Buck must find two college students Ch.17

ENCOMIENDA

Chapter 17

Fifteen minutes later Patric returned, wet and smelling of swamp, but otherwise unharmed. He stood next to the jeep and dripped.

Scotty said, “Good work, Patric.”

Approximately twenty minutes later Corey appeared out of the north ditch. He was muddy and unscathed except for a small slash on his shoulder. He climbed into the jeep, and we were off, back down the road to the highway.

Scotty said, “Save the reports until we’re back at base.” We rode in silence and reached the motel around midnight. Corey and Patric showered first and came to my room. Corey had bandaged the small slash.

I had my notepad ready. Scotty said, “Patric, you first, although I can say that your results were visible and revealing.”

“First, I went into the swamp after the lights went out until I was perpendicular to the pens. An airboat was parked a little to the north. The dogs didn’t pick up my scent, so I went in closer, tapped-tapped my knife on a fallen log. The dogs came to the swamp side of the pen, but they still couldn’t detect me, so I picked up a stick, stood up and threw it at the pen. The stick hit the fencing, and that’s when they started barking. I lay dead still behind the log with just my nose and eyes above water. I knew I was invisible unless someone came into the water and looked directly over the log. I figured they wouldn’t do that since they were all preparing for bed after a day’s work. My greatest fear was that they would let the dogs out.

“I thought their initial reaction of looking around with flashlights and calming the dogs was reasonable, but not what we were looking for. So, when they had gone back into the trailers, I came out of the swamp and ran at the pens with my knife drawn. The dogs reacted as I hoped. Two Dobermans, a shepherd and a bloodhound. Beanland likes big dogs.

“I immediately spun around and went back into the swamp. I pushed the log I had tapped on north so it was floating toward some brush. I side-stroked south then went underwater when I heard them coming again. I used a straw to breathe and back crawled to the edge of the ditch. As I had hoped, they noticed the movement of the log and mistook it for a large gator.

“When the spotlight came, it revealed the log. Now they were confused. That’s when they brought out the heavy firearms and let loose. By that time, I was in the ditch and crouching in cover.

“Once the firing had stopped and they had gone back inside, I used my infrared detectors to look at the compound. The individuals inside the trailers were slowly cooling down. The dogs were pacing. There were two other warm-bodied subjects in the second shed. I couldn’t tell if they were animal or human. They were not moving.

“By the way, the ditch has gators in it, not large ones, but one clamped onto my boot, so I had to club him a bit.”

Scotty said, “Good report. Bucky, any questions?”

I said, “Not now. Let’s hear from Corey.”

Corey gave his report in the present tense. “I’m in position when the lights go out, a point maybe ten feet from the northwest corner of the compound. My ground has less water than Patric’s; it is thick, dark muck with cover water of only a foot or two. I had made two hamburger patties stuffed with sedative. I toss those into the compound and squat behind a palmetto, so only my head and shoulders are above water. When I hear the dogs approaching, I draw my knife and wait.

“They’re Rottweilers, big, husky critters and well trained. A male and a female. I think they smell me and the hamburgers at the same time. They sniff the burgers, then come to the edge of the swamp and sniff the air and bark. I’m as still as I can be. Then they go back to the burgers and wolf them down. I guess they think they can eat and take care of me, too.

“The big male comes back to the edge of the swamp and sniffs the air. He’s bunching his muscles and growling. I’m ready but I’m hoping that he waits long enough for the drug to hit. He doesn’t. He launches himself at my smell. I know he can’t really see me, but he trusts his nose. He’s coming down and I’m raising my knife. I catch him in the chest as he lands on me and I shove him down into the muck.

“I’m up quick and see the female running toward the edge, following her man. And I know she sees me now. I brace for the blow; then she kind of stumbles. I guess the drug is working. She stumbles and tumbles into swamp toward me. I grab her and slit her throat and push her down into the muck.

“I’m thinking that if I hide them in the muck, they won’t come up for a few days, and Beanland will think they ran off into the swamp after something. I push them both down as far as I can until they’re deep in the sticky stuff.

“Then I rinse myself with the swampy water, put on my night goggles and proceed through the camp, checking the cabins. When the commotion starts at the other end, some of the residents come to their doors and look out, or look out the windows, but most don’t. Nobody goes farther than their steps. Nobody wants to chance the dogs coming.

“I go cabin by cabin, but I can’t say for sure that the boys are in any of them. Five cabins have at least two young men.” He marked and numbered the cabins on my map. “These are the five.

“After I go down each row, I go back to the swamp and make my way to you. My ditch has gators just like Patric’s. That’s it.”

Scotty said, “Good work, Corey.”

I said, “How did you get the cut?”

“I think it happened when the first dog landed on me. I’m not sure if it was a tooth or a claw. I noticed it first when I was rinsing. I’m sorry I had to kill the dogs. They were prime.”

Scotty said, “Couldn’t be helped. All right, lads, that’ll do. Go get some sleep.” It was past one in the morning.

I said, “I’m beat. How ‘bout we get some sleep ourselves and discuss what we know mañana?”

Scotty said, “Sounds good to me.”

We drove back to the motel in Naples. I was asleep shortly after my head touched the pillow. My last thought was of Cyndi.

END of Chapter 17
 
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