Page 18 of The Perfect Stranger

Dusk was settling in casting an ominous glow over the land. Benito, the cab driver, took us as far over the border as he could go. The rest of the journey was up to us, and it wasn’t going to be easy. We were to approach via the back end of La Balsa. That involved navigating the mountainous terrain while avoiding the rebel forces playing sentry in the jungle.

Four hours into our on-foot journey we lowered our packs with an overwhelming relief.

Having used our NV goggles for much of the journey, we opted to continue wearing them instead of lighting our lanterns.

“You feel eyes watching us?” Jase was back to his normal nervous self whenever he became anxious about a job. Spreading out my sleeping bag, I watched his green figure do the same.

“No, I don’t.”

“It’s like they’re waiting for us to make the wrong move before they attack.”

“You’re letting paranoia get the better of you.”

Jase crawled into his sleeping bag, his gaze locked to the canopy of leaves. For a while we both laid silent, each contemplating our own haunted thoughts.

“You think old mate at the border has sent word we’re here?” Jase asked.

It was a possibility. The man worked in customs. He would have more connections than anyone.

“No, I don’t.”

He seemed legit in a non-legit ‘I’ll take your money’ kind of way.

“What’s our exit plan?”

“That I don’t know. I’m not sure what we’re about to walk into.” Time to change tact. Back to the topic what always proved the reliable distraction. “How’s Nessa?”

There was a pause. “Same. Same.”

“Does she know where you are?”

“Some of her things were gone.” He sounded distant, disheartened, having to cop his own error and misjudgment on the chin. “I assume she’s with him.”

“That’s your wife, Jase. When we make it back, you need to sort that shit out.”

“If... we make it back.”

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