Chapter 10
K.A.R.R. jumped out of the chopper with a platoon of fresh soldiers. In his camouflage clothing, he looked like one of the troops, but that wasn't the type of blending in he was looking to do.
Without a glance back from either party, the platoon and K.A.R.R. parted ways on their respective missions.
Moving deeper into the jungle, K.A.R.R. allowed his scanners to probe every aspect of his surroundings.
His olfactory scanners had picked up a whiff of napalm and a stronger scent of smoke. Gunfire could be heard from the direction the platoon of grunts had headed. The steady thump of helicopter rotors was audible as the chopper headed back to base.
Ultimately, K.A.R.R. was heading the same direction as the platoon he'd flown in with, but he planned to skirt around as much of the fighting as he could, since he'd have to go deeper into enemy territory to reach his objective.
Having to fight his way through MLC soldiers would take too much time. And time was something he was afraid he couldn't spare.
Breaking into a lope, K.A.R.R. took ground eating strides toward where he suspected the P.O.W. camp was. With the precision that only a super computer could achieve, his feet landed on bits of ground with little underbrush, twigs, or other detritus that would cause an undue amount of noise.
As he approached the area where the U.S. troops were engaging the enemy, K.A.R.R. slowed and crept farther abreast of the two groups.
He could clearly hear orders being shouted and relayed by both groups.
Dismissing the orders being issued in English, he concentrated on everything else.
Most of what he heard were just general orders. There were also a few calls for medics.
Sensing an MLC soldier closing on his position, he fluidly changed shape.
Lips pulled back from feline teeth, K.A.R.R. growled menacingly when he finally encountered the solider. The soldier, startled, stopped in his tracks, raising his machine gun, as the leopard bounded past him, into the jungle.
Deciding the leopard body was a better choice in the thick jungle, K.A.R.R. retained the shape and ran on.
He still continued to listen to the MLC orders being issued.
One particular comment caught his attention.
"The General says we must draw the Americans away from this area. They're getting too close!" the communications officer relayed to the commanding officer.
K.A.R.R. didn't bother to listen any longer. He was in the right area. Now all he had to do was find the camp.
Scanning for areas where the jungle thinned out considerably, as well as for water, and easily defensible terrain within a ten mile radius of where he was, K.A.R.R. came up with two likely locations for the P.O.W. camp.
Choosing the most likely, he headed in that direction.
Twilight was rapidly descending over the jungle, casting the area in ever deepening shadows and gloom.
Switching to night vision and infrared, K.A.R.R. continued on, unhindered.
Getting out with Scott was going to be another matter all together.
The area was indeed crawling with MLC.
K.A.R.R. suspected the MLC were so thick in this area because of the P.O.W. camp.
The P.O.W. camp was surrounded by hastily erected chain link fence, with several coils of razor wire at the top and bottom of the fence. The area the fence enclosed was about the size of a football field, and a cluster of ramshackle buildings stood toward the center.
There was one building that stood out from the rest. It was beyond the ramshackle buildings and was built out of cinder block. It was quite formidable looking. The other buildings looked to have been tossed together from whatever was at hand, mainly warped and rotting plywood.
The cinder block building looked large enough to house between fifty and one hundred P.O.W.s.
Resuming his human form, K.A.R.R. looked carefully around.
His infrared picked up four heat signatures, guards patrolling inside the fence. With all the MLC in the area, that was really all they needed to guard this place.
There were other heat signatures in the ramshackle buildings, plus the P.O.W.s in the cinder block building.
K.A.R.R. had no way of knowing which heat signature was Scott's. He would just have to go in and find Scott. To Hell with anyone who got in his way!
Even though the chainlink fence had been put up in a hurry, it had been put up well. It easily supported K.A.R.R.'s weight as he began to climb over it.