Liberty At Last (The Liberty Series) (39 page)

“Of course you do,” I said and laughed nervously. It was not lost on me that the man I was marrying knew weapons dealers and customs agents in just about every foreign country. I tried to look at the bright side: at least he was organized.

“Oh, and Liberty,” John said, gathering some of our stuff to bring downstairs, “don’t forget the bug spray.”

I found a spray bottle of bug spray in the bathroom on the counter. It was a kind I hadn’t seen before. It said “extra-strength” and “toxic” written all over it. And a picture of a bug. A very, very big bug.

“We’re flying into Campo Grande, near the Paraguay border,” Matthew told us later, while we were on the plane. John had hired a private plane to take us. I had no idea how much Cruz was paying him for the job, but it must have been exorbitant; we were offered champagne and warm face cloths, but everyone disappointedly declined, so I had to say no, too. They must have all flown with John like this before. He was all business right now; they must’ve known he wouldn’t approve.

“Campo Grande is urban. It’s got a population just shy of 800,000,” Matthew continued, putting up a picture on the plane’s multiple small screens. “It’s the last place Darius was spotted, meeting someone from his group. He keeps disappearing, though. So we think he might be staying out of town.”

He pointed to an area southwest of the city. “We might have to go out here,” he said. “It’s rainforest. It’s going to suck, but at least it’s not the rainy season.”

He looked at all of us, making sure we were paying attention. “I know we didn’t have as much time as we were hoping to plan this,” he said, “so our goal has to be to complete our assignment as quickly as we can. The city can be dangerous, but we have a building we can stay in that’s relatively safe. Not comfortable, but safe.”

He continued to look at us. “If we have to stay out in the forest, though — and we might, I really think he’s hiding somewhere out there, maybe in a safe house — we have to be extremely careful. Everyone has to use bug spray, and it’s mandatory to reapply every two hours. There’s malaria, yellow fever, all sorts of nasty stuff that you could pick up from the mosquitos. So bug spray is a must, and the kind we bought smells like shit, but it’ll keep you safe.

“Also, I hate to tell you, but there are a lot of snakes and spiders that we need to be wary off.”

I felt my skin prickle and my palms start to sweat.
I really hated spiders. Mosquitoes were bad, snakes were disgusting, but spiders? Spiders were so much more than disgusting. They were scary. It was like god had designed them to make you scream when you saw them; scream and run away, to protect yourself. They were scary, icky, and in the worst case scenario, hairy.
Just thinking about them made me cross my legs tight and emit little silent, grossed-out screams inside my head.

“Not all of the snakes and spiders down here are venomous, but we don’t have time to get immersed in the nuances of that,” Matthew said. “Treat them all like they’re your enemy. Run away from them. Shoot them. Whatever.”

Everyone started talking then, but John just quietly studied the map and I kept wiping my palms off on my jeans, hoping they would eventually stop sweating.

“We still don’t know who Darius is partnered up with. Cruz has some ideas, but as far as we’re concerned, it doesn’t really matter. We’re not getting more involved than our current assignment. We need to capture Darius and then contact Cruz for instructions.” Matthew and John looked at each other briefly. “At this point, we think that Cruz is just going to want him terminated. But he might have some questions first.”

Matthew shrugged and went back to talking about the territory where we were landing, but I tuned him out. Darius was not my favorite person, but we were going to kill him in cold blood. My palms started sweating profusely again. I looked at John, but he was staring thoughtfully at the map, reading something on his iPad, and reading text messages all at the same time. I nervously flipped through the leaflet Matthew had handed out. There were photographs of the city, which surprised me because of its skyscrapers and highways. Ignorant as I was about this part of the world, I was expecting something less civilized. But there were parks and gardens and fountains, all planned, urbane and sophisticated. There were pictures of the city at night, beautifully lit up.

Then I flipped to the next page. There were pictures of snakes, different types of insects, and spiders. Lots of spiders. Some were big and some were hairy. Some were big AND hairy. I leaned back in my seat and tried to do yoga breathing.
Now this
, I thought,
was unfortunately exactly what I WAS expecting.

“You okay?” John asked, patting my hand gently.

I nodded at him, not wanting to give anything away. I didn’t expect John to baby me on this assignment; in fact, I would probably fall apart if he did. I put the fear out of my mind. I knew I was afraid, but I wasn’t going to let it rule me. I was going to use it to keep me sharp, keep me energized, keep me focused.

I made myself look back down at the pictures.
The Brazilian Wandering Spider
, I read,
has a long body and the greatest body weight in its group…they can grow to have a leg span of six inches…they are called Wandering spiders because they wander the jungle floors at night…

I heard a high-pitched whine and I realized it was coming from me. I looked over and saw that John was watching me with a worried expression. I just shook my head at him. “I’m fine,” I whispered, coughing and clearing my throat. “I just think I need some water.”

He pulled a bottle of water out of his bag and handed it to me, then looked down at the open page on my lap. “You just need some water? That’s why you’re making weird noises, shaking and practically crying?” he asked, looking up at me from the spiders. There was a mixture of pity, frustration and love on his face.

“You know babe, they do have some nice hotels down here. We could stay at one. Matthew and the guys have this under control.” He reached over and grabbed my sweaty hand and squeezed it. “We don’t have to do this,” he whispered to me, conspiratorially. “We can bail. I’ll still get paid.”

I pulled my hand back, wiping it on my jeans, and shook my head at him. “I’m fine,” I said. “And I don’t want to separate you from the guys just because I’m a chicken. They need you. Just as much as I do.”

“I’ll be with you, every step of the way,” John said, closing his screens down. He took the papers from my lap and stuffed them into his bag, and then he leaned back and closed his eyes, pulling me to him. “Let’s get some rest now. We land in a few hours. I have a feeling we won’t be doing a lot of sleeping once we’re on the ground.”

It was hot and humid when we got off the plane, even though it was nighttime. “This is spring weather,” Jake was saying. “In a few months it’ll be 110 every day. So this is nothing.” There were seven of us total, five of us rode in the back of the somewhat beat-up van that John had gotten at the airport. Matthew was driving and John was with him up front. We drove through the downtown city streets in relative quiet; it was the middle of the night and we were in what appeared to be a business district, with office-like tall buildings and narrow parking lots.

“Keep the windows up,” Jake called to them from the back. “I did my research — I read my leaflet. Sometimes people get robbed at red lights.”

“Jake,” Matthew called from the front, “do you see anybody on the road but us?”

“No,” Jake said.

“Then shut up,” Matthew said. “Stop trying to be smart. It’s never going to work.”

Matthew and the rest of the guys cracked up at that, but I saw Jake’s face redden. He was young, and he was always ready to go, eager. Like a hound dog that had been kept on his leash too long, anxious to hunt and stretch his muscles.

“Brazil’s a beautiful country,” Matthew said, now sounding a bit like a schoolmarm. “Yes, if you’re some tourist wearing a fanny pack, you need to be careful. But
we
are not wearing fanny packs.
We
are not worried about getting mugged.”

“No,
we
are worried about getting shot by Darius or bit by big, hairy, wandering spiders,” I said, quietly enough so that John couldn’t hear me.

Corey just nodded. “Man, I hate spiders,” he said.

“Then you guys should stick with me,” Jake said. “I’m not afraid. We can use them as target practice. It’ll be fun.”

“Fun,” I said, nodding. “Right.”

After a while we pulled up to a low building that looked like it could be some sort of factory. We drove out back, Matthew getting out and motioning to Jake. “Come on, hotshot,” he called. “Let’s go check the building for muggers.”

John came into the back and started organizing our supplies. “We’re bringing it all in,” he said. “We might just be here for a couple hours, but I want the van cleaned out.”

Jake and Matthew came back a few minutes later. “Clear,” Jake said.

John handed me my backpack as we went into the building. It was one level, concrete, with large, dusty boxes piled on one side. “Let me guess — you own the building?” I asked, raising my eyebrow at him.

“Alas, I do not,” John said, ushering me inside. “It belongs to an associate of Cruz. And it may not be totally safe. He knows we’re coming, and I don’t know him or trust him. Cruz does, but Cruz doesn’t always have the best judgment.”

“So what are you worried about?” I asked.

“You know, the usual,” John said and shrugged. He checked his phone. “Getting shot at. Someone firebombing the building. Getting surrounded and having a shootout.”

“Oh,” I said, and resigned myself to the cold sweat forming in my armpits.

“I have to go meet my connection,” he said. “I have to get our weapons. I should only be gone for an hour. Can you stay here with the guys?”

“Who’s going with you? I asked. I didn’t want him out there, alone, meeting some shady arms dealer.

“I’m fine. I’m going to leave Matthew here with you,” he said. “It’ll be fine. We’ve used this guy before. He’s reliable. He likes money more than he likes anything else, so he loves us.”

“Let me come, too,” I said. I didn’t want to say it out loud, but my stomach had plummeted when he said we were going to separate. I’d taken my ring off and left it at the house in Rhode Island, not wanting to lose it, but I thought of it now. The symbol of our promise to each other. On top of that, I didn’t want him to go out alone. It was too dangerous. “Please,” I said.

“Okay,” he said. “But Liberty,
I
am calling the shots down here. You have to listen.” I nodded at him imperceptibly, telling my hurt feelings to take a hike. John had a point; he
was
the boss.

“Matthew,” John called. “You’re coming with us,” he said, and Matthew looked surprised. “We’ll take the van. These guys can try to get some rest and take turns with lookout.

“Jake,” John called, and Jake looked up eagerly.

“Yes, sir?” he asked, trotting over.

“You’re in charge of base while we’re gone,” John said. A smile broke out over Jake’s face and he immediately wiped it off, trying to be cool.