Sacrifice

“In that case, just call me Vic.”

Annja nodded. “You have any food there, Vic? I’m starving.”

He nodded. “Sure do. But first, I want to get us out of here. I have the feeling they might start combing this part of the jungle for me soon. They seemed pretty determined back there.”

“How did you get away?”

Vic smiled. “Part of the training, Annja. And with this Ghillie suit, I can slip away into the darkness pretty easily. I’m surprised you heard me coming.”

“I didn’t so much hear you…”

“Felt it, huh?”

Annja nodded. “Yeah, actually.”

Vic grinned. “Don’t look so surprised. Sometimes out here, a feeling’s all you’ve got. And plenty of us know that if you don’t trust your instincts, you’ll end up dead.”

Vic held out his hand and Annja grabbed it. He pulled her to her feet. “You okay? That was quite the fall you took out of that tree.”

“I’m all right,” she said.

Vic looked her up and down. “Yeah, I suppose you are.”

Annja smiled. “So, where to now?”

Vic pointed. “I’ve got a hidey hole two klicks east of here.”

“Is it safe?” Annja asked.

Vic looked around. “Well, ‘safe’ is a bit of a variable around these parts, but it’s about as safe as you can get. And once we’re there, we can eat, get some more water and then work on how we’re going to get you out of here.”

Annja smiled. “Now that sounds like a plan.”

6

Agamemnon crouched over the radio, listening to the chaos on the other end crackle out through his speakers. His heart hammered in his chest and he felt as if someone had just kicked him square in the crotch.

He keyed the microphone. “Are you absolutely sure?”

“Yes, sir.”

“There’s nothing that could be done?”

There was a pause and the delay caused Agamemnon to stab the key button again. “Answer me, dammit!”

“I’m sorry, sir. The doctor did the best he could, but the bullet entered his head right between the eyes and just dropped him. There was no exit wound. According to the doctor, the round must have tumbled around inside his head, killing him instantly.”

Agamemnon slumped back into the swivel chair. The old rusted springs creaked in protest. Agamemnon felt the air surge out of him, leaving him deflated.

Luis was dead.

I just spoke with him a short time ago, he thought. Everything was set for tomorrow. Everything they’d worked so hard to achieve. Now, it was all evaporating right in front of him.

He leaned forward and keyed the microphone again. “Who did it?”

“We don’t know. The shot came from the jungle. Possibly, it was a sniper. That’s what we think it was.”

“You have men out there now looking for him?”

“No.”

Agamemnon frowned. “Why on earth not?”

“It’s night, sir. Our men would never find him in the dark. Worse, they might get lost and we’d have to send out more men. Plus, we weren’t sure what you would want us to do given the scope of our operation tomorrow.”

Agamemnon chewed his lip. “Send out a squad of your best and most experienced men. I want the sniper found. And I want him dead,” he ordered.

“And tomorrow?”

“Everything is on hold until we can determine if this killing was due to a leak of our plans to the enemy. If it was, then we’d be fools to go through with it right now. We could be walking into an ambush. And I don’t intend to lose the one thing that can level the playing field.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Report back when you have the sniper’s body.”

“Very good, sir.”

“But before you kill him…”

“Yes?”

“I want him tortured. I want to know who he is and why he was assigned to kill Luis. We need to know the extent of what our enemies know about our plans. If they know anything at all.”

“I understand, sir.”

Agamemnon was about to disconnect when he thought better of it and keyed the microphone again. “What’s your name?”

“Eduardo, sir.”

“Good.” He switched off the microphone.

The connection broken, Agamemnon slumped back in the chair again. He supposed being a leader meant somehow managing to keep his people focused even in the face of adversity like this.

But losing Luis was a tough blow. Agamemnon, as much as he manipulated his people for his own purposes, still had a great deal of respect and trust for Luis. He’d kept him close, entrusting him with tomorrow’s operation.

Now he would have to find a suitable replacement.

And soon.