THE SOUTH SHORE OF THE LAGOON
The Delta team was complete. It had taken close to twenty minutes to locate them all and another ten to get four Delta and air force personnel down and out of the high trees where they’d landed. At least they had been able to hang onto three coils of rope. They took stock as they reached the lagoon’s south end. The five Zodiacs were just starting out. Altogether, to stop them, the men had at their disposal thirteen nine-millimeter Beretta handguns, two Ingram assault weapons with only one extra thirty-round clip, and one M-14 sniper rifle with no extra ammunition.
“Hope you boys have a plan that calls for throwing rocks when we run out of boom-boom,” the air force colonel said as he knelt beside two injured airmen.
“Even with what we have, it won’t be much against those fifties mounted in those Zodiacs,” the Delta sergeant said.
“Come on, guys, we have to make sure those boats don’t get to the other side,” Ryan said anxiously.
“That’s what we plan on doing, Mr. Ryan, but we only have so much fire-power to accomplish that mission,” Delta Sergeant Melendez said. “Look, I hate to say this, but our opening salvo can’t be kill shots; we have to first slow and then stop the Zodiacs. Punch as many holes in ’em as we can. We’re going to take one hell of a lot of return fire. Discipline, gentlemen, discipline.”
The thirteen men gathered around nodded their understanding.
“Okay, two-man firing teams: my people pair up with the blue birds and I’ll take Ryan. Boats first, assholes second, got it? Wait till my fire, then let all hell break loose.”
The men paired up without comment and started to file into the dense terrain.
As the makeshift rescue force moved out, they failed to see the small Indian who went right to the spot the men had been only moments before. The mud-covered man raised a small whistle to his bone-pierced lips and lightly tooted, imitating one of the many Amazonian birds perfectly. As he did, the jungle started filling with the not-so-lost tribe of Sincaro, and they moved off silently, following the Americans.