Chapter 5
Captain Thomas Noble did not like calling in favors. He was a gracious man, and if he did something for a friend, there was no hidden motive, generally.
But this was an emergency situation. Noble and hid primary assistant, Andre Perry, were engaged in preparing an expedition deep into the jungle, to meet with a man of adventure and intrigue, an American in exile named Sam Blaze.
Many years ago, in Peru, Sam Blaze had been captured by a rain forest tribe, and held prisoner. Without meaning to, he had been growing marijuana on their sacred ground. Blaze tried to make the Indians appreciate how very appropriate this coincidence happened to be, but the Indians did not see his humor and were preparing to kill him for his act.
At this exact time Captain Thomas Noble was returning to the Peruvian jungles, with gifts for the chief of the rain forest tribe.
The Chief and the Captain were on such friendly and respectful terms, that a few words from Noble saved Sam Blaze from a very toasty situation.
Blaze vowed that he owed Noble a favor. Since Blaze was deeply dug in with his band of madmen, it was unlikely that Noble would ever be in the neighborhood to claim this owed service.
Before this happened anyway.
"Swamp swirlers?"
"That's your only hope," said Chris Noble, the Captain's cousin and supply engineer. "You must take the swirler boats as far as the river lets you. From this point," he laid his finger on a map, "you will have to make your way through some impossible mountains. Why the fuck would anyone dig in like that, anyway?"
Captain Noble shrugged. "A strange man, Sam Blaze. But an honorable one. I am not a killer. But he is. Together, we will be able to rescue Angelique and settle a score with General Mendez."
"If you survive the journey," Chris Noble cautioned.
"We will survive."
"Please, you will have to carry weapons this time."
Captain Noble liked to abbreviate his weapon displays, while on expedition through the jungles, because he did not want the natives to see him as a threat. But this time, the places he would have to travel through demanded fierce and visible arms.
"Chris, issue Uzis and MAC 10s to every man," Captain Noble said. "As well as grenades and grenade launchers. You are right about this, Chris. As much as I hate to travel like an army, the situation really does call for it. Shit!"
"You're being realistic for a change. How very strange, Captain."
"My daughter's life hangs on my ability to make it through the river, through the jungle and mountains, to reach Blaze."
"Well, once you meet with the American, you do not have far to go. Your target is a mere sixty miles away from Blaze."
"That's all?"
"Well," Chris frowned. "Sixty long miles. Over a fierce mountain."
"I see. Well, see that the men are issued climbing as well as jungle gear. And no, you cannot come. If I don't make it, you must go for Angelique yourself."
"I understand," Chris said. "But I have no doubt that you will carry this out. I've never known you to fail a task that meant as much to you as this. Mendez doesn't realize it yet, but he's signed his death warrant."
"Well, Mendez might not realize it, but I'd be willing to bet that Angelique does."
The boats were loaded with weapons, gear and food, and Captain Noble, with a crew of fifteen men, piled in. They were going to travel a hundred miles on the river, down a very rocky and threatening section. At times the river was very shallow and it was easy to bottom. At other times the water rushed along violently, and it was easy to tip or spill. Other perils, such as reptiles, snakes, and the usual jungle meanness, would be with them every inch of the way. A year ago, a snake dropped from a branch and killed a man on the river. It was something that happened all the time.
"Andre, I want you with me in the lead boat. You must man the field radio and keep the men together at all times. No one can wander off. Clear?"
"Yes, Sir!"
They started their motors and took off down river. It was early dawn, and as Noble sat there, he could think of little else except his daughter's safety. It amazed him, the beauty of the jungle, of the river. But until Angelique was safe, he would not be able to enjoy a single breath.
"We are being watched," Andre said, pointing to some shadows that were hidden by brush along the shore. They'd been on the river for close to an hour, and were already in unfamiliar waters.
"I know them. Don't worry, they won't attack us unless we go near the shore. They fear slavers. And answer me, Andre, can you blame them?"
"Slavers? In this day and age?"
Captain Noble shrugged. Man's evil no longer startled him. Sickened, yes, but startled no longer. "Andre, as I get older I find that more and more amazes me less and less. It is sad, no?"
"Yes," Andre said, sensing the Captain's preoccupation with Angelique. "Very sad."
Captain Noble recognized one of the shadows, as the man stepped into a clearing. He waved, and to the shock of Noble's men, the native waved back and smiled.
"The men are impressed Sir. You have friends all over," Andre said.
"I treat all men as my brothers," Noble said. Andre had heard that talk before, but with his boss it was not rhetoric. It was his personal way of seeing people. That was what Andre most admired about Captain Thomas Noble. All men, unless they actively betrayed him, were his brothers. And yet, if you acted as his enemy, Captain Noble would not turn the other cheek. He would launch a full scale assault and conquer your ass.
"White water!"
"Oh shit!" Captain Noble let out. "There was so much rain the last few days, the waterfall, which is sometimes just a trickle, will be gushing. Get on the radio, tell the men we will have to go ashore. The boats can fall down the waterfall and survive, but we can't."
"That will take hours," Andre protested.
"Well? Any other ideas?"
"Of course not, Sir."
Andre got on the horn. They brought their swamp boats to shore, unloaded all provisions and arms, and let the swamp boats go over the falls. The boats were made for this sort of thing. They landed on the bottom completely operative.
The men had to climb down a steep rock formation, covered with jungle moss and slippery slime. But they all made it, and down below, they collected their boats and went on.
"Four wasted hours," Andre said.
"A long time but not a waste. It's that sort of obstacle that overcomes most expeditions that attempt the river. We at least, are still here and still in operation. You have to see that as a victory over the river, Andre. Anyway, we will soon be coming to the end of the river."
They'd been on the water for close to seventy-two hours, and according to Captain Noble's map, soon they'd be approaching the end of their water journey. Then, it would be time to hide the boats and begin climbing the mountain.
Sam Blaze was sprawled on a hammock in his private paradise, eating tropical fruit and watching as his men worked the rich soil. In the old days he and his partners did most of the work, but now that was not necessary. Blaze had a body of loyal men, who he paid very well. They were a veritable army, although rarely did anyone ever reach them, let alone threaten them.
Sam Blaze smoked a thick ciggy of his special blend, luxuriating in the rich exhale. This was quality smoke. He would open their eyes at market with this crop! He smiled. Life had been very good to him, since he decided to live his life outside the sphere of so-called civilization. He lived surrounded by his men, in a luxurious permanent camp that was truly a small town. The houses were built up on platforms, to protect them from the jungle. But they were far from crude huts. They were made of wood, and electricity was provided by a team of generators that ran on gasoline. Supplies were brought in through a narrow artery of water that meandered through a fault in the vast rock formations to the East. No one knew of this waterway, except local Indians and Sam Blaze's men.
The Indians were very friendly to Blaze. Years ago some slavers had made their way through the waterway, hoping to conquer a nearby village and take away the able workers. Blaze was ruthless in cleaning up the slavers. There were at least forty of them. Not one escaped. The ones who were not killed, were turned out as slave labor to the Indians. It was a pleasant twist in events; the slaver becoming the slave. The irony of it pleased Sam, and of course the Indians were pretty happy about it as well.
Since that incident, Sam Blaze was the mayor of the mountain valley, his arm of influence reaching up into the mountains surrounding them. His men were given complete rights of passage in any direction, and if he needed help from the native population, he got it, often without even asking.
Blaze hired many of the natives to beef up his work force. But unlike other whites who'd attempted this sort of thing, he paid them the same as he paid his own men. As a result, the local friendly tribes were well armed and could fortify their positions against intruders.
No slavers had attempted to enter the area for a long time. The few that tried were quickly decapitated and floated down river, as a warning to others.
The Indian villages had electricity, medical supplies and practitioners, thanks to Sam's friend Rolf, who was a medical doctor from Austria. The Indians were quick to teach Sam Blaze the tricks he needed to survive in their world, and in reciprocity, Sam taught them the luxuries of his. Thanks to a powerful television satellite, two of the villages had color television sets. Tantamount to a local miracle, but there they were, providing magical distraction. Many of the Indians thought that the little people that inhabited these talking boxes, were cosmic imps. Certainly, no actual human beings could act as stupidly as the beings they observed on their television sets.
Blaze also set up field telephones, so that the chief of one village could talk to the chief of another, without a lot of birdcalls and drums, which were easy to eavesdrop on.
National Geographic would have been shocked by this little world within a world, if they could reach it. Obviously, they could not. It was an insular, polarized region, protected by a fierce river, and insanely dangerous mountains.
"Sam! The Chief has invited us to a feast this evening," said Denise, the young English girl that had been rescued by Sam's men a year ago, on the river, and remained with his odd family.
Denise and Sam quickly became lovers. Sam did not want her to feel captive, and assured her that anytime she wished to leave, he would prepare a boat and have her taken to civilization.
But Denise had no thoughts of leaving the tiny Paradise she loved so much. She was only seventeen when she came to Sam's world. Her birthday had recently confirmed her status as an adult. Eighteen. Just a few weeks ago. She was deeply in love with her man, and had no desire to leave him or his odd world.
"Well, if you like, Denise, sure we can go. I guess we'd better, actually. It would be diplomatically correct to accept the Chiefs invitation, hey?"
"I'd say!" Denise agreed. "Anytime you invite him, he shows up promptly."
"Yeah, well, the old boy likes having a cassette recorder, cigarette lighter, an electric fan in his hut. He is easily charmed by mere home appliances. Like a Stateside housewife, I guess."
Denise laughed. "I hear his favorite music is Motown," she said, giggling.
"Well can you blame him? Probably a Detroit auto worker, deep in his soul."
Denise bent over her man, as he lounged in the hammock, and gave him a deep kiss on the lips. She could sense his mounting horniness, and invited him to take her into the little cottage they sometimes used for their lovemaking. The cottage was not fit for living, because it was on the ground and not on stilts. But it was a very nice place to idle away an afternoon or evening. Long as it was not raining. ¦
"Let's go inside!"
"No, Denise. I want to feel the breezes off the river. Let's do it right here!"
"But someone might come along!"
"If they do, they will know better than to make a fuss. Don't worry about little things, Denise. I need my woman now!"
She laughed as he tickled her rib cage. Touching his thick prick through his jungle shorts, Denise let herself enjoy his manly warmth.
"If you insist," she said. "I swear, I'm losing all shame living out here with you."
"Shame is a myth, Denise. There's no place for it in this Paradise of ours. Nothing shameful has ever happened here, and probably never will."
Denise felt his kiss, and opened her mouth in full surrender. It amazed her how tender Sam Blaze could be. With her, with his people and the local natives, he was as helpful and friendly as a young boy who had not learned yet, that people could be evil.
But with anyone who threatened him or his people, Sam Blaze could be a vicious killer who shot or stabbed first, and then asked questions. She often wondered about him, about his fierce ability to kill when threatened. She'd seen the way he dealt with the handful of slavers who'd had the balls to enter his Paradise, despite the warnings sent downriver.
Sam and Denise were sitting in the village with the Chief and his men, enjoying dinner. The slavers were brought to him. Sam picked up a MAC 10 and cut them down without batting an eyelash. Then he handed the MAC 10 to the chief and told him to keep it as a gift. "It will prove useful in dealing with future slavers, Chief," he'd said. The Chief cherished his newfound firepower.
The slavers were lashed to logs and floated downriver, as a further warning to any capitalists who looked to the river people as slave labor.
"Sammmm, let's go inside. I'm going to have to suck your prick in a moment and I don't want an audience!"
"No one is here, Denise. Let me feel those pretty lips on me."
The girl unbuttoned his jungle shorts and extracted the hot throbber that was the staff of her man's lust for life. She bent her slender neck, and he moved her honey colored hair aside so he could watch her suck him.
Denise fluttered her tongue on the tip of Sam's prick, cupping his balls warmly in her palm.
"Ooooo Denissse," he hissed, eyes pressed shut as he groaned in pleasure. "For a civilized female you sure know how to act like a jungle girl."
She moved back, and the prick popped free of her mouth. "But I am a jungle girl now, SweetStickSam. You've made me into your Jane, Tarzan!"
"Rockin' good news, girl!"
She bent down lower and scooped his tight nuts into her mouth, rolling her tongue over the twin sacs. Denise had never had sex, before meeting Sam. And when she first got to know him, he was extremely respectful of her flower. He did not push her.
Indeed, if anything, he drove her crazy by letting her completely alone. She developed a severe hunger for this sexy stranger who could have commanded her to give herself, and instead, just went about his life and treated her as an honored guest.
Denise didn't know it, but she was the victim of Sam's strategy with beautiful women. Never, never did he chase. What he did was, he let the target of his lust alone, until she wondered what was wrong with her, with him, with them.
Denise let herself desire him in secret for a few weeks. Then, one day when they were out fishing together on the banks of the river, she allowed herself to go skinny dipping under his protective gaze.
Sam was drying her innocently, when she turned to him and reached down for his prick. She stroked it hard and looked into his eyes. "I wish to lose my virginity now," Denise had let out softly. "You saved my life. You are the man I wish to take my cherry."
Sam did not argue. He wanted her, and had desired her since first laying eyes on her. He did not let her see his smile of satisfaction, as he first sank his prick into her tight virgin sweetness.
Since that afternoon, Denise was his exclusive girl. She let it be known that she would do anything to please him. Sam took it easy with the demands, allowing the young inexperienced girl to find her desires on her own.
Over the months Denise changed, from a shy little civilized girl, to a lusty and giving woman who would go to any lengths to make her man sigh with pleasure.
The hammock was designed for love making, Sam decided, luxuriating in the river breezes that blew through the ropes as the girl sucked him.
"I love to feel your lips on my prick, Denise!"
She twirled her tongue over his rod, cupping and caressing his rod in her tiny palm. She never imagined that a man would talk this way to her; that she would like it! But with Sam, anything he did was more than alright. He often referred to her as his "bitch" when they were fucking, and she didn't mind at all. With such a tender man, the word was more erotic than hostile. It was perfectly alright. She felt his hand sliding over her body, tenderly kneading her pale breasts, pinching the fondling the corkish titty tips. She exhaled passionately as his lips covered hers.
The hammock began to rock and roll, as Sam Blaze mounted the sweet Denise.
"Give it to meeeee, Sam!"
"Oh Denise!"
The tight sweetness of her pussy never failed to please Sam, and he moved in and out of her slowly and deeply. He throbbed in her pussy, bringing his hands under her and lifting her by the balls of her buttocks.
"Sammm!"
"Ohhh Denise, lift those cakes for me!"
The girl squeezed his penis hard, contracting her pussy sweetness around his great throbber. She knew how to maximize his pleasure and took delight in doing so. She reached down and massaged his balls as her orgasmic heat mounted.
"Sam! Cum in meee!"
His prick began to twitch and throb. In a moment, he was exploding inside her, spitting hot jizz into her narrow snatch.
"Yessss!"
Sam looked down at the sweating beauty. Her pale lips were tight and raised now, showing her pearly white teeth and the little pink tongue that darted between them.
"Ohhh Sam, I'm going crazy for you!"
The girl's fingernails dug into Sam's back as her orgasmic heat reached an apex of fire. She threw herself from side to side on the hammock, straining the ropes with her passion. She gasped and sputtered as the orgasm pulsed through her sexy female carriage.
Later, they shared a smoke in each other's arms. Sam was about to suggest that they go for a dip in the river, when he heard someone approach.
He threw his shirt over the nude girl's glistening body, and turned to face his friend, Andre.
"Captain Noble approaches, Sam! He's been spotted on the river."
"Noble? What the fuck would he want here?"
"I don't know, but he should be here in an hour or so. He has to make it up the mountain, if he hasn't done so yet."
"Well, that will take more than an hour."
Andre shrugged. "I don't know how long ago he was spotted on the river, Sir. My communications are not precise. What should we do?"
"Take a few men, and meet him. Guide him through the pass, so that he doesn't have to make it over the mountain."
"Sir, are you sure you want him knowing about the waterway? It's been our secret all these years."
"Captain Thomas Noble can be trusted completely, Andre. Do it!"
"Yes Sir."
Denise had a dreamy look on her face as she reached over her man's leg, to feel if his prick was still hard. It was not.
"Hey, what's going on?"
"Sorry, Denise, I'm a bit distracted. Something must be wrong for Captain Noble to come all the way out here to see me. He must need something."
"Well, I need something too," Denise let out hotly, raising her moist form and pressing her full pale breasts against her man's body.
"Not now."
Sam Blaze got up and walked into his camp, then up the ladder that led to his headquarters. He got on the field radio at once, connecting with his primary sergeants who were stationed along the periphery of their little world.
"Attention! This is Home Base calling a Condition Red in the area. Condition Red. Keep all radio lines open and await instructions."
Sam sat back, listening to the signals and codes that meant that his men had received him. All stations promptly responded, and he relaxed. No one had penetrated their terrain yet. And no one, with the exception of the friendly Captain Noble, ever would.