Beyond Top Secret: A Zach Taylor Adventure Read online

  Since Ray would be the one placing the listening device, he examined the tree, and said, “No problem.”

  Again the team moved on, they wanted to complete the perimeter sweep to eliminate possible surprises. Back at their starting point, the team felt confident they could work outside the wall without being detected. Their next task was to return to the tree and get the snooper mounted.

  At the tree, Ray slipped a pair of climbing spikes over his boots and wrapped the climbing strap around the tree. On the side of the tree opposite the compound, Ray began the twenty-foot ‘pole’ climb before branches sprayed out in all directions. While Ray climbed, Chris watched to ensure prying eyes had not caught a glimpse of Ray. Clay and Justin were on guard in case someone happened to appear, but were not overly concerned after the perimeter sweep. After mounting the snooper on a large branch, Ray was aiming the pick-up antenna at the feed horn of the satellite dish when he heard the sound of an approaching helicopter. Thinking that must be the white team his thoughts were interrupted not by the lightning and thunderclap, but by the mass of men swarming out of what looked like a barracks.

  All the men coming out of the building had rifles pointed in the direction of the helicopter’s noise. Not wanting to stick around to see what happened next and with the chopper’s noise fading, Ray used a quick descent rope to be back on the ground in a matter of seconds. After several snaps, the line disengaged from the branch and fell to the ground. Grabbing the rope, Ray said, “Let’s get out of here.” That was all he needed to say.

  Without a single question, though no one else had seen what happened, the men made a hasty retreat to the parked SUV, threw the gear in the back, then headed back towards the highway, as fast as the jungle allowed. They stopped at the netted entrance, Clay jumped out untied one side and pulled it out of the way to facilitate the vehicle’s exit. Masterfully replacing the mesh, it required little effort to re-position the fallen vegetation. As they headed for the house, Ray said, “Good thing a thunderstorm popped up or the chopper would have faced a hail of gunfire.”

  Back at the house, the green team was disappointed they weren’t able to get the listening devices on all the buildings but took solace in knowing the snooper was in place. As they waited for the white teams return they worked on the recording equipment that would capture all satellite transmissions in and out of the compound. What didn’t register with any of them was the fact there wasn’t any rain to accompany the thunderstorm. When the front door opened, they looked into the faces of a team that looked like they had seen a ghost.

  Chapter 15

  Venezuela

  “Kitchen,” shouted Zach. Everyone gathered at the kitchen table, and Zach continued, “I screwed up. We were almost killed today, by what is currently an unidentified weapon. Right now I don’t know if Rafael meant to kill us and missed or if that was his way of sending a friendly deterrent. Which almost got us killed, or did I mention that already.”

  Ray asked, “What happened? I didn’t see anyone shooting at you.”

  “Are you serious? You didn’t see the flash or hear the explosion? Anyway. Bigfoot is checking into possible weapons. They’ll let me know when they have something. Rafael has a full-blown air defense system.”

  "As I said before, No one shot at you from the compound. I could see inside. Are you sure it wasn't thunder and lightning?"

  “I'm positive. We'll see what Bigfoot thinks. For now, we can rule out any further aerial reconnaissance. Besides, I doubt if any amount of money would get the pilot to make another trip.”

  Ray continued, “Sounds like our day went a little better than yours. We were able to learn a couple of things. Let’s see, the wall surrounding the compound is six inches of solid steel. There is a single door for foot traffic we need to investigate further.”

  “Foot traffic? From where?”

  “That’s just it. We didn’t see any paths leading to the door. We did get the comm snooper set up and working. Everything going through the satellite is currently being recorded. We didn't get the listening devices for the buildings completed.”

  “Why not?”

  “That was going to be the next thing we did when the sound of the chopper alerted the compound. I don’t know if you had a chance to see it, but the courtyard was flooded with a large contingent of armed men when they heard you.”

  “We saw them. That’s when we were attacked. And you didn’t see a thing?”

  “Nope. Needless to say, since we didn’t know if anyone would come out the door, we made a rather hasty getaway. Unless someone has something to add that’s it for the green team.”

  “Thanks, Ray. So based on what we’ve discovered, let’s make some adjustments to our plans.”

  The team headed into the theater so they could view the satellite image as they made plans. Ray highlighted the location of the door and the satellite snooper. Several questions regarding the door needed to be answered. The most pressing issue was the door's purpose. Since no trails were leading away from the door, it wasn't used as a regular entrance. However, the fact the ground was disturbed around the door indicated it was used for something. Another question was the security of the entryway, was it something they could breach to gain access to the compound. The room buzzed with suggestions, and speculations concerning the door when Ray reminded them the listening devices were still a priority.

  “Not just ears, we also want eyes on every building,” Zach said.

  “Of course,” Ray said, but his thoughts were the adjustments in equipment he needed to make since he had overlooked video feeds.

  Zach could tell by Ray's response that video surveillance had been missed in the green team's plan. He wondered how a team that did so well in training now floundered over simple details. Both groups had been sloppy in one way or another on their first day. Zach placed the blame squarely on himself. He realized they had all oversimplified the mission and his attitude may be at the root of the problem. After a near-fatal encounter, Zach felt he had overlooked too many details. The discovery of some unknown weapon and an entire platoon of armed men meant there was more to this mission than initially thought. It was time to re-evaluate. Not one for speeches, Zach knew it was time to deliver one.

  “Look, let’s face facts, I know I’m to blame for today’s mishaps. That has to change and change now. While I thought I said the right words, the critical nature, the dangers, and all that, what I projected didn’t match my words.”

  Phil interjected, “Zach, it was all of us.”

  “The white team should never have attempted a fly over without knowing more about Rafael’s defenses, so I jumped the gun on that.”

  This time, Shawn spoke up, “How the fuck were we supposed to know about some mysterious weapon?”

  “Research. Look, the green team didn’t even take all the gear they needed, either from nerves or from having a cavalier attitude. Again my fault for the way I interpreted the situation and everyone’s state of mind. Let’s take a reset and tomorrow we tackle this as a challenge more difficult than our most complex training mission.

  “Chris and Ray, I want you to study the latest satellite image at the most detailed levels. By morning I expect you two to know exactly where to place every piece of equipment within a matter of feet. Barry and Phil, you two are Ray’s support and cover team. Shawn and Justin, you do the same for Chris.

  Ray said, “Will do.”

  “Clay, you and I are going to investigate the door and get some answers. I don’t want any of you to assume that since you saw no signs of activity outside the perimeter today that it will always be that way. The fact there is a door means people are outside, maybe they are just much better at covering tracks than we are.”

  Clay said, “I was fixin’ to do that when we skedaddled.”

  “Linda, I want you to listen to the snooper feed and isolate all communications from the potential hours of noise.”

  Linda said, “I can do that.”

  “Remember, we
are now working at a distinct disadvantage. Since we don’t know Rafael’s reaction to the chopper incursion, we don’t know what conditions at the compound will be like tomorrow. Again I’m sorry for my part in inadvertently downplaying the mission, and expect each one of you to make the necessary adjustments.

  “One last thing, we can’t function on an empty stomach, so unless there’s a volunteer, Barry and Phil have kitchen duty.”

  With no volunteers, Barry and Phil headed to the kitchen to come up with something that would at least be dubbed edible. Meanwhile, Chris and Ray went over the satellite image. Whispering to Ray, Chris said, “You know Zach never mentioned eyes before just now.”

  “I know, but I should have recognized the need anyway,” Ray replied.

  As Chris and Ray finished their plans for tomorrow a call from the kitchen announced dinner was ready. Everyone sat down to a bowl of whatever Barry and Phil had come up with. Tasting the dish, Zach said, “Not bad what is it?”

  “I don’t know,” Barry replied.

  “Third base,” quipped Zach.

  “What are you talking about?” Barry asked.

  “You know, who’s on first.”

  “Who?”

  “Oh never mind Barry, you must have lived a sheltered life not to know one of the greatest comedy skits ever. Oh and for the record, what’s on second,” Zach said, and laughed, as he looked at Barry’s confused expression.

  Zach looked around and realized half the team didn’t have a clue what he was talking about, and the other half nodded and smiled as they played the routine in their head’s. The mixed reactions told Zach to skip comedy relief and to focus on what lay ahead. Zach felt his talk had the desired effect, and the team was ready for tomorrow. With his dinner finished Zach excused himself and headed to his room.

  Linda wasn’t ready to retire, she grabbed pen and paper and headed back to the theater where the equipment recording the snooper was located. On top of the recorder were a remote control and a pair of headphones. She picked up both and settled into a chair to begin listening. Linda placed the headphones over her ears, punched the play button on the remote and heard an ear-shattering noise. She adjusted the volume. Used the fast-forward to skip all the static but kept missing where conversations began. That led to a back and forth game between the rewind, play, and fast forward buttons. As she listened, she took notes on the few conversations captured.

  What Linda did not know was who was talking. Each call began with a routine announcement that it was the ‘Montenegro Residence’ and did not mention a name. On the other end of the call, the statement of who was calling got an immediate reaction that was somewhere between fear and obedience. Not wanting to miss any details she replayed each conversation countless times, listening not just to the words but possible hidden innuendos. As the night dragged on so did her eyelids, each blink was slower and the time closed, longer. She tried to push through it, but eventually, her head dipped forward, the pen fell from her hand, and she was sound asleep.

  The next morning the men woke to an empty kitchen. There were no smells of coffee brewing or bacon cooking. They had all hoped Linda would be in the kitchen and had made breakfast again, but she wasn’t around. While the men fixed themselves a bowl of cereal, Zach went to find Linda. It didn’t take much effort. She was where he had seen her last, in the theater. Curled up in the large chair with her arm hugging the armrest, and the headphones skewed halfway off her head, she was still asleep. Linda jumped when Zach shook her shoulder, and yelled, “I’m awake.” She gathered her wits, removed the headphones, picked up the pen, and said, “Want to know what I heard?”

  “How about over a cup of coffee?”

  The two headed to the kitchen, grabbed a cup of coffee and sat down to review Linda’s notes. There had been three calls made, but Linda cautioned that she had fallen asleep and may have missed additional calls.

  First was a call to the pilot, who sounded afraid of the call’s source. The pilot had explained that he was taking a bunch of Americans on what he thought was a flyover of where they were staying. He knew Mr. Montenegro by name, but since he had never flown north of Mount Roraima did not know the exact location of his residence. The pilot had gone on to explain that Zach Taylor was some TV adventure person and planned on free climbing Roraima, and that was why they were his passengers. Linda assessed whomever the pilot was talking to bought the explanation.

  The second call was to a government minister who confirmed the existence of ‘Zach Taylor Adventures’ and laid out the itinerary, and the names of the five team members involved. The final call was to someone in town, but it was a language Linda didn’t recognize, and the equipment had no translation available.

  “Well, the good news is the green team is still incognito. Great job with the recordings Linda, keep it up,” Zach said.

  Zach called the team together and did a quick recap of what Linda had learned and reviewed the plans for the day once again. As they got up to leave a bell rang and the theater display automatically activated and displayed an image from the front gate. Outside, there was a silver Mercedes with two men leaning against the hood. Casually dressed, and sporting a red bandanna the men waved towards the gate smiling. One of the men spoke up and said, “Hello my name is Jose, Mr. Montenegro sent me. Mr. Montenegro requests the company of Zach Taylor and Linda Carter at lunch today.”

  Risks, verse rewards was what Zach thought while he scanned expressions in the room, then settled on Linda’s and knew what he had to say, “We’d be glad to come, where should we meet?”

  “In town, the first store on the right with the gold sign outside. Be there at twelve please,” Jose replied.

  “Tell Mr. Montenegro, thank you for the invitation, and we will be there at twelve.”

  The two men climbed into the Mercedes, made a U-turn and drove off. Once the Mercedes was out of camera range, the display shut off and nine people stood and stared at a blank screen. No one said a word. Finally, Zach said, “Well this should be interesting. I assume lunch will be at the compound, not in town, and I doubt he is going to land a helicopter on Main street, to pick us up. That leaves only one or two options; since you all said the door is the only access point, then there has to be a road and a trail to get us there, or there is another entrance. We missed something.”

  While no one liked the prospect of Zach and Linda trapped inside the compound, the room remained silent until Clay said, “I don’t like it, Zach, we don’t know enough about the compound yet. What if he decides your adventure is officially canceled and doesn’t let you leave? Do you want me to follow you?”

  “No. Plans stay the same. The only change is you need to investigate the door by yourself, Clay. I doubt he will do anything extreme. It wouldn’t make sense for Rafael to create an international incident. I’m sure we will be fine, and I want the rest of you to proceed as planned. Let’s try to get as much equipment installed as possible before lunch.”

  With a flurry of activity, the seven men went about last minute preparations. In a matter of minutes, the men climbed into the green SUV and headed for the compound. When they arrived at their destination, they were anxious to get the devices in place but knew this wasn’t something where they could take shortcuts. With the gear and sidearms situated Ray’s crew headed off to the right while Chris’s team headed left. Clay followed Ray’s group until he reached the door and began a closer inspection. He took copious notes. Clay wanted to ensure he would be prepared for a review of the door’s structure. Using a specialized fingerprint spray, he took infrared pictures and captured images of every finger that had been in contact with the door. When he examined the area surrounding the door, Clay found none of the trails Zach thought might exist.

  Meanwhile, back at the house, between almost being killed and the uncertainty of what would happen at lunch, Linda decided there never would be a right time. Regardless of what Zach was busy doing it was time to tell him how she felt and apologize for the way she acted at cam
p. Linda walked up from behind and reached her arms around Zach, she pressed her cheek against his and said, “I know this isn’t the best time, but I need to tell you something. I …”

  Zach’s phone rang, he held up his index finger, “One sec,” then answered the incoming call, “Zach.”

  “Zach. It’s Jake, I’ve heard a lot of good things about you and your team, but enough small talk. There’s been a change to your mission. We believe the weapon used on you yesterday was a type of laser weapon the Chinese have been working on. Our latest intel led us to believe it was still being tested in a lab, but it fits with what you described. So in addition to what you’re already tasked with, add acquiring that weapon to your list.”

  “Well, you’re moving a mission that is already improbable into the realm of impossible, but we’ll look into it.”

  “Do your best, and stay safe.”

  Zach abruptly stood and began pacing, utterly oblivious to Linda’s presence. Jake’s new requirement tore the very fabric from the plans they had in place. Nowhere in their plans did a search of the compound come into play and he had no idea how large the weapon would be. Bigfoot would need to come up with some guesstimates before he could seriously work on a retrieval strategy. All the while, Linda watched Zach pace and recognized a moment in time had been lost. She resigned herself to the fact that this wasn’t a good time and headed for the theater to check for any new communications.

  Interrupted by Zach’s arrival in the room, she removed the headphones to hear it was time to prepare for lunch. Neither of them knew how to get ready, they both agreed a potential search or body scan nullified the possibility of weapons. Their only defense would be to convince Rafael this was no more than a television production. Linda downloaded clips from all their adventure shows and saved them on her phone. To validate the authenticity of their purpose in the area, she would show them to Rafael. As far as the flyover was concerned, they had to be convincing that it was an innocent mistake.