Into the Jungle

by David M. Salkin

  “The guy’s like Bin Laden—he causes death and destruction but you never actually see him. He uses the Guaranis to transport his coke, which I know from my own Guaranis at the clinic. My Guaranis are terrified of Vega’s tribe.

  “The families I work with are just regular folks now, really. Poor Indians like the ones in the US on reservations—but Vega’s tribe, they returned to the wild forty or fifty years ago and they are as savage now as they were two thousand years ago. I’m sure their family structures are similar to the Guaranis that I know, but they are still dangerous in the jungle. They killed and ate one of the Cartels that was competing against Vega—and that’s a story I’ve heard enough times to believe.”

  “Yeah, so we were told,” said Cascaes.

  “Don’t underestimate them,” said Julia.

  “We were told that, too,” said Cascaes.

  The three of them drove all day, stopping only once for fuel and a latrine break. By late afternoon they reached Foz do Iguacu on the Brazil-Paraguay border. The world’s largest hydroelectric dam, the Itaipu Dam, was located near the falls, and the Iguassu Falls themselves were as large as three Niagara Falls. Julia stopped to get gas and all of the men got out to admire the view. It had to be one of the most amazing places any of them had ever seen.

  Cascaes was standing next to Moose and Ripper, who were arguing about whether or not they could survive the fall into the water hundreds of feet below. Of course they both knew they’d be dead after hitting water that would seem like concrete, but neither of them would admit it.

  Cascaes looked at his men and said, “Take a long look guys. It’s really pretty from up here, but I have a feeling we are about to enter the Twilight Zone real soon. We need to cross the border without incident, so remind the guys to stay loose. Once we go over the damn, we’re in Paraguay and Ciudad Del Este is right down the road. Once we go beyond that, it’s the wild west.”

  “Good,” said Moose, flatly. “We were all gonna’ get fat and lazy if we did any more sitting around anyway. I’m ready to go play in the woods.”

  Cascaes laughed, knowing he meant it.

  Mackey called out to his men, “Mount up, boys—time we get this show on the road.”

  They had refueled and got into the line of traffic headed over the damn to Paraguay. The check point on the Paraguay side was fairly lax, with border police giving cursory looks at the tourist’s driver’s licenses and passports. Julia had made the trip so many times and was so pretty that almost all of the guards knew her face. They called her the Guardian of the Guaranis, just like the local folks where she lived, and smiled and waved her through. She leaned out of the window and spoke to one of the guards she recognized, telling him that the vans and truck behind her were all with her, bringing supplies to build a school. He smiled and waved them all through, and the convoy headed into Paraguay.

  “That is so not fair,” said Mackey with a grin for his good-looking driver. “If that was me and Cascaes crossing without you, we’d be strip-searched by now.”

  “I’m surprised they didn’t strip-search Julia,” said Cascaes quietly, the closest thing to flirting he had done since meeting her.

  “Well maybe next time you’ll get lucky and a female border guard will strip-search both of you,” said Julia.

  “My luck, it will be a dude named Bubba,” said Cascaes.

  The decent highways of Brazil quickly went to hell as they proceeded west towards Ciudad del Este.

  Chapter 24

  Outside Ciudad Del Este

  The convoy of vans and the tractor-trailer arrived at Julia’s makeshift relief station in the late afternoon. A small sign read “International Center for Domestic Relief,” but the sign was much fancier than the outpost. A wooden floor with poles holding up a thatched roof made up the largest building in the small camp. They were outside of the city, where Julia’s “real office” was located, but this was where she spent most of her time. The camp was on the fringe of the jungle, where the Guaranis lived and worked. Julia and her helpers administered vaccines, taught Spanish and even some English, provided clothing and basic provisions and did what they could to improve the lives of the forgotten Indians. The Guaranis loved Julia, the children especially, and when the trucks arrived, the women and children began flowing out of the jungle and small buildings, instantly singing and smiling.

  Julia hopped out of the van and was mobbed, as usual, by her young fans. She picked up a little boy of maybe five years old and gave him a hug. He was speaking fast in his native language, and although Mackey and Cascaes had no idea what he was saying, it was obvious that the boy loved Julia. A hug is a hug in any language. The rest of the men piled out of the vans and walked over towards their boss, but were immediately swallowed up by crowds of children who took them by their hands and started singing again. The high-pitched young voices filled the camp with a happy choir of unknown lyrics, and every man in the team was overcome.

  Moose, the biggest of the bunch, had tears running down his face as a little girl literally climbed up his arm like he was a tree. She sat on his shoulder, laughing, and kissed him on top of his head, which was almost as big as her. He was the largest human she had ever seen, and for whatever reason, instantly adopted him. The others were equally taken in by the children, most of them wearing only loin cloths or ratty shorts. They were barefooted and without shirts, and they all were small and brown. The boys had bowl-cut shiny black hair; while the girls wore theirs in long pony tails. They were all smiling and genuinely happy to see visitors.

  Julia clapped her hands a few times, and the children gathered around her and went quiet. She explained, in Spanish, that these visitors were here to build them a school, and she wasn’t finished with the sentence when the cheering started. They all started singing again and made a huge circle, holding hands, while they danced around the men in the silly t-shirts.

  “What the hell did she say?” asked Cascaes. “Think they are getting ready to eat us?”

  Julia heard him and laughed. “My Guaranis are not cannibals, sir. I told them you were here to build them a school. And you will.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” was all he could think of as he watched the smiling children sing and dance around his knees. The happy faces that surrounded them were contagious.

  Another woman appeared from one of the small huts. She was in khaki fatigue pants and a tank top with a yellow smiley face on it. She waved and smiled as she approached Julia and the team.

  “Gentlemen, say hello to Theresa Orlando. She’s the closest thing to a doctor my Guaranis have ever seen.”

  Theresa was in her late thirties, and although attractive in a natural sort of way, she didn’t hold a candle to Julia. She walked more like a guy, and had a marine’s handshake. As Cascaes said hello, he though she reminded him of a girl that grew up with lots of older brothers.

  “So you’re all here from Los Angeles, huh?” asked Theresa. She had worked with Julia on and off for two years, through CIA, and had used her position as “local doctor” to get in and out of lots of out of the way places. She liked her work helping the locals as much as the intelligence aspect of it, and she and Julia were a perfect team.

  Mackey smiled. “Yes, ma’am, praise the Lord.”

  Cascaes added an “Amen.”

  “Do me a favor and don’t try and pass as missionaries around me. You suck as secret agents,” said Theresa with a smile.

  Mackey and Cascaes looked at each other, then at Julia, and then they all started laughing.

  “Be nice to them, Theresa. They’re going to build us our school,” said Julia with her flirting smile. She looked at Mackey, who melted, and Julia added, “No school—no jungle tour.”

  “Just tell us where you want it,” he said, totally under her spell.

  “Well, maybe I’ll let you all unpack and feed you first. The children have waited this long, you can star
t working tomorrow.”

  Cascaes smacked Mackey and motioned for him to look over at the men. Most of them were sitting on the ground, playing with children whose language they couldn’t speak, but communicating just the same. Moose had three tiny kids on his shoulders, and more were trying to climb up his arms and legs. His grin was unprecedented.

  “Bunch of trained killers?” said Mackey with a laugh.

  Julia smiled at the scene of the hardened warriors being totally ruled by the children. “Careful,” she said, “or you’ll end up staying here.”

  Mackey looked at her beautiful face and smiled. “It wouldn’t be the worst thing I ever did.”

  Chapter 25

  Camp Hope

  It was Cascaes who came up with the name while looking at his men.

  “Camp Hope,” he had said out loud. Mackey heard him and immediately knew what he was thinking. They instantly decided it was the perfect name for this little outpost of hope in the middle of nowhere. It had a strange effect on the men, and was especially healing for Earl Jones, who still had occasional dreams about the two dead children in Saudi. Although he had apologized to them in his dreams, and was doing much better, he still had days of feeling outright depressed. Now, surrounded by children, he was reborn. His smile had returned, like those of his comrades, and the general dynamic of the group had totally changed.

  Gone were the macho barbs and typical military machismo. Instead, the men matured into instant “dads” to the hundreds of small children that flowed in and out of the camp. The first morning in camp, after arriving the night before and having a humble meal of rice and beans and some type of meat that no one asked about, the men immediately sprang into action unloading the building supplies. While none of them were construction workers, they were a team that knew how to work quickly and efficiently together. They unloaded beams, trusses, planks, bags of screws and nails, and boxes of tools happily, as the smiling children looked on, occasionally clapping their hands when something even mildly interesting happened—like when Moose and Ripper carried a very large load of wood with two children sitting on it.

  Julia and Theresa had told the men where they wanted the building, and the plans for construction had been drawn up and included with the shipment of lumber. Julia had personally overseen the building of the few huts and quasi-buildings in her camp, and knew her way around a hammer. With all of them working together, it was like an Amish barn raising, and the structure was completely finished by the afternoon of the second day. Cascaes had commented that all was missing was the school bell—a comment not missed by Julia, and after she spoke with some children, they returned with a large drum, which she presented to Chris.

  “Your school bell, sir. Would you like to ring it?”

  Cascaes laughed and banged on the drum a few times, and was amazed to see the Guaranis flowing out of the jungle into camp. “Wow,” he said with a laugh. “This works better than revile!”

  The Guaranis, men, women, and children, gathered around the new building that would serve as a school. They brought paints and feathers and pebbles and various sorts of primitive objects with which to decorate the walls, and Mackey’s men were as enthusiastic about playing with the paints as the children were.

  Cascaes was sitting on the new wooden floor watching some women painting when Julia sat next to him.

  “You’re second in command after Mackey?” she asked.

  “I could tell you, but I’d have to kill you,” he said with a smile.

  “You wouldn’t,” she said in her sexiest voice, and he felt it in his chest.

  “You’re right. But I bet you kill every man you meet.” He let that hang and she didn’t respond. “I am second in command, yes. Why?”

  “No reason, really. I just see the way the men look to you for instructions all the time, even when you aren’t doing anything. I’m a people watcher, I guess. Makes me a good agent,” she said.

  “I see. And how the hell did you end up here? I’m not being rude, and I know you hear it all the time, but God, you’re gorgeous. How did you end up in the Paraguayan jungle?”

  She smiled without breaking eye contact. And yes, she did hear it all the time. “My father was in the shipping business. I lived in Singapore and Hong Kong for a few years as a very young girl. I don’t remember too much of it, though, really. My mom died when I was only nine, in a car accident in Hong Kong. We returned to England after that.”

  “Sorry to hear about that,” said Cascaes.

  “Yes, well, that’s life I suppose. It makes me sad that I don’t remember more about her. Anyway, my father took a job in America the following year and off we went to San Francisco. He met another woman and remarried, and she became my second Mom. I have a half sister, too. Beth. She lives in Virginia.”

  “She gorgeous, too?” asked Chris.

  “Way better looking, in fact. But she has four children and a husband, so you might not be as inclined to ask her out.”

  “As inclined as I am to ask you, you mean?” He could feel his face get red.

  “Yes, right. We could go out to a movie, maybe dinner and dancing.” She stood up and extended her hand to help him up. “Besides, you’ve got some work to do I believe.”

  She pulled him up and he stood, very close to her face. She was not one to be intimidated, and they just stood there for a minute.

  “Thanks for building my school,” she said, and kissed him quickly on his cheek.

  She started to walk away, but he still had her hand. “Hey,” was all he could muster.

  She turned back around to face him, and smiled when she saw how red his face was. “Why, admiral! I do believe you are blushing!”

  It only made it worse and he let go of her hand. “Julia, when we are finished with this little safari, I want that date.”

  “We’ll see, admiral.” she said.

  “Senior chief, Actually.”

  “Yes, I know. I’ve seen your file,” she said with a smile, and walked away.

  Chapter 26

  Operation Jimmy

  Director Holstrom had named the operation “Jimmy” for his friend James McKnight. The men understood the significance and were refocused on the mission now that the school was built and they had a few days to adjust to the humidity and heat. It was after ten at night, and the men, plus Julia and Theresa, sat on the wooden floor of the school with a few ancient kerosene lamps.

  Julia had a large map of the immediate area, which they were comparing to the GPS maps on their small computers. While the technical information on the satellite maps, in terms of longitudes and latitudes, was much more accurate, Julia’s map showed local information that didn’t appear on the CIA’s map. Swamps, impassible jungles, ravines and other natural obstacles were identified in Julia’s handwriting—information gathered from her Guaranis over the past two years. Unfortunately, the information only went into the jungle so far. The Guaranis that Julia knew did not like too venture too close to the Pampidos. The Pampidos were a rough bunch under any circumstances, but took exception to other Guaranis that chose to live in the cities with those who destroyed their forest. More than one Guarani had disappeared while traveling through the jungles near Pampidos lands.

  Julia pointed to the Parana River on her map, at the Brazil-Paraguay border. “You can move by boat about thirty miles down the Parana to this point here. You’ll travel faster in an hour than you will in half a day in the jungle.” She pointed to another location down the river. “At this point, you would head west into the jungle. My people have only gone back five or six miles into the jungle there. It is extremely thick, with swamps and thorny patches of jungle that are literally impassible. We think that Vega has his camp somewhere in this general area, which gives him access to a few trails that lead both south into Argentina, and east into Brazil. None of my people have ever seen Vega or his Pampidos, but my Guaranis tell
me they have seen Pampidos signs.”

  “What kind of signs?” asked Mackey.

  “Warnings. Some of my Guaranis were scouting for me a couple of months back and came across some skulls mounted in the middle of a trail. They turned back immediately and wouldn’t return. They are superstitious, but it was more than that—they were terrified.”

  “Of the skulls?” asked Mackey.

  “Of what the Pampidos would do if they caught them. Cannibalism is only part of the nightmare. They can be extremely cruel to their prisoners before they kill and eat them.” She paused. “So don’t get caught.” She looked at Cascaes when she said that, feeling a little pang.

  Cascaes cleared his throat and looked at Mackey. “So we are just supposed to wander around in miserable jungle with no actual heading until we find someone who looks like a terrorist or cannibal?”

  “Not exactly,” said Julia. “Like I said, we do have some trails that may lead you towards his camp. I have the location of the warning signs—here,” she said, pointing to the map. “My guess is when you get there, you’ll be getting close. Oh, and another thing, if you can move at night, do it. The Pampidos are scared of the animal spirits that roam the jungle at night. They don’t like moving after dark. You’d have a great advantage.”

  “We have plenty of night vision toys,” said Mackey. He studied the map for a minute, comparing hers to his. “How long did it take your scouts to get to the point where they saw the skulls?”

  “It was two days from where they got off the river. But they weren’t moving very fast; they were mapping the area for me. My guess is you could do it in a day if you hustled. Just remember that what they call a trail around here is almost invisible. The plants grow back as fast as you can chop them with a machete. It’s easy to get lost out there.”