Guns for Hire - Script Nineteen

Arajuno 11.26am - 13/06/2015

An hour or so later the five compadre's slipped quietly out of Arajuno & again headed on foot along the track towards JSBFS, several hours later as they neared the field station the track was abandoned for fear of discovery & they pushed on cautiously through the dense undergrowth of the rain forest determined to discover what DeAreu was hiding & why Melody Uzzitt's accidental death was so much of a secret.

JSBFS 2.41pm - 13/06/2015

Concealed just beyond the perimeter of the clearing Skinpin picked out the buildings earlier described by the others after their nocturnal explorations, the Bell-Agusta 609 ID by Gonzales wasn't immediately apparent however as watched the day to day operations of the center the tiltrotor slid smoothly in over the jungle canopy to settle lightly on the helipad, there was a brief rush of activity as several of the base personnel unloaded a number of small crates from the aircraft's single door. Whilst the massive rotors came to a gradual rest Alex looked on & confirmed the names of a number of the JSBFS staff including the pilot from the photographs she had copied during the night, as the tiltrotor's engines cooled Vrasten & the others eased back from the clearing to decide how best to handle the situation.

JSBFS 3.19pm - 13/06/2015

Having dismissed the initial rush of blood for a full frontal assault it was agreed that first tracks leading away from the center might be worth checking out. Moving around the clearing towards the first of the tracks Alex dropped back down towards the clearing perimeter to give ample warning to the others if anybody appeared from below, selecting a location to give a good field of fire Alex settled dug into the undergrowth to await the findings of the others.

At the head of the first track Vrasten, Gonzales, Mariusz & Skinpin could see what was once one of the exclusive jungle lodges operated by the field center's previous owner, although everything seemed pretty quiet they waited some twenty minutes or so before leaving the cover of rain forest, spreading out it was fairly obvious from the day to day debris on the verandah that the lodge was in use as station accommodation. Skinpin, with a nod to Mariusz, dropped back into the undergrowth to give cover should the need arise, Gonzales meantime stooped beneath the stilt constructed lodge whilst Vrasten & Mariusz did their best to slip silently up the open timber steps to the verandah & doorway.

For some thirty seconds Vrasten & Mariusz peered through the insect mesh covering the front ground floor windows & door, with no apparent movement they quietly slipped inside, once inside both could hear the sound of snoring from above, quickly they searched the expansive living cum dining room & kitchen, it was soon apparent from the few bits & pieces around the living area that the lodge was used to accommodate the Quechua employed by SCC, assuming that it was one of the locals asleep upstairs they left before waking him.

As they emerged Gonzales appeared from beneath the verandah a smile on his face,

"Just taking precautions OK, no harm in a little insurance policy is there"

"Well just be bloody careful"

hissed Mariusz knowing Gonzales penchant for excessiveness.

With Skinpin in tow & Alex live on the comm's the process was repeated on the for the second track including Gonzales leaving a little package for later. Fortunately the second lodge was unoccupied allowing Vrasten & Mariusz to explore upstairs, searching the lodge both grinned as it was soon apparent that this unit was occupied by the female of the species, not only was it clean & more fragrant but the bathroom was decorated with some rather fetching undergarments.

JSBFS 3.38pm - 13/06/2015

Ensconced behind an vine overgrown rock outcrop adjacent to the third track Alex took up position as previous & waited expectantly for Vrasten to report similarly to the previous lodge findings, caught napping by the lack of view down the track Alex was suddenly aware that she could hear somebody only yards away, hunkering down she watched as a youngish guy, whistling to himself, jogged up the track towards the lodge, as he cleared her position she spat a quick warning over the headset hoping it would allow the others sufficient time to conceal themselves.

Nine minutes later Dr Gopala Satish, as Alex remembered his name from last nights photo's, reappeared resplendent in a clean T-shirt & jogged back down the track whistling the same dumb tune.

Up at the track head Mariusz & Vrasten checked out the now unoccupied lodge confirming it housed three, probably male, JSBFS staff, several photographs were pinned to the walls & along with the various magazines etc concluded that that the lodge was probably home for the male research doctors on the base, in line with their findings in general however no letters, diaries or personnel information was uncovered again suggesting that considerable effort had been made to ensure that whatever was going on behind the scenes at JSBFS it couldn't be traced from the base personnel or its research records.

Gonzales, still grinning, emerged from beneath the building happily reporting that if the shit hit the fan then some bastards were kop for it.

JSBFS 4.27pm - 13/06/2015

Cautious after their near discovery the posse moved onto the fourth track, it was immediately established that this was the residence of Dr. Agnieska DeAbreu, despite this however Mariusz & Vrasten were disappointed to find nothing of interest, concealed or otherwise, although Gonzales did suggest he'd paid special attention to this one. Alongside the lodge were the still standing remains of a tower & platform rising some thirty feet or so above the ridge of the lodge, whilst Vrasten finished off below Mariusz eased himself up the towers vertical ladder & onto the covered observation platform. From the deck Mariusz could just about see the field station roof tops as well as glimpses of the river beyond, whilst the other lodges were hidden behind the trees looking up hill Mariusz could see a good sized satellite dish not that far away.

Poking around the rear of DeAbreu's domicile & alerted by Mariusz above Vrasten discovered a less used but clearly marked track leading further up the hill, waiting for Alex to join them all five moved carefully along the path which continued for approximately eighty yards through the treesbefore opening out onto a small rock covered plateau, bolted down onto the outcrop was a good sized LNBF dish. Investigating further several shallowly buried cables from the dish were unearthed, Gonzales quickly rigged up & strapped a charge to the main power cable which presumably was fed from the main generators down below & trod the dirt back around it,

"As long as nobody looks too closely it should be OK, I've rigged it to a separate remote to the others in case we wanna' keep it intact though"

Poking around the clearing all were about to move back down & head for the next lodge when there was a sharp intake of breath from Alex, crouching down Alex's fingers brushed over a part footprint in the dirt at the edge of the outcrop, pushing aside the several thick vines all could see a second boot print leading further uphill. Unspoken the feeling was that maybe they were at last on to something tangible. Treading carefully & scouring the dripping undergrowth they moved forward, several times they had to back track as they lost site of the near invisible track & occasional foot print that wended its way through the dense undergrowth.

Suddenly they halted as the trees fell away to reveal a steeply inclined & vine covered rocky bluff, more interestingly however was the concrete shrouded Grey steel door central to the rock face.

JSBFS 4.59pm - 13/06/2015

Watching from the safety of the trees nothing untoward could be heard over the evening crescendo of the rain forest fauna, all five could see there was a key pad on the double opening steel door as well as the security camera tucked beneath the overhanging concrete canopy, clearly active, the camera rotated back & forth as it scanned the ground immediately in front of the doors. With no other security points on view Alex risked circling beyond the door cameras view point & scaled the bluff beyond the concrete ramparts, when nothing untoward occurred she edged forward to hang over the concrete canopy whilst taking care not to interfere with the cameras field of vision, before any of the others could react Alex leaned forward & smeared the cameras lens with mud.

Within seconds Alex could faintly hear the sound of an alarm from behind the steel doors.

Hurriedly Vrasten, Skinpin & Mariusz sped forward & climbed up the bluff to either side of entrance & waited, Gonzales meantime clicked the off the safety catch of his Ronin & watched the door for any sign of activity, he didn't have long to wait, unfortunately however it wasn't from the direction expected.

Concentrating on the entrance Gonzales belatedly heard the snap of a branch underfoot behind him, spinning & firing lead hit flesh but not before his antagonist raised a bizarre looking pistol & fired point blank, expecting a deathly impact Gonzales flinched but was astonished when nothing appeared to hit him, as he convulsed & collapsed however he could have sworn his head was on fire, unconscious he missed the smell of charred insulation.

Crouching behind a tree above & to the right of the entrance Mariusz heard the sound of gunfire from where he guessed Gonzales was hidden, before he had time to think consider if the chick with a dick was dead, three, maybe four figures stepped from the edge of the rain forest onto the clearing in front of the doors, all were firing from the hip with heavy assault weapons.

Alex with more time to conceal her position than the others took careful aim & fired, she grinned as the LF19 assault laser ripped into the chest of her target, a woman, Japanese maybe, that'll teach the fucking bitch to mess with me thought Alex, regrettably however it didn't & impossibly, chest shredded to expose sub-dermal armour, the bitch fired back.

Face down in the mud Gonzales felt like shit, his CPU unit was blown to fuck, both the replacement left hand side optical unit & audio system were burnt to shit but at least the shielding on his left lower arm had saved the hardware although the hook up between it & his shoulder was fragged. & his back felt as if some bastard had stuck a thousand pins in it, fuck, even his balls felt like they'd been coated with Jolokia chilies, unable to see exactly what was going down but conscious of gunfire, Gonzales emptied the Ronins clip towards his asailant & then, lapsing back into unconsciousness, did the only thing he could do, he inched his right hand into his pocket & pressed the remote, the roar that ripped through the jungle was deafening.

As Vrasten, Skinpin & Alex blasted away Mariusz launched one then a second underslung frag grenade at the closest figure, with relief he saw that they sure fucked up what they hit, unfortunately this included Gonzales.

Vrasten emptied nigh on a full clip at the nearest target & was greeted with the satisfaction of lead ripping into flesh, unfortunately for Vrasten however the gunfire was a two way thing & some of that flesh was his, grimacing he dropped to his knees & continued to fire, strangely whilst he knew his left foot was blooded he couldn't feel any pain.

As the greater firepower of Alex, Vrasten, Mariusz & Skinpin finally took its toll the tiltrotor eased over the tree tops & began to circle the bluff, whilst no weaponry was obvious Alex didn't feel like waving, calmly she raised the LF19, drew a bead on the cockpit side window & fired, abruptly the aircraft lurched away as the side screen shattered,

"Like Mariusz said" murmered Alex "No fucking witnesses"

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