Trapped in the Mayan Tattoo (19 page)

            Big Sam stood up.

            “Miss Sobori is
absolutely on target with this. Our focus is not to take on the entire
operation of Nuestra Madre. They are part and parcel to the Central American
economy. But NM2 is an entirely different story, with a focus that is bringing
harm to children in America’s cities, small towns, rural areas, wherever they
can find a vulnerable child, and don’t think they just concentrate on runaways.
The young lady Miss Sobori discussed was certainly no runaway. The next victim
could be your child, your niece, your nephew.”

            There was uneasy
shuffling in seats.

“Thank you, Miss
Sobori! And that brings us to the workings of Operation Shoe Drop. Negotiations
are going on at this moment, so Miss Sobori, you are excused to tend to those
talks,” he said.

            Miss Sobori left the
room as those gathered around the table stood, clapped and wished the
negotiations team much success.

“Mr. Ambassador,”
Abbi said when the applause for Miss Sobori died down, “Please work to improve
the lives of the children caught in human trafficking.”

The ambassador
looked surprised.

“I most certainly
will,” he said. “And I wish you much success with Operation Shoe Drop.”

“Thank you, Mr.
Ambassador,” Big Sam said.

            Big Sam wrapped up the
main portion of the meeting by saying, “I believe the information you just
heard gives everyone at this table a pretty clear picture of the situation and
why it is of the utmost importance to move quickly and cautiously. The drop location
isn’t called the Killing Forest for no reason. Don’t discuss this with anyone,
and cover your backs. The rest of this meeting will be with the drop and rescue
teams only.”

Several people
started gathering their things to leave.

Big Sam continued,
“Those of you who will be on the ground for the rescue, please move to Room B.
You know who you are. Those of you for the drop, stay here in this room. The
rest of you are free to go home to your families or return to your jobs.
Continue to monitor for updates. A rescue may take place tonight, tomorrow, or
sometime in the very near future. That is all.”

            Louise started to get
up and go into the hallway where the driver was standing, waiting. Big Sam
shook his head.

 “Do I go or do I
stay?” Louise asked.

            “You assist Miss
Kowalski at all times.”

           
“Do you feel
like walking?” Tina’s father asked.  “I’d like to get this prescription
filled.”

            Tina thought about
where they were and where their apartment was.

            “I think I know a
shortcut,” Tina said. She coughed. “Mrs. Hightower and I took it. There’s an
alley we can take to the next street.”

            Tina felt proud of
herself for being able to remember the local cityscape well enough to get from
one place to another.

            “We’re also supposed to
go to counseling today. Let’s work that in. OK?”

            “Can I start the
medicine and rest first? I am so tired,” Tina said. “Besides, if I could, I’d
rather talk to Mrs. Hightower.”

            “We’ll see, but the
sooner you get real counseling, the better,” her father said. “Mrs. Hightower
is a very busy woman and has to come from Washington. I can’t take a lot of
time off work to get that arranged.”

            “I know, Daddy. You
don’t have to. I think I could just sleep for the rest of the week and be
fine.”

During a
ten-minute break, Abbi saw Louise’s longing glance toward the hallway. She
walked out with Louise where they saw Scott. Big Sam followed them.

“OK, kids. The
game is about to start. Mrs. Hightower is on her way.”

Scott moved toward
them and said, “Sam, before she arrives, we need to talk about what just
happened back at the hotel.”

He took Sam aside
and spoke in hushed tones. Abbi tried unsuccessfully to hear. It became obvious
that she and Louise had not been invited to be part of this conversation.

“It must have been
serious,” she said to Louise, rolling her eyes.

“At least Scott’s
safe,” Louise said.

“Let’s get some
coffee while they’re talking. I’m sure we’ll be told on an as-needed basis,
like always.”

The coffee pot had
been placed conveniently in the hallway outside of the conference room and Abbi
and Louise helped themselves. Remnants of the doughnuts from earlier in the day
were still boxed up on the table. Louise helped herself to a couple of them.

Abbi raised her
eyebrows.

“So? I have to keep
my energy up. We may be here all night!”

“Who’s going to be
here all night?” a familiar voice asked.

Abbi swung around
to see Mrs. Hightower. She immediately gave Abbi a hug. Then quietly she
whispered in Abbi’s ear, “Thanks for your mum’s papers. You’ve managed to open
some doors. Her work has become the crux of our plan.”

“Then you read
it!” Abbi said, glad that Mrs. Hightower hadn’t just handed it to Miss Sobori
for analysis. She hugged Mrs. Hightower again. Waves of memories came over her
as the woman she knew as Nanny Fanny returned the hug and then gently pushed
her away.

“Of course,
Sugarlump,” Mrs. Hightower said, still whispering. “Your mother’s findings
support what Aristotle said so long ago: Poverty is the parent of revolution
and crime.”

“So the people in
Central America who started Nuestra Madre were poor?” Abbi asked.

“Very. Sometimes
people in need turn to greed, but there are no easy answers. As for your
mission, we’re both a little too close to this situation for comfort,” Mrs.
Hightower said. “As a descendent of slavery, it pains me in more ways than one,
especially when it includes the exploitation of children for financial gain.
But, enough of that. We may not change the world, but we might improve it one piece
at a time.”

Mrs. Hightower
looked down the hall.

“I wonder if there
is a place where we might talk, while Big Sam briefs the rest of the team on
our plan. Let me see.”

Mrs. Hightower
walked away from the coffee and doughnuts and asked someone about an available
room for a quick talk.

Louise had
wandered over to Scott who was about to enter the conference room.

“I suppose we’ll
be alright without Louise. She’s in good hands and might benefit from listening
in to the meeting. I found a room where you and I might talk for a minute
before we join the group. Come with me.”

Abbi followed Mrs.
Hightower through the hallway to a small office. Mrs. Hightower’s aide was with
her but then left them. Abbi and Mrs. Hightower seated themselves comfortably in
two padded leather office chairs and faced each other.

 “If what I hear
is true, you’re just as good as your parents at getting into tight places with
a zipline. You like doing it, don’t you?”

Abbi nodded. Her
heart began to race and she said, “Very much. I’ve missed you and our adventures.”
Then she whispered, “I want you back in my life. What do you know about my
father?”

“I miss the family
adventures too. It’s been hard,” Mrs. Hightower said, turning to brush away a
tear. “And your father? Still in critical condition. I never cry. Look at me. I’m
getting too old for this work! But I figure this is my last mission, and it’s a
deeply emotional one.”

Her aide brought a
large expandable envelope and a shopping bag into the small office and set them
on the table.

“Mrs. Hightower, here
is all that you requested,” the aide said. “Do you also need the kit with the
handheld?”

“I believe so.”

Then Mrs.
Hightower handed the envelope to Abbi and asked her to examine the contents of
the envelope: a pair of gloves, a small notepad that showed waypoints for
geocaching, a pencil, a rangefinder, some energy bars, water bottle, and a
small wrapped package.

“There’s even some
super duper X-ray spray!” Abbi said.

“It sort of works.
Try it out on the packet,” Mrs. Hightower said as Abbi was putting things back.
“It can come in handy.”

“You can’t be
serious,” Abbi said as she sprayed and then could actually read the name on the
energy bars that were inside the packet. She laughed. “Awesome!”

“I sent my aide
out to get some clothes for you too, just in case you couldn’t go back to that
hotel tonight. It appears our secluded hotel is a popular hang-out for some of
the NM2 members here in Virginia. When things quiet down, I’ll send someone for
your rappelling gear and other things.”

“Thanks,” Abbi
said.

“We need you to do
this drop. You have several advantages over the paid staff. For one thing,
you’re small. For another thing, the enemy will not see you as a threat to them—at
least that’s our thinking. Unfortunately, they may see you as a potential victim.
You have shown yourself to be cool, calm, collected. When you add it all up,
you have the best chance of securing your mother’s release. And, if necessary,
you can run fast. As I said before, you not only have the most to lose, you
also have the most to gain. And you seem to have a gift, a certain ability that
gives you uncanny knowledge. Not many older people can see what you see. If we
were born with that ability, we seem to lose it as we age.”

Abbi let this sink
in. That seemed likely.

Mrs. Hightower
then laughed and said, “Besides, you come cheap and don’t eat much.”

With nervous
hesitation, Abbi laughed too.

“OK!” she said.
“You speak the truth!”

The aide returned
with a blue nylon bag.

“You remember how
to do geocaching?”

Abbi remembered.
Those had been good times.

“My parents and I
used to do it a lot! You know. You were there! You did it with us a few times.
One of us would hide something. Then the rest of us were given GPS handhelds
and a list of waypoints. The person who found the cache, the prize, was the
winner! It was usually candy bars and stuff like that but once I found a
necklace.”

“A pearl in a gold
cage. It was your fourteenth birthday, and you were going geocaching. I knew
you would be the one to find it.”

“YOU did that? You
weren’t there! That was after you left us.”

“I hadn’t
forgotten you,” Mrs. Hightower said, and then she pulled a small gadget out of
the blue nylon bag. She pushed a button and the screen lit up with a numeric
reading. “Do you know what this is?”

The question was
more to prove that Abbi was right for the job.

“It’s a GPS
handheld device, the global positioning system, showing this location given in
longitude and latitude, I believe.”

“Very well,” Mrs.
Hightower said. She clicked a button. “Look again.”

“It’s metric,”
Abbi said on further analysis.

“Do you know your
pace count?”

“Eighty-five, the
last I checked.”

“You’ll have to do
the numerical conversion. Eighty-five feet. You’ve grown but that’s about what
I calculated,” her grandmother said.

“It should be
close,” Abbi said.

“It has to be precisely
that for this mission. We want you to move deep into a wooded area on a zipline
we have installed. From there you will use this list of points to locate a
hollow rock. Take your rappelling gear, at least the harness, figure 8’s,
carabiner, and a prusik. Oh, an ascender could be invaluable. Do you have one?”

“Yes, I just at
the last minute threw one in.”

“Good thinking! That’s
a lot to carry for anyone. Stash what you can at the large culvert. We’ll pick
it up later if we have to. As you know, you can zip down, but it’s hard as hell
to pull yourself back up a sharp incline, especially if you’re carrying
unnecessary weight.”

She pointed it out
on the topographic map, showing the tight wavy lines that indicated the steep
and rugged mountainside.

Although Mrs. Hightower
didn’t look like a person who played with ropes, Abbi knew she had had an
active background that made her a valuable source of knowledge. She removed the
notebook from the blue GPS bag and pointed out the list of numbers.

“This shows a
series of waypoints and their landmarks for where you’re going. Pace your steps
to each waypoint and write it down. At your destination, you will find a hollow
rock. Turn the rock over and find the hole in the back. Inside the hollow rock
you will place this small package.”

She pulled out a bundle
wrapped in brown paper.

“This package
contains, among other things, a piece of paper that will inform their
negotiating team about the time and place for our next meeting with them.
Hopefully, the location will meet with their approval and they will take your
mother there today. They will be watching you as will we. Get in and out
quickly. Don’t linger or wander off your course. We won’t lose track of you,
but there are still risks involved. If anything goes wrong, do not let them
know who you really are. Use the identity I gave you. Do you believe that you
are capable and willing to do this?”

Abbi breathed in
deeply. Her heart was racing. What if she got caught? What if…? She didn’t dare
ask. She knew she could end up in the back of a cantina. Better to focus on
positive things.

“Yes,” Abbi said.

“One more thing.
We think they have a hothead in their group. If he suspects foul play, he has a
triggering device and a mean side.”

Abbi’s body
trembled and she felt a vision coming on.  This one showed a man standing
behind her mother.

Mrs. Hightower
watched as Abbi trembled and she said, “I know. I get these flashes too. We’ll
get her back.”

 “How soon?” Abbi asked.