Page 90 of Fear No Evil

As Diego chuckled, Frankenstein turned his glare on that man, giving Maggie the opportunity to snatch the pistol from David’s vest and lay it by her leg out of the guard’s view.

“Let’s see.Es un malparido,” Diego responded.Badly born.

Maggie’s pounding heart rocked her where she sat. The pistol she’d just seized was heavy and modern; it had to have come from the Venezuelans. And the blade, from what she could see of it, looked like a straight U.S. military issue.

Diego must have sensed what she was up to, for he wasn’t done insulting Frankenstein.“Es una gonorrea de persona.”

The hulking guard whipped both his flashlight and his weapon at Diego.“Oye. Cállate la boca!”Shut your mouth.

By the time the guard swung his light back at David, Maggie had relieved him of the dagger and stowed it alongside the pistol. David, in turn, picked up the wooden bowl and recorked it while Maggie willed him to stay calm. A single line of softly spoken English emerged from his lips, the first she had ever heard him speak. “Jake is waiting outside the gate.”

In the next instant, he was up on his feet and slipping out the door that Frankenstein held open for him.

Maggie’s brain seemed to glitch as the door closed behind her visitors, sucking all light from the hovel. She sat in the darkness, stunned to the core.“Jake is waiting outside the gate.”HadDavid just spoken those words, or had she hallucinated them? She had a raging fever, after all.

Whether real or imagined, she wasn’t going to spend any more time in this cell than she had to.

Cotton-mouthed, with her extremities tingling, Maggie waited for the sound of footsteps to fade and for the hinges on the gate to groan. When the only sound to reach her ears was that of her own labored breathing, she shared her good news with the JUNGLA in a low-pitched voice. “Muchachos, how do you feel about getting out of here this evening?”

“What did he bring for you, señora?” It was Diego, who’d clearly seen her furtive actions.

“First, a key ring.” She lifted it into view, letting the few keys on it jangle before grabbing one of them and trying to insert it into the padlock at her neck. When it didn’t fit, she thumbed her way to the second key. “I think it belongs to Mondo Gallo, who chained me up. If I can get free myself, I will free you, as well. He brought us a pistol and a blade, too. Who’s the best shot?”

“Jorge.”

“Yes, I am.” Eagerness strengthened that man’s previously feeble voice.

The JUNGLA fell silent, no doubt listening intently as Maggie worked her way through the keys. The fourth one slipped neatly into her padlock, releasing it with aclick. Prying the metal collar open and freeing herself was pure euphoria. Optimism soared like an eagle buoyed up by thermal updrafts.

“I’m free!” She rolled to her knees, grabbed up the pistol and the blade, and shuffled toward the men.

This was going to work. Already a plan was forming in her head. “Guide my hands to your locks.” A pair of hands groped for her, caught her wrists, and drew her closer. For a split second, terror seized Maggie. What if this all went wrong, the way her plan in Morocco had veered off course?

No. This was a different place and time. And she wasn’t alone, either. She had three seasoned soldiers to assist her. And‍—if she hadn’t been hallucinating‍—the love of her life was just outside the gate waiting for her.

David rushed up to Jake, forcing him to raise his NVGs. The last ten minutes had been some of the most excruciating in his life as he relied on someone else to get the job done.

“It worked.” David’s quaking voice betrayed relief. The whites of his eyes shone brightly in the dusky light. “She took everything from me. I didn’t have to do anything.”

Admiration bloomed in Jake.That’s my girl.“Then she still has her wits about her. That’s good. Now we wait.”

David looked like he could use a hug. But, with a grave nod, he moved away to crouch behind a nearby shrub. As they’d discussed on their way up from the waterfall, it would be rash for David to return to his duties as squad leader. Even if he managed to return the key ring to Gallo before that man woke up, David would be suspect number one when the captives turned up missing.

Without much persuasion, he had agreed to accompany Jake, Maggie, and possibly even the JUNGLA to the radio station. Earlier that afternoon, Jake had placed a call to the JIC using the heavy-duty sat phone Lobo had left him. After explaining his situation, he’d requested a possible extraction that night at the designated E & E site.

“This better work.”Lobo’s response echoed in Jake’s head.“I’ve taken a lot of heat for you, Jake.”

“I’m sorry. It’s going to work, just as long as the Seahawk gets here when we need it, loaded with plenty of firepower, just in case.”

As David quilted himself in his poncho and waited, Jake flipped down his goggles and looked back at the enclosure.

Viewed through his NVGs, the snow on the ground glowed a bright ghostly green. He studied the scene, seeking any hint of movement, whether in the guards’ hovel or the prisoners’. Nothing moved except the smoke curling out of the guards’ shelter and the stunted vegetation shuddering under a steady breeze. Apart from the wind whistling over the rocks, kicking up snowflakes, and rattling the barbed wire at the top of the fence, not a sound reached Jake’s ears.

Time slowed to a crawl. What were the prisoners waiting for? Knowing Lena, they had a plan in place that would work‍—unless none of the keys on Gallo’s key ring freed her lock. What if David had been mistaken about that?

Please, don’t let him be mistaken.

It had to have been a full hour later when the door of the guards’ shelter swung open and out stepped the larger of the two guards‍—Ugh. Why’d it have to behim? The corona of the man’s flashlight bobbed as he crossed to the enclosure’s gate. Using a key hanging from his belt, he unbolted it and left the lock hanging open as he stepped inside. This had to be a regular nightly inspection.