Code Name Tequila Ch. 23

"What do we do?" May asked.

One of the soldiers who were holding them fell to the ground, clutching his chest as blood spurted from it. His rifle landed in the brush beside April. She picked up the gun.

"Now at least we have some fire power," April said.

"But, whose side do we want to be on," Marisa asked. "Both sides seem intent on capturing and imprisoning us."

"We need to find out where we are, so we can make our way back towards Clemente's camp," May said. "He's the best hope of getting in with the rebels and trying to convince them to give up this fight."

"Agreed," said Marisa. "Though we could be days from Colombian border where you said the camp was."

April peeked up at the battle raging in the forest around them. She could see the Venezuelan soldiers, firing off in all directions. Hidden in the brush around them, unseen to them, were a group of unknown attackers, most likely another group of rebels. "Well, I think the best thing to do is to get ourselves away from this battle, and out on our own," April said. "The soldiers seem to be concentrating their fire towards the North and East, which would seem to indicate that is where the enemy fire is coming from. Therefore, I say we go south-east."

The girls crawled through the jungle, the soldiers who had been holding them oblivious to their escape, too embroiled in the battle to take notice. April found a dried river bed, and followed it as it twisted its way slowly uphill and away from the valley in which the battle was taking place.

Finally the river bed twisted around to the east, behind the rise and fall of the jungle floor and camouflaged by the deep forest, so the girls could stand.

"Okay," Marisa said. "If we follow this river bed, hopefully we should come out on a larger river. Following that will eventually bring us to a settlement of some sort."

"Right," said April. "Let's go."

"What's your rush," said a male voice from behind them. The three girls turned.

Standing atop the river bank was Colonel Clemente.

* *

Tabernas walked in front of Ria and Chambers, who had their weapons trained upon him.

"I must say, I am disappointed in you, Ria," Tabernas said.

Ria snorted. "Do you think I care?" she asked.

"After seeing the way you handled yourself after Luis' death, I really thought you might have a future with us," Tabernas said, still marching forward. "I saw big things for you in our organisation. It is a shame that you have chosen this path."

"The shame is all yours, murderer," Ria replied.

"Peopled have died, yes," Tabernas said. "But only those who stood in the way to the greater good. I know you think this is just some elaborate scheme to control the drug trade, but it isn't. It is much more than that, Ria, and you still have a chance to join it."

"Shut up, Tabernas," Chambers said.

"Ah yes, an order from the Americans," Tabernas said. "How typical, for the Americans to get involved and tell us how to run our countries. What did they promise you, Ria? What baubles have they offered? Money? A car? A job? A passport? Triflings, Ria. The Aguila Roja can offer you freedom. A new world, Ria."

"My world is fine," Ria said. "And the only thing that could make it better, you can't give me. You can't raise the dead, Tabernas."

"Carlos died, and it is a shame," Tabernas said. "But his death won't be in vain if you let me go and let us get on with what we are doing. We are giving Latin America its freedom. Giving it a unified voice, Ria. To get us out from under the ghosts of the Spanish occupation and the constant interference from the Americans. That is a dream Carlos believed in, even if he was wrong about the best way to achieve it. Freedom comes with joining the Aguila Roja, Ria. It isn't too late. Let me go. Join us. Some American dollars can't compare with the freedom of living in a Latin American superpower, can it?"

"What are you babbling on about," Ria asked, her voice quivering.

"I can speak with the Aguila Roja, Ria," Tabernas said, who stopped walking and turned to face Ria. "I can convince the Aguila Roja to allow you to join us, in our fight for an independent, powerful and unified Latin American nation. That is what we are fighting for. That is the Aguila Roja's dream, and if you let me go, and let me speak to the Aguila Roja, I can ensure you join us."

Chambers pushed Tabernas, who staggered backwards. "Don't be coy, Tabernas. We know you are the Aguila Roja, and we won't fall for your tricks," Chambers said. "Now get moving."

Tabernas looked at Ria and raised an eyebrow, and then turned and continued to walk. He reached a door on his right, and entered. Ria and Chambers followed.

In the radio room of the freighter, at Chambers prodding, Tabernas contacted the man in charge of the rebel forces on the mainland. While dialing a number on the satellite phone, Tabernas explained who he was calling. "I am contacting General Paco de Vita of the Venezuelan security forces. He is our mole inside the Venezuelan military establishment. He probably won't like me contacting him," Tabernas said, pausing mid-dial.

Chambers pushed the barrel of his rifle into Tabernas' chest. "You won't like it even more if you don't call him.

Tabernas finished dialing and put the phone on speaker. The phone rang twice, and then clicked to life.

"Hello," said the voice on the other end, tentatively.

"General, it is Rodrigo Tabernas," Tabernas said.

"Why are you calling me?" the voice on the other end of the phone said.

"Things have not gone to plan on our end," Tabernas said. "The Panamanian part of our plan will not come through. We should pull back on all fronts."

"No," the General said. "You will get done what you are supposed to do, as I will get done what I am too do. It is what the plan entails."

Chambers poked Tabernas in the ribs and nodded at the phone. "Tell him to stop," Chambers mouthed silently.

"General, a half complete coup is no coup at all. We are best served by discontinuing, and retreating to fight another day," Tabernas said.

As a reply, the Generally merely snorted.

Chambers poked Tabernas again. "Order him," Tabernas mouthed silently. "Order him as the Aguila Roja."

Tabernas sighed and closed his eyes, shaking his head for a moment, and then he complied. "The Aguila Roja orders you to stop," Tabernas said.

The General paused before speaking. "If the Aguila Roja wants me to stop, why doesn't the Aguila Roja tell me directly," the General asked.

Tabernas looked at Chambers and shrugged. Chambers pointed to the phone and mouthed "Tell him. Tell him you are the Aguila Roja."

Tabernas smiled a wry smile. "General, I am the Aguila Roja, and I order you to stop your attacks," Tabernas said. Tabernas turned to face Chambers, smiling.

"Tabernas, I don't know what game you are playing, but I don't take orders from you," The General said. "If the Aguila Roja wants to discuss a new strategy with me, then the Aguila Roja can call me."

The phone went dead.

"I told you, Mr. Chambers," Tabernas said. "I am not the Aguila Roja."

* *

"Clemente," April said, surprised.

"I received communication that three pretty female spies had been captured, two of them being American and... um... ladies with something extra," Clemente said. "I figured that you must have come back, so I got some men together to find you. Unfortunately, the national army reached you before I did."

"Clemente, you have to stop the rebellion," April said, stepping towards him. "The Aguila Roja doesn't have your best interests at heart."

Clemente nodded. "I know. After our talk back in the camp, I did some digging. It seems that what you said was true. The rebels are under the direction of dissident military commanders who seem more interested in lining their pockets and getting in bed with the Americans and drug dealers."

"Can we stop the rebels?" April asked. "Let them know that they aren't fighting for what they think they are?"

Clemente shook his head. "Not all of them, no. They are a very fractured group - groups with driving principles that span the range from the purely ideological to those with greedy self-interest. I can get some of them onside, but the rest will continue, probably starting to take tacks that don't even follow the Aguila Roja's plan."

"Getting some of them is a start," April said.

Clemente nodded. "All right, let's get back to base camp. From there, I can start gathering forces."

* *

"You ARE the Aguila Roja," Chambers said. "You can claim that you aren't, but I don't believe it."

"What you believe is not of interest to me," Tabernas said. "As you can see, what has been set in motion cannot now be stopped. Ria, it isn't too late to join us. Let me go, and together, all of us Latin Americans can march towards a new dawn of a powerful country. We can achieve the dreams of Simon Bolivar and the Gran Colombia."

Ria snorted. "Bolivar fought from freedom and independence, not subservience to a drug lord and murderer, Tabernas," Ria said, spitting with anger. "You have ordered the death of hundreds of innocents, enslaved farmers to grow your drugs, armed and equipped armies who bring nothing but terror. No, Tabernas, you and your talk of grand visions doesn't fool me. You are nothing but a petty thug trying to wrap himself in a flag. You are the Aguila Roja, and we will stop you."

Tabernas laughed. "You think I am the Aguila Roja, and by holding me you have some sort of leverage, but you don't. You can't stop what is happening."

"The Aguila Roja can stop it, and I know you are the Aguila Roja," Chambers said.

"I am not the Aguila Roja," Tabernas said. "I am simply an agent of the Aguila Roja."

"And not a very good one at that," said a voice from the door. Chambers, Tabernas and Ria turned to see Isabella standing in the doorway, a pistol trained on them.

Chambers grabbed Tabernas and held the rifle against his chest. "Drop the gun, Isabella, or Tabernas is in trouble."

Isabella raised her pistol. "I'll save you the trouble," Isabella said, and pulled the trigger. The bullet caught Tabernas between the eyes. Tabernas fell backwards, dead.

Isabella turned and pointed the gun at Chambers and Ria. "Now you two drop YOUR weapons," she said.

"I don't think so, Isabella. There are two of us and only one of you," Chambers said.

"Drop the weapons," Isabella said. She reached to her side and pulled a man in front of her. Cuffed, gagged and blindfolded, Isabella placed the barrel of her pistol against the man's temple. "Drop the weapons, or Ortiz gets it."

* *

At a makeshift jungle camp, Clemente and other commanders of the rebels determined what their next moves should be.

"The Aguila Roja and our own leadership has betrayed us, we cannot continue the assault," Clemente told the commanders. "The Americans have discovered that General de Vita has an arrangement to take control of the country, rather than allowing free elections. In addition, similar arrangements have been made with military leaders in Colombia - they get to become the military dictators in return for access to natural resources."

"Come now, Clemente," said one of the Commanders. "Why should we believe the Americans? They have an obvious bias to see a toppling of the government in Venezuela, as well as propping up a strong, pro-US military in Colombia."

"The Americans, working with the Colombian security service, has been able to come up with some strong proof," Clemente said. April and May had contacted Black Oak and Jarvis Cleethorpe, who were able to provide documents to support the assertion that the Aguila Roja was in league with the Americans, and had made promises to different parties that contradicted each other. Clemente showed the commanders print outs of the intelligent, and with April's help, walked the Commanders through the proof.

It took an hour of discussion, but eventually all of the commanders came around to agree with Clemente. "We are agreed, then," Clemente concluded. "I shall contact the governments to arrange a cease fire, and then we shall contact the units and get them to disengage from battle."

The commanders concluded the meeting. When leaving, Clemente took April aside. "Thank you, April," Clemente said. "Both for convincing me that the Aguila Roja and Dr. Patterson were the wrong people to follow, and for your help today with convincing the other commanders."

"Its my job," April said. "Thank you for rescuing us from the military."

Clemente wrapped his arm around her, and pulled her close. "It was a pleasure to see you again," Clemente said. He then kissed her on the lips. "Hopefully I'll get to see you more of you."

The commanders contacted the governments of Venezuela, Panama and Colombia to arrange a cease fire effective that afternoon, as well as immunity for the infantry participants in the battles.

Cease fire agreed, the other commanders started contacting units across the country via long range radio and satellite telephones. It took hours to contact all the units. Some trusted Clemente, who was well respected, and gave up the fight quickly. Others needed more persuasion, which the documents helped with. A small number of units refused to give up the fight. However, the large majority of battles were given up, and rebel forces started to retreat from their objectives.

By 3 o'clock in the afternoon, the majority of the fighting had ceased.

* *

Chambers and Ria were locked in on of the cabins, and had been there for hours. Isabella, after locking Ortiz in another cabin, and locked Ria and Chambers inside the room. Ria and Chambers weren't guarded, but the room was empty other than a couple of chairs, and despite a number of attempts, Chambers and Ria were unable to open the door. Ria and Chambers settled onto the chairs, dejected.

"What do we do now?" Ria asked Chambers.

Chambers shrugged. "I think at this point we have to sit back and wait to see how this develops," he said. "We have to hope that April, May and Marisa can convince the rebels to give up the fight, or that Ortiz is able to negotiate something with the Aguila Roja."

"Do you think that Isabella is the Aguila Roja?" Ria asked.

Chambers shook his head, not because he thought the answer was negative, but because he didn't know. "I have no idea anymore," he said. "I was sure that Tabernas was the most likely candidate. It is possible that who ever the Aguila Roja is - assuming the Aguila Roja is even a real person - that we have no idea who they are."

The external lock on the door clanged as it was unlatched. The door opened to reveal Ortiz.

"Mr. Ortiz, have you been able to negotiate a cease fire?" Ria asked.

Ortiz stumbled forward into the cabin, pushed by a force from behind. Ortiz caught himself and turned back towards the door. Ria and Chambers looked at the door, and saw Isabella standing in the door frame, flanked by two guards.

"Unfortunately not," Ortiz said.

"March," Isabella said, motioning with her gun that the prisoners should come out of the room and head down the hallway to the right.

Ortiz, Isabella and Ria walked out into the hallway, and started walking down the hall. Isabella followed, gun aimed at the backs of the prisoners. "Head up the next staircase towards the deck," Isabella said. "We are heading off the ship."

As they climbed the stairs, the whoo-whoo-whoo sound of a helicopter. Arriving on the deck, the prisoners could see a helicopter landed on the deck, 40 feet down the ship. On the deck where approximately 10 guards, in addition to 2 guards that had mounted the steps with the prisoners.

The group was about to head to the helicopter when one of the guards pointed to the horizon. "Incoming," he shouted. Ria and Chambers turned to see four fighter jets coming in low towards the ship.

"Surface-to-air missiles," one of the guards called. There was a scramble on the deck as the soldiers attempted to set up the launchers and get a bead on the jets, but they were over the ship too quickly. Three of the jets released a volley of gun fire across the deck. Ria, Chambers and Ortiz scrambled to find cover while Isabella and the guards took aim at the jets.

The fourth jet released a missile. The missile keyed in quickly on the helicopter, and within half a second the ship was shaking with the explosion of the helicopter. Debris from the helicopter, some flaming, flew across the deck.

Ria, Ortiz and Chambers took cover behind a metal vent.

"We have to get off this boat," Ortiz said. "How were you planning on getting off?"

"Swim," Chambers suggested.

Ortiz looked surprised. "Its at least a mile to the shore," he said.

Ria looked in the distance, where the jets were doing a banking turn and heading back to the ship. "Things are getting quite hairy here," Ria said. "I think getting off the boat is the best chance we have."

"If we get to the radio room, can you contact someone to call off the jets?" Ortiz asked.

Chambers shrugged. "I don't know," Chambers said. "If they are attacking, it is obvious that those in command have determined the risks outweigh the odds."

"When I was held by Isabella, I heard that the fighting on the mainland has ceased," Ortiz said. "Apparently the rebels negotiated a cease fire."

"That would make this freighter the last hold out," Ria said.

The jets flew overhead again, spraying the deck with gunfire. Some of the soldiers fell. Others were able to spray the jets with gunfire.

"And they obviously think that the Aguila Roja is on the ship," Chambers said. "Ortiz, did you meet the Aguila Roja? Did you start any negotiations?"

Ortiz shook his head. "No, I didn't start the negotiations. I doubt the Aguila Roja is aboard. I believe was meant to negotiate with Tabernas or Isabella instead, assuming they were willing to negotiate at all. Let's get to the radio room and call off the attack," Ortiz said. "The Aguila Roja isn't here, and all this fighting does is put us in danger."

"Unless, of course, Isabella is the Aguila Roja," Ria said. "Even if she isn't, she knows who the Aguila Roja is. We should capture her."

Chambers pursed his lip and looked at Ria. "I agree that capturing Isabella would be good, but I think our primary goal should be to protect Mr. Ortiz. Let's get down to the radio room and see if we can arrange an evacuation of Mr. Ortiz."

Chambers and Ria stood on either side of Ortiz, and they ran for the entrance back to the cabins. Around them, guards fired into the air as the jets flew over for a second pass. Bullets from the jets ricocheted off the metal deck of the freighter.

Isabella turned to see Chambers, Ria and Ortiz about to go down the stairs. "Get them," she ordered one of the guards. Isabella and the guard ran towards the stairs. The jets passed overhead again, spraying the deck with gunfire. A bullet caught the guard right in the head. He stumbled and fell down the stairs, landing at the bottom in front of Ria, Chambers and Ortiz. The body splayed on the ground, his gun sliding down the hall. Ria and Chambers ran down the hall after it.

Isabella ran down the stairs. She raised her rifle, freezing Chambers and Ria in their tracks. "Looks like I'll have to lock you all up again," Isabella said.

Ortiz stepped towards Isabella. "Isabella, you heard what I heard on the radio. The fighting has stopped. The attempted coups are over in Venezuela and Colombia. An international force led by the USA is massing forces within Panama and on the seas to oppose the troops holding the canal entrances. The attempt for the Aguila Roja to take control is over. It is time to surrender," Ortiz said.

"Everything is falling apart," Isabella said. "The plans from Fernandez must have leaked out even sooner than I thought."

Ria took a step forward. Isabella turned to look at her. "It is time to give up, Isabella," Ria said, taking another step forward. "Let us go to the radio room. We can call off the attacks if you surrender. If those planes keep attacking, we'll all wind up dead."