"I'll have them meet me in Santarém. By the time they get there I should be able to cash in three of them."

"What about Mario?" asked Sabrina.

"Yes, what about Mario?" said Emil, looking at me.

"He's almost more trouble than he's worth," I answered. "Other than to orchestrate some minor crimes in the U.S., he really hasn't done anything of consequence. He's lost four of his men. My suggestion is that we leave him here and let him find his own way home. I'm sure there will be another boat of tourists coming through here soon. He can catch a ride with them."

"Works for me," said Sabrina. "The less time we have to spend with him the better."

Once all the arrangements were set, we said our goodbyes to Luis and Paulo. They were sad that we weren't going to accompany them home, but they seemed to understand. Emil stood by to translate anything Paulo seemed to miss. We paid them the rest of what we owed them, and then sprang the news on them of the gold bars. Paulo's eyes lit up and he hugged Sabrina—funny how he never hugged me. He then told Luis, who had a typical Luis response, who just nodded his head wisely. Obviously it would take a lot more than that to rattle him.

Mario was upset that he wasn't included in Emil's boat, but once we explained that if he came he would be turned over to the police in Santarém, he wisely chose to wait for the next boat.

Paulo hugged Sabrina a half a dozen more times before we left, but finally we were on our way. We watched Fordlandia grow more distant as we headed upriver. We each tried to say something significant about our time there, but no words came, so we just sat in silence. It was going to be a while before we would be able to accurately describe the uniqueness of what we had just experienced.

When we arrived in Santarém, the police were waiting for us at the dock, courtesy of a phone call Emil made from his satellite phone. There was also an ambulance for Foley and me. Emil had patched up my arm, but we all thought it prudent to have it checked out at the hospital. Meanwhile, Sabrina called Marsh in Boston and laid out the whole situation. She brought up the eggs, Flynn, Foley, and other items we hadn't told him before—either because we withheld it or didn't know it at the time. She told me afterward that he was naturally pissed that this was the first he had heard of much of it. He said he would be waiting for us at the gate at Logan when we arrived in Boston. I was not looking forward to that encounter.

He was not familiar with Flynn, but would put in a call to the Vermont State Police. However, it was decided that nothing would be done until after we arrived. Foley's sketchy information wasn't going to be enough to hold him and might just scare him away. Meanwhile, Marsh was going to see the District Attorney about getting extradition orders to bring Foley to Boston.