Page 78 of Vaquero
Within minutes, the Blackhawk hovered over a narrow stretch of sand in the middle of nowhere. Surrounded by ocean, Julio didn’t know where they were, and for some reason, the navigation maps were offline. Maybe because Trevor was at the controls.
“This little gem is only here because of the last hurricane,” Trevor said.
Gem? Looked more like a soggy sandbar. Julio kept his opinion to himself.
“Brazil is still off your port. Sun’ll be setting soon, so if you plan on exploring, get it done as quick as you can.”
Explore? There was nothing to see out the helo’s windows except a narrow neck of two, maybe three miles of sand, and a spindly palm tree at the opposite end that could only be a couple years old. It was that little. And scraggly.
“Yes, sir,” Julio breathed as he cast a glance over his shoulder at Hazelton. She’d been tossed around a little, but her harness had kept her upright. Mostly. Hotrod was in the same state of disarray. Julio cringed at what Hotrod might say when he came to. Blackhawk pilots had formidable egos. He wouldn’t take being so quickly neutralized well.
Trevor set the helo down quite gently, considering he did it from Kentucky. “There. Sit tight, Juarez. Help’s already in transit to your location. We’ve been tracking your transponder signals since the moment you called. ETA in two hours, maybe less. See if Hotrod packed any protein bars in that bird. Wouldn’t be surprised if you find a bottle of rum. He prefers dark Jamaican. Course, he thinks he’s a pirate, too.”
Julio jolted back to his current dilemma. “Chief, is this bird equipped with blue force tracking capability?” Blue force tracking was the US military’s GPS-enabled capability to locate friendlies and hostiles in the field.
“You bet. Look up and you’ll see several monitors attached to ceiling rails. They’re labeled. Should be easy to figure out which one’s blue force, even for a Navy guy. All you have to do is turn it on. Why? Who are you expecting? Trouble?”
Julio swallowed hard. Chief Duncan might hold the highest security clearance, but Julio didn’t know that for sure. He wouldn’t break protocol by revealing the whereabouts of missing plutonium. “Thank you, sir, but I’m not at liberty to say. Please contact Senator Sullivan at your earliest convenience. Tell him where I am, and what you know. He’ll explain.”
“Copy that,” Trevor asked without questioning. “Watch the sky, Juarez. We’ll be bringing the rain. And, oh, by the way… If you truly love my sister like you said you did when you thought you were dying, you’d better make dammed sure you live. She’ll kick my ass if you don’t.”
“Yessss,” Julio hissed, smiling through his teeth. “I intend to.”
