have arranged his escape: first to the Baltimore docks, after that, no one seems to know.
In the village of Porvenir, somewhere in the South American jungles, Jackie is in a dormitory for laborers at the nearby oil refinery. He gazes out the window:
filthy makeshift shacks, pig carcasses, careworn peasant women . . . and vultures, always waiting.
Victor Manzon is also in Porvenir, eating breakfast at a dismal cafe, the El Corsario. Kassem, as well, has found his way to the dreary village, working waist-deep in mud as a member of a pipe-hauling crew.
A DC-3 arrives at the airport outside Porvenir. Among the passengers is Nib. He tells the authorities that he is in transit, but instead of reboarding the plane, he takes a taxi into Porvenir, where he rents a room in the courtyard of the El Corsario.
Victor, unsuccessful in selling a gold watchband to leave Porvenir, is drinking with Jackie at the El Corsario. The police enter, examine Jackie's identity card and pronounce it a forgery. But Jackie will not be prosecuted, they say, if he pays the police one-third of his meager earnings at the refinery.
At the Poza Rica oil field, some two hundred miles away, a derrick suddenly erupts in flame. Workers flee as blazing rubble shoots skyward and storage tanks explode in rhythmic sequence.
As the burned, mutilated bodies of workers are brought back to Porvenir, the tragedy crystallizes the anger of the peasants. Soldiers are clubbed senseless, military vehicles set on fire.
The oil company's American representative, Corlette (RAMON BIERI), is sure that the blast was engineered by revolutionary guerillas. His more immediate problem is bringing the fire under control. An expert, Senor Del Rios (CHICO MARTINEZ), says he can snuff out the fire, if he has sufficient explosives. But the only nitroglycerine available has become so volatile that the merest bump will detonate it. And this has to be transported overland along rutted, twisting mountain roads, through nearly impassable jungle.
A sound truck calls for volunteers on the streets of Porvenir. Only expert drivers - willing to risk their lives for a way out of the dank village - need apply.
Of the desperate men who step forward, four are chosen: Jackie, Victor, Kassem and a German derelict named Angerman (KARL JOHN). Victor negotiates their pay - $10,000 per man and legal residence in the country without police harassment.
As the men prepare to depart, Nib stands watching them intently. Angerman is missing. Kassem runs to the German's hut, returning in a frenzy. "Zionist murderer!" he screams, lunging at Nib, who sidesteps him neatly.
Angerman's throat has been slashed. That leaves only three drivers, but Jackie has a simple solution. He points at Nib.
Jackie's truck turns onto the main road out of Porvenir, crossing the river toward 200 miles of impenetrable jungle. Nib is beside him. Victor and Kassem follow fifteen minutes later.
The nitro sways gently in its sawdust beds in each truck. The adventure begins . .