The Z Contingency

Chapter 32

Early on the third evening after leaving the ranger station, Simon trudged into the last of the three camp sites that Ranger Greene had indicated. Lake Constance. This better be it. His muscles ached, and his mind was dull. Other than the few hours on the plane, he had not gotten much rest since leaving D.C. While he had kept himself physically fit, his training was better suited for hand-to-hand fighting, or surviving in hostile situations, not for recreational backpacking.

It was a small site, only large enough for two tents to be pitched. There was one small tent there. Simon walked up to it and started calling "Gary Ecks!" There was no response, so Simon poked his head into the tent to make sure no one was there. Seeing that it was empty, Simon decided to pitch his own tent and get settled. It was already too late to head back toward the ranger station, even if Gary was already packed up to leave. Simon still had to convince Gary of the need to go.

Just as Simon had settled into his tent to wait for Gary's return, a man emerged from the trees carrying an armload of firewood. "Gary Ecks!" he shouted, a bit too loudly.

The sudden call startled the man, causing him to drop the firewood. He was disheveled, had several days' worth of beard growth, and clearly was not expecting to see any other people at his campsite. He peered at Simon for several moments before speaking. "Simon Zaine? Is that you?" Gary suppressed the bile rising in his throat at the recognition of his old college roommate.

The two men had met at the very beginning of college, when they learned that they were sharing a room in the freshman dorms. Gary had stumbled into the dorm room, a suitcase in each hand, and a large box balanced between, obscuring most of his vision. Thinking that he was the first to arrive, he nearly dropped everything when he heard a voice blurting out from the far end of the room, near the small window.

"Watch out, dude. You need a hand with that?"

"Sorry... dude. Thanks, I'm good." Gary dropped his things onto the bed nearest the door, and peered at the source of the voice. A distinguished looking young man with blue-gray eyes and a shock of hair hanging over his eyes was sprawled out on the other bed. He had an air of self-assurance about him. "I guess we're roommates. I'm Gary Ecks" he said, extending his hand.

The other man jumped up off his bed, grasped Gary's outstretched hand and pumped it vigorously. "Simon Zaine. Pleasure meeting you." Gary could hear the slight trace of an accent that might have been British, but he could not place it more precisely.

The two young men had spent the rest of that first day with Gary trying to guess Simon's roots, and otherwise getting to know each other. In spite of having very different personalities, the two had surprisingly hit it off. They had chosen to be blocked together when the time came for them to enter the lottery for room assignments in an Upperclass House, and had remained roommates through their entire college careers. They had also stayed close friends, but not quite as long.

"Yeah, it's been a long time. What's it been, fifteen years? Who would have thought that I would run into you in the middle of a forest on a hiking trip? How have you been?" Simon was fumbling for words, feeling more awkward than he had since well before college. It puzzled him why he was having such difficulty coming right out, and telling Gary why he was there. Maybe it was the way they had left things the last semester of their Senior year, and Simon never really understood what had happened between them. All he knew was that one day, Gary stopped speaking to him.

"That sounds about right. So what have you been up to all these years?" Gary asked. Still stabbing your friends in the back? "You took a job at the CIA right out of college, right?" And how fitting is that?