ENCOUNTER by Hep Aldridge (bill gates books recommendations .txt) 📕

“Naw, couldn’t hang around that long and stay ahead of these guys. Once I spotted them and got a quick count, I hustled on out of there to get here before they did, just in case.”

“Glad you did and glad you covered our six for us. I figured we’d be followed, and now it’s up to us to control the playing field. We’ll keep the fire going all night and post a guard, three-hour shifts. And be visible; I want them to know we are being cautious. Hopefully, they won’t make their move until we get further into the mountains. The trail out front is still drivable for three or four more miles, so my hope is they will bypass the farm and follow us in their vehicles as far as they can.”

“Good idea. I’ll take first watch,” Dimitri said as he unrolled his M-16 out of its blanket and shoved a 30-round clip in it.

After dinner, we had a visit from Senor Mata, walking to our fire, jug in hand.

Dimitri said as he approached, “Looks like Senor Mata is bringing some of his homemade firewater to the party again,” referencing our last visit and introduction to Ecuadorian moonshine.

We sat and talked and sipped for a bit. I struck a deal with Senor Mata for the mules we needed and told him we would be leaving the next morning. He said they would be ready and then bid us a good night. We banked the fire against the growing chill, and all turned in.

The next morning arrived without incident. We had the coffee on when Reggie came trotting up the road and plopped down next to the fire.

“Well, they’re back there a mile or so. They had one guy watching you about fifty yards back. Other than that, nothing special. They’ve got packs and stuff, so it looks like they are planning on following us into the mountains.”

“So, you sure no one spotted you?”

Reggie looked at me over her coffee cup and said, very disdainfully, “Colt, please… You should know better than to ask that. The advance spotter passed within five feet of me on his way back to their camp, completely oblivious to my presence. So, no, no one spotted me.”

“My apologies, Reggie, I should know by now to never call into question your skill or expertise in such matters,” I said with a slight bow and hand gesture.

Dimitri laughed and said, “Haven’t even had your first cup of coffee and already getting an ass-chewing; great way to start the day, boss.”

Reggie returned my mock bow with a smile and said, “Apology accepted.”

“Okay, now that that’s out of the way, eat up and break camp.” I saw Mata’s two sons leading four mules our way and wanted to load up and be gone before the guys following us got to the farm. Forty-five minutes later, we were loaded and had moved the Beast to an inconspicuous parking spot, not really hidden, but not out in plain sight.

We said goodbye to Senor Mata and his family and asked if there was someplace he could take his family for the day, away from the house. He said they could move their small herd of llamas and mules to a pasture further up in the mountains and spend the day there if necessary. I said I felt it would be safer for them if they weren’t here for the rest of the day. There may be some troublemakers following us, and we didn’t want him to risk reprisals from them for helping us. He understood and called to his sons to gather the children and women and prepare to move the herd. He assured us he could be gone within 30 minutes. He bid us safe travels and turned and left.

We got to the end of the road with no incident. From here on, our pursuers would have to travel by foot. I told Joe to break out one of our new trail cameras and place it so we could see the end of the road and the beginning of the trail. Within minutes, we were viewing the entire area on our tablets. Now, the upward trek began. Less than an hour later, there was a low whistle from Joe, who had been monitoring the camera as we walked. We gathered around and saw the three vehicles pulling up and stopping.

“Okay, folks, let’s pick up the pace a bit; I would like to keep them as far behind us as possible. With the mules, we may not be able to move as fast as them, but we can try.” The going wasn’t terribly difficult yet, but I knew that would change before nightfall, so we pressed on.

We didn’t stop for lunch but munched on protein bars and kept moving. I don’t think we started feeling the effects of our exertions until late in the afternoon. We had passed out our earpiece Comms, so I asked how everyone was doing as we kept moving. No complaints, but Dimitri said, “Good thing we only sipped last night with Senor Mata, or this would be a lot more difficult.” I heard an amen from Joe and a chuckle from O’Reilly.

Dusk was starting to set in, and I told Joe to put out another trail cam. I said, “We’ll keep hiking till dark and see if they get to the trail cam location, then we can decide what our next move should be. We had the benefit of our GPS and map, so we could continue after dark, but that would not be ideal. I had no idea if the bad guys were prepared for a night march or not, so Joe kept a close eye on the camera feed. It was full-on dark now, and I called a temporary halt. More energy bars and water as we sat down and took advantage of the respite while we could.

Joe came up and sat next