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Back Jungle Up Save as PDF
Chapters (63)
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  63. Author’s Note

The potency of chewed leaves was, I could only assume, a far cry from that of the finished product, but I could see how you could get hooked on the stuff.

“Well,” I said, “I definitely see the appeal.”

≈

We followed the trail for the rest of the day, then made camp. After eating Juan Pablo’s rice, yucca, and pepper stew, I was finally able to go número dos. (I’m guessing this was brought on by the coca leaves, which according to Vern, were notorious for loosening the bowels.) Diego spotted jaguar tracks not too far from where we made camp, and he thought it best we keep a fire going all night. We did, and thankfully, none of us were dragged from our tents by one of the large jungle cats.

We woke early, and by 8:00 a.m. all five of us were chewing coca. I’d overdone it a bit the previous day, but if I chewed just one or two leaves, it was like drinking a cup of strong coffee. It helped to keep morale up as we marched mile after mile through the never-ending jungle labyrinth. Over the course of forty-eight hours, we’d hiked nearly thirty miles from where Gina had hidden her stethoscope in the brush.

As the afternoon wore on, Vern kept checking his GPS and crunching his eyebrows together, but whatever it was concerning him, he kept it to himself.

Diego waved for us to stop. “People,” he said, motioning ahead.

Not soldiers.

People.

I made my way to where he was ducking in the brush and followed his gaze.

I shook my head and said, “Impossible.”

29

29

jungle
august 11, 7:58 p.m.
days since abduction: 6

Gina was lucky to be alive. Not only because she’d escaped death by Guillermo strangling her, but because the other soldiers hadn’t killed her yet.

After striking Guillermo in the throat with the satellite phone, Gina watched helplessly as the life drained out of him. Someone from camp overheard her scream and in the few seconds before they arrived, Gina was able to push the phone into the earth and cover it with several leaves. She didn’t want to be caught with the phone on her when the men came, not to mention that from the looks of the screen, there was a good chance it was broken.

A moment later, Patrick and two soldiers showed up. Their flashlights illuminated Gina’s frozen face, then quickly moved to the still form of their fallen comrade. Gina opted for a version of the truth, telling them that Guillermo had caught her trying to escape and dragged her to the hut. He’d been attempting to rape her when she’d hit him in the neck with the binaural spring she’d used to cut through the tent.