Lost Voyage

by Chris Tucker

  11

  Mercer woke to the annoying buzzing of an alarm clock. Looking over to the other bed and seeing his partner wasn’t in it, he assumed his smooth talking friend had spent the night with one of the blondes he was talking to at the bar. Taking a minute to clear the grogginess from his head, he was reminded of Tony and the rest of the bodies they had found the previous day.

  He wondered how many more bodies there could be in other mass grave, and this was now the second such site he and Pat had come across since all the chaos ensued after running into, and saving, Emily. The reality of her ordeal had suddenly hit close to home with the finding of Tony’s body, and a deeper desire to put an end to the bloodshed took priority above all else.

  He showered and got dressed before heading down to the lobby to grab a quick bite to eat. As he opened the door, he was greeted by a fully naked man holding a bundle of clothes over his midsection. Vigil stood there with a childish smirk on his face.

  “I couldn’t find my key.”

  Mercer shook his head. “I guess there’s really no place to hide one in any space I can see. Get in here and get dressed before I change my mind and leave you out there.”

  Vigil walked in and threw his clothes on the bed as his partner tossed him a towel and asked, “So, which one did you hook up with?”

  With a devilish look on his face, he replied, “Well, I couldn’t decide which one I liked better, so I chose both.”

  Mercer chuckled at his friends antics. “You never cease to amaze me. I know it’s hard, but try and get back into work mode. We have a long day ahead of us.”

  While waiting for Vigil to shower, he went down to the lobby to take advantage of what the hotel called a continental breakfast. It was nothing more than a spread of English muffins and a small selection of fruit, but it was a free meal so he took advantage of it.

  While he sat and enjoyed some grapes from the buffet, he glanced around the lobby and observed the surroundings. There were only a few other hotel patrons walking around this morning and all of them seemed to be entrenched in their own routines, paying no attention to each other. As he peered around the room, he made contact with another pair of eyes glancing over at him.

  A man was sitting restlessly in the corner next to the hotel desk pretending to be reading a newspaper. Something about him didn’t sit well with Mercer, as he knew he was being watched closely. He even contemplated the possibility this stranger was hired by the same man he and his partner had encountered back on the dirt road. Just as that thought passed through his head, Vigil made an appearance.

  “You ready to go, buddy?”

  Mercer looked up at him. “Almost, but first I want to have a chat with my new friend over there.”

  Looking over to see the man his partner was referring to, he asked, “What’s his story?”

  Locking eyes with the stranger, Mercer responded, “Not sure yet. But judging by how long he’s been staring at me, he's either following us or he thinks I’m really cute.”

  Vigil was about to make a snappy comeback, but was cut off before he could blurt it out. “Let’s go introduce ourselves.”

  Noticing the men he was trailing had exposed his woeful attempt at spying, the man in the corner got up to make a hasty getaway. Before he could reach the door, Vigil darted in front of him blocking the exit.

  Mercer walked over. “Now where are you off to in such a hurry?”

  With a heavy accent, the man spoke frantically. “Please, I mean you no harm. I was just supposed to follow you and report your whereabouts.”

  Vigil let out a small laugh. “Wow. That was easier than getting a fish into water.” He looked over at his partner. “I bet if we really press him, he’ll give up his own mother as the reason behind world hunger.”

  The rattled man was noticeably intimidated by the two men who had him cornered. Mercer took charge of the conversation. “How old are you? You don’t look a day over sixteen.”

  “Please, sir, just let me go. I will report back that I saw nothing.”

  “Report to whom?” Mercer asked curiously.

  The young man was hesitant to respond. “I cannot tell you that, sir. I will not speak a word of this if you let me go.”

  Vigil spoke up. “Let me take a wild guess. Is your boss a big brute named Esperanza?”

  The terrified look on the face of the young man was enough to tell him he had guessed correctly.

  “Well, I’ll tell you what,” said Mercer. “You can tell Mr. Esperanza there is no need to have us followed. We will be seeking him out soon enough.”

  After ensuring he had made his point perfectly clear, he let the young man go on his way. Mercer and Vigil looked at each other with mischievous grins, and then headed out the door to visit an acquaintance.

  ***

  A light drizzle was falling as they drove down the road leading them to the quiet village tucked away in the jungle. The dirt was quickly being replaced with mud and puddles of standing water, causing the drive to go slower than anticipated.

  When they arrived at the village, the first thing that caught their attention was a large crowd gathered outside of Anthony Mendoza’s home. Intrigued by what was happening, the NESA cohorts hopped out of the truck and walked up to the huddled mass.

  Mercer had been anxiously awaiting the next time he would get to sit down and talk again with his newfound friend. As he worked his way through the crowd, all hopes of a joyful reunion fell by the wayside. He witnessed the body of Mendoza hunched over in his chair with a bullet wound in the middle of his forehead.

  Sadness shrouded over him as he stood in silence next to the man he had come to know just a few days before.

  In a subdued tone, Vigil asked, “Who would do such a thing?”

  One of the men from the village spoke up. “It was a vicious act of brutality.”

  Mercer had a furious tone in his voice, “Who did this?”

  The man answered him. “They were from the cartel. There were three of them, but the one who fired the shot was a giant of a man.”

  As he continued describing the man who shot Mendoza, the villager also mentioned the assassin came out of the house with a book in his hand. Mercer began boiling with fury as he came to the realization that Esperanza was the man responsible for the horrendous act.

  Without a word being spoken, the two NESA partners walked up to the porch and over to where Mendoza was slouched over. They picked him up, carried him into the house and laid him on the couch, covering him with a sheet from the bed.

  “This is my fault, Pat. If he had never shown me that book, we would’ve been done and home by now and he would still be alive.”

  Vigil felt the grief in his friend’s voice. “It’s not your fault, Sean. This is a horrible thing that was beyond our control. I feel bad too, but at least we know who’s to blame.”

  Mercer’s hands were quivering and he was growing steadily angrier with each passing minute. “We need to bury him before we leave. We owe him that much.”

  The next hour was spent digging a grave for Mendoza in his back yard. After their new friend was properly laid to rest, Mercer looked over at his partner and proclaimed, “Now, let’s go find this Kervin Esperanza.”

  The ride was a quiet one as the two men sat in silence the entire way back to town. After finding Tony’s body, and now with the death of Mendoza, the reality had become a little more personal for them. There was a determination within them that shouted revenge for the recent tragedies, and they knew they would get their chance for retaliation.

  As they pulled off the dirt path and back onto the main roadway, they were halted by a blockade. The realization of their fruition to find the madman responsible for the recent carnage had come much sooner than they had hoped. Esperanza was the man they were looking for, and he was now standing in the middle of the road directly in front of them.

  With guns drawn on them and nowhere to go, Vigil looked over at his partner and stated, “Well, it didn’t take as long
as I thought it would to find him.”

  Mercer never even heard his friend’s smart-aleck comment. His eyes and thoughts were focused on one person. He stared at Esperanza and thought about lunging at him straight through the windshield, but he knew they were outnumbered and ill-prepared for the ambush they had driven into.

  They got out of their truck and slowly walked over to Esperanza. Mercer was enraged and quite certain he could kill the enormous man before the armed guards would have a chance to react.

  Instead, he calmly said to his captor, “Well then…take us to your leader.”

  12

  Julian Navarro stood in front of his employer with his head hanging in shame. The lanky frame of the six foot tall man seemed to droop in defeat as he explained to Vallejos how he had failed at his mission.

  Navarro was thin with short black hair and a straight narrow nose. His eyes were bulgy, giving the impression that he was constantly nervous, and now he had good reason to be.

  “I give you an opportunity to prove yourself and you fail me. You had one simple task. All you had to do was follow the Americans and report back to me. Now you tell me that you lost them!”

  Vallejos was noticeably angry. He walked behind to where Navarro was standing. Lowering his voice, he asked, “And what should I do about your incompetence?”

  Fearing he was about to speak his last words and expecting a blow from behind at any moment, the young soldier pleaded for redemption.

  “Sir, I am sorry. I had the men at the hotel. As they were driving out of town, I lost sight of them when I got stuck behind a bus. When I was able to get around it, they were gone.”

  Believing the story his soldier had just told him, Vallejos changed his demeanor to a more condescending tone.

  “Since you cannot handle even the simplest of tasks, you are being assigned to the compound until further notice. I will have you picking up twigs and raking leaves until you prove yourself worthy to me again.”

  Navarro knew he had displeased his boss. “I understand, sir. I will not disappoint you again.”

  The young soldier was dismissed and left the office. As he departed the building, a truck pulled up and five passengers exited the vehicle. He recognized two of them as soldiers in the regime and was already well aware of whom Esperanza was. Even though the last two men who exited the vehicle weren’t soldiers, he was very familiar with them as well. They were the same two individuals who cornered him back at the hotel, and whom he had just lied to his boss about.

  ***

  Mercer and Vigil were escorted from the truck to a large building that looked more like a rundown palace. They took in every detail of their surroundings before being taken indoors. As experienced soldiers themselves, they knew every key detail could serve as a precautionary measure in case they were able to break free and have a chance to escape. As they were led into the building, they walked passed a familiar looking, high-strung individual.

  The look of surprise in the man’s eyes assured Mercer he had nothing to do with the ambush that had imprisoned him and his partner. Trusting Navarro had kept his word and told Vallejos nothing, he walked by and acknowledged the young soldier with a slight nod of the head as to show there was no blame to be placed.

  ***

  Navarro’s heart sank at the sight of the arriving prisoners. The conspicuous nod from one of the men, however, made him feel at ease, as he had no intention of ever speaking about the two men to anyone, especially his employer. Scurrying away, he felt remorse within himself that the two men had been captured. Even though he wasn’t to blame, there was a sense of sorrow in seeing the men who had let him go now being detained against their will.

  Navarro wasn’t like other cartel members. He had no strong desire to be part of a ruthless regime that practiced such violence and hatred. He was taken from his family at the age of sixteen after he had witnessed an attack on his village. The soldiers killed those who did not go willingly and gunned down parents who got in the way of their sons' reluctant recruitment into the cartel.

  His parents knew this was a common occurrence in the region and were not willing to let their young Julian go easily. They witnessed first-hand just a few years earlier what the consequences were for disobeying the cartel. Their oldest son refused to go willingly and was shot dead in front of the entire village as a warning to all others who wanted to be uncooperative as well.

  Not wanting to see his parents suffer from the same merciless act his brother had succumbed to, Navarro told them he would return home one day soon, and that his brother’s death would not be in vain. They were still reluctant, but this was enough to keep them from interfering, thus sparing their lives.

  There was a good-willed heart in him and he didn’t like inflicting pain or hate to any other human being. It was a life he never wanted and he despised every day he was a part of it. He aimed to keep his promise to his parents and return to them one day, but he had to be patient and wait for the right time in order to not have any repercussions fall upon him or his family.

  As a young man who yearned for the day he could leave his current lifestyle, the recent arrival of the two new prisoners didn’t sit well with him. If there was anything he could do for them, he would make every attempt at it to show them not every member of the regime was as cold-hearted and hate-filled as the rest of them.

  He slowly made his way through the compound to the hut where he and eleven other soldiers resided. As he walked over to his sleeping area, he opened his locker and pulled out a picture his mother had given him the day he was taken from her. He smiled warmly and pondered when the day would come he would be able to keep his promise.

  ***

  Mercer and Vigil stood before a man sitting in an oversized brown leather chair while smoking a cigar, glaring eerily at them. They took notice of how this man presented himself. His bravado was an arrogant display of power that had come with many years of getting his way without any resistance. Mercer still wasn’t impressed.

  Vallejos did his own sizing up of the men standing in his office before he finally spoke. “So, you are the two men responsible for so many of my troubles recently. Both of you have caused me an unnecessary amount of stress over the past few days, but it was only a matter of time before your meddling caught up with you.”

  Mercer was in no mood for small talk. “You have no idea about the amount of stress we’ll continue to cause you.”

  Vallejos laughed heartily as he looked over at Esperanza, who didn’t seem as amused. Looking back at the man who reeked of confidence, he said, “I do not believe you are in any place to make such threats. It is you who sits here in binds and me that sits here a free man.”

  Mercer didn’t lose the sternness in his voice. “You are nothing more than a savage barbarian. We’ll be free men again soon enough. And then you will pay for what you’ve done.”

  “And what exactly is it that you think I’ve done?”

  Mercer looked at him with contempt. “Do you not even have a thought for the fact that all of the mass graves you’re filling up are the main reason for the pollution in the water supply? You’re unleashing a deadly disease into the river and it’s all related to the toxins those bodies are producing.”

  The cartel leader shrugged off the statement. “These are just the politics of doing business. There cannot be reward without a great deal of risk.”

  Mercer was appalled by the nonchalant attitude being displayed. “You are coming to the end of your reign. I promise you that.”

  Vallejos had heard enough of this arrogant man’s words. “I can assure you, Mr. Mercer, that you will not be free any time soon. You and your friend have caused me enough worry and I don’t intend to let you just walk out the front gate. Your stay here can be as pleasant or unpleasant as you make it and you’ll be treated as good as you treat my men. If you do as you are told, then no harm will come to you.”

  After sitting in silence up to this point, Vigil finally spoke. “I’m not one for followin
g the rules of dictators. So what do you say to a compromise? You let us go now, and we’ll spare you the ordeal of a slow and painful death for the time being.”

  Esperanza walked over and grabbed the back of Vigil’s neck, leaning in and speaking directly into his ear. “Watch how you speak, little man. Or I will end your life right now.”

  Vallejos calmly told his head of security to step back. “You will have your chance with them, Kervin. Now is not that time.”

  As he released his grip, he smiled at the thought of getting the chance his employer had just spoken of. Vigil, never wavering in his quest to get under someone’s skin wittingly responded, “I can’t wait to dance with you, big boy.”

  Vallejos knew he wasn’t going to scare these men with his tactics or threats. But he also knew he had to stand his ground and impose his stature as a man who was in charge of the situation.

  “Let me make it very clear to the both of you. Any attempt to harm my men will result in swift punishment. Any attempt to escape will result in immediate death. If you are unclear of any of this, you will meet your fate soon enough.”

  Mercer and Vigil looked at each other and smirked. Vigil asked his friend, “Did you understand any of that gibberish?”

  Mercer laughed, only frustrating Vallejos even more. “Get them out of my sight before I lose my temper.”

  Esperanza escorted them out of the office. Mercer couldn’t pass on the chance to get a last word in. “We’ll be seeing each other soon. Bet on it.”

  Vallejos stared menacingly at the American without saying a word as the two men disappeared through the door. Then he stared out the window, all the time wondering why he hadn’t just killed them and gotten rid of them once and for all.