Delta nodded but said nothing.
“Then, when I finally met you, I was surprised to see that I hadn’t romanticized at all. You were exactly the heroine I’d fantasized about.”
Delta continued to rock.
“But I was also surprised that my feelings for you were deeper than anything physical. You were a woman whose life I wanted to be a part of in whatever capacity you’d let me.” Taylor snuggled closer before continuing. “When Connie called, there wasn’t a moment’s hesitation in me. You needed my help, and I saw it as a perfect opportunity to become part of your world.”
Delta nodded.
“I guess… I guess I just want you to know that I think and your friends are tops in my book, and if I die, I’ll go knowing that I was a part of that, a part of them.”
Squeezing her eyes, Delta sighed. “Yes, Taylor, you are.”
“I never had a family you know.”
Trying to contain her tears, Delta swallowed hard. “Well, you do now, sport.”
Taylor winced from some pain and stiffened in Delta’s embrace, her voice starting to take on a dreamy sound. “I think that’s all anybody wants in this life; a place to belong, people who care whether or not they live or die. Don’t you think?”
Feeling tears run down her cheeks, Delta nodded. “I care, Taylor. We all do.”
“That’s my point. If I die in here, you have to know it’s a way better death than living without people who truly love you. If I had to do it all over again, a herd of Tasmanian devils couldn’t keep me away.”
Kissing Taylor’s forehead once more, Delta held her tightly. “I know.”
“Do you?”
Tilting Taylor’s face up so she could see her eyes, Delta smiled warmly. “I’m so glad you came into my life.”
Kissing Delta lightly on the cheek, Taylor returned her head to Delta’s chest. “Me, too. Megan is a lucky woman, and so are you.”
Closing her eyes and feeling Taylor’s weight sag against her, Delta nodded. Right now, lucky was just about the last thing she felt.
“And if you’re lucky, it’ll be right where it’s supposed to be.”
Sal looked at Connie, her right eyebrow arched in question. “Now we’re relying on luck?”
Connie dug through her bag and opened a package of trail mix. Offering the bag to Sal, Connie waited for her to dig out a fistful before helping herself. “Luck helps. But, no, I’m relying on a hell of a lot more than that.”
“So what is it, exactly, that you want me to do?”
Connie had received confirmation from the boat by way of a flashing light that someone had seen her signal.
“If my rusty Morse code is still any good, we’re about a quarter of a mile off track. We don’t have time to comb the shore looking for the raft Gina and Logan were supposed to leave. We need you to swim out to the boat and bring one back. Think you can do it?”
Sal looked out at the boat and estimated the swim to be a quarter of a mile, maybe more. “If that’s what needs to be done, then I’ll do it. Are there sharks out there?”
Connie grinned. Sal had some kind of phobia about being eaten alive. She had voiced these concerns even when they had first run into the Bri. “I don’t think so.”
Sal looked up at her. “You don’t think so? Con, you’re the smartest woman on the planet. Could you at least lie to me and say there’s no way in hell sharks hang out here so that my little ticker doesn’t get overly excited?”
Connie grinned. “How’s your leg?”
Sal shrugged away the pain. “It works.”
Connie looked hard at Sal. “It hurts, doesn’t it?”
“Is it time for me to lie?”
Connie grabbed another handful of trail mix. “No. I know the answer to that question.”
Sal reached for the trail mix and poured more in her hand before opening her canteen and swallowing three huge gulps of water. “So, I’m supposed to just let you go back in there by yourself?”
Nodding, Connie removed a compass, a Bowie knife, and her canteen from her bag. “Have to.”
“Gina’ll kill me when I tell her.”
“She’ll understand. Just get me some help as soon as possible. Given the size of the explosions in the caves, the nationals might already be on their way.”
Sal nodded as she removed her backpack and set it beside Connie’s. “How much time should I give you?”
“Before calling it quits?”
Sal looked away. Neither wanted to admit the possibility that Connie or the boys might not make it back. “Yeah.”
“Forty-eight hours. You take the boys and go back to the Gran Hotel in San Jose. Stay out of Panama. The Panamanians won’t be very pleased to learn we’re back in La Amistad. At least in Costa Rica, we have Bianca.”
“The Gran Hotel. Got it.”
Watching Sal take her shirt off, Connie grinned weakly. She had never been so tired in her life. “Sal?”
“Yeah?”
“Thanks. For everything.”
Nodding, Sal took a few steps toward the water. “None needed. Just bring her back.”
“Will do.”
“What should I tell Gina?”
Connie had been thinking about that ever since they left the jungle. “The truth, Sal. Always the truth.”
“She’ll be okay, won’t she? I mean, this won’t take her into premature labor or anything, will it?”
Connie shook her head. “Nah. She’s tougher than she looks. She’ll be fine.”
“I’ll be back in a flash.” With that, Sal waded into the clear blue Caribbean water, leaving Connie to wonder if she’d ever see her again.
Just when Bianca wondered if she’d ever see her brother again, the kids she’d put on watch detail ran excitedly through the open front door, telling her that Manny had just arrived in town.
Her new friends had already been gone several hours, and Manny had actually arrived sooner than Bianca anticipated. Still, he was too late, and for that, she was glad. She had been hoping for a chance to tell Manny what she thought of the way he’d treated these people and the ones he had yet to save.
After sending the children back to the main road, Bianca poured herself a glass of lemonade and stood by the window overlooking the small town. Rivas was nothing like the city of Vancouver, British Colombia, where she attended school. It had one main street, several small bars, and a grocery store. Even the gas station was in the town ten miles south of Rivas. There was little for children to do here except play in the jungle and swim in the river. She had grown up here and loved every moment. Even with its small size with little for her to do, she often found herself longing for the peacefulness of Rivas when she was away at school, but that calm had been broken by Colombians, Americans, and even her brother.
Manny.
She felt so betrayed by him. And now, she was going to have the chance to tell him just what she thought of his clandestine activities. She could hardly wait. It wasn’t easy to acknowledge that her big brother had opted for money over morals. These days, poor people seemed to be doing that more and more. Farmers were selling their rainforest property to large American, Canadian, and German companies, who clear-cut it for grazing land in order to feed the Americans lust for beef. While the farmer became rich, the land, and the people on it, were forced to adapt or die, like any other creature in the jungle. She had thought Manny knew better than to turn on his country, but she had been wrong. Like the farmers, Manny’s lifestyle was more important than the big picture of saving a country from the capitalist nations that threatened to destroy it. Perhaps the Americans’ gluttonous way of life poisoned everyone it touched.
Be that as it may, she was not about to let her brother pursue her friends into the jungle.
He may have chosen politics over the pride of his heritage, but Bianca would not let him choose to harm them. She’d had enough of his lies and deception. Bianca had faith in the group of Americans who had befriended her, and she was going to give them
every possible chance of success, because that’s what friends do for each other.
Picking up the phone, she dialed and waited for someone to answer the call. When a deep, husky voice answered, she said, “Ahora, aquí,” and then hung up and continued staring out the window.
Ten minutes after her call, Manny came bursting through the door, his eyes red-rimmed and his face haggard. “Bianca!” he shouted, before he saw her standing at the window.
“I am right here, Manuel.” Bianca crossed her arms and leaned against the wall. Manny looked like he hadn’t slept in days, and he sported a three or four-day-old beard. Deception seemed to have prematurely aged him.
“Where are they?” he said, looking frantically about.
“Whom are you speaking about?” Bianca slowly picked up her lemonade and took a sip. This was not the boy she had grown up with, and her heart sank at the prospect of having lost him already.
“Do not trifle with me, Bianca. I know they must have come here!” Manny’s eyes swept the room looking for evidence. “There was no place else for them to go.”
“Are you asking as my brother, who has turned his back on his friends, or as the agent working for the United States government, who has turned his back on his country? Tell me, Manuel, to whom am I speaking?”
Manny’s head whipped around, and he stared hard at his little sister. “Then they were here!”
Bianca shrugged. She was angrier with him than she realized. “They were not here, Manuel, Connie was. The rest of them went back to the States.” If he could use deception to catch them, she could do the same to release them.
Manny plopped down in a chair, his eyes – bloodshot with horrendous bags beneath them – still worked over the room. Bianca wondered if his job was really worth it. “Just Connie? And don’t lie to me, Bianca. I know when you’re lying.”
“It’s a shame I can’t say the same about you.”
Manny released a bone-weary sigh. “It is not a child’s world I live in, Bee. There’s much more this than—”
“Than what? Than friendship? Than patriotism? You know what saddens me the most, Manuel, is that it was you who taught me about both.”
Manny rubbed his stubble and looked away from her. “I don’t have time for this.”
“It was also you who told me that our people valued time together more than money or riches or possessions. Were you lying about that as well?”
Manny looked back at his sister. She was not the same little girl as when last she’d come home. “When this is all over, I will explain global politics to you, Bee, but right now, I need to know if you’re being honest. Did only Connie go in the jungle?”
Bianca nodded, feeling her heart slowly breaking. “She is the only one who thinks Delta is still alive.”
Manny laid his face in his hands and sighed loudly. “Damn them.”
Setting her drink down, Bianca shook her head sadly. She’d never felt like any of her siblings were strangers to her until now. “Damn them for not acting the way you wanted them to?”
Manny waved her off without looking at her. “You don’t have any idea what this—”
“I most certainly do. I know far more than you imagine. I know that you have turned your back on those people. How could you do that, Manuel? Is that how Papa raised you?”
“Bianca—”
“No, you are going to hear me out, big brother. Josh carried you out of the forest, took you to a hospital, saved your life, and this is how you repay him?”
Manny looked at her through his empty, bloodshot eyes. “It’s not about me, Bianca.”
“It is to me! You were my idol, Manny. I thought you were the picture of virtue and ethics. I was proud to call you my brother. But not today. Not anymore.”
“You don’t know what the world is about, Bianca.”
“I don’t need to know what the world is about to know that you betrayed someone who saved your life. And if that isn’t bad enough, you’ve betrayed our people, our country, even our family.” Bianca shook her head sadly. “You’ve used people who only wanted to make the world you seem to think I know nothing about a safer place for everyone. So don’t try to rationalize your behavior, Manny, because you’re wasting your time. I am not a little girl any longer.”
Manny rose to leave but suddenly found the door blocked by a very large younger man about Bianca’s age. Behind him stood two more young men who could have passed for teenagers. All three men wore machetes around their waists. Manny turned to her, anger and frustration on his face. “Don’t do this, Bianca. This does not concern you.”
“That’s where you’re wrong, Manny. Saving people, saving the rainforest, saving my beautiful country does concern me.” Bianca nodded to the man blocking the door. “Gracias, Rico.”
Enrico nodded, glaring at Manny. “No problem.” Enrico motioned for Manny to sit down, which he did.
“You’ve lost your way, Manuel,” Bianca said, folding her arms across her chest. “You’ve given up what’s important for something that doesn’t even matter. Well, those people and this country matter to me, and I’m not going to allow you to go after them or get in their way.”
Manny’s eyes grew larger. “You lied! They did go after Delta, didn’t they?”
Bianca cursed herself beneath her breath. “It doesn’t matter who went after her, Manny, because you’re no longer in the game.”
Many studied Bianca a moment before turning to Enrico and reeling off a barrage of curses at him. Enrico only grinned and put his hand on his machete handle.
“Relax. Enrico, Saldovar, and Javier are here to make sure that you don’t go anywhere.” Bianca walked over to her brother and held her hand out. “Both your guns, please.”
Many stared, slack-jawed at her. “My…”
Bianca grinned. Connie and Delta would have been proud. “Your guns, Manny. Give them to me.”
“You think I would use weapons against Enrico?”
Bianco shrugged, sadness covering her face. “I don’t trust you anymore, Manny. I don’t believe you know what’s right and wrong. I can’t take the chance that you might hurt one of us for your American paycheck.” To her surprise, Manny’s eyes filled with tears.
“I can’t believe…”
“Neither can I. And I can only hope that you haven’t set this whole thing up to explode in our faces.”
Manny impatiently wiped his eyes. “What does that mean? What do you mean our faces?” Manny pulled out his two handguns and handed them to Bianca.
Taking the handguns, Bianca walked over to Enrico and handed them to him. “It means that those Americans need help, and I’m going to give it to them.”
Bianca and Kiki had been in the jungle for nearly three hours when she sent Kiki scurrying up to the highest position of the canopy. She knew Kiki understood what they were looking for, and who better to find the invisible beings in a rainforest than a Capuchin monkey? It wouldn’t be long now before Kiki located their quarry. She always had in the past.
Following the group’s trail through the jungle had been child’s play, and Bianca wondered if she might not come upon her new American friends’ corpses. The Americans had created a wide swath that would have told even a novice tracker that they had come this way. Bianca could only hope that wasn’t the case. She had grown fond of the Americans, who had shown her more courage than what she’d read about in school. Most Americans were so busy strutting about, acting like gluttons, consuming everything any country made, that they were unaware that they had become the laughing stock of so many other nations. Even her own beloved Costa Ricans thought the haughty nature of Americans was both sad and amusing.
But these Americans were different. They had come to her not once but twice, asking for help, and Bianca had delivered. Sure, she had delivered them to her secret agent-spy-undercover cop-operative brother, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t make up for Manny’s poor judgment and even poorer job choices. She loved her brother very much, and the Manny she
’d grown up with would never have allowed innocent people to get hurt, even if it meant political hurricanes would sweep down. He had changed. Maybe it was just about growing up. Whatever it was, she was not about to let him sentence these courageous Americans to death in order to fulfill some kind of obligation he had to some other government.
No, Delta and her friends deserved a fighting chance. Manny surely must see that. He couldn’t possibly send people to their deaths, knowing that one of them had come here and immediately gotten involved in a rainforest preservation project. That had mattered to him. Watching Kiki scamper among the branches, Bianca listened carefully to the sounds of the jungle. It didn’t matter how long she had been away, a kid who had grown up in the jungle knew it better than any place in the world. It was as familiar to her now as it had been when she was ten years old and had spent a month in the Bribri village with her father. The world around her may have changed, but the jungle was as beautiful and dangerous as ever.
Suddenly, Kiki made clicking and popping noises. Kiki, too, had managed to stay relatively unchanged since Bianca was a child, and Bianca could recognize each of her many sounds like a mother knows what her baby is saying when it first learns to talk. Kiki had spotted them.
As Bianca neared a huge mango tree, she clicked her tongue to call Kiki back. As the monkey descended from her perch high in the trees, Bianca heard the slightest cracking of the jungle floor. Turning around, she had found what she was looking for.
“Well, it’s about time,” she said, opening the top of her shirt to display a thin light blue line that resembled a tattoo. “I need your help.”
It had taken them more time than they realized, but when the sun started peeking through the thin blue line of the horizon, it was a welcome sight. When you are running for your life, nighttime in the jungle feels like an eternity.
When Meg, Carducci, and Josh finally made it out of the jungle and onto shore, Sal was just returning to the beach in a rubber raft large enough to carry them all. Even the ex-hostages had managed to keep up with the three of them as they scurried through the jungle.
Storm Surge (Delta Stevens Crime Logs Book 6) Page 19
