“Get up, you lot! The sun will be up in a little more than an hour, so we must start movin to our positions.”
In spite of only having had a little bit of sleep, Charlie, Santiago, and the others didn’t waste time getting up and gathering the supplies they needed to put their plan into action. Martin was moving a little slower, but he was still feeling groggy from all that whisky he drank.
Not all of the men would need to leave the tower right away, but they would all need to be ready to keep an eye out for the signal.
Drake had devised a scheme whereby Martin, Charlie, and Santiago would be posted in hidden locations at equidistant positions around a shrine of the Virgin Mary about a hundred yards from the tower. (That was the place indicated on the ransom letter as the delivery point.) They wanted to be sure that no matter which direction the man, or men, came from to pick up the ransom, they would be able to see where he, or they, went so that they could stay on his trail. They figured out a way to do this by sending back reflected light signals for the others to follow using pocket mirrors or whatever shiny metals they were able to use.
There would be sixteen possible signals to indicate the direction as specifically as possible, ranging from one flash to sixteen flashes and working their way around a sixteen-point compass rose, starting with the northern position. So one flash meant north, two meant north-northeast, three meant northeast, four meant east northeast, and so on. As soon as the ransom was collected by the “money man,” whoever was nearest the direction in which he began to travel would flash a signal with the direction—first to the tower, where Drake would be waiting—then flash to the men posted at the other two locations, since they likely would not have seen where the money man went.
The first person who flashed the signal—the one closest to the money man—would quietly begin to follow him on foot for as far as he was able, and then the others would trickle in behind him on horseback, or by boat if necessary, continually signaling behind them to any other men following to ensure that they were able to move quietly and in a staggered fashion.
Just a few minutes before the break of day, the servant from the Velasquez family estate came to deliver the ransom money. He looked all around with great curiosity to see if he could see anyone coming, then placed the sack of coins behind the statue of the Virgin Mary, inside the shrine. As he walked away, he looked back to see if anyone was coming to collect it, just as he had been told to do, and then he got back into the boat in which he had come and sailed back towards the town.
Once he had sailed almost completely out of sight, two men appeared and approached the shrine, presumably to collect the money. They had come from the south-southwest, along the eastern bank of the Chorrera River. That meant Martin was closest to their position, since he was waiting near a small fishing boat in the Chorrera that was hidden in a little grotto of tropical foliage to the northwest of the shrine.
As soon as he saw the money men leaving with the ransom, he sent a signal of ten flashes, meaning south-southwest, to Drake in the tower. Drake quickly signaled back with two long flashes, indicating that he had received the message. Drake then conveyed the signal to the other men waiting nearby. So far things were going exactly according to plan.
Martin rowed his boat down the river a bit so that he could continue observing the money men. After a short time they got into their own little boat and crossed the river to the west side, then got out and started down a path along the riverbank before crossing into the woods.
Realizing Martin was the one in the best position to follow the men, Santiago had followed his movements at a safe distance along the eastern edge of the river on horseback, until he, too, saw the men enter the forest. He quickly rode back to the shrine, where he was met by Drake and Charlie and the others, and he explained to them what he had seen.
It frustrated everyone to know the men hadn’t just ventured southward or eastward. That meant that now some of them would either have to ride south along the river’s edge until they came to a shallow crossing, or they would have to swim their horses across the wide stretch of the river nearby. Both were bad options, since the longer it took them to cross, the farther ahead Martin would be, making it difficult for them to follow.
Jones, Canady, and Willis volunteered to stay by the fort, while Drake, Santiago, and Charlie decided to ride south until they could find a stretch of river that seemed shallow enough that the horses wouldn’t have to swim across. Their main concern would be keeping their pistols and powder dry in the crossing.
Within a few minutes they all made it across the river without incident and were soon approaching the place where Santiago had seen the money men enter the woods, followed by Martin. Unfortunately, though, their targets had all already progressed so far along the forest path that they were no longer visible. Santiago and company could only hope that traveling on horseback would quickly get them caught up. Still, they needed to move as quietly as possible so that the money men would not hear them when they did catch up.
Soon they could see ahead that the path ended at a road that either led eastward back to the city or westward, presumably towards their destination. Santiago rode forward slowly and looked both ways but saw no evidence of Martin or the money men. Assuming they had probably traveled west, he continued looking in that direction when he thought he saw a flash far ahead in the trees. He rode that way for a short distance and motioned for the others to follow him. After that he saw the flash again. Judging from the distance, he guessed that Martin was about a mile ahead.
The three of them quickly rode in that direction, with Santiago keeping a lookout for more signals, but there were none. Unfortunately, the vegetation along the road was getting thicker, so Santiago guessed that Martin was unable to catch enough sunlight on his mirror anymore to create the signal flashes. They would have to hope he had left some clues behind to mark his trail.
There was nothing along the road near where Santiago thought he had seen the flash.
“Stupid Martin!” he exclaimed. “He left nothing here for us to follow.”
Drake circled around in front of Santiago, then said, “Not so fast, amigo. This is where you think you saw him, on the right side of the road?”
Santiago nodded.
Drake dismounted his horse and started closely examining the area. He looked at the ground, the branches, the vines, and leaves, everything. “They went this way.”
“¿Como sabes?” asked Santiago.
“How do I know?” Drake laughed. “Must you even ask?”
He stroked his young stallion’s mane and then grabbed the saddle horn and pulled himself back up and started riding, then motioned for the others to follow him.
As they rode into the forest, Drake pointed out things he had noticed. “The ground here looks trod upon. The branches have been pushed back. And up ahead”—he pointed farther into the woods—“I think I see something on that shrub.”
Sure enough, when they reached what looked like a shrub, they realized that it was actually a tightly clumped cluster of vines. Tied to one of the serpentine stems was a small strip of fabric that Martin must’ve cut off his clothing with his knife.
“This is all very strange,” said Santiago. “We are in the middle of nowhere. Why would these men be trying so hard to hide their trail? Who would even see it? We are far from the main road.”
At that point the trail became more apparent. It was the same hidden forest path that Hector and Carlos had taken Adam on, but Martin was making no effort to cover over his steps and was bending back branches as he was able to in hopes of marking the trail for his friends. He would have broken branches but it would have made too much noise.
Unfortunately, however, Martin did break a branch, but it was underfoot and was definitely not done intentionally.
The cracking sound echoed through the forest. Suddenly, voices could be faintly detected in the distance. They were so far away it sounded like mumbling. Martin realiz
ed they must’ve heard the noise from the branch, and he was torn as to whether he should still try to pursue them alone, or whether he’d be better off waiting for the others to catch up on horseback. His decision was made for him when Santiago, Drake, and Charlie suddenly came tearing through the forest, Santiago stopping just long enough to pull him up onto his horse with him, and they took off in the direction of the voices. Soon the money men were visible ahead of them. They took off running, calling out continually in Spanish.
Before long they could see the grass-thatched roofs of the fortress huts emerging from the tops of the trees and wondered how many men they would have to fight to rescue Adam. As soon as they came upon the compound, they were surprised to see the place looked like it was nearly abandoned. The money men must’ve gotten there and warned whoever their boss was, causing them to disappear back into the forest.
AFTER QUICKLY EXPLORING THE COMPOUND, Martin, Santiago, Drake, and Charlie were satisfied that the place had indeed been abandoned—at least temporarily.
As soon as they saw the building that looked like some kind of cell, they unbolted the door and went inside, hoping to find Adam, but he was not there. There was only a frail-looking man chained to the wall.
“What do you mean he is not here?” Santiago demanded of him in Spanish as Drake worked on picking the lock that held the man chained to the wall.
The prisoner explained what had happened the night before. Drake translated the conversation for Martin and Charlie. He told them that Adam was able to dig himself out and run away, but then he heard men running after him and guns firing, and he did not know whether Adam made it out of the forest alive.
“Damnit all!” Martin exclaimed. “That sounds just like Adam Fletcher. Impatient and always takin matters into his own hands. And he always ends up gettin himself into trouble! Damn!” He stomped the ground and turned away in frustration.
“But he survives,” said Charlie. “He seems to be able to take care of himself alright.”
Santiago asked the prisoner a question, and he responded, waving his hand in a northerly direction.
“What’d he say?” Martin asked.
“He says they went north, towards the beach,” answered Drake.
“The beach?” said Charlie, perplexed. “We’re near the beach?”
Santiago and the prisoner exchanged a few more words, then Santiago said, “Yes. He says he has not been to it from here—of course, he has been imprisoned—but he says you can hear it if you listen carefully, especially at night when everything is quiet. It sounds like it is a little bit in that direction.” He waved his hand northward.
Drake rolled his eyes. “Those stealthy devils! They’ve had us on a wild-goose chase!”
He continued to work on picking the lock.
Santiago took a deep breath in frustration, then exhaled sharply. “I believe you are right, my friend.” He thought for a moment, then said, “Martin, you come with me, and we will search for him near the beach. Drake, will you be able to get this man freed?”
“I should have this lock sorted out any second now,” Drake answered. “I’ll catch up to you in a minute.”
Santiago, Martin, and Charlie ran through the camp and north towards where the man said the beach was. As they got closer, they could hear the waves.
Santiago pointed out boot marks in the ground, which they all followed until the path became too leafy. Soon they came to the beach, but there was no evidence of which way Adam could have gone. Naturally, they assumed he would have gone east.
Martin said, “If they were firin their pistols at him, I doubt he would have stayed out here in the open. He prob’ly turned back to take cover in the woods.”
“And that means he could be anywhere,” said Charlie.
“How many miles do you reckon we are from that river?” Martin asked Santiago.
“I do not know. We went so far in those woods, we could be a very short distance from that river or a very long distance.”
“So what do we do now?” asked Charlie.
“Let me think for a moment.”
Santiago walked onto the beach and looked out on the sea. The shore was rocky, and there was forest as far as he could see in either direction. Because the beach curved outwards, he could not determine how far they were from where they had been, but he guessed it couldn’t be too far.
“Santiago! Get over here and see this,” Martin called out.
He walked back over to where Martin and Charlie were standing. “What is it?”
“Look,” said Charlie. He pointed to a tree with what appeared to be blood that had been smeared on it and then dried.
Santiago looked at the mark, then looked around and noticed a few other trees appeared to have blood on them. But then the trail disappeared. There were no more blood-marked trees that he or the others could find.
“What does this even mean?” said Charlie.
Just then Drake ran over to join them. “What does what mean?” he said, out of breath.
“Look,” said Martin, pointing to the trees with the blood. “Somebody was bleedin here, and my guess is it was Adam.”
“Oh Lord, you’re right!” Charlie grimaced. “The guys who were after him had guns and who knows what all else. He had nothing except maybe that pitiful little pocketknife that he carries with him everywhere.”
“We better find him! He could be gravely injured,” Santiago exclaimed.
He started walking fast and hard back towards the camp.
Martin and Charlie exchanged worried glances and quickly followed after him.
Santiago stopped in his tracks. “Wait, what’s that? Do you hear? Over by the camp?”
The other three men stopped moving and held still and silent.
Santiago said, “They are shouting commands—like an army or militia.” He hushed everybody by holding up his hand. After a moment he said, “I think I understand what this is, and if I am right, this is much worse than I thought.”
Now they were all suddenly wishing they hadn’t left the other three men from the Gypsy back at the tower.
“What is it?” asked Drake.
“It is a trap, but I don’t have time to explain. Wait here.”
Just then Santiago ran ahead into the fortress with his hands up, shouting out in Spanish, “¿Donde está el comandante? ¡Soy su sobrino!”
Drake translated to Martin and Charlie. “He just asked for the commander of this place.”
“Who is the commander?” asked Charlie.
Drake raised his eyebrows and said, “Apparently, he’s Santiago’s uncle.”
“What!” Martin exclaimed. “What kind of people are these?!”
“Apparently, they’re crazy, violent ones,” answered Charlie.
Chapter Thirteen
HOW MANY TIMES DOES A man have to spend the night hiding out in forests to avoid crazed killers? Adam wondered what the chances were that he was now finding himself in similar circumstances to the ones he had experienced last year when he had to hide out from those men on the island where he had been marooned.
It really didn’t matter. The fact was he was going to do what he needed to do to make it through the night and get back to the port in Havana. He had serious misgivings about Hector and company even having the wherewithal to find the right ship and crew so they could demand their ransom. Even if they had gotten their message through, he wasn’t confident that Captain Phillips and company would be able to get whatever money was being demanded by his captors in the specified time. And finally, at this point he really just wanted to get out of this tropical hell and make it back home.
Furthermore, it did not escape him that yet again, because of his impatience he had gotten himself into trouble. If he had only waited for Martin or insisted someone else go with him, this whole thing probably would have never happened.
Nevertheless, although he had gotten far enough ahead of the gunmen that he no longer heard t
hem running after him, he still had no idea how far he was from the Havana port. He only knew that he was heading east because he had seen the sunrise not too much earlier.
When he finally came to a bay that appeared to be the mouth of a large river emptying into the sea, he wondered if it was the same one he had crossed the day before with Hector and Carlos in the horse cart. It was hard to be sure, since the waterway from the day before was so narrow—almost like a little stream—and shallow enough for the cart to go right across in one section. If it was the same river, then he guessed that he couldn’t be more than four or five miles from the quay where the Gypsy was moored.
It looked like the area across the bay used to be some sort of military fortification. There were stonework walls all around and in the distance what looked like a hewn-stone tower that had apparently been bombarded with cannon fire. Upon further observation he noticed the waterway quickly narrowed just a little to the south, so he ran along the water’s edge until he knew he could swim across quickly and easily.
Once he was on the other side, he headed north again for the shoreline. He knew if he just kept following it, he would end up back at the port in about an hour and a half.
As he neared the tower he had seen, he found it curious that there seemed to be a few men sitting there around a fire cooking something. He had traveled quite a distance without seeing another living soul, and now all of a sudden here were men cooking actual food. When he realized that he recognized them, he wondered if the whole thing might just be a mirage. This can’t be real, he thought. This is too good to be true.
“Hey! Willis! Canady! Jones! Is that really you?” he called out as he got close to the men.
The three of them looked at each other, then quickly looked to see who was calling them. As he got closer, Adam was sure they were his shipmates. The tallest one, sandy-haired Ed Willis, stood up and approached Adam. The rough-looking redhead, Fred Canady, and the raven-haired Englishman, Ricky Jones, followed close behind him.
Captured in the Caribbean Page 7
