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The Adventures of Agent Suzzanne Midsummer
Suzzanne’s Amazonian Agonies
CHAPTER 1
Jump into the Jungle!
Suzzanne stepped off the loading ramp into space and as the plane began to shrink she had no sensation of falling. She could see the sun coming over the horizon but she knew that on the ground it was still the dark before dawn. She rolled onto her front and spread her arms and legs to control her fall and attitude, she glanced at the red figures of the head - up display projected onto the visor of her helmet, she was at 42,000 feet. This was only the second time she had ever HALO jumped but she knew that at this altitude outside her helmet and protective suit it was airless and well below freezing. She breathed slowly, the oxygen tasted dry and metallic in her mouth and she could hear her own breathing in her ears. Pulling in her arms and legs she angled her body down to increase her speed as she watched the altitude falling, 39,000 feet now. The aim was to freefall as quickly as possible and only open the chute just before landing to avoid detection. She began to feel buffeting as the air thickened and in her head she quickly began to go through her mission. This was her first mission for six months since she had been captured and tortured by an organisation of which little was known. After her escape she had reported for debriefing and had found herself immediately placed under guard in confinement. Her original mission had been to retrieve a data chip but she had been set up to make it look like she had doubled crossed her masters and absconded with the chip. She had been debriefed, almost interrogated about what had happened. They had not believed her when she told them Paul Tyler was in fact a double agent called Goldhill and when they checked out the location where she had been held there were of course no signs that anything had happened there. Only when Tyler/Goldhill disappeared off the grid did anyone give any credence to her claims. Even then she had had to endure months of deep counselling and analysis to convince her superiors she was not a sleeper or been brain washed in any way. Eventually she was put back in the system and been able to train and get herself back to full mission readiness; 27,000 feet.
She could see the darkness of the jungle below her although apart from rivers she could not make out any discernable detail, her GPS said she was heading towards the right spot albeit vertically! Satellites had detected infrared anomalies deep in the part of the rainforest below her and two M.I.7 “advisers” sent to the area posing as mining engineers had disappeared and not reported in since entering the jungle. It was decided to insert a covert operative to reconnoitre and report back, this was her mission; 13,000 feet, the ground was coming up quickly now and she had to fight the urge to slow herself down. The altimeter was unwinding quickly, 9000, 8000, 7000. The wind was roaring past her now and she could feel the air temperature warming, on the ground it would be hot and humid; 4000, 3000, she prepared to pull her ripcord spreading her limbs and flaring slightly to slow her fall. 2000, 1500, 1000, she spread her arms and legs and the wind resistance torn savagely at her, 800, 700, 600 she yanked the cord, there was a whooshing sound behind her and suddenly she was yanked bone jarringly upright and was floating silently down toward the canopy. She popped the seal on her helmet faceplate and immediately felt the heat and humidity, only 200 feet but the last 100 feet would be a smash through the thick canopy to the ground. She could make out the shapes of tree tops and small dark gaps between them and tugging on the shrouds she steered towards one. Closer, closer the dark opening came and then she was crashing though leaves and branches, she placed her feet together until with a thud she landed and rolled. Looking up she could see the hole through which she had dropped as a dark blue patch against the black underside of the tree, she had been lucky not to snag the chute and end up hanging!. Checking quickly around her she gathered up the chute and stripped off the helmet and jumpsuit hiding them in the deep undergrowth. She checked her equipment, survival back pack, Glock plus ammo, machete, binoculars, microwave satellite transmitter. Looking herself up and down she couldn’t resist a chuckle, in the calf high jungle boots and jungle camo fitted bodysuit she was wearing there was more than a passing resemblance to Lara Croft! However despite the fact that it fitted her curves like a glove the bodysuit was much more. Skin tight and stretchy, long sleeved and down to the knee it was all she need to wear, the camouflage material being tear, abrasion and thorn proof, insect repellent plus it had thermal properties designed to wick moisture from the skin to keep the wearer cool. She slipped on her back pack and buckled her belt about her waist checking the GPS readout; she was about a klick from where she needed to be. Tearing a strip off the canopy she tied it around her head to keep the sweat out of her eyes and then set off through the undergrowth following the luminous digits of the GPS.
Suzzanne moved covertly through the undergrowth, normal doctrine was not to follow jungle paths but in darkness she had no choice and each step was taken with precision her foot cautiously searching the ground beneath or feeling for the tell tale pull of a trip wire. As she neared a bend in the path her boot pressed down on a patch of leaves and almost instantaneously recoiled as she felt the ground ahead give. Probing with her machete she found that carefully camouflaged with leaf debris was a thin woven mat of reeds covering a shallow pit full of punji sticks. Carefully re-covering the trap she moved on knowing she must be close to her target. Suzzanne suddenly saw faint lights moving in a depression in the jungle floor about 100 metres ahead, she froze, listening she could hear low voices. Rather than continue along the path she slid into the undergrowth and dropping into a crouch began to move towards the edge of the depression. About 10 metres from the edge she slipped off her back pack and dropped onto her belly crawling forward until edging under a fallen tree she could see down. The area had been cleared of trees but the gap in the canopy had been masked by a huge camouflage net. In the base of the depression were water tanks, pumps and coils of heavy pipe. A shielded generator was providing the power but it heavily muffled producing almost no sound. It looked like heated water was being pumped underground and then out again. Men were moving quietly tending to the equipment and all were wearing headlights, the site was being kept darkened and clearly it was the infrared signature of the hot water that had been picked up by the satellites. She decided to withdraw and then send a message back via satellite phone then she would wait for instructions. Suzzanne crawled back to her rucksack and then began to move deeper into the jungle away from the path so that she could look for somewhere to lay up and rest. About 500 metres from the depression she came to the edge of a clearing, she stopped and examined the area, it seemed like a natural clearing, there was no evidence of man and no paths led to or from it. Leaving the cover of the bushes she entered, the clearing was about 4 metres square the floor covered with fallen leaves; again she probed ahead with her machete and was rewarded with the edge of a reed mat. Gently lifting it she could see a pit beneath but as she continued to lift she heard an audible click. Suzzanne froze unsure what to expect. She remained motionless but nothing happened, still unsure she decided to get back into the cover of the bushes. As soon as she dropped the mat and began to turn she heard another click and a pop like a cork out of a bottle and within a second she was tangled in a fine mesh net. She struggled but she was caught and the more she tried to move the more entangled she became until she was tightly wrapped. She stopped moving and looked around, her machete was a few inches away but she could not move her hand or fingers to grip it, her rucksack was still in the bushes, then she heard crashing coming from the direction of the depression before three men appeared in the clearing.
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