The Evening News (100 page)

"We had problems
,”
Partridge told him
.”
Let's move fast! Which boat
?
”

"This one
.”

It was an open wooden workboat about thirty feet long, with
twin outboard motors. Two lines secured it to the jetty
.”
I grabbed some
extra fuel from other boats
.”

O'Hara pointed to several plastic
containers near the stem
.”
Everybody aboard
!”

Partridge ordered
.
Earlier, a three-quarters moon had been obscured by cloud, but within the
past few minutes the cloud had shifted. Now everything was lighter
,
particularly over the water
.
Fernandez
helped Jessica and Nicky into the boat. Jessica was shaking
uncontrollably and feeling sick, both after
effects of having killed
Socorro only minutes earlier. Minh, taking pictures from the jetty
,
jumped in last as O'Hara, unfastening the lines, used an oar to push out
from shore.
Fernandez
grabbed a second oar. Together he and O'Hara rowed
toward midstream
.
Looking around, Partridge could see that O'Hara had used his waiting time
effectively. Several other boats were settling in the water near shore
,
others drifting away
.”
I pulled some plugs
.”

O'Hara gestured to the nearer boats.

"Those can be refloated, but it'll cause delay. Threw a couple of good motors in the river
.”

"Nice going, Ken
!”

His decision to bring O'Hara, Partridge thought, had
been vindicated several times
.
There were no proper seats in the boat they were using. As with the one in
which Jessica, Nicky and Angus had traveled earlier, passengers sat low on
boards running fore and aft above the keel. The two rowers had positioned
themselves on opposite sides and were striving hard to reach the Huallaga
River's center. As the sight of Nueva Esperanza faded in the moonlight, a
strong current was already carrying them downstream
.
Partridge had checked his watch as they left the jetty: 2:35 A.m. At 2:50
,
with the boat moving along well, following the river's generally northwest
course, he told Ken O'Hara to start the engines
.
O'Hara opened a fuel-tank air vent on the port-side engine, adjusted a
choke, pumped a rubber ball and pulled a flywheel rope hard. The engine
fired immediately. He adjusted the engine speed to a fast idle, then
followed the same procedure with the second engine. As he put both engines
in gear, the boat surged forward
.
The sky had stayed clear. Bright moonlight, reflected on the water, made
navigation relatively easy along the river's winding course
.
Fernandez
asked, "Have you decided which landing strip we'll head for
?
”

Partr
idge calculated, visualizing Fernan
dez's large-scale map which, by
now, he almost knew by heart
.
First, choosing the river for departure had ruled out a rendezvous at the
highway landing point where they arrived. That left the intermediate drug
traffickers' landing strip, which they might reach in an hour and a half
,
or the more distant Sion airstrip which could mean three hours on the
river, plus a three-mile trek through the jungle on foot-a difficult challenge, as they already knew
.
To get to Sion by 8 A.M.,
when the AeroLibertad Cheyenne II
would be
overhead, might be cutting things close. On the other hand, at the
intermediate strip they would be several
hours early, and if a pursuit should catch them there it would mean a firefight which, outnumbered and outgunned, they would almost certainly lose
.
Therefore the best and wisest course seemed to continue putting the
greatest possible distance between themselves and Nueva Esperanza
.”
We aim for Sion
,”
Partridge told the others in the boat
.”
When we leave
the river and go ashore, we'll have to push hard and fast through the
jungle, so get whatever rest you can - "

As the time passed, Jessica became more composed; her involuntary shaking
ceased, the sickness disappeared. She doubted, though, if she would ever
have total peace of mind about what she had done. Certainly the memory of
Socorro's desperate, pleading whisper would haunt her for a long, long time
ahead
.
But Nicky was safe-at least for the moment-and that was what mattered most
.
She had been watching Nicky, aware that ever since they left the prison
shack he had stayed close to Harry Partridge, at moments being almost
underfoot. It seemed as if Harry were a magnet to which Nicky sought to
attach himself. Even now he had settled beside Harry in the boat, clearly
wanting some physical contact, snuggling up close, which Harry seemed not
to mind. In fact, as happened earlier, Harry had put his arm around Nicky's
shoulders and the two at this moment seemed as one
.
Jessica liked that. Part of Nicky's feeling-inevitably, she thought-was
that Harry, appearing as he did, represented all that was opposite from the
evil gang who engineered the horrors they had been through-Miguel
,
Baudelio, Gustavo,
Ramon
. . . the others known and unknown . . . yes
,
Vicente and Socorro too
.
But more than that. Nicky's instincts about people had always been good
.
Jessica had once loved Harry-in a way still did, especially now when
gratitude and love were mingled. Therefore it did not seem strange at all
that her son instinctively should share that feeling.
Nicky seemed to be sleeping. Disengaging himself gently, Partridge
maneuvered his way
across and sat beside her. Ferna
ndez, observing the
movement, changed sides also, balancing the boat
.
Partridge too had been thinking of the past-what he and Jessica had once
meant to each other. And even in this short time he could see that
essentially she hadn't changed. All the things he had most admired-her
quick mind, strong spirit, warmth, intelligent resourcefulness-were still
in place. Partridge knew that if he were around Jessica for long, his old
love would revive. A provocative thought---except it wasn't going to
happen
.
She had turned toward him, perhaps reading his mind. He remembered, from
the old days, that she often could
.
He asked, "Back there, did you ever give up hope
?
”

"There were times I came close to it, though never entirely
,”
Jessica
s
aid. She smiled
.”
Of course, if I'd known you were in charge of rescue
,
that would have made a difference
.”

"We were a team
,”
he told her
.”
Crawf was part of it. He's gone through
hell, but then so have you. When we get back, you'll both need each other
.”

He sensed she knew what he was saying too: Though he had returned briefly
to her life, he would shortly disappear
.”
That's a sweet thought, Harry. And what will you do
?
”

He shrugged
.”
Go on reporting. Somewhere there'll be another war. There
always is
.”

"And in between wars
?
”

To some questions there were no answers. He changed the subject
.”
Your
Nicky's fine-the kind of boy I'd liked to have had myself
.”

It could have happened, Jessica thought. For both of us, all those years
ago
.
Without wanting to, Partridge found himself thinking of Gemma and their
unborn baby boy
.
Beside him he heard Jessica sigh
.”
Oh, Harry!
”
They were silent, listening to the outboard motors' thrum
a
nd the churning river water. Then she reached out and put her hand on his
.”
Thank you, Harry
,”
she said
.”
Thank you for everything . . . the past
,
the present . . . my dearest love
.”

Miguel fired three shots into the air, shattering the silence
.
He knew it was the quickest way to sound an alarm
.
Barely a minute ago, he had discovered the bodies of Socorro and Vicente
and realized the prisoners were gone
.
It was 3:15 A.m. and, though Miguel did not know it, precisely forty
minutes since the boat containing Partridge, Jessica, Nicky, Minh, O'Hara
and Fern
a
ndez had left the Nueva Esperanza jetty
.
Miguel's anger was instantaneous, savage and explosive. Inside the
prisoners' hut he had seized the guards' chair and hurled it against a
wall; the chair had broken. Now he wanted to bludgeon, then dismember limb
by limb, those responsible for the prisoners' escape
.
Unfortunately, two of them were dead already. And Miguel was painfully
aware that he also shared some of the blame
.
Without question, he had been lax in enforcing discipline. Now that it was
too late, he saw that clearly. Since coming here he had relaxed at times
when he should have been attentive. At night, he had left others to oversee
precautions he should have supervised himself
.
The reason had been a weakness-his infatuation with Socorro
.
He had wanted her sexually while at the Hackensack house, both before the
kidnap and immediately after. Even now he recalled her blatant sexuality
on the day of departure when, with a mocking smile she had spoken to him
of catheters inserted in the prisoners for the journey: "That's tubes in the men
's cocks and the bitch's cunt.
Entiendes
?
”

Yes, he had understood. He had also understood that she was taunting him
,
just as she taunted the others at Hackensack -for example, the night of her
sudden, noisy coupling with Carlos, making Rafael, whom she had refused
,
near-rabid with jealousy
.
But at that time Miguel had other things to consider, responsibilities that
kept him occupied, and he had been stem and self-disciplined about his own
desire for Socorro
.
It had not been that way at Nueva Esperanza
.
He hated the jungle; he remembered his feelings on their first day here
.
Compounding that, there had been little to do. He had never taken
seriously, for example, the possibility of attempts to rescue the
prisoners; Nueva Esperanza, so deep in Sendero territory, had seemed remote
and safe. Therefore the days passed slowly, as did the nights-until
Socorro, responding to his pleas, opened the doorway to what he quickly
discovered was a sexual paradise
.
Since then they had had sex together, sometimes in the days, always in the
nights, and she had proved the most accomplished and satisfying lover he
had ever known. In the end he had become her willing vassal, and like an
addict awaiting the next fix had neglected most else
.
He was now paying for that addiction
.
Earlier tonight, after an exceptionally satisfying orgy, he had slept
deeply. Then some twenty minutes ago he awakened with an erection and
,
wanting Socorro once more, was unhappy to find her gone. For a while he
waited for her to return. When she didn't, he had gone to look for her
,
taking with him the Makarov pistol he always carried
.
What he found had returned him-like a harsh, savage blow-to a world of grim
reality
.
Miguel thought bitterly: He would pay for what had happened, most likely
with his life when Sendero Luminoso got word of this, especially if the
prisoners were not recaptured. Therefore the first priority was to
recapture them-at any cost!
Now alerted by his shots, with Gustavo in the lead the
other guards had emerged from houses and were running toward him
.
He f
lailed them with his tongue
.”
Im
aldita escoria, imbi
ciles
inser
vibles! Por su estupidez . . .
Nunca vigila
r!
Solo dormir y tomarl
s
in cuidar! . . . los p
resos de mierda se escaparon.
“
Singling out Gustavo, he tore into him
.”
You fucking useless moron! A
mangy dog would be a better leader! Strangers came here while you slept
and you ignored them, helped them! Find out where they came and how they
left. There must be traces
!”