The Society of Orion: The Orion Codex (9 page)

Part Three

Jungle Warfare

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Colton Banyon stood on the opposite bank of the stream. It looked more like a rapidly flowing river to him. It was deep and fairly wide. He was surveying the potential campsite. They were running out of time and he needed to make some defensive decisions in the little daylight he had left. It would be night soon.

The rest of the team was busy unloading everything from the large Hummer on the opposite bank. Steve wanted to make the vehicle as light as possible before attempting to cross the stream on the old bridge.

There was a chant of, “Go, Steve go,” from the team as he slowly drove onto the bridge. About halfway across, the structure began to talk. The groans were loud and clear, but Steve hit the gas and flew over the rotting wood with ease.

“You guys bring the supplies,” he called out as he left the vehicle. “My nerves are a little shot right now.”

***

Once everything was across, Banyon began giving orders. “Carol, you and Maya collect firewood. We’ll need a large bonfire right here.”

“On it,” they both replied and hustled off into the underbrush.

“Steve you and Kenny need to build five fox holes along the stream’s bank to shoot across the river. See if you can find some rocks to build a wall in front of the foxholes.”

“Good thing we brought two shovels,” Steve replied sarcastically.

“Mandy, I want you and Loni to set up camp,” Banyon continued. “Set the tents up and set out some food. We may not have time to eat later.”

“But Colt,” Loni whined. “You know I’m not very domestic. Mandy isn’t either. We’ll just screw everything up. Why don’t you make the food, you’re a much better cook than I am,” she reasoned.

Banyon didn’t say anything for a few seconds. “Okay, I’ll cook, but you need to find a way across the stream for our plan to work Loni. Do you think you and Mandy can do that without getting into trouble?”

Both of their eyes lit up. Banyon knew they loved adventure. “We’ll be back as soon as we find a way across,” Loni gushed. She grabbed a handgun and some rope. The two petite women scampered off downstream to look for a crossing place.

“And I get to do the KP duty work,” Banyon muttered to himself.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

“Isn’t this exciting,” Mandy gushed. “Here we are deep in the Amazon rainforest alone and nobody even knows where we are. Maybe we’ll run into some lost tribe or an unknown species of animal.”

“Careful,” Loni shot back with alarm. “Be
quiet
.”

“Why, no one can hear us,” Mandy replied.

“No, I mean be careful where your walking,” Loni said as she pointed to the large snake slithering across their path.

“Yikes!” Mandy yelped.

“And look over there,” Loni pointed. Mandy followed her direction and noticed a large black cat sleeping in a tree. “Panther,” she whispered. “We don’t want to mess with him.”

The two women became very quiet and stealthy as they maneuvered along the two foot high stream bank. They became very aware of the noises in the thick jungle. There were insects buzzing, birds singing, monkeys screeching, and what seemed to be an army of creatures shuffling around on the ground in the distance. They quickly decided the jungle was a very dangerous place.

After walking for a half hour, they came upon a hook shaped spit of land that jutted out into the water. It was a sand bar caused by a bend in the stream. The stream was only about tens yards wide there.

“This looks about as good as we’ll find,” Loni said.

“Do you plan to just swim across?” Mandy questioned.

“I don’t think it would be a good idea,” Loni nervously replied as she studied the stream. “Look in the water.”

“My god, what the hell are they?” Mandy all but screamed. There were about twenty pairs of eyes watching them from the water.

“They are called Caiman,” Loni replied knowingly. “They are the South American version of the Alligator. I read about them in the travel brochure.”

“What’re so many of them doing right here?” the startled Mandy asked.

“They are feeding,” Loni responded. “Or to be exact, they are waiting to feed on any animal stupid enough to walk out onto that sandbar.”

“Look,” Mandy cried out. Three of the Caiman opened their mouths wide and pointed their heads skyward. “What are they doing?”

Before Loni could answer, they heard several monkeys screaming. The women looked up into the tall trees. They saw six large monkeys riding one vine and swinging over the water. The Caiman tried to maneuver so they would be right under the vine in case one of the monkeys fell off. The monkeys didn’t seem to be concerned. They reached the other side and disappeared into the jungle.

Mandy looked at Loni with mischief in her eye. “I’ll bet we could both swing across on a vine. Those six monkeys weighed more than either of us.”

“Who are you? Are you Tarzan or are you Jane?” Loni quipped. “And are you
totally
insane?”

“No, I’m not crazy,” Mandy fought back and pouted. “If we tie the rope high up on one of those trees, we can swing across and tie the other end to another tree. Then tonight all you would have to do is shimmy across.”

“Hmm,” Loni said. “Your idea has merit. Let’s do it.”

They moved back towards the camp and found a suitable tree which had vines long enough to cross the stream. The Caiman followed them upstream hoping for a meal. They swung across the stream easily and shouted “Whoopee”. They then tied the rope high on another tree. They skillfully used the rope bridge to get back to the camp side of the stream. By the time they hit the ground they were very satisfied with their handiwork and started back towards camp.

While they were walking, Mandy turned her head to say something and tripped on a ground vine. She started to fall over the high bank.

“Uh-oh,” she screamed.

Loni never hesitated. She grabbed Mandy in a bear hug and they both went over the edge heading for the Caiman infested water.

Luckily, Loni still wore the Orion ring. She quickly turned it as they dropped to the water. They were instantly engulfed in a clear egg shaped sphere. A Caiman rushed forward and attempted to clamp his huge jaws on the bubble before they even hit the water. The large animal bounced off like it had hit a wall. Several teeth broke off and went flying into the water. The two women clung onto each other in terror inside the bubble as it bounced back into the air.

The shield splashed into the fast-running stream — suddenly Loni and Mandy began to drift downstream at an alarming pace. They were helpless to stop it.

Loni yelled to Mandy. “See if we can roll towards the shore,” she said, but quickly realized no sound came out of her mouth. Inside the bubble it was completely silent. Mandy could not hear her. She began to feel the edge of panic creep down her spine.
How will we ever get out of here?

As they were swept down the stream the Caiman again followed. Loni believed they could just float along until the Caiman tired of chasing them and then she could turn off the bubble to swim to land. But she also remembered the stream fed a huge waterfall not too far downstream. She began to think desperate thoughts.

Suddenly, Mandy licked Loni’s face. She looked at Mandy with surprise. Mandy used her eyes to indicate something outside the bubble. When Loni looked over her shoulder, she saw the spit of land jutting out into the stream. They were heading right for it.

They slid onto the shore like a boat beaching, and they worked together to roll themselves further up onto the sand. They then stood up just as two Caiman shot out of the water and crashed into the bubble. It didn’t budge. More Caiman charged at the bubble, it still didn’t move. Loni was shocked by the strength of their shield. The animals attacking the sphere easily weighed five hundred pounds or more yet the women didn’t even feel the slightest impact.

Loni let go of Mandy with one hand and used two fingers to give the walk sign. They then walked up the sandbar and onto the stream bank. Once they were there, the Caiman turned and flopped back into the water. The crisis was over. Loni turned the ring and breathed a sigh of relief. They weren’t even wet.

“Wow, that was fun,” Loni said sarcastically.

“Nobody is going to believe what just happened to us,” Mandy shouted. She was full of adrenaline and couldn’t help the outburst.

“I think it would be a really good idea to not tell Colt,” Loni said in agreement. “He already thinks we both are loose cannons and will think we did it for the thrill.”

Mandy now became serious. “Thanks for saving my life Loni,” she said.

“You’re my friend. I had no choice,” Loni responded.

“So we’re friends now?” Mandy asked.

“We’re friends as long as you keep your hands off of Colton Banyon,” Loni replied with a laugh.

“And we now have secrets about each other too,” Mandy pointed out.

“Come on let’s get back to camp before they miss us and think we’ve done something stupid.”

Chapter Twenty-Nine

The two women could smell food cooking before they reached the campsite. As they stepped out of the jungle, the rest of the team looked up from their food plates.

“Where’ve you two been?” Steve asked while showing a little anger in his voice. “We were worried that we would have to rescue you.”

“We found a way across the stream,” Loni quickly noted. “But, Colt, it is very dangerous in the jungle. I don’t want to go back there tonight, by myself.”

Banyon studied his little partner knowing she never backed down from danger. “So you want someone to go with you? Is that it?”

“Yes,” Loni replied. “I want Mandy to go with me tonight.”

“But, she is our best sniper,” Steve argued. “We’ll need her here.”

“I know how to use a sniper rifle,” Carol quickly said. “I used to date a sniper from the embassy here in Ecuador.”

“Are you
sure
you want Mandy to go with you?” Banyon asked Loni.

“Absolutely,” Loni responded. “What could go wrong?”

Chapter Thirty

It was already late at night as two columns of military type men made their way down the road towards the Banyon campsite. They had parked their vehicles a mile from their destination and trekked into the black rainforest night. The first man in one column wore night vision goggles which Colonel Walther had liberated from the army arsenal. The colonel walked next to him carrying the detailed hand-drawn map that Father Bartholomew had given him. He periodically checked it with a small penlight to make sure they were on course.

He held up his arm to stop everyone, but no one could see it.

“Stop,” he uttered in a semi-whisper. “Gather around me,” he then ordered.

“Listen men,” he started. “We are getting very close. If you try, you can hear the flow of the stream in the distance.”

“Okay, so let’s run down there and shoot them,” one of his men blustered.

“No,” the colonel responded strongly. “We are not going into their camp at night. We are going to set up a wall of firepower across the stream and use the mortars and the grenades to flush them out in the daylight.”

“Why wait?” another man exclaimed.

“I don’t want any of them to get away. If we charge in at night some of them might slip into the jungle,” the colonel responded.

“But you told us there were only seven of them. Why wait?” the man argued.

“Don’t you want some target practice?” the colonel replied in a sinister voice. “It’ll give us real-life fighting experience which we can use during the upcoming revolution.”

“Makes sense to me,” the man replied.

Chapter Thirty-One

Steve slithered into Banyon’s tent on his belly. Banyon and Loni were instantly awake.

“They’re here,” he said anxiously. “They have set up a firing range across the stream, just as you predicted.”

“How many men?” Loni asked.

“It looks like about thirty,” Steve replied nervously. “I think we are in for a firestorm.”

“Wake the others and tell them to get into position,” Banyon ordered. “Make sure Carol has a clear view of the bridge. We don’t want any of them to get across.”

“Will do,” Steve answered and crawled back out of the tent.

Banyon turned to Loni. “Are you up for this?” he asked.

“Mandy and I will make everything work,” she answered seriously, but her eyes were wide with concern.

“Do you want to take one of the guns?”

“No, we’ll have the Orion ring to protect us if we need it,” Loni explained. “The guns will do more good with you.”

Within seconds, Mandy entered the tent on her hands and knees. She quickly made her way to Banyon and gave him a big hug.

“You take care of yourself Colton Banyon,” she uttered.

“And you take care of Loni for me, okay,” Banyon responded carefully.

“Do you have the weapons?” Mandy asked as she turned to Loni. She was all business now.

“Right here,” Loni replied as she showed her the talisman hanging from her neck and the Orion ring on her wrist.

“What about your earpiece?” Banyon asked. Without the earpieces they could not communicate.

Both women pulled back their hair to show him the devices. He showed them his.

“Then let’s go,” Mandy said with excitement. Loni hugged Banyon and the two women left through the back of the tent.