Ortega rubbed his face with one hand in the dark.
He was still in time to change his mind.
It would suffice to go back to where they had come from without being seen, exactly as they had done to get to where they are now.
That option however was imagined, nothing more than a dream. It wasn’t real at all, it was imaginary. So, in all actuality, he’d already made his decision, and having done so, he would have stuck it out until the very end.
The only thing he hoped for was to not have sentenced them all to death, along with himself.
It was truly unbelievable how even in times of war we died time and time again at the hands of our very own decisions rather than by our enemy’s weapons.
Wars are lost even before come onto the field.
Trautman had been the one to tell him that once when they were at Fort Bragg a very long time. He’d said it during one of his 'deliriums', as the guys affectionately used to call them (Oh no... The old man is going to get delirious and right now... I can feel it... Here he comes).
How true it really was! That night was the moment Ortega finally realized it. In fact that was the night his understanding of how categorically true it was reached new levels making something in him change, and he was never the same again.
Consequently he turned in Messner's direction.
“Doc?”
“Yes”
“Tomorrow, I’ll need you to back me up”
“Manuel, for God's sake...” Messner shook his head.
“Now listen to me very carefully Manuel, because I’m only going to say this once and then I’ll deny having ever said something anything like it”
“What?”
“You are the best team leader I’ve ever met, Manuel. I swear.”
Ortega appreciated that. Then said:
“And yet I don't know, Doc... Today I made a really bad mistake. I reasoned like an average soldier, but that’s not what I am. I shouldn't have let my feelings influence that kind of decision”
He then looked Messner right in the eyes and added:
“I am a team leader, Doc”
“Don't give a fuck, Manuel You have always been too hard on yourself. And anyway, the forces hiding inside that base are not at all what they seem. The camp is still under construction and only partly inhabited. In a weeks time it’ll be working at full regime and it’ll be the base for an entire North Vietnamese Army regiment. Only here and now however, is it within our reach It's ours for the taking, trust me. I did some calculating myself. There will never be a better moment than now.
“Nevertheless, your totals were partial and were almost done in the dark.”
“Come on Ortega, you just concentrate on your plan, will you? Make also sure it's one of your masterpieces, because come dawn we’ll hit them using might like they’ve never seen before. And when they realize what’s going on, we’ll have already vanished into thin air with the prisoners.”