Chapter 4
“Jordana,” Forrest said as the gentle current took over most of the work. “Do you know how to use a gun?”
“I do,” he heard her answer from behind him.
Forrest pulled in the paddle and set it across his lap before reaching down between them and opening his bag. He pulled out the gun and turned in his seat. “I’ll be paddling and keeping my eye on the river. It would be helpful if you could scan the banks and protect us.”
Jordana reached out and took the gun. She examined it, checking the bullets, and putting it back together. It gave Forrest the impression that she was more than familiar with guns, which right now, was a very good thing.
Forrest dug into his bag and felt his hand close around the satellite phone. He heard Jordana sigh with relief the second he pulled it out. “You have a sat phone! Thank God. I need to call my father.”
“Let me call my brother first, then you can call your father. My brother will help get us out of here. It’s what he does.”
Jordana was asking question after question as he turned on the phone, but the second it was on, he was dialing Kane’s number, leaving her questions unanswered.
“Hey, bro. How’s the jungle? Find any hot chicks?”
“Kane, I’m in trouble.”
The joking left his brother’s voice. Kane ran a hostage and rescue insurance company. It was his job to ensure the safe return of kidnap victims insured by his firm. When he couldn’t negotiate their way back, he’d go in and evacuate them himself. It was how he’d met his wife, Waverly.
“What’s the situation?” Forrest could hear Kane putting the phone on speaker and the sound of his computer turning on.
“I ran into a hostage who had escaped a kidnapping. Her name is Jordana Alves. The kidnappers followed her and attacked my village, but we escaped and are on the river now heading toward Manaus. We can only go halfway. Tuka told us to get off a big beach we can’t miss and walk the rest of the way.”
There was the sound of the keyboard and then his brother finally breathed.
“I see you. I see the beach too. It’s going to take you a while to get to it, but it’s going to take even longer for me to get men to meet you there.
When you find it, hide the boat and take cover near the beach.
My men will be a couple of days behind you, but I don’t want you lost in the jungle.
Stay at the beach and my men will get you.
You’ll know they’re mine because when they find you, they’ll tell you KAT sent them and the code word is pirate.
” KAT was Kane’s company and the code word was an inside joke about Shadows Landing, their home, since it had been founded by pirates.
“As for the woman you found in the middle of the freaking , do you know who her father is? She’s been missing for four weeks. It’s all my colleagues can talk about.”
“Not exactly,” Forrest admitted before Kane gave him a brief rundown of who Pedro Alves was and what had been done so far. There had been a ransom demand but her father refused to pay it. The safety of the was greater than the safety of his daughter.
“Ouch,” Forrest said, trying not to draw Jordana’s attention even though he knew she was listening to every word he said.
“Has Jordana called him yet?” Kane asked.
“No, she will after I talk to you.”
“Ask her for his number. I’ll call him in fifteen minutes so we can coordinate.
” Forrest turned and told Jordana of his brother’s request. She rattled off the phone number and the code word to tell her father so he would know it came from her.
“Be smart, Forrest. Hide, survive, and I’ll get you out. Call me when you reach the beach.”
Forrest hung up with his brother and handed the phone to Jordana. “Give me the gun. I’ll keep watch while you talk to your father.”
Forrest took the gun and tried to hide the way his jaw was clenched. He would never turn down a ransom demand to save someone he loved. Anger at Pedro Alves ran through him as Jordana made the call, but he kept that anger hidden for her sake.
Jordana heard the phone ring and ring. She almost thought her father wouldn’t answer but then she finally heard his voice. “Hello?” He sounded skeptical.
“Dad!” Tears threatened to burst free at the sound of his voice.
“Jordana! Oh my god, sweetheart. Where are you? Who took you?”
“I’m not sure where I am right now. I don’t know who took me. He only went by the name Boss. But it was loggers. I was in a logging camp about three days from where I was taken.”
“Ah, I didn’t know that was the clue. I thought it was three men who took you.
I got the clue LOG for logging and then RN for run.
You did well, Jordana. It’s the only reason I didn’t step down and give into their demands to shut down the agency.
I saw your fierceness in the photos. I saw the clues, but I was ready to give them whatever they wanted the second I saw defeat in your gaze. Where are you now? I’ll come for you.”
“I’m on the river. I ran into an American engineer who was helping a tribe that you know about. The leader’s grandson is named Tuka. He said he’s exchanged letters with you.”
Jordana heard her father stand up and the sound of him moving the giant paper maps he had on his office wall. “I know him. Good man. I also know where his village is. You said you are on the river?”
“Yes,” she told him the plan and then told him about Forrest. “His name is Forrest Townsend. His brother, Kane, will be calling you shortly to work with you for an extraction. I gave him our code word.”
“Good job, baby. I’ll call my security in now to work with him.”
“Dad, no!” Jordana hated this feeling that there was no one to trust and saw Forrest turn to give her a worried look. He might not understand Portuguese, but he understood the word no. “My own guards turned on me and killed my team. We can’t trust anyone except the Townsend brothers.”
“Smart. I sense this goes a lot deeper than a group of loggers. Things have been happening in the capital. Shadow games, political alliances being formed, rumblings about new elections.”
“You think there’s going to be a coup?” Jordana asked.
“Possibly. I’ll talk to this Kane Townsend. Stick to his plan for now. If anything changes, we will call you. You’re smart, Jordana. Trust your instincts. If your gut tells you to trust the American, then do it. I’ll move heaven and earth to get you safe.”
“I know you will. I love you, Dad.”
“Love you too. And Jordana . . . fight.”
“I will.”
Jordana hung up the phone and took a deep breath.
“Keep the phone under your leg so no one can hear it ring,” Forrest told her as he handed her the gun and resumed paddling. “How is your father?”
“Relieved. He’d been getting ransom demands to step down from his position.
But I had been sending him messages in my proof of life photos.
He knew I was making a run for it and I was still safe, so he didn’t give in to those demands.
He’s going to talk to your brother. Right now, there’s no one in Brazil we can trust. So I hope your brother knows what he’s doing. ”
“He does.”
They spent the next two hours in silence.
Jordana had a lot on her mind as she watched the muscles ripple under Forrest’s shirt as he paddled.
Eventually her thoughts changed from who was behind this to wanting to know more about Forrest. He’d been nothing but strong, steady, calm, and in control.
Yet, he hadn’t run over her opinions. He’d listened and talked to her, explaining his thoughts and asking her for hers.
“What were you doing in the village?” Jordana asked finally over the calming sound of the running water.
“I’m an environmental engineer. I developed a new system to pull water from underground rivers, purify it, and also turn humidity into drinking water.”
Jordana felt her eyebrows shoot up. “That’s amazing, Forrest. That can change the lives of the Amazonian tribes.”
“And other rural people all over the world. It worked, but the men after you destroyed it. I hope Tuka can rebuild it. I taught them how and encouraged them to share that knowledge.”
“You’re just giving that information away? For free?” Her gut reaction to Forrest had been right. He was a very good man. Anyone else would have charged an arm and a leg for that knowledge.
“I’ll sell it to some governments, but never to the people who need it the most.”
“What about you? What were you doing in the jungle when you were taken?” Forrest asked her.
“I’m a pharmaceutical botanist. I found a vine that can be used to treat sepsis better than anything on the market now.
So many lives could be saved. The vine only grows on two types of trees here in the .
Those trees fetch the highest prices for the illegal logging market.
My father is trying to stop all the crimes against the .
It’s made me a target. If I can prove to the government, the world, and pharmaceutical companies that these vines are worth fighting for, then I’m hoping more people with power will join the fight to protect the forest.”
“That’s fascinating, Jordana. I knew plants have been the basis of medicines historically, but I didn’t know new uses were still being discovered.”
The familiar lecture sprang to her lips.
“The rainforest is so vast and so remote that much of it has never been explored. There are so many plants and animals just waiting to be discovered that we can learn from. My great-grandmother was a healer and many of the tribes have medicinal knowledge that we don’t.
I want to work with them to learn their ways so we can not only help others, but also preserve their traditions. ”
“That’s very admirable. I’m sure there’s a lot for all of us to learn from each other.”