"Look!" cried one of the sputtering students.
They were entering the main chamber. Teacher was there, still smashed on the staircase leading from this very canal.
"I'll be damned," Carl said and slapped the slowing current as he watched Jack ahead, already helping students out of the water and onto the stone staircase. "That was one hell of a ride!"
"What did you do to my boat!" the master chief cried out as he floated out of the cave.
THE SOUTH SHORE OF THE LAGOON
The Delta team was complete. It had taken close to twenty minutes to locate them all and another ten to get four Delta and air force personnel down and out of the high trees where they'd landed. At least they had been able to hang onto three coils of rope. They took stock as they reached the lagoon's south end. The five Zodiacs were just starting out. Altogether, to stop them, the men had at their disposal thirteen nine-millimeter Beretta handguns, two Ingram assault weapons with only one extra thirty-round clip, and one M-14 sniper rifle with no extra ammunition.
"Hope you boys have a plan that calls for throwing rocks when we run out of boom-boom," the air force colonel said as he knelt beside two injured airmen.
"Even with what we have, it won't be much against those fifties mounted in those Zodiacs," the Delta sergeant said.
"Come on, guys, we have to make sure those boats don't get to the other side," Ryan said anxiously.
"That's what we plan on doing, Mr. Ryan, but we only have so much fire-power to accomplish that mission," Delta Sergeant Melendez said. "Look, I hate to say this, but our opening salvo can't be kill shots; we have to first slow and then stop the Zodiacs. Punch as many holes in 'em as we can. We're going to take one hell of a lot of return fire. Discipline, gentlemen, discipline."
The thirteen men gathered around nodded their understanding.
"Okay, two-man firing teams: my people pair up with the blue birds and I'll take Ryan. Boats first, assholes second, got it? Wait till my fire, then let all hell break loose."
The men paired up without comment and started to file into the dense terrain.
As the makeshift rescue force moved out, they failed to see the small Indian who went right to the spot the men had been only moments before. The mud-covered man raised a small whistle to his bone-pierced lips and lightly tooted, imitating one of the many Amazonian birds perfectly. As he did, the jungle started filling with the not-so-lost tribe of Sincaro, and they moved off silently, following the Americans.
EL DORADO
Everett swam to the right side of the cave opening. He waved at Jack and the two men made eye contact. The major knew exactly what Carl was up to. Jack shot the lieutenant commander a sloppy salute, then reached out and helped the others pull the master chief from the water and onto the stone steps.
"Look at my boat," Jenks wailed.
Carl waited. As he did so, he pulled his last clip of ammunition from his rear pocket and ejected the empty from the Berretta. He inserted the new one with no time to spare as the two men came sputtering out of the cave. Farbeaux was first as he tried to hold the heavier Mendez up. The fat man wasn't trying to assist the Frenchman in the least; he only held his wounded arm. Farbeaux saw Carl immediately and continued on. Carl followed.
Jack was there with the rest of the survivors and even helped Mendez to the steps. As the Colombian collapsed, Jack held out a hand to Farbeaux and the Frenchman took it.
"Major, you amaze me no end. Your calculated risk seemed to have paid off; unfortunately, I'm afraid it was for nothing, unless of course you managed among your other miraculous activities to have disarmed a certain war-head in your mad rush down the feeder canals."
"Afraid not, Colonel."
Farbeaux found footing on the steps and collapsed in exhaustion. "A shame," was all he said as he lay back against the stone beneath the legs of Supay.
* * *
Carl held Farbeaux and Mendez at gunpoint. The Colombian had offered the American everything this side of the moon to set him free. But Carl and even Farbeaux laughed at the attempt. They followed Jack and the others up the stone stairway and into the brighter chamber lights they had set up before.
Jack and Virginia found a smooth spot in the floor and lay the grumbling master chief down. He immediately slapped Jack's hands away. The major stood up, wondering where Sanchez, Danielle, and Ellenshaw were. He didn't have to wait long. He heard a sound and the professor stumbled out from behind the wall of supplies. Jack reached for his nine-millimeter just as Heidi, her head bandaged and still bleeding, came next, supported by Danielle and Sanchez. Then came a man Jack didn't know. He was dressed in a wetsuit, the same as himself and Carl. The stranger had a lethal-looking handgun pointed at the head of Heidi Rodriguez.
"You will release Senor Mendez, or this woman will be the first to be blown apart," the man said menacingly in accented English.
"I would do as he says, Major; he is rather an unsavory character," Farbeaux said as he advanced and slowly removed Jack's handgun.
With his good arm, Mendez relieved the lieutenant commander of his weapon and then slammed Carl in the face. The navy man didn't go down; he just wiped the blood from his nose and mouth, and gave the fat man a strange smile.
The others reacted with cries to the assault on Carl but Jack held up a hand, stopping them from moving. Robby was pulled back by Kelly, who watched the scene with dawning horror.
"Sorry, Major, this dick came out of nowhere," Sanchez said as he was silenced by a shove in the back.
The man motioned for Carl to get closer to Jack so he could keep them both in his line of sight.
"Why don't you let Sanchez help Dr. Rodriguez, Danielle, so you can join your partner?" Jack said as Sarah and Carl raised their eyebrows.
Danielle looked at Jack, and then at Carl, knowing it was he who had found her out.
"You three knew?" she asked as she let Heidi's arm drop. Robby rushed over to help Sanchez as Ellenshaw sat hard on the floor.
Jack looked at his watch and remained silent. Twenty minutes.
"Yes, our boss is just a tad smarter than you gave him credit for. Director Compton never believed your story for one minute, especially after Commander Everett here saw your tan line on the George Washington, which sent Dr. Compton off investigating."
Danielle closed her eyes, then reached down and fingered the spot on her ring finger. It had once held her wedding ring, whose recent presence had left a clear mark of untanned skin beneath.
Farbeaux laughed. He stepped forward and put his arm around Danielle and brought her close to him.
"I told you they would be hard to fool, my dear."
She shrugged out of his embrace and looked at Captain Rosolo.
"It took everything I had to convince this maniac not to murder us all," she said as she took a menacing step toward Rosolo.
Mendez, still holding his arm, stepped forward and aimed the gun he had taken from Carl at the French couple. "Stop or I will shoot you," said Mendez to Farbeaux. "Now I have two reasons to kill you, senor, for lying to me about the dangerous mineral, and now to find your supposed ex-wife, who seems to still be very much connected to you, very devious."
Jack was watching Rosolo. The weapon he held was of an obscure Russian make, a Malfutrov fifty-caliber. There was a running joke in American Special Forces that named the weapon the Malfunction for its proclivity to misfire after being dunked in water. As Jack watched, a small drop of water fell from the handgrip where the weapon's ammunition clip was stored. It was something that gave him hope.
"It is time to leave this place," Farbeaux said as he turned Danielle toward the stairs. "In case you have forgotten, there's a rather nasty little device floating around somewhere."
"I agree, senor. But you will remain here with the Americans."
Farbeaux turned to look at Mendez. The barrel of the Berretta was pointed right at him.
"Please remove the gun from your belt," commanded Mendez.
Farbeaux flashed a signif
icant look at Carl, who began to prepare himself.
"My man, Captain Rosolo, will shoot everyone here if you do not comply." Mendez looked over at the major. "I'm sure he would very much like to complete what he failed to do in Montana."
Jack half smiled and asked Rosolo, "That was you?"
"Yes, you can be assured the mission would not have failed if I had been on the ground and not in the air," the thin man said as he took a quick step over to his left. He snatched Sarah away from Jack's side and placed the gun to her head and fired.
BLACK WATER TRIBUTARY
Captain Santos chomped on his cigar as he throttled the Rio Madonna forward. He knew certain places where the shallow draft riverboat could penetrate the rapids, and he steered toward the first. His men were hung onto the gunwales and surveyed the rushing waters out ahead of them as he steered the large boat to the left. He had released the equipment barge back on the river and beached it as he had started his run. He cursed as the bottom came out of nowhere; the Rio Madonna lifted free of the water momentarily and then slammed back down.
The moment to act was upon him and his boat, and it was time to earn his rather bloated financial rewards. He knew he would only have moments to get to the lagoon and stop the people he was being paid to stop.
As he successfully turned away from one of the more hazardous rocks in the rapids, he ventured a hand from the old wheel and felt for the necklace in his shirt. He pressed his fingers around the round object inside just as the Rio Madonna smashed into another hidden rock along her run for the lagoon.
EL DORADO
The firing pin clicked and Sarah flinched at the suddenness of her nondeath. Jack reacted first, Carl and Farbeaux next. The latter grabbed the failed weapon at the same time Sarah realized she was still alive and swerved away. Farbeaux dove and at the same time tossed Carl the weapon he had removed from his waistband. He fired and took Mendez in the head. The fat man fell to the floor, right on top of the master chief.
Jack had the gun before Rosolo knew what had happened. The captain took a swing at him with the side of his palm and missed, as the major ducked away, came up a foot to Rosolo's left, and cuffed him in the side of the head.
Carl extended Farbeaux's gun toward him and Danielle. The lieutenant commander didn't bother to look at the struggle between Jack and Rosolo. In his opinion, the outcome was a foregone conclusion. Rosolo had made a very serious mistake with Jack: he had tried to kill Sarah.
Rosolo had gone into a jujitsu stance and Jack smiled. The students who didn't know his capabilities started hollering for Jack as the two men squared off. As Rosolo brought his palms up, Jack did just the opposite; he lowered his arms and circled the captain. As Rosolo lunged, Jack easily sidestepped the open palm and then elbowed Rosolo across the bridge of his nose, shattering the bone and sending an explosive arch of shrapnel made up of cartilage and bone fragments into the captain's brain, dropping him to the stone floor like a rag doll.
The students were stunned. Everett tilted his head at Farbeaux and Danielle. "Doesn't pay to piss Jack off, does it?"
Virginia was just standing and watching. Never in her life had she witnessed such a quick death as what she had just seen.
Jack turned and faced everyone. His eyes were mere slits and it took a moment for him to come out of the semitrance he was in. Then all at once his vision cleared and he saw Sarah.
"You all right?" he asked as he broke his self-induced spell and started forward toward the group of students.
Sarah didn't move at first, she just swallowed and nodded her head, stunned at the sudden change of predicament.
"Come on, people, move, we have to get out of here. Sanchez, get Heidi into the water. Commander Everett, cut those two loose, we don't have time right now."
Carl lowered the weapon but was tempted to raise it again and put a bullet in Farbeaux's brain. But he was stayed by the fact that he didn't murder.
"Until the next time, Henri," he said as he left the couple and ran to help get the late Mendez off the master chief.
Farbeaux pulled Danielle roughly, for some reason angry at himself for doing what he was about to do. He thought he must be insane for feeling this way.
"Come, my dear, time to leave."
"We cannot let them live — they know about us. I could never go home again."
"That doesn't matter; their director knows about you anyway and, if I know Compton, he'll hunt you down for our small deceit. Now, we must get out."
Danielle was shocked beyond measure as she stumbled along in his hard grip. If she didn't know any better, she could swear she saw remorse on his face. Or was it guilt?
As Farbeaux approached the spot on the staircase just below the height of the dock where Teacher lay grounded, the rising water had belched up one more surprise. There, floating against her stern where the water was starting to lap, was the aluminum case. The weapon had survived intact its journey down the canal. Farbeaux slid to a stop, losing his footing and dragging Danielle down on top of him.
"What are you doing?" she screamed.
"The weapon."
She looked and saw the container as the rising water around Teacher bumped it again and again between its twin thrusters.
"We have to get out!" Danielle cried.
Farbeaux quickly made a decision. He reached around and removed his satchel; the strap holding it slid off his shoulder. He opened it and took out the heavy Geiger counter, which he tossed away to smash against the stone steps. He then took the satchel and crossed the strap over Danielle's head.
"Take it and go. I'll meet you on the river, by the rapids." He leaned over and kissed her on the mouth. "Now go."
"What…what are you doing?"
"I can't live with the fact that I helped kill those young people, I have to help this Collins get rid of the device." He roughly pushed her away as he stood and ran for the rapidly disappearing Teacher.
Danielle watched him for a moment, then stood and made for the canal and the now-vanishing opening that led out of El Dorado. She took a last look at her husband, adjusted the satchel that contained the plutonium, and then turned and dove into the rushing water.
* * *
As Jack helped Sanchez with Heidi, Ellenshaw was the first to see the Frenchman as they breached the top of the dock and staircase.
"Look," he said, pointing.
Jack saw it immediately: Farbeaux was struggling with a yellow anodized aluminum case that could only be one thing, the nuclear weapon. He was trying to bring it to the vanishing staircase but couldn't get the momentum he needed to fight the speedy current.
"Professor, take Heidi and make for the opening," Jack said as he handed Heidi off and ran down the stone steps. He jumped feet first into the current, splashed his way to the Frenchman, and helped get the case to the first step out of the water.
"You wanna steal this, too," Jack quipped as they collapsed against the case.
"Do you always joke upon the moment of your imminent death, Major?"
Jack didn't answer, as he was watching everyone dive into the water and start swimming toward the falls. He saw Robby try to help Kelly, and her slap his hands away and dive into the water. Virginia and two of the students had the master chief around the neck and were dogpaddling toward the now-submerged opening. Then he noticed a shadow fall on him.
"You two get the hell out of here," he said, looking up into the faces of Carl and Sarah.
"Not happening, Jack. I think we've been through this before," Carl said as he reached down and pulled the major up. Then he grimaced and helped Farbeaux also.
Sarah just held up a hand when Jack turned on her. "Save it, Jack, we're wasting time."
"The thing is, Lieutenant, I'm all out of ideas," Jack said as he looked down at the case.
They heard shouts and looked up and toward the canal. Just before the master chief's head went under the water they heard him.
"Did I hear right?" Farbeaux asked.
Sarah, Carl, and Ja
ck looked at each other and said it at the same time.
"Turtle!"
THE LAGOON
Delta Sergeant Melendez unscrewed the cylindrical silencer mounted on the barrel of his nine-millimeter. He patted Ryan's shoulder and winked at him. Then he raised the weapon and took aim on the lead Zodiac that was already twenty feet from shore. The black rubber glimmered with wetness just as the first brightness of morning turned the blackness of the night into an almost even blacker sunrise as it filtered through the canopy at the center of the lagoon.
Just as the sergeant started to squeeze the trigger, screams and shouts filled the night air from the direction of the falls. The lead boat opened up with the heavy thump of its fifty-caliber machine gun, momentarily blinding the men taking aim on shore. Melendez took a deep breath and fired five times in quick succession. The first four bullets found the hard rubber of the first Zodiac, and the fifth struck the man operating the heavy weapon, dropping him into the murky water. Because of the people in the water, Melendez had disobeyed his own orders about boats first, bad guys second.
"Oops, last one missed the fucking boat," the sergeant said as the other teams opened fire.
Ryan wanted to smile at the remark but didn't as bullets flew out of the jungle and caught the assault teams in the boats off guard. Several men, more than likely Delta, let fly and hit several of the other machine gunners, dropping them also. One of the heavy-caliber weapons managed to swing around and open fire. It was like hell opened up around the men onshore. They dove to take cover as the large rounds struck trees and plants around them, forcing them down. One airmen and one of the Delta men cried out as large pieces of tree trunk and bark struck them. It wasn't long before another of the attackers' fifties found them and started laying waste to their hiding places. Ryan figured it would only be a matter of moments before their protective cover was down to nothing.
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