The second bag was a large green canvas duffel. I unzipped the top and caught my breath. Inside, halfway wrapped in a towel, was the Treasure of the Taino, the idol that had caused all of this trouble. I smiled to myself, zipped the bag back up, and slung it over my shoulder. Maybe this trip wouldn't be a bust after all.
"This'll have to do," Jaye said, stepping into the larger room. "Are you ready to get out of here?"
Startled, I spun around and looked at her. I let out a small whistle at what I saw. She had put on a pair of green army fatigues, cinched down tight around her waist with a black nylon webbing belt. A plain white wife-beater tank top was tucked into the top of her pants. It covered her smallish breasts but offered little to the imagination. She was braless, and somehow the tight fitting tank top seemed to mold to her form. I had to admit that I liked what I saw. It also reminded me she was a badass woman, and I was liable to get a fist to the face if I ogled her too hard.
"You know, if we get out of here you should take up something less intense, like modeling," I said, "You've got a kick-ass Gwen Stefani look going on there."
Her lips twitched upwards at their corners, hinting at a smile. "Thanks Chase, but you can flirt with me later. We've got more important things to do."
"Uh, right," I stammered, trying to get my hormones in check. "Dr. Blatt should be waiting for us in the back of the lead truck. If we can make it there unseen, I think we can get out of here."
"Sounds like a plan," she said, and then added, "What's in the bag? Did you find some weapons?"
"Oh, this?" I asked patting the bag, "This is just a bit of leverage."
Jaye looked at me quixotically for a moment and then accepted my vague answer. "Alright Chase, lead the way."
I nodded and took two steps towards the entranceway, Jaye a half-step behind me. We both came to a sudden halt when the flaps flew open and General Bardales stepped from the rainy darkness to the light of the tent.
His face lit up and the broad, predatory smile that crept across his face was made more sinister by his thick silver beard.
"Leaving so soon?" He asked, flashing yellowed teeth as his smile grew larger. His eyes, twinkling with delight, locked onto the duffel bag slung over my shoulder. "And you're trying to steal the idol. Again."
He reached to his hip and pulled his pistol from its holster, pointing it right at me. "You don't know when to die, do you, Mr. Hawkins?"
"You know, for someone that looks like they could win an Ernest Hemingway lookalike contest, you're a real asshole," I retorted.
"Defiant until the end, like Ms. Mercury here," he said, undressing her with his eyes. "No matter how many times I forced myself on her, she always fought me. But I like a spirited woman. I'll break her soon."
Before I could come to her defense, Jaye let out a primal scream from behind me and struck out at the general with the speed of a cobra. Her scream was blood curdling, elemental, and terrifying. It existed between a growl and shriek. Something from deep within her psyche. Something primitive and instinctual that caught us both off guard.
Her first strike knocked the general's arm away. Her follow-up strike, an elbow to the chin, connected with bone-crunching efficiency. Bardales reeled to his right, knocked off balance by the woman's unexpected and ferocious attack. Jaye, sensing his weakness, pressed her attack. Her hand snatched Bardales' wrist and twisted while simultaneously launching a low roundhouse kick to the back of his leg, buckling his knee. As he fell, she used her free hand to strip the sidearm from his grip and then backed away, pointing the officer's own weapon at him.
The entire set of movements had been quick and vicious enough to make a Muay Thai fighter proud. The attack had also been fluid and controlled, almost choreographed. She caught Bardales completely unaware, and he was now on his knees shaking his head and trying to make sense of his new, and considerably less authoritative, position.
He looked up at the gun pointed at him and chuckled. "Hah! Look at how spirited she is!" he said, rubbing his jaw where Jaye's elbow had hit him and then moved to get up.
"Fuckin' freeze, asshole," Jaye hissed. To emphasize her point, she racked the slide of the pistol, chambering a round.
Bardales stopped moving and glared at her. The jubilant look that had been in his eyes a moment before had turned to dark loathing.
"I'd do as she says, guy. I don't think she's screwing around," I said, trying to avoid escalating the conflict any farther. "Jaye, you don't have to kill him. Let's get out of here."
Outside of the tent, a chorus of shouts and noises were building over the now driving rain. I could hear men running past in the muck and expected them to burst into the tent at any moment. So far none had, but it was only a matter of time. We had to get out of here, and soon.
At first I didn't think Jaye heard me. Her gaze was locked on to Bardales and her pistol trembled slightly in her outstretched hand. Pain and rage fought for control over her, and for a moment I thought she would pull the trigger.
"Don't do it, Jaye," I pleaded. "It won't do us any good. We need to go, we have to get out of here."
Finally, her passions ebbed, and she regained some control. She blinked twice before lowering the gun a few fractions of an inch. She nodded slowly, almost imperceptibly at first. "Let's go," she whispered through her fading anger.
"You can't get away," Bardales spat at us as we turned to
