by Paul Heron
MICHAEL’S MIND WAS awash with thoughts. His chain’s platinum band glistened off what was left of the day’s sunlight. If anything, this item acted as a reminder that he had something, whatever it was, something the Sirani Foundation and Mancini Corporation seen as valuable, untouchable even. Each of the seven chains had a stone. Not just any stone, but a piece of stone from Elisabetta’s sculpture. He wondered just how much the pieces would be worth. Priceless? More like Precious! Right, this isn’t the Lord of the Rings, Michael, snap out of it. He shook his head.
They continued their stroll through the jungle, on the same path that helped them find the village from the camp. The evening wind cooled them.
The breeze was welcome. It certainly helped alleviate Michael’s hangover from the continuous adrenaline dumps. He wasn’t sure how much more his body or mind could take.
As they got closer to the village, they heard a rustling noise coming from the overgrowth.
‘What's that?’ Callie's reaction startled Michael.
‘Not another animal!’ Michael dropped his head, feeling fed up. ‘I’m tired, God, I just want to rest, is that too much to ask!’ He looked up as if to ask the heavens for an answer. Then came another rustle, this one followed by a growl.
‘What is that?’ Callie whispered.
‘I’m too tired for this!’
He lifted a rock the size of a football, ready to launch it into the bushes. Exhaustion was getting to him, touching that nerve that would result in people snapping. He didn’t care what it was.
‘Wow! Stop! Stop, chief!’ Mohammad’s head appeared through the leaves. ‘It’s only me, Mohammad. You wouldn’t hurt Mohammad, your pal, would you?’ He smiled, bits of green leaves in his hair and beard.
Michael dropped the rock; his eyes almost popped out of their sockets. ‘Well, your face was not what I expected.’
‘Love you, too.’ He stepped through the bush with his usual childish grin. ‘Who’s your new lady? Does she have any friends?’
Michael looked at Callie and laughed just as the rest appeared. She looked nervous, as if she’d taken Abbe’s place in being kidnapped.
‘Callie, it’s okay, these are my friends.’ Michael reassured her, gripping her hand. ‘How the hell did you know I was here?’
‘Lets cut to the chase. Michael, we have work to do.’ Sofia always did remain focused on the task at hand and wasn’t one for small talk. ‘I’m glad you’re okay.’ She gave him a hug and a peck on the cheek.
‘Grazie,’ Michael said.
‘Get a room!’ Mohammad said.
‘What’s happened, and why haven’t you answered my question? How did you get here, and where are Ajit, and Larry?’
Carolina punched Michael on the shoulder. ‘It’s all been happening out there in the big bad world while we’ve all been in this jungle. Ajit and Larry are working on broadcasting equipment to send the message.’ She gave Michael a peck on the cheek. ‘I’m glad you’re okay.’
‘My back hurts, too. I’m in agony over here,’ Mohammad shouted, crouching over, holding his lower back as if asking for some TLC.
‘You’ll survive,’ Carolina said.
‘Michael, this has escalated,’ Sofia said. ‘Countries are about to go to war. World leaders are telling their own people to prepare for attacks. Their creating a lot of fear in their home nations.’
‘American, British, Russian and Chinese airforces have been shot out of the sky.’ Marcel said.
‘Synchronized attacks to put countries on higher alert,’ Mohammad said. ‘First the attempted poisonings, now their air forces being shot down, these guys are for real.’
‘Beautiful,’ Michael said sarcastically.
‘It’s a mess, like a tangled web,’ Marcel said. He gave Michael a punch on the chest. ‘Good to have you back. Let’s have some fun, amigo!’
‘Okay, tell me,’ Michael said, scratching his head. ‘How much time do we have to wait for Ajit and Larry?’
‘Hopefully, not long,’ Eduardo said, patting Michael on the back. ‘We should find evidence of the Dark Tree. If we produce it to the world for testing, they can check it, match it to whatever is in the systems of the political leaders and...’
‘We’ve got the evidence. And we’ve destroyed the Dark Tree. Abbe helped me find it.’
‘Who’s Abbe?’ Sofia asked.
‘Abbe?’ Eduardo’s cheesy grin slowly stretched across the bottom half of his face. ‘You mean my Mayan amigo, the Abbe I was detained with?’
Michael nodded. ‘He helped me escape the compound. This is his sister, Callie.’
Michael looked at Callie, who was speechless, one of her legs trembling. ‘It’s okay, Callie.’
‘Let’s go send this message, then,’ Carolina said.
‘Our message will appear on every TV, radio station, and on the Internet. Hell, if there are aliens out there, they will hear our message,’ Eduardo screamed excitedly. ‘We will become the BBC, Google, World News, CNN, everything.’
‘We’ll be famous,’ Mohammad stroked his beard, humming to himself with his eyes closed.
Sofia rolled her eyes.
‘Callie, do you know of a quiet location,’ Michael said. ‘A wide-open space for a helicopter to land?’ He looked at the rest. ‘We need to find a place in this never ending mass of trees where the others can get in.’
She thought for a second. ‘How about La Ravine di Palenque? It’s beautiful. Surrounded by huge mahogany, cedar, and sapodilla trees. I think it’ll be a good place to land a metal bird. Also, it’s not far from my village.’
‘Great, let’s go, there isn’t much time,’ Eduardo said.
‘But it’s getting dark. We can’t do anything until tomorrow,’ Sofia said.
‘Didn’t you hear? We haven’t got time to wait,’ Carolina said.
‘Carolina’s right, we must go now,’ Marcel said.
‘You would say that, you always side with Carolina,’ Mohammad mumbled.
‘Maybe it’s better to hang out at the village tonight and go at sunrise,’ Eduardo added, ‘this is our last piece of work. Then back to normal. We can’t mess this up.’
‘No! It’s better if we leave tonight,’ Carolina insisted.
‘Shut up, Carolina, we need to rest!’ Mohammad shouted. ‘We’re all exhausted, and we’re not all super fit like you.’
‘You always need a bloody rest; you’re just lazy!’ Carolina shouted.
‘Sofia’s right, we need to wait until sunrise. But we need to be ready and waiting so that as soon as sunrise comes, we broadcast.’ As he spoke, Michael looked at the nervous faces. ‘Come on guys, let’s have some fun tonight and adventure through this awesome place. This time tomorrow, we’ll be back to our old lives. So, let’s finish this adventure with a cool story to tell.’
‘Okay, Archangel Michael,’ Mohammad mumbled. ‘What would you like to do?’
‘Callie, how long would it take to walk from your village to the Ravine?’
‘Six or seven hours.’
‘What? I’m wrecked,’ Mohammad moaned. ‘When will this all be over? I just want to be famous already and sleep. On a raft. In a pool. A pool with my name spelt out in blue tiles under the water...’
‘We’re all exhausted,’ Carolina said.
‘Oh, I almost forgot. Does anyone have a spare Samsung battery?’ Michael said, looking at his lifeless phone.
‘SI!’ Eduardo shouted as he pulled his backpack off his shoulders. ‘I knew you would be needing one. I got a spare from Scarlett.’
Michael felt reconnected to the world again. The first thing he checked was Sky World News. The home screen had an image of the president of the United States, telling all Americans that the world was not a safe place and there were to be tough times ahead. Tough decisions would have to be made in the name of national security. Treachery on the grandest scale would have to be squashed.
‘Well, it’s pretty much certain now.’ Michael looked at the screen, then looked at e
veryone.
‘Let’s see,’ Marcel snatched Michael’s phone. ‘Amigo, there is no question now. Look who’s in the photograph with President Johnson,’ he passed the phone to Sofia.
‘Oh my God, this guy was at the bookshop in Little Camberly.’ She paused and looked again. ‘He was also there when everything kicked off in London. This is Alejandro Garcia. He’s the Mancini Corporation’s Mexican director.’ She passed the phone around the group. ‘Let’s go.’
They entered the village, together again as a unit, but jumpier than ever.
Before Michael had a chance to introduce everyone to the villagers, Abbe ran from his house.
‘Your leg’s better, I see!’ Michael said.
He looked at Michael, then at Eduardo. ‘So, this is the famous scarf you told me about?’
Eduardo held out his football scarf with pride. ‘The beautiful Scarlett had it for me.’
‘Of course, they know each other if he knows about that awful scarf,’ Mohammad mumbled to Marcel.
Marcel sniggered.
‘What’s going on?’ Abbe asked, staring at everyone’s camouflage suits.
Michael placed his hand on Abbe’s shoulder and looked around, scanning every inch of the village. ‘We don’t have much time. We need help from your people.’
As they walked through the village, dressed the way they were, it wasn’t long before the angry and armed tribesmen came out again.
‘What is this?’ Babette shouted. Abbe’s mother was clearly not going to let her son be taken away again.
‘It’s okay, these people are my friends,’ Michael said.
She looked terrified of losing her son again. ‘Abbe’s not leaving here again. Please.’
‘He’s not going anywhere. These guys here are my friends,’ Michael explained.
‘It’s these camouflage suits that are terrifying people,’ Sofia said. She took off her suit to reveal normal street clothes and walked over to Babette. ‘We need your help...’
‘We can’t help you if it’s got anything to do with those men who took Abbe. It’s too dangerous. Those men are too powerful for our people,’ she said, clearly terrified of losing Abbe again. ‘We just want to live here, in peace.’
Eduardo also looked like he had become more nervous than usual.
‘Eduardo, what’s that light flashing in your trouser pocket?’ Michael said.
Everyone watched as Eduardo anxiously wrestled with the phone in his pocket. ‘It’s Ajit, I need to call him. It’s an urgent message,’ he stuttered.
‘Leave us alone!’ Another tribesman shouted, armed with a stick ready to whack someone. ‘We do not want any part of your trouble. We want to live in peace. Go away and leave us alone!’
‘It is too late. You have brought evil to our village.’ Abbe’s grandmother shouted. ‘Now we must live in fear of being cursed for helping you.’ Her eyes bore a hole through Michael. ‘You should not have come here, Michael. We are all doomed now. You have brought something very dark to our land.’ Her words sent a chill down Michael’s spine.
‘We’re just leaving.’ He shouted.
Michael approached an increasingly nervous Eduardo. He was pacing back and forth. Whatever Ajit had just told him, it wasn’t good. He knew the rest wasn’t going to be easy. Nothing had been easy so far.
‘Alright, Eduardo,’ Michael sighed, steeling himself for the news. ‘What is it now?’
Chapter Twelve
‘EVERYTHING WE’VE DONE will be for nothing!’ Eduardo threw his phone to the ground. ‘We’ll never do this... Amigo, we’re kidding ourselves!’ He kicked his phone away. ‘We can’t go to Palenque, Michael!’
Michael furrowed his brow in indignation. ‘What? Why?’
‘Ajit said they can’t fly the helicopter because the Mexican authorities are searching the area. He overheard a conversation Garcia was having. They’re furious that the Dark Tree has been destroyed. They’re searching this area of Chiapas, and the sky above.’
‘Shit!’ Michael said.
‘You can say that again.’ He ripped open the top half of his suit, the suit Michael gave him. ‘I’m struggling to breath!’ Nothing but a green vest covering his torso, he bent forward with his hands on his knees, breathing deeply. ‘Think I’m going crazy. There are too many of them for us. They’re too strong,’ he spoke hopelessly, gasping for a breath.
Michael felt the blood rush through his veins. He clenched his fists, feeling the frustration that Eduardo was clearly feeling. It seemed everything was against them. No matter what they did, Mancini agents would counteract it with something else. He gritted his teeth, genuinely pissed off. Eduardo was ready to snap; it was starting to get to them.
‘Come over here a second.’ Michael put his arm around Eduardo, walking him away from the group, creating a bit more distance, and privacy. ‘Wait, where’s your chain? The stone?’ He noticed it missing from Eduardo’s neck.
‘Sorry, amigo. It’s gone. When I woke up after they took me, I couldn’t find it. Maybe it was close to where you found the scarf.’
Don’t worry about it for now. After tomorrow, we won’t need them. But look...’ Michael lowered his tone. ‘We’re on the verge of stopping something huge. Like it or not, amigo, we’re responsible for everyone else’s welfare now. Call me crazy for saying it, and I wish I was wrong, but look at our reality.’
Michael was trying to remain confident in what they were doing, and he knew some words of encouragement would help Eduardo, like he himself was helped by the speeches his Gaelic football coach used to give them when they were down and going into the last quarter of the match. ‘Tomorrow, we’re sending a message out to the world. Nobody, and I mean nobody, will stop us...’
Eduardo didn’t look at all convinced.
‘You miss your family? Your life? All your friends? You want to live a long life or a short one? Because if these fuckers get their way, all our lives will be shortened. Come on, amigo. Let’s at least go down with a fight!’
Eduardo wiped the snot from his nose.
‘You’re right.’ Eduardo was still trembling, but his face lifted, his shoulders went back, and he stood taller. ‘I wanna wipe my ass with their tree leaves and shit all over this good for nothing company!’ A tear ran down the left side of his face. ‘Okay, amigo, what’s the plan then?’ he asked, breathing deeply.
‘Is everything alright?’ Abbe asked from behind the two.
Michael turned to face Abbe touching him on the shoulder. ‘We need your help to find somewhere far from here, far from those men. They’re part of a very powerful and nasty group. They’re searching this area looking for us.’
‘I can’t go back to that place, Michael. Please, I can’t go back.’
‘You’re not going anywhere! They’d have to get through us first,’ Michael said, looking at Eduardo.
‘That's right, the fuckers!’ Eduardo replied, wiping snot from his nose.
Abbe smiled. ‘If we need to get far away, we can use our canoe and travel down the Usumacinta River. We can travel far south.’
‘What an awesome idea.’ Eduardo shouted.
Michael called for the others to huddle around. He looked at Sofia, then at Mohammad, then at Carolina, and then Marcel. ‘Mancini agents are searching the jungle for us. Destroying the Dark Tree has touched a nerve. We’ve just angered the most dangerous organisation on the planet...’
‘This is a good news day!’ Mohammad said sarcastically.
‘I knew they’d be angry,’ Michael said. ‘But I’d hoped we’d be back in Little Camberly by the time they found out.’
‘What do we do now?’ Sofia asked.
‘We go; we leave now,’ Marcel said.
‘Yes, Marcel. We go right now. Abbe has suggested we use their canoes and travel south on the Usumacinta River. It’s the best way to travel far in little time.’
‘What about Bonampak?’ Abbe suggested.
‘Bonampak is supposed to be beautiful, and a clear landing spa
ce for Alban, too,’ Carolina said. ‘It’s a good idea.’
‘What’s Bonampak?’ Mohammad asked.
‘It’s where the ancient pyramids are located, close to the border with Guatemala. So, it’s closer to Scarlett’s house. It would mean less time Alban will need to spend over the Mexican skies,’ Sofia said, looking around the group to see if they liked the idea.
‘I like it,’ Carolina said.
‘It’s our best chance of escape,’ Marcel said, nodding.
‘I’m checking on Sirani Maps...’ Sofia said. ‘Allora... From here to the river it’s about a five-hour walk. Then we travel five or six hours by canoe until we arrive at the La Frontera Corozal...’
‘I can help you find it!’ Abbe said, ‘I have travelled there before, so I know what to look for. I know these jungles better than any device.’
‘Great,’ Sofia said, still focused on her Samsung. ‘From there, we travel west to Bonampak, but...’
‘But what?’ Michael was growing tired of all the if’s, when’s and but’s.
‘It’s an eight-hour walk from La Frontera Corozal to Bonampak. And the site opens to the public at eight a.m. So, if we walk, we’ll not get there until at least midday.’
‘We don’t have time to walk that far. Or the energy.’ Carolina was now growing frustrated. ‘This was never meant to be easy.’
‘Eduardo, call Ajit,’ Michael said.
‘My phone’s damaged from kicking it,’ Eduardo said, shaking his head. ‘That was a genius move.’
‘Take mine and tell him we need them to pick us up at La Frontera Corozal and fly together to Bonampak,’ Michael said. ‘Tell him it’s too far for us to walk and that we’ll plan to be at La Frontera Corozal around six thirty a.m., we’ll need to broadcast this message at around seven-thirty a.m.’
‘Seven-thirty a.m.?’ Marcel’s face lit up in shock. ‘That doesn’t give us much time, if it opens at eight a.m.’
‘We’ve no choice,’ Sofia said.
‘Okay, let’s go. Let’s finish this,’ Michael said.
He looked into the distance at Babette. She was clearly put out by all the confusion. He ran over to her to say goodbye.