Surviving

by A J Newman

  He replied, “Yes, I know where it is, we’re only about 20 minutes from there. Okay, okay, damn it, I’ll land there."

  He then spoke some words that Steve could not understand and then started to make small deliberate changes in direction. Steve questioned him about it. Roger replied, “Oh, Karl, my boss, just told me to make my cargo delivery on the way out instead of on the way back. I now have to go north and pick up some tools from a mining operation and can’t make the drop after I drop you off.”

  Jim and Scott were busy trying to guess what the boxes of drugs meant and where they came from. Their minds ran wild.

  The plane banked and Roger began the approach to a large lake just east of a fairly large city. Roger told them they were landing on a reservoir just west of Pocatello. Gus woke up and wanted to know what was going on. Steve told him and Gus complained then rolled over and went back to sleep. They made a smooth as silk landing and taxied up to a small dock in front of a group of small cabins. Several rather tough looking Hispanic men greeted Roger and helped him unload the boxes. Jim and Scott watched closely.

  Jim pointed and asked,” Do you see the guy behind the tree by the far cabin on the left?"

  “Yeah,” Scott replied.

  “Well he’s got an M-16.”

  “Let’s tell Dad,” Scott whispered.

  Jim replied, “No wait, we’ll look foolish if we’re wrong, let’s play this out a while.”

  Just at that time, Roger got back into the plane and quickly started the engine. They taxied out and took off. Roger heard Scott and Jim whispering in the back and knew trouble was on the way for he had also caught a glimpse of the M-16. Scott and Jim knew that something was wrong, but had no clue how right they were.

  Roger brought the plane up to cruising speed and soon received another transmission. Roger did not like what he had heard. He argued, and then complied quickly as if he had been threatened. Steve overheard Roger’s part of the conversation.

  Roger’s answers were, “We made the drop. …… Why there? Yeah I know you are the boss. Okay…Okay… We are 40 minutes from there. Again, are you sure? Yes!”

  Steve questioned Roger,” What’s going on this time?”

  Roger answered with,” My son of a bitch boss wants me to work straight on through the weekend to get those tools back to the mine. I had a hot date.”

  Steve asked what was 40 minutes away.

  Roger said, “That’s how far we are from our landing and your camp.”

  Gus, butted in and stated, “Just a while ago you said that we were only twenty minutes away, which one is correct?”

  Roger apologized and said that the 40 minutes was correct and that while he did not remember the 20 minutes, if he said it he was wrong.

  Gus was becoming concerned. If he knew, what Scott and Jim knew he would be more than concerned?

  The time passed quickly and Roger said, “Your destination is right there, over the right wing.” Roger began a slow circle over the largest lake in a chain of lakes.

  The largest one was about a mile long and about a quarter mile wide. It looked shallow and murky, not what they had expected at all. This area was known for its deep clear bodies of water. There were several islands on the north side and dense forest all around.

  It was one of the most beautiful sights Scott had ever seen. He thought that this would be home for the next two weeks. Just as he was picking out likely fishing spots, he saw something shiny in the woods to the south. He watched the area closely and saw a bright flash and smoke.

  He yelled, “Someone is shooting at us.”

  Gus took a quick look and hollered, “Roger, dive, incoming.”

  He had spotted the missile. Roger brought the plane into a steep dive at right angle to the incoming rocket, but was too late. There was a thunderous explosion and the plane rocked and felt as if it had been blown sideways. Shrapnel blew through the floor and out the top; they were hit, blood splattered and everyone screamed just like in the movies.

  Scott thought I know it sounds corny, but it really was in slow motion just like in the movies. Metal bounced around the inside of the plane and everyone was reacting as though they were hit.

  John’s first thought was that they were all dead. He prayed all he could in about two seconds, whatever he did that was wrong he promised that he would never do it again if only God would save them.

  Roger had blood all over him from a wound in his shoulder and Steve was yelling, “My ass, my ass, oh shit my freaking balls are gone.”

  A jagged piece of metal had gone into his seat and hit his butt.

  Gus asked, “Is everyone okay or at least alive?” All had been hit with bits of shrapnel, but they only received cuts and scrapes, it could have been much worse.

  Scott was pulling a small shard of aluminum from his cheek and Jim said that he had a slice in his thigh. Steve had checked his ass and had a bad cut, but was keeping pressure on it. All would live, at least for now.

  The plane was barely in the air. Gus saw large holes in the wings and the left engine was severely damaged and the right barely running. The plane was bucking and jumping.

  Roger was mumbling to his self, “The dirty SOB Karl.”

  Gus quickly assessed the situation and yelled, “Roger, get us out of here.” Gus reached over and gave the plane full throttle.

  Gus then said, “John, we only have one engine, a pontoons been blown away and God knows what is holding this damn plane together.”

  The missile had hit one of the pontoons and expended most of its explosive force on blowing it to pieces.

  Gus then told Roger to aim for the farthest lake to the north.

  Roger yelled back, “The plane won’t make it that far; I’m landing on this one.”

  Gus cold cocked Roger and took the controls. John screamed, “What is going on, I think you killed him!”

  Gus replied, “John, someone just tried to shoot us down with a Stinger and only Roger and his company knew where we were landing."

  He then added, “I think we stepped in someone else’s sandbox and the shit is flying and it sure stinks.”

  Steve and John pulled Roger in to the middle seats and John moved up front with Gus.

  “Can you land this damn plane?” John asked. “Damn it John, this plane is coming down whether I land it or not, with only one pontoon we will crash, just how bad is the question.”

  Gus then said, “Y’all see the lake over to the right with the small island on the north side?"

  They could all see it and replied with a rather shaky "Yes.”

  Gus told them, “I’m going to bring her down between the island and the shore.

  “He then added, “Get your seat cushions out from under your asses and put them around your ears and buckle up, we’re coming in hot and we’ll make a big splash.

  John told them, “If your right about the missile, those guys will be on us like stink on shit, be ready to un ass this plane after impact."

  John began searching the cabin and found a loaded 9mm and a bag of candy under the seat. He told the others to find anything that would be useful and to grab Gus’ and his Bug Out Bags, which were in the cabin behind Scott. He thought for a brief moment that this trip was at least starting out a little more interesting than the others had been.

  Gus then ordered them to get all the gear that was in the plane when it landed and told Scott and Jim to try for the guns in the cargo hold if they could. Gus told them that he was going in and to get ready. The plane was all over the place as Gus tried to bring it down to the water. Gus touched the one remaining pontoon onto the water, it fell off and ripped part of the flooring out with it. The plane bounced back up into the air.

  Gus yelled, “Damn it, we can’t make another pass, down we go.”

  He then brought the nose up and almost stalled, but kept it under control. The plane touched down and started skipping on the water. As it came to a stop, it dug in to the water and flipped over leaving everyone hanging upside d
own in midair. Gas was pouring out all over them and smoke was pouring from the engine. They quickly kicked the doors open and crawled out leaving Roger hanging from his seat belt.

  John said, “What about Roger?”

  Gus said, “Screw him; he’s the one that did this to us.”

  John said, “You don’t know that and anyway this is still not what we were raised to do.”

  Steve and John pulled Roger from the plane while Jim and Scott tried to open the cargo hold in vain. The plane was floating in about 12 feet of water and was sinking fast; there was no way to get the guns or other equipment.

  Gus asked them to grab what they could and swim to shore. John towed Roger, who was now sputtering as he woke up.

  They swam, and then waded to the shore. This was the shallow end of the lake and there were trees growing right up to the water. John saw a rabbit and some birds at the edge of the forest and thought that they would not starve.

  Steve and John pulled Roger out of the water and dropped him on the shore like a sack of potatoes, he groaned, then passed out.

  Gus looked at Roger and told John, “That’s one lucky SOB; if you weren’t here; I would have let him drown.”

  John turned towards Gus and stared him down, “Gus, shame on you. You are the one who has been after me for years to be more religious and caring of my fellow man.”

  At that point Scott joined in with the following observation, “Whatever happened they don’t like him any more than us. They were either trying to kill us or him.”

  Scott gently kicked Roger in the ribs until he woke up. Then he asked him, “What was in those boxes? Don’t lie, we saw some drugs.”

  Gus said, “What drugs?”

  Scott answered, “Gus, Roger dropped a box and bundles of drugs fell out. We were going to tell you after Roger let us out.”

  John pointed the gun at Roger’s head and said, “You have one chance to tell the truth and live.”

  Roger told them that he thought that it was a drug smuggling operation and then was vague on detail. He tried to make them believe that the GAO paid him well and he did not ask questions.

  They then turned their attention to their wounds. Roger had the worst of it with a deep gouge in his right shoulder; Scott spread something from the FA kit on it and bandaged it with some gauze and a stretch bandage from the FA kit.

  John made Steve pull his pants down and they saw a puncture wound in his right cheek. John poked at it with the end of a pair of scissors to see if anything was still stuck in there and Steve jumped as though he had been shot.

  “Quit acting like a kid and take it like a man, you wuss,” John told him.

  Scott also spread some of the same gook on the wound and applied a large Band-Aid.

  Scott said, “Steve I think you’ll live, but it only missed your balls by an inch or two. The ladies would have been very sad back home.”

  The rest of them just needed a few Band-Aids and were okay.

  John told Jim and Scott to go back to the plane and try to dive down and get some of the gear. They swam out and dove down to the plane. Scott brought some gear to the shore while Jim continued to dive. They had only gotten John’s Bug Out Bag, a black powder rifle and some assorted gear. The plane had rolled over and was blocking the hatch to the hold.

  Gus spread out all the gear that they were able to salvage. They found:

  a 9mm Berretta,

  a 9mm KEL-TEC,

  a .22 Ruger with ammo,

  a .22 Ruger MK1 and 500 hollow point rounds,

  a black powder 50 cal. Hawken rifle,

  a compass,

  field glasses,

  a bag of candy,

  one pint of black powder,

  a seven inch hunting knife

  four pocket knives,

  about 30 feet of nylon rope,

  a first aid kit,

  several cans of tuna,

  two jars of peanut, butter.

  the rest of the contents of John’s Bug Out Bag.

  magnesium fire starter

  thermal blankets

  one flare gun with three flares

  five chocolate bars

  their Concealed Carry weapons, 5- .380s with 10 – 6 round magazines.

  Gus laughed and said, “It’s not much, but we can shoot some game, cook it and keep warm. It could be a lot worse.”

  John replied, “It would be nice if we had some bullets for the Hawking.”

  Jim said, “Sorry, I could not find any.”

  Roger stood up behind them and blurted out, “We had better get off the shore and into the woods before they spot us.

  Gus heard him and quickly turned and aimed the 9mm at him. “You had better not move again or I’ll put a big assed hole in you, you worthless piece of shit.”

  Roger yelled back at him, “They had a plane stashed in a cove back there on the other lake. They should have already been here by now. We must get into the woods now!”

  Gus took over the conversation and said, “Let’s get out of here.”

  They quickly gathered their equipment and headed into the wood line. Gus had tied Roger’s hands behind his back and was pushing him ahead as they walked under the canopy of trees. John was in the lead and Steve was bringing up the rear. Steve told them to keep going and he would go back so he could listen to see if the plane was approaching yet. While Steve was gone, Scott took the Hawken and loaded it with a double load of powder and three small pebbles in a piece of cloth for a patch.

  Scott said, “It won’t go far, but it will do up close.”

  Steve had walked back towards the lake and was out of sight for a minute. He came back running wide open yelling for them to move out quickly. He told them he had seen a plane circling over the lake as if it were looking for them. They took off at a quick pace into the woods heading northeast towards higher ground. Steve was joking that the plane was probably coming to rescue them or was full of women.

  John stopped and told them to go on about half mile then wait for him. He then told them that he would catch up after he found out who was in the plane.

  John said, “I know there ain’t any women, but it would be a shame to starve in the woods hiding from our rescuers. If I don’t show up in one hour, just keep heading north for about a mile then head due east. This will take you away from the lake and I will know where to find you. We crossed a highway about 30-40 miles back and that is our best bet to find help. I’ll be up in an hour or so if everything goes well. If not, then good bye.”

  Scott protested and tried to come along with him, but John told him to take care of the others and keep his head low. Gus tried to make John take the 9mm, but he refused and took the Hawken instead.

  John told the team, “There are five of you and if those bastards catch up, y’all will need as much fire power as you can get. If they see me, I’ll take one shot and run like hell. Remember I still have my .380 and this hunting knife for close up fighting.”

  John added, “This has already started out much more exciting than any of our other trips.”

  He only got a couple of halfhearted laughs in reply.

  • • •

  Manny and the four GAO thugs watched as the missile struck the floatplane. They saw the explosion blow off the pontoon and shred the bottom of the plane.

  Smoke rolled from the right engine and Manny yelled, “The bitch is coming down.”

  The others cheered. Then the plane rocked side to side and bucked like a horse as Roger poured the coal to her. The plane stabilized and started to gain altitude.

  Manny told the others, “Karl won’t like it if those bastards get away, let’s get airborne.”

  They piled into the plane and took off in hot pursuit.

  The pilot, Red, was a sinister looking man who was 6’2’, bright red hair, very muscular and had scars all over his arms and a real ugly one on his face that went from his nose to his left ear. He had been with Manny for over 10 years. He seldom spoke, but was loyal to a fault and would
die for Manny. He had been in the Russian Air Force before settling down in South America where he and Manny met and became friends. He probably had some weird Russian name, but went by Red Smith. Only Manny knew that he was wanted by half of the governments of the free world and the entire break away Russian states for god knows what.

  Manny Cortez was afraid of Karl, but was not afraid of anyone or anything else. He was a trained killer and combat veteran of many South American bush wars. He was 36 years old, 5’6”, 160 pounds, black wavy hair and brown eyes that cut through people at a glance. Manny was a midlevel operator in a major crime family based in South America who specialized in drugs and smuggling people into the USA. His wife, Carla, and six children lived in Paraguay in an old mansion on a large compound. Manny was dedicated to The Cartel first and his family second. Manny was a trusted right arm man in Karl Mendoza’s North American operations and would soon be moving his family to the states. This would enable him to spend more time on his business and less time traveling.

  As the plane climbed, Manny got on the radio and called Karl.

  Manny said, “The plane was hit and going down, but it appears that there will be survivors.”

  Karl replied, “Check the crash site and call me if there are survivors. I have plans for them.”

  Another GAO soldier in the back seat was Jesus Sanchez. He was a cold-blooded killer who had been with Manny since their childhood. Manny had a crush on Maria, but she never showed any interest and called him her brother. She had joined the group about a year ago and had become like family. The two remaining thugs were Jose and Pepe who had just flown up with Karl the other day. They were now assigned to Manny to help him get ready for the big push.

  Karl was only visiting the outpost in Idaho when the security breech occurred. When Manny told him that the plane had been hit, but got away, Karl thought that he would mix business with fun. He thought that he would show these lazy Americans the other side of the hunt.