27

What made Richard good at what he did were a lot of things. One, he worked alone. This meant that there were no chances of being betrayed by anyone like what happened last time when he was forced to work as a group. Working alone made him efficient and minimized risks.
Two, he was the master of disguise. He could turn to anyone whenever the situation called for it. Then, he was never afraid of a challenge. He loved what he did and facing a challenge even if it was scaling mountains or walking for miles or going without food, he could take them all.
That was what was happening right now.
After he left State House, the first thing he did was ditch the disguise he was wearing as Kano and go to the hotel he was staying at and check out.
After that, he dumped the vehicle he took because he knew driving a government vehicle would sell him out.
After that, he entered a public toilet and he came out as an American who was there for tour. He wanted to go around Dela Lucia and see the famous beautiful landscapes.
He even hired a tour guide for the journey because he could t speak Spanish and this was a Spanish speaking nation.
Clifford Masha was an American archeology student who was in his final year and he had come to Dela Lucia to rewind before his final exams.
That was how Cliff, as he insisted he be called, found himself on a bus towards a small village that was near a forest almost three hundred miles away from the capital De La Paz.
This was because he had asked his tour guide, Diego, and Diego had confirmed that in fact, it was true that around two weeks ago, some miners had unearthed a mammoth skeleton.
He was so excited and asked Diego to take him there because if he was the first to broadcast this to the world, he would be able to secure a job at the Victorian museum in DC. He always wanted to work there and such a discovery would make sure that he got the job. He promised to pay for all the expenses and in fact, he paid the guide half of what two had agreed upfront with a promise to pay the rest once they got there.
Of course, in a country whose economy was high, any extra coin was appreciated and that was how Diego agreed to take Cliff to Aguas Limpias village.
The journey was to take them around nine or ten hours by bus with two stops to rest and eat something.
Cliff didn’t have any problem with that and he really enjoyed the journey. He would take photos and ask questions and Diego had no doubt that this was truly a tourist.
They got to the village around one in the morning and the driver took them to the only inn in the village. It had run down rooms because, like the elderly lady who run the inn said, they never got a lot of visitors.
This worked well with Richard, Cliff, who didn’t really need exposure to a lot of people.
They slept in separate rooms that Richard paid for and the flowing morning, he was the first to wake up. Like he told Diego, he was very excited to go and see the mammoth skeleton that was unearthed.
“I can’t stay still. They might destroy it. I want to be there to help unearth it and save as many bones as I can,” Cliff told Diego as they were eating breakfast that the elderly lady prepared.
They ate traditional Spanish dishes and Richard enjoyed a lot because he wasn’t a picky person.
After breakfast, Diego asked around and he was shown the way to the mine and since there were no vehicles to take them there, they were to walk.
Halfway through the trek, Diego got an injury. Yes he was a tour guide but he was not used to walking long distances. He mostly worked in the capital city where there were all manners of transportation.
Cliff offered to take him back and book a vehicle for him to go back to the city so that he could receive good medication.
“But what about you? How will you survive?” Diego asked him worriedly.
“It’s okay. I’m sure one of the miners speaks English. I won’t get lost,” he said as he helped support Diego.
By the time they were getting to the small village, it was evening but in truth, Richard delayed so that Diego could return.
Diego got the bus that was to leave for De La Paz at eight in the evening and he had enough time to rest and get first aid on his leg before leaving.
Richard went around the village buying this and that because he knew he would need them. For example, he needed dry food, warm clothes and drinks. Lots of them but he got those at the inn.
At eight, he made sure he took Diego to the bus station and he left when the bus left at half past eight.
He wasn’t happy that Diego got hurt but it kinda worked well for him because he was to look for an excuse to make him go back anyway. What he wanted to look as a true tourist and that he achieved.
The next morning, he started the trek alone and this time, he walked faster because he was alone. He had a nap that he had bought in the capital city of the forest and he followed it a path that showed the mines. He was using this and comparing it to the map of the forest that he had got in the State House. He noticed that there were descripancies.
For example, he noticed that there was no underground bunkers being shown on the map he bought at a book store but they were there in the map he took from Antonio’s office.
This said one thing. The people had no idea what was going on in their own country. But this wasn’t a surprise at all to Richard. He had sewn world leaders do worse things than build secret underground bunkers.
He walked for a whole day and except for the fact that he knew how to read a map well and follow compass directions, he would have thought that he was lost.
At around seven in the evening, he arrived at the place where he was sure that it was less than a kilometre to the bunkers. He decided to take a little nap to refresh himself before he set of again to investigate.
He climbed a tree and disguised himself with leaves that even if someone passed by and looked up, all they would have seen would have been the tree branches.
He then took out his binoculars. These were special binoculars made specially for him. Since Richard loved working solo and going for and to dangerous missions, he many a times had special weapons and equipment specially designed and made by and for him. An example were the binoculars he was using and the night goggles.
These binoculars had a night function mode and the could see up to a range of about two kilometers in the light and a kilometer in the night.
He thus took them out and put them on the ready and slept.
As he was sleeping, he was woken up by a loud roar and he was on the ready before he discovered that it was a helicopter. He wondered what a helicopter was doing there and then it dawned on him.
“Maybe this was how prisoners were dropped or picked.
He thus took his binoculars and stayed checking. He was far and visibility was low because it was during the night but what he saw shocked him.
He thought that he would see a person or persons being dropped off or picked but what he saw wasn’t that.
Instead of people the soldiers who got out from the helicopter were carrying a big tank. It looked like an aquarium tank and he wondered what it was doing. He then saw them carry five unconscious people and all these were taken inside a tunnel that had as disguised as trees.
At least, he now knew where the gates were. After that, he saw a man come out, exchange a few words with the men in the helicopter and then they flew away.
He decided to go and investigateore because he was awake anyway though he hadn’t slept for the four hours he wanted.
He thus took his back pack and everything else and started walking towards where the helicopter had landed.
He knew there must be soldiers lurking around and he was this wary. He still had the forest disguise as he walked and he used his binoculars to check whether there were people around and after walking for a while, he saw one. Disguised as he was.
This one was sleeping. Richard guessed it was because they were so used to doing this with no activity whatsoever that they were never careful because not many people knew about this place.
He walked stealthily towards the man and the man was incapacitated by just one blow. He went as he was, asleep.
Richard wasn’t happy to so that but it was a necessary sacrifice.
The fact that the soldiers guarding the periphery were this careless worked well for him. He knew it would easier for him to infiltrate their ranks because they were so sure of themselves.
He then took the man’s clothes, though they were a size smaller and even the walkie talkie. He took position and waited. He knew that they must change shifts and he was a patient man. He was like a hunting snake. When it saw prey, it could wait even for days waiting for the right chance.
“After a while, he heard the frequency stir and a voice came through, “Bluecomb, you there?” He heard and wondered what kind of a code name was that.
He hesitated wondering what language to use though he was glad that the other person was using English.
“Si,” he answered in Spanish and the other voice came on, “You okay? Or you still got that flu? Let’s go and rest. Team Delta will be here soon meet us at the gate. Over and out,” the man said and Richard didn’t say anything.
He just turned the walkie talkie and hoped that his acting classes would come in handy before they realised that they weren’t dealing with Bluecomb.
He adjusted the mask and started walking towards the gate still in his disguise when he saw a others coming from different directions.
“What are you still doing with your disguise?” One of them asked with an laugh and in perfect English.
“Feeling cold,” he said with his nose and pretended to sneeze.
“Oka, let’s take you inside. Why has that flu refused to go?” The man asked and Richard was grateful.
At least, no one would ask about his voice because they would all assume that he was sick. What good luck?
Or was it?