bolivia

Terry arrived in Miami and checked into his hotel room. The bed looked inviting and after making contact with Dino to let him know he was in motion, he placed a call to Jean Paul Dalle`, who’d just arrived in Paris.

“I am now packing and have said good-bye to my sweet Penny.” Jean Paul was, in fact, pulling things out of drawers and tossing them into the bag on his bed. He’d dumped out what he’d taken to New York and it lay scattered across his bed and on the floor.

“Early. I will be there by six in the morning your time. How long do we have there?”

“They are already in flight. I called from New York. They will contact you on arrival.”

Terry placed his call to Toni and then crashed on the bed for a while. There was nothing else to do but wait and waiting wasn’t something he did well anymore. He tossed around on the bed for a time then picked up the phone and ordered a meal from room service. They were already a day behind schedule due to the holiday but he wasn’t comfortable going in without a full team and without Jean Paul, who he had come to depend on. He should have left Christmas Day. He sat on the bed, head in hands.

Later he had dinner in the hotel with his team, eight well trained men he’d handpicked, each capable of looking after themselves in any situation, but he had forbidden them to leave the hotel. He wasn’t taking any chances with any of them.

SI had a field office in Miami and that’s where they gathered before loading the van that would take them to the private airstrip outside the city. SI had acquired another plane for transport, this one unmarked with the company logo.

“Watching my men load the van. We’re about to leave for the airstrip. What’s Jacky doing?”

“Playing with Jack, his new playmate. They have his train set up in the entry way.”

“Jack’s probably having as much fun as he is. Where’s Max and Connie?”

“Oui, she’s not happy with me. You know, I think when I get back I will ask her to marry me. What do you think of that?”

“It’s your call, if she can live with you…” Terry grinned and Jean Paul flashed a smile and looked out of the window.

They landed on another private airstrip outside of La Paz, owned by a scientific group, and were met by Dino and Tomas and a convoy of jeeps and armed men.

“Took you long enough! What do you think this is, fucking Christmas?” Dino bounded up to Terry.

“We can’t wait any longer. Followed all the fucking rules and got nowhere. She’s in mortal danger.”

Dino met his eyes. “Very damn well. They’ve had her for two months. She ain’t that strong. She’s a scientist, not a cross country triathlon runner.”

Terry walked with him back to the convoy and climbed in a Hummer. He looked over at Dino. “You been to bed with her?” Dino just looked at him. “It’s personal.” Terry looked away.

“Toni would not be in the bloody jungles of Bolivia!” Terry said tersely.

“She was working on a project down here for a fucking gas line…brought in from Mexico where she makes her home. She and two others were snatched. One’s been killed already and the other has disappeared, so what do you think her chances are?” They stopped at a checkpoint, produced their papers all proper and obtained in Miami.

“Oh, no…there’s no danger here. We didn’t need two A1 level teams in here to extract her.”

Terry looked over at Dino. “Since Toni and Jacky entered my radar…compadre.”

“I’m comfortable in London. I’m comfortable working my own shite. Not often I fly out by the seat of my pants.”

After three and a half hours of bumping along paved and unpaved roads they finally reached the stop off point where Dino’s team awaited them. Terry’s group piled out of the jeeps, pulling their gear along with them. Once inside the concrete block building they all stripped, donned their fatigues, lined up for weapons and packed and repacked their backpacks. There was a lot of give and take between the two teams but they were all in it together and would watch each other’s backs regardless of who they worked for. Jean Paul was Terry’s right arm man and he made sure the troops were ready for inspection. He spoke a number of languages and fluent curse in most of them. Terry had an international team, a Scotsman, three Englishmen, two Italians, a German and a Frenchman, along with Jean Paul, also French. Dino had two Americans and six from various South American countries, along with Mean Marine, who made a point of coming up to Terry and shaking his hand.

“G’Day to ya,” Terry smiled and shook his hand. “You ready to go?”

“All right, all right, let’s get this show on the road!” Dino clapped his hands after the inspection was finished and they loaded up.

Terry had briefly gone over the plan while in the building with Dino, whose team was already familiar with it. Terry’s had to cram what information they could in the hour they spent in the building. Jean Paul was confident they could handle it, knew what to do. Terry was not; this wasn’t the way he worked.

Another hour or so went by and they reached the pickup point then milled around, waiting for the helicopter to arrive.

“How long have you been planning this operation?” Terry looked up at Dino.

“Long enough. It’s coming. I hear it.” He picked up his bag and threw it over his shoulder. Terry was right, of course, and that pissed him off. “Well…go ahead and say it.”

“You know me well enough. I don’t have to say anything.” Terry stamped out his ciggie and picked up his bag.

Looking out of the helicopter, he studied the terrain, cliffs, deep gorges, rocky thick undergrowth.

More cliffs, waterfalls, tree canopy, scattered small villages. They began to gain altitude.

“You’re going to bring a hostage out five fucking miles to the helicopter?”

“No…give me a little credit. There’s place near the cliff on the other side of an ancient ruin. I’ve done my homework. We need to come in here. This area isn’t visible from the camp where she’s being held.”

“You’re such a nice guy.” Terry prepared to jump once the copter landed. “Hey, have we got time for tea?”

Once on the ground they headed for a line of trees and began the hike to the campsite. One of Dino’s guys ran the whole five miles and then ran back half way to the others to report.

Terry stopped a little way from the campsite and did a recon of his own. The campsite was located higher than they were, bad idea. He hadn’t seen the satellite images and had no idea of elevations around the site other than what he could see. He turned as Dino came up behind him.

“There’s a thin line of trees and beyond that, nothing, sheer drop down to a deep ravine. Up there, no cover.” He nodded toward the right.

“Logistics. Couldn’t get the helicopter up there, nothing but boulders big as a house and tall trees.

Terry looked around. “We’re gonna have to split up. You take the high road, I’ll take the low through the trees.

“Okay, we need some scattered down here.” He looked around and pointed out a few men.

One by one they moved out stealthily and took their positions around the campsite.

Three hours later they had accomplished the first part of Dino’s no-plan, and Dino had his Marian, carrying her down the hillside while his men made sure there were no survivors in the camp. The blood and the carnage nearly made Terry sick. He put his hand to his mouth and moved back to the trees, checking for survivors along with two of his men. Only one had been slightly wounded and he was being accompanied back toward the ruin area for pick-up. Jean Paul walked a little way behind him, his gun pointed downward, ready for anything that moved.

Terry walked to the edge of the cliff and turned sharply when he heard the click. A shot rang out and he felt the bullet tearing through his thigh. He stepped back slightly and the earth gave way beneath his feet. As he plunged downward, his last conscious thought went to Max…"Bollocks!”

Jean Paul opened up on the half-dead man who’d pulled the trigger then ran to the edge of the cliff, lying down and looking over. Nothing, no sign of Terry at all. Far below he could see water and traced the line to a waterfall. It was possible…anything was possible. He got up carefully and walked, looking side to side toward the pickup area where the helicopter was now waiting.

Jean Paul walked over in no hurry. “Terry, I think he was hit. He went over the cliff. No sign of him from up here.”

“Yes, it’s possible he could live. No proof of death, no proof of life until we find him.”

“I don’t take my orders from you.” He backed away, moving his gun up a little.

“We can’t stay here now and look for him. We’ll come back. I have to get the hostage to a hospital.”

Mean Marine tossed his bag out the door of the helicopter. “You might need this,” he said in sympathy and would have stayed himself but for Dino. Several others tossed him water canteens.

“Oui, you will see me again. Go, go now!” Jean Paul slipped away into the trees.

He wasn’t aware tears were flowing down his face when the helicopter took off. He leaned out, looking down the cliff face. No way…no way could anyone survive that drop. “Tio…,” he whispered.

He’d managed to get himself into a ball before the impact. Hitting the water with tremendous force, he'd been knocked unconscious. He came to a hundred yards downstream on a mud bank, blinking his eyes, not fully believing he was alive. He tasted blood in his mouth and his vision was a red blur. He was bleeding from his eyes and his ears and had bitten his tongue. His whole body hurt and he lay there in the mud and began to vomit up water he’d swallowed. It hurt too much to move and so he didn’t.

He passed out again, his mind and body reaching for darkness to take away the pain. When he woke once more it was dark. He was shivering with cold and cautiously began to turn a bit to see if he could sit up. Movement brought on the nausea again and his head was throbbing, but he knew he had to get off the mud bank. His feet were still in the water. He began to pull himself along with his arms until he reached a bed of ferns and moss where he gave up, curling on his side, and slept.

Her name was Rosita but she had been called Loco Rosi all her life. She had been banned from the village at the age of thirteen when her father died. She was bad, a bad spirit that caused all kinds of calamities in the village people’s lives. She wasn’t fit for marriage, although men had taken their pleasure with her from time to time.

Loco Rosi lived in her own world. She had never committed an act of violence but she didn’t see the world as others did. She was quite happy to live in the wood and had fashioned a hut of sorts out of things she’d found, pieces of tin, old wooden doors, and regularly scoured the village dump looking for useful objects. The village children threw things at her and called her names. She clothed herself from items she found hanging on clotheslines to dry. She wasn’t above stealing, although she couldn’t understand what she did was stealing. If she saw something she wanted, she took it. Her hut was full of strange and wonderful things.

Her hut was situated near the river about five miles from the village but hidden. No one in the village had ever been there. They thought she was a witch and told their children horrible stories about things she’d done. She was a strange-looking girl, too. Her hair was long and wild and hung past her bottom but the strangest thing about her looks were her eyes. She had one blue eye and one brown, surely the sign of evil. She could speak, but in her own language. She’d never spoken a word of the village dialect or the Spanish generally spoken in the country.

For food she either stole it from people’s houses or sometimes would find something left for her. She never knew where it came from. It was just food, bread, beans and rice. It came in a basket and after she’d emptied it she’d take the basket back to the same place behind the school house well and leave it, knowing the next time she came it would be full. She thought it was magic. She had no conception of time and no idea of her age, although she’d been in the wood for five years.

The sun was high in the sky when she found something different along the river… and wanted it.

Dino wandered around in the ER in La Paz, waiting on the results of Marian’s examination. She was hardly more than skin and bones, weighed nothing in his arms when he carried her to the helicopter. His mind, however, couldn’t get around the fact that Terry was gone. He thought about what Jean Paul had said, no proof one way or the other, but he couldn’t possibly have survived that fall and he had been shot.

He hadn’t sent word to London about Terry. Somehow that would make it real and it couldn’t be real. He pounded a door frame with his fist. He blamed himself for calling him in.

Dino followed the technician back to the little examination room that held Marian Ostettler.

“Very tired. He says I am dehydrated and need food. The bruises will heal on their own and my feet have been attended to. I prayed you would come. Sometimes God answers prayers.”

“He says a few days. When I am hydrated I can go home. Will you take me?”

“Um…I would love to, Marian, but I have something else to do first. We lost a man, a friend of mine, my brother if ever I had one. I’ve got to pay a visit to his wife. I can put you up in my hotel until I get back and then take you home, shouldn’t be more than a week of traveling for me.”

“I would like that. I am very sorry for your loss. What was his name? I will remember him in my prayers.”

“Terrence Thorne.”

Max had been wandering around in his study for some time. ‘Bollocks.’ What had Terry meant to convey? He ran his hand through his hair and looked at the telephone. He could call Toni but didn’t want to upset her.

“Bollocks,” he said aloud. Terry never used that expression…never ever had he heard him say that…that was his word. But it had clearly been a message from him, not a random thought. It had come from Terry. His hand hovered over the phone a moment then he picked it up and called John. Maybe he’d had something similar.

“Last night. I’m six hours ahead of you so it must have been around two. Bollocks, he said. Why would he say that to me?”

“Oh, no! I’m not even going to go there, Max! Nobody’s heard anything and I can’t…I can’t reach Terry.”

“Hey, now don’t go getting upset. You’d have heard from somebody if something happened to him.”

“I’m not going to call Toni. I just can’t, not on something like this…no more than this.”

“I know. The thing is, I’m a long way away if something has happened. Maybe I should just go, you know, fly over, say, to check on her. Jack’s gone now. She’s by herself.”

“I could go. I’m closer…but I know how it is with you and Terry did say it was to be you.”

“I’ll talk to Connie and ,um…If I show up and it’s nothing...I mean he could be pissed at me. He could even be home by now. I haven t heard anything about him since he left.”

“Just call her, ask how she is. At least you’ll know if he’s home or not. Hell, I’ll do that. Yeah, I’ll give her a call and if it is something then I’ll call you right back.”

“Thanks, John. Yeah, do that.”

“Hi John. Thanks but I’m doing okay. Jack left earlier today and I’ve busied myself cleaning out the pantry. How are you and Donna?”

“Oh ,we’re fine. Really enjoyed the holiday with you. Have you heard from Terry?”

“No, I got an e-mail on New Year’s just wishing me a happy new year but that was it. I guess he’s busy working.”

“Yeah, probably is. Well, hope you don’t mind me calling, you know, just to keep up with you while he’s gone.”

“You, too. Bye.”

“Well…maybe it is nothing, John, but not to hear anything and he said he’d keep in touch and then this. It worries me.”

He paced about, waiting for Wyatt to come on the line. “Wyatt, this is Max Skinner, Terry’s brother.”

Max sat at his desk in shock. It was Terry or he would have said no,could have said no, over the phone.

It was a few minutes before could move. His legs felt like they were full of heavy water. He went to find Connie.

It had been the worst phone call he’d ever made. He and Wyatt both had broken down and cried like boys. Dino went to the bathroom in his hotel suite and washed his face. Flight arrangements would have to be made for Virginia. That was too far away. He was in fucking Bolivia! Forever after Bolivia would start with an F in his mind.

Something else was bothering him, too, Jean Paul Galle. He hadn’t heard anything from him. Cocksucker. He should have nailed him and thrown his ass on the helicopter. He made his flight arrangements and called Tomas to see if he’d heard anything from Jean Paul, as he was manning the ‘switchboard’.

“I have heard not a sound from him but his radio is working. I tested it from here. You know he is an expert, tracking and surviving in the wilds. He’s got the background for this job.”

“It’s not his job. He’s looking for a body, Tomas. You know what a body does in the jungle.”

“Well, maybe it is his job. Terry Thorne was his boss, his captain. He wants to know for sure. If it were you, Mean Marine would do the same thing.”

“Who would demote him if you were rotting, Dino? Who is Jean Paul’s boss now?”

“Oh, shit! I don’t know the hierarchy at SI anymore, probably Brian Hegeland. I let him know about Jean Paul. He didn’t say anything. Try and contact him again and let me know .I got things to do here.”

Dino looked around his hotel room. Marian would be arriving there in a couple of days and he would be in fucking Virginia delivering news he’d rather die than have to deliver. He tore a suitcase out of his closet and began to pack. He knew his anger was directed at himself but it seemed to be bouncing off everybody else he talked to. He paused a moment, recalling Terry’s last words to him and he agreed he was a fucking arsehole.

Loco Rosi squatted down by the thing she’d found and watched it for a moment. She broke off a fern leaf and played with him for a minute, touching his face, his bloody eyes and running the tip of it down his nose. She knew it was a man but what kind of man and where did it come from? She decided it was magic. Someone had left it her for her. The fern didn’t seem to be making an impression on him and she pushed him with a stick, turning him slightly.

He made a sound and she dropped her stick and stood up. It was alive after all and she wanted it. She ran away to her hut and came back a little later with a cart. The sides were missing but it still had wheels and she could take the thing home with her.

Terry was coming to in waves of pain, his leg where the bullet was lodged was throbbing. He heard a sound and tried to open his eyes but the blood had dried and they were stuck. He rubbed at them and heard something like a laugh, a tinkle of a laugh. “Hullo… help me!” he croaked.

He felt hands on his arm and tried to sit up. Whoever it was wasn’t putting much effort into it. He tried getting up on one knee and toppled but she caught him and half dragged him to the cart. He felt around it and pulled himself up onto the cart, lay on his back and the cart began to move. Slowly it rocked down the path by the river. He was semi-awake when it stopped.

He lay there for a moment then tried to sit up and nearly fell off the cart…that tinkle of a laugh again, like bells. He thought he heard bells like church bells maybe. He felt something go around one of his ankles, the good one. “What are you doing?” he asked and got something in return he couldn’t understand, some language he didn’t know. Now she was pulling him toward the edge of the cart and he helped as best he could.

Loco Rosi helped support him as he hopped on his good leg, still not sure what was on his ankle. He was let down on some kind of mat, rough, maybe woven grass but it was padded underneath with leaves he felt around him. “Where am I?”…nothing.

She left him there on the mat, tied to the tree with a rope and pulled the cart back to the cart place.

Terry felt something lick the side of his face and he jumped back. It came at him again. He rubbed his eyes, needing water to wash them with so he could open them. Cautiously he reached out his hand to see what kind of animal was next to him. A goat…he could feel the horns, a small goat. He felt down his leg to his ankle, a rope of some kind. He tugged it but it didn’t give. Whoever had found him had hobbled him.

Jean Paul lay in the grass at the edge of the cliff, studying the area thoroughly, possible scenarios playing out in his mind. The only chance of survival would be if he hit the water below and then it would depend…

He’d spent the daylight hours working his way down the cliff face back toward the falls, closest way down. The night he spent on a ledge the width of his body, he dozed a little, dreaming of Penny in New York, the good times they’d had during Christmas. To keep himself awake he worked out a song and rhythm in his mind.

When it was light enough to see, he began his descent again. It took him the better part of the morning to reach the bottom of the cliff where he stopped and fed himself from the things in his backpack. He was glad to be off the cliff. Soon members of the rebel army would be returning to the campsite and he wanted to be far away when that occurred. Refreshed now, he took out his field glasses again and studied the cliff. Getting his bearings, he began hacking his way through the undergrowth along the river bank.

Max left SI and walked out on the sidewalk to the waiting car and driver that would take him to his flat. He didn’t know what to think now. Wyatt was convinced Terry was gone, but Brian had left it open-ended and the fact that Jean Paul was searching for him gave him a little hope. Was it a false hope? Like Brian said, he may find a body. He closed his eyes in the back seat of the limo and tried to contact Terry.

He was blocked out but he had a sensation that he was alive. That’s what he would hold on to and he left his own mind open. Bollocks. It was nearly ten o’clock, too late for dinner, besides he had some phone calls to make tonight. He wanted to call Connie and let her know about Jean Paul and John would have to be told. He wasn’t going to call Toni, but would book himself on the morning flight out of Heathrow. Hopefully he would get there before Dino.

Loco Rosi squatted down a little away from her man and looked at him. It was hurt. She could see that. Screwing up her face, she decided to fix him. Inside her hut she mixed up a liquid, poured it into a hollowed out gourd and added some water. It was probably thirsty anyway. It would drink the potion.

Terry sensed someone was near him and jumped a little when his arm was touched and something put into his hand. It was pushed to his mouth and he drank thirstily. Bitter, but it was wet.

Loco Rosi went back to her squatting spot and waited. She watched him flail around for a moment and then he fell back on the mat. She took a small twig and poked his face. He didn’t move. He had gone away. Now she could fix him and make him well so she could play with him.

Terry woke, opened his eyes and grimaced. His leg was killing him. He opened his eyes again and his mind began to work. He looked around not sure if he was inside or out. In the dim light he could see a tree trunk and bare branches over his head. It was dark, night? He’d lost sense of time. He was wet, his hair was wet. He was naked and covered with a pile of blankets. He moved his arms and discovered his hands were bound together as were his ankles. Something was on his left leg, the one that was throbbing.

Loco Rosi sat in the corner of her hut and watched him. She looked down at the bowl of food she’d saved for him, some rice and beans in a tasty broth. When the feeding time came she was ready.

Dino waited impatiently in line for customs. He hadn’t slept in over 24 hours and had little food, mostly coffee and liquor. The pent up frustration was telling on him as he elbowed his way out of the airport to the car rental agency to pick up a vehicle. Once he had the key in the ignition, he rested his head on the steering wheel and sobbed.

He’d spent a lot of time at Terry and Toni’s place and loved the old house and grounds but felt no joy when he pulled up the drive. He inhaled a breath of courage and rang the doorbell.

Dino caught her before she hit the floor and supported her into the living room to the sofa.

Munchie heard the doorbell and came down the hall to see the door standing open. She looked out ,seeing an unfamiliar car, and closed the door. Jacky was wailing in the kitchen where she’d left him fenced in and she’d started back for him when she looked in the living room and saw that familiar ginger-colored head.

“Dino, I didn’t know you were coming…oh, Lord have mercy…what’s happened?”

Toni didn’t have to be told the details. She’d read it in Dino’s face. “No…No.. NO! she screamed.”

Munchie went to her, sitting on the other side and slipped an arm around her waist. “What’s happened to Terry?”

Dino, helpless, couldn’t get the words out and he sobbed along with the two women.

Jacky had enough of the fence. He could hear his mummy somewhere crying and he kicked at it and pushed on it as hard as he could and cried out as loud as he could. “Mummy…Daddee!”

Max was in flight, resting his head on his hand when very clearly, ‘Mummy-Daddee’ came into his mind. Oh, it was Jacky. Toni knew then, she knew! He ran a hand over his face and swallowed hard. He closed his eyes, once again trying to get to Terry. There was still that sense that he was alive. Oh, God, man, open your mind…if you can. He sighed and accepted the cup of tea brought to him.

He braced himself, knowing what he was about to walk into. It was noon before he arrived at the house and ran inside. There were two other vehicles outside neither of them he recognized.

“I’m not sure what I know. I’ve been to see Wyatt and Brian. What can you tell me?”

“Jean Paul saw him shot and go over the cliff. I saw the cliff, Max.” He shook his head. “No way anybody could survive that fall.”

“Upstairs in the bed. Munchie called the doctor. He’s up there now. Max…I don’t know what to say. It’s all my fault. The whole operation was a cluster fuck from the get go. I got my hostage back safely, so on the books it’s a success, but the worst disaster I’ve ever faced in my life. I’ve lost a brother, the best thing I ever knew.”

Max blinked, his eyes smarting with tears. “Jean Paul will find him, Dino.”

“He’ll find his body…oh, what a fucking life!” He leaned his head back. “It should have been me. I’d trade places in hell with him right now.”

Another night had passed. Terry was being fed and looked after by the strangest female he’d ever seen. At first he’d been a little afraid of her but he’d decided she meant him no harm. She was feeding him and changed the dressing on his thigh. She never spoke to him, only grunted something now and then when she wanted him to do something like piss in a pot she held at his member. She’d looked slyly at him, giving him a few strokes before taking the pot outside and dumping it, rinsing it out in the stream that flowed beside her hut.

With food and care Terry was gaining his strength back. He was allowed outside the hut but still tied to the tree. Since he wasn’t strong enough to do any walking anyway he adapted an amused attitude toward the rope, thinking when he was ready, he’d leave and find his way out of the forest. A self examination told him the bullet had been removed and whatever kind of concoction she was administering to his thigh was keeping the infection down. Although he could see redness around the bandage, miraculously he had not come down with fever.

Other aspects of her ‘care’ were not so amusing. She still tied him up in the hut at night, had fondled him on several occasions and had made some gestures to him that left nothing to the imagination. He knew what she wanted of him but bruised and battered as he was that was the last thing he thought about. He turned his face away from her, hoping to discourage her.

Loco Rosi was waiting for him to get better, like other wounded things she’d found and cared for until they were strong enough for her amusement. She meant no harm. The only thing she’d ever kept after nursing it back to health was the goat. He’d become attached to her and followed her around when let off his hobble. This was the first man she’d ever found and brought to her hut. She knew all about men and what they could do, especially for her.

Jean Paul worked his way up the side of the river looking for any sign Terry might have been there. Studying the cliff side and the river he stripped down and dove in. It took him three dives before he found anything. He came out of the water with Terry’s radio so he knew he’d hit the water and not the ground. He sat in the sun to dry before putting his clothes back on and watched the flow of the river. It was a pretty strong current, capable of carrying a man downstream at a fairly fast clip. He dressed, ate from his pack and refilled his canteen with river water.

All day he followed the river and at dusk he noticed ahead a clearing on the other side of the river. He squatted down and watched it for awhile, thinking there must be some kind of settlement or village nearby. Watercraft of varying shapes and sizes were on the opposite bank and tied to trees or lying on the river bank depending on what it was.

Jean Paul was a little wary of isolated villages like this. The inhabitants didn’t always act with any degree of reason when a stranger appeared. He backtracked to where he’d seen rocks in the river that might get him across.

Max was becoming a little frustrated. He wanted to talk to Toni and tell her what he sensed, that Terry was alive, but she’d been sedated and the good doctor had left a vial of pills with Munchie who was religious in doling them out at the prescribed time so that she was never completely coherent. Jacky had attached himself to Max, looking for reassurance. His mummy and daddy were both missing from his life and his Uncle Max was filling a need he had.

Max was missing his own family. He’d been in contact with Connie, who had become very upset when he told her about Terry and had taken Maxi to her father’s house and was staying there. Penny was distraught since Jean Paul was also officially missing. Aubrey Duncan had his hands full and Max couldn’t tell him when he’d be back in France.

John was on his way from Maine to help out in any way he could. He agreed with Max about Terry being alive. Surely they’d know if one of them wasn’t. Dino hung around for two days and then went back to Bolivia.

Munchie took Jacky to church with her and Max took the opportunity to try and talk to Toni.

He entered her bedroom and crawled up on the bed beside her. Munchie had given her a pill before she left but he was hoping it hadn’t taken effect yet.

He lifted her in his arms and held her. “Toni, can you hear me? Talk to me, Toni.”

“Listen to me, are you listening? You know we brothers know things about each other, don’t you?”

“This is about Terry, so listen. He’s alive, Toni, I don’t care what Dino said…he’s alive. Somehow he survived the fall.”

“I know what he believes but he doesn’t know what I do, doesn’t feel what I do. You need to come out of this.”

“I don’t know the answer to that. I don’t know where he is or what kind of condition he’s in, but Jean Paul is looking for him. I have faith in him, Toni. If Terry’s to be found, he’ll find him.”

“He’s alive.” Toni started crying. “You’ve got to stop taking these bloody pills and wake up! It’s important, Toni.”

“That’s right. You need to be strong…be strong for Terry and Jacky.”

“Ah, it’s the bloody pills Munchie is giving you. Don’t take any more of them, love.” Max kissed her temple and held her until she was asleep.

Dino arrived back in La Paz after being gone for six days to find a hand-written letter from Marian. Some of her friends from Mexico had come and collected her. She awaited his visit. He sighed and sat down on the bed in his hotel room. Right now he had no private life and wondered if he even deserved one. He went over to his computer and logged in.

Tomas had contact with Jean Paul. He’d found Terry’s radio in the river and had now crossed over and been watching the village for two days. He would check back in later. Dino picked up the phone and called Tomas.

“Yeah…I am.” He’d made that decision after talking at length with Max and John. They were convinced he was alive…said they would know if he wasn’t. Dino didn’t quite understand their magical connection but he was going to give it a shot.

“Since today when you stop thinking. You call Mean Marine. You don’t try this alone.”

“He’s still in La Paz waiting to see…about Terry Thorne.”

Loco Rosi decided this was a different kind of man and different ways must be used. He was strong again, the blue places on his body faded to yellow. She took care to keep him staked out for she knew if she let him loose he might run away. He still had trouble with his leg when he was up and used a cane she’d brought him from the village. One afternoon she gave him a little sleeping potion in his water and waited for it to take effect. When he was asleep she undressed him and used some new rope she’d found, stronger rope, and tied his arms above his head in her hut.

She played with him in his sleep and, getting an erection, she lowered herself upon him. This worked well for her and so she kept him like that for two days, slightly drugged, getting what she wanted from him.

She left him on the third day to go into the village. Her food supplies were getting low and she hoped to find something for her man. A shirt hanging on a line, a loaf of bread from someone’s kitchen and again the basket of beans and rice behind the school. She was happy with her finds and slipped back into the forest, unaware she was being watched.

Jean Paul watched her until she was out of sight and made the decision to contact the man who’d put the basket of food behind the well. He’d observed him placing the basket and then going back into the school. As he was about to step out of the woods he heard helicopters and jumped back, waiting. The revolutionary army came pouring out of the two helicopters. Jean Paul raised a brow guessing they’d been up on the plateau and had come to take it out on the village. They always had to blame somebody. That stopped any idea he had about making contact in the village. He went back into the woods to find a place to wait it out.

While he waited, completely unconcerned with the gunfire and screams from the village, he fed himself from his pack again. He was beginning to think about real food. He’d been rationing himself for three days now. The woman with the basket crossed his mind. He tilted his head, strange looking creature. Wild woman he named her and wondered where she went with her basket. He would find out after the army finished it’s bloody business.

Dino and Mean Marine were sitting on go out in the hanger at the private airstrip. They had a helicopter standing by, waiting for the coordinates to come in. Meanwhile they’d been over the satellite images of the area a dozen times.

“The village is our best bet. If he hit the water somebody might have found him and brought him to the village.” Dino was thinking aloud. His phone went…Tomas.

“I got what you wanted but it may be too late. Jean Paul has given these coordinates.” He relayed them to Dino.

“What is this about too late?” he asked, already on the way to the helicopter.

“The RA was in the village earlier this morning. They’re gone now but you know what they leave behind.”

“Shit! We’re on our way.”

Jean listened to him asking questions but his attention was on the woman. He’d caught sight of her and was stealthily following her. She was completely unaware of helicopters hovering around the area. He stopped, cupping his hand to keep his voice from traveling through the trees.

“What about the other side of the river? I think there is a clearing behind the hill.” Dino was looking at his map.

“Yeah, I hear the son of a bitches. We’ll give it a try…stay tuned.”

Jean Paul would have preferred they wait until he had something for them to come in after but he didn’t have the authority to request it. It was risky business they were engaged in, flying a copter in while the RA was still there. He moved out again, having lost sight, he watched the ground, tracing her steps. He must not lose his concentration worrying about Dino.

He knew he may be on a wild goose chase but he had a gut feeling and was going with it.

Terry heard the helicopters, too. No way to know whose they were but he’d been working the damned ropes until his wrists were bloody. He finally got one hand free and worked the other until both were loose then went to work on his feet.

By the time Loco Rosi came near the hut, he was dressed but a little woozy. The potion she’d been giving him made him grab onto the walls of the hut when he stood up. He looked around for his back pack but not seeing it, he stuck his head out the door of the hut. Oh, fuck! She was back.

Loco Rosi stopped, dropping the basket, and let fly with a stream of gibberish. She picked up her axe and swung it at him. Terry dropped and caught her ankles, pulling her off her feet. Loco Rosi was not a small woman. She was big and strong and she was angry.

They rolled on the ground, Terry pinning her down, but not for long. She squirmed out from under him and reached for a pole to bring down on his head. She didn’t want to kill him. She could fix whatever damage she caused but she was angry. He was trying to get away and she wasn’t finished with him yet.

Jean Paul came upon this scene, hesitated a moment and launched himself at Loco Rosi, bringing her down and knocking her out.

Terry rolled to a sitting position and looked at him. “Where the fuck have you been?” he gasped.

Jean Paul went down on his knee beside him. “Looking for you. You got a nice place here…ready to leave it behind?”

Terry gave him a crooked grin. He’d never been so glad to see somebody in his life. “Yeah, mate.”

Jean Paul got him to his feet and supported him. “Dino is somewhere in the area but he can’t put down here.”

Terry tried to clear his mind, the drug still working on him. “How far… the village?”

“Too far for you. I think we wait until the RA is gone and I will call in Dino. I’ll call him now.”

“Better do something with her.” Terry looked over at Loco Rosi, who was stirring around.

Jean Paul leaned Terry against the hut and, seeing the rope running out of the door to a tree, he picked it up and tied it around her wrists.

“I have no idea but she’s insane.” With mixed feelings he looked at her lying on the ground. She’d saved his life but, on the other hand, she’d…he didn’t want to think about it.

“Come.” Jean Paul lifted Terry’s arm around his shoulders and walked him away.

Half way to the village Jean Paul called Dino on his radio and gave him the coordinates. A wide space along the river bank would have to do and it would have to be quick.

Dino jumped in the river. It was shallow amongst the rocks and he twisted his ankle. Cursing a blue streak he crawled up on the river bank and Jean Paul brought Terry out of the undergrowth. Whether it was the pain in his ankle or seeing Terry he didn’t know, but he burst out crying and grabbed him around the shoulders.

Terry smiled and hugged him back. “Hey, mate, I’ve been waiting for ya.”

“I thought you’d bought the big one. I honestly did.” They looked into each other’s eyes a moment. Jean Paul backed away, looking at the helicopter as it made another run. Now or never…

Mean Marine jumped out into the water and came for Terry. He carried him to the helicopter and tossed him in, reaching behind him for Dino being supported by Jean Paul. Once they were in, the helicopter took off for La Paz.

Dino sat in the helicopter with a cold pack on his ankle, looking across at Terry, who’d been quiet since they took off.

Terry was thinking about Toni and Jacky and, as tired as he was, he let his mind open, unguarded. He wanted to be home. He smiled a little, looking out of the open helicopter. Jacky was looking at the horses…with Max.

Max felt sorry for Jacky, poor little tyke. He picked him up and took him outside and walked with him down to the stables. Tom would be tending to the horses about now. He paused a minute, checking the progress on the fence around the pool. Coming along nicely, he thought, and went on down to the stables.

Max looked at him a moment and set him down in the stables. Tom gave him a handful of oats to put in the trough.

Jacky dropped the oats and ran out of the stable. “Daddee, Daddee!” He’d made contact with Terry.

Max felt it, too, and scooped Jacky up, running back toward the house to let Toni know, if John hadn’t already.

John had just poured two cups of coffee and nearly dropped the pot. “Ah, there you are!” he smiled.

“We’ve made contact, love. He’s finally opened the channel. Oh, yes ,he’s alive and he wants to come home.”

“Oh…” Toni jumped up and grabbed Jacky from Max. She bit her lip as tears ran down her face.

“Don’t know. I hope we get a phone call from somebody soon.” Relief flooded Max . He sat down in a chair and pushed the palms of his hands into his eyes. “You know John and I both felt he was still with us but until just now we didn’t know for sure. I don’t know what it would feel like to lose one of us and I don’t ever want to know what it feels like.”

“Me, either.” John set a cup of coffee in front of Max. “It’s going to be all right now, Toni. Just a matter of getting him home.”

Toni set Jacky down on the floor and he went for his toy box Munchie had made for him in the kitchen out of an old crate. He dug around looking for something.

“I hope he’s all right. I know he was shot. I can’t think something could be wrong with him. I want him home.”

“Well, you know it will take a few days, Toni, but once you can talk to him it will be better for you,” John said, handing her a cup of coffee.

Jacky came running back over with his toy. “Daddee.” He held up his Fisher Price helicopter with little people inside.

Toni smiled and kissed the top of his blond curly head. “I guess he’s in a helicopter now.”

There hadn’t been time for phone calls until now. Terry had been taken to the emergency room in La Paz and was in surgery to clean up the wound on his thigh.

Dino had his ankle taped and hobbled out into the waiting area where Mean Marine and Jean Paul had been talking.

He blew out a breath. “I got a phone call to make.” He walked over to the windows and called Toni.

“No, he’s worse. this is one of his good days. Your Terry, you think he’ll go back into the field again?”

Jean Paul gave a Gallic shrug. “Ah…yes, I think he will. He’s made that way.”

“Yeah, that’s what I thought. And you, what are your plans when you get home?”

“I have a new song to work out an arrangement for with my band. You know…I had to do something while I was in Bolivia.”