J Saint - Collateral Damage

"That's it?" Roger shouted. "You can forgive me that easily? Jesus, DT. Your career might be over."

"What? You want me to waste time and energy beating you to a pulp? Seems as if you and Beck have already done enough of that. Hell, Roger. I don't know what I feel yet. I don't know what to do yet, but I sure as hell know what has to happen next. I'm not waiting for Rashid's right time. I am going to get Matt and Mitch out of Menendez's hands. Are you with me or not?"

"We'd be disobeying direct orders from General Dekkar."

"Did he say specifically do not go to Peru and rescue Lauren's kids?"

"No. Just to turn over the investigation to the NCS."

Beck cursed. "Somebody want to tell me what's going on?"

"In a minute," Jack said at the same time as Weston.

Jack smiled. "Then we won't be disobeying. We turned the investigation over to the NCS. No more investigation necessary just action."

Weston smiled. "Good point. My orders from Dekker are to find you. Guess I'm going to have to go to Peru and infiltrate Menendez's digs to do it. Isn't that right, Beck?"

"Sir?"

"Have you seen DT, Beck?"

Beck smiled. "No, sir."

"Where do you think he is?"

"Peru, sir."

"Good. I have transpo waiting."

"And I have-" Jack paused and looked at Lauren. "Make that Lauren has the perfect plan."

Weston and Beck looked at him as if he'd lost his mind. And maybe he had.

Madre de Dios Region, Peru

Amazon Rainforest, Santuario Compound

1100 hours

"Can I do anything else to make you comfortable?"

"No. You've been wonderful," Conrad told Angie. And she had. Ever since they'd all been unpacked from crates yesterday, she'd been the angel of mercy administering to him, the brats and the other dude, who he hoped would soon be dead. Conrad kind of liked Angie and he could tell she was interested in the other guy. It was in the way she looked at the dude and touched him, it made Conrad want it.

What would his life have been like if he'd met someone like her in high school, or even college? She wasn't the cheerleader type, always flaunting their T amp;A and being so picky on who got snatch and who didn't. She'd have been the one in the library studying. He should have read a book more often.

Not that he'd had to do without back then. Some had put out just because he was the football star and for the few dry spells, well, he had some good dirt on one of the cheerleaders and she gave him what he wanted when he wanted it just so he'd keep his mouth shut. Those had been the good old days.

"I don't know where I would be without your help," Conrad told her. "Probably dead. Ever since they blew up my boat and shot me in the shoulder when I fought them after I made it to shore, I thought for sure I'd die." He let tears well into his eyes and then blinked hard and drew a deep breath.

"It's going to be all right." She leaned closer and squeezed his shoulder. Her full breasts jiggled nicely. She was braless beneath her shirt. He'd watched her take it off last night and use it to make a sling for the other dude's broken arm. Hell, Conrad's shoulder was in bad shape, he could have used a sling as well, especially one that had been in contact with her tits.

If the monkeys outside weren't screeching during the night then Collins's damnable brats were crying, making sleep nearly impossible until the din of early morning birds made it completely impossible. Conrad had a headache and the brats were running around, racing their cars everywhere in the set of rooms they'd all been locked in after leaving the plane.

Conrad had decided that when the opportunity presented itself, he was going to suffocate the other dude with a pillow, paving the way for him and Angie. And the first chance he got he was getting rid of those damnable race cars.

"Thanks," he told Angie, and raised his good hand to pat her arm. She looked at him and he thought she was going to say more, but then that other dude groaned from the next room.

"Oh thank God. Rico's waking up." She left, dropping Gardner like a hot potato.

Not good. Not good at all.

He motioned to one of the boys as they passed and they came over to him. They would be the key to getting to Angie. He made them laugh a bit then quietly manipulated them into a doozy of a fight. As predicted, Angie left the other dude and came running to deal with the brats. She scolded them and took their race cars away for a ten minute time out. Good. Very good.

1300 Hours

George did an excited flip and landed directly in front of Collins's sons the moment they were pushed through the door. Both boys cried out and fell back. From the surveillance video of the prisoners' rooms, Andreas had watched the boys when separated from the red-haired woman. She was still beating against the door, demanding that the children be brought back to her when he'd left the screen a few moments ago.

George jumped in a circle and laughed at the boys, pointing at their faces.

"Madre de Dios, George," Andreas agreed. "They are exactly alike." He frowned at the boys because they hadn't laughed yet. George loved for children to laugh. "You like my son, don't you, chicos?"

The boys nodded.

"He likes you too. So you must laugh when he does a trick. You don't want to make him mad. Not yet. George, why don't you show them how you race like a car?"

George screeched and then ran fast across the large room. He jumped on chairs, swung from the chandelier and the curtains as he whined like a broken siren. He ended with a flip, landing right in front of the boys again. One of the boys laughed. The other one cried out and backed up another step. George screeched at him and pushed him.

Andreas frowned. "He wants you to laugh," he told the boy who looked as if he was going to cry. That would only make George sad then. This play session wasn't going as well as he'd planned. Andreas glanced at the time. The CNN camera crew would be here shortly to set up for the Latimoor Live show and he really didn't need George in a bad mood. Why wasn't the boy amused?

"Show them your guitar, George." The tinny sound of "Hey, Hey, We're the Monkees" played as George strummed his play guitar and jumped up and down. This time both of the boys laughed. "Hey, Hey, with Monkey," one of them said, singing along with the song.

The boy reached out and touched the guitar and George screeched and grabbed the boy's hand. "No!" Andreas told George, stopping his son from biting the boy.

Andreas wasn't ready for blood yet. He needed Lauren Collins's cooperation. Besides, he'd want to have a video keepsake of it all and that hadn't been set up.

Now George was upset. He crawled in to a corner and was glaring at the boys, who were now huddled together by the door.

"Fidel! Come quickly," Andreas called.

Fidel hurried into the room and snapped to attention.

"Take them back. They have only upset George! It would serve them right if I just left them for George to play with as he will." Fidel left with Collins's rude children.

Andreas went over and picked up his son and caressed his cheek. "It's all right, mi hijo. I will find you some playmates, don't you worry. Those chicos were mean. I had the same problem, but we'll take care of teaching them some manners very soon. It's money that made them bad. They had more than others. Just you wait, everyone will have the same and you and your kind will be just as important as everyone else. Even those bad chicos. Maybe you'll be more important."

George lifted his head and smiled, baring his teeth.

Andreas smiled back. He'd tell Fidel to speed up with the attacks against Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan and he'd make the call to Lauren Collins tonight. The sooner Andreas got what he wanted, the sooner George would too.