Mission of Honor

Chapter Fifty-Seven

Leon Seronga was tired. He was tired in body and also in spirit. What he had just heard took even more out of him.

The Brush Viper was riding in the truck alongside Njo Finn. They were following the Jeep through the dark plain. Seronga put them less than an hour from the rendezvous with Dhamballa. That was when the call came from the original camp in the Okavanga Swamp. Seronga's hands were unsteady as he answered the radio. He did not want bad news.

As it turned out, the radio message from the decoy elements of Dhamballa's camp was both welcome and disturbing.

The Brush Vipers who had remained behind to keep the Spaniards from following Dhamballa had been successful. The Botswanans had let the Spanish soldiers reach the island. They had allowed the Spaniards to get into the shack. They had rigged a canister of tear gas to a Caucasian Brush Viper standing in for Father Bradbury. The Brush Vipers would have taken the intruders prisoner if they had surrendered. Instead, the Spaniards chose to fight. Two Brush Vipers died in the exchange. Both Spaniards were also killed.

Leon Seronga welcomed the news. It was becoming increasingly clear to Seronga that Father Bradbury could be the key to their survival. Not as a hostage but as an advocate. Someone who had spoken with Dhamballa and knew that he was not a killer.

The news also disturbed Seronga because two of his men had fallen. Seronga had lost very few soldiers over the years. He did not know the individuals well, and he was troubled that he would not get to do so. One of the men had children and grandchildren. The other was just eighteen years old.

The priest and the Vodunists had moved out to join Dhamballa and the rest of his party. It would be up to the Americans to communicate that information to their superiors without providing his specific location. And their superiors would have to notify the Botswana military that Father Bradbury was still a hostage. Gaborone would have to negotiate rather than attack.

Seronga told Finn to catch up to the Jeep. They pulled alongside, and Seronga motioned for them to stop. He opened the door and told Aideen to get in. It would be easier to talk to her than to the others. All the while, Pavant kept his rifle trained on the occupants. As soon as she was inside, Seronga told the Jeep to drive on. Finn continued following them.

"You don't look happy," Aideen said.

"There has been a firefight," Seronga told her.

"Between who?"

"My Brush Vipers encountered members of the elite Spanish force," Seronga told her.

"Where?" she asked.

"Does it matter?" he replied with resignation.

The woman glared at Seronga for a moment. Then she swore. "You did it, didn't you?"

Again, Seronga did not have to respond.

"You warned your camp that the soldiers were out there," she yelled. "Why? That was not part of our arrangement."

"My people had to be prepared," Seronga replied.

"What your people had to do was move from the target area!" Aideen said. "They had to get away from the Botswanan helicopters. That was why we gave you the intel."

"Dhamballa might have encountered the Spaniards en route," Seronga pointed out. "The two soldiers who invaded our camp were traveling independent of the others."

"That's possible," Aideen agreed. "At the very least, we should have been consulted about your plans."

"If the Spaniards had not engaged us, you would never have known about this," Seronga pointed out.

"If you had not kidnapped Father Bradbury, none of us would be in this situation!" Aideen snapped.

"That kind of lashing out is not going to help!" Seronga snapped back.

"You're right," Aideen admitted. "Let's deal with this. Were there any injuries?"

"There were four fatalities," Seronga told her. "Two of theirs and two of ours," he said.

Seronga could see Aideen regarding him in the green glow of the dashboard. Her expression was cold.

"Stop the truck," the woman said to Finn.

"What are you doing?" Seronga asked.

"I want out!" Aideen yelled. The woman turned in the cramped space of the cabin. She reached for the door handle. She reached out the window to open it from the outside.

Seronga reached across and grabbed her wrist.

"Let me go!" Aideen yelled. "I'm getting myself and my people out of here now."

"Wait! Listen to me!" Seronga said angrily.

"You treat people like bugs," she declared. "They bother you, you swat them. I won't listen to you. We won't be a party to that."

"It wasn't like that," he said. "The Spaniards came into our camp, armed for a fight. They tried to get away with Father Bradbury."

Aideen turned back to him. "What?"

"They broke into the shack where he was staying," Seronga said. "We cornered them with tear gas and attempted to apprehend them. We wanted to take them alive. If the Spaniards had surrendered, no one would have been hurt. They would have been held until it was feasible to set them free. Instead, they tried to shoot their way out."

"You're saying the Spaniards went ahead with a rescue attempt, even after we asked them to fall back?" she asked.

Seronga nodded.

"I can't believe that," she said.

"If you wish, you can speak to Father Bradbury yourself. He will tell you that he was removed and another was put in his place." Seronga held the radio toward her.

"I wouldn't know if it were really Father Bradbury or not," she said.

"I anticipated that," Seronga said. He took a scrap of paper from his shirt pocket. "I had my men provide me with the serial numbers of the Star 30PK pistols carried by the Spanish soldiers. You can relay those to your superiors. Have them check the numbers against the weapons that were issued to the soldiers. You will see I am telling the truth."

Aideen accepted the paper. "I will. It still won't prove your soldiers didn't hunt the men down."

"What did we have to gain?" Seronga asked. "We already had the priest. We did not need more hostages. We certainly did not need another reason for the Botswana military to move against us."

"I don't know about that," Aideen said. "Maybe you and your leader are developing martyr complexes."

"That is far from the case," Seronga replied. "For me, it's too late in life. And for Dhamballa, it is too early. He's only just begun his ministry. Maybe that is why I'm being so protective. He does not yet have the kind of following that will afford him protection from retribution."

"You might have told us all of this," Aideen said. "You could have taken us into your confidence."

"Sometimes people listen better after a thing is done," Seronga told her. "What is most important now is not what happened. What matters is what happens next. Dhamballa has left the swamp. That will leave the air patrol searching, but not for very long."

"We must convince them you still have the priest and will not harm him," Aideen said. "Will you turn him over, though?"

"That is for Dhamballa to say," Seronga told her. "But if you can hold them off, I will do as I promised. I will find a peaceable solution to this crisis. But neither the Botswana military nor the Spanish must attack my people."

"You were a soldier. Don't you know any people in the military?" Aideen asked.

"Some," he admitted.

"Can't you talk to them?"

Seronga smiled sadly. "Dhamballa represents change. Even if I could talk to my old friends, they stand to lose a great deal under a new government. They are not idealists. They are policemen."

"I understand," Aideen said.

Seronga apologized again for having acted without consulting Aideen. Then he had Finn catch up to the Jeep. Aideen rejoined her team. The two vehicles continued toward the rendezvous point.

The Brush Viper did not know if a nonviolent resolution were possible. The Botswanans clearly had an agenda. Perhaps the Vatican did as well. That was the elimination of possible insurgents.

There was only one way they could succeed, and Seronga would not allow that to happen.

For that, he would gladly give up his life. Not as a martyr, as Aideen had suggested, but as what he had always been: a soldier.