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On the morning that they were to meet Jacque and Maria in
Catacamas, Bill and Eke woke early. They were excited but they also
wanted to tighten down their camp. They werent sure how long they
would be gone.
So they loaded up the plane with everything from the camp– the
tools, their tents and cooking equipment and then they built a wall of
broadleaf palms as best as they could to disguise the plane. They
chained the ATV to a tree and they chained the plane to another tree.
What else could they do? This was security, backwoods style.
They lit one final cigarette and smoked next to the truck. They
had been talking about this moment – well, something like this, since
they were 14. Adventure. Thats what this was. Pure adventure.
Wasnt it? The truck was loaded.
“Do you think were prepared for everything?” asked Eke.
“As prepared as well ever be,” replied. Bill. He stomped out his
cigarette. “So what do you say?”
Eke said nothing. He climbed in the truck. Bill climbed in the
drivers side. He started the truck, put it into drive and then declared,
simply, “Beautiful.”
Eke gritted his teeth. He had to agree. Something about this
seemed perfect.
It was a three-hour drive to Catacamas. Three bouncy hours. The
boxes of weapons were loaded on the truck and strapped in. Bill kept
two handguns in the front of the truck. Both were loaded. They skirted
the truck slowly down the long driveway and at the end, at the road,
they turned right towards civilization. Thats what was out there, right?
It was hot in the truck. They both wished now that they had put in
air conditioning but at the time the trip was planned, it seemed an
unnecessary luxury. The idea, after all, was to test themselves. But
fuck, it was hot!
Sweat poured down their faces. They drank from canteens. They
tried singing old songs and sometimes they found a rhythm or a key or a song they liked but mostly they rode in silence, looking, thinking,
wondering. This was the moment that they waited for. And they drove
on.
The road was erratic. Sometimes it was okay sometimes it was
rough, and a couple times they had to stop the truck to move things.
The road was barely present an hour in, through the frontier town of
Dulce Nombre de Culmi. Frontier town indeed. Pistols, shotguns, and
machine guns were all in style in that town. And the sombreros and
mustaches gave off an old Mexico feel. Bill drove on, very aware that
they were white Americans driving a covered truck through this old
town. He was also very aware of his own two handguns.
They passed through town without incident and without, in fact,
hardly being noticed. When they were reaching the outskirts, Bill
pressed down the gas and Eke smiled and said with a guttural drawl,
“Hey hombre. Gringo, we would like to dance with your dates.”
Bill laughed. “They all seemed like very nice guys,” he said. “I just
wouldnt go ask to borrow a cup of sugar from them. I think Id go
without.”
Eke laughed now too. They were out of the town, so it was all
funny. They laughed for a mile and then the ride settled in again. Long is long and hot is hot. They were almost thankful for the little
scary interlude.
“Its weird, huh?” asked Eke. “I cant believe there are towns out
here that size. This is the middle of nowhere.”
“Ive been to the middle of nowhere,” said Bill. “Thats in Iowa. I
believe this is the middle of nada. Spanish, you know.”
Eke smiled.
And on they drove for two hours, stopping once on the side of the
road to piss. They saw traffic, but not a lot. It was a country road and
then as Eke fell into a sleep from the ride, Bill turned into a town that
had stucco adobe buildings with barrel tile roofs. Livestock wandered
about. And so did people.
Bill drove into the center of town. There, next to an old Catholic
Church with a huge white stone steeple was a militarized jeep. The
church caught Bill and Ekes eyes at first because of the huge cross
on the hill and how it looked down towards the city. There were stairs
leading up to the cross. They both instantly wondered how those
stairs were exactly built. They didnt at first notice the jeep.
In the jeep sat a man and a woman. Their faces moved together
when the big truck pulled into town. The white faces of the men driving the big truck made them sure. And then these two people, this
man and this woman, saw the truck park and the men staring at the
church. The man and the woman got out of the jeep and approached.
Bill noticed first, nudged Eke and then smiled. Eke smiled back.
His heart was pounding. “Its them,” said Eke. “It must be.”
The man and woman were wearing camouflage, holding
machineguns, and all business like as they approached the two
Americans cautiously.
“Hello,” said the woman. Her English was very good and her
smile was quite pretty. She had big dark eyes, shoulder-length brown
hair and a full bosom that managed to make camouflage look like the
latest Parisian style. She was, simply, a magnet for the eyes. Her
face was beautiful, her cheekbones were high and her smile lit not
only her mouth but especially those big eyes. It was hard, though, to
look away from her body. It was impolite, of course, to stare at her
body. But how could they help it. Camouflage, soon sold by Victorias
secret. Holy shit.
“Hello,” said Bill, taking her all in. Wow, he thought - mostly inside
of his pants. Wow. What have we here? They had approached the
drivers side door and so he answered their hello and then asked the obvious question, “Youre not by any chance Maria and Jacque, are
you?”
“Yes we are,” said the woman – Maria obviously. “And are you
the two Americans sent to us by Sam from the docks.”
Bill was confused but Eke quickly answered, “Yes, Sam from the
docks sent us.” He didnt understand what all the subterfuge was
about but he quickly deduced it was best to simply play along. Sam
from the docks is an important character „round these parts, he
thought to himself.
“Glad to see you,” said Maria. She grinned at them. “Weve been
waiting for you.”
Bill smiled back. He was taken with this exotic woman in
camouflage and he didnt hardly notice the man wearing the same
camouflage standing right next to her. Jacque. Bill didnt much notice
Jacque. He was staring at breasts. “Ive been waiting for you all my
life,” he said, managing to look up to her eyes for almost a moment.
This was Bills way – always be more forward than you should be.
“Maybe we should lose your friend here,” he said. And he smiled.
Eke was thinking Bill was insane. But before Eke could tell Bill that he was insane, Maria told Bill
that her friend was her brother and that what she really wanted was
some help. “We need help, gringo,” she said. “And thats all.”
“All right,” said Eke, interrupting the budding love spat. “What do
we do now?”
“We go for a drive,” she answered.
“A drive?” asked Bill loudly. “We just drove three hours over these
hellish roads.”
“Well, follow us,” said Maria. “Theres another two hours still to
go.”
“And then what?” asked Eke.
“And then you meet the General,” she answered.
“The general?”
“The man who will save our country. He needs your help.”
“Why us?”
“He needs all of our help. This is no game. The fate of a country
is at stake.” She smiled, but it was a sad smile and she didnt seem
so sexy now.
Eke wanted to protect her. He stared at her beautiful face, those big dark eyes. Now he knew he was doing the right thing.
