Chapter Thirteen

After carefully examining in the multiple tire tracks left in front of him, a sighing Ed Deline got off of his knees and stood erect once more. Upon reaching what they had deemed the mouth of the jungle, Jack and Ed had immediately noticed a section that looked like quite a few vehicles had recently plowed through it. Tire tracks were still visible in the dirt, bushes had been decimated, and branches of trees had been broken off. The gray-haired man's blue eyes focused themselves down this makeshift road, but no sign of life was visible at all.

"I don't like it, Ed." a cautious Keller remarked, walking over to his former CIA partner. The younger, dark-haired man shook his head. "These tracks are way too obvious to be the Professor's doing!" His hand gestured to the tire tracks. "I mean whoever made them didn't even bother to cover them up."

"Well, you see, I'm beginning to suspect that our friend has some sort of masochistic side to his personality." Deline smiled, looking at Jack. "That's the only reason that I can think of that he would own up to this in the first place." He looked back down the road. "In all honesty, I think that the bastard wants us to find him."

"I still don't think that we should go down this road." Keller maintained, crossing his arms across his chest. "Looks like he's definitely trying to lead us into some sort of trap." He paused momentarily. "But even if it isn't, I don't think that we want to give up the element of surprise, do we?"

"What are you thinking, Jack?" a curious Ed asked, looking again at the other man.

"That we should drive a little bit farther south." Keller replied with a shrug of his shoulders. "We go in through the jungle."

"Sounds reasonable." Ed nodded in agreement, although part of him still thought that taking the obvious road wasn't really that much of a bad idea. "Let's go."

Keller nodded in agreement as Ed headed for the driver's side of the jeep. However, the minute that the gray-haired man's back was turned, the younger man laughed to himself.

"You're taking the bait way too easily, old friend."

"Delinda honey," a gentle-sounding Jillian said, walking over to her daughter, who was trying desperately to kick down the solid, wooden door that kept them inside a rather small chamber. Both women's hands had been untied since being brought inside the temple, and the older, blonde-haired woman placed hers on her daughter's shoulders. "That door is not going anywhere! Quit wasting your energy."

"I'm only doing what Daddy would do." Delinda shook her head, still kicking at the door. The section of her face were the Professor had struck her was still slightly red. "Besides, if Daddy and Danny are coming to rescue us, then they'll need to know where we are." She halted her actions, rubbing a sore foot. "Ow! Ow! Ow!"

"I knew that that was going to happen." Jillian sighed, wearily rubbing her forehead with her hand. Still, she had to admire her daughter's determination to help out in whatever way that she could. Looking between the younger blonde-haired woman and the door again, a look of resolve suddenly flashed across the older woman's features before she herself started pounding on the door with her fists.

"All right, Mom." Delinda smiled as she started kicking the door again.

"Damn jungle." Ed muttered to himself, pausing to take a break after hacking a bush to pieces with the machete in his hand. Wiping the sweat that was beginning to form on his brow, the gray-haired man turned to Keller, who was walking a few feet behind him. "Are you sure that we're going to the right way, Jack? I'm not seeing any sign of life!"

"That's not true, Ed." Keller chuckled in response, "I mean, you did step in that pile of monkey crap a few minutes ago." His laughter grew in intensity. "Why the hell do you think I'm walking so far back?"

"I should have pushed you in it." Ed grumbled to himself, shaking his head in frustration. Suddenly realizing that the pair wasn't even headed the right direction, the gray-haired man looked skeptically at Keller. Could Danny's suspicions about him be true? Was he really working for the other side? "I think we should go back to the entrance, Jack. I doubt that whatever the Professor has in store for us is worse than this. We're not even sure if we're going the right way!"

"I really don't think that that's a good idea, Ed." Keller disagreed, shaking his head. "I think that we need to keep on going. We're bound to run into something."

"Not if we keep heading south when our destination is supposedly north." Ed fired back, crossing his arms across his chest. His blue eyes suddenly narrowed in anger as a guilty look appeared on Keller's face. "Care to tell me why you're leading me away from my wife and daughter, Jack?"

"It's clear that somebody's been here," Mike remarked as he and Danny surveyed the same tire tracks that Ed had. Both the bald, African American man and the ex-Marine looked into the jungle. "And they definitely went that way."

"How much do you want to bet that at least some of these belong to the Professor and his men?" Danny asked, getting back to his feet. Just like Ed, his eyes focused themselves down the makeshift path, but they quickly directed themselves southward upon noticing something out of the ordinary. Turning, McCoy squinted, trying to see what the distant red object was that stood out among the lush greens and browns that surrounded them. "What in the hell…"

"What is it, man?" a curious Mike asked, getting to his own feet and looking the same direction as Danny. "Is that what I think it is?"

"It could be the other jeep." Danny nodded in confirmation, "I'm going to go down there and check it out."

"Whoa!" Mike said, putting a hand on Danny's shoulder to stop McCoy as he took a step further. "You're not going down there alone, man! It could be a trap."

"Don't say that, Mikey." a worried Danny said, "Because that would mean that the Professor's got Ed now too." He shook his brown-haired head. "I should have never let him go alone with Keller!"

"You didn't have a choice in the matter, man." Mike replied with a sympathetic smile. "Remember the syringe to your arm?"

"I remember." Danny nodded, rubbing the area of his arm that Ed had plunged the syringe into. "Okay, you're going to need to unload the jeep while I'm gone."

"So, you're going to take one of the girls?" Mike assumed, putting his hands on his hips.

"Yeah." Danny replied, looking at the women who were still gathered around the jeep, trying to decide which one to take. Mary was definitely out as the situation could potentially be dangerous, and Nessa would be a bigger help to Mike if the Professor decided to pull something while Danny was away. He addressed his answer to both Mike and the girls. "Sam."

"Yeah?" the casino hostess with long, brown hair said, looking quizzically over.

"Come on." an inviting Danny waved over, "Got a little secret mission that we need to go on."

"Secret mission?" Sam repeated before smiling widely. Her dark eyes narrowed seductively. "So that's what they're calling it these days."

"What?" a puzzled Danny asked, exchanging curious glances with Mike.

"Oh, come on, Danny." Sam purred, walking over to him and caressing his chest. "You and me alone in the jungle? I know what you're planning."

"You wish." Danny shook his head, not wanting to waste any more time. "Come on! Ed could be in trouble!"

To be continued...