Benton peered over Mason’s shoulder and looked for himself, “Well—will wonders never cease. Selfies in the amazon?”
Mason nodded, “Yeah—Raina thinks that maybe the drug lords are bestowing gifts upon the natives.”
Benton shrugged, “Could be—but not necessarily. I’ve heard stories of Christian missionaries giving tablets to remote tribal groups. Usually in an effort to spread the gospel.”
Mason questioned, “Oh yeah?”
Benton nodded, “Yeah—usually there’s a Bible app downloaded on it.”
Raina joined the conversation, “A Bible app?”
Mason who wasn’t really a religious man himself, chuckled, “Got to reach the masses somehow right?”
Mason then quickly searched through the tablet’s apps but not coming up with anything Bible or even remotely Christian oriented, he declared, “Um—nope. No bible app on this thing. This isn’t from any missionaries.”
The next few photos they observed then confirmed this as they saw a picture of a man who was definitely not a native grinning back at them amongst the tribal members. Wearing the paramilitary fatigues that constituted the uniform of Amigos dos Amigos, there was no denying where this tablet had come from.
Benton looking out at the horizon, realized the sun was soon going to be bearing down on them and that they needed to make some serious progress before the morning gave way to afternoon. He advised the group as much, “At any rate folks—we got to get moving.”
They both then began trekking through the uneven terrain of what constituted a Brazilian wilderness trail. Just then Raina spotted something on the horizon, a bluish mist. No. Actually it was a hazy kind of smoke billowing from the edge of the trees. A kind of smoke that could only be produced from a batch of toxic chemical excess from an active drug lab. A drug lab right in the middle of the Amazon.
Mason already knew as much, as Raina shouted, “Over there! These guys have a full-blown meth lab brewing!”
Benton questioned, “A meth lab?”
Mathew Benton then added his own opinion to the mix, “Or maybe a proving ground for heroin and crack cocaine.”
Mason cynically chuckled, “Yeah—well, whatever it is… It’s certainly not the normal kind of smoke signals that I would expect around these parts that’s for sure!”
Staring at the smoke stacks in the distance, Raina seconded, “You got that right.”
Mason then went off to the right of the clearing and probing with his machete managed to find a thinly covered opening. Hacking away a few branches the two then beheld a roughly laid—but still quite visible, and heavily trod trail in front of them. As Mathew Benton stepped toward them, Raina squinting her eyes at the muddy trail declared, “Alright folks—welcome to the Amazonian illicit narcotics highway.”
1
On the Trail but Off the Reservation
With his handgun raised just in case they encounter any trouble; Mathew Benton kept a wary eye out for anyone who might be following them. Raina and Mason then took the lead, as they barreled down a drug trafficker hewn trail through the amazon rainforest. Raina looked back to Mathew Benton and remarked, “You watching my back—back there?”
At which Benton laughed, “Yeah—I’m trying my best.”
Mason driving ahead as he sliced off another low-lying branch with the blade of his machete laughed, “You kidding! The Ghost is an expert! He learned to walk backwards before he ever learned to walk forward!”
Benton smiled at the mention of the nickname that was long ago awarded to him by his brothers in the SEALS. Those days seemed like a lifetime ago, back then he felt nothing short of invincible. The years had since worn through his once impervious veneer and he wasn’t quite as cocky as he was in the past—he knew that he could bleed just like anyone else.
Yeah, he was a ghost alright, but he wasn’t invisible, and he knew full well that if the drug dealers were to suddenly get the drop on them from behind, he would be the first to be riddled with bullets. Mathew usually gave himself at least marginal protection from such threats by way of some Kevlar, but heavy bullet proof vests were just not practical in the sweltering heat of the rain forest.
In the thick of this tropical jungle the only thing that kept them connected to the outside world was their steady comm link with Kyle Garrison and the other Onyx team members that were waiting at their makeshift base of operations in the nearby town of Manaus.
And as Mason Walker hacked is way further along the trail in the darkness of the rain forest canopy, he had never been quite so grateful to hear Kyle’s squeaky and insecure voice chime in, “Hey guys—are you making any progress?”
The remark itself of course earned him a full litany of sarcasm from the team, as Mason howled, “Progress! We’re knee deep in the Amazon what do you think kid?” Kyle made it sound like they were just walking through a nature trail at a state park.
Undeterred however, Kyle shot back just as sarcastically, “What do I think? Well—I don’t know Mason, maybe somewhere sipping a martini in celebration of the drug kingpins you should have already rounded up?”
Prompting Raina to respond in her earpiece, “Funny Kyle—real funny”.
Mathew Benton then joined the fray, “Hey Kyle, if you think it’s so easy what we do—then why don’t you come down here with us?”
Kyle, then responded with his voice cracking, “What? With all those vines? I’m allergic to poison ivy!”
Mason couldn’t help but laugh, “Poison ivy! Really!”
Kyle wishing to change the subject in order to hide his own awkward embarrassment then informed the group, “Anyway! I just wanted to let you guys know that you are getting really close to the group’s hideout.”
Mason then questioned, “Really? What makes you say that?”
To which Kyle replied, “The heat signature trail tells us that they have a production plant really close to your coordinates.”
Raina chuckled, “Yeah, I think we saw that in the form of all
