As the electronics specialist, Gadgets packed only five magazines of 5.56mm cartridges for his small CAR-15. But he carried the heavy shortwave transmitter and all the accessories — the scrambler and screech unit to encode and decode their communications and the long antenna of metal tape to insure the radio link with Stony Man. He also carried two miniature microphones and a receiver. He sealed all the electronic units in 10-mil vinyl bags, then padded the radio and coding units with his other gear — the disposable plastic anticontamination suit, his poncho, protein rations, the aluminum and foam case for the micro-transmitters. The clutter of gear added a measure of protection.
Shouldering his pack and standing, Gadgets groaned. "Oh, man! Am I the mule."
"What's your problem?" Lyons shouted.
"This shortwave set. Next time, we go where they have telephones!"
The pilots' compartment door opened. Horizontal through the plane's windshields, the light of the rising sun filled the cargo area. The copilot walked back to them. He wore a fur-collared Eisenhower jacket and tight Levi's. Able Team did not know his name. When they had changed planes at an airfield somewhere back in the Peruvian mountains, the pilots had stayed in the cockpit. He did not introduce himself now.
He went to one knee near their gear and gazed at the weapons. Then he observed their lightweight clothing — Gadgets and Blancanales in green camouflage fatigues, Lyons in faded shadow-gray cotton fatigues.