Clive Cussler: The Mayan Secrets

“I’m taking fire, Viper Two. I could use help to take him out.”

“I’ll send him to dreamland. Just stay on your side of the convoy.”

Viper One could hear shells thumping into the rotor blades and fuselage, which was protected by twenty-six hundred pounds of shielding.

Viper Two dipped under Viper One and unleashed a torrent of fire that smashed the man in the truck bed and his heavy machine gun to a pile of morbid junk.

“Obliged to you, Viper Two.”

“You still in one piece?”

“Roger. Engaging truck five on my goal line.”

“Let’s finish the game.”

The flames from one truck, and the explosion and concussion from another, were still tearing the air when the last truck tried to escape across the field. It was quickly smashed to a halt. The survivors spilled to the ground, followed by a hail of shells pouring from the Apache like water from a fireman’s hose.

Both Apaches obliterated the rest of the convoy and circled the area, picking off any survivors who did not throw down their weapons or hold their hands up in surrender.

As Russell and Ruiz watched from the cover of the ditch along the side of the road, the heat from their flaming armored car was like torture to them. They lay there, staring in fascinated horror at the total destruction of the convoy by the phantom black helicopters.

“It makes no sense,” Russell muttered. “Who are they and where did they come from?”

“They are not Guatemalan military,” said Ruiz.

“Let’s not wait to find out,” Russell grunted, crawling away from the burning vehicle toward the nearest forest undergrowth.

“We have to find a place to lay low ’til it’s dark.”

“Sound thinking, my friend,” Russell said. “Follow me and keep low.”

“Where to?”

“Estancia Guerrero,” answered Russell. “We’ve got to get to Miss Allersby with a story to save our hides before another survivor makes it back.”

Remi’s heart sank when she heard the explosions and saw the black billowing clouds expanding in the sky above the village. She was helping the mothers with young children, distracting them from the turbulence below.

The silence that followed was even worse. The fear and anxiety finally got the best of her and she ran desperately out of the fortress and down the trail until she reached the village square. She stood there, dazed, after seeing the smoldering wreckage of a helicopter.

Remi saw no sign of Sam and closed her eyes to keep from crying in grief. She could not but think the worst.

She sensed a presence behind her. Then Sam’s voice. “How could our love affair not have a happy ending?”

Remi turned, her eyes flashing in excitement as they locked with Sam’s, and he kissed her lovingly on the lips. With his arms wrapped about her, Remi’s fear melted.

“Oh, Sam,” she murmured in his ear as she looked over his shoulder at what was left of the Mi-8.

At that moment, Viper One, followed by Viper Two, hovered over the square and gently touched down. The engines hummed, and the four-bladed main rotors slowed and crept to a stop. Sam grinned as four men in flight suits climbed out of the cockpits and approached.

The first reached out his hand and shook Sam’s. “I’ve missed you, old partner.”

“I’m amazed an old geezer like you is still flying the globe and getting into trouble.”

The pilot from Viper Two laughed. “We wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for your talent for wheeling and dealing.”

Remi stood by as the five men hugged one another and started telling war stories and catching up on old times. Remi thought it odd that none of them called one another by name. Finally, she looked at Sam and interrupted, “Aren’t you going to introduce me?”

They all looked at one another, surprised, and then broke into laughter.

Sam took a confused Remi in his arms, and said, “This is a very, very unusual group. It’s on call around the world for operations such as the Estancia Guerrero. It’s also the finest and least-known secret operations force in the U.S.”

“That’s why our names and backgrounds are known only to ourselves,” said the pilot of Viper Two.

“And we all swear an oath of secrecy when we join the force.”

The gunner of Viper One looked at Remi, and said, “So is this beautiful woman the reason you left the force?”

Sam smiled with a twinkle in his eye. “That goes without saying.” He gave her an affectionate squeeze around the waist. “Sorry, I can’t give you her name.”

The villagers were cautiously returning to the village. They had an expression of disbelief at seeing the Apache Longbows, the wreckage of the Mi-8 Hip, and their village completely intact. Father Gomez and Dr. Huerta stood in awe.

Viper Two’s gunner nodded at the growing crowd, and said, “I think it’s time for us to fold our tents and silently steal off into the sunset.”

“Thank you,” said Sam as he shook their hands. “You saved the lives of over two hundred men, women, and children, and shut down one of Central America’s biggest drug operations.”

“Don’t wait so long for the next tournament,” said Viper One with a salute.

“Don’t change your phone number,” Sam said, holding Remi’s hand and giving her a kiss on the cheek. She looked squarely into his eyes, and said, “You told me you were with the CIA when we met.”

Sam merely shrugged. “It seemed like a good idea at the time.”

Ruiz sat in the cab of a truck beside Russell. “I feel like I fell out of an airplane,” he said. “My shoulder hurts from firing full auto at nothing. My knee feels like it’s broken from falling in that ditch. I can’t believe this.”

Russell kept his eyes on the road ahead. “Consider yourself lucky we snatched a pickup truck from a tobacco farmer. This is really a setback. And we lost ninety men or more who belonged to Diego San Martin. I’ll tell you something else. We’ve got to fix it before San Martin knows or get out of the country fast.”

Ruiz stared at him. “We’re done, man. It’s suicide to go in that town.”

A half hour later, they reached the Estancia Guerrero. As they pulled up the long gravel drive to the space by the countinghouse, Russell saw Sarah Allersby, sitting behind a lighted window. She saw their truck and ran out to meet them.

“Where are they?” she asked. “The helicopters never returned, nor any of the trucks.”

Russell looked down at her through his cab window. “As it turned out, we couldn’t just drive up there and load them on the trucks. When we got there, we were ambushed. We lost most of the men, and what few survived were captured.”

“Lost? You lost a hundred men to a bunch of ignorant peasants,” she said. “How could you do this to me?”

Russell and Ruiz looked at each other and climbed stiffly out of the truck. Ruiz leaned against it while Russell stood in front of Sarah Allersby. “Miss Allersby, I apologize. We were defeated. Not by the villagers but by two mysterious black, unmarked helicopters that blew apart our helicopters, the armored cars, and all the trucks.”

Sarah Allersby felt the heat of Russell’s rage building. It frightened her a little. She was too intelligent not to foresee what could happen next.

Russell said, “I think we’ve come to the end of our usefulness here. We’ll be leaving in a few minutes. I wish you luck.” He turned away.

“Wait,” she said. “I’m sorry, Russell, I didn’t mean to be sharp with you. Please don’t be upset. I know I was being insensitive, and I know things seem bad right now, but we can save this.”