Man With A Mission

Jake shook his head. “No, just the opposite. She’s a fighter. She can confront the meanest bastard and look him in the eye and stand toe-to-toe with him and win.”

Houston nodded approvingly. “Good. Because mealymouthed tyrants like Rojas are usually afraid of big, bruising norteamericana women, who are seen as Amazon warriors. South American men are used to passive females who do their bidding.” He glanced past Morgan and gave Pilar an apologetic look. “There are exceptions, of course.”

Pilar nodded deferentially. “Thank you, Mike.”

Jake looked at them. “You’re saying that if she stays strong, he won’t…hurt her?”

“That’s right,” Houston murmured. “She probably scares the pants off Rojas.” He chuckled.

Pilar laughed softly. “South American men have not learned how to deal with a strong, self-empowered woman yet.” Her dark eyes sparkled mischievously. “But they are learning.”

Jake leaned forward. “That leads me to why I’m here, Mr. Trayhern. I need to get down there. I need help, though. The kind only you can give me. Can you send me with one of your mercenaries as a guide? So I can find Tal? My parents are Iowa farmers. They don’t have any money at all, but I’ve got about ten thousand dollars saved and—”

“Save your money,” Morgan murmured. He looked at Mike. “Who do we have in from a mission that we could send down with him?”

Mike rolled his eyes. “No one. We’re stretched thin right now, Morgan.”

Scowling, he said, “Are you sure?”

Mike nodded glumly. “Very sure.”

Pilar sat up. “Then you need someone from inside Peru to assist you. Mike, what about Captain Maya Stevenson? She’s got a spec ops—special operations—base near Machu Picchu, right?”

Snapping his fingers, Houston sat up. “That’s right! She’s got Apache helicopter pilots from various countries working under her command. And if I recall, there are two Peruvian pilots among them. Home grown. The kind we need right now.”

Pilar grinned a little. “What are the chances of persuading Captain Stevenson to loan out a pilot who might know not only the area, but the Quechua language as well? The Rainbow Valley is mostly made up of Quechua Indian villages, where Spanish is a second language, not the first, as it is in the rest of the country.”

Morgan looked from Mike to Pilar. “Sounds good to me. What you don’t know is that I’ve been in contact with her already. I got wind, through an army general friend of mine, of her needing upgraded Apache helicopters. She indicated that she might be willing to work with us in order to get those upgrades. I haven’t told her how we might work with her.”

Jake frowned. “I don’t understand. You don’t have a team or a person from Perseus who can help me find Tal?”

“No, Son, we don’t.” Morgan smiled slightly. “But we have other contacts that might work out just as well. Maybe better. Mike, you want to contact Captain Stevenson on the iridium scramble sat com? Tell her I want to trade one of her Peruvian women pilots for those Apache upgrades she’s been wanting.” He scowled. “She won’t be easily convinced, Mike, so hang tough with her. She’s shorthanded as hell and isn’t about to let one go unless we wave those much-needed upgrades under her nose. She’s a savvy negotiator.”

Rising, Mike said, “You bet. Hang around, Captain Travers, and I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

Nonplussed, Jake looked at Morgan. “Who’s this Captain Stevenson?”

“She’s a shadowy spec ops figure who is under spook supervision. We don’t know a whole lot about her, as her work is on a need-to-know basis. The general I talked to put me in touch with her about a month ago.”

Spooks were the CIA, Jake realized. “A woman helicopter pilot down in Peru and working for the CIA?”

“Actually,” Pilar added proudly, “she’s a U.S. Army captain, an Apache combat helicopter pilot. One of yours. How about that?”

“She’s army?”

Morgan looked amused. “Why does that surprise you, Captain Travers? Women make just as lethal warriors as any man ever did. In fact—” he smiled over at Pilar “—my women mercenaries, most of whom are from one of the four military services, are equal to or better than any man in my employ. There’re no weak sisters among them. And I like teaming up a man with a woman because women see things men often overlook. And in our business, the devil’s in the details. You overlook a detail and you’re dead. So, yes, my women are like big guard dogs, with senses far better honed than any man’s probably ever will be. Men and women each have their strong points. Together, they’ve got the best chance of carrying out a mission successfully and coming home alive.”

“You’ve made quite a few sexist statements there, Morgan. And for a change, most of them favor women,” Pilar said, her grin widening, pride in her eyes.

Morgan shrugged. “I’ve learned it the hard way over the years, Pilar. Never underestimate a woman who’s doing spy duties. She sees all the colors and has finely honed instincts.” He grinned at her. “You were a spy down in Peru for quite some time.”

Pilar nodded. “Yes, I was. And I was very good at what I did.”

“Men have just as good an ability to see details as any woman, sir,” Jake said.

Morgan studied him across the table. Jake was scowling now, as if he didn’t want to hear that a woman was as good—or better—than any man.

“Captain, I dare say you’re young and inexperienced. If you were a ranger, you have no women in your outfit—yet. And that’s a pity, in my opinion, because they bring skills and abilities to the table none of us males have ever gotten in touch with. They can teach you a lot if you’re open to learning from them.”

Jake throttled his defensive response. “Beggin’ your pardon, sir, but no woman can do the job a ranger does. Ever.”

Pilar sighed. “Oh, Captain, you are so young and wet behind the ears.”

Chuckling, Morgan said, “If you don’t value what a woman brings to the table, Son, then it’s your loss. Captain Stevenson has single-handedly carved out a spec ops in the Peruvian jungle in the last three years, with a small group of women U.S. Army pilots and women technicians to service the crafts. She’s cut drug running from Peru to Bolivia’s border by fifty percent. Just she and her women. Major Houston was down there for ten years trying to do the same thing, but he didn’t have near the success rate she’s had. Captain Stevenson is a bold, brilliant woman. A strong tactical planner and a visionary way ahead of her time.”

“She’s also a pit bull when it comes to drug runners,” Pilar added grimly. Studying Travers, she said, “Captain Stevenson is a legend in her own time down there. She’s feared by every drug lord in Peru. Her Boeing Apache combat choppers confront Russian Kamov Black Shark helicopters daily in the skies over Peru, stopping the cocaine from being taken over the border to Bolivia. She and her pilots are the bravest we know.”

Houston reentered the room, a big smile on his features. “Good news, Morgan. I got Captain Stevenson on the iridium sat phone.” He came over and sat down, holding a piece of paper covered with scribbled handwriting.

Looking at Travers, he said, “You’re in luck. Captain Stevenson has one Peruvian pilot who was born in the Rainbow Valley—Lieutenant Ana Lucia Cortina, twenty-seven years old. Her mother was a Que’ro Indian, her father an art gallery owner from Lima. Ana knows the Rainbow Valley region and the Inka Trail like the back of her hand.”

“Is Captain Stevenson willing to loan Ana to us for this mission to find Jake’s sister?” Morgan asked.

“Yeah…for the price you mentioned. You know, they’re shorthanded as hell down there. Maya only has twelve pilots. They fly three pilots a day, in the two Apaches and an old, antique Cobra. It’s a twenty-four-hour tour. The pilots then go to standby status for another twenty-four hours, and then the third day they get off, to rest. Actually, they’re not resting at all right now because she’s shorthanded in personnel, too, so they’re doing a lot of collateral duty.”

Mike sighed and tapped his finger on the paper. “That means that if Captain Stevenson releases Ana to us, to help Jake and be his guide, than she’s really going to be shorthanded. Her other pilots must take up the slack while Ana is gone.”

“So, the Apache upgrade will compensate her for this?” Morgan demanded.

Houston grinned. “Yes, sir, it will.”

“Fine. That’s not a problem. How about long-term?”

“She’s hurting for money and people, plus that upgrade. She needs updated, more modern Apaches, which you’re going to provide. They’re flying the old A model, the first of their type. They’ve got the new Longbows out, which are incredible, and before you stepped into the picture, she couldn’t afford them, either. What she needs is an IV transfusion of money, the new D model upgrade and people down there to sustain her in her efforts.”

“We’ll look into this further,” Morgan assured him. “I’m very interested in her setup down there and think we can work together. Maybe we can lend her a hand in a lot of different ways. We’ll just have to see….”

Houston nodded. He looked across the table at Travers. “They’re sending a faxed photo of Lieutenant Cortina to us in the next hour, plus some background info on her. Captain Stevenson says you’re to meet Lieutenant Cortina in Agua Caliente, Peru. That’s a little backwater town at the base of Machu Picchu.

“Captain Stevenson uses the local civilian helicopter that flies in and out of there to ferry her people discreetly from their base, hidden deep in the jungle, to and from this civilian town. Agua Caliente is their formal link with civilization and Cusco, which is the major city they work out of when necessary. Captain Stevenson said Lieutenant Cortina will pose as a tourista, which is normally how her people infiltrate from the military to civilian status. You’re to meet her at—” he looked at the name closely “—a French restaurant named India Feliz—Happy Indian—just off the main plaza. At 1100 hours two days from now.” Mike looked up. “You got your passport in order?”

Jake swallowed hard. “Yes, sir, I do…but…a woman? Sir, if this is as dangerous as it sounds, I really don’t want a woman tagging along with me.”

Mike gave Morgan a pointed look.

“Captain Travers,” Morgan growled, “I don’t think you heard a word we just said. Women are as good as, if not better than, any male out there in the world of spy and stealth combat. I’m sure this Lieutenant Cortina is not going to be a noose around your neck. It will probably be the other way around.” He allowed a slight, one-cornered grin to appear on his mouth.

Stunned, Jake stared at the two men. He saw Pilar sitting back, frowning. He knew he’d insulted her. “But—”