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DeeAnn hit the moist ground with a thump. She and Anderson landed faster than expected, sliding several feet and onto their butts. Behind them, Juan and Tiewater stumbled but managed to land on their feet. Corso followed, whose boots hit the ground with a heavy thud.
Caesare arrived last, landing effortlessly with several strides and Dulce wrapped tightly in one arm. Once stopped, he disconnected the chute behind them before unbuckling her smaller harness. He lowered her to the ground only to find she was still clinging to him.
We fly! She said excitedly through DeeAnn’s vest.
“Yes, we fly,” he agreed laughingly and looked at DeeAnn as she approached, glaring at him. “You okay?”
“That’s debatable.”
He looked past her. “Juan?”
“I’m okay,” the engineer nodded. “But if you all don’t mind, I think I’ll stay here and kiss the ground for a while.”
Tiewater laughed and slapped him on the back. “Ah, that was an easy one. Try doing it at night.”
“While being shot at,” added Anderson.
“Uh, no thanks.”
Caesare turned back to Dulce and pulled her helmet off. “How are you, Dulce?”
Me happy. Fly fun.
He wasn’t the only one surprised that Dulce remained closely at his side. Both puzzled and still upset, DeeAnn stepped in and caressed her dark brown back. “Are you hurt?”
No hurt. Dulce was excited. She studied the trees and ground, sniffing the air. She was eager to find her friend. The first primate she had communicated with. Or at least the first one she remembered.
Contrary to what some pet owners might claim, Dulce knew she wasn’t a human. She knew she was different and craved contact with others like her. And while many humans might assume their pets were content in a human world, Dulce had explained just how wrong that assumption was.
Dulce wanted to be with her own kind. She needed to be with them. And Dexter was one of them.
Standing over her, DeeAnn could see the excitement in her eyes. There was no doubt how much Dulce loved being back in the wild. Safely this time. Safely, DeeAnn observed, with Caesare.
Like the other men, Caesare stood and rolled his parachute into a compact bundle. He then stashed it inside a group of fern bushes and tossed his nylon harnesses in after it.
“Now what?” DeeAnn asked, when he turned around.
“Now we find our drops. Anderson, find us a place to settle in and establish a perimeter.”
“Yes, sir.” The young SEAL scanned their small landing site intently before trotting uphill and disappearing through an opening in the trees.
Caesare looked to Tiewater. “How close are we?”
“Pretty close,” he replied, staring at a small GPS screen. “Maybe two miles.”
It took an hour to retrieve their crates and haul them uphill to the best location they could find. Concealment and cover were their top priority. They needed a base that was well concealed and ensured that nothing could be seen from the road, which rounded the top of the mountain a half mile away. It also needed enough natural backing to avoid being mistakenly silhouetted against the horizon.
An expanse of palm trees provided a thick wall of concealment but not as much cover as they’d hoped for. However, it provided a wide view of the area below and the best field of fire they were going to find. Caesare hoped it wouldn’t come to that.
Finally, they needed an escape route. In a fight, things rarely went according to plan, which could leave a fast retreat as their last viable option.
It didn’t take Anderson long to find a way out through the trees and down the other side of the hill. Together, he and Tiewater relocated a small portion of their ammo and food supplies to a backup location and covered it under a pile of brush.
Coming in light meant they had enough food to keep six adults supplied for five days, but not much more. A growing gorilla ate more, requiring her own crate of vegetables. But even those wouldn’t last long.
Anderson returned to camp and quietly checked their visibility from all four directions while Tiewater approached with Juan’s bag over his shoulder.
“Where do you want your gear?”
Juan looked up from his work, making adjustments to DeeAnn’s vest. “Um, over here, please.” Tiewater nodded and dropped it with a thud next to the rock Juan was sitting on.
Juan returned his attention to DeeAnn’s vest as it lay sprawled across his lap. The belt had been damaged during the jump from the airplane. The wide band was made from neoprene for comfort as well as protection of the thin batteries and circuitry inside. The damage caused one of the connections to break, leaving the unit without one of the six batteries.