Choosing Corners: Bitter Agreement

Morning sunlight glimmered through the dense foliage of the jungle around us. We spent the night taking turns sleeping in the jeep with two of us always awake, and keeping guard. The trade with Olivia was all set and we were waiting on the edge of the valley, Jack had picked. I did not expect she would play fair of course, but there was the minute chance she would bring Brian with her and if so, it was worth every bit of the risk. Jack might not agree, but as we both knew, I was long passed the point of caring.

"Anyone?" I asked as Jack scanned the area with binoculars.

Without pausing in his search, he said, "Nothing yet."

Behind us, Gina yawned and rolled out of the jeep onto the dirt. Our captive was loosely cuffed by a single wrist to the back of the jeep and other than a few glances here and there, her remained quiet. Gina disappeared behind the far side of the jeep for a minute before rejoining us. She said, "You don't really expect this is going to work do you?"

Jack laughed. I shook my head and said, "The point was to get her to a place of our choosing. If she actually plays it straight I'll go along, but I'm betting she won't."

"I take it you have a plan?" Gina said.

Looking at me, Jack said, "You can bet I do, provided we actually make it out of this mess."

Ignoring Jack, I said, "I'm still working on it."

"You're running out of time,"Gina said glancing at her watch.

I nodded. "How much do you trust me?" I asked her.

"No more than an inch or two from my knee," Jack said.

Gina said, "What are you thinking?"

"Olivia will do whatever it takes to get her hands on me, but I don't think she cares a thing about either of you," I said.

"We're collateral," Jack said dryly, "She'll capture or kill us, whichever is easier."

"I still don't get why she wants you?" Gina said, looking at me.

"She has a knack for solving the crazy puzzles," Jack said.

"Make things seem really upside down doesn't it?" I said shaking my head at Jack. "Here I am trying to share my skills with people that don't want to listen and running for my life from the people that do."

"Hey now!" Jack said twisting to glare at me, "I listen to every member of my team. Just because I don't blindly run after you, doesn't mean I'm not paying attention."

"Right," I said nodding my head, "If I hadn't gone out on my own and found the stupid compasses in Italy, you would still be following Dr. Michaels all over Europe looking for them."

Jack said, "You know what's really sad? You were supposed to learn a lesson back in Italy and despite everything I've done to teach it to you, you still haven't learned it."

"Swatting my ass doesn't replace honest conversation," I said.

"If that's all you took away from the experience then you really don't listen to anything I say," Jack said.

"You got something to say?" I said cocking my head at him, "I'm all ears."

"Yeah," Jack said hunching back on his ankles, "We get back to L.A. and we're going to find out which is more unbreakable; Your butt or a Lexan paddle."

"What's the matter?" I said boldly, "Not man enough to test me against your own hand?"

"You want a go against my hand," Jack said, "Let's do it right here, right now."

"That's real smart," I said, "I'm sure you can't wait to get your hands on my ass again, but are you really dumb enough to do it here and now so that Olivia and her goons can just follow the noise right to us?"

"Afraid I'll make you squeal?" Jack said.

"I'm sure a hand job from you isn't close to being up to the task," I said.

"Only one way to find out," Jack said, his face embarrassingly close to my own.

"Ain't that the truth," Gina said, "You two need to get a room and work out all that tension."

"In his very wet dreams," I said, staring right into his eyes barely a nose away from my own.

"I've already seen everything you got," Jack said, staring right back, "And it's not all that."

"And yet every chance you get, you keep coming back to see it all again," I said.

"More like you make sure to take every chance you can to show it to me," Jack said.

"You guys do realize, she'll be here any minute and we still need a plan?" Gina said struggling between laughing at us and scolding us.

"Right," I said leaning back from Jack and looking between the two of them. "It's simple really. Gina will take Ben there, into the open and conduct the trade, while we cover from here and here." I pointed out the locations on the map Jack had used to select the location.

"Why me?" Gina asked, obviously not excited to have the job.

"Because you won't be perceived as a threat and you aren't her primary target," Jack said, catching on.

I said, "If she brings Brian and does things straight, everyone is happy. If not, she'll likely take you prisoner, but Jack and I should be able to avoid her goons and track you back to wherever they are keeping Brian."

"Won't she expect that?" Gina said.

"I would," Jack said.

"Yes, which means she'll set a trap for us at her base," I said.

"And how are you going to avoid it?" Gina asked.

Jack shook his head looking at me as I shrugged. He said, "Very carefully."

"As long as we have a plan," Gina said, rolling her eyes to heaven.

"Trust me," I said, "I won't leave you behind and Olivia isn't really interested in you."

"At worst she'll torture you a little to find out what you know about us and our plans," Jack said.

"Tell her what you know, because you really don't know anything valuable and holding back won't be pleasant," I said.

"Hold a little back, so she can feel secure that she has broken you when you give it," Jack said.

"Better not to wait for her to start the torturing," I said, "She'll know you don't know anything useful from the start and not waste her time with you."

"Trust me, she'll waste her time or someone else's," Jack said, "Without a bit of torture she won't be sure whether you know anything more than your saying or not."

I glared at Jack and said, "Trust me, if you hold anything back she'll assume you're holding even more back. Just be honest with her from the start."

"Do you think you two could be anymore confusing?" Gina asked.

"I'm sure we could try," I said smiling at her and Jack.

Jack nodded and said, "I'm fairly certain we could manage it if you like."

"What if I say no?" Gina asked.

"No to Olivia or No to V?" Jack asked.

"Either," Gina said.

"Well Olivia will probably make you wish she had ripped your tongue out," Jack said.

"I'll just roll you down the hill with Ben and pretend I didn't hear you," I said.

"So you're saying I don't really have a choice?" Gina asked.

"I don't think she said that," Jack said looking questioningly at me, "Did you say that?"

I said, "I don't think so. I'm pretty sure I didn't."

"You know the two of you are insane?" Gina said looking back and forth between us.

Jack and I looked at each smiling for a moment and then we shrugged and said, "Yeah, probably."

A noise in the distance caught our attention and Jack picked up the binoculars again to look. After a tense minute of waiting he turned back to me and said, "They're here." I nodded and Gina swallowed, still not certain she wanted to be bait.

"Any sign of Brian?" I asked. Jack shrugged and offered me the binoculars. He said, "I'm not really sure what he looks like and in their fatigues, all her people look more or less the same."

I slowly looked through the trees and studied the shapes of our adversaries. None of them looked quite like Brian, but Jack was right. He could have been right in front of me and looking like everyone else, I could not be sure I would notice. I handed the binoculars back to Jack and stood up, dusting dirt and mud off my knees.

"Give Jack and I five minutes to get in position and then take Ben down into the valley," I said to Gina.

She nodded nervously looking at Ben and me. I smiled sympathetically and said, "You'll be fine. I promise."

She smiled and said, "Let me down and I'll personally hold you down while he busts your butt with that paddle."

"Sounds like a deal to me," Jack said checking his gun and extra ammo.

I grabbed the three extra clips we took off Ben and tucked them into my waistband. I kept the gun in my hand with the safety still on and headed off through the foliage. Jack did likewise and that left Gina to do her part. I hoped I was not asking too much of her, but short of putting holes in Ben, I saw no other solution. Once I reached my destination, I carefully dug myself in, making sure I could hold my position without moving or making noise for a good long while.

It was not long before I was watching Gina escort Ben down the narrow path into the valley. From the other side, Olivia started down the path as well with a man beside her. He was a big guy, like Brian, and his head was covered by a hood, but from the way he moved and the set of his shoulders I knew it was not Brian. I wish I could say I was disappointed, but I had not really expected Olivia to play it straight. She was out for blood and that meant I was going to have to play extra smart or risk ending up back in the same place I was in Chile.

Gina and Olivia made the exchange in the middle of the valley just as planned. Ben was back with his beloved commander, but Brian remained missing. As soon as the hooded man was close enough he grabbed Gina and pulled her into him as a shield. A second later he had her disarmed and they were all spinning around looking through the foliage for Jack and I.

"If you want to see your Brian, you might as well just come on down," Olivia said turning around in a circle. "Nobody needs to get hurt and we can all go see him together."