Chapter 31
Forrest didn’t like this plan. However, the man he hoped would soon be his father-in-law assured him it would work.
No matter how much Forrest loved Jordana and didn’t want her in harm’s way, he couldn’t claim to know more about a mission than a general, the federal agents, and Granger. Forrest had simply been outnumbered.
Which was how he found himself watching via video the next morning as Jordana sat on the front porch waiting for her uncle to arrive.
The entire bed and breakfast was rigged with video and audio surveillance.
Her uncle had called the bed and breakfast and told her he’d be arriving at ten in the morning.
Everything was in place. Everyone had open communication but Forrest still felt so out of control.
“I see him,” Lydia’s voice said on the comms over the sound of her youngest, Lennie’s, wails of displeasure. “There are two men in the car though. They’re passing the church now.”
A picture was sent and Granger showed it to Pedro. “Do you know the second man?”
Pedro enlarged the photo and then nodded. “It’s his assistant, Afonso. Afonso has elite military training and served for ten years.”
“Oh goodie, he’s mine then,” Maggie said, giving a wink to the men in the room. Only Suze laughed.
“Babe,” Hunter said slowly. “You will not engage an elite soldier unless it’s shooting him from three hundred yards or more away.”
Maggie rolled her eyes and Forrest saw a smile play out on Jordana’s lips from the video of her sitting on the porch listening to them.
“Let’s get cozy, bro,” Granger said, winking at Forrest as Maggie jumped out the window and climbed a tree. She had a clear line of sight and a good shot at anyone near Pedro.
Hunter and Agent Spivey were behind the hidden portrait.
Tristan and Kord were in the root cellar.
Agent Mayfield was behind the couch and Granger rolled under the large four-poster bed that had originally been in the room before they’d turned it into a hospital room.
Suze had bed lifters and long bed skirts on it so it was an easy fit when Forrest rolled under the bed to join Granger.
Forrest hated the idea of Jordana handling all of this on her own.
Yes, they would be around her, but no one was standing next to her.
Half the town was in or around the house, but none of them were standing by Jordana’s side.
“Turning into the drive,” Kane’s voice said from where he was stationed behind some bushes by the entrance of the estate.
“Taking the shot now,” Pedro said, injecting the drug Gavin had given him to raise his heart rate and make him sweat. The drop in the blood pressure was too hard to fake along with these more visible symptoms so they had to hope Beni didn’t take Pedro’s blood pressure.
Forrest so badly wanted to tell Jordana he was here.
To be strong. That she had this, but the deal was that no one could talk on the comms unless it was mission related.
All he could do was watch the live feeds on his phone with Granger as a car possibly carrying two people who wanted to kill Jordana, Pedro, and probably himself, pulled to the front of the house and stopped.
Jordana jumped up from the chair on the verandah. Sure, it looked to her uncle that she was excited to see him, but really it was fear. Fear that she was going to blow this whole mission and fail her father, Forrest, and all the good people of Shadows Landing who were helping her.
“Uncle Beni!” Jordana called out and ran down the steps. She had to force a relieved smile on her face as she hugged the man who might be responsible for her kidnapping and attempted murder.
“My dear niece. This is where you’ve been stashed? Are you hurt?” Beni asked with concern, but in Portuguese. Shoot, her heart rate spiked. No one else spoke Portuguese.
“I’m fine, uncle. Just heartbroken that Forrest deserted me here and scared for father,” she answered in English. “The doctor was here this morning. She said his vitals are holding steady, but that he’s not out of the woods yet.”
Jordana had intentionally told him the doctor was female. Her uncle was still from the time when women’s roles were much more limited than they are now and men were always the heads of the house.
“You said Pedro was septic?” her uncle asked, once again, in Portuguese.
“Yes, they said he almost died. But they’re giving him antibiotics and that he’s .
. .” Jordana laughed and shook her head as she saw her uncle’s eyes narrowing at her slightly.
“Sorry,” she said switching back to Portuguese.
“I got so used to speaking English here that I find myself doing it and not even realizing it. No one here can speak Portuguese. The doctor, she said he was still septic and they’re still battling the infection so it could go either way, but for now he's stable. Did you bring your medical bag?”
Her uncle turned to the man she’d known for years. He’d scared her when she was a teenager and he scared her now. “Afonso, my bag please.”
The man was built like a tank and now Jordana knew why.
If her uncle was a criminal boss, he needed a bodyguard who would intimidate other criminals.
Afonso was that man. He was six feet six inches tall and over three hundred pounds of muscle with a shaved head and a dark brown beard.
There was a scar that ran from his eyebrow and down the side of his face to his ear.
Jordana also had never heard him speak more than ten words at a time.
Afonso moved to the trunk and opened it. He reached in and pulled out her uncle’s medical bag. He methodically closed the trunk while scoping out the area for threats and only then did he hand the bag to her uncle.
“You said Forrest left? Your father told me he’s some nonprofit worker. Why would it matter if he left you?” Uncle Beni asked as he took the bag.
“I thought we were in love. Turns out Forrest only cared about a guide out of the ,” Jordana said in English before embellishing the story more in Portuguese as they walked up the stairs.
Afonso walked in front of them as he scoped out the area for threats. The threats were all well hidden from sight though.
“Where is everyone?” Uncle Beni asked.
Luckily the pirates had left early that morning.
The director, the cast, and everyone except Mary packed up and left town.
“I think we’re the only people here right now,” Jordana said in English before laughing again and rolling her eyes at herself.
“The owners are nice, if a little silly. They have a saying here about women who brunch and so she’s off to brunch.
All the other people staying here for a documentary they were filming left this morning,” Jordana said truthfully in Portuguese.
“And you’ve never been in danger while you’re here?” her uncle asked.
“Danger?” she said in English. “Only of boredom and fear for my father’s health.”
“You’re so very brave,” her uncle said, stopping as Afonso opened the front door and looked around some of the rooms.
“Me? I don’t think so,” she answered in Portuguese.
“Yes, you are. You were held hostage and escaped. You navigated your way through the and you snuck into a foreign country.”
Jordana appeared thoughtful. She knew her uncle knew about the escape and her time on the run.
However, he didn’t know how she’d gotten to Shadows Landing.
“We got to a road and hitchhiked to a small city north of the as I looked for an airport. There aren’t many up there by the way.
Ended up catching a ride with a farmer to the Brazilian Embassy in Guyana.
Forrest got a temporary passport from the American Embassy and I got one from ours.
Then we just flew here. Nothing brave about that. ”
Afonso grunted and held open the door.
“I’ll take you to Dad. He was sleeping when I came out here, so maybe he’ll be awake now. But I have to warn you, he’s not the same man you saw in Brazil. He’s sometimes conscious, sometimes not. And then he’s just . . . off. You’ll see.”
Jordana led them down the hall. She kept her eyes straight ahead, knowing Suze and her family were hiding in a room and Damon was currently disabling the car Afonso drove them here in before he’d slip into the bed and breakfast as backup.
Jordana stopped at her father’s room and made sure to put her hand on the doorknob and turn it slightly as a sign to the group inside that it was game time.
“I don’t know what I’ll do if something happens to my father.” Jordana didn’t have to fake the fear in her voice. She felt it to her core, but not for the reason Uncle Beni thought.
“If anything, God forbid, happens to your father, then you will come live with me. No discussion. I will take care of you. You’re my sister’s daughter. You are family. Nothing is more important than looking out for our family.”
Jordana had to purse her lips to stop from saying something out of anger. Instead, she nodded and kept her head down so he wouldn’t see the fire in her eyes. She opened the door and stepped inside.
“Father, Uncle Beni is here,” she said softly. She noticed that Afonso blocked the door, but didn’t close it.
Her father didn’t move, which was the plan.
She saw Beni move to touch her father’s forehead.
It was covered in sweat and his breathing was rapid.
“Jordana, I’m afraid I find your father worse off than I thought.
Uncle Beni put his finger to Pedro’s wrist and took his pulse.
“His pulse is very high. I have some medicine I can give him to bring it down, but I’m afraid the doctor lied to you. ”
“No!” Jordana cried. It wasn’t hard to fake this fear. She’d already lived it. “Please Uncle Beni, please try to save him.”
Uncle Beni smiled sadly and turned to her, kissing her cheek and then hugging her tight. “Let Afonso take you outside while I give your father an exam. I’ll call you in when I’m done.”
Jordana nodded, but shot a very real worried glance at her father. Right now, his life was in danger.