The four Tracy brothers held a pow-wow late into the night. They didn't worry about their father finding out about their spontaneous little meeting. He had been too wrapped up in his own thoughts. They discussed the possibility of finding a body that was over a week old in the forests of Cumaguay. Where would they even start the search? Should they ask for help from the soldiers that helped them earlier? Should they go as International Rescue or the Tracys?
The easiest answer they had was where to start. They would go to the last spot where Virgil was known to have been, under the rock overhang. They also decided that if they did go, they could do it when their father had to go finish the business with the authorities. They knew that would be within a few days and he would probably stay overnight at the apartment that Tracy Industries owned. But they discussed long and hard if they should go as IR or Tracys. The direction the discussions headed in indicated that they no longer were discussing IF they should go. That seemed to have become a definite. But the discussions got very heated at times during the planning stages. Alan kept wanting to go in with TB2's guns blasting. Gordon was losing his temper at Alan's dumb idea.
In the wee hours of the morning, they finally came to the conclusion that yes, they will go. They will leave when their father goes away. They will bring outdoor gear to prepare for camping, as well as arms since there was a civil war still occurring. They would bring the necessary equipment to check any remains so that they didn't bring back the wrong body, which in that war torn country, was a very real possibility. Since they are in such a dangerous business, one of the more unpleasant tasks that Brains tackled was to have a portable DNA testing kit with a baseline on all the boys. They decided to go as International Rescue for two big reasons: if they ran into the army they would already be identified as IR, and there was no place to land the family jet, they needed the hover capability of either TB1 or TB2. They chose TB2 for the extras it had, such as a larger sickbay, hoverbikes, laser cannons and more.
At the breakfast table the next morning Jeff didn't noticed the sleepless faces. He was deep in his own misery and the fact that he still had to deal with authorities over the death of his son. He spoke to the table in general, "I will be heading to New York today and staying a couple of days to tie up loose ends."
The boys just stared at their father. They hadn't expected him to take care of business so soon. This means they would have to rush a bit, but they could probably leave for Cumaguay by noon. They had finalized all their plans before coming to breakfast.
Scott spoke first, "So what time are you leaving? Are you staying at the apartment?"
"I will be leaving by 10 AM, and yes, you have the phone number right?"
Scott nodded yes.
As the boys watched their father's plane disappear over the horizon, they scattered in all directions needing to accomplish their assigned chores. When Brains found out their plan he wanted to come along too, but Scott pointed out that someone needs to cover for them if their father calls and he would be the best bet. Tin-tin went sulking into her room when she found out. She thought it was foolish and dangerous and insulting to the memory of Virgil.
By 11:15 they were headed back to Cumaguay. Although they had decided to go down as IR, they decided to change their clothing a bit. Anyone who they had already met down there as IR would not think twice if the uniforms were different. So they opted to wear all black and just have their sash on. This way it looked to be a uniform, but they didn't stick out in the bright blues.
Scott landed TB2 in the same spot as the original rescue. The scene looked the same, deserted. The only difference was that there were no soldiers around. Scott hoped that no one would show up until after they had left to avoid questions, as he was sure someone would have heard the great jets. TB2 would be locked up tight so no one could break in. They quickly gathered their equipment. They had overnight gear, survival gear, climbing gear, anything that they even remotely thought they would need including weapons and extra ammunition. After double and triple checking to make sure they had everything, they left TB2.
Since they had already been to the overhang once before and returned via a better path, they went straight for it. They were at the overhang within 1/2 hour. Gordon, the better of the trackers among his brothers, knelt down and studied the pretty much undisturbed tracks. They all quickly picked out Virgil's boot marks. They found several clear footprints as well. Upon further study, they all seemed to agree that the same person, maybe two on the outside most probably made it, if they wore identical shoes down to the size.
They had a hard time trying to figure out exactly where to go from this point. They kept looking for footprints leading away. Alan was the first to go across the creek to see if he could see anything over there.
"Hey, guys, I think I found something!" he shouted.
The other Tracys all ran over. There, on what looked like an animal path, was a footprint. The same kind they saw under the rock formation. What they couldn't figure out at first was the funny round prints next to it. Nor could they find any of Virgil's footprints.
"Hey, hey! I think I know what these are!" exclaimed Gordon. "It looks like a small horse."
"Or maybe a donkey?" John added.
"Why not, this is after all a very rural area in a small country. I would bet lots of the locals own burros." Scott volunteered.
They looked in the direction that the prints seemed to go and headed in that direction. Going was slow and they stopped often to make sure they could still see the prints. At times the prints disappeared, and they frantically looked around to find the beginning of the next trail. At one point they saw the hoofprints going in the opposite direction and thought to turn around until Alan found them still in the correct direction up ahead of them. Other times they saw what looked like very fresh hoofprints but no human prints. It actually looked to be a heavily traveled path.
Scott looked at his watch when he saw the sun dip behind the mountain. Although there was still quite a bit of daylight left outside of this deep ravine, it was going to get dark there soon.
"Let's find a place to set up camp."
Alan balked, "Aw, c'mon, we still have a lot of time left."
Scott replied, "If we wait until it is completely dark we may not be able to see where to set up camp, get firewood, or anything else for that matter. Besides, we aren't going to make it much further following the tracks anyway."
Reluctantly Alan agreed and they found a flat slightly open area to pitch their tent and make camp.
At one point in his journey back home, back on the main path to town, Miguel felt like someone was following him. It wasn't so much as hearing anyone, just sensing it. He also thought that the sound that woke him up was the same as that day he saw the great green machine land in town. The sound of the jets. He wasn't sure, but it worried him. What if the men in blue actually were coming to look for Victor?! He hurried his burro along as fast as he could on that narrow rocky path.
Teresa lay in Victor's arms half asleep basking in the warm sun. She hasn't felt this wanted or cared for in such a long time, she didn't want this to end. Victor had his eyes closed and with his arms around her just drank in the softness of her skin. He felt like he belonged. It has been a while since he felt like this, he had just been feeling empty. But now, after their lovemaking, he felt more content.
"Victor, the sun is setting, I think Miguel will arrive home soon. I really don't want him to catch us like this." Teresa said without giving a hint of moving.
"Uh, huh. I think maybe you are right." He replied without giving a hint of moving either.
Suddenly they heard a crash down the path where one of the traps was set and a loud string of curses from an obviously very angry man.