ascent.
Jennings kicked the shit out of the metal bench seats we had been sitting on for the last several hours. Briggs looked at him.
”Is there a problem Jennings?” Jennings looked at Briggs hate in his eyes.
”No Sir.”
Briggs stared back sizing up Jennings, “Good, Lets move out. The truck is waiting to take you to the bivouac area.”
We grabbed our rucks and walked downed the ramp, I squinted my eyes as we entered the sunlight. The humidity is stifling already, summer in the Panama jungle is a bitch, my scrotum sack was already itching with the inevitable impending rash.
We pulled onto the range road and a bumpy jarring ass ride later we pulled up to a General Purpose medium size tent erected in our honor, hell at least we didn’t have to put it up. However, whoever put it up did a shitty job, we had to correct it or else the first heavy wind or rain would have pulled it down. We entered the tent. Inside were four cots, a small field desk and four metal lockers on a plywood floor. I looked at Zack, stomped my foot.
”Look we got carpet man.” He laughed.
”Yea a carpet with probably some of the worst biting ass shit you ever seen under it that’s gonna crawl up our ass every night as we try and sleep.” All of us laughed, except for Jennings he had grabbed the furthest away cot, put his ruck on it and was just setting there staring at the tent wall. I leaned over to Zach.
”I got a bad feeling about him man.” Zach nodded in agreement as he was firing up a cigarette. “We’ll keep an eye on him.” Thick smoke wafted from his lips.
We were able to sack out the rest of the day, we were going to start training before sunrise. All our meals were Long Range Patrol meals, LRP’s, I hate those things they bind you up tighter than a vice.
The next fourteen days went by pretty fast, weapons training and familiarization, we got dropped alone in the jungle and were using some new type of hand held navigation system, Briggs said they are “the future of navigating”, he called it a GPS, the damn thing finds your location by communicating to satellites that move around the globe, I thought they were a piece of shit, it can give you the direction of travel but it doesn’t give any terrain features, a deep valley or impassible area makes you have to back track and reroute too much. Give me a map and my compass any day.
The new rifles were pretty bad ass though, the bull barrels made for a smooth shooting creation, we were hitting solid at 600 yards plus, the reason for the long range? It was explained to us that because of the clearing around the compound, to stay under cover we will have to shoot from the jungle. Any closer would put us in the open and expose the mission, possibly blowing it. And we can’t blow the mission. No one mentioned the possibility of getting your ass shot all to hell.
On the morning of the fourteenth day we were rousted at 03:00, hustled into a truck, taken back down the bumpy ass road to the airfield. Our ride was waiting for us, rotors already spun up, a Huey, we loaded up all our gear and were airborne almost as fast as a hot LZ take off. None of said anything, even Hernandez was stone cold quiet, we were in the shit now for sure, and knew it.
As the jungle starts to get noisier, it brings me back to awareness, it also indicates a shift change, the night creatures are going into hiding and to bed as the day shift comes on. I can hear birds and tons of insects stirring as they begin there daily quest for survival. I have been told to wait in this clearing till the sun is fully up before I can turn the GPS on and get my direction of travel updated. I step into the clearing, we have been told we will all be deployed in a relatively safe area beyond any possible patrols from the compound, exposing my position still makes we nervous. I step away from the cover of the treeline and switch the GPS on, it has to have a clear as possible view of the sky, it starts beeping as it’s acquiring its position relative to my target. We practiced this religiously in Panama, its a slow process one other reason to dislike this piece of crap. I don’t like being exposed, but this thing is our lifeline to our target. The after mission rally point and then the extraction point. One long beep and I am on my way. Geared up, round in the chamber, and fit to fight. My gut tells me otherwise, I still have the bad feeling this is going to go to shit on us all.
I follow the GPS directions until dark starts to set in, I am close enough to the compound now to be within the mercenary patrol area. One thing I pride myself on is the ability to cover ground without leaving much sign of my passing, hopefully well enough to not be tracked. I need to find a secure place to lay up for the night, it gets damn dark, damn quick in the jungle.
Sleep comes slowly, all the damn noise from this jungle tells me I am in for a sleepless night.
Death In The Night
I’m not alone. I have just been startled awake from a light fitful sleep by the sound of a twig snapping. The sound came from behind me, it was like a bomb going off. To get any sleep at all I had turned my sense of hearing up to maximum. Hell I think I could hear a gnat fart at a hundred yards as focused as I am right now. I’m less than five feet off the main trail, it’s the best I could do without leaving more damage to the jungle foliage than I could cover up.
I had made a hasty bed on the floor of the jungle. I am listening with such concentration it is making my ears ring. I can pick out the sounds of insects moving and rustling about in the leafy covering of the jungle floor. Rats or some similar sized denizens of the jungle, lizards, frogs and snakes are always moving about. These sounds I have gotten used to and can easily identify. This is bigger, much bigger. Its behind me, coming up the trail I had come up.
After the twig had snapped the movement had stopped. Wait. There it is, a slow deliberate cautious movement, continuing up the trail towards my position. The insects and creatures of the jungle have grown quiet now. Yes. There is someone or something coming this way.
Damn, I had been extra careful to cover my trail since being dropped in this jungle yesterday. I knew it had gone too smooth up to now. My mission briefing had included the fact the target we are assigned to kill has an extensive and well-trained defense force, some of the best mercenaries available are in his employment. My eyes strain to penetrate the pitch-black jungle around me, they strain to the point of painfulness. I trekked right up to dark, kept pushing for too long. I should have picked a campsite sooner while there was more daylight to reconnoiter the area. I knew better than to just plop down in a spot, damn.
Whoever is coming my way is getting closer, the thing that is bothering me the most is I can not turn and look. If I move I will give my position away. It’s obvious He doesn’t know exactly where I am at the way he is moving so gingerly. Slowly probing in front and around himself. Waiting for me to make the first move and expose myself. Whoever he is he has been training in this jungle for a good while. I had assumed any encroachment would come from the direction of the Villa, up the trail not from back down it. If it is one of the targets mercenaries moving around in this jungle as dark as it is, he has night vision gear on.
I have sacked out under a small overhanging tree with three to four feet of ground clearance, even with night vision goggles on he is going to have to crawl up my ass to see me. I also covered myself with my Ghillie suit, I pulled it out of my ruck to give me some cover. I can wait, just lie here, and be quiet.
My rifle is out of the question. A shot from my rifle would be the worst thing I can do, the rifles report would carry for miles in this jungle. Giving away my position even more. Only one option, my Mark II, my old friend, I reach up and feel the cold of his handle, knowing that secured in the sheath is seven inches of hardened, razor sharp double-edged steel. I slowly slide the blade free from its moleskin-lined scabbard, moleskin is silky smooth, great
