“And he agreed?” Maria asked.
“I think so,” Eric said. “We got cut off, but I’m pretty sure he’ll come through.”
Maria was overwhelmed. She couldn’t imagine anyone paying a ransom for her, let alone someone she’d never even met.
As the night wore on, they all lay on the ground listening to the sounds of the forest and wondering what their fate would be in the morning. Jacob and Emily Davis continued to peer out into the darkness wondering if and when the marines would come swooping in to rescue them, but even Jacob was starting to have his doubts. The Girards laid huddled together filled with renewed optimism that they might actually get to see their kids again. The Taylors also huddled together, but the ordeal seemed to be taking an increasing toll on them. Eric wondered if they’d have the strength to walk out of the rainforest when their ransoms were paid.
Maria came over and was hovering around where Eric and Chip were laying, but not saying a word. “I think she wants to spend some quality time with one of us,” Chip said, “and I don’t think it’s me.” Chip got up and headed over to the other side of the compound.
“Something on your mind?” Eric said to Maria. Maria didn’t respond but just laid down beside him giving him a full embrace which was returned with equal fervor by Eric.
“I can’t believe your father would pay the ransom for people he doesn’t even know,” Maria whispered to Eric. “Does he have that much money?”
“Yeah, but it’s everything he’s got,” Eric whispered back. “It’s his entire legacy.”
“Why would he do that?”
“Because Chip and I asked him to,” Eric said. “But once we’re free, I’m going to spend the rest of my life trying to pay him back.”
“How are you going to do that?” Maria asked.
“I have no idea,” Eric said, “but I’ll figure out a way.”
Maria had no doubt that he would. “Tell me about your family.”
“What would you like to know?”
“Everything,” Maria said, giving him a squeeze. “Don’t leave anything out.”
“Well, you already know Chip. He’s my only sibling. We’re from a mid-sized city in Canada called London. Do you know anything about Canada?”
“Practically nothing,” Maria said, “other than I hear it’s cold up there.”
“Yeah, it is in the winter but our summers can get quite hot, although not as hot as it is in this rainforest. Chip moved to the U.S. to go to school and became a U.S. citizen, which is why he competed for the U.S. in the Olympics. He’s always been a good athlete and my mom and dad and I spent a lot of time travelling to watch him compete in various competitions. We had a lot of fun on those trips.” Eric paused before continuing. “I wish my mom was still alive to see him compete in the Olympics. She would have been so proud of him.”
“What happened to your mom?” Maria asked.
“She died of cancer about five years ago. We all miss her but I know my dad finds it really hard. He used to talk about how much he was looking forward to their retirement years, but that all got cut short. We used to have big parties on my mom’s birthday. In fact, my dad still has a family dinner every year on her birthday.”
“I’ve never been to a birthday party in my whole life,” Maria confessed.
“Well, you’re officially invited to my mom’s next birthday party,” Eric said. “So tell me about your family.”
“There’s not much to tell,” Maria said. “I already told you my dad was a drug dealer and a gang leader, but he was killed.”
“So you and your mom just take care of each other now?” Eric asked.
Maria couldn’t remember the last time her mother had taken care of her. “Let’s just say we live in the same place.” Maria didn’t want to talk any more about herself. She much preferred to hear about Eric and his family. “Tell me more about your family.”
Eric spent the next few hours telling Maria stories about the times with their aunts, uncles and cousins out at the lake in Saskatchewan. He told her how his mother loved to sing and how she used to send out musical newsletters at Christmas with updates about the family. Being part of such a family was a foreign concept to Maria, but she loved to hear Eric talk about it.
Eventually, they both drifted off to sleep. This was the first time since they’d been kidnapped that Eric didn’t sleep with one eye open.
*** Chapter 28 ***
“General Davis,” Captain Walmsley said into the phone. “We believe we may have found the location where the hostages are being held.”
“Are you sure it’s not just another drug operation site?” the General scolded.
The Captain was not about to make the same mistake again. He had been scouring over the satellite images ever since his first mistake. He had a huge map showing the location where the first German hostages had been found and the location where the Brazilian police had found the bodies of the two Japanese hostages that had been killed. He figured the latter location would be pretty close to the site where the hostages were being held because the kidnappers had been intercepted in their route to their planned drop-off point. Using that as a reference point, he had found another location on the satellite pictures that showed a tent hidden in the forest that was close to a river. Ironically, it was only a few kilometres from the first location he had found. But the clinching piece of evidence were the three brief satellite calls that they had detected that had been placed within the last few hours from the middle of the rainforest. All of the calls were placed from less than two kilometres of the new target location. “I’m confident that this is the correct location sir. I can have the fire team deployed to that site at day break. Permission to proceed requested sir.”
“Approved,” the General said.
* * *
Oliver and Lucas Williams continued their journey through the rainforest. When the gunfight had started between the guards and the Brazilian patrol officers, they had raced through the forest as fast as they could trying to get away from the kidnappers. At one point they had seen Michael running through the forest and they had tried to follow him, but he was much too fast for them to keep up. Now they were just wandering through the forest as they had no idea which direction to head. To make matters worse, it was starting to get dark.
“We should try to find a place to camp for the night,” Lucas said.
“You’re probably right,” Oliver answered, “but I’m not sure I’ll be able to sleep. Who knows what kind of animals roam through the forest here at night.”
Lucas hadn’t even thought about that, but now that his brother had told him, he was finding it hard to think about anything else. Suddenly, getting away from the kidnappers seemed less of a concern than avoiding getting attacked by some wild animal while they slept. “We should probably take turns sleeping while the other one keeps watch,” Lucas said. Lucas agreed to take the first watch.
“Do you think they have bears or cougars in this forest?” Oliver asked. It was obvious he was going to have trouble sleeping.
“I don’t think there are any bears in Brazil,” Lucas replied. “And I think they have jaguars instead of cougars, but I’m not sure.”
“You’re not helping,” Oliver said.
“You asked,” his brother replied. Lucas decided it was best that he not tell his brother about the snakes that could also be found in the rainforest. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll keep watch while you sleep.” Still, it took Oliver over an hour until he finally fell asleep. Unfortunately, Lucas drifted off shortly thereafter as well.
The sun was just coming up when they were both awakened by a rustling in the forest. They both looked at each other, frozen in fear. They had no weapons to defend themselves from a predator. They remained completely still and silent hoping that whatever was moving through the forest would simply pass them by, but it was probably following their scent as it seemed to be coming directly toward them.
Whatever it was seemed to be climbing a tree
about twenty paces from where Lucas and Oliver were huddled in fear. Or more accurately, trying to climb a tree. “Shit,” they heard someone yell.
“Michael?” Lucas yelled when he recognized the voice.
They heard a big crash as Michael fell out of the tree and landed in some bushes below it. Michael winced in pain as the bruises from his beating were still pretty fresh. Lucas and Oliver went running over to see if he was alright. “Good to see you mate,” Oliver said.
“What are you trying to do?” Lucas asked as he helped Michael out of the bush.
Michael had knocked the wind out of himself so it took him a few minutes until he could answer. “I’ve been wandering through the bush trying to figure out which way to go when I remembered that Maria said to head toward Pico da Tijuca. She said it’s the highest point around here and I should be able to see it from anywhere, so I was trying to climb a tree to see if I could see it.”
“Here, let Lucas give it a go,” Oliver said. “He’s half monkey.”
Lucas climbed on Oliver’s shoulders with Michael holding him steady. Lucas managed to grab a branch and pull himself up into the tree. After that, he quickly climbed the tree moving from branch to branch with ease. “See, I told you he could climb like a monkey,” Oliver said.
“Can you see the mountain?” Michael shouted.
“Yes, it’s that direction,” Lucas yelled while pointing in the direction they should head. “But it’s quite a few kilometres away.”
“Yeah, but at least we now know what direction to head,” Michael said. When Lucas reached the ground again, the three of them started on their journey to freedom.
*** Chapter 2 9 ***
Maria nudged Eric’s shoulder as he slept beside her. “Something’s wrong,” Maria said.
Eric raised his head and gazed around the compound. Although the sun was barely up, he could see well enough to make everything out. “I don’t see anything,” he whispered back to Maria.
“Exactly,” Maria said. “There’s no one guarding the entrance to the compound.”
Eric got to his feet and started to walk toward the entrance, but still couldn’t see anyone. Perhaps the guard had fallen asleep or had just headed off to relieve himself. “Hello?” Eric shouted. There was no response.
The other hostages in the compound started to stir when they heard Eric yell. “What’s going on?” Chip asked as he walked toward his brother.
“I’m not sure,” Eric replied. “There doesn’t appear to be anyone guarding us. Hello, is anyone here?” Eric yelled, this time much louder than the first time. Again there was no response.
“Stay here,” Eric said to his brother. “I’m going to go check it out.” Eric slowly stepped through the wire fence and headed over to where the guards would normally be sitting. “They’re gone,” Eric shouted back to everyone in the compound.
Slowly the rest of them came walking out of the compound to join Eric. “It appears that they all left sometime in the middle of the night,” Eric said. “I guess Dad came through with the ransom.”
“What do we do now?” Jean-Pierre asked.
“We find our way out of the forest and back to civilization,” Eric said. They gathered up their few belongings and prepared to leave. Eric used the plastic first aid kit to get himself one final drink of water before their journey and suggested the others do the same. They weren’t sure when they would next be able to get a drink as they had no way to carry water with them.
Suddenly, Eric saw the glint of something metal leaning up against a tree and headed over to check it out. He was pleased so see it was a steel water bottle.
“One of the guards must have left it behind by accident,” Maria said.
When Eric saw the UCLA logo on the side of the water bottle, he knew it hadn’t been left behind by mistake. The doctor had left it for them on purpose. Eric took it over to the water pail and filled it. He knew it could be quite a while until they got their next drink.
“I know the way,” Chip said. The nine hostages began their trek out of the forest with Chip leading the group. Jacob and Emily Davis were next with the Girards falling in behind them. The Taylors followed them, but it was apparent that the journey out of the rainforest was going to be difficult on them. Eric and Maria were the last two in the group.
Chip was glad he had left the markings showing the way out of the forest. Despite that, he paused several times confused about which direction to go. Periodically he would ask Eric if he knew which way to go, which he sometimes did. Other times, they were both unsure and they simply guessed. In some parts, it looked like the rainforest had grown another foot overnight and completely covered their tracks from the day before.
Eric and Maria were keeping an eye on Owen Taylor, worried that he would have another heart attack. Several times, Eric yelled to Chip to stop so that everyone could have a rest. He claimed it was because the gout in his ankle was bothering him, but those leaves that the doctor had told him to eat the day before had cured his gout almost completely. Eric was actually requesting the rest breaks so that the Taylors could catch their breath. He knew that Owen Taylor would not like to think that he was slowing them down.
With the numerous stoppages to rest, and several back-tracks after they realized they had gone the wrong way, it was taking them a lot longer to walk out of the forest than planned. With the sun now in full force, the temperature in the forest felt like it was about a million degrees. Everyone was pleased when they saw the jeep come into view.
When they reached the jeep, Eric reached under the driver’s seat to find the handgun the doctor had left there for them. He also grabbed the magazine of bullets from the seat cushion loaded them into the handgun like the doctor has showed him. He cocked the gun making it “hot”, using the expression the doctor had used. Even thinking about that caused Eric’s heart to race so he engaged the external safety like the doctor had shown him. “We probably won’t encounter any drug runners or wild animals,” Eric thought, trying to reassure himself.
Chip climbed into the driver’s seat of the jeep. Because there wasn’t enough room for all of them in the jeep, Eric suggested Owen Taylor sit in the passenger’s seat with his wife sitting on his lap. The Girards climbed into the back of the jeep. Eric, Maria and the two Davis kids would walk along behind the jeep. “Hold on,” Chip said as he started up the jeep. “This is going to be a bumpy ride.”
Chip drove slowly through the forest trying to find the path of least resistance. Because the jeep was old and heavily loaded, it bottomed out several times sending a jar through everyone inside. Chip was trying to drive slowly but sometimes he had to gun the engine to give it enough power to make it through the brush. The people walking were going just as fast as the jeep was, but Eric was glad that the Taylors got to ride because he wasn’t sure they would make it otherwise.
Up ahead they thought they could see a clearing and it looked like they were approaching a more major road. Chip gunned the engine to try to make it over a tree branch that had fallen in their path. When they all heard the clunk from underneath the jeep, they immediately knew that had been a mistake. Chip continued to push on the gas pedal but they weren’t moving.
“Let’s see if we can push it out of this mess,” Eric said. Eric, Maria and the two Davis kids pushed as hard as they could but couldn’t move the jeep. The Girards got out of the back of the jeep and Jean-Pierre tried to help push, but quickly realized his shoulder was in no shape to be putting any strain on it.
They continued to push from behind with Chip pushing on the gas pedal trying to rock it off of the tree branch. It wasn’t working. “Hold on,” Eric said. “Let me take a look.” He peered underneath the jeep and quickly determined they weren’t going to be going any further in the jeep. “The axle is broken,” he said. “I guess we have to walk from here.”
Everyone climbed out of the jeep and started walking toward the clearing up ahead. They were encouraged to see that it was a road. Not a major road, but enou
gh to have two distinct tire tracks. “Which way do you think we should go?” Eric said as he stood in the middle of the road looking back in forth in both directions looking for a clue.
“This way,” Maria said as she came to stand beside Eric. She pointed to Pico da Tijuca which could be seen clearly in the distance.
*** Chapter 30 ***
“Braz Team 3 reporting,” the fire team leader said. “We’ve located the kidnap site.”
“How many hostiles?” the Captain asked.
“None. It appears that they’ve left,” the fire team leader said. “Waiting for confirmation.” The team leader watched as the members of his squad cautiously approached the compound ready to shoot any hostiles they encountered. It was only a minute or so later when they signaled the all-clear sign back to their leader.
As the marines surveyed the compound site, they could see the footprints of multiple people and could easily see the path they had taken into the forest. The team leader saw the wooden water pail sitting in the middle of the compound. He could also see the water on the ground surrounding the water pail where Eric and the others had taken their last drinks before heading off on their journey. The wetness on the ground told him that they had been there no more than an hour earlier.
“No sign of the kidnappers or the hostages,” the team leader reported to the Captain. “But they can’t be too far away. We are beginning pursuit.”
* * *
Up ahead, the hostages continued their trek along the road toward their freedom keeping Pico da Tijuca in their sites on the horizon. Chip led the way and was walking at a much quicker pace than the others. As he did so, he could start to feel the burning sensation in his leg where the stitches were. But the pain was bearable so he continued to push the pace. As he glanced back, he could see the others spread out in a line behind. For a few seconds, he flashed back to his 5,000 metre Olympic race. That race seemed like a lifetime ago even though it was only about a week earlier. He was aware of someone on his right side and he glanced over his shoulder, half expecting to see Michael go gliding by him to the finish line. But it wasn’t Michael, it was Jean-Pierre. “I was wondering if you could slow the pace a bit,” Jean-Pierre said. “We’re having trouble keeping up.”
The Legacy Page 14
