Once the leaves of the jungle enfolded them, he relaxed slightly and came to a sudden stop. She nearly ran into the back of him. “Everything seem copacetic in there?” he asked.

Her eyebrows drew together, and she waved a bug away from her face. “As opposed to what?”

“As opposed to not a real conversation because they were hiding something or possibly afraid.”

She opened her mouth, then closed it again. Maybe she’d started to knee-jerk a reply but changed her mind and was taking the time to consider the question. “Nothing felt off to me. But this is a very new situation for me, so if it was off, I’m not sure I would know what to look for.”

He searched her face and saw nothing but sincerity. “Good enough.”

As they walked back to the boat, he thought about his injured men. The weight of the responsibility of getting them to a safe, clean, modern medical environment weighed heavily on his shoulders.

Peña came down out of a tree when they reached the edge of the beach. Rick glanced up. Either McBride or Swanson perched above them, but he didn’t see any sign of either one.

“What do we know?” Peña asked.

“Chukuwereije already came through the village looking for us,” Rick said. “Tadeas thinks they’re spread thin. The villagers have devised a way to hide people if it comes to that. I gathered from the conversation that this village has been terrorized by our favorite warlord for a long time. They’ll help us any way they can.”

Peña looked from Doctor Myers to him. “Copacetic?”

Rick shrugged. “Beggars can’t be choosers.”

His intelligence officer shook his head. “Gotta be worse than this before I beg.” He gestured toward the river with his chin. “What are we gonna do with them?”

He thought about it. “I’d love to leave them in the boat. Here, safe, and still. No more jostling or moving. But it can’t be hidden the same way that a camp can.” He looked at Doctor Myers. “What’s your medical opinion, Doctor?”

Her eyes widened as if she was surprised he remembered her presence. “I like the idea of leaving them in the boat, especially if it means that at the end, they only have to go another few hundred yards before we reach the extraction point. If that can happen, it will be much better. If not, I will do my utmost to work it out.”

He maintained eye contact with her while he considered her response. The hostility he had faced the first time he met her had disappeared. He wondered what had changed for her to have such a reversal of attitude. Maybe she understood their desire to help the people of this country rather than hurt them. He recognized a resilience in her that he respected.