Chapter Eleven

The sun was barely up the next morning, the temperature already sweltering and the air thick with moisture, by the time the men began to stir from their restless sleep. After a hasty breakfast, the group shouldered their packs and headed off down the trail.

A few hours of climbing through the thick jungle brush brought them to a spot at the top of a cliff, ragged rocks littering the slope.

"Here's where Nelson fell and down there is where he landed when he fell over the cliff," Eric said stiffly when he indicated they had arrived at the place that may have seen Nelson's last moments alive. "The troops came out of the jungle there to the right. They surrounded him. There wasn't anything I could do."

Lee stared down at the jungle floor for a long time, knowing in his heart that it would have been a miracle if the admiral had survived. His injuries coupled with the fall and the government troops on him seemed a foregone conclusion. He felt his heart constrict as he imagined what had happened to his friend, as he pondered his last moments alive.

"We'll climb down. See if we…see if we can find him," Lee said softly, his heart threatening to break into a thousand pieces.

The group traversed the cliff face carefully, reaching the bottom after a brief but exciting climb.

"Here…here's where he landed," Kohler said pointing to a spot at the base of the cliff.

Lee knelt in the dirt and scanned the area quickly, searching for any signs while Chip broke off from the group and headed off into the jungle.

"Lee, it's been a week. You know the jungle is very unforgiving," Jake said quietly as he knelt by Lee, attempting to warn him of what they may find.

Lee's insides twisted at Jake's words as he fully understood what Jake meant. "I know. I just need to know for sure. If he was here…wait…what's that?" he asked as he brushed plant debris from an area on the floor.

Jake leaned closer and fingered a red spot on the jungle floor. "Could be dried blood. Could be human. Could be animal. There's more," he said pointing.

"A lot more," Lee whispered.

"I told you. This is where he died. Get it now? We're wasting our time," Kohler said as he glanced cautiously about him.

"We wouldn't be here wasting our time if you had been a better agent!" Lee yelled. "You should have never been given this assignment!"

"Well, I was. And so was Nelson. And he failed…not me! You want to blame someone, you blame whoever thought it was a good idea to send some old…"

Before he could finish his sentence, Lee was off the ground, his hands around Kohler's throat. "Don't you even say it you worthless…Admiral Nelson was twice the agent…twice the man you are or ever will be!"

"Lee! Stop!" Chip yelled as he tried to get his hands from Kohler's neck. "Stop! You need to see this."

"What is it?" he asked as Chip dragged him further into the jungle.

"Here and here," he said pointing. "They look like drag marks."

"Maybe they dragged him off the trail," Jake said kneeling by the marks.

"Why?" Lee asked.

"To hide his body?" Jake said. "I don't know but we should follow them if you want to bring his…him back."

The men followed for a time, vines and roots threatening to trip them as made their way down the path, until Miguel stopped them with a raised hand. "Do you smell it?" he asked.

The others after a few seconds began to smell what Miguel had and what little hope they'd had that Nelson was still alive began to fade away.

"Death," Miguel said quietly.

Lee closed his eyes to what he was afraid was just ahead. Images of Nelson's bloody body flitted unbidden through his mind and he struggled to push them away ashe struggled for control.

"Stay here. I will scout ahead," Miguel said when he saw the revulsion on their faces.

Lee nodded briefly, feeling ashamed that he couldn't seem to find the courage to face what was probably ahead but the thought of seeing his friend that way was more than he could attempt.

Several minutes went by before Miguel returned, a quizzical look on his face.

"Miguel? What is it?" Jake asked as he went to his side.

"There are many bodies. I looked but I did not see your admiral. He may be there but they all appear to be government troops."

"How would you be able to tell if he was there or not?" Kohler asked derisively. "You know what he must look like by now?"

"Shut up, Eric or I swear I'll put my fist down your throat!" Jake yelled.

"I'm only stating facts."

"You state any more and you'll be wondering how you can see out the back of your head," Lee said angrily.

The group walked hurriedly to where an obvious battle had taken place. Scattered about a clearing lay ten bodies, all as Miguel said in government uniforms.

"See? The bodies are all wearing government issue uniforms. I found no other bodies. Your admiral may have been here and he may have been dead but his body isn't here."

"But what happened here?" Lee asked in confusion.

"I do not know. A patrol must have been attacked by rebels."

"Well, if the admiral isn't here then where could he be?" Chip asked exasperated.

"And could he be alive?" Lee asked softly as he stared about at the carnage.

"Alive! What kind of water are you drinking, Crane? There's no way he's alive! I told you that! We need to get out of here before whoever did this comes back!"

"No! Not until we find him!"

"Well, where do you suggest we look?" Kohler said angrily? "Huh? What's your bright idea now?"

"I suggest we head the way we were. Continue on," Miguel said.

"Miguel's right. We should keep going," Lee said.

The group continued on, unmindful of Kohler's insistence that they were on a fool's mission and they were all going to be killed.

After an hour more of walking, Miguel suddenly stopped, listening hard.

"What is it?" Jake asked as he came up beside the guide.

"I do not know. The jungle noises have stopped. There are…"

But before he could finish his sentence, several men moved silently from the jungle towards them, guns pointed at their heads and yelling at them.

"They want us to drop our weapons and put our hands up," Miguel whispered.

"But aren't they rebels?" Lee asked.

"Yes, but they do not know us. We must do what they ask. Now."

The men dropped their weapons and their bags carefully and stood with their hands over their heads as Miguel tried to talk to them.

The apparent leader of the rebel group pushed Miguel aside and advanced on Kohler who began to shrink away.

"You," the leader said in English and in a menacing, angry tone. "You I know. You I will kill," he said as he backhanded him across the face, smiling in satisfaction as Kohler fell to the jungle floor, blood pouring from a cut on his lip.

"Wait," Lee said. "Why? What has he done?"

"You ask me this? You who walk with him? You who are his friends?" he said angrily, gesturing to Kohler.

"We're not his friends," Jake said. "As a matter of fact, I have no problem with you killing him."

"Jake, we may still need him," Lee whispered.

"For what? He's shown us what we came for. There's no body and we still don't know where Nelson is."

At that, the rebel leader's head snapped up to Jake then to Lee. "Nelson? What do you know of a Nelson?" he asked quietly as he stared hard at the two men.

"He's our friend," Lee said carefully, puzzled at the question. "We came here to find him."

"And him?" he asked gesturing angrily to Kohler.

"He was with Ad…Nelson. He told us our friend was killed by government soldiers. We came to find out if it was true. And bring his… him home if we can."

"You have a picture of this Nelson?" the man asked suspiciously.

"Yes, of course," Lee said as he began to reach into his back pocket, stopping when guns rose quickly to cover him. "Easy. It's just my wallet."

"Slowly take it out."

Lee carefully removed his wallet from his pocket and flipped it open to show a picture of Nelson in civvies standing on his sailboat, arms crossed and a big smile gracing his face. His heart ached when he saw the picture, remembering it had been the admiral's birthday that day and he, Chip and Nelson had just come back from a sail.

"Here. Here's a picture of our friend," he said holding it out to him, confused as to why he would want a picture.

The leader took it in his hand, stared at it a moment and then showed it to the man behind him. "You say he is your friend?"

"Yes. A very good friend."

"Perhaps. But this picture is not proof of what you say."

"I don't know what we can do to prove it! How are we supposed to prove something like that?" Lee asked, his voice rising in frustration.

"Lee, calm down," Jake said as he placed a calming hand on his shoulder.

The rebel leader looked up sharply. "You are Lee?" he asked, his eyebrows raised.

"Yes. My name is Lee. I'm Lee Crane. Why?"

"You…what is your name?" he asked, pointing to Chip.

"Chip…Chip Morton."

The leader smiled slightly. "Your friend…he calls for you both."

"What?" Lee and Chip yelled in unison.

"We found your friend, this man," he said pointing to Nelson's picture. "He was captured by government soldiers. He was being dragged through the jungle. We rescued him and took him to our village."

"He's alive?" Lee asked, hope beginning to fill the hole in his heart.

"Si. But he is badly hurt. It has been a few days since he was awake. We do not have the proper medical facilities to care for him. He is delirious. His wounds infected but he calls in his delirium for you and others."

"How far away is your village?" Lee asked anxiously.

"Not far. A few hours and we will be there. Come. You three may take your weapons. You," he said pointing to Eric, "Will not. Diego, Manuel, take him."

Two men stepped forward and took Eric by the arms, pulling them back and tying him tightly.

"Uh, not that I care whole lot but why are you doing that?" Jake asked.

"He is scum. We will talk of it when we reach our village."

"Who are you?" Lee asked as he buckled his holster and sidearm back on. Grabbing his rifle, backpack and the medical supplies he took off down the trail after the rebels.

"Just a small group of men that hate what our government is. My name is Vicente. Those are Diego, Manuel, Hector and Joaquin. Come. We must be quiet. Many government troops patrol through here."

The group moved off down the slight track through the jungle, Lee, Chip and Jake surrounded by the rebels with Eric, who he saw had been gagged, being hustled none too gently along. Lee moved to walk beside the leader. "I want to thank you for saving our friend. We were told he was dead," he whispered.

"He would have been, or worse, if we had not arrived when we did. You can thank your friend's guide, Perez, for that."

"Perez? We thought he was dead also."

"And was this told to you by him," he asked jerking his head in Kohler's direction.

"Yes."

"Your country must do a better job at finding agents. That one is no good. Your friend, Nelson however is…how do you say? Ah…another story. But we will talk of all this later. For now we walk."