Sara Mason Mysteries Collection - The Complete Series

Excerpt from Sara Mason Mysteries Collection

Human bones are occasionally sighted along mountain streams in the Hawaiian Islands where Sara Mason had recently purchased a second home. Ancient burials at remote sites are washed away over time by the effect of torrential tropical rains on eroding lava cliffs and steep hillsides. Since those Hawaiian graves were never identified with markers, such bones could belong to a commoner or a King or Queen. No one could know, but bones along Hawaiian streams were more common than finding remains of American servicemen and women in the Vietnam jungle where Sara Mason, Esmerelda Talbot, Huxley Keane and the veterans' search party presently found themselves.

“The Yards found Palmer.” Sara glanced across the small clearing to the veteran who had become Huxley's best aide.

“Yes, the Montenyards, the Hmong people that Huxley told us about.” Esmerelda looked up into the treetops. “To think they used to live in this jungle.” Not that much to see existed anymore except struggling new trees, brush and scrub.

Sara, with Huxley's help, had developed the Orson Talbot Foundation in the Sacramento River Delta in California, named after Esmerelda's murdered husband. Beside the cold cases they worked on at home, Huxley had gotten her and Esmerelda approved to be included in the searches in Vietnam. Huxley and his team of retired veterans made at least one trip each year searching for his brother's remains, those of Esmerelda's daughter, and the other MIAs in the group of abducted medical personnel.

Animals previously found in Vietnam, such as elephant herds, Bengal tigers, crocodiles, and a variety of monkeys and birds, could easily have carried any human remains far away or even eaten them.

Then the forested areas were laid waste by the aerial spraying of Agent Orange and other defoliants. When Agent Orange was sprayed on a plant or tree, it sped up the growth through the trunks and stems and into the leaves at a rate the live plants couldn't handle and thus forced them to die. With no food growing anywhere, animals and other creatures starved and died.

“You know what I noticed, Esme?” Sara and Esmerelda sat detached from the group in a moment of private conversation.

“What's that?”

“The vets in this group, in these trips we've made with them, I've seen them age drastically.”

“I noticed that too.”

“It's as if this is their last objective in life and it's taking a toll on them.” Sara motioned with her eyes toward one of the men they had seen go completely gray over the few years since they had first met him.

“But not your Huxley. He's the mainstay here. He's much younger than these vets and he's strong and aggressive, just what these guys need.”

Sara glanced at Huxley in admiration. He stood tall and erect with broad shoulders and a determined expression. He was the picture of strength and endurance, the type of leader that kept morale buoyant. Framed by a full head of dark hair that he refused to shave off regardless of the present-day trend among many men, and dark brows, his blue-topaz eyes sparkled, even in the filtered sunlight of the forest.

April had passed, the time of year the majority in the group preferred to be in the jungle. The dry season was over and now gave way to escalating temperatures, causing the moist jungle floor to become insufferably humid.

Since the first trip they made with the group, Sara and Esmerelda accepted the sight of the crew, especially the Vietnamese in their camp, who would strip down to shorts and boots. They were on a mission and would do whatever necessary to accomplish their goal. The group had packed an enormous supply of bug repellant. Sara, Esmerelda and one-half of the photographic duo were the only women along and wouldn't be taking off much of their clothing. Sara and Esmerelda rested on some rocks at the edge of a stream. They removed their waterproof hats to give their perspiration soaked scalps a chance to breathe.

The search team followed a well-worn and widened trail through dense jungle and rocky terrain southwest of Krong Klang below Quang Tri in central Vietnam; the same trail used by the Viet Cong to escape with the MIAs for which the team searched. The ever-present fog and fine drizzle gave the forest a mythical aura during the daylight hours and an eerie cast under moonlight. Soon, it would be typhoon season north of the 18th Parallel. Hopefully no storm that strong would hit their location.

The sun broke through with penetrating heat stirring up the humidity and adding an additional bit of discomfort. In place of the majestic triple canopy of trees that stood before chemical defoliation, after the war mangroves were planted near all the streams and waterways. The Mangroves should have invited the return of birds. Yet, closing in on half a century later, not many were sighted or heard.

The estimate was that the normal forest would take well over one hundred years to grow back. Whole herds of wild elephants and other creatures died out from Agent Orange and other defoliants. It was hoped that any survivors crossed over to Laos and Cambodia. Not many elephants existed presently in Vietnam except in zoos. However, wild herds had recently been reported around Dac Lac, a Central Highlands province.

Sara and Esmerelda eyed each other's matted hair and chuckled. They were a pair! Sara's long natural sun-streaked blond hair with a few premature grays contrasted to Esmerelda's short, dyed jet-black waves. For convenience sake, Sara kept her hair braided. Esmerelda, having been away from a beauty shop for many weeks, had a lot of telltale gray beginning to show through her short coiffed strands.

On the outside they seemed different as noon and midnight. On the inside, they were closer than mother and daughter. On a day-to-day basis, both had reserves of energy and their thoughts and actions played off each other. Sara was naturally thin. Despite her age, Esmerelda would have no part of what she termed an old lady's shape. Being active kept them thin and fit, which was a prerequisite for joining the search team. They sipped bottled water and watched two of the crew interact over by some tall shrubs.

One was the former Marine 1st Lieutenant, Palmer Dane, forced out of the group by his VC captors, shot and left to die in dense jungle when he became weakened by dysentery. The VC were kept so busy trying to find their way, no one went back to check on him.

The other was the Yard, Thanh Van Thuy, who was not present during the prisoners' march through the jungle, but was one of the tribesmen who helped the U.S. military in Vietnam. The Montenyards were who found the 1st Lieutenant close to death in the bush and spirited him out of danger. Several of the rugged Hmong took turns carrying him on their backs, despite his dead weight. When the terrain got rough, they carried him on a makeshift stretcher of poles and reeds. He recovered at the NSA naval hospital near Marble Mountain at Da Nang.

After coming out of a three-day coma due to infection, when Palmer was able to clarify what the Hmong had tried to explain though unable to speak English, a search party was sent out for the others, but to no avail. As far as the search team was able to penetrate the jungle without compromising their own safety, they had found scant evidence that the trail had been used for anything more than normal passage through the forest.

“Hux found Thanh.” Sara spoke quietly and reverently there in the jungle. The Human Remains Detection canine that Hux usually brought was on a job elsewhere. “Hux contacted dog trainers in Honolulu and that's when he met Thanh.”