But Marie was wrong. Rose had been trained to survive in all climates and environments and could stay alive in a rain forest for as long as she needed to. And when she was certain she was not being pursued she stopped running, and sat on a fallen tree to regain her breath and gather her thoughts. So, Rose reflected, what was her situation? She was alive and uninjured. She still had the gun taken from the guard in Darlings complex, and though she’d used four bullets on Morton she had a spare chamber of ammunition. And what could she do to thwart Darling? She had no means of communicating with the outside world and no transport, and only a rough idea of where she was. If she walked through the forest it could be days before she found anywhere she could communicate with the Pentagon from. So what could she do here? She was safe from the Deathbringer, unless they could repogram it so it would ignore the transmitter Munroe had given her. She’d have to hope they couldn’t. It was at this point she wondered how Marie had known that either her or one of her late colleagues had this transmitter, indeed, how had Marie found them? Could the transmitters be detected? She examined it, and saw it had a switch and an LED light, and flicking the switch made the light go out. That, she guessed, means its turned off. Keeping it that way was the only method of being sure its transmissions couldn’t be detected, and if she met the Deathbringer again she’d just have to hope she could turn it back on again in time.
So, Rose wondered, what next? The plantation had transport, maybe she could sneak in and get a vehicle, she thought, but immediately dismissed the idea. She had no idea how secure it was, and with no knowledge of the place she thought it would be unwise to go there.
 There must be transport at Darlings complex too, or maybe she could find a way to hamper his operation. Though, she thought, with a wry smile, it was very unlikely she’d find either a means of escape or anyway to interfere with the plans of Darling. Still, she had nothing better to do.

Walking through the rain forest was hard work, having to force her way throught the vegetation, but Rose couldn’t help but notice how beautiful it was, and so teeming with life. The sound of insects and birds was everywhere, butterflies floated past her, small primates descended the trees to look inquisitively at her. A wonderland, Rose thought, a joy to experience. Then she stopped. It was the smell that got her attention first, that stench of death she’d encountered in the forest earlier. Then the sounds, something large moving close by, and as she forced her way, gun in her hand, through the undergrowth towards it,  the sight that greeted her  nearly made her  scream.. It was a person,  but  like none she’d ever seen before. It, she couldn’t be sure if it was male or female, resembled a corpse more closely than a living human being. The flesh was rotting, the hair long and grey, almost white, with patches of scalp visible where lumps had fallen out. It was crawling on the ground, on its stomach, and it raised its head to look at her, reached out with one hand and took hold of her trouser leg, and uttered whimpering noises that reminded Rose of a dog in pain. She recoiled, pointing her gun at it in an instinctive reaction, while it continued to make the same pathetic noise, like it was pleading with her for help. Shaken, she moved on
.

When Rose arrived at the location of Darlings complex she stayed hidden in the vegetation, mindful of the possibility of surveillance cameras, as she examined the camouflaged exterior, looking for an entrance. What appeared to be large doors, big enough for lorries to enter and exit the premises, seemed to her a good place to stop. Now, she reasoned, as matters are coming to a head, there’s likely to be some traffic in and out of Darlings complex, and maybe she could hijack a vehicle as it slowed when leaving or entering. So, she stayed concealed by the undergrowth and waited. And, as she thought, she didn’t have to wait long untill a landrover came out and a single occupant got out to move the camourflage out of the vehicles way. It was Frank Munroe. She waited for him to get back into the landrover and when he had driven a few yards and she hoped was out of range of any cameras she jumped out of the vegetation and shouted to him. He stopped the vehicle and Rose jumped in, “I never thought I’d say this Frank but boy am I glad to see you! Where are you going?”
 Munroe smiled slightly, “Good to see you to. I’m off to the plantation, Darling,s people are in charge of it at the moment. Mare’s had to return to base and there’s only six of Darlings people there. He got a bit worried about their security , especially after hearing you were still on the loose, so I’m being sent as reinforcement.”
“Yea and I’m the only one on the loose, I’m afraid the others are all dead.”
“So I heard.”
There was a few seconds silence before Rose spoke again, “You could say you were sorry to hear of their deaths.”
“I’m sorry to hear of their deaths. What now?”
Rose looked at him, his face was expressionless. He really didn’t seem to care about the others, but maybe she should have expected that she thought. “Right, we now have a vehicle so lets get the hell out of here and tell the world whats going on.”
“We can’t. All Darlings vehicles have a device fitted that means if they are driven more than three miles from base the engine cuts out. His way of ensuring no one leaves without his say so.”
“Can’t it be switched off?” asked Rose.
“From inside the base.”
“Then we need, “Rose continued, “to find a way to contact the Pentagon so they can send the troops in. Except,” she paused to think, “why aren’t they already here?”
Munroes face showed his puzzlement, “I don’t follow, what do you mean?”
“Think about it Frank, the CIA had someone inside Darlings complex, another in the plantation. MI5 knew enough about Darlings operation to convince him one of their people was a potential customer. Now it’s got to the stage where he’s about to unleash his creation on the world and offer every tyrant and criminal with the cash to pay the chance to have their own army of human robots ready to do with as they will, why isn’t this place crawling with American special forces? Or the Brazilian authorities alerted so they can send the army in?”
“Now you mention it is does seem kinda strange. What do you think?”
“I don’t know but something is wrong.” Rose paused again, “And there’s something else. I met someone in the forest today , someone who looked like they were dead, but was, well, alive.”
Munroe leaned back in his seat as he looked at Rose, “What do you mean?”
“It’s hard to explain, but I saw a person, and their flesh was rotten, like meat that’s well past its sell by date, and the smell was awful. It looked like a corpse, but they moved, made sounds, and looked straight at me. It was like staring into the face of death.”
“The walking dead,” Munroe added.
“It was more like the crawling dead, and it has to be connected with what Darling,s doing.” She turned to look directly at Munroe, “There is something very evil going on here and we’ve only discovered the half of it. Have you seen anything like that in the complex?” Munroe shook his head.
“Ok, but we need to move. If there are only six of Darling,s people at the plantation then we have a reasonable chance of overpowering them, especially if we can take them by surprise, and then see if there’s a radio there.”
“Only six she says!” Munroes voice was raised slightly, “and not forgetting their armed with automatic rifles.”
“I’m an experienced CIA operative and your supposed to be the deadliest gunman in the world, so lets go.”
“I’m also the biggest coward in the world,” he replied with a laugh that had no humour, “No, it’s far to dangerous, think of something else.”
“Are you refusing an order?”
“Yes.”
Rose pressed the barrel of her gun against his head. “Drive.”
Now Munroe really laughed, “You wouldn’t shoot me, your to nice”.
“Want to bet your life on that?” Rose,s voice was calm, her stare at Munroe unblinking. He started the vehicle.

As they neared the plantation Rose outlined her plan. “Tell them you caught me on the way here and didn’t kill me as you thought Darling might want to deal with me personnely. I’ll put my hands behind my back, so if there are any cameras my gun will be hidden and it’ll look like you’ve tied my wrists. Ok?”
“No,” he replied “but ok.”
When he stopped the landrover at the gate set in the plantations high and secure walls a womans voice, speaking in English, addressed him from a loudspeaker fixed above the entrance. She welcomed him, saying he was expected, and asking if the woman with him was the American. So they have a video providing them with live pictures from the entrasnce he thought.  He then followed Roses instructions and the gates opened, allowing him to drive in. As the gates doors closed behind the landrover they were greeted by two men, the nearest with a rifle in his hands. For a second Rose and Munroe both felt a pang of apprehension, but the rifleman grinned at Munroe as he got out of the vehicle,  then opened the door  where Rose sat. As he cast his eyes over her she could tell what he had in mind, not that it mattered she thought, as she produced her gun and shot him through the throat. The other man was to startled to go for the hand gun in his hip holster immediately and by the time he thought of it Munroe had shot him through the head.
 “Two down, four to go,” Rose said, but if Munroe was intending to reply he didn’t have time as two men emerged from the front door of the main building in the compound. Their attention had been caught by the sound of gun fire, but they weren’t  aware what was happening which gave Rose the chance to grab the rifle and riddle one of them with bullets. The other jumped back inside the building, and Rose gasped with horror as he then poked his  rifle round from behind the doorframe, his head still hidden behind it. She and Munroe were in the open and with an automatic weapon all the man needed to do was spray bullets around, even without looking he was certain to get them both. But he never got the chance to fire as Munroe shot a bullet straight into the hand that held the rifle barrel. With a scream the man dropped the weapon and in an instinctive reaction grasped the injured hand with his other, and bent forward, bringing his head into view. Munroe put a bullet through it,
“Two to go now,” he said.
Rose laughed slightly, from relief, “Frank, I could give you a kiss!”
“May hold you to that,” he responded as they entered the building. Once inside they scanned the space around them, it was palatial, decorated and furnished like a mansion from the colonial era, but no people in sight. “Ok,” said Rose, “We need to find the communications room. You search down here, I’ll go upstasirs.” Munroe nodded and Rose ascended the stairs to the galleried level above, and then stopped as a man appeared from an adjoining corridor, pointing a rifle directly at her. He was about to fire, and would have, had he not noticed Munroe raising his gun to shoot him. He put the rifle down and raised his hands.
“Don’t shoot Frank,” Rose said urgently, and just in time as Munroe was about to fire. She looked at the man and asked him if he spoke English.
“A little,” he said, and when she asked where the communications set up was he replied it was just round the corner from where she stood. After firing several bullets into him she motioned to Munroe to join her. When they had they turned the corner in the corridor they saw a woman holding a hand gun, her expression one of terror.
“Drop that gun now!” Rose ordered  and she did so, and began to cry, begging them not to kill her. “Is that the communication room?” Rose  demanded to know, pointing at an open door, and as the woman nodded she pushed her inside. Munroe followed.
“Have you sent a message to Darling about whats happened here?” Rose asked the woman. She said she hadn’t, and explained she’d heard the gunfire but hadn’t known what was going on. She then pointed to a screen on the electronic equipment which she explained was a record of all radio messages, and Rose saw there had not been a recent one. “Ok,” Rose said to her,“I’ll give you instructions on what destination to call. We are going to send a message to the Pentagon in the USA.”
“We cannot,” the other woman said, “this transmitter only has the power for local communication. To get a message abroad we need to relay through the  broadcaster at Mr Darlings.”
Rose thought for a second. “If this place is the home of the owner there must be mobile phones. Where are they?”
“I don’t know,” the woman replied, “but it doesn’t matter. There is no network connection out here, they relied on an ariel on the roof. We were ordered to destroy it, so a mobile will not work here now.”
“So there’s no way we can communicate with the outside world?” The woman shook her head in reply and Rose shot several bullets through her chest.
“What next?” Rose was speaking to herself as much as Munroe, but he replied immediately.
“We could release the slaves. I was told there’s about two hundred of them locked up in cells in the basement and now we’ve got a few guns to give them, courtesy of  Darlings late operatives, they might be of help to us.”
“Use them as cannon fodder?” The derision in Roses voice was obvious.
“It’s as much their fight as ours Rose, they have no life, no future here. Apperantly their recruited all over South America on the promise of jobs, then brought here to be worked to death. Or taken by Darling to be turned into human robots.”
“Good point,” Rose agreed, “Lets find them.”
“There is someone we haven’t accounted for,” Munroe added. “He’s called Torres, the owner of this place. He’s supposed to be here, and I don’t know if any of his family are. He won’t regard us as friends.”

In the basement they found a long corridor of cells and an electronic control panel, from which Rose quickly worked out how to open the doors. When she pressed the switch the cells began to slide open, one after the other and the people imprisoned inside began to come out, looking nervous, into the corridor. Rose called out to tell them they had nothing to fear, they were free now, and as most looked at her with incomprehension she asked if anyone spoke English. A young man stepped forward and introduced himself as Miguel, “Who are you?” he asked.
“I’m Rose Mcdoanald, this is Frank Munroe  and …” her voice trailed off as their attention was caught by a commotion further down the corridor. There was a man being held against the wall by some of the others, whose faces were contorted with fury, waving their fists at him and shouting aggressively.
“Torres,” Munroe said.
Rose shouted at them to be quiet and when she got no response fired a bullet from the rifle into the ceiling. Instantly everyone was silent, staring at her. “Whats going on?” she demanded.
Migeul stepped forward, “This is our master,” he spoke with hatred in his voice, “He got locked up to, I don’t know why, but now we are going to kill him.”
“Hang on just a minute,” Rose said, then turning to Torres asked if he was the owner of these premises. Nervous, his voice trembling slightly, he said he was and Rose asked him where his family was.
“I sent them away, I thought there’d be trouble. I never trusted that man Darling and look what he’s had his people do, lock me up down here.”After looking for a second at Munroe he continued, “I know him, but who are you?”
When Rose replied that she was from the CIA Torres smiled broadly, his face registering his relief. “Thank goodness you’re here, now you can stop this madness. If only you hadn’t stopped doing business with me, then I’d never have got involved with Darling. Are we going to be partners again?”
“What are you talking about?” Rose asked him.
“Don’t you know? Your people helped my families business for many years, since when I was a small boy. We helped in the fight against the communists and the CIA helped our business, even assisting in the sale of our product.”
“And your product is?” Rose enquired.
“Cocaine.”
Rose looked at Miguel, “You want this man dead?” and after he replied that that was exactly what he and the others wanted, she fired several times into Torres chest. “Done.”
There were whoops of delight from the onlookers and Miguel hugged Rose. Then his face became stern as he spoke again, “What of Darling,s people? Where are they?”
“You don’t have to worry about them, their taken care of. Frank here did most of the work on that, he’s good at it.”
Migeul turned to the crowd and shouted out in Portuguese to them, and it was evident to Rose he was telling them their captors were dead, as people laughed and cheered. A pretty yong woman kissed Munroe, and with a smile on her face spoke in Portuguese. “She says your her hero,” a grinning Migeul explained.
 “Thankyou,” Munroe smiled at the girl as he spoke.
“Frank Munroe the hero,” Rose also smiled, “now I’ve heard everything!”
Migeul then explained that they had been in the cells for several hours and had not been given anything to eat, so people were now going upstairs to where the food was stored. “Ok, you’ll find some guns up there, can’t miss them their right by the bodies of Darlings thugs,” Rose told him, “If there is anyone who has had experience with guns they’d be the best people to give them to, because when Darling finds out about this there is going to be trouble.”

She and Munroe followed them up the stairs Rose speaking as they went. “I’m getting more worried about this case,” at which point Munroe interrupted her.
 “I’m getting kinda concerned myself.”
Rose laughed and playfully elbowed him in the ribs, “At least you haven’t lost your sense of humour! But what worries me,” her face became serious again, “is that the CIA seems to close to it. They and our friends at MI5 seem to have infiltrated Darling,s operation pretty well, and now think about what Torres told us. I’m sure what he said was true as during the cold war we did make alliances with drug barons, we shouldn’t have but some people got to obsessed with doing anything if they thought it would help defeat communism. But I thought that all ended when the Soviet Union broke up, but now Torres tells us we were still helping him until fairly recently. And then we withdraw, just before Darling shows up.”
“Maybe,” replied Munroe, “Darling had infiltrated the CIA, knew they were abandoning Torres and so he moved in.”
“Maybe,” Rose said, “Or maybe they moved out to allow Darling to move in.”
Munroe was silent in thought for a while before he spoke again. “If your suggesting that the CIA is in league with Darling, or orchestrating events, there’s a serious flaw in that theory. And that’s this.  Why, if what you think was correct, would they send us and the others to try and stop him?”
“Yea, it doesn’t make sense. But something is wrong, just don’t have enough information to work out what it is.”

Their conversation was then interrupted by a young woman, one of the people they had freed, who approached and addressed them in English. “Miss Mcdonald, Mr Munroe, there is something outside you should see.” 

Once in the grounds at the front of the building they saw a group of people stood in a semi-circle shape, and as they walked round it to see what they were all looking at, the sight that greeted them made Rose gasp and and Munroe exclaim “What the?”. It was a man, just like the person Rose had encountered in the forest, his skin rotting, his hair long and white. And though standing, he was staggering, looking like he was having difficulty staying upright. There were gasps from the onlookers as he fell to his knees.
“This is what I told you I saw,” Rose told Munroe, “don’t know if it’s the one I met in the forest, but the appearnace is the same.”
Miguel was near, and grim faced, he spoke to her. “His name is Hugo, he and I have been friends since we were boys. We were both fooled into coming here, on the promise of jobs, then he was taken to Darling,s. This is what they do to people there.” They all stared at the man as he tried to stand, all silent until Miguel spoke again. “He is dying and we must relieve him of his torment now.”
“Yea,” Roses face was ashen as she spoke, “Frank will do it. He knows where to shoot.”
“No,” Miguel replied, “I must do it, he is my friend, it is my duty.”
Munroe handed him his gun, “Shoot through the temple, it will kill instantly, “ he advised.
Miguel took the gun, and kneeling down he placed an arm round Hugo’s shoulders, and with a trembling voice spoke to him, using Portuguese.
“He’s told Hugo he loves him,” someone whispered to Rose. Miguel still held Hugo, whose open mouth was dripping a green liquid, his breath making a loud, rasping sound, and his eyes staring  at the other man. A single shot rang out, some in the crowd wincing, others beginning to cry while Miguel still gripped his now dead friend, with tears beginning to slip down his cheeks. Rose let a moment pass before she bent down and placed a hand on the shoulder of Miguel, then kissed him on the forehead. “You’re a very brave man. Hugo was lucky to have a friend like you.”
Miguel stood upright, “And now I must avenge him.”
“Right,” Rose replied, her voice firmer now, “Lets work out a strategy. Frank, how about we pull the same trick we used here at Darling,s? I pretend to be your prisoner and once we’re  in we try and get to their communications room.”
“You must be joking,” was Munroes response, “we were lucky to get away with that here, and if that woman in the radio room had had the presence of mind to call Darling the Deathbringer would now be on its way. If we try the same thing at Darling,s we won’t need luck we’ll need a miracle!”
“Mr Munroe,” it was Miguel who spoke, “we do not expect you and the lady to fight alone , we will help. For us,” he added, “ this is personnel.”
“Ok Miguel,” Rose said, “this is how we’ll do it. Frank and I get in as I described, then as many of your people as there are guns for come in behind us, and the rest get out of here right now. We might just have a chance of thwarting that maniacs plans.” Miguel said he would organise it, see who where the most suitable people to go with them. Before he left Rose spoke to him again, “Miguel, don’t try and pressure anyone into going with us, . Some of us will die today, that is certain, possibly all of us, so it’s not something anyone should feel forced to do.”
Miguel smiled, “I think it will be hard persuading some that they should not come.”
“Right,” Rose smiled to, “One more thing. Make sure everyone knows that Darling has a machine called the Deathbringer, and as it’s name implies it’s deadly. You can’t fail to recognise it, it’s human shaped, made of metal, big and very mean. Tell everyone if their confronted by it to run. Don’t try and fight it, but run like the devil himself were chasing them.”
Miguel acknowledged her words and after he’d left to select who would go on the attack on Darlings complex, she turned to Munroe. “Well,” she asked, “do you think the plan looks any better now?”
“Not much, “ was his reply, “And I’ve got another plan. I get back in the landrover and drive out of here and keep going until it’s engine cuts out. Then I start walking.”
“To where?” Rose asked, “It must be a couple of miles we’ve already come from Darlings, so the landrover isn’t going to get you much further. And we are in the middle of nowhere. There will be some small communities around but unless your lucky it could be days before you find anywhere where you can get help to get back to civilisation. And you won’t last days, you’ve got no idea how to survive in the rain forest.”
Munroe was briefly silent then took a cigar out. “I think I’ll have a smoke.”

As he lit the cigar Rose spoke to him again,“Ingrid told me she saw a man shoot himself when ordered to, when she was at Darling,s place.”
“I saw it to, it was when Darling was entertaining his guests, just before you and Al were brought in.”
“We saw the body.”
“Its a treatment that makes people do whatever they are ordered, even killing themselves,” Munroe added.
“This treatment then,” Rose continued “I think” she pointed at Hugo’s body “this is how its victims ends up. This is what Darling is selling.”
After thinking for a second Munroe disagreed, “Who’d buy that? I can see why some would pay for something that turns people into robots who obey without question, but if they end up rotting away like this poor guy what would be the point of it?”
“The point might be the ability to cause terror. If Hitler had been armed with it he could have infected the American and Russian armies, made soldiers kill their colleagues before their own bodies rotted away, criminal gangs could use it to enforce whole populations into submission, terrorists could,” she turned to face Munroe, “I think I’ve said enough to make my point. And why am I sure of this? Because it fits in with events. Hugo was taken to Darlings complex and we can see what happened to him. What was it you said Emma Thompson told you, when we were in Kazakhstan? To beware of the walking dead?”
“Something like that. Maybe,” Munroe was briefly thoughtful, “maybe I should have listened to her rather than shoot her.”
“We were just obeying the orders we’d been given” Rose replied, then  laughed. “That’s the excuse the Nazis gave, only obeying orders. I’m as bad as you Frank, I was told the Thompsons were a threat to our national security so they had to die. I think I’ll ask more questions in future.” Turning to face him, her face set in a somber expression, she added, “And I’m now certain some of our people are not only involved in this but are up to their necks in it. Why did the Thompsons act like they did? They were doing medical research, then the military takes over the whole project, they quit and flee the country, we get sent to kill them. That can only be to stop them telling the world what they knew. Their research made it possible to do what is being done in Darling,s complex, I doubt if they intended that, it was probably something that they discovered sort of accidently. So the military took control and now Darling,s got it, and that has to be with the co-operation of people in the Pentagon and the CIA.”
Munroe was silent in thought, and Rose asked him what he made of her theory. “Well,” he replied, “I was so preoccupied with listening to you I’ve let my cigar go out.” After relighting it he then spoke, “Rose, I’ve talked to Darling and he’s not in league with the CIA or the Pentagon.”
“Maybe their using him, maybe he’s a pawn in a bigger game.”
“But,” Munroe continues, “ that doesn’t provide an answer to the problem with your idea I mentioned before, and that is, if the CIA is controlling Darling why send us to stop him?”
“And that” Rose conceded “is something I don’t have an answer for. Not yet, at least. But if I’m right and there are people in the states involved in this, then when I get home, or if I get home, there is going to be hell to pay.”
She then knelt by the body of Hugo, where flies now swarmed over his sad, rotting carcass. “And as for Darling, I’ve killed a few people and when it needs to be done I don’t hesitate.”
Munroe interrupted her. “I’d kinda noticed that.”
Rose looked over her shoulder at him and smiled very slightly, then her face was serious as she spoke again, “But I’ve always tried to make it as quick as possible, to minimise the suffering. But if I get the chance to end Darlings life” her voice trailed off.
“Actually,”said Munroe “odds are he’ll end ours and we’ll end up like Hugo here.”
“You’re a joy to have around Frank” Rose laughed, “Your so good for morale!”

It was not long before Miguel rejoined them, accompanied by about twelve of the others.  “We have five rifles and and some handguns. There are two women coming with us, I wanted it to be only men, this is really a mans job, but they both have experience of guns.”
“On another I’d day I’d give you an argument about sexual politics,” Rose said, laughing slightly, “but we don’t have time for that now.” Miguel added that was plenty of ammunition, for a variety of guns, inside the buoilding, so they could probably find some suited to their weapons.
“Good, we’ll have a look,” said Rose, “and now here’s the plan. Frank and I give you time to walk to Darlings, you all hide near the entrance for vehicles, I’ll give you detailed directions before you go. Then we drive up, enter, and you come in straight after us. The rest leave now, I suppose they’ll have to walk.”
But Miguel told her that Torres kept a fleet of cars in garages at the back of the building, and two lorries for carrying new slave workers in.
“Why didn’t I think of that?” Of course Torres would have transport here!” Munroe exclaimed, then seeing Miguel looking quizzically at him added, “It doesn’t matter now.”
“But one person must stay longer,” Rose added, “ I’ve just thought that if, as we are about to attack, someone here radios Darling,s, pretending to be one of his security staff, and says their under attack., he’ll send someone down here and with his forces divided that gives us a better chance.”
“Good idea,” approved Munroe, “Hopefully he’ll send the Deathbringer, which would keep it out of our way, at least for a while.”
“And that person then gets the hell out of here to,” Rose added.
“Your very clever Rose,” Miguel said with a grin, and then hugged her, “And for a woman, very brave! We’ll get ready to leave now.”
“I really must have a chat with him about gender stereotypes” Rose said to herself.