Deadly Journey (9 page)

Rage burned inside me. My captivity had
already caused the deaths of Leila and her family. Now some other innocent was
about to have his or her life terminated. I began to question my own mortality
and the thought passed by me that maybe it would be better for them and for me
to have me executed before anyone else lost their life on my behalf.

Perez strode out of the room, I closed my
eyes, and my head dropped. One by one, the images of the death masks of Leila
and her family paraded in my mind’s eye. The warmth of nimble fingers wrapping
my hand in theirs removed the nightmare of the dead, replaced by my own family
pleading for me to come home.

Leandra’s voice broke through the haze.

‘Are you okay? Come with me and sit down.
You’re shaking.’

I closed my eyes and lowered my head in the
hope she wouldn’t see my emotion surfacing. Leandra guided me with her hand to
the chair. With my hands clasped in silent prayer, a tear dripped onto my
wrists. I hoped for answers as to what I should do next. No one answered. The
only thing I knew was that while Perez played his games, the decision as to what
path I should take was mine alone to make.

I would have to dig deep within for me to
remain strong. There was a desperate need to keep my sanity before my mind
closed at the onset of a nervous breakdown, knowing that whatever I decided, it
had to be soon.

Chapter 16

A Question of Trust

Returned to the
bedroom, unshackled, and changed out of the overalls into Bermuda shorts and a
T-shirt, I lay on the bed staring at the ceiling. The ordeal of the filming out
of the way, I tried to blot out what might come next to garner some emotional
respite.

I’d always thought of myself as a strong
character. There had been many sticky moments spelling out danger during my
career, but then that was the job. At work, I had always felt in control of
situations. My current plight was outside anything I had ever experienced.
Without the comfort of backup and a decent array of weapons at my disposal,
doubts about my ability to keep my emotions under the surface nagged away at my
mind.

I worried that other than Leandra, the
guards might have seen my tears. Any sign of weakness and I wouldn’t be able to
puff out like Dad talked of; instead, I would have to hope for the ability to
shrink to the size of a mouse. Then I could scurry into a corner like the
bullied child I used to be and be considered a coward by all. That’s how a
bully works, seeking a weakness and playing with it to gain the upper hand.

A new persona was called for to get me
through the ordeal. Like an actor, I had lived with two personalities. At home,
I was the loving husband and doting father, sharing responsibilities. Meek and
mild, I guess I was a pushover at times, with Mary’s will gaining the high
ground in family decisions. With a strong moral base, our family was rock
solid, built on truth and openness.

Work was a whole different scene. In the
interview room, I could be the forceful guy, or the sympathetic guy, but one
who didn’t suffer fools gladly, prepared to lie and cheat my way into gaining
the confidence and confessions of lawbreakers. Turning the other cheek wasn’t
in my repertoire, but a doggedness to bring villains to justice. Somehow, I
needed to find the traits of a middle ground to survive the psychological
pressure.

I rolled off the bed and walked over to the
French doors. As I glanced around the garden, three men exited the maze
carrying canvas bags similar to the ones Squat had handed to the pilot. Guards
approached them, exchanged bags and then the three men walked back into the
maze. The guards threw the bags into the trunk of a car and set off towards the
playing fields where the airplane had landed earlier.

I turned sharply to the voice of Leandra.

‘Something interesting out there?’

‘No, just wondering if we could have a walk
around the gardens before settling in at the pool.’

The guard held the door open for her to
enter and left it open. He remained standing outside the bedroom. Leandra
carried the clothes and boots I had worn when I arrived at the villa.

‘Can’t see why not. Your clothes are washed
and I’ve cleaned your boots.’

‘Thanks.’

When I glanced out the window, there was no
sight of the three men, leaving me puzzled.

‘I’ll put your clothes in the wardrobe.’

‘Fine,’ I said, edged to the bed and sat.

The closet door opened and swung against
the wall. That’s when I noticed that the floor-to-ceiling door obscured the
camera. I jumped up and headed for the balcony.

‘I’m just opening the doors for some air.’

All the while, I kept my line of sight on
the hidden camera. Pulling open the doors, I stepped out onto the balcony. It
was only a small area surrounded by a wrought-iron balustrade, cemented to the
floor and the wall. Grasping the iron rail, I looked left and right. There was
no camera facing my way and I shook the rail to test its strength. Straight
ahead, I could make out a deserted beach and the Pacific Ocean lapping at its
shore. When I stepped back inside, Leandra closed the closet door and turned to
me.

‘How are your feet?’

‘Getting there, but not quite ready for
wearing those boots just yet. I can manage in these slippers.’

‘Good. Let’s go for a walk. Perez has gone
away until tomorrow, so you can relax.’

‘Does Perez have a boat down at the beach?’

‘No, there are no boats. The beach is out
of bounds for everyone, especially for you.’

She looked down at my tracking bracelet. Leandra
was right; the beach was at least two hundred yards beyond the range of safety
for the detonator not to trigger the explosive charge. She turned to walk out
of the room and I followed. Leandra spoke briefly with the guard outside the
bedroom door and he followed us down the stairway and into the reception area.
We stopped at the door where they had filmed me.

‘Do you want to watch your film before we
go outside?’

One part of me wanted to forget the whole
episode, but the agent in me wanted to cast a professional eye over the
proceedings.

‘Sure.’

Save for the equipment the room was empty.
Leandra walked over to the laptop. Pressing a key to bring it out of its
slumber, she started the video and we stood back. The edit on Stony Face’s
monologue had left a short gap. The distress was there for all to see when the
film arrived at my pleas for my family. The slow walk to the door at the end
topped off my despair and helplessness at the situation. The camera zoomed in
on me and there it was: that damned sideways glance and smirk with my lips
curled in a churlish smile.

‘Can’t you edit out that smirk?’

‘Too late, it’s done and gone.’

Rolling my eyes, I looked up at the ceiling.
I wondered what they would make of me smiling. She turned off the
computer and we sauntered outside the villa. All the while, I couldn’t get the
image of that final grin from my mind. I couldn’t work out what those
scrutinizing the film would think the smirk signified. They would never guess
that the makeup woman blowing me a kiss had brought on a nervous reaction.

The crop duster engine split the silence as
it rose from the makeshift runway and passed overhead. A vehicle that I’d seen
loaded with the bags from the guys at the maze entered the driveway and parked
at the front of the villa. Guards exited the SUV carrying yet more loot from
the crop duster and walked through the entrance to the villa. I doubted this
was the only flow of money from Perez’s activities, but this one operation
alone was mind-blowing with the amounts involved on a regular basis.

We approached the maze. A garden bench
fronted the opening and I sat, patting the wooden slats for Leandra to join me.

‘Are you superstitious?’ I asked.

‘A little, why?’

‘I thought I could see a wishing well in
the centre of the maze. Do you have a coin? I could make a wish.’

She snickered. ‘I’ve no need for money
here, and I doubt the guard watching would let you get through the entrance.’

‘Why?’

‘Come on, I’m not stupid. How old do you
think I am?’

‘Around twenty-one, maybe less.’

She placed a hand over her mouth to stifle
a laugh and snickered. ‘Why, thank you, kind sir. Actually I’m twenty-four,
going on twenty-five. How old are you? Forty or older, I’d guess,’ she said,
and laughed.

‘Thirty-four, if you must know.’ She
obviously wasn’t up to giving me the same consideration. ‘Why would you think I
thought you were an idiot?’

She gave me an all-knowing wink. ‘Because
my bedroom is next to yours and I looked out the window just before I brought
your clothes, so I’m guessing you saw the exchange?’

‘Exchange of what?’

‘Now I know you think I’m stupid.’ She
shrugged and turned her back to me, folding her arms. ‘If you don’t want to
trust me, that’s fine. I am a prisoner too, remember?’

Her voice had trailed off, telling me I
needed to tread lightly.

‘Have you never thought of escaping? You
seem to have the run of the place.’

She didn’t answer at first but bowed her
head. Then she turned to face me. Her eyes were moist and she swiped the back
of her hand across them to wipe away a tear. ‘Look around the outer landscape
and tell me what you see.’

We both stood and I did a three-sixty turn.

‘Hillsides.’

‘Seven of them. The Seven Sisters. There’s
one hill on either side of the beach and five in a horseshoe around the villa.
Each peak has a guard base, manned twenty-four hours. Why do you think Perez
makes this his main hideout? Then count the guards here on all three shifts.
They’re billeted in barracks set in the woods until they are due leave and
fresh guards arrive. Now look at the cameras on the poles around the grounds.
The only way out is the way I came in... by boat. They have enough fire power
to bring down a fleet of helicopters, so I hope your Special Forces don’t find
you and attempt a rescue.’

She was right about the way out. Hijacking
the crop duster would be a big gamble.

‘I thought you said he didn’t have a boat?’

‘He doesn’t, it’s a mini-sub. The wishing
well is an opening down to an old smugglers’ cave. There’s an underground lake
regardless of the tide. Out beyond the limits, he has an exploration vessel,
supposed to be surveying for wrecks. I was taken to the ship first and then
brought here in the sub.’

‘So that’s what the exchange was all
about... drugs in, money out.’

‘Ah, so now you did see it?’ She lowered
her voice and glanced at the guard standing a little ways down the path. ‘Look,
I’ll help you if I can, but I don’t know how you can get around your tracker.’

‘Maybe we can work on something together
for us both to escape and I can help you get back to your parents.’

A single tear rolled onto her cheek. In the
depths of her eyes, they spoke of anguish. ‘I can’t.’

‘What, you can’t go to your parents? Or you
can’t escape?’

‘Both.’

‘Why?’

Her mouth opened, but she uttered no words
and looked down at her feet. Finally, she raised her head and looked directly
into my eyes. ‘I can’t tell you. You just have to trust me that I can’t.’

Tears streamed down her face. With no
handkerchief to offer, I placed an arm around her shoulder and drew her face to
my T-shirt, wrapping my other arm around her and holding her tight, her tears
soaking through to my skin.

‘Shush, I trust you. Only tell me when
you’re ready.’

A forceful strike and a searing pain between
my shoulder blades and I let go of her, falling to my knees. Another blow, this
time to my backside, sent me sprawling on the ground to the sound of Leandra
screaming. I rolled over to see Stony Face aiming his assault rifle directly at
me. He was good, very good. Someone getting the jump on me was becoming a bad
habit, but he’d done it without creating a sound.

‘Touch her again and you’re dead, whatever
Perez says.’ Stony glanced at Leandra. ‘You stop snivelling and get in the
villa. I need a word with our friend.’

Leandra complied, making her way back to
the villa, but all the while turning her head to look back at me.

Stony Face spat on the floor. ‘Don’t ever
touch her, you understand?’

‘Yes, I understand, I was only consoling
her. She was...’

‘Never.’

I couldn’t make him out. Was he her
boyfriend and he was jealous? Maybe he was the reason she wouldn’t want to
leave. He hadn’t been there to see her stick her hand down my boxers, thank
goodness, or I might be dead already. It sounded as though Perez had left word
I wasn’t to be terminated. Just what would motivate him to go against an order
from Perez left a big question mark.

Chapter 17

Slaughter in the Desert

Trudging through
the villa to get to the pool with Stony Face following reminded me that as much
as I had freedom to stroll the grounds, a watchful eye was ever-present.

Time dragged as painfully slowly as did my
step, as if my body was reluctant to reach its destination. Only four days in
captivity, yet it gave the impression I had been kidnapped in the distant past.

Home might as well have been a world away.
The more I thought about home and my family, the more they seemed to be like
that cell-door lever at the hacienda, out of reach. I had to remind myself that
through hope and tenacity, I had fought and beaten the odds on that occasion.

Emptiness and despair resonated and dwelt
within me as a blow to my equilibrium. Loneliness followed every deliberate
step, yet at the same time, it was a blessing with a need to be by myself to
think. I hoped Leandra would not be at the pool. The idea seemed ironic. Until
now, she had been the only cool spot in a furnace of hell and a calming
influence, quenching the thirst of an otherwise tortured mind.

If Stony Face was her boyfriend, then I
might just have made a big mistake in confiding in her that I planned to
escape. Then again, she had told me about the mini-sub and the strength of the
guards on the Seven Sisters.

The whole situation felt as though I were
working out a strategy for a game of chess, but the queen who had the freedom
move anywhere on the board might turn traitor and usher me into checkmate. That
trust thing bugged me again. The trust was gone. A sense of isolation gripped
the pit of my stomach.

Relief hit me as I stepped through the
patio door. When I scanned the pool area, Leandra was nowhere in sight, just
two guards. Stony Face’s hand grabbed my shoulder and he growled in my ear.

‘Don’t forget our little talk.’

‘Yeah, yeah.’

He turned and walked away. I made my way
over to the chaise lounge and sat. My wish to be solitary didn’t last. Maybe
only five minutes had passed when Leandra joined me. She looked concerned.

‘What was all that about before?’ Leandra
said.

There was no point in being anything other
than to the point. If she was trying to act as a neutral, I decided to see how
far I could push her for information. ‘Jealousy, maybe because I had my arms
around you and he jumped to conclusions. How long has he been your boyfriend?’

‘Boyfriend? No way. More like
self-appointed bodyguard. What did he say?’

I’d given up trying to work out her facial
expressions. If she was lying, she was good. Her reply had snapped back as if
she hadn’t had time to think about an answer, so I thought I’d push further. ‘He
said to keep my distance. What can you tell me about him?’

‘Well, his name is Pedro. He arrived around
six months ago. He rose through the ranks quite quickly and when the colonel
went missing, Perez placed him in charge of the guards.’

‘What do you mean when you say
self-appointed bodyguard?’

She shrugged. ‘One of the young guards took
an interest in me. He was always picking flowers from the bushes in the garden
and handing them to me. Pedro found out and beat him to a pulp. I don’t know
what happened to him after that, because I never saw him again. When I asked
one of the guards, they said he’d gone missing. I’m hoping he ran away.’ Her
eyes dropped along with the tone in her voice. ‘But I doubt it.’

‘So he’s never made a pass at you?’

‘Never. In fact at times he’s off with me.
Remember the knife and fork drama? Then take when Perez ordered me to... you
know, when they took pictures. I thought Pedro’s eyes were going to blow out of
his head, he was so red with rage, and he snatched the camera from the guard
inside the villa. Before he took charge here, a few of the guards tried to be
friends and to be pleasant with me. Now they don’t give me as much as a
sideways glance. If it wasn’t for the women staff, I’d have gone mad by now.’

She said the last sentence with such a wide
smile. Leandra had done it again. It was difficult not to believe she was
telling the truth. Or maybe I was desperate to believe her. Perhaps I was
vulnerable, looking at her as some sort of magic cloak, and willing for her to
be an ally in order to protect my own sanity. Either way, I needed to break the
spell and seek out a self-imposed exile so I could become organized.

‘Listen, I don’t feel so good today. That
filming knocked hell out of me. I hope you don’t mind, but I need to go to my
room and relax on my own, maybe watch some television.’

‘Sure.’

I wasted no time getting to the bedroom.
The guard following me moved ahead on the stairway, his finger poised on the
remote detonator. He opened the door and sat on a chair outside the room.

I turned on the television, found an
American news channel and set the volume on low. With the door closed behind
me, it felt as though I had reached an inner sanctum and peace. But that peace
soon turned to anguish.

I sat on the edge of the bed and then,
swinging my feet over, I sank into the mattress. Glancing at the picture of my
family on the nightstand, I picked it up and gave them a kiss, then gently
placed it back against the lamp stand. With my head on the pillow, I began to
deliberate.

The first thing I needed was to take out a
guard and release the tracker. Then I needed to make it to the wishing well and
to the mini-sub. What would happen if the sub wasn’t there?
The plan
would only work when they made an exchange. That raised the question, if the
sub would make it out of there if the tide changed. What if they had to wait
for a high tide after the exchange? I needed to work out the tides. A vision of
me backed up against an underground lake with pursuers on my heels and being
unable to determine how long it would take to swim to the ocean, sounded like
setting my own trap.

I kept coming back to the idea that the
guards were under instructions not to kill me. That supposition was supported
by the fact that they all now had Tasers. It had to be the weak spot I was
searching for to create an advantage. I knew I had to plan any escape for the
sub to be there, to make it to freedom and beyond their reach.

Then doubt struck. What if I couldn’t
operate the damned thing and I didn’t manage to take the pilot as a hostage?

With my thoughts whirring as if I was
trapped in a tornado, a news item sparked my interest. According to the
caption, they were beaming live pictures from a chopper near the border in El
Paso. Their camera zoomed in and out of the burned-out wreck of a trailer. A
car, still smouldering, was parked alongside with the trunk open. A single fire
department truck attended, with a number of police vehicles. The chopper banked
and turned to reveal a wind generator set behind a gas station at the side of a
border road. The hairs on my neck bristled at the recollection of whooshing
blades and the smell of gasoline through the burlap sack over my head. Despite
my lack of vision at the time, the scene fit the picture I had in my mind of
the area before the tunnel ride.

The scene changed to a woman reporter and
camera crew on the ground.

‘... When I spoke to the captain of the
fire crew earlier, he said that after arriving at what they first thought could
be an accident, they came to believe that it was the scene of something far
more sinister.’

The camera panned to the burned-out wreck
of a car, still distinguishable as a silver-gray Ford.

Jumping off the bed, I stood close to the
television and raised the volume.

‘As you can see, the side of the car is
riddled with bullet holes in a pattern that would suggest an automatic assault
rifle was used. So far, they have discovered the bodies of four men. Three are
adults and one is thought to be in his early teens, in what I heard one police
officer describe as a gang-related hit, probably in connection with drugs.

‘Although forensics at the scene are still
carrying out their investigation, again from what the police officers were
discussing, it would appear that the three adults died of multiple-gunshot
wounds. The teenager, whose wrists were bound with duct tape, bore signs of
torture before his throat was cut. From the blood trails, all are believed to
have died outside the trailer and then they were dragged inside before it was
set on fire.’

The camera zoomed in on a gas can lying on
its side, then to a pile of spent cartridges and back to the woman reporter.

‘Hopefully we will be able to get a
statement from the officer in charge, but in the meantime we’ve been instructed
to stay behind this line of police vehicles. This is Sandra Summerville
returning you to the studio.’

Back at the studio, the subject changed to
the economy and I lowered the volume. There was no mention of a tunnel, nor had
I seen police searching that area. The whole report felt like some kind of
surreal déjà vu. Stumbling, I edged backward to the bed and sat. Had more
people involved in my kidnapping turned up murdered on my account?

It didn’t make sense that Perez would have
ordered the hit on them, when it would make discovery of the tunnel possible.
Maybe he thought that terminating loose ends was a price worth paying. Doubt
surfaced that the tunnel would be his only means of getting drugs across the border.
Hell, for all I knew, he could have a dozen tunnels.

‘My shoe?’

I started a nervous snicker at the thought
they might have found my shoe in the trunk. But what good would it do? I
couldn’t imagine that the El Paso branch of the FBI would have printed out
copies from a photograph of the shoe I had left at the scene of the crack
house, for distribution at staff meetings. Or worse, that the FBI had posted it
on their “Most Wanted” website.

‘Have you seen the partner to this shoe?’

The imaginary headline started me laughing
in earnest. I mean, could anyone imagine a police briefing with someone handing
out a picture of a shoe to the police officers?

‘What the f... Haven’t we got enough with
most wanted and missing persons that they have us looking for lost property?’ I
imagined an officer asking.

Rolling over on the mattress, I grabbed the
pillow, burying my face to stifle the laughs.

Sleep must have followed; I awoke to the
sound of footsteps on the stairway. When I rolled over, the time on the news channel
was approaching midnight. After turning off the television with the remote, I
reached out to turn off the bedside lamp, but there was only enough time for a
quick glance at Mary and the kids.

The door crashed open as someone switched
on the main light. I shielded my eyes from the light with my hand as a male
voice boomed in an American accent.

‘You’re going for a walk. Lie still while
we put on your shackles.’

For a fleeting moment, I thought it could
be a Special Forces rescue. Then my eyes adjusted, dashing my hopes as I
recognized one of the guards aiming a handgun at me.

‘Where are you taking me?’

‘You’ll soon find out.’

I wasn’t sure if this was the time to test
my theory of them having orders not to kill me. Not with the Taser and a
handgun pointed at my chest.