BooksBarbecue
Back Jungle Up Save as PDF
Chapters (63)
  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8
  9. 9
  10. 10
  11. 11
  12. 12
  13. 13
  14. 14
  15. 15
  16. 16
  17. 17
  18. 18
  19. 19
  20. 20
  21. 21
  22. 22
  23. 23
  24. 24
  25. 25
  26. 26
  27. 27
  28. 28
  29. 29
  30. 30
  31. 31
  32. 32
  33. 33
  34. 34
  35. 35
  36. 36
  37. 37
  38. 38
  39. 39
  40. 40
  41. 41
  42. 42
  43. 43
  44. 44
  45. 45
  46. 46
  47. 47
  48. 48
  49. 49
  50. 50
  51. 51
  52. 52
  53. 53
  54. 54
  55. 55
  56. 56
  57. 57
  58. 58
  59. 59
  60. 60
  61. 61
  62. 62
  63. Author’s Note

“Now, please leave,” Martin said, pushing the door closed.

Patrick caught the door with his foot. “Not just yet.”

50

50

tribal village
august 23, 2:56 p.m.
days since abduction: 18

“After grabbing Martin,” Patrick said, “Bill and I jumped back on my jet and flew to Río Branco, Brazil, twenty miles north of the Bolivian border.” He nodded to the soldiers. “These four, plus one more, were waiting for us there.

“We packed into the back of a pickup and drove down into Bolivia, to a town called Santa Rosa del Abuná. We had the exact coordinates of the golden jaguar statue, where we thought Daniel had headed, which was roughly sixty miles through the jungle from Abuná.

“We started hiking, and on day three Mr. Lefbrevor made a run for it. Guillermo, the fifth soldier,” he shot a quick look at Gina, “sent a warning shot over his head that spooked him, and he slipped and hit his head on the side of a tree.”

Patrick was taking too long, and I took over. I said, “You couldn’t find the tribe without Martin, so you needed to keep him alive. I’m guessing one of your four soldiers there is a Yanomina Indian, and he knew of an American doctor living in an Indian village not too far away.”

Patrick cocked his head. “How did you know one of these four was Yanomina?”

I nodded at Diego. “The first camp that we came to—there was a lean-to there that had some special Yanomina flare to it.”

“I see.”

“Anyhow, they go to Gina’s village, do a snatch and grab, then bring Gina back to where you guys are staying. She treats Martin for his injuries, then you continue to the coordinates of the golden jaguar. At some point, Martin comes out of it, and he leads you to the pyramid that’s nearby.”

T4.

Patrick said, “Actually, we knew how to get to the pyramid ourselves. Martin included a compass heading in the text of the book.”

I didn’t know this part, but it didn’t matter. I said, “Then he leads you here, and you find out that this isn’t the ruthless village Martin made it out to be.”

“Correct. Which, more or less, brings us to the present.”

Patrick turned to Gina and said, “I know what I did was terrible, kidnapping you, but you have to believe me, I was never going to hurt you. And I never should have slapped you. I was just trying to find my son.”

Gina said. “You put a gun to my temple. I could feel your finger pulsing on the trigger.”

I turned to Gina. “Really?”

“Yeah, he was about to kill me, but thank God, Martin begged him not to.”