“Ask Delta. She thinks she knows.”
Delta shrugged at Sal’s continued skepticism, folded her knife and put it away. “Instinct.”
“Instinct?” Sal asked. “Well, now that we’ve done our good Samaritan deed for the year, what does your instinct say we should do now?”
“It says we should go get Megan and get the hell out of here.”
When they reached Megan, she was still holding Tamar’s head in her lap. “He’s dead,” Megan said softly when the others came out of the bushes to find her hiding place.
Delta knelt down and took Megan in her arms. “I am so sorry.”
Sal nodded. “It may not be much of a consolation, but we did save some birds.”
Megan started to cry. “How many?”
“Over two dozen. Actually, we were able to save all but one. Your Augustine was quite a tracker, Meg. You two were on the right trail.”
Hugging Delta tightly, Megan pulled back. “Thank you. Thank you so much. Tamar and Augustine would be so pleased.”
Delta reached over and wiped the tears from Megan’s cheeks. “It may not be a fair trade for the lives lost, but it’s better than nothing.”
“Did you find the other men?” Megan asked.
Delta nodded. “Left them tied to a tree, took their weapons and hacked up their equipment. If they can get themselves free, they’ll live. If not—”
“Then they’ll get the fate they deserve.”
Megan glanced over at Tamar’s lifeless body. Her clothes and arms were stained with his blood. “We have to leave him, don’t we?”
Everyone nodded.
“I wish it were different, but I know we’ll never make it out with him.”
“As it stands now,” Connie offered, “we still have a ways to go before reaching the border. When we get to safety, we’ll send someone back to the village to let them know.”
Nodding, Megan lightly touched Tamar’s hair. “He was an incredible person. Now who will learn the shaman’s secrets?”
As they started back toward the river, no one looked back. If they had, they would have seen Shaman staring down at Tamar from high above the canopy.
The delay caused them to put up camp among a group of trees that seemed to touch the sky. All four women dropped wearily to the ground when they decided it was time to stop for the day. They had hiked nonstop all afternoon, hoping to make up for lost time, but the going had been slow and the rain was merciless. Raindrops as big as silver dollars dropped from the clouds. When the deluge finally stopped, they were exhausted, muddy and wet.
“Anyone want something to eat?” Megan asked.
“I’m going to sleep,” was Sal’s answer, as she climbed down from her watch. “It’s someone else’s turn to post guard.”
“It’s my turn,” Delta offered, moving to the base of the tree and climbing in the crook Sal had vacated.
For the next half hour, Delta sat there, thinking about her experience with the Bribri tribe, trying to make some sense out of a ritual few would believe. Rolling on her side, Delta gazed into the surrounding area. It was odd. The rain forest didn’t seem as dark and ominous as it had previously. The nocturnal sounds, which were peaceful before, were comforting now, as the night symphony played on. After listening to the individual players of this harmony for a while, Delta finally got up. Strangely, the sounds were familiar to her now, as she stood at the edge of the camp and peered into the darkness. Somehow, the majesty of this place, the sheer grandeur of it all, seemed to put everything in her life into much better perspective. She had been so busy chasing bad guys, Delta had stopped growing—stopped experiencing the fullness of life. She had trapped herself in the run of the city. She sensed that her life would never be the same after this.
“Want to talk about it now?” Connie asked, climbing up beside Delta. It was uncanny how Connie could sneak around without being heard.
The two sat silently side by side for a few minutes as Delta collected her scattered thoughts. Sal and Megan dozed sleepily beneath a six-foot palm leaf, as the rains slowly subsided to barely a mist.
“What happened back there, Con?”
“When?”
Delta chuckled. “You know what I’m talking about.”
Connie slipped her hand in Delta’s and gave it a quick squeeze. “A month ago, you would never have been able to hear the answer.”
“A month ago, I thought I knew it all. A month ago, my life, its direction, my feelings and instincts, had some sort of order.”
“And now?”
Delta shrugged. “Now, I haven’t a clue.”
“Want one?”
Delta nodded. “Please. What happened when I drank the shaman’s brew?”
“Western civilization has made hallucinogenic drugs illegal, but for many tribal cultures drugs are a way of life.”
“I hallucinated all of that?”
“Hardly. You drank a drug the Bribri use in ceremonies when your spirit needs to go forth into the astral plane. Modern scientists would call it ‘being under the influence,’ but tribal people know there’s much more to it than that. It goes far deeper than hallucinations.”
“Then I wasn’t hallucinating?”
Connie shook her head. “No, you weren’t. You were on another plane of existence.” Connie’s voice was quiet, almost reverent.
“Then none of that really happened? That’s what Shaman meant when he said I was never in any danger?”
“That depends on what you perceive reality to be. Did it feel real to you?”
Delta nodded again. “Very.”
“Then if you experienced it as a reality, it must have really happened.”
“I guess so...but some dreams are like that, and yet, I know it’s not a reality.”
“Dreams have to do with our state of consciousness. This ritual wasn’t about your mind, it was about your spirit. Your spirit was on a different plane, experiencing the reality of that plane. If you try to explain this intellectually, you’ll miss out on what was truly an incredible experience for you.”
“It was real, Con. I felt feelings, I thought thoughts. It was as real as right now.”
Connie released Delta’s hand. “Shaman guided you on a spiritual journey while your physical being danced the night away. Dancing, drinking, chanting and drumming are all part of the ceremony.”
“That’s why I kept hearing drums beating in the distance.”
Nodding, Connie continued. “Remember, it isn’t your physical being that makes you a warrior. It’s your spirit. Your spirit took the journey.”
“With Shaman.”
“Yes.”
“And you.”
Connie was quiet a long time before responding. “I poked my head in just to make sure you were okay. You’re pretty hard-headed sometimes.”
“But how—”
“I’m part Navajo, Del. All these years together and you still don’t really know what that means.”
Delta looked into Connie’s dark brown eyes and sighed. “I’m beginning to see.”
Connie smiled. “Remember when Shaman looked inside each of our eyes?”
“Yeah.”
“When he looked in my eyes, he nodded, because he saw that I already belonged to a tribe of warriors.”
Delta turned. “You mean—”
“I’ve been through a similar ceremony, yes.”
“Then, you’re a warrior too?”
Connie shook her head. “No, I’m not. My spirit is more like Shaman’s. He recognized a kindred spirit when he looked at me.”
“Wow.”
Sitting in silence for a long time, Delta finally put her arm across Connie’s shoulders. “Thanks for joining me in there.”
Connie turned and hugged Delta tightly. “I wouldn’t be anywhere else. I know how weird those rituals can be the first time out.”
“You’ve done that more than once?”
Connie nodded. “That’s why I was able to get to you.”
&nb
sp; Delta released Connie and looked at her in the moonlight. “And all this time I thought—”
“You thought I was pulling your leg. It takes an open mind to understand the ways of tribal people. You’re only now beginning to appreciate your journey.”
“Does that mean strange things are going to keep happening to me?”
Connie cocked her head. “What do you mean, strange?”
“That bird. The sounds I hear now. I don’t know. I just feel different.”
“How so?”
Delta struggled with the right words. “Connected, I guess. Yeah. That’s it. When people talk about getting their act together, I feel like I have.”
“What a wonderful feeling,” Connie said.
“Wonderful and scary.”
“Why scary?”
Delta inhaled the freshly washed air. “Because I don’t think I can go on living the same life I left. Everything’s changed now. I guess that’s the scary part; I don’t really know what that means.”
Putting her arm around Delta’s waist, Connie squeezed her. “You’ll figure it out. Once we get home, you’ll be surprised how clear you’ll see things.”
Delta sighed. “Thanks.”
It was nearly noon when the river finally met the Caribbean. With relief, the women realized that their arduous journey was almost at an end. “Look!” Sal shouted, pointing in the distance. “The ocean! We’ve made it to the coast!”
Delta, Connie and Megan joined Sal at the forest’s edge, and it was like stepping out of a dream. Standing high above the beaches, the four looked down and saw the sea pounding against the side of the cliff.
Delta drank in its wild beauty. “Now it’s Panama or bust, you guys,” she said. They grinned at each other in spite of their weariness.
Connie whistled at the sight below them. “Incredible.”
“Yeah, but the cliff means slower going,” Megan added. “We’ll have to follow the forest line to Panama.”
Delta stopped to listen to a distant noise filling the air. She couldn’t name it, but the sound seemed out of place.
“We’ll just follow the cliff to the border, just like Tamar said,” Connie continued. “If all goes well, we should be there before nightfall.” Stopping suddenly, Connie cocked her head and listened too. “You guys hear that?”
Sal listened intently. Eyes wide, she grabbed Delta and Connie and pushed them back toward the jungle. “It’s a chopper! Run!”
All four women turned as one. Legs pumping, they sprinted the hundred or so yards from the cliff’s edge in the direction of the rainforest. With fifty feet to go, they watched a large military helicopter lift over the rainforest canopy and circle around for another pass.
“Did...did he see us?” Megan panted as they crouched behind dense forest foliage.
Delta looked through the leafy greenery. “Hard to tell. Jesus, don’t these guys ever give up?”
Megan shook her head. “Zahn is a very proud man. If my escape embarrassed him, he’d stop at nothing to bring me back.”
“We must be closer to Panama than we thought,” Connie said.
“Maybe they’re not even looking for us,” Sal offered. “Maybe they’re Costa Rican.”
Megan looked at Sal and shook her head. “Costa Rica has no army.”
Sal frowned. “That’s absurd. Everybody has an army, right, Connie?”
Connie shook her head. “Not Costa Rica.”
“Then I’d say that bird was definitely looking for us.” Sal pulled her binoculars out and peered through them. “They’re soldiers, all right. Fatigues and all.” Sal reached for her weapon and checked her ammunition.
Delta and Connie studied each other for a moment. “The coast is too dangerous and open,” Connie said. “And it’s too slow through the jungle.”
“We’ve done pretty good so far,” Sal said. “Well...sort of.” Picking up the three other weapons they’d liberated from the poachers, Sal checked each one for ammo. “Couple hundred rounds. That’s about it.”
“I say we take our chances in the rainforest. I don’t want to be in a position where we can be cornered.” Delta listened to the hum of the rotors from the helicopter. It made her very uneasy.
“Fine,” Connie said. “If we get separated, we’ll meet at the American Embassy in Panama City. We wait twelve hours for the rest to show.”
“And after that?”
“After that, we bring the Panamanians and everyone else we can to come after anyone who hasn’t made it. Agreed?” Everyone nodded.
“Stay on the coast or follow a river if we get separated,” Sal added. “That way, we’ll be able to narrow down our search possibilities.”
Delta reached over and squeezed Megan’s hand. “Everyone ready? Good. Then let’s get the hell out of here.”
Delta first sensed them when the hair on the back of her neck started tingling. It was subtle at first—she’d had this feeling often enough to know what it meant. It didn’t matter whether she was in the city or here in the jungle, Delta could always feel imminent danger from miles away.
It had been less than an hour since they’d heard the chopper, but something told Delta they had been seen. And where there was a military chopper, you were sure to find militia with binoculars, heat sensor scopes and a variety of other technologies aimed at finding people in even the most difficult of places. Like a jungle.
“Hey, guys, I have a—” Before Delta could finish her sentence, a bullet split the air and lodged deeply in a tree nearby.
“Take cover!” Delta cried as another bullet thudded into a tree in front of her – already much, much closer than the last. Suddenly, leaves, branches and bushes exploded in a variety of colors as they were pounded by lead: natural fireworks with deadly consequences. Sal suddenly catapulted forward, landing hard on the ground. Scrambling over to her, Delta looked up and saw Connie push Megan towards cover.
“Sal? Sal?” Delta barked, rolling the tiny woman over. When she was completely on her back, Sal forced a grin.
“Ouch.”
“Where are you hit?” Delta asked.
“Let’s just say he barely missed my cute butt.” Wincing, Sal rolled to her side, revealing a bullet hole in the back of her leg.
Rolling Sal back over, Delta pulled off her own shirt and pressed it against Sal’s leg; it was quickly covered with blood. “Leave me,” Sal said.
“Like hell. Hold on, damn it.”
Chuckling under her breath, Sal inhaled. “Hold on? For what? An ambulance? Save yourselves, Storm. Leave me here.”
“No way.” Grabbing her stolen rifle, Delta squeezed off a few rounds in the direction of the gunfire.
“Bet that surprised them,” Sal muttered. “Bastards.”
Delta looked down at Sal’s profile and realized the tiny woman might go into shock. Pulling Sal’s pants down, Delta recoiled at the hole near Sal’s left butt cheek.
“Come on, Storm, think!” Delta growled, frantically looking around for something, anything...And then, she remembered. Manny had put some sort of leaf on his wound. It had looked the same as the red-and-yellow leaves she’d seen strewn about the forest floor.
Seeing the tree with the red-and-yellow leaves, Delta quickly crawled on her stomach over to it and ripped a few leaves from a low branch. Immediately, there was a yellowish sap oozing from the base of the stem and, instinctively, Delta scooped up the sap in the leaf. As she crept back to where she’d left Sal, more gunfire exploded, ripping bark off the trees around her. Connie returned fire, laying enough cover for Delta to return to Sal.
“A favor,” Sal whispered.
“Anything.”
“Don’t leave my bare ass hanging out next time.”
She pulled down Sal’s pants, gently placed the sappy leaf over the wound, then pulled her pants up again. “Who’ll notice?” Delta teased.
“Three dykes,” Sal said, chuckling. Suddenly, her chuckle faded, and she inhaled a ragged breath. “Delta?”
�
�What, Sal?”
“This is suicide for you guys.”
“That’s your unwanted opinion,” Delta whispered back. “Now shut up and save your strength.”
Turning her back over, Delta placed Sal’s cap back on her head. With one arm around her neck, Delta slung Sal across her shoulders like a yoke.
“Shit,” Sal grumbled. “Think you’re taking this Amazon warrior crap a little too far?”
Delta ignored her as she scooted from tree to tree before reaching Connie. To her surprise, no shots rang out, and it caused her to glance around nervously. Delta knew from experience that it was too hard to move and shoot at the same time. It would merely waste ammunition. They were moving closer.
“How is she?” Connie asked, as they squatted down behind a cypress tree.
Delta’s eyes burned into Connie’s face. “She needs help now. We have to do something, Connie. Sal is not going to die in this fucking jungle.”
Megan touched Sal’s clammy face. “We have to get her out of here.”
Connie thought for a second and then a slow smile played on her lips. “If she needs a taxi, I suggest we hijack the only one in town.”
Delta looked up at the canopy. “I like it so far.”
A dozen more shots pierced the surrounding trees and Connie rose to return fire.
“You’re going to hijack the helicopter?” Megan asked, incredulously. “And what, force the pilot to fly the damn thing at gunpoint?”
Connie nodded. “Sal could go into shock and die if we don’t get her to a hospital soon. It may be our only chance.”
Delta nodded. “Con’s right. If we don’t try, she’ll die here.” Delta adjusted Sal on her shoulders, her right knee cracking under the strain. “I’ll leave her at the cliff clearing. Lay some ground cover until I get back. If we can get the chopper to land, we can attack it.”
“Be careful, Del,” Connie said, firing a few more rounds. “If you get hit, we’re done.”
Chugging through the dense jungle, Delta huffed and heaved until she came to a clearing safe enough to leave Sal. Gently laying the diminutive woman on the ground, Delta touched her face. “I’ll be back,” Delta said, mimicking Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Terminator.
“If they get to me first—”
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