17 A Big Old Nasty Magnet

Taylor was awake when I got back to my seat. “Where have you been?”

“Talking to Jack.”

“How is he?”

“Pretty stressed out. Like all of us.”

It was night out when the plane touched down. The pilots hit the afterburners hard, almost knocking us all into the seat back in front of us.

“Sorry about that,” said Pilot Boyd.

The jet taxied for a few minutes, then stopped. I looked out the window for any sign of Alpha Team. Suddenly the lights on a Humvee turned on.

“There they are,” I said. Taylor looked out the window but said nothing. As the jet shut down, Boyd came out into the cabin. “We have landed in Huancayo. You have fifteen minutes to disembark and say your goodbyes.”

“Are you getting off?” Taylor asked.

I nodded. “I’ve got to make sure they all have tracking sensors. How about you?”

“Only if you need me.”

“We’re okay.” I took the box of sensors and the tracker, then walked out just ahead of Jack, who was saying goodbye to the others.

Ostin got up too. “Mind if I join you?”

“No, come on.”

The Peruvian air was different from what we’d left back in Idaho. It was cool and moist, as humid as a commercial laundry room. It smelled wild.

“Back to the jungle,” I said to Ostin.

“This place is like a magnet for us,” Ostin said.

“A big old nasty magnet,” I said.

“Do you think we’ll ever stop coming back?”

“This is my last trip,” I said.

Ostin’s brow furrowed. “By choice, I hope.”

Several members of Alpha Team got out of the cars, appearing as silhouettes. One of them shouted, “Michael?”

I recognized the Polish accent. “Cibor.”

I set the box of sensors down, and we embraced. The last time I’d seen Cibor had been at the airstrip when we’d flown out of Puerto. He had brought Tessa’s body for us to fly home. We had been bonded by the trauma of the moment.

“It’s good to see you, brother,” he said.

“You too,” I said. “So, you didn’t get enough action last time?”

“Got enough to last my lifetime.” He exhaled slowly. “I heard about Cass and her cancer. I’m so sorry.”

“Yeah,” I said. “It’s pretty rough.”

“She dodged a bullet only to get hit from behind. It’s just wrong.”

“Cibor,” Ostin said, coming out from behind me.

“So wrong,” I said. I stood back. “You remember Ostin.”

“One does not forget Ostin,” Cibor said. They bumped fists. “So you’re back too.”

“If Michael’s there, I’m there.”

“That’s good for both of you.”

I lifted the box of sensors from the ground and handed them to him. “Here are the sensors. Do you remember how they work?”

“I remember. Do they still…?” He made an explosion gesture with his free hand.

“No. The missile part has been deactivated.”

“That’s unfortunate,” he said.

“Just make sure you’re wearing one before you start in the morning. All of you.” I turned to see Jack jogging up to us. “Especially Jack.”

“There’s our boy,” Cibor said.

“Yo, Cibor,” Jack said. They man hugged, and then Jack said, “Johnson’s not joining us?”

“No. He’s still dealing with our last dumpster fire.”

“At least I’ve got you,” Jack said to Cibor. “So, we good to go?”

“I gave Cibor the nickels,” I said.

“I’ll introduce you to our other two operatives in the car,” he said. “They’re good soldiers.”

“Excellent. Michael and I went over everything again just before we landed.”

“Then we are ready,” Cibor said.

Jack turned back to me. “Let’s do this.”

“Be careful out there,” I said. “There’s a lot of dangerous things in the jungle besides electric humans.”

Ostin said, “For example, Shining Path guerillas, caimans, piranha, jaguars, vipers, bullet ants, giant centipedes, Chagas disease, drug dealers…”

“Yeah, all of that,” I said.

“Maybe you’ll run into Torstyn out there,” Jack said.

“Maybe.” We embraced. “I’ll see you on the other side.”

“You too, brother. With Abi.”

As I walked away, I felt a knot tightening in my stomach. Something was telling me that I would never see them again. From the plane stairway, I turned around to take one last look at them before climbing back into the plane.