Masae’s camp, archaeological working site – 7:00 PM
A revenge and greed poison brewed in Masae’s heart threatened the forest. Another bolt of lightning illuminated the overcast sky; thunder made the giant trees tremble. The Andean jungle fauna followed its nocturnal ritual, hurrying to their dens, nests, and caves. Above all, keeping their distance from the tents with human invaders.
The armadillos rolled their provisions into their hollow while the royal vultures and the cock-of-the-rocks kept quiet in their nests, silent witnesses of yet another fight. Yellow-tailed monkeys swung around, glancing suspiciously at the woman clinging to a mossy Incadendron branch. She could climb higher as the tree was one of the highest in the forest, if she was to be rescued by any aircraft. Yeah! Wouldn’t it be nice? she thought, peering at the men down. They looked from her vantage point like fireflies with their head flashlights. The mercenaries and hybrids stood around Mila’s tree waiting for a command.
Masae’s voice resounded on the devices. She had run out of patience. Mila had to climb down. The men opened fire. The bullets whistled past Mila too close for her comfort, but if they wanted to kill her, she would already be dead. Mila had no intention of dying from a puny stray bullet or lightning.
“Hold your fire! I’m coming down,” Mila yelled, climbing down. Her injured arm sent sharp stabs of pain up to her shoulder.
Once on the ground, the lab creatures snatched her. She was wrong; Masae didn’t care if they killed her. She fought with nothing but her body and the knife she had taken from the hybrid on the top of the rocky wall. The men went for Mila’s arms and legs as if detaching her limbs was the objective. It would be a slow death.
Back flashes of her run in the English forest appeared in her mind. She had been under the influence of the mind-altering experimental drug she had ingested. She had fought against invisible assassins in the dead of the night. Now she was lucid and the horrific night vision had become true.
The five attackers didn’t stop. Mila evaded some of their skillful stabs and hard blows. She stumbled several times, but charged at them again and again. If fear had made that dreadful nightmare in the English woods a reality, courage would also have to be.
The rain was falling, blurring her vision, but the enhanced creatures seemed to see well with or without their night vision goggles. She had to act faster and be out of their reach as a defense move. On the offence, her goal was the elite guards. She could deal with them because they had trained her with their techniques and moves. Although she got her share of hits and gashes, she got them with her blades behind their knees and at their groins when she crouched low. Their muscular bulk was their weakness where flexibility and deception were her weapons. She recalled the music of the jungle, the beat of the berimbau dictating the speed of the attack..
“Sadly, your training didn’t involve the music of the forest.” She murmured, crouching low with two blades chambered in her hands and two guards fell on their knees.
The lab creatures lunged at her. It wasn’t easy to bring them down. She had to go for the neck, but they were getting better at protecting their exposed body parts. Fire would take them out fast as she learned in the burning of the Singapore lab. Yet lighting the ancient forest up was out of the question. She spun swiftly and struck hard her attackers’ jaws with her elbows, breaking noses with her heels, and compromised kidneys with her knees.
Mila was holding her own until she slid, deflecting the hook to her neck by one of the enhanced creatures. She fell on the mud-covered ground, rain water and sap stinged her eyes, she blinked and a creature pierced her side with his combat knife. Immediately, two men dragged her to Masae’s tent and threw her like a hunting prize at the boss’s feet.
“If your beloved Alexander had done as I asked, you would have finished these beasts like a bunch of kittens. Do you see the great disservice he did you? But there is a lesson to learn here: the power of the mind. When you woke up in the lab, we convinced you that you were invincible—you embraced it and became invincible. Now that you know the truth of your fragile life, you act accordingly. You are wounded although you are strong, a quick thinker and faster on your feet than these beings. You had already fought some of them and you had prevailed during your training, so what is lacking now, if not the conviction of your power?” Masae spoke, crouching to Mila’s level. She raised Mila’s bruised and bloody face, inspecting her. She appraised her wounds, ghastlier under the tent’s flickering light, particularly the one on her side. “What a pity, such a lovely woman! You could have been my daughter and future Pharma-NorTech head after my passing.” Masae stepped back, forcing Mila to raise her swollen gaze.
I was your experiment to watch how far I could get… Anyway, your enhanced army project failed. Look at them, brute force without the power of thought… Mila thought in Japanese, sensing Masae’s constant probing inside her head. Mila sighed deeply and choked with the blood that drained into her throat.
“There’s not much left of you, my dear, and I wouldn’t mind letting them finish their work, but I want you alive for a little longer. My informer communicated that your friends are right where I want them to be. When they see your pitiful condition, they won’t have another option but to speed up the process of my acquisition.” Masae declared, staring at Mila, her son Kei’s vulnerable spot.
Thunders shook the heavens and the ground. Pitchers of water poured down. Nature’s voice roared deafeningly, making the humans shout to be heard.
“Cherut, right? A secret organization founded by my first born son, Kei Sato. They are truly an exceptional group, so loyal—except for one, of course,” Masae continued, unfazed by the savage storm. She spoke as if thinking aloud. “There is always one crack in the shield.” She inspected the waterproof nylon of her tent which protected her equipment.
Mila stood up shaky, but didn’t speak. She conserved her strength. The wet and sticky crimson stain in her white top continued to grow. The wound was deep. The adrenaline rush had anesthetized her up until then, she began to feel weaker by the second.
Masae’s voice became a faraway noise. Mila felt like letting go, but life clung to her. Mila you are iron wrapped and silk and from now on you will live up to it. Her father’s voice echoed in her head. Flora has my healer blood, it will sustain her until the baby comes to the light… She recognized the voice now, it was her great grandmother’s. Maybe that was it, Mila considered, there was ancient healer blood keeping her alive.
“Fasten her where she can be easily seen and her blood scent carried with the wind.” Masae narrowed her eyes at Mila’s wounds. The girl was bleeding her life away. Tie the Swede up as well and wait in your posts!”
The hybrids moved wordlessly as the obedient machines they were. They carried out the orders without thought or conscience. They dragged Mila and Jesper away while Masae watched the virtual screens. There were images of the surroundings provided by the drones and cameras planted around the camp. However, the rain blurred the cameras—and the people coming were professionals.