Code of Honor

51

We have the sat phone,” Adara said, pushing a broad, waxy banana leaf out of her path. “I don’t know if our trackers are still operational. We’ll need something to signal our exact location for pickup.” They’d been running for well over two hours, the many canyons and cliffs impeding their progress up the mountain. The sun was high in the sky now, making them feel as though they were boiling alive in the humid jungle air. Sweat plastered hair to their foreheads and stung their eyes. They’d slowed almost to a stop, partly to be more careful about how many tracks they were leaving, but mainly because the terrain had grown so steep.

“I have a lighter,” Chavez said, panting, as much from pain as exertion. “We’ll have to look for something dry enough to burn. The problem is, we signal the ship, we also signal the shitheads coming up behind us.”

“True,” Adara said. She bent the thick stalk of the plant beside her to pull a sagging hand of small orange-yellow mountain bananas close enough to reach. Each fruit was not much larger than a finger. “You think these are edible?”

“Sure,” Chavez said. “Not sweet, but they’ll give us some energy.” He gingerly touched his wrist. “You got any more of those Ranger M&M’s?”

“No ibuprofen for you,” Adara said. “I’ll give you another Tylenol, but that’s all. Let me wrap it while we’re here.” She peeled a small banana and gave it to Chavez before retrieving a rolled ACE bandage from her pack. “Apart from the bruised noggin and wrist, you okay otherwise?” she asked. “One broken bone means we’re supposed to look for more.”

“I think I’m good.” Chavez grinned, trying to add some levity. “Funny, Clark doesn’t want to die of old age… but I’d be fine with it right now.”

Adara expertly wrapped the wrist, giving it some support, if not an actual splint. “What was that I heard about JP playing some kind of sport?”

Chavez chuckled, wincing from the effort. “E-sports,” he said.

“E-sports?”

“Computer games,” Chavez said, panting. “Disguised as sports. The downward slide John sees in the youth of the world might be why he doesn’t relish the idea of a ripe old age. Anyway, I’m not sure what JP is going to do now that he’s graduated. He’s been accepted to Stanford, but he’s not as keen on it as he should be.”

“A gap year?”

“I sure as hell hope not,” Chavez said. “Patsy would freak out. She’s already got med school mapped out for him.”

A nearby branch snapped in the jungle below, causing them both to freeze.