It wasn't every day that a report on a "jungle man" crossed the desk of the Minister of Natural Resources. He summoned an underling. "Surely this is some exaggeration?"
"No, Minister," the junior official remarked. "I've seen him myself."
"This report mentions some instances of violence," the man peered critically at the typed document.
"Most likely the result of some amateurish members of an archaeological dig who were ill-equipped to handle the man when he came into their custody," the junior official explained.
"Well, I can't see my way to releasing such an individual near a population center."
"Of course not, sir," the other man said. Leaning forward, he pointed to a photocopied map included with the official report. "I thought this might work."
The minister looked at the map. "He'd definitely be out of my hair," he mused. "The last thing I want is a lot of media scrutiny and public attention," he said in the language of the consummate bureaucrat.
"Can I handle the details for you, Minister?"
Signing off on the document, the minister handed it back. "Please do."
After two days of captivity, with everyone around him speaking a language he couldn't fathom or utilize, a stir-crazy Richard was happy, at first, to simply be out of the temporary cage. He had just finished another meal of well-ripened fruit, the soon-to-go-bad produce bought cheaply at a local market and brought to meet, or so they thought, his dietary needs. He would have loved some medium-rare roast beef or a pasta dish with a delicate sauce.
One of the guards who had been instrumental in his removal from the expedition camp had previously place a collar around his neck that, Richard soon learned, delivered a nasty shock if he so much as looked funny at one of the trigger-happy soldiers. So, when the man attached a leash to the collar, he didn't object or protest in word or deed.
Removed from the cage and led through a corridor, he emerged near a concrete landing pad where the rotors of a helicopter were already whirring loudly. Accompanied by the guard, Richard walked toward the helicopter. The guard pushed his head down. "Do you want decapitated by the blades you dumb beast?"
Richard growled but kept his temper in check. Once again, he wished he had learned a few utterances or phrases that could have ended his ordeal.
Once on board the helicopter, he joined a set of three other soldiers who gave him a wide berth. By their pained expressions, Richard realized that his ever-present malodorous stink remained with him. For the soldiers confined with the jungle man, the 50-minute flight into the deep interior of the jungle proved a miserable ordeal.
Richard, understandably, hoped they were returning him to the expedition. He had waited for two days for Tim to come rescue him from his captors. Perhaps his friend had been working behind the scenes all this time to get him released. As the flight persisted much longer than necessary to return to the camp, Richard began to wonder about their destination.
The helicopter's pilot eventually found and followed the winding path of a dark river that meandered like a lazy serpent through the green jungle. He waited until they found a wide oxbow lake before he descended, keeping the chopper hovering about 50 feet above the water.
Two men helped Richard to his feet while another inserted a key into the hated collar. Richard heard a small metallic clink as the collar came free. He raised his hands and rubbed at his sore neck. He grabbed at a hanging strap with one muscle, hairy arm as the chopper's cargo bay door opened.
"What are we doing here?" Richard asked to the baffled assembly.
He suddenly felt a push and a phrase that, if there had been someone to translate, would have roughly meant, "Happy landings!"
He plunged, yelling in surprise, out of the cargo hold, landing with a terrific splash in the shallow center of the placid wide spot in the river. "Wait!" Richard bellowed when he surfaced and saw the helicopter already gaining elevation and flying away from him. "You can't just leave me here!"
In short order, the sounds of the helicopter's engines died and were replaced by the bird calls and other natural sounds from the jungle surrounding either side of the vast, shallow lake. He waded through reeds and lily pads for most of his trek out of the lake. In a few deep channels, he had to submerge his hairy body deep enough for a brief, paddling swim.
Richard reached shore, barely a stretch of mud only a few feet apart from the border of tall trees at the entry to the denser jungle beyond. His large feet squelched as he plodded through deep mud as the man turned his soaked hairy, naked body toward the jungle.
"Oh fuck," he muttered and slapped at a flying insect with piercing mouthparts that seemed to know precisely where to penetrate his dense pelt.