Disclaimer: I don't own Human Target and intend no copyright infringement.
They walked away from the logging town, a bit down the road they had come in on. At first they stayed away from the tarmac, in case they were being followed, but after a while, with the approaching dusk, it became too difficult and dangerous to use the rain forest's undergrowth as cover. Too many predatory nocturnal animals around…
The night was filled with sounds. Crickets, frogs, the occasional screeching of birds… Despite the darkness surrounding them it was hot and humid, sweat was running down their necks, made their skin itch and their shirts sticky. The plan was to head to the next settlement and see if they could find more information about the temple there. It was risky, though. News travelled fast among the loggers and it might very well be that they'd be welcomed by an angry mob of hair grabber's friends.
Headlights from a car coming up behind them bathed the road in glary yellow light. A furry creature quickly scurried out of the way and disappeared in a rustling bush. Both Junior and Guerrero reached for their guns without pulling them. They still expected the card players wanting a round two.
A rusty truck pulled up by their side, slowed down and finally chugged along with their weary footsteps. "Hey, need a ride?", the driver yelled in accented, but nevertheless surprisingly good English. "You shouldn't be walking around in the darkness without flashlights! Want to become roadkill for the leopards?"
Junior was just about to switch on his trademark smile and thank him when Guerrero all of a sudden pulled his gun and pointed it straight at the driver's head.
"Good idea, dude. Get out! Now! And your buddy too!"
Junior hadn't even noticed the other man riding shotgun.
"Hands up!"
Somehow Junior wasn't comfortable with this – the men had been kind enough to offer them a ride and as a token of gratitude they were robbing them? Granted, there was a job to get done, but why couldn't they simply accept…
"Not so fast."
Much more than the gruff, unfamiliar voice behind their backs it was the distinct clicking of a released safety catch that made them stop dead in their tracks. Oh great, there had been a third man in the back of the truck. And he was now pointing a gun at them. Judging from the clicking, a shotgun of considerable size.
Gruff voice said something in Indonesian and since neither the driver nor the man from the passenger's seat reacted it became clear that there had to be at least one other person in the back.
A moment later, when two lanky but very fierce looking youths proceeded to tie them up, they knew for sure that they had to deal with three more men.
Junior couldn't believe it – Guerrero, with all his experience, had foolishly brought this upon them. The driver had been nothing but nice and he… Not too long ago, during the job with the exploding truck, Guerrero had told him "A lot of productive things happen when you put a gun to somebody's head" – well, this time his motto had obviously backfired.
"Franky, Guerrero?", Junior asked quietly. Guerrero nodded. Franky. Swiftly and completely in unison they wheeled around, used their tied hands to chokehold the lanky youths, tossed them towards gruff voice, pulled their guns and fired as a parting gift. For the second time this day they turned tail and ran.
This job was not going well…
The driver and the man riding shotgun either didn't care about their buddies' fate or decided they were beyond rescue. In any case, they pulled their guns and followed Guerrero and Junior in close pursuit.
"We've got to get off the road!", Junior yelled and a second later they both disappeared into the thick jungle. There was a river not too far away, if they followed it they wouldn't need the road for orientation.
Among the trees the darkness was considerably more intense. The moon was shining brightly that night and on the tarmac they had been able to see reasonably well, but here? For a while Junior just rushed forward, hoping he was too fast for any snake or spider to get him. Branches, thin and thick, thorny and moss-covered, hit his chest and shoulders. The creatures of the rainforest loudly lamented the disturbance of their night's rest.
Suddenly, however, something dawned on Junior.
The jungle was in uproar, sounds everywhere, birds, mammals, insects, reptiles… but one thing was missing…
The rustling and swishing another human being on the run would produce.
"Guerrero?", Junior breathed into the darkness.
No answer.
Where was Guerrero?
Just then he heard human voices, angry human voices… he couldn't make out what they were saying, but they probably belonged to their pursuers… maybe they had caught Guerrero… it was, almost literally, a shot in the dark, but Junior had to try. It didn't even occur to him that he could simply leave Guerrero behind.
Using the voices for orientation, he managed to retrace his steps till he got closer to the road again. There they were, the driver, his passenger, and Guerrero, on his knees, the driver pointing a gun at his head.
Junior didn't hesitate. He still had his gun and he used it. This time it was truly a shot in the dark. Two, to be exact.
Oh my, the jungle exploded with sounds – birds flew up, shrieking madly, apes fled and somewhere, in the distance, something very large roared up in anger. The rainforests of Borneo are home to the Bornean clouded leopard…
Usually these wild cats are rather shy and prefer fleeing to fighting when it comes to humans, but a pissed off leopardess worried about her young ones is a different story. The animal's roar was drawing closer fast.
Guerrero could barely roll his eyes – Chased by a jungle cat! He had known it! With Junior these kinds of things were just BOUND to happen! – before they both had to beat it again. Luckily the river, rather large and very swift flowing since it had been straightened to allow the transport of felled trees, provided protection from the angry leopardess. Clinging to a piece of wood, they floated down the river. With a little luck the river's stream velocity was too high for crocodiles….
"Hope you're happy now, dude", Guerrero snarled.
"What the hell are you talking about?"
"Should be enough adrenaline for one day, even by your standards." Although, inwardly, he was glad that Junior's need for thrill and action had made him come back. He owed him.
"YOU pointed a gun at the driver's head for no reason at all!", Junior snarled back.
Now, Guerrero could have explained that he had known from the very beginning that the driver and his buddy were planning to rob them, the half-hidden face of the passenger had been a dead giveaway, not to mention the sawed off shotgun that had peeked between them. Robberies of that kind were common around there…
And Junior could have explained that he had neither helped the waitress nor Guerrero for adrenalin reasons…
But they both weren't much into words and, more importantly, they both noticed at the same time that the river's stream velocity had significantly increased in the past few minutes…
"Wasn't there a waterfall on the map somewhere?", Junior asked, slightly alarmed.
As if on cue the water began to swirl, toss and turn them and their small piece of wood in all directions. Uh-oh.
Guerrero shouted at Junior.
His message was almost drowned out by the mighty roaring of the waterfall they were now rapidly approaching and without any chance to reach the shore, but nevertheless Junior could make out one single word very clearly:
"DUDE!"