Authors: John Strauchs
The sun was up. He saw monkeys in the canopy high above him. The jungle is a
raucous place.
He heard an aircraft high overhead and then the droning sound of its engines died and it was gone. The airplane is unimportant. He was being distracted by his
own thoughts.
He had to make sure that the mistakes he made on Eagle’s Head weren’t
repeated. Had he thought of everything?
He inventoried his plan.
Yes, everything was
covered.
Jared walked away from his camp and found a very old liana vine draped through
the trees that drooped down to shoulder height. He took his machete and cut the vine as
high as he could reach. He then cut it close to the ground. He held it high above his head
and the water began to drain from the vine. He drank. It was cool, pure water.
He wandered through the jungle and found what looked like it might have been a
hunting camp at one time.
The jungle would overgrow any abandoned camp in a year’s
time but this one looked like it was much older. He found mangos and papayas. It was a
wonderful breakfast although he didn’t quite care for the mango as much as papayas. The
mango had a slight turpentine taste to Jared.
“
It is all about the chemicals. All life beats to the rhythm of the language of chemistry. Everything is about the chemicals
,” thought Jared.
Some people could taste the turpentine more than others. It wasn’t native to Central America so wherever it is found, it had to have been cultivated by someone in the
past. It was brought to the Americas in the 17
th
Century. Birds distributed the seeds and
now wild mangos could be found everywhere.
Jared was uncertain if these trees were
wild or if they had been cultivated by whoever had been living in the settlement.
Although he had come to San Blas many times, Jared read more than a hundred
books about the tropics and survival in the tropics, as well as countless books about the
flora and the fauna of
the region.
Since
he
remembered anything he learned—
flawlessly—he was an expert. Even the Kuna were sometimes amazed by his knowledge.
When the Kuna Sailas spoke of Jared, they said that the spirit of the earth was within
him. He knew some things that only the very old Kuna knew. Sadly, the current generation of Kuna were slowly loosing their knowledge of the old ways. All of the Kuna helping him were older men.
Two were well into their seventies. Most were in their fifties
and sixties. The youngest was fifty-four.
Jared picked up a spear and walked to the river bank.
The river attracted everything so he was very careful.
He made enough noise so that all living creatures would
know of his arrival before he got there. He climbed a tree, found a comfortable posture,
and froze.
He sat passively without moving or making a sound.
It wasn’t more than
twenty minutes before what he was looking for arrived.
It was a peccary, a wild pig native to the Americas.
“
Tayassu tajacu
,” thought Jared. He had anointed the peccary by its name.
Jared had spotted a nearby mud wallow yesterday. He carefully looked around.
They sometimes moved in herds and they had razor sharp tusks.
If there were others,
they weren’t close.
He aimed his spear and with a burst of energy, drove it through the
body. Still careful that others weren’t near, he skinned it on the spot and threw the debris
from the carcass into the river. Nothing went to waste in the rain forest.
He cleaned a stout green branch of its bark and ran it through the peccary. He
hauled it back to his camp site. He built up the fire again. He washed his hands carefully.
He had some antiseptic soap in his pack.
Jared quickly constructed a spit arrangement over the fire and placed the peccary close to the fire. He unwrapped some lose tin
sheets he had in his pack and constructed a reflector behind the fire. Peccary was a delicacy. He would cook it slow but he would also cook it very well done. Parasites were in
everything and had to be killed.
Without the rain the fire was hot and didn’t burn with too much smoke.
No one
would see the fire and probably not the smoke, but the odor of the roasting peccary could
travel a long way. That was OK. Jared sat back on his
bohio
and relaxed. He was enjoying this. This was great.
He wished that Jenny was with him.
She would love this too.
He sat there for several hours.
He was thinking.
He was always thinking.
He couldn’t
turn it off.
Mediation helped but not long enough.
He couldn’t meditate all day long.
Not every day.
Suddenly, Jared sensed that someone was approaching.
There was no sound.
There was no movement, but someone was getting close to his camp. Jared focused.
“
Hola
, Lopez,” said Jared.
The disappointment in Lopez’s eyes was obvious.
He had been warned by Jeronimo that it was impossible to sneak up on Jared, but he had to try.
“
Hola
, Jared.” It was an embarrassed greeting. From then on, they only spoke in
Kuna.
Lopez cut meat off the peccary and ate.
He liked peccary.
The men talked. Lopez told Jared that Rubio and his men were very close now.
If Jared would move his
camp they could delay the encounter until the next morning. Jared said that the encounter
had to be this evening, shortly before sunset.
Lopez didn’t understand but he agreed.
It
was now just after noontime.
It would take Rubio several hours to get to Jared’s camp
site.
Jared asked how many Kuna were with him. He said that there were seven others.
Idel couldn’t come because of his bad back and asked that Jared forgive him. Idel was
watching over Jenny so he was still helping. Jared told Lopez that Idel’s courage was
known by everyone.
Forgiveness was unnecessary. Jared reminded Lopez to make certain that his men kept their distance. Rubio’s men had guns. He asked if they were laying
a trail for Rubio to follow. They were. Jared explained that Rubio had automatic weapons
and devices that permitted them to see in the dark, although those devices probably
wouldn’t work that well in the jungle at night. The Kuna had single shot rifles they used
mostly for hunting.
He didn’t want any of the Kuna injured or killed. Lopez promised
that everyone would be very careful.
Jared said that a half hour before sunset he would
place the remains of the peccary into the coals of the fire so the odor of cooking pig is
very strong. On hearing that, Lopez cut another piece. A large piece. It was a very good
peccary.
Lopez told Jared that Rubio had hired a guide from the Chocó people who live in
the Darien province—that is the area that borders Colombia.
He said that most were
good people and that he doubted that the guide had been told the full purpose of the hunt
for Jared. He told Lopez that they should take no risks but if it was possible to try not to
kill Rubio’s men. Jared had planned this encounter very carefully. It was not going to be
like what happened on Eagle’s Head.
Jared would have absolutely no sense of guilt or
regret if Rubio or his men were killed, but he decided that it was important to Jenny that
there be as little death as possible. He asked Lopez to tell the rest that they should try to
wound and to not kill if it could be safely avoided. He explained that taking care of a
wounded man was like taking two men out of the action—not just one. It might actually
bring this to closure much sooner. Rubio’s men were professionals.
They wouldn’t be
easy to kill or wound. Everyone had to be very cautious. It wasn’t worth risking the lives
of the Kuna. Still, he felt confident that his enemies could be routed with little or no lose
of life.
The Kuna were experts in this jungle.
They could take care of themselves. So
could Jared.
Lopez asked Jared about the quality of Rubio’s men. He was concerned because
he heard they were all Colombians.
Jared explained that it was probable that they were
city people even though they were from Colombia or perhaps Venezuela.
The Panamanian jungle would be terrifying for most of them.
Lopez was pleased.
His mother, the
rain forest, could be an angry woman if she was not understood.
Jared sat next to the fire and meditated. His senses were alert to his surroundings.
He didn’t move as several hours passed. Lopez slept. Soon, the sun was close to the horizon. Tonight there would be a new moon.
The jungle will be absolutely dark tonight. It
wasn’t going to rain tonight. That helped. He had to taunt Rubio and his men to give
them a sense that he could be had. It would be dangerous to bring them so close but if he
didn’t they would wait until the morning to close in for the kill. He gambled everything
on Rubio making a fatal error in judgment and that meant that Rubio had to smell a kill.
Jared sensed Jeronimo well before he was close to the camp.
Jeronimo walked
into the clearing and sat on his haunches.
He cut some peccary and ate before he spoke.
Although sound didn’t travel well in the jungle, Jeronimo whispered as they spoke. Rubio
was 200 meters from the camp.
He was moving slow and cautiously, making no noise.
They had stopped hacking with their machetes as soon as the smell of the cooking fire
was sensed.
Jared knew that he had to be very careful to time it just right. He warned Jeronimo that Rubio’s men had glasses that allowed them to see in the night, but the light amplifiers needed some light. There wasn’t enough to do much good. The infrared illuminators had short range.
It wouldn’t help them that much but they may be able to see 10 or
20 meters in clearings, but there were few clearings. The jungle was thick and even when
there was light it was difficult to see more than about 5 to 10 meters.
Jeronimo didn’t
entirely understand but agreed to warn the others about this. There were a total of seven
Kuna with him. They were facing 20.
Jared pushed the last of the peccary into the fire
and waved to Jeronimo to leave.
Jeronimo disappeared into the rain forest, followed a
few minutes later by Lopez.
Jared waited. He sensed Rubio was slowly closing in. Still, he waited. The odor
of burning peccary was strong and Rubio was approaching from down wind.
Then he
saw movement.
It wasn’t more than 10 meters away. There was still some late sunlight
filtering through the canopy. It was the Chocó guide. Jared waited until he saw him push
through the undergrowth.
Their eyes locked.
He wasn’t carrying a weapon.
“
That was
lucky
,” thought Jared. Jared was illuminated by the camp fire. He bolted into the jungle
and headed for the Mohinga swamp.
Rubio signaled to his men to be quiet.
Their guide ran up to him excitedly and
told him that he had seen the man they were looking for. Rubio smiled. It would be over
soon.
He warned his men to stop chattering among themselves. He grew up near a jungle and spent many years in his youth exploring.
He loved the jungle.
These men were
mostly from the cities. They were marvelous killers but the insects and the sharp needles
of the palm were taking their toll on their morale.
They carefully broke into the small clearing where Jared had set up camp. Their
rifles were on the ready.
The fat from the burning peccary was crackling in the coals.
Rubio crouched close to the fire an examined the collapsed spit and the smoldering carcass. Something wasn’t right. Had Jared accidentally toppled the spit as he was running
or was this deliberate? Rubio was suspicious. This was a lure. But why?
The Chocó man spotted the trail left by Jared. Two of Rubio’s men ignited flares
and threw them down the trail to see if it was an ambush. The jungle was too dense and
it didn’t do much good.
Rubio signaled his men to stop. His instincts told him that this
was a trap but several of the men had already fanned out in a pincer movement they had
practiced that morning.
They were out of sight.
Rubio grabbed his handset and radioed
to his men to be very vigilant for a trap.
They must move slowly.
They all slowed, but
they didn’t stop. Rubio wanted to bring his men back to the camp and to wait until morning but the man walking point reported over his headset that Jared was just in front of
him. Shots rang out. It was a quick burst of automatic fire. The men began to run toward
the gun fire. Rubio relented. Maybe Jared had been hit. He began to run too.
The sun set. The jungle was darkening quickly.
The men with the night vision
goggles turned them on. The noises in the jungle went silent after the first shots. It was
an eerie quiet.
Soon it was pitch dark.
Wanting to save their batteries for when they
might really need them, some were burning mosquito repellant on rags tied to sticks.
Most used their flashlights, holding them away from their bodies just in case someone
was sighting on the source of the light.
The jungle was new to most of them and it was
intimidating. They all searched the ground for snakes as they moved through the jungle.
The heat was still oppressive.
The machetes came out and the hacking began anew.
There was no point in being silent now.
Their quarry was just minutes ahead of them.
None of them realized that the Kuna were closing in as well.
They followed Jared into the swamp. He could hear them muttering as they went
into the black water. The surface was covered with floating leaves and twigs. It was like
walking through a thick soup. It was horrible but the real horror hadn’t started yet.
Jared was pleased that Rubio’s men were using flashlights and torches.
It was
ruining their night vision and would cause the light amplifiers to flare.
That was good.
The first burst of automatic rifle fire wasn’t even close.
He had to stay close enough to
tantalize them into following him and he had to do it in a way so that their emotions overruled their judgment—especially at the moment they entered the mangrove swamp. He
had to lure them into the swamp.
This would be the darkest night any of Rubio’s men
would ever experience. They would have nightmares about this night for the rest of their
lives.
The Mohinga Swamp was a place even the Kuna didn’t like to venture into at
night, but they would do it for Jared. At least they knew what to expect.
Rubio’s men
had no idea what it was going to be like.
Jared tried to keep his distance from the lead attackers at about 20 meters, sometimes much less. He made noise and left an easy trail to follow. They were city boys who
could use guns.
The water was waste deep and it was difficult to move. The footing was tangled
with roots and each step sunk into muddy ooze. Lose shoulder straps were getting caught
on branches.
And, it was dark.
It was darker than Rubio’s men had ever imagined a
night could be. Jared led them deeper and deeper into the great swamp.
Suddenly, Jared froze.
He could hear one of Rubio’s men moving through the
water. He was very close. But that wasn’t the danger he sensed.
There was something
else and it was much closer.
The snake struck.
Jared’s instincts exploded. He lunged away from the strike and caught the snake
below its head with his right hand as the fangs pierced his skin, hitting his left arm below
the elbow. The snake was huge. He couldn’t see it well, but it felt like a bushmaster, the
largest and deadliest venomous snake in the Americas. Bushmasters could grow to 12
feet. This snake was at least 10 feet. It could only be a bushmaster. That was not good.