Discovering Sophie

by Anderson, Cindy Roland

  Outside, Jack heard heavy footsteps and Raul muttering to himself. They all took a collective deep breath, waiting for him to enter. Adrenaline surged through his bloodstream as the door swung open and Raul stepped inside.

  Jack did the first thing that came into his mind. He stuck out his foot and tripped the drunken man. Raul fell to the floor with a thud, but he unexpectedly rolled away and was on his feet with agility Jack assumed he would be lacking.

  Raul pulled out a knife. “You are a dead man,” he threatened through clenched teeth.

  Not if Jack could help it.

  The two of them measured each other, waiting for someone to make the first move. The needle Jack wielded wasn’t much of a weapon compared to the sharp knife the evil man brandished. But at least the guy didn’t have a gun.

  From his peripheral vision, Jack could see Sophie and Maria back further into the corner. He took a step backward, hoping to lure Raul further away from the women.

  In disbelief, Jack was horrified when Raul suddenly turned and lunged for the women. He shoved Maria down, thrusting the knife into her chest. Sophie screamed as he pulled the bloody knife out. Raul had gripped Sophie by her arm, impeding her escape.

  Before Jack could even process what had just happened, Raul had his arm around Sophie’s neck in a choke hold. The knife, dripping with Maria’s blood, was pressed against her throat.

  “First, I will slit her throat. Then you, amigo, will die,” Raul hissed.

  Sophie’s eyes went large with fear. Jack didn’t know how to reason with this mad man. He did the only thing possible.

  “You want to kill someone—take me.” Jack held his hands up and dropped the needle. “I’ll do anything, but don’t hurt her. Please,” Jack begged, kneeling down on the floor.

  The silence was deafening as Raul slowly grinned. He kept his eyes on Jack as he moved his mouth to Sophie’s ear, his tongue flicking out like a serpent. “Perhaps I won’t kill her first.” He planted a slow kiss where his tongue had been.

  Jack felt his blood boil as the rage mounted inside him. He prayed for some way to get Sophie away from the filthy man. Suddenly, Cruz let out a long moan. It almost sounded like he called for his mother. Honestly, Jack was surprised the man was still alive.

  Raul’s face paled as he lowered the knife to look at the man laid out on the bed. Then his eyes went wide with shock as Sophie jabbed the needle in Raul’s thigh.

  Stunned, he released her from the choke hold and looked down. The needle protruded out of his leg. Sophie tried to push him away and screamed out in pain when Raul sliced into her arm with the knife. He bellowed loudly and grasped the needle, pulling it out of his leg.

  Sophie scrambled away, and Jack rushed to her, shielding her body with his own. Raul, full of rage, held up the knife and moved menacingly toward them.

  “How long until the medication takes effect?” Jack questioned, pushing Sophie back.

  “One to two minutes. But I’m hoping his alcohol consumption will hasten the effect.”

  Jack prayed for a miracle. Right now, two minutes seemed like an eternity. Raul’s steps faltered, and he put a hand to his head. Growling, he shook his head like a wounded animal. He cursed and stumbled forward.

  Jack kept pressing Sophie back toward the door. He could deal with Raul if he knew she was out safely. Raul swayed like a drunken sailor, his eyes glazed with confusion. He took one more step before collapsing to the floor.

  “Finally,” Jack said, letting out the breath he’d been holding.

  Gripping her injured arm, Sophie moved to Maria and checked for a pulse. It was clear the woman was dead. Next, she moved to the fallen man and pressed her fingers to his throat. Jack hated that she was even touching the man.

  “Sophie, you’re hurt. Leave him alone.”

  She glanced up at Jack. “I don’t remember the half life of ketamine, but I suggest we leave immediately.”

  “I completely agree.” He reached down and helped her to her feet. “Let’s go.”

  Nodding her head, she looked one more time at the fallen woman. “She saved us, Jack. I hate leaving her here.”

  “Sophie, she’s with Cruz now.” The man’s chest was no longer moving and his lips were tinged blue. “We have to leave or she will have died in vain.”

  “I know.”

  Keeping Sophie behind him, Jack stuck his head out of the door and scanned the area for any men. Other than the low hum of a generator and the chirping of birds, the camp was eerily quiet. Jack figured by now the men would be passed out or too wasted to do anything to stop them. He had a suspicion Raul hadn’t been drinking the same thing as the other men.

  Almost as if they were protected in a bubble, Jack and Sophie made their way to the riverbank. Quickly cutting the lines on the two other canoes, Jack pushed them downstream. Taking the third canoe, they made their getaway.

  * * *

  Sophie’s eyes flew open as the canoe rocked to the side. A small moan escaped her lips, and Jack whipped his head around. “Are you okay?”

  “Yes.” She grimaced as a sharp pain shot up her shoulder. “Well, I guess I’m in a little pain.” They’d been traveling on the river for over an hour now, hoping to come across a village. After taking some pain medication, Sophie had fallen asleep.

  Jack squinted, a hint of a smile on his lips. “I’ll bet it hurts more than a little. Come on, Sophie, you’re making me look bad.”

  A grin tugged at her mouth. “Okay. I’m in a lot of pain.”

  All traces of humor left his eyes. “What can I do for you?”

  Moving her sore arm slightly, Sophie confirmed no muscle or tendons had been damaged. If the laceration required stitches, would Jack be up for the task? She also needed a shot of Penicillin, but she could do that herself.

  “First, I need the vial of Penicillin and one of the syringes.”

  She tried not to laugh when all the color drained from Jack’s face. “I…you need me to give you a shot?”

  “What happened to my brave assistant?” she teased.

  “He, uh…works better under duress.”

  “Don’t worry.” She chuckled. “I can give myself the shot.”

  He gave her a skeptical glance before setting aside the paddle, allowing the current to pull the canoe downstream, and rummaging through her bag. When he had the requested items, she instructed him how to reconstitute the powder medicine with normal saline, and then had him roll it in his hands to completely mix it together.

  “I’ll do this if you really need me to,” Jack offered as he handed her the syringe.

  “Thank you, but I got it.” She moistened her lips. “I may need your help later on with something I can’t do for myself.”

  He raised an eyebrow. “Oh?”

  “Let me do this, and then we can talk.”

  Jack smiled grimly as if he might have guessed what it was she was going to ask of him. The poor guy hated needles, but suturing her wound by herself wasn’t possible. His troubled gaze remained locked on her, waiting for her to proceed.

  “Jack, I need to give the injection in my leg—and not through my dirty clothing.”

  One side of his mouth lifted in a wry grin, a mischievous glint lighting his eyes. “On second thought, I think I better give you the shot after all.”

  She couldn’t help laughing. “Jack Mathison, you are shameless. Now turn around like a gentleman, and let me do this.”

  Chuckling, he did as she asked.

  Sophie struggled with the sweats, grunting with the effort.

  “Sure you don’t need help?” Jack asked as he paddled down the river.

  “Nope. I’ve almost got it.”

  After a few moments of silence, he said, “You do realize how hard this is for me not to turn around?”

  Actually, she did. “I know, but thank you for using restraint.”

  “You’re welcome,” he said with a chuckle.

  After giving herself the injection, she pulled her sweatpants back up
. “Okay, Jack. You can turn around.”

  He still wore a grin. “I didn’t even hear you make a noise. Either I’m a wimp or your pain threshold is much higher than mine.”

  “Yes—well, we’ll see about that.” She gripped her wounded shoulder and could feel the gauze bandage was already soaked with blood again. “I think I might need stitches.”

  The lines in Jack’s forehead creased as he swallowed. “I’m guessing this is what you can’t do for yourself, right?”

  “Yes.”

  “Sophie,” Jack said, running a hand over his short hair, “how on earth am I supposed to stitch up your arm?” He sighed heavily. “The only time I’ve even attempted to sew anything was to put a button back on a shirt, and that was in college.”

  Whether Jack attempted to sew the wound closed or they used the steri-strips tucked into the front of the backpack, Sophie would need to see a plastic surgeon once she was back home. The important thing now was to stop the bleeding

  “Let’s try using butterfly bandages first. If it works, then you’re off the hook.”

  Relief flooded his handsome face. “Okay, but if it doesn’t, I promise I’ll do what I have to do.”

  She couldn’t resist touching his face and lightly brushed her fingers over his whiskers. The cut below his eye had started to turn purple, but at least he wouldn’t have a full blown black eye. “I believe you would do anything for me,” she whispered, recalling the crazed look in his eyes while pleading for her captor not to hurt her.

  “Yeah,” he said gruffly. “You have me totally wrapped around your finger.”

  “Do I now?” She wondered if that meant he would be willing to move to Colorado until her contract was up.

  “Oh, yeah.” He bent his head and covered her mouth with his. The kiss was gentle, but just as powerful as every other time their lips met. The heady sensation, mixed with the effects of the narcotic she’d taken earlier, eased the pain considerably. Love was a potent pain reliever.

  They both jerked apart when they heard an unfamiliar noise. Jack put a finger to his lips, and they listened to the sound of a diesel engine chugging in the distance, drawing closer.

  Shaking, Sophie clutched Jack’s arm. “What is that?”

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Fear seized Jack, squeezing him around the middle . How could he protect Sophie without a weapon? “It sounds like a boat. Get down on the floor and lie flat.”

  She didn’t listen to him, instead pressing her body closer. Jack scanned the bank, looking for a place to hide. Since their uneventful escape, part of him had been expecting Raul and his men to come up on them any second.

  “What if it’s Alberto?” Sophie whispered, her voice quivering as bad as her trembling body.

  Using the paddle, Jack maneuvered the boat to the side. “It can’t be him. Listen, you can tell the sound is coming from up ahead.” He tried convincing himself as much as her.

  The underside of the canoe scraped along the bottom as Jack hid the watercraft behind the foliage lining the river. He wrapped his arm around Sophie’s shoulders, careful not to touch her injury.

  “Please don’t let them take me again,” she said, burying her face against his chest.

  “Shh. I won’t let anyone hurt you, Sophie.” His stomach knotted with fear. How could he keep that promise?

  The noise grew louder, and the smell of diesel fuel permeated the humid air. Jack’s muscles tensed as the flat boat came into view. Several men wearing the uniform of the Costa Rican federal agents stood on deck. If they were authentic, he and Sophie would be safe.

  But if they weren’t, this could be the end.

  Still hesitant to believe the men might not be criminals, Jack wavered about revealing their location. Slowly, the watercraft moved closer, and he knew their time was almost up before they were discovered.

  Sophie made a tiny gasp and pulled away from Jack. “Hector?” she whispered. Then more loudly, “Hector! Hector! Over here.”

  Their tiny vessel rocked, and Jack’s first reaction was to cover up her mouth with his hand. He thought she’d lost her mind, especially when the armed soldiers swiveled around and pointed their guns directly at them.

  Over the thunder of his bounding pulse and the chugging of the boat motor, Jack heard his name being called along with Sophie’s. He couldn’t believe it! Hector was alive and apparently bringing the cavalry into rescue them.

  Guiding the canoe to the bank, Jack helped Sophie out of the boat. The moment Hector disembarked, Sophie threw her uninjured arm around him and kissed him on the cheek. “You’re alive!”

  Hector’s face flushed with pleasure, and he raised his eyebrows comically at Jack. “I think she is happy to see me, ¿no?”

  Jack laughed as Sophie let go and stepped away. “She’s not the only one happy to see you.” He reached out and gave Hector a bear hug, patting him on the back.

  “I’m glad to see you too, Jack, but please don’t kiss me.”

  With another laugh, Jack let go. He blinked back the tears blurring his vision, so grateful he didn’t have to tell Hector’s wife she was a widow. “Where have you been?”

  Before Hector could answer , a couple of the federal agents stepped in between them and started asking questions. Jack did his best to recount their ordeal as accurately as possible. When he got to the part about the men drinking until they passed out, the agents were eager to go up the river and make the arrests before Alberto, Raul and the other criminals sobered up and moved out. The day before, one of their comrades had been shot and killed in a gun battle with Cruz.

  Jack didn’t even get to the part about Maria’s death or how they had escaped. Apparently, having heard enough, the captain of the small brigade was shouting for his men to get back aboard their vessel so they could move forward.

  It was impressive how quickly the men acted, and within a minute, they were on their way. As soon as the flat boat was out of sight, Jack wanted to get back into the canoe and leave immediately. The captain had told Hector about Paraíso, a small village that was only a couple of hours away downstream.

  One look at Sophie’s pale, drawn face made Jack change his mind. “How’s your arm?”

  She had her hand pressed against her wound, and when she moved it so he could check the site, Jack saw her palm was covered with fresh blood.

  Hector gave a low whistle. “Chica, what have you done?”

  “I’ll let Jack tell you the story.” She started to sway. “Maybe I better sit down.”

  Jack steadied her before he placed one hand under her knees and lifted her up to cradle her in his arms. He directed Hector to get the backpack from the canoe while he found a fallen log for them to sit on.

  “You don’t know how to do stitches, do you?” Jack asked Hector when he returned carrying the backpack.

  “No, amigo.” He drew his dark eyebrows together. “It is bad, then?”

  “Sí,” Jack said. “That scum Raul cut her with a knife.”

  Sophie winced as Jack removed the bloodied bandages. “The steri-strips should work just fine, Jack.”

  With Sophie instructing them as to what to do, Jack and Hector managed to close the laceration with the strips of the long bandages. It wasn’t pretty, but the wound was closed and appeared to have stopped bleeding.

  Jack finished up by winding a clean stretchy-gauze around Sophie’s upper arm to cover the bandages, while Hector fiddled with the GPS. “Did you get the map?” Jack asked.

  “Sí.” Hector showed the coordinates to Jack. “Paraíso is here, and from there San Benito is only about two or three days out, depending on how fast we travel.”

  “We’ll have to reimburse them for Fred,” Jack said as he tied the gauze into a soft knot.

  “Poor Fred,” Sophie said, scratching at one of the many mosquito bites they’d both acquired on their night-time boat ride with Alberto and Raul. “He didn’t deserve to die.”

  “No, he didn’t.” Hector scowled. “But when I heard th
e gunshot, I thought for sure they had killed one of you.”

  Jack stood up to stretch his legs. “By the way, how did you avoid being captured in the first place?”

  “The stew we had for dinner did not sit well on my stomach.” Hector shrugged. “After using the latrine, I started back to camp when I heard the two men arguing about whether or not to kill you. I kept hidden, silently tracking the both of you. After you got into the canoe, I knew I couldn’t rescue you by myself.”

  Sophie stood up and moved next to Jack. “But how did you enlist federal agents to help you?”

  They all headed for the canoe as Hector finished his story. “I was on my way to Por El Rio to get Manuel’s help when I came across the federal agents.”

  “What a miracle,” Sophie said, stepping into the boat and taking the middle seat.

  Hector snorted as he held onto the canoe so Jack could take the back seat. “No, the miracle was that they didn’t shoot first and ask questions later.” He rubbed the back of his head with one of his hands. “Lucky for me, I didn’t lose consciousness when one of the agents hit me over the head with his assault rifle.”

  “Are you okay?” Sophie asked.

  “No worries.” He winked at Sophie. “Besides, they were very apologetic once I explained two men named Alberto and Raul had kidnapped my friends to save the life of their leader.”

  “I didn’t save his life.”

  “No, she saved both of our lives,” Jack said.

  “Well,” Hector said as he climbed into the front of the canoe. “Since we’ve got the time, I’d like to hear all about your escape and how Sophie got that nasty knife wound.”

  * * *

  Jack wished they had about six more hours of daylight, but despite how hard they’d pushed it the past two days, they were not going to make it to San Benito until tomorrow. Ahead of him, Sophie stumbled and barely kept herself upright. Jack hurried forward and grasped her by the elbow.

  “Hey, I think we better start making camp before it gets too dark.”

  She looked up at him, gratitude evident in her eyes. “Okay, but I can keep going if we need to.”

  One thing he’d learned about Sophie was how little she complained, even when he knew she didn’t feel good. Since leaving the small village of Paraíso a couple of days ago, she had suffered from a persistent headache, nausea and what she called a low-grade fever.