~ * * ~
“Senora…wake up,” I shook her gently at first and then more vigorously as she failed to respond.
I’d been driving all night on dark, mountainous, winding roads, unable to push the car to its limits, taking more time than I had originally planned on, and I was dead tired. Getting to Bogotá safely was the whole point of the exercise and there were two things working against me; I was in unfamiliar territory and I hadn’t driven an automobile in well over a year.
Valerie had offered to drive but then had turned onto her side with her back to me and promptly fallen asleep. I hadn’t the heart to rouse her.
“Valerie!” I barked.
“Hmm…?” she finally began to stir and, as she twisted back around in her seat, stretching her arms above her head, extending her whole body, I averted my eyes…the sight of her bare midriff as her blouse rose quite a few inches above her jeans doing strange things to me.
“Wake up already,” I growled irritably.
She sat up suddenly remembering where she was and, out of the corner of my eye, I could see the play of emotions crossing her face as her memories of the previous night’s events came flooding back.
“Oh,” was all she said, but it was enough.
Although she might not possess the total recall that plagued me, I was absolutely positive she would never forget one second of what had happened.
“Did you want me to drive now?” she asked stifling a yawn.
“No, we’re stopping for a while.”
“I thought you said…”
“Took longer than I expected to get this far and it’ll be daylight soon,” I pointed out. “We also need to fill up and clean up…I can’t walk around Bogotá looking like this,” I indicated my military clothing and pack lying in the back seat.
“So what’s the plan…I’m assuming you have one.”
“There is a motel just down the road, I want you to take this money and go pay for us a room…”
“Where did you get all of this?” she asked wide-eyed.
I ignored her question and continued, “Tell them we’re married, Valencia and Juan Rodriguez, and that you…” I paused and asked impatiently “are you getting all of this?”
“Valencia and Juan Rodriguez,” she repeated still staring at the money in her hand.
“I had too much to drink at the fiesta we attended last night and you need a room until I sober up. Pay for what’s left of the night and then one more night. Pay in advance and get a receipt that shows that you did…Valerie, forget the money, it’s unimportant. Can you do it?”
“Yes,” she replied more forcefully. “You’re a drunk and I’m the long-suffering wife. I need two nights…”
“And a receipt, because you aren’t sure when I’ll wake up and we may leave in the middle of the night. We don’t need the local cops coming after us.”
“Because we need to get home to the kids,” she smiled faintly.
“Whatever makes it believable,” I replied grimly. “If they ask where we live tell them we live in…” I paused rubbing my eyes, searching the map in my mind for the best place, “…La Dorada,” I finished wearily. “That should send any tail we might have picked up in the wrong direction. We’ll leave sometime after dark. Got all that?”
“Yes.”
“Okay, I’ll get in the back and cover myself with the blanket,” I opened the door and quickly ducked into the back seat. “Move over into the driver’s seat and park in the darkest part of the parking lot. I doubt there’s much light so just stay as far away from the main building as you can and we should be fine.”
I waited until she was situated behind the wheel and then continued “After you check in, move the car directly in front of the room and then ‘assist’ me in.”
Valerie must have performed flawlessly, because she was back in no time, room key in hand, to relocate the car.
Leaning on her heavily, keeping as much of myself and my pack as possible hidden under the brightly coloured blanket, I leaned on her as she ‘helped’ me into the room, thankful that the parking lot was as poorly lit as I’d predicted.
As soon as the door shut, she began “Now what…” but I clamped one hand over her mouth and put my index finger to my lips whispering “Thin walls.”
She nodded in understanding as I removed my hand and lowering her tone asked “Now what do we do?”
“Can you sew?”
“Yes, what does that have to do…?”
I tossed her the blanket and digging in my pack, produced the needle and thread I’d filched from her medical kit.
“Make me a poncho…a big poncho…out of this,” I murmured softly. “I need a shower and a nap in that order, and you can have the bathroom…or what passes for one here…” I added frowning at the facilities “as soon as I’m through with it. Did you happen to bring soap with you? There doesn’t appear to be any in here.”
“And toilet paper,” she half-smiled. “Leaves don’t appeal to me.”
She fished out the necessary items and even added shampoo to the mix.
“Living high on the hog now,” she laughed, then remembering the thin walls, attempted to stifle it.
“Thanks,” I replied shortly, disturbed by her laugh more than I cared to admit, as I took the toiletries from her and shut the bathroom door between us…decisively.
Even though the water was tepid and the pressure was practically non-existent, the shower felt good after so many months with nothing. The only times a shower had even been an option was whenever I was scheduled to check in at the base, but after the first attempt, hating the feeling of vulnerability it gave me without my weapon hanging from my shoulder, I had decided to forego the shower in favour of peace of mind. It hardly mattered anyway, as I was the only one who could smell me besides the wild animals, and it was actually a plus to have fewer manmade odours emanating from my body while attempting to nail a meal.
Although I realized I wasn’t much to look at in the first place, after catching a glimpse of myself in the mirror, I was surprised Valerie hadn’t fled from me in horror every time I came into view.
Pulling the scissors I’d swiped from the medical kit out of my pack along with my long disused razor, I began to cut off what I could of my somewhat scraggly beard and then proceeded to shave the rest. I used soap liberally but without shaving cream, it was extremely painful. I suffered through it stoically realizing I didn’t have a choice.
The highest percentage of Colombians in the area where I’d resided for the past year were of African descent but Native Americans were also abundant and although I was taller than most, once I removed all facial hair I was not that dissimilar. However, I realized that I definitely needed to do something about the disgusting mass of hair I’d ignored for months.
I wondered how proficient a barber Valerie was. If she could just manage to get it untangled and more evenly cut, I could leave it long and use it to hide my face.
Wrapping my towel around my hips, I peered out the door to see what she was doing.
“I’ve almost finished,” she offered softly.
“Can you cut hair?”
“I’m no expert, although I’ve been cutting my own for a couple of years now,” she shrugged “but I didn’t bring any scissors.”
“I have the ones from…”
“My medical kit,” she finished for me. “Those will be fine. You’ll have to sit on the edge of the bed,” she added apologetically. “You’re too tall for me to reach.”
I moved over to the bed while she dug around in her bag and produced a comb.
“How do you want it?”
“I want to shave it all off, but since I need to blend in as much as possible when we get to Bogotá, or at least not look like a Marine, I was thinking maybe you should leave it long, just untangle it and even it out a bit.”
“Hmm…” she lifted my hair between her fingers as she pondered what to do. “I think I know what to do,” she sa
id at last. “Do you want me to explain or just do it?”
“Just do it.”
“Okay here goes,” she murmured as I heard the first snip.
After a few minutes of silence, she asked, “How long have you been a Marine?”
“Little over a year.”
“So that would make you…how old?” she asked with studied indifference.
“Old enough to vote.”
“You don’t like talking about yourself.”
“Not much to talk about.”
“Somehow I doubt that.”
I shrugged.
“So do you have any family?” she continued, not at all put off by my abrupt, uninformative answers.
“You heard Vasquez.”
I was just recalling his words myself and putting them in context with what General McKie had alluded to when discussing me and my fellow Marines with Garrett. Apparently, that was my ‘special qualification’, I had no ties to anyone, and that fact alone had brought me to Garrett’s attention.
“Garrett only takes men with no family ties.”
“I just thought…I mean…you’re a Marine, not an agent…” she stammered.
“Don’t think that makes a difference to him.”
“You know, something about that’s been bothering me…”
“What’s that?”
“You and your friends are all Marines…” she began thoughtfully.
“Your point?”
“I overheard what Vasquez said about Garrett and I was wondering…if Garrett didn’t know about Franklin, why wouldn’t he use his own agents to find Leandro? Why bring in three marines…”
“Five marines,” I corrected automatically, but the wheels in my head were turning, spurred by her words.
“Five…?”
“One was injured during our…training, and one was killed after we got here.”
“Okay…five marines…why bring in outsiders unless you knew something was wrong with your insiders?”
“He knew,” I muttered. “He had to know…probably didn’t know how far the rot had spread.”
“So he sent outsiders, his only hope of getting Leandro out alive.”
“He could have warned us,” I growled as I stood up and began pacing.
“Do you think the others are…dead?”
“I don’t know…I have to assume…” I halted abruptly.
“Good thing I’m done cutting,” Valerie noted mildly, indicating the scissors in her hand.
“Sorry,” I drug my fingers through my hair. “Thanks.”
“I think you should see it before you express any gratitude,” she teased gently.
“Looks...appropriate,” I barely glanced at the image in the bathroom mirror, mind on other things.
“Glad you approve,” she laughed. “I think we should buy you a hat, though, as soon as possible. You don’t have the type of face that would go unnoticed no matter where you were.”
“Thanks,” I replied drily.
“No…I didn’t mean it like that,” she hastened to assure me. “It’s hard to explain, but you have a very strong face, one that will always stand out, even covered with a bunch of whiskers or long hair.”
“I’ll just clean up my clothes and then the bathroom’s all yours,” I abruptly changed the subject. “Also, if you don’t mind keeping an eye out for unexpected visitors, I thought I might grab some shut-eye.”
“You go ahead and sleep, I’ll take care of your clothes.”
I was too tired to argue. Placing my weapon on the bed, and tucking my Colt and knife under the pillow, I slipped out of the towel and between the sheets.
As I situated my weapon under the covers and my consciousness faded, I realized ironically that, even in a motel room with a beautiful woman present, my M16 was still my only sleeping companion.
I wondered if that would ever change.
“No! No!”
I was running, pulling Valerie along behind me, but Sanchez was close on our heels, blood pouring from the hole in his forehead, the one that I had put there.
“You must pay for what you have done,” Vasquez shook his head at me sadly, as I sped past him. “You are a murderer. You killed six men. You must pay.”
“But I had no choice,” I anguished. “They were going to rape her and kill you.”
“They killed me anyway…you didn’t save me…now my sister is all alone in the world…and it is your fault,” Vasquez’s voice was becoming fainter, and still Sanchez dogged me.
“Now it is my turn, Senor Knight,” Sanchez wasn’t even out of breath, his laughter toying with me. “I will show you pain,” glancing back I could see the evil grin on his face, “but first I will have your woman…and you will watch…” he finished as he grabbed Valerie by her hair and jerked her backwards and onto the ground.
“No!” I yelled and sat straight up in bed, sweat pouring off me, the humidity in the room almost unbearable.
Frantically my eyes did a sweep of the room, but there was no sign of Valerie. Throwing off the covers, I burst into the bathroom, but it too was empty.
As I stood there, panting heavily, the front door opened and as I spun around, Valerie entered the room carrying some packages.
She shut the door and I burst out angrily “Where the hell have you been?”
In three strides, I was in front of her, grabbing her arms and shaking her, fear fueling the rage that engulfed me, the dream I had just awakened from forming too vivid a picture in my head.
“Do you have any idea what could have happened to you? And I would have had no clue where you’d gone…where to look…?”
“I’m sorry,” she whispered tearfully “I…I didn’t think…”
“Don’t ever do anything like that again…do you hear me?”
I shook her one last time and I could hear the sobs rising up in her throat.
With a groan of sheer anguish, I pulled her towards me and wrapped my arms tightly around her, wanting to apologize for my rough treatment of her, but unable to voice the words.
The smell of her hair filled my nostrils, the same shampoo she had loaned me, but mixed with the warm, female scent of her it was such a potent combination that I couldn’t think straight.
In one corner of my mind, I knew I should stop, push her away from me, but as I felt her arms encircle my waist, feeling her hands on my back, my arousal was instantaneous. Although she couldn’t have helped but notice it, she made no attempt to move away.
My hands began desperately caressing her shoulders and back as I moaned her name over and over against her hair while she began to stroke my naked back and even lower, inflaming me almost beyond endurance.
She finally pulled away, but only slightly in order to look into my eyes.
“Kiss me,” she whispered.
“I don’t…I’ve never…” I stuttered hoarsely as she smiled at me knowingly.
“Don’t worry,” she breathed, reaching up and clasping her hands behind my neck, pulling my lips down to meet hers, “I’ll show you.”