen for the ambush. While it was still twilight, the trees blocked most of the remaining daylight; it was damn near pitch black.

              The men continued to argue over the women when Maria scolded them, “You guys act like you have never seen a woman before. Karl, I thought that I had joined a class act, but all I have seen today are rapists and punks. Surely you are not going to continue to be a party to this continued debauchery; you are our leader.”

              Karl glared at her and told her to shut up. He was mad, but not at Maria for she was right. The leader of the North American GAO operation could not act like a thug. He caught Maria off to the side and apologized to her and told her that she was correct, however, he would not stop the boys from having fun. He looked into her eyes and knew that he wanted the feisty bitch. He would try to keep her happy, at least long enough to find out if she was as feisty in bed as she was about her ideals.

              “Everyone must be on alert, this looks like a good place for an ambush,” Manny laughed.

              Jesus replied, “These gringos are running for all they are worth, they don’t have the guts to stand and fight.” The words were still coming out of Jesus’ mouth when the first shots rang out.

              “Let’s go,” Karl ordered.

              They all rushed toward the noise and left the women behind.

• • •

              The first of the bad guys rounded the corner just as they dove behind some rocks. Gus shot at them with the 9mm and they scattered and hit the dirt. Gus kept them pinned down, but didn’t think he had hit any of them.

              Jim and Scott had plenty of time to size up their prey since the group had practically stopped right in front of them. They had argued for several minutes about who had the nerve to kill the guy. Both agreed that shooting him was much less personal than killing him with a knife. Jim finally convinced Scott to flip a coin. Jim won, or lost depending on how you look at it, for he had to kill the guy.

              Their guy was an American about 6’1” and built like a prizefighter. He was armed with an AK-47 and a 9mm automatic. He lit up a cigarette as soon as the others traveled around the bend of the small canyon. Not a professional, Scott thought.

              Jim and Scott heard the gunfire and jumped the rear guard. Jim grabbed the guy’s head, covering his mouth and brought the knife to his neck. The damn guy was quick, he had grabbed the blade with his bare hand and even though it was being sliced to the bone, he kept it from his neck. Thank God, the AK was dangling from its strap and the asshole could not get his hand to the trigger. Jim wrestled with him for a few seconds to no avail. Scott came from around the backside, unsheathed his knife, plunged it into the rear guard’s kidney and ripped upwards. He slumped in Jim’s hands and died.

              They began to strip the body of all weapons and anything that might be useful. Jim grabbed the guy's coat and Scott took his hat and ammo belt. Scott took the AK and Jim got the 9mm and its magazines. The entire part of their piece of the operation had only taken a minute so far, but they expected to hear the bomb go off any second. It did not.

              They had not made a sound the whole time, no one ahead had even heard a peep; their part of the mission was a success. Scott was worried about Gus and his Dad, had they been injured? Did Gus and Steve’s part of the plan go as well as theirs had? Now they had to run quickly to help free the hostages.

              Beth, Roger and John heard the shots and Beth looked at John’s watch and started the countdown. Roger got the cigarette lighter ready and John held the can of gunpowder with the homemade fuse. John had kept it under his coat in a plastic bag to keep the fuse dry and hoped that he had been successful.

              Beth punched John’s arm and said, “Light it!”

              Roger flicked the wheel of the lighter and nothing happened. Roger kept trying to get fire from the lighter to no avail. John reached deep into his pocket and brought out one of his handy dandy contraptions that should not have been on this trip and prayed. The battery powered-electronic lighter came to life and the fuse sputtered and caught.

              Beth said, “Throw it over there. The girls are out of the way.”

              She pointed to a place about 15 feet in front of the group that was rushing towards his friends. John heaved the bomb as hard as he could and was right on target. The can rattled and then exploded. John strained to see the bad guys through the darkness and he could tell that they had done more damage than they had intended. Beth hoped her friends were okay. John heard several pain filled moans and groans as they ran to free the girls.

• • •

              Alice and Janet heard the gunfire and dropped to the ground. The two guards that had been following behind them rushed to the front of the column.

              “Keep low to the ground and follow me; this is our chance to escape,” Janet whispered.

              Janet helped Alice towards the right creek bank and they were just about there when there was a loud explosion and a big fireball on up the creek bed in the direction that the guards had gone. They then heard the sounds of mass confusion and cussing. They hoped that their captors had all been killed by this mystery explosion.

              “Come to me and we will get you away from them,” Beth called.

              “Oh my god, it’s you Beth. Where have you been?” the girls cried out.

              “Later,” Beth told them. “Let’s go now,” she said.   

              Roger grabbed Alice and scared her until Beth said it was okay. John took Janet by the arm and led her away from the creek bed. She was soaked to the skin. John helped steady her as they scrambled away from the creek. Beth was leading the way towards Gus’ team. Just as they saw Jim and Scott running towards them, they heard yelling and shots were coming from behind them. Several rounds hit the rocks to their rear and Roger fell. Jim and Scott returned the fire while Beth tended to Roger. John emptied a ten round magazine from the Ruger .22 pistol at the thugs. That should pin the bastards down, John hoped. The situation did not look good at all. Roger had been hit in the back, his spine was severed and the bullet had torn his guts out.

              “John, come here,” called Roger.

              John bent over him and Roger said, “Take this,” as he gave him a small pouch.

              “I know I’m dead, take this to the FBI and give the note to my wife, tell her I love her and was thinking of her when I died.”

              With that, he slumped over and was gone.

              “Come on, we have to get back to the others before they find out the women have escaped,” John said.

              The others wanted to bury, him, but John made them leave him where he lay.

              “We will send someone back to get him after this ordeal is over,” John ordered.

              “Move out.”

• • •

              Just ahead of them, something flew through the air, sputtered, sparked and hit the ground.

              “Grenade! Hit the ground,” several GAO thugs yelled all at once.

              They had run right up on the bomb as it hit the ground. It blew up before they could react. Lucky for them it was just a can full of gunpowder instead of a pipe. The tin was shredded and flew out like shrapnel, but was in small pieces except for the top. The top embedded in Pepe’s head and killed him outright. The rest all received wounds from head to toe. They had been hit by bits of tin or gravel that the bomb blew from the streambed. Several had wounds similar to small caliber bullets and the rest had buckshot type wounds. No others would die, but it hurt like hell. Karl and Manny had faded back as the others rushed to help their friend, the point man. Both had been hit by rocks, but only had bruises and a few small nicks. Karl was in no rush to die; that’s why he paid these men so well, to do his fighting for him.

              Maria had been hit by several small pieces of tin, but was okay. One piece had hit her right breast just about an inch above her nipple. It had bled just enough to soak through her blouse. She knew that she would catch hell from the guys at daylight.

              As they regrouped, several shots came from their front and right side, bullets ricocheted and one hit Jesus in the right forearm. The bullet was just about spent after glancing off the rock wall, but still punctured his arm. They scrambled and wildly shot in all directions. Karl ordered them to stop and not shoot until they had a target. Karl had one guy stay to tend to Jesus and the rest surged forward to hunt down their attackers. They found the point man lying on the ground with water backing up in the creek bed; his body had become a dam of sorts.

              “Damn, Jorge finally found something that he is good at. Don’t worry Jorge, we will find your killers and torture them before we kill the bastards."

              There was no one to be seen and the GAO crew was taking as much cover as they could, they did not have a clue what had happened and were only guessing the tourists did it.

              “Manny, take Maria with you and go back and get the women; the rest of us will stay here until you get back. We will find a place to camp tonight, and then tomorrow we will chase these assholes down like the dogs they are.”

              Manny and Maria kept very low as they went to where the women were supposed to be and heard someone moving in the bushes. Manny started shooting at them and Maria shot into the air. Suddenly they saw flashes and bullets were hitting all around them. They fell to the ground and Maria landed on the rear guard’s body.

• • •

              They ran as quietly as possible towards the rest of their friends, while Bill and Steve were helping Alice and Janet. Beth led the way. After what seemed to be an eternity, they broke into a clearing and almost ran over top of the rest of their group. It was pitch black by this time, but Gus checked everyone over and asked about Roger.

              “He gave his life saving us,” cried Janet.

              Bill was holding Alice and not paying much attention to his wife. Bill took his jacket off and wrapped it around her. Steve was helping Janet and Janet was glaring at Bill.

              Gus looked at John and whispered, “I don’t know if I want to know why Bill isn’t holding his own wife.”

              John replied that Steve did not appear to mind that he was comforting another man’s wife right in front of him.

              They quickly filled each other in on the results of the ambush, which by all accounts had been very successful.

              Gus started with his brief account of their accomplishments. “One enemy dead and we grabbed one M-16, a 9mm and about 100 rounds for the AK-47 and 3 – 16 round clips for the 9mm."

              Scott followed with one enemy dead and one AK and a 9mm captured. He thought they had about 120 rounds for the AK and three full clips and a partial for the 9mm.