Chapter 3
CHAPTER THREE
Amanda felt sick. She hadn’t hesitated to run back into the trees to look for little James…
and there’d been no need. He was already in the helicopter.
She didn’t blame Michael for the mistake.
There were a lot of little bodies, and it was dark, and they’d been awoken from a deep sleep to complete terror.
But as a result of her rash decision, she’d missed her chance to escape.
The chopper had left without her.
It hurt. A lot. But she didn’t blame the pilot either. Was glad he’d chosen the children over her.
She had no idea who the man was who’d basically tackled her before she could run into that clearing, screaming for the helicopter to come back. He was American, she could tell that much by his lack of accent. And she couldn’t believe he hadn’t left with the rest of the rescue team.
Why did he stay? For her? That couldn’t be right. Maybe he’d been off looking for James too, and was also left behind.
But no…he knew James was in the helicopter already.
She couldn’t think straight. Her mind was spinning.
Adrenaline was making her shaky. Making it hard to think rationally.
But for the moment, all she had to do was exactly as she was told…
which was a good thing, because Amanda didn’t think she could make any decisions right now. Not good ones at least.
Doing her best to copy the man, she crawled on her elbows and knees across the wet jungle floor.
She refused to think about what kinds of critters she was disturbing as she slithered over their hiding places under leaves and dirt and mud.
She felt a little shell-shocked. Happy that the children were safe and out of this stinkin’ jungle, but terrified for herself.
She had no idea how long she and the man had been crawling away from the clearing where the helicopter had landed, but when the man stopped, Amanda had never been more relieved.
She dropped down onto her belly and tried to ignore her shaking muscles. Crawling while trying to stay as quiet and low as possible was hard work. Much harder than it looked.
Resting her forehead on the backs of her hands, Amanda closed her eyes. She was tired. Bone-deep tired. The adrenaline that had been fueling her flight had waned and now all she felt was exhaustion.
“We’ll rest here for a bit,” he told her.
At that, Amanda’s head came up. The man had turned around to face her, and he was talking a little louder than the barely there whisper he’d used earlier, but not by much. “Shouldn’t we get as far away from here as we can?” she asked, mimicking his low tone.
Her rescuer stared at her without speaking for a long moment.
“Probably. We should be putting as much space as possible between us and the assholes who kidnapped you and the kids, but the thing is…” He sighed, then continued.
“We have no provisions. I hadn’t planned on leaving my chopper, so I have nothing with me.
No food, no water container, no way of lighting a fire.
We need that stuff if we’re going to get back to Guyana. ”
He wasn’t wrong, but the thought of having to retrace the path she’d been forced to take to get where she was now was extremely disheartening. “The helicopter can’t come back and pick us up?” she asked, knowing what the answer was, but needing to ask the question anyway.
“We surprised them once. We wouldn’t be able to do it a second time.
And I have no way to communicate with my partner and the rest of the rescue team.
I can’t tell them where we are. My friend and copilot could try to find us by using thermal radar, but that would also bring attention to the fact we’re in the jungle, and pinpoint our location to the rebels.
Bottom line is that we’re most likely going to have to walk back to the border. ”
Amanda wanted to protest. To tell this man she couldn’t do it.
That she was too tired, too dirty, too hungry, too thirsty, too…
weak. But the words wouldn’t come. She was overwhelmed and scared.
And she had a feeling if she opened her mouth, she’d lose the little composure she was currently hanging on to by the skin of her teeth.
Instead, she simply nodded.
But the man seemed to understand how close to the edge of control she was. He scooted closer so their heads were right next to each other. “You’re doing great. Just keep hanging in there.”
His words were gentle and encouraging…and they did nothing to make the tears Amanda was desperately holding back go away. She nodded again and swallowed hard. After about ten seconds, she thought she could talk without breaking down. “So what are we going to do about supplies?” she asked.
“You’re going to stay here. I’m going to go recon the camp. See what I can steal. I’ll grab what we need, since it’s still dark, meet back up with you here, then we can go.”
Amanda felt extremely uneasy about that plan. But he had a point about seeing what he could get now, while it was dark. The last thing she wanted to do was hang around for a whole day, waiting for nighttime to fall again.
As if he could sense her unhappiness with his plan, he went on.
“We have no idea what they’ll do come morning.
They could all just up and leave, taking the things we need with them.
I have to see what I can get now, while they’re all still confused about what just happened and wondering how the kids were taken right from under their noses. ”
“Won’t they be pissed though? Making them more dangerous?”
“Yeah,” the man said, and Amanda appreciated that he wasn’t trying to downplay the situation. “But I’ll be careful.”
Making a split-second decision that she had a feeling she’d regret, Amanda said, “I should go with you.”
Her rescuer shook his head firmly. “No. You’ll stay here where I know you’re safe.”
Amanda snorted.
“Shhhh,” he reprimanded.
“Sorry,” she whispered once more. “But I don’t think there’s any such thing as safe right now.
I could get bitten by a suntiger tarantula, or some rebel trying to find a place to pee could stumble over my hiding spot.
Besides, I’ve been in the camp. You haven’t.
I can tell you where everything is. Where you’re most likely going to find stuff we can use.
” She didn’t know why she was arguing to go back to the place where she’d been completely miserable and terrified, but she was even more scared of being left alone here in the middle of the jungle.
What if something happened to him and he didn’t come back? She’d certainly die out here.
His facial expression didn’t change as he stared at her.
“I’m sorry I ran off,” she said a little desperately.
“It was irresponsible and stupid. I realize that. But when Michael said James was missing, I panicked. I couldn’t leave any of the kids behind.
I just couldn’t. I should’ve checked myself.
Counted heads before running off into the trees.
You’re here because of my asinine decision. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”
“It was brave,” the man said without hesitation. “Maybe impulsive, but extremely unselfish. That’s pretty rare these days.”
Amanda stared at him. “I’m still sorry,” she told him.
“Me too. I wish you weren’t in this situation.
Wish things had gone a little smoother in the extraction.
But they are what they are, and we have to deal with the hand we’ve been given.
I could use some intel about the camp, and if you’re willing to tell me what you can, that should be enough for me to be able to get in and out without detection. ”
“It would be easier if I could point things out in person,” she argued.
Again, she didn’t want to go back to camp, to the men who were planning on doing horrible things to not only her, but the kids as well, but the fear of being left alone was stronger than her fear of sneaking back to the edge of her makeshift prison.
“I’m Nash. Nash Chaney. My flight name is Buck.”
Amanda blinked. She hadn’t expected introductions in the middle of this intense conversation. They were both lying on the jungle floor, covered in dirt, and it felt like the oddest time to be exchanging names. But she went with it. “Amanda Rush. People call me Mandy.”
“It’s good to meet you in person. For the record, so you don’t find out later and get upset…I know a lot about you already, from reading the file we were given when we came down for the rescue.”
“There’s a file on me?”
“Yes.”
Amanda wasn’t sure how to feel about that. But ultimately, she decided she didn’t care. If the people sent to rescue her needed to know every minute detail about her life in order to do so, what did it matter? She had nothing to hide. “Okay.”
“Just okay?”
She shrugged as best she could from her position on the ground.
“The kids are safe, that’s all that matters.
Not whatever’s written about me in some random file.
I haven’t done anything illegal or that I’m ashamed of in my life.
It’s like surveillance cameras. I don’t mind them because I’m not doing anything wrong.
If they want to film me driving, walking through a parking lot, down the street, or through the aisles of a store, I don’t care.
If I was doing nefarious stuff, maybe I’d give a damn. But I’m not, so I don’t.”
Nash chuckled softly. “Nefarious stuff?”
“Yeah. Shoplifting, speeding, running innocent people off the roads…that kind of thing.”
“Right.”
“So…about coming with you to camp…I promise not to do anything else on impulse. I’ll do everything you say, as soon as you say it. I’m not stupid, I don’t want to get caught. I just want to help. I put us in this situation, and I want to help get us out of it.”
“You didn’t put us here. The assholes who kidnapped you and those kids did.”
“Yeah, but I was the one who ran away from the helicopter instead of toward it,” Amanda argued.
“All right. But I’m going to hold you to your promise to do everything I say. Even if you don’t understand why. I’ve had training, Mandy. I can handle things if they go wrong. But I can’t handle you falling back into their hands. Got it?”
“Got it,” she agreed immediately. “I think the other guys who arrived were here to take the girls away. As wives. Or slaves.” She shuddered. “Thank you for risking your life to come get them.”
“And you. We came for you too,” Nash said.
Mandy shook her head. “The kids are what are important. Not me.”
“Don’t sell yourself short. You’re the reason we were sent on this mission. Because an American was kidnapped. If you weren’t with those kids…” He let the explanation trail off.
Amanda was glad she was the excuse her government needed to rescue the children.
“All right. It’ll be light before we know it. If we’re going to do this, we need to get going,” Nash said.
Amanda nodded. Her stomach immediately rolled, thinking about what was to come. But he was right, they needed supplies if they were going to walk back to Guyana. And the best place to get them was at the camp she’d just escaped.
Nash cocked his head, as if that would help him hear if anyone was close. All Amanda heard was crickets and birds. And the sound of water dripping from the leaves overhead after a break in the constant rain.
“Follow me,” Nash ordered, slowly getting to his feet.
Relieved they weren’t going to have to crawl all the way back to camp, Amanda got to her feet—and almost faceplanted right back down to the ground. Would’ve done just that if Nash hadn’t grabbed her arm, keeping her upright.
He frowned. “Maybe this isn’t a good idea.”
“It’s fine. Great. I just stood up too fast,” Amanda rushed to reassure him. She’d stay on her feet or die trying. Anything was better than being left behind. She just had to ignore her body’s need for sleep. Or food. Or water. Piece of cake.
The skeptical look Nash gave her wasn’t unexpected. Amanda did her best to smile in return.
To her surprise, after he let go of her arm, he reached for her hand. Holding it in a firm grasp as he began to head toward the camp. It was obvious he was holding her hand to try to prevent her from falling, but the warmth and comfort the small action provided was everything at the moment.
She’d been solely responsible for the twenty-three kids for so long, and the stress of that responsibility was immense. Simply having another adult to help make decisions felt amazing. As did knowing the children were safe. In part because of Nash.
She made a mental vow not to do anything that would cause her to be a burden on him.
Well…any more than she already was. She was so out of her element here, and she had no choice but to rely on him for just about everything.
But she could do her best not to be the stereotypical “city girl” dropped in the jungle.
She could suck it up and get through whatever she had to if it meant getting back to Guyana and safety.
Life had certainly thrown her a curveball in the last two weeks, and it didn’t look like her unexpected adventure was over yet. All she could do was hang on for the ride and hope that no one got hurt because of her. That was literally her worst nightmare.
Pushing the dark thoughts from her head, Amanda trudged behind Nash, concentrating on where she put her feet so she didn’t sound like a huge elephant making its way through the trees.
Stealth was their friend. The fact that the rebels didn’t know they weren’t on the chopper was a huge advantage.
And she’d do whatever it took not to blow that.