Scene 48

The Guyana Highlands

We quickly secured our prisoners and hid them in the boat. We then waited for the other team to do their part.

We didn’t have long to wait. Gunfire could be heard up the trail and not long afterward, four men came running towards the boat. They were firing into the jungle behind them as they rushed for the dock.

As the leader ordered his men to keep firing, he spun to jump onto the boat. He stopped short as he stared into the barrels of the three rifles we had pointed at him.

“Drop your weapons!” I ordered.

The leader quickly dropped his own weapon and ordered his men to do the same. The rest of my team approached with their weapons pointed at the men.

“What are you going to do, kill us?” the leader asked.

“No, we’re not,” I answered. I smiled as Marta came forward. “You are being arrested,” I told him.

Marta and a few men took charge of the prisoners and secured them.

I looked around the group in front of me. “Where are Jock and Coemgen?” I asked, a little worried.

“Right here,” came the reply from the trail. Jock was coming down the trail supporting Coemgen, who was walking with an obvious limp. Oddly enough, Jock seemed to be suppressing a laugh.

“What happened?” I asked.

“I was hit, that’s what,” Coemgen complained. He shot Jock a dirty look as the big man chuckled a bit.

“What’s the matter?” I asked. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’ll be okay, I wasn’t hit anywhere critical.”

Jock could control himself no longer. He broke out laughing. “He was shot in the bum!”

The look that Coemgen shot at Jock was intense enough to kill, but the big man continued to laugh heartily. Coemgen’s glare softened a bit and he began to chuckle and then laugh along with Jock. Soon the whole team was laughing.