it begins

We made it into the fish camp around 9pm. Gloria was not happy with those accommodations either. She complained in a rather loud voice, too bad no one else could hear her. It was indeed hard to sleep in the cabin we all shared. It was more like an old style army barracks than a cabin. At least there weren't any top bunks to deal with.


I managed to sleep well enough so that I was fairly rested when we left for breakfast. With breakfast I began packing carbs and calories. Yes it was a one day mission, unless we had a problem, then it could be a ten year mission in a Cuban jail. I was pretty damn sure that they didn't serve pancakes in the Cuban prison system. I managed to pack more calories and carbs during lunch as well. Lots of greasy french fries and hamburgers. the hamburgers I ate with just the meat and an onion under two thick pieces of texas toast.

We met the skipper of the fishing boat at 1pm. The boat was seaworthy but like all the boats on the Swamp Thing sub contractor list, it looked as though it wouldn't make it away from the dock. Since no one in their right mind would attempt anything in such a rust bucket, it didn't get checked often. In the Florida gulf area most of the crime was drug related. Those guys tended to go for faster, fancy boats.

We sailed in the boat to a spot about twenty miles from Cuba, then put out the fishing nets. I found a spot and napped. It didn't seem that any of the others could manage it. Some were sea sick and some were excited. Me, I was just tired from the dramamine.

I was well after dark when I packed a couple of bean tacos into my stomach. I ate the tacos for the carbs, so I raked off all the lettuce and tomato. I would be in terrible shape for a couple of days after the mission, but I could also go a couple of days without being in a weakened condition. One just never knew when that extra taco would make a difference.

We hit the beach with the tourist hotel at 2am. The ride ashore had been rough in the lightweight rubberized boat. Eddie and I moved slow to the edge of the pool of light. It was cast by the hotel's patio lighting Eddie wore night vision goggles, and I had a ten power scope mounted onto the strange little lightweight sniper rifle. I also carried an AK47 slung over my shoulder.

The armament was always prepared by the armorer at Swamp Thing. He chose them for the mission. In this case he chose a Remington .22 magnum rifle. It fired a high velocity, but lightweight slug. When I asked, he said it was chosen for the sound of the rifle. In Cuba the sound of it popping once or twice wouldn't cause much of a stir. I had no idea, so I took his word for it.

Eddie looked around with the google whispered the location of a couple of heat images. I checked them out with the scope and found them to be tourist heading into the hotel. I was looking for armed men or men in uniform. Since I didn't see any, I sent in our extraction team.

The other four men went into the hotel dressed as tourists. The plan was for Jason and one of the henchmen to station themselves near the lobby. From there they could easily keep an eye on the front door. The other two would go grab the scientist. The four of them were armed with Hypodermic syringes as well as the AK47 with cut down stock. Everything was well hidden in straw beach type bags. The Plan was that the syringes would be used on any guards they found. They might be used on the scientist if it became necessary.

The complete mission should have taken no more than twenty minutes. The grand plan was that we wouldn't fire a shot. We were supposed to have missed the two man security patrol by ten minutes. It was a good thing that I had no faith in pre mission plans, because the security team was running late.

Eddie alerted me ten minutes into the mission. The two head signature were still in the darkness of the building. When they the turned corner, they went from green blobs to armed security police in uniform. I couldn't see their holstered weapons, but I knew they were there. There was no decision to make, I shot them both in the head as quickly as possible. The head shots with the high velocity hollow point slugs made a terrible mess, I am sure. I didn't plan on being around to see the mess. We tripped the switch which sent the signal telling the other that it had changed to a hot mission. At that point it was still grab El Doctore, but a second signal could be sent that meant, it's every man for himself.