Tasmanian SFG, Book II: Devils to Me (Tasmanian series 2) Read online

  "We need a call sign for him, like Wet Pants for Major Lloyd," Wolf suggested, but after an hour and hundreds of names, none felt right. We needed a name that would cause Nuranjo instant rage and the proper irrational response.

  * * *

  Salamander and Peppermint were gone for five hours and didn't return until three hours after Howard and the three platoons had departed.

  "Nuranjo and his young terrorists need exterminating. They enjoy watching people suffer, and they kill and mutilate for entertainment," Peppermint said as he sat. "The good news is that I think Van and I managed to do some good, even save a life or two. And after the Tasmanians left, the natives became more talkative." He laughed. "A couple of the women spoke USP Standard and translated for us. Howard's guide isn't trustworthy, according to the women. They couldn't agree whether he is part of Nuranjo's militia, or pro-Nuranjo, or sells information to the highest bidder, which is Nuranjo, or if Nuranjo has some leverage over him. But they agree he can't be trusted. They told us that the previous village raided was Dubaku. The women said if we had a truck, we could get to within an eight-hour walk as we passed it coming here. From here, it's about a full day's walk to the west. We will pass two villages halfway to Dubaku, Chipo and Efua. Chipo is a six- to eight-hour walk north, and Efua is south of the trail we will be on. This village's main revenue source of income was from clay pots and woven baskets. Nuranjo's gang took the best ones and destroyed the rest as a punishment, as they found the villagers had hidden many of their best pots and baskets."

  "How did you know, Fox?" Salamander asked, giving me a suspicious look.

  "They are all related, poor, and we don't know who the natives think is the best monarch," I said. "All good reasons to betray us."

  "Nuranjo's evil," Taipan said waving toward the village. I had to agree with him.

  "True, but Nuranjo may be only raiding villages that are against him. The majority may think him the best choice of the two for monarch," I said and quickly added, "We know nothing of Monarch Bahai and how he came to power. Nuranjo's actions could be the norm." That got me wide-eyed stares, then slow nods of understanding. While they digested my logic, I sent Howard an update.

  Professor, be careful, your guide cannot be trusted. We are headed west to the previous village Nuranjo attacked. Luan

  "Well, Ghost Platoon, it's time we disappear. Howard knows he has a Judas guiding him," I said. I rose, hefted my pack and began walking west.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  Planet Dodoma: Village Hopping

  After several hours of walking, it became apparent that a straight-line-west approach to the village of Dubaku was not the quickest route, as the jungle had many small lakes, muddy marshes, and rivers, all of which could be avoided to some extent if we followed the trails, which were probably animal paths used by the natives. It explained why a twenty-five-kilometer distance took the better part of twenty-four hours if you didn't stop. But I couldn't resist taking a detour to see the two villages we would pass, since neither had been attacked although they were reasonably close to two villages that were.

  "Smitty, let's stop for the day," I said when I thought we had travelled approximately halfway to Dubaku, which if Peppermint's information was right, meant Efua should be more or less to the south and Chipo to the north. I waited as everyone collected around me. "Tomorrow, I'd like to see if we can find Efua, spend the night there, and go to Chipo the next day."

  "Why, Fox?" Taipan asked. The question everyone had on their mind was, aren't we in a hurry to find Nuranjo?

  "My curiosity," I said, while stroking my chin. "Why weren't these villages attacked? Were they attacked in the past? What do they think of Nuranjo? Do they make things to sell at Thabo? And, can we get a hot meal there?"

  "And will we eat the hot meal if it's available?" Wolf added to everyone's amusement.

  "Two guards enough?" I asked no one in particular and received unanimous nods. "Good. Wake me when it's my turn," I said as I unpacked my sleeping bag, which didn't weigh much more than a kilogram but would keep me comfortable and bug-free as it emitted a small electrical charge on contact. It also had a voice-activated quick release that separated all the bag’s seams. The next thing I knew, it was morning.

  "Hey! No one woke me for my guard-duty turn," I shouted.

  "Wasn't necessary. We decided on two four-hour shifts, so only four men were needed. You will have guard duty tonight," Smitty said. We decided on rations for breakfast and were on our way in twenty minutes.

  By following trails that appeared to be headed in a southernly direction, we reached the village of Efua six hours later. As we exited the jungle into the village's clear area, chaos erupted. The women who had been sitting working on blankets, baskets, or cooking in large pots were up and running, grabbing children's hands or scooping them up in their arms. In less than a minute, they had disappeared into huts or into the nearby jungle. The men who had been working on the huts, or repairing equipment, had reacted with equal speed, but rather than hide, they had gathered in small groups. After a couple minutes of talking, one elderly man walked forward to meet us along with a young boy barely in his teens. The old man said something that I assumed was in the local dialect. He looked and sounded nervous by the tone of his voice.

  "Do you speak Standard?" I asked, not sure if choosing to abandon the guide was such a good idea.

  "I do," the young boy said hesitantly. "Chief Adaesi gives welcome and asks if he can be of help."

  "And what is your name?" I asked, trying to get on a personal basis rather than formal, and stalling for time as I contemplated an approach.

  "Yawa," the boy said pointing to his chest.

  "Well, Yawa, we are from Delphi and are here because we heard someone was raiding villages and killing people," I said, watching both Yawa and Adaesi's faces for a reaction. The old man gave the slightest of nods, indicating he understood some if not all that I had said. The boy nodded several times.

  "That happens now and then. Nothing new," he said like we were talking about the weather.

  "Has it happened to your village?" I asked.

  The boy nodded. "Several years ago."

  "Not lately?" I asked.

  "No. We have agreement."

  "With Nuranjo?" I asked.

  Again, the boy nodded. "He takes food, and sometimes maybe a young man, and women. We nice so he be nice." The boy smiled.

  My first reaction was one of horror, but I quickly realized this quid pro quo was better than what happened at the Kwasi village. And what choice did they have? Nuranjo had guns, the element of surprise, a safe unknown base camp, and more fighters than the village had people. Like many of life's choices, it was the best of several bad options. "What about the Chipo village?" I asked.

  "They make same agreement." The boy smiled. And after a while, it becomes the norm and acceptable, I mused.

  "Tell Chief Adaesi that we have doctors with us if he has anyone who needs medical help." Compared to what medical expertise the village had available, Salamander and Peppermint qualified as doctors and had more practical experience than many practicing doctors.

  The boy spoke for several minutes in the native language before the chief responded. "The chief said I would take you around to visit sick, and you are welcome to stay the night and share our food."

  "Well, he answered your original question, can we get a hot meal? Now we get to answer Wolf's question, will we eat it?"

  * * *

  The meal was certainly hot, and I thought tasty. It had some meat I hadn't tasted before, but I decided not to ask for fear of what it might be. The natives survived on it, so how bad could it be?

  "How did your clinic go?" I asked my two medics when we had gathered for the night.

  "They appear to be able to cope with normal infections from cuts and accidents. But we did find a couple wounds that were becoming serious. Not sure if they waited too long to treat them or if their herbs couldn't handle it. That and several cases of
syphilis and gonorrhea. Probably Nuranjo's contribution to their deal," Salamander said, shaking his head in disgust. "I called in a request for a medical care package, since our leader is providing medical care for the natives instead of chasing Nuranjo." He snorted to a chorus of verbal agreements.

  "I agree she's negligent in her duty." I pursed my lips and nodded slowly as I scanned the now silent group. "I suggest we vote on a new leader. I'm tired of the old one. She's lost her get-up-and-go. I vote for Smitty," I said with my best happy face.

  ''NO! The only reason I don't complain about being second-in-command is because I'm never asked to make decisions," he said looking nervously around the group for sympathy, which he was getting, judging by everyone's facial expression.

  "Okay, now that we got the whining out of the way, what did you learn?"

  "The Efus were attacked four years ago and made the deal right away. Nuranjo caused very little trouble before suggesting the arrangement. The Efus don't like him but say he's no worse than the previous warlords who come and go," Peppermint said with a snort. "Three years ago, they visited the Chipo, who also made a deal with Nuranjo. According the women, the Chipo like Nuranjo although they won't admit it, and they think he uses their village to rest."

  Just then, I heard an engine, and a minute later, I saw a drone. It circled the area twice, rose fifty meters, then released a box that dropped only a few meters before deploying a parachute that caused it to land gently only a few steps from where we sat. Salamander got up and retrieved the box, opened it, and smiled after examining its contents for several minutes.

  "Well, boss lady." Salamander smiled. "We have enough meds to wipe out syphilis and gonorrhea, given you can kill Nuranjo and his band of disease carriers."

  I rose with Salamander as everyone began getting ready for bed to ensure I had my turn at guard duty.

  "Where do you want me?" he asked. "East and west?"

  "Yes, but close enough to notice anyone coming from Chipo in the north," I said.

  "If I were Nuranjo, I'd target you, Fox. You got rid of his spy and will soon know more about him than his mother, if he has one," Salamander said and gave a short snort. "Treating the villagers made them far more talkative than they would have been otherwise. More like a doctor/patient conversation rather than a villager talking to a stranger."

  I wandered east but not so far as to lose sight of Salamander's position. I thought it was getting close to shift change when I heard an unfamiliar noise and then saw a man sneaking along the edge of the jungle. Soon, he was within ten meters of me and knelt. I moved closer and saw Salamander also moving toward the spot.

  "Leave any weapons on the ground and stand," I said. There were two men, not one. Slowly, they both rose with hands on their heads.

  "This is my friend from the Chipo village," said the young man who had come from the Efua compound.

  "Let's see what Chief Adaesi thinks about people seeking into his camp at night," I said, beginning to suspect Nuranjo had spies in every camp. If true, I wondered if they only reported when Nuranjo visited, or did they somehow send him periodic updates? And if so, how? As I passed our area, I saw Smitty awake. "Smitty, get someone to replace me." Surprisingly, the chief and his interpreter where waiting when we arrived.

  "The chief asked you not to kill them. Nuranjo pays them to spy on strangers," the boy said when we stopped in front of him. I suspected the chief was being discreet. I'd wager the youths were paid to spy on the village as well.

  "How does he get the information to Nuranjo?" I asked. The chief said something to the boy who replied.

  "He has a phone," the interpreter said. I held out my hand. After only a brief hesitation, both boys handed me their phones. I thought that strange, but on reflection, they didn't know me and were used to people like Nuranjo and expected violence if they didn't obey—like a hand or two cut off.

  "You," I pointed to the Efua boy, "return to your hut. You," I pointed to the Chipo youth, "come with me. I'm going to need a guide to your village." I pointed to the area my team was presently occupying and waved him into motion. "Spiderman, Wolf," I said loudly, and the two left off packing their gear, and double-timed to me. "I want to know everything there is to know about these two phones. It may mean the difference between life and death."

  "Yes, ma'am…Fox," Wolf gave me a sheepish look before he walked away with Spiderman, their heads close together in conversation.

  "Ghosts, rise and shine. We'll be leaving for Chipo shortly."

  Everyone was ready to leave, when Spiderman and Wolf appeared.

  "They are standard cell phones and have a good signal, so there is a cell tower within twenty klicks of here. Nothing special on these phones, except Nuranjo's number." They both grinned. "Given the right equipment, we could pinpoint his exact location. So, he should be within forty klicks maximum, unless there are multiple towers. We have no way of knowing, but I imagine this jungle spans more than forty klicks."

  "So, we know he has an extensive communications network and will know where Howard not only is at any given moment but where he will be going. He’ll also know which villages we visit and where we say we are going," I said to make sure everyone understood talking to the natives would be like talking to Nuranjo. "But I assume that the natives will not do anything violent against us, like an ambush by the Chipo on the way to their camp." I turned to look at the Chipo youth I had captured. He shook his head in the negative.

  "No. No. Chipo not soldiers. Peaceful. Just tell Nuranjo white men and a white woman in Efua camp and going to Chipo camp. Not do anything," he said in a rush with supporting head and hand gestures to his raised and excited voice.

  "I think he is telling the truth, but of course, I'm not going to trust our lives to my assumption even though I have his phone." I gave my best evil grin. "Single file, following the Chipo boy."

  As usual, the line was forming before I had finished talking, and Smitty and I fell in at the end. Following the boy, we made it to the Chipo camp nine hours later, shaving at least three hours off the trip. He knew the shortest routes, we ate as we walked, and the boy set a near double-time walk. As we broke into the Chipo clearing, it was obvious they didn't have a clue we were coming, and it caused a near-panic response similar to that in the Efua camp, but it was quickly resolved by the boy shouting something, probably claiming we were friendly or not evil or something. The chief, Oluchi, was quick to greet us using Nyna, the Chipo boy spy, as a translator.

  "Welcome to the Chipo camp. Nyna, informs me you are seeking Nuranjo but are not violent," Nyna said. I guess not shooting anyone at the Efua camp qualified us as nonviolent.

  "Tell, Chief Oluchi that we mean the Chipo no harm, and we have doctors with us and would be glad to help," I said and gestured for Salamander and Peppermint to join us. After some preliminaries, talk about food, and where we would camp, Nyna escorted our two medics around the camp.

  * * *

  "If the natives could stay away from Nuranjo and his evil youths, they would be a lot healthier. They know their herbs. But they are not effective against the modern viruses Nuranjo's gangs are bringing into the villages," Salamander said, shaking his head in disgust.

  "We were told there are three other villages in the general area: Bapoto, Atieno, and Gugu," Salamander said. "Gugu is northwest of Chipo. If we go to Dubaku, then Gugu is to the north. In either case, Gugu is a twelve- to sixteen-hour walk. Dubaku is a two-day trip from Chipo."

  "We didn't express any interest in any of the villages, so Nyna can't tell Nuranjo anything except that we were told which villages were the closest to Chipo," Salamander said with a grin.

  "Good, we will stay here two nights then leave for Duboku. Nyna will know by the trail we take when we leave, but I will run down the battery so it's useless. I think he has to rely on Nuranjo for a new battery each time because they don't have electricity in the village."

  That night, I sent Howard an update:

  Professor. I believe that each
village has a spy with a cell phone who reports directly to Nuranjo. Our movements are therefore being monitored, and we are ripe for an ambush. In addition, some villages have made peace with Nuranjo and support him, although not militarily. If you can find the cell towers, you may find his camp. And destroying the towers will certainly blind him. Fox.

  The next day, we began our trek to Dubaku.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  Planet Dodoma: First Contact

  Around midday on the second day, we entered Dubaku village. Surprisingly, there was little panic, indicating the spies or Nuranjo had alerted the villages of our presence. The chief's welcome also seemed less anxious, confirming my conjecture about them being informed of our coming and non-violent approach. Again, Salamander and Peppermint made the rounds, gathering more information about the nearby villages and history of the raids.

  "Well?" I asked late the next day when the two had finished their rounds.

  "The story is similar to the last four villages. Bapoto has made an alliance with Nuranjo, Atieno was raided three years ago, Gugu and Dubaku last year. But the interesting part is that Dubaku grows food and has agreed to give Nuranjo food for peace of a sort. This year, Nuranjo's gang returned before the crop was ready for harvest, and the village was punished and warned that the crop must be harvested when they returned or the village would be burned to the ground and everyone killed. They harvested the crop a few days ago, thinking Nuranjo's gang will return soon."

  "Interesting," I said thinking out loud. "Smitty, I want to know who the spy is in this village and what he has told Nuranjo, and I want his cell confiscated." Maybe we would get lucky and Nuranjo would be with the gang that returned. Although I doubted the space gods would find that entertaining.

  "Fox, this youth is part of Nuranjo's gang," Taipan said, smiling as he held the young teenager by the neck.