Saving Grant Ward

Chapter Six

Just under three hours later, we landed in Costa Rica. Since we were in a SHIELD jet, we were able to land in a small clearing by the village, and we didn't have to deal with airports or cars or any other forms of transportation. Instead, Ward was able to set us down gently exactly where we needed to go.

Once we finished with all the landing procedures, Ward pushed a button to drop the cargo hatch so we could meet our contacts. He stood and walked out of the plane without a word to me, and I did my best to match his confident posture as I followed him.

A crowd of people were waiting for us as we stepped out of the plane. I could tell they were government personnel from the suits and guns they had, but the man in the lead still smiled as he walked forward to greet us.

"You must be the agents from SHIELD," he said, shaking Ward's hand and then turning to shake mine. 

"That's us," answered Ward. "I'm Agent Ward."

"Agent Slater," I said. I couldn't keep a small smile off my face at the sound of agent in front of my name.

"I'm Agent Vargas. Thank you both for coming so quickly," he said.

"That's our job," Ward said, nodding once. "What can you tell us about this thing you've found?"

"I'm afraid we can't tell you much. We have no idea what it is. We know it's about ten miles into the rainforest, but we don't have a specific location. The energy pulses seem to show up randomly, although we've been trying to find some kind of pattern or logic to them."

"Any satellite images or other information that might give us an idea of what this thing is?" asked Ward.

"Nothing. No one's been able to get a visual on it. All of our electronics short out whenever we get close to the suspected area. After the first few teams failed and had tech breakdowns, we decided it was time to call in the big guns."

"You made the right call," said Ward with a nod. "We'll grab our gear off the jet, and then we'll head out."

"Excellent. Thank you."

Ward turned and headed back up into the Quinjet, but I hung back with Agent Vargas. The fact that the Costa Rican government hadn't been able to successfully go into their home turf and find this thing made me a lot more nervous about our chances, SHIELD agents or no. If Ward didn't want to get advice from the local experts, I sure wasn't going to waste the opportunity.

"So, Agent Vargas, you definitely know this area better than we do. Got any rainforest survival tips for us?" I asked. He gave me a smile.

"I'd assumed SHIELD would have more than prepared you to deal with survival missions, the rainforest-variety included."

His words had a little bit of a teasing lilt to them, but nothing that wasn't light and friendly. I couldn't help smiling back.

"They did pretty good, but I definitely don't know as much about rainforests as someone who lives near one. New York's a great place, but it's pretty far off from a tropical climate."

He nodded. "Well, since you asked, I'll certainly share what I can."

Agent Vargas gave me a quick summary of the most critical pointers over the course of the next five minutes. Thanks to SHIELD training, I managed to get it solidly in my long-term memory, and suddenly, I felt a little better about our chances in that jungle.

"Thanks, Agent Vargas," I said, giving him a nod once he'd wrapped up his highlights. "Seriously. I appreciate it."

He grinned back at me. "Happy to help. And impressed that the big, strong SHIELD agent paused to ask."