Chapter 14: So near and yet so far
“I gotta check this out.” Emilio announces.
“We must get away from here immediately. The military are not authorised to search deep into the rainforest to find the cocaine labs. It really is a jungle out here, and you don’t go looking for trouble.” Elmanda is well aware of the danger, and can’t begin to understand Emilio’s fascination, as cocaine production means cocaine producers, and given how recently they were here they may still be nearby, and those guys are not people he wants to run into.
“You and Valencia carry on, Karl and I will catch you up!”
“What are you doing! Elmanda thinks it’s dangerous, we need to get out of here.” Valencia is completely unbelieving of how stupid Emilio is being.
“Look, just carry on and we’ll be with you in ten minutes.” Emilio replies stubbornly.
“Are you fuckin stupid, Emilio? Elmanda and Valencia have helped us all this way, and now you want to ignore their advice.”
Elmanda looks at Emilio with a disappointed expression, but Emilio is defiant. Elmanda shrugs and ushers Valencia along, determined to keep her safe. Valencia keeps looking back at Emilio, reluctant to leave him.
“What are you trying to achieve?” She makes one final attempt to work out Emilio’s fascination with danger. Karl is torn. He doesn’t want to leave his friend, but he is scared of losing the safety of Elmanda and Valencia. Reluctantly, he takes Emilio’s side.
“Seriously, just go. We’ll be right along. I just want to check something out!” Emilio employs his most wide-eyed expression.
Elmanda and Valencia walk off, utterly confused, as Emilio and Karl head in the opposite direction down the muddy path, until they see a clearing. Crouching down and peering into the clearing they see two men with moustaches dressed in old worn out army uniforms. The men are pacing back and forth, with AK47 assault rifles strapped over their shoulders. Next to the men are several kilos of cocaine packaged and stacked on the ground in front of a group of dense leafy trees. The men are clearly guarding the cocaine. To one side of the clearing is a green and brown M35 cargo truck. The rear of the truck is open topped, with room to seat twelve soliders on two built-in benches.
“Oh my God, Karl! Do you see that!”
“I think we should get the fuck out of here right now! They have machine guns.”
Karl is terrified. He tugs repeatedly at Emilio’s shirt, signalling for them to leave. Emilio shrugs Karl off as he concentrates on the packages of cocaine.
“Karl, there’s easily twenty million dollars worth of coke there.”
“Who gives a shit? They have machine guns, Emilio. Real machine guns!”
“I saw a TV show about cocaine once. A kilo of cocaine out here is worth about $2,000. Back home in the US it could sell wholesale for around $30,000. Then it’s broken down into grams and sold on the streets, and that same kilo would sell for upward of $100,000.”
“We need to get out of here before anyone sees us, and catch up with Elmanda and Valencia.”
“Hold on, I reckon I could swipe one of those packets.”
“Steal fuckin drugs! Off armed fuckin guards! Are you out of your fuckin mind? I didn’t fuckin sign up for this, Emilio! I’m sorry, you’re on your fuckin own this time pal. I'm going to catch up with the people that aren’t mentally unstable, ok?”
“They wont notice two packets! That money could change our lives, Karl. And anyway, those guards look stupid as fuck.”
“Emilio, they look psychotic and they’re probably waiting for backup and I’m not sticking around to find out.”
Karl heads back up the path to catch up with Elmanda and Valencia and tell them what’s happening with Emilio.
Emilio stands deathly still, hidden amongst thick vegetation. One of the men walks over to the edge of a nearby stream and urinates, spraying playfully in circles. The motion causes his lighter to slip from his pocket and into the water. Swearing to himself he fishes the lighter from the stream. He tests it, before hurling it back into the water with dissatisfaction. The other guard sits in a deckchair in front of the wall of stacked cocaine packages, smoking a cigarette. Emilio manoeuvres himself slowly around the back of the dense trees situated behind the stack of cocaine, to get within reaching distance. His heart starts racing with fear. He tries to control his breathing and compose himself. He slowly puts his hand around the moist bark of an adjoining tree between him and the cocaine stash, out of view of the guards. As he feeds his hands through the undergrowth a black scorpion wanders onto his arm. Feeling the scorpion on his arm and adjusting himself to view what is crawling on him he gasps. Pulling his hand back suddenly, he launches the scorpion into the bushes close behind him. Hearing the disturbance, the guard gets up to investigate. As he gets closer to where the sound came from a macaw flies unexpectedly out of the bushes beside him. The guard grimaces with annoyance, reassumes his seat and lights another cigarette. Emilio waits for the guard to settle and then nervously edges his arm forward again with his brow perspiring profusely. He slowly gets hold of a packet of cocaine from the top of the pile and slides it into his satchel. Seeing how easy it was, he greedily goes back for one more. He successfully gets the second packet and then turns to slip away. After taking a few soft quiet steps the adrenalin kicks in, and he gathers momentum. In his haste, he trips on a tree root, landing on his face, snapping several branches in the process. The guard barely moves this time. His friend walks up from the estuary, asking for a light. As he stoops towards the flame he notices the uneven stack of cocaine.
“Cathos! Look!”
Cathos turns towards the stack, and grimaces.
“Somebody’s here!”
As Emilio goes to push himself up from the damp earth he sees a muddy pair of combat boots step in front of him and feels cold, hard metal press into the back of his neck. A wave of sickness reaches the pit of his stomach, and he lies motionless, his eyes locked shut. For the first time in as long as he can remember he panics. He hasn’t got a clue what to do in this situation.
“Get up!” A voice orders harshly.
“I said get up! Are you stupid or what?”
Emilio slowly gets up and is pushed towards the clearing. The push almost sends him back to the ground, but he manages to keep his balance and walks, heart racing, not knowing what fate awaits him.
“Keep your hands where I can see them. Me cago en la madre que te pario!” Demands the voice, pushing Emilio roughly forwards into the clearing.
“Hey, Cathos, Pacho, I don’t know who’s dumber, you two or this puto!” The man proudly presents his captive to the others.
Cathos spits, ripping the satchel from Emilio’s shoulder. He reaches in and pulls out the two packages of cocaine.
“Hey look, my brothers, this guy’s trying to take our shit.”
Pancho takes a long drag on his cigarette until the end is red-hot and then pushes it into Emilio’s neck with venom in his eyes. Emilio yells out in agony. The man who pushed him into the clearing looks him up and down while the other two circle him intimidatingly.
“You think you can just walk in here and steal from my brothers! Do you know who we are? Are you fuckin loco?”
They start laughing uncontrollably.
“He thinks he can out smart us, General.” Remarks Cathos.
The men are momentarily distracted by the sound of voices. Elmanda, Valencia and Karl emerge from the undergrowth with their hands on their heads, closely followed by a tall, thin boy holding a machine gun.
“Ah, more guests!” The General drawls. “Funny what you find deep in the rainforest. You gotta admire the many species of creatures you find out here. Take the black widow spider. It thrives out here. Why? Because it learns to adapt. Many creatures are much bigger here, but none of them thrive quite so well.
You see, the black widow has a lethal venom. It waits for prey to walk into its trap and then…snap!” He snaps his large fingers in Emilio face.
The General pulls out a small perspex and silver box from his breast pocket and presents it to Emilio. Through the perspex Emilio can see a small black widow spider inside, crawling on a few compact leaves.
“You know, we have our own version of Russian roulette out here, especially for uninvited guests.”
The General signals to the others, who grab Emilio’s arms tightly. The General then kicks Emilio’s legs, leaving him kneeling on the ground. Pancho grabs Emilio’s face and forces it in front of The General with one hand, whilst placing the barrel of his gun at Emilio’s temple with the other.
“Open your mouth, puto!”
Emilio is left little choice. He opens his mouth reluctantly, shivering with terror.
The General slides the lid of the box back, allowing the red-bellied spider to crawl out onto Emilio’s tongue.
“Let’s see if God wants you to live today! See, the black widow spider likes to burrow in warm damp tunnels. If they like their new home they spray a little of their venom. Like the way a dog marks it’s territory.”
Elmanda is angered by what he is seeing but is powerless to do anything. Valencia is staring at The General with unadulterated hatred.
The spider walks apprehensively over the unusual soft damp terrain of Emilio’s tongue. Emilio’s throat has instantly dried up through fear and he fights the desire to gulp. He closes his eyes and tries to think of any knowledge he has of black widow spiders. ‘Would the acid in my stomach kill the spider before it panics and tries to bite me from inside?’ He starts to gag as the spider walks to the back of his tongue, but he contains the convulsions. The spider, not liking its unstable environment walks back towards daylight, and The General scoops his prized black widow back into the box.
“It must be your lucky day!” The General bursts with laughter at his own wit, and the others quickly join in, eager to please. Elmanda sees an opportunity, figuring that if he doesn’t do something now then they are almost certainly doomed anyway. He elbows the skinny boy in the eye, knocking him to the ground, and quickly grabs his shotgun, aiming it at Cathos's head. The General stands, evaluating the situation.
“So what now, you gonna kill my brother?” He sneers, while winking slowly with his left eye. The signal is one that the brothers have used many times before. Cathos rolls into the bushes beside him, while Pancho sends a powerful burst of machine gun fire towards Elmanda, ripping his torso in half. Everything seems to move in slow motion as Karl watches Elmanda’s chest erupt and split in two. Elmanda’s torso slumps to the ground while his feet and legs remain standing for a brief moment, spurting a geyser of dark red blood. Karl watches helplessly, Emilio’s jaw is wide open in disbelief and Valencia wails with grief and rage, tears streaming down her face. The General loves the drama. It makes him feel alive. As Valencia’s cries die away, he starts sniggering through the mournful silence. He raises his right hand and fires a round of bullets towards the heavens in celebration. A blue hummingbird drops beside Elmanda. Its one remaining wing flaps in Elmanda’s reservoir of blood. Seeing the bird hit the ground makes The General double over in hysterics. He throws his rifle on the ground, unable to control his maniacal laughter. Composing himself, The General lights a cigar and turns to face Emilio, Karl and Valencia. Wiping tears of laughter from his bloodshot eyes he starts plotting.
“You young people have really put a smile on my face today. So! I’m going to give you a once in a lifetime opportunity. I’m going to give you a chance to live! Life holds little value to me, what is the difference between your deceased friend over there and the thousands of bugs we tread underfoot everyday. If there were a God would he really value one creature’s life higher than another? No! So! The deal is this.” The General pauses for a moment and looks at Emilio, seeing a bright, young, athletic individual, which spells trouble. He turns his attention to the shuddering, overweight lump of confusion that is Karl. He then stares at Valencia’s ample chest for no reason other than kicks. Putting a finger to his lips in thought, he reveals his plan. “Ok. You’re in luck, you’ve turned up at the perfect time. We are just about to take a shipment to Mexico. Once we’re there you can kindly take it over the American border for us. We are always looking for new staff to help us with this type of thing. You see, we have had problems getting our supplies over the border recently. Our young Peruvian mules have been getting busted at border checkpoints, costing us more than we are willing to give away. The authorities will seize a certain percentage of whatever we try to ship. But you are different, you do not fit the usual sterotypes they look for, so we have an incresed chance of success. If you do succeed in your little mission, then we will set you free. If you do not, then you will probably spend the rest of your lives in jail! Now, I cannot say fairer than that!”
Karl looks over to Emilio with grave disappointment. Emilio hangs his head in shame, feeling responsible for Elmanda’s death. Pancho, who is holding Karl at gunpoint, turns his assault rifle and smashes it around the back of Karl’s head, knocking him to the ground in agony and drawing blood. Emilio’s ever-confident demeanour is hit with a wave of realisation. Karl lies on the ground, bleeding from his ears. Elmanda is dead in a pool of his own blood. Valencia is silent, with tears flooding down her cheeks, unable to take her gaze from Elmanda’s motionless body. Horror engulfs his consciousness, as the idea of not leaving the Amazon becomes a distinct possibility. Karl is pulled from the ground and pushed face forward against the cargo truck. His hands are tied tightly and uncomfortably behind his back. With his head pounding and his vision blurred, he slumps in submission, crying hysterically. The General turns face to face with Valencia and blows cigar smoke into her nostrils as he takes handcuffs from his utility belt. He locks her hands behind her back and dangles the key in front of her face.
“This is purely business. The rulebook goes out the window out here. Every chance has to be taken to stay ahead. But I think we will get along just fine, sweetie.”
Valencia feels sick with anger. She doesn’t acknowledge him. He grabs her arm and drags her towards the truck, pushing her in the front cabin passenger seat, before signalling to his brothers to round up Emilio and Karl. He climbs into the driver’s seat and lights a fresh cigar, as Cathos prods his gun at Emilio, telling him to lead Karl onto the back of the open topped truck. As Emilio gets on the back of the truck he sees a symbol on one of the first aid boxes stored under the metal bench. The symbol depicts a snake eating it’s own tail, the same symbol used by Vipercom Pharmaceuticals. There are far more important things to worry about right now, and the thought slips to the back of his mind. The skinny boy drags Elmanda’s corpse into the thick green vegetation, and then starts loading the cocaine parcels into a series of large black holdalls. A few of the packets have been perforated by the gunfire, and have seeped brilliant white rocks onto the boggy blood splattered terrain. Once he has finished, he lifts the heavy holdalls up one by one to the others, who stack them at the far end of the truck. Once everyone is settled in the back of the truck Cathos knocks through to the front cabin to signal they are ready. They drive hastily across the uneven ground, until they reach a muddy road. Half an hour flies by, as Emilio, Karl and Valencia sit grief stricken. The General’s cigar causes the front cabin to fill with thick smoke, causing Valencia to start coughing. Emilio hears her from the back, and screams out helplessly, not knowing what is happening to her.
“Valencia!”
Valencia remains silent and unmoving. The General shakes her by the arm to get some kind of reaction, and she shrugs him off in disgust.
“How are we supposed to have any kind of fun together if you don’t lighten up?"
Valencia puts her hands together and starts muttering prayers under her breath. The General laughs at what he perce
ives as fear.
“Not even God can save you now, my love!”
“You are going to hell!” Valencia rages.
She reaches over and scratches him, digging her long nails deep into his cheek and running them across his face, drawing blood. He is angered and elbows her in the face, putting all his weight behind it.
“Jodienda puta! Look what you made me do! Don’t fuck with me or I will fuck you!”
Blood dribbles from Valencia’s nose, and she is left nursing her face. She will not give The General the satisfaction of seeing her weep. She is stronger than that.