Chapter 24

RPOV

The meeting with the Colonel was short and to the point, a man named Dolfo Serrano was wanted alive and brought back into the States. I'd come across Serrano before when a previous mission was to take out a group that had emerged down in Venezuela. The group had decided that Colombia was getting too difficult for them to do business in, what with the established cartels and the Colombian army, plus it was somewhere we were often sent into to help the Colombia Government get some control. Serrano had been one of the men rising up the ranks and had been travelling when we'd made the strike. Yeah we didn't get all of them but we put that little operation out of business.

Now though it appeared that Serrano was making his presence known in Venezuela and not in a good way. The problem was that the intel was poor, so it wasn't just me sat at the table listening to the Colonel give his report. We were two three men teams and each team would take a different geographical area to hunt for the man. He was a ghost, so they'd brought in myself and another Major called Crack, both of us specializing in tracking and finding people. Serrano was taking full advantage of the problems hitting the country and that all happened as a result from an economic war and falling oil prices, international sanctions, and the country's business elite; in other words, years of economic mismanagement, and corruption. He had tapped into the oldest resources in history, drugs, weapons and people. The people he couldn't sell on or didn't kill, in other words the young men, he turned into his own private army, but he was terrorizing a lot of people in the villages and it needed to stop.

I was to be based in the north of the country as that was where the original group had been based so I was familiar with the territory and maybe there could still be sources of information I'd used before still in existence. Crack would cover the southern area, so as we read through the information already known, I pulled together the two other men to join me. I sighed as I gathered the papers in front of me, shit this could be a long-haul mission, it could take months to find the man and then longer to formulate a plan to capture him and for once I really didn't want to be doing this.

I had Ash with me, though I'd worked with him before he hadn't been with me when I'd been down in Venezuela. The reason for him being with me, I had no idea, but was sure to find out soon enough. The other man, Zeph, was unknown to me, I'd heard of him and knew he was an excellent fighter and shooter, that went without saying as anyone on these missions had to be, but he specialized in explosives and transport. He could fly any machine in the air and probably most on the ground. The team with Crack didn't concern me so I didn't waste any time finding out about them.

By 0800 we were on board a helicopter with a drop off point north of a place called Mijagual. My team would head into the town while Crack would head south. The fact that we were being dropped off in the middle of the day didn't worry me, I knew some of the people in Mijagual and knew of their dislike for organized crime and the trouble and strife it brought to their lives. After all they'd already lived through one tyrant so I was sure they would help us rid them of another. I knew of an abandoned building we could use as a base for a few days so set a course and with our backpacks on we headed for there. It wasn't much by modern standards, but it was well hidden within an area of trees close to rocky outcrops that we could use for surveillance.

Once there we changed into clothes that would blend in, old jeans, dirty T-shirts and checked shirts, then assuring we were fully armed followed a small creek to get into the village. The creek kept us away from any roads and held some cover. I soon found out the talent that had earmarked Ash for this team, as he brought from his bag a small handset that started to display our exact position against what looked like a realistic satellite image.

"Real time satellite display, not the stupid images you used to get"

"So if a car drove past we'd see it?"

"Yeah right, not quite, but I'm working on it"

"What are you hooking into?"

"Anything I can without them finding out"

"So you brought electronic gismos?"

"You never know when they'll come in handy. If Serrano makes a phone call, I could find him"

That was an interesting idea, I mean I knew that triangulation based on cell tower signal strength was reasonably reliable and a lot of newer phones had GPS that relied on at least 12 satellites but those could only locate the phone if you had its number.

"Oh no Ranger, I have a program set up that if he speaks on any phone, I can locate him"

"You mean using a voice print?"

"Yeah"

"So why haven't you been able to locate him yet?"

"He doesn't talk on the phone, his henchmen or soldiers tend to do that"

Shit that would have made this job so much easier and quicker to do.

"Hey, I have no intention of spending any more time than I have to in this damn country"

I could certainly agree with that sentiment.

By now we'd reached the edge of the village, but we needed to scout it out first to make sure nothing had changed. We each attached mics and buds and separated, still using the creek but at different locations. As the creek wound around the village, between us we had everywhere covered. We spent a couple of hours doing this, surveillance was a necessity, but as I sat and watched I couldn't help but think of Steph and how much she hated doing surveillance. A night with her in a car was amusing, she couldn't sit still for five minutes always fidgeting or changing positions and then there was the constant need she had to talk. I probably learned more about her on nights like that. I was actually wondering what she was doing right now, she'd love that it was same time here as where she was because she could never understand the fact that as you travelled around the world the time would be different.

I was brought out of my thoughts by Ash reporting in. So far, we'd only seen a handful of older women out and about, tending to livestock, collecting water and very young children playing. I decided that it was probably time to go pay an old friend a visit, the sky was darkening so would give us cover as we moved through the streets to her house.

I didn't want to frighten Greik, she was a woman in her sixties who had been born and raised here in Mijagual. She was a proud woman, stubborn but resilient and had a deep seated loyalty to her countries traditions and the way of life that her family had forged here. I knocked on the wooden door hearing voices coming from inside, Ash and Zeph were stood out of sight, keeping watch but also knowing that they would need to be accepted by the woman of the house before they could enter. As the door opened, I recognized Greik stood there and smiled at her before she literally threw herself at me.

"I knew you would come, I prayed to my Saint for you, and here you are. Come in, come in"

"Greik I have two men with me, let me introduce you to them"

I saw her face show some fear at that and how she eyed up Ash as he stood there. Zeph didn't get much of a look, probably because he was dark skinned and dark haired like me, similar to the look of the locals.

Once they seemed to pass her scrutiny, she opened the door further to invite us in. I was surprised that there were only two other women inside, and both looked to be older than Greik.

"What happened Greik?"

"They came to the village, just as they had done before. The young men they took but not before they killed some of the elders"

"All of them?"

"No we managed to get a lot of the women and the elder men to somewhere safe"

"Clau?"

I didn't want to ask but knew that I had to. Clau had been Greik's Granddaughter, hell she'd only be about sixteen now, she was a quiet but beautiful child, and so full of grace.

"He has her"

"Who Greik?"

"That bastard, Serrano"

"Do you know where she is?"

"No, but he gave me a phone and told me I could talk with her"

"I don't understand Greik, why has he kept her?"

Shit she was just a child; she didn't deserve to be used by a man like that.

"He say he no harm her if I deliver the other women to him"

"When was this?"

"Two days ago"

Ash obviously had an idea because he stepped to Greik, and give her credit she stood tall

and stared up at him.

"If I can record Clau's voice when you talk to her, then I can find her for you"

Greik tuned to me her face frowning at me.

"Is that true, he can do that?"

"Si"

"I phone her"

I watched as Ash pulled out his equipment, not a lot considering what it could do, and then he connected it to the old phone that Greik brought out. Ash handed her the phone back and nodded his head, it was time for Greik to do her part in this.

"Greik be careful what you say and to find where she is you'll need to call again"

"When, when do I call her again?"

I looked at Ash who just raised his eyebrows and smiled.

"Anytime you want, once the voice is recorded it's ready to go"

Greik sat down and took in a deep breath before pushing the button that would connect her to her Granddaughter. What I couldn't understand was how this would play out, would Serrano be there, telling her what to say or would he take a chance and speak directly to Greik.

"Clau, are you okay?"

"Soon my child"

"I am well, has he hurt you?"

"Good, what is he telling you to say?"

"I will speak with you soon"

I watched as tears came to her eyes, did it have anything to do with how she was coping or with something that had been said?

"Greik?"

"He knows where the others are, and he said when he has them, he will make me pay through her"

"Shit"

We were no nearer in finding Serrano and if what Clau had said was true then he was on the move again, the only chance we had was to go to where the other women were hidden and then track where they took them, as long as they led us back to Serrano and didn't take them for transport we still had a chance.

"Err, Ranger"

"What?"

"I have a location for Clau"

"How, I thought you had to wait for her voice on a phone, has she called someone else?"

"No, that's not what I'm seeing"

"So what are you seeing?"

"Just look at the location I have will you"

I looked at the place that was indicated on the map and realized that it wasn't that far away from here.

"It's Col Mijagoal, it's a new development that was built not that far from here, there were small houses built there and a large house that overlooks them. The last time I was here it was deserted"

Greik took my hand in her hers and looked into my face, tears were sliding down her cheeks.

"You have to go, you have to find Clau"

I looked at Zeph and Ash, would it be possible to get Clau out of there and possibly get to Serrano as well?

"Ranger if we save the girl he runs"

"I know, but we can always find him again, we can't save Clau again"

I took the pad from Ash and studied where the location was exactly, maybe we could do this. Clau was in what must have been one of the houses and I'm sure if Serrano was there, he would be in the large house.

"Okay let's plan this out"