Kidnapped and a Daring Escape (30 page)

    
"It was not a release. We escaped," Bianca interjects. "I hope no
ransom has been paid yet."

    
"Not as far as I know,
signorina
."

    
"How much did they ask for?"

    
"Five million euros."

    
"Oh … that much?" She raises her hand to her mouth.

    
"Yes, it is at the top end of the scale. The kidnappers must have been
well informed about your father’s financial situation."

    
André intervenes again: "Signor Baldetti, I am sure you understand
that Miss Pacelli wishes to return home as quickly as possible, but she
will need travel documents for that. She has photocopies of the stolen
ones. Furthermore, it is also essential that she contacts her parents right
away, and so that they can be assured her call is not a cruel hoax, it
would be desirable that you also spoke to them in your official capacity."

    
Baldetti eyes him with a slight frown. He doesn’t like to be told what
to do, flashes through Bianca’s mind, but she is grateful for André’s
intervention, although he asked her to do the talking. But he speaks with
such authority, she reflects.

    
"I assume,
Signor
Villier, that you are not an Italian citizen. Am I
correct?"

    
"Yes, sir, I’m Swiss."

    
"So far, we have received no communication from the Swiss Embassy
that one of their citizens was also kidnapped."

    
"I doubt that any ransom demand has been made yet, nor was I long
enough out of contact with my people who knew my movements for them
to be worried yet. The documents the kidnappers took from me did not
give any contact addresses. Furthermore, I escaped on the second day of
our captivity."

    
"Hmm …"

    
"Sir, would you be willing to arrange the call to Miss Pacelli’s father
now?"

    
"Yes, I guess we should do this promptly." He reluctantly turns to
Bianca. "Your father deserves to know that you are safe. Maybe we
should also schedule a medical examination for you."

    
"That isn’t necessary," Bianca exclaims. "I wasn’t hurt or mistreated
and feel perfectly healthy. In fact, I’m in better shape than before, with
all the walking we did for several days."

    
"Hmm … if you say so." He asks for her father’s phone number and
then requests his secretary to set up the call via Foreign Affairs in Rome.

    
"
Signor
Villier, maybe you now wish to look after your own affairs,
such as contacting the Swiss Embassy. Their offices are only two blocks
from here."

    
"Oh, no," cries Bianca, suddenly feeling panicky. "I want André to
stay with me."

    
Again Baldetti raises his eyebrows. "Have you already contacted your
fiancé, Professor Visconti?"

    
"No, I don’t know where he is currently."

    
"We were informed that the tour party he is leading is currently in
Cusco, Peru. He surely must have a cell phone."

    
"Does that imply that Professor Visconti did not cancel the rest of the
tour?" André interjects. His tone of voice tells her that he is feigning
outrage. "I mean, his own fiancée had been kidnapped."

    
"That is correct. He explained to us that he has to put personal feelings
aside and fulfill his obligations to the other participants and the university."

    
"Really?" André’s tone has turned sarcastic.

    
"Yes, he said that he was certain his fiancée would not want him to do
otherwise."

    
The bastard. Bianca fights tears. "Then he doesn’t know me well." It
slips out rather more vehemently than she would have liked.

    
"Hmm …" utters Baldetti, clearly disconcerted by her outburst.

    
His pompous officialdom begins to irk her. To bridge the awkward
silence, she asks: "
Signore
, by when will you be able to get me new
travel documents?"

    
"If no hitch occurs, by tomorrow afternoon."

    
"What hitch could occur?"

    
"That the debriefing has to be delayed or reveals aspects that require
your continued presence here."

    
She does not like his tone and looks to André for help. He does not
disappoint her. "
Signor
Baldetti, we both want to be safely out of this
country as quickly as possible. As you surely must be aware, there is no
need to have a debriefing here at your Embassy. That can be done directly
in Rome by the appropriate authorities. They will then hear everything
first-hand. Any action you would want to take will have to be approved
by Rome anyway. So I suggest, you dispense with the debriefing and get
Miss Pacelli’s new travel documents ready by tomorrow, so that we can
be on a night flight to Europe."

    
"Yes,
Signor
Baldetti, I think
Signor
Villier is right." Bianca startles
herself by her own assertiveness, and André’s reassuring smile gives her
the courage to continue. "I do not feel safe as long as I am in this country.
We were again attacked in Popayàn. Somebody was waiting for us at the
hotel when we wanted to pick up our luggage, and who is to say that
these people do not also have contacts in Bogotà. From what I hear,
Bogotà is not a safe place either."

    
"Hmm … and what about the debriefing with the security police?"

    
André cuts in again. "You can do that. I will give you a detailed
cartographic map that I took from our captors and mark exactly where the
kidnapping occurred, where we were transported in a Toyota four-wheel
drive, the foot track we were marched on, where the camp of the
kidnappers is, and the initial part of the route we took for our escape. The
location of the camp is really the only essential detail. We would not be
able to identify the kidnappers, since they were masked, nor could we
read the vehicle’s license plate. It was completely covered in mud."

    
"I don’t know whether I can approve that. It is not in my hands."

    
"
Signore
, I am an investigative journalist. My articles have appeared
in most European newspapers, including
Il Corriere
, and
Il Messaggero
.
I will write a detailed account of this whole ordeal and I am certain it will
be printed all over Europe. Do you want me to report that the Italian
Embassy in Bogotà put difficulties in Miss Pacelli’s way to be promptly
reunited with her parents?"

    
She admires his quick presence of mind and the clever way he phrases
things.

    
"Oh, no. There will be no difficulties on our part. We would not wish
to delay Miss Pacelli’s return to Rome."

    
The phone rings at that moment. Baldetti answers and then passes it
to her. "Miss Pacelli, it is your father."

    
Her hands tremble as she takes the phone. "Papà, it’s me, Bianca." She
shouts, before catching herself and lowers her voice. "I’m free. I’m at the
Embassy in Bogotà."

    
"Did they hurt you?" her father asks. She is taken aback that these are
his first words. No words of relief or joy that she is free.

    
"No, I’m fine."

    
"Why did they set you free? I have not paid any ransom yet."

    
"I wasn’t set free. I escape with the help of a friend, André Villier."

    
"I see. You will have to tell me all. Have you contacted Franco yet?
He is very concerned."

    
"No, I haven’t. I’ll try later tonight. Papà, I hope that we will be on a
plane back to Europe by tomorrow. I’ll let you know when we have the
flight details."

    
"You have to call your mother right away too and give her the good
news."

    
"I will, papà, I will, but please you tell her now. It may take an hour
or two before I can call. Tell her I’m fine.
Ciao. Ti voglio bene
.
Signor
Baldetti also wishes to say a few words."

    
She hands the phone back. He didn’t even say that he is glad I’m free,
crosses her mind. His only reference to it was to tell mother the good
news. She is hurt. Her heart is still beating fast. She only half listens to
Baldetti.

    
After the latter puts the phone down, André says: "
Signore
, I will
provide you tomorrow with the cartographic map and a few other details
when we pick up Miss Pacelli’s new travel documents. I’m certain that
I speak also for Miss Pacelli when I beg you to delay contacting the
security police until later tomorrow. You must realize that informing
them earlier can only mean that they will detain us and delay our
departure by several days. Anyway, I doubt that they have taken any
action yet to even investigate the kidnapping, don’t you agree?"

    
"You may well be right," Baldetti utters with a sarcastic laugh. "I will
arrange for the papers to be ready by two o’clock tomorrow."

    
"Do you need a photograph?"
 

    
"No, we can download one directly from Rome. Where will you be
staying?"

    
"We don’t know yet. We came directly from the airport, nor do you
need to know where we will stay."

    
Again Baldetti raises his eyebrows. "
Signor
Villier, I get the distinct
impression that you have something to hide."

    
"You are correct,
signore
. Experience has taught me to be highly
suspicious of authority, particularly security services. I entered this
country as a tourist, but my real mission was to get an interview with the
FARC leadership. If the security police start digging, they can easily
discover that I am an investigative journalist. They may see my visit into
the area close to recent guerrilla activity as suspicious, and hence may
cause trouble. So I want to hide both Miss Pacelli and myself from
anything that could delay our departure and that includes the security
police. If you don’t know where we stay, you cannot be forced to tell
them."

    
Baldetti pushes out a short laugh.

    
"As far as my identity is concerned, you can look up all details,
including my major articles, on my web page. I trust you will keep what
I just confessed confidential."

    
Oh, he is so quick thinking and never short of clever answers, she
muses, admiring him, and it is always different from what one thinks.
She hasn’t expected that he would disclose his true reason for being in
Colombia. But maybe that was just the right way to gain Baldetti’s
confidence.

    
"Interesting, but you can count on me. Since you seem a highly
informed person, do you have any clues as to who the kidnappers are?
The theory here is that they are from FARC?"

    
"It is difficult to say. The kidnappers operate right at the edge of
FARC controlled areas. However, their behavior and mode of operation
lets me believe that they are rather criminal renegades of
paras
."

    
"What leads you to that conclusion?"

    
"First, they were masked. From what I read in my research before I
came to Colombia, FARC operatives usually don’t do that. Second, the
kidnapping of Miss Pacelli was not an opportunistic one. It was well
planned, and she clearly was the target. In fact, one of the kidnappers
asked the leader what to do with me, that they only had instructions to
take the girl. This indicates to me that they received detailed information
about the exact schedule for her trip to San Agustin, which I happened to
join by sheer coincidence. You may be interested to hear that they never
asked Miss Pacelli for the address or phone number of her parents. The
source of all that information could only have come from somebody close
to her, probably in Popayàn, which leaves few people.
Ex-paras
elements
are more likely to have contacts there than FARC. Third, the surprisingly
short delay between the kidnapping and the demand for the ransom, as
well as its size, also show preplanning and detailed knowledge of her
father’s financial situation, pointing again to a well-informed source in
Popayàn. All these facts lead me to conclude the kidnappers were
criminal elements rather than misguided revolutionaries."