Journal of Thomas Book (May 29, 05)

Journal of Thomas Book

May 29^th, 2005

18:50 Hrs

Grid G9

I was scraping away at the floor on Jude’s Tomb so I didn’t hear them pull up. The first thing that I could hear that got my attention was the sound of Nurse Ratchet screaming. I peaked out of the stairwell and saw a three trucks of men drive up to the site with their AK's held high. They began rounding up the workers and told them to leave. Our people were tied and told that they would be ransomed back to their universities.

No one saw me as G9 was on the opposite side of the field from the main camp. The guys carrying the AK’s didn’t seem too interested in what we were doing – just who we were. Within twenty minutes, they had everyone tied up and loaded on their trucks and drove away. I didn’t want to move. I could hear us screaming and them shouting but I knew that I was safer if I did nothing. I am staying hidden until dark and then sneak back into the base to search for the team's SAT phone.

21:45 Hrs

I found the SAT phone but every time I tried to call out it was too garbled to get through. Apparently we had the Big Lots version. I had to climb up the hill to the west to get a clear signal and as soon as I did – I called the Embassy. I had the number written in my notebook just in case. I just didn’t expect this to be the reason I’d have to use it. I sat huddled against a tree, but even from there I could see the kidnapper’s camp in the next valley.

The guy that I finally got a hold of, some kind of Aid to the Ambassador, told to stay put and help would be on its way just before dawn.

May 30^th

8:05 Hrs

Hospital Lobby

Last night got worse. I know I’m going to leave out some stuff but here’s my best shot at remembering what I can:

It took me a while to make the climb out of our valley, and it would take a few hours for the cavalry to show up. I wanted to keep an eye on my friends so I stupidly snuck down the hill and into the valley where they were being held. I really didn’t want to, but if the guys tried to move them I wanted to at least be able to watch and call back to let the Marines (or whomever) know about it. I found a spot behind some bushes a few dozen yards away from their camp. I didn’t mean to get so close but I could hear them screaming and what I heard didn’t make sense. They were screaming at the members of the team - wanting to know where an "eye" was.

The more they screamed in Spanish the less it made sense. "Ojo del Diablo", the eye of the devil. I assumed that it was some artifact that they were looking for - probably to trade for more weapons, but the team was excavating some tombs of a regional Mayan official and his family - no wealth like that should have been there.

The marines, or whoever was supposed to come, never seemed to show up. Dawn took forever when you were waiting for it. The bandit leader got a SAT phone call about an hour after I called the Embassy and he switched from Spanish to English.

He told the caller that "they" didn't have it but he was going to kill a few of them to send a message. One of the Grad students, a guy named Kevin, screamed out that it was in this gym bag back at the camp.

I knew that the minute they had it, the others would see the dawn. I crawled away from the camp and high tailed it up the ridge to get back before the bandits. They had to drive a fairly twisty road to get out of their valley and over to our camp, but all I had to do was just go up and over the hill.

I fell down the bottom half of the ridge, scraping my legs on something sharp; I didn't know if it was sweat or blood running down into my socks.

Yes, I was panicked.

Kevin and I were in the same barracks tent. I knew everything about that guy – when he changed his socks (never) and when he had some private time (usually every night). I never remembered anything about an artifact that could be called an ‘eye’. It took me a while to get through his collection of port-a-john pornography, but I found what appeared to be a gold disk encased in bubble-wrap. I grabbed his satchel and ducked out of the back of the tent just as the headlights brushed the perimeter of their camp.

As a hand full of bandits searched the camp, I saw Kevin being tossed out of the back of their pick-up. He was bleeding from a cut on his lip and had a large purple bruise across his cheek, but he was alive. He told them where to look - right where I had taken it.

They accused Kevin of lying and called back to the leader. I was hiding back in the tomb in G9, but I could hear the sound of one shot ring out in the pre-dawn hours. I froze. I didn't know who had been killed but I guessed that whoever it was, they wouldn't be the first.

I felt for the small pistol in my satchel; I had picked it up back in the tent when I grabbed the SAT phone. I remember Kevin asking me why I carried it with me and I told him that I had packed it in case they ran into wild animals around the site. I wasn’t the best of shots.

The two guards stayed in the camp with Kevin while the other two drove back to their boss. One bandit continued to scream at Kevin for the Eye - who was hoarse from screaming that it should be there in his box.

The other bandit found the site director's secret stash of whiskey and began to drain the bottle. They took turns yelling at him and shoving him around. He was bound with zip-ties and hardly made it back to his feet before they would knock him over again.

By the end of the whiskey, they were bored of beating on him. I was scared. I wanted to help Kevin, but I sucked at shooting moving targets and the others would come if he started pulling the trigger randomly.

One of the bandits started to take a piss against the tent but finished on Kevin's back. Still with himself hung out he grabbed Kevin by his belt and pulled him to his knees.

I knew where this was going and snuck closer to improve my aim. I moved from pit to trench across the field until I got within a few dozen feet from where they were. The bandit kept Kevin's arms zipped, but cut open the back of his shorts with a flick of his knife. The other bandit, originally not too interested, couldn't find anything he wanted in the tent and had apparently decided that raping the American before shooting him wasn't such a bad idea.

I made sure the pistol was loaded and tried to calm myself down as the two men pulled their army surplus pants down to their ankles; their guns on the table a few feet away. I took aim at the one by Kevin's head first. The one on his knees would take a second to get up before he could get to his AK.

Slowing my breath, I squeezed the trigger and the first man fell dead as Kevin let out a yelp - either of pain or surprise. It was only a Glock, but at this range almost any hit to the body would drop someone. The second man tried to stand and as he did, I put a round through his throat, but I was aiming for his chest.

Kevin was moaning with panic and fear as I ran up to him. All I could do was hold on to him for a few seconds until he realized that he had not himself been shot. Grabbing the dead bandits knife, I cut Kevin free and grabbed a pair of shorts from near the tent where the bandits had rummaged through our stuff. Kevin was freaked – shutting down his panic and fear, but at least he was able to move.

We ran and hid in the far tomb until just before dawn - just long enough for kevin to change the tattered shorts. He was more shaken than hurt but sometimes that was worse. All he wanted to do was curl up and hide. I had to pull him with me as we climbed back up the ridge and called for help again. Just then, by the dawns light, he could see the leader cocking his pistol and aiming at the back of the head of the team's nurse; a woman we jokingly called “Nurse Ratchet”.

Just then, the bandits dropped like someone had cut their strings. Snipers from the tree line had taken each out within seconds. The Marines had arrived. I told Kevin that we needed to move down to their camp so the Marines could find us. As soon as I got him back on his feet, two bushes near us moved and he about crawled up the nearest tree. I don’t know who those Mairnes were, but I’m glad that I didn’t shoot one of them by mistake. Within a half-hour, we were being air-lifted out of the area and I had completely forgotten about the artifact.

Kevin was taken to a nearby hospital with the others on the team to have them checked out. It turned out that they had broken one of his ribs somewhere in the process. I’m sitting in the lobby of the Hospital writing all this down while I wait for people to get discharged. A SGT is here with me to help get us over to the Airport. The Site Director was dead, but the Team Leader was heading back to the site to collect the gear and the data with some help from a local security company. I don’t know where they’re going to stick me. I’m just a member of the Team, not on staff with the University.

I’m never going to get paid.