***** A few days later*****

'How I wish I was home'

This is all I thought as I'm wiping the sweat off my face that threatens to sting my eyes again. I'm hiking through the Choco-Darien moist forest in Colombia near the Panama border with my pack digging into my shoulders. Me and the few other agents here were all hot, sweating profusely and tired from the constant up hill hike we have been doing since first light for a  good location to do some spotting.

Our satellites imaging and information seem to confirm there's an operation of sorts going on here. It coincides with information on a narcotics lab here that's been loading directly onto U.S. bound ships and are able to sneak it past customs and onto the streets. We've been working closely with INL(International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs) and are to meet them at our rendezvous point in one week once we've collected the information and proof of what's being made and loaded.

  It's been slow going because the river that they use for transport has lookouts and blinds posted all along the banks. Even the locals are often shot ,their bodies found days, weeks later if at all. Hopefully, we can find some smoke or movement that'll help us pinpoint their location better, but with all the haze from the humidity after the light rainfall yesterday, I doubt it. The GPS doesn't work great down in the valley either, so we were stuck doing a hike up anyways. The bugs have been eating at us even with the repellent we have, bite marks cover my team in the spots the repellent misses or the bugs just don't care.

The last morning before we are to arrive near the compound, I was standing watch with another agent, Rivera. I signaled to him and pointed at his 4, and we watched as a Jaguar strolled past our camp in the wee hours of the morning. It stopped and looked at us for a minute before continuing on like nothing. We got the others up shortly after and made our way through the thick growth and thorny, spider infested areas giving snakes a wide berth we had come upon. We move as quickly as we can, stopping only to scan our surroundings as we get closer to our destination.

I stop the group as I've taken lead. The forest has become quiet, too quiet. We all drop and maintain cover while making note of where each of us are and that our 6's are covered. I pull my rifle up and do a constant scan around us. Soon we here the sounds of footsteps and men yelling. It's about 15 foreign refugees, and immigrants and what looked like 5 coyotes. They're trying to make the trek through the gap to Panama. Poor souls, if they're lucky they might make it to a better life than where they're from. You can sense the desperation and fatigue in the way they move through the forest.

We stay still and quiet letting them pass without notice. We're about to start moving again ourselves about 15 minutes later once they're out of sight and we can no longer hear them, when the first shot is heard. Then the frightened yells and more gun fire. We don't know what we are up against, and with so few of us, we can't do anything to help them. We move quickly up hill, eyes constantly peeled for possible blinds and traps. We have to pause and take cover when a few of the coyotes and refugees start making there was back through the forest. Running wherever they can to get away from the shooters. We see a group of armed men coming over a slightly cleared hill around 600 ft down below us. They're laughing as they start shooting getting one of the coyotes in the leg, and two of the refugees in the back. The refugees were dead, but the coyote was screaming and cursing them to hell over his busted up leg oozing blood. One walked right up and just brought his gun up point blank to the mans face and blasted and hole out the back of his head.  Blood and brain matter visible from where we were flew out and sprayed the surrounding floor as his body dropped and hit the ground. He went up to the refugees and did the same to them. They all turned laughing and walked back laughing all the way at the dead bodies they just left.

Anger and shock were on two of the agents faces, while the rest of us merely nodded. This was a daily occurrence in this part of world. We were lucky, that would have been us if we had kept going that same direction. From here on out we are on pins and needles, as we attempt to survey what is happening on the other side of this hill. When we are in a spot that we can see what is there we pause getting our recording gear out and begin getting everything we can.

The thugs on lookout that we saw earlier are sitting back under a tin framed area covered in jungle plants and leaves to disguise it from a birds eye view. Same goes for the the larger open tin framed and walled building where we can see cocaine and other items being made and put into containers marked Rice flour or starch after being weighed. I take pictures and Rivera takes video of  them loading the shipment crates and boxes on to a boat tied up nearby on the river. We get the markings on the containers and every single face we can focus on. Doing our work and getting the intelligence we need to get the hell out of there. Rivera takes a device out of his pocket and sticks it in the hole of a tree before leaving.

I make sure were at least a few miles away before we stop to rest and take a drink. "Rivera what was that?" I ask kneeling down to offer him half of an energy bar.

"I was informed to leave a tracker near the compound, so if they need to they'll just send in an airstrike.  If we don't make it to the rendezvous in three days or get to a location to send out our GPS signal, they'll be sending one anyways. Figured if they're going to send one, I don't need that on me. Jobs done, trackers there, and its good for a week, now I just wanna get home and have me a beer." He said dazing off into thought.

"Well lets get going then, the more distance between them and us, the better off I'll feel."  We gather ourselves and head out north west from our location.

We still have to be careful and pay attention, not only for the drug runners, guerillas, and coyotes, but the jungles dangers as well.  A slip and fall on this terrain could result in broken bones or death from the roll down hill. Reaching out to steady yourself could mean a bite from a snake, poisonous frogs, or other critters giving you a bad day. We also have to keep eyes peeled for the indigenous tribal people, if they take us as a threat to them, they'll get us with their blowguns and we'll all be twitching in minutes. I do not want to be the only person walking out of this jungle.

We've made it halfway to the rendezvous and we stop for the night. We are all hot and tired and set up watch times before getting some sleep.

I'm woken up by one of the agents who's on watch gasping and slurring and the other on watch dumping water on his face.

"What happened I ask in a whisper as I pull my gun out and scan the perimeter."

"He was fine just a minute ago then he started moving around like crazy and I saw a gold flash jump off his face." He gives me a look. "I think it was a frog up near his eyes."

"Shit."

There's no way to treat golden poison frog toxins.

"Don't waste your water."

He puts it away and we sit there with him until the toxins finish paralyzing him. 

"Grab his I.D. and take everything useful from his bag. and person. Put on gloves before you touch him though." I'm waking the others up and we're heading out early today."

We left Agent Grays body where he lay throwing some dead leaf and vegetation over his his body before leaving. It pained me to leave him there, but I marked the site on our GPS, if we could come and retrieve the body later we would.

His personal effects were with me and the useful gear was divided between us. Agent Gonzalez red eyes said she was holding back the pain for now. We could mourn our fellow agent and friend later, when we were safe.

We were two miles outside the rendezvous when we heard yelling behind us and a crashing through the forest.