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  “Yes, but surely they would pay the ransom to get you back with their grandchildren, whether they approved of your marriage or not,” Owen said.

  Sylvia started to cry. “We don’t let them see their grandchildren,” she confessed. Maria came over to comfort Sylvia. Maria had dreamed of having the life that Jean-Pierre and Sylvia had, but was now realizing it was not perfect either.

  “I’m pretty sure we’ll be rescued before any more ransoms are paid,” Jacob Davis said. Eric was pleased to hear Jacob voice a more positive outlook. Jacob had been pretty reserved during their entire ordeal, but he always seemed on alert waiting for something to happen. His sister, Emily, had also exhibited a quiet confidence that everything was going to turn out alright, but her resolve seemed a bit more fragile than her brother’s. Everyone hoped that they were right.

  *** Chapter 2 4 ***

  “General Davis,” Captain Walmsley said into the phone. “We believe we’ve identified the location where the hostages are being held. Requesting permission to engage, sir.”

  “Approved,” General Davis said, “but I’ll be supervising the operation personally.” It was less than a minute later when the General walked through the door of the control room. “Show me what you’ve got, Captain.”

  “Sir, these are satellite images of the location that have been taken over the last few hours.” The first picture showed a very wide picture of some forest with a river running through it. “We believe this matches the description provided by the first hostages to be released. We’ve been gradually drilling down on various sections within the area and we discovered this.” He showed the General a more detailed photo that seemed to show a tent hidden within the forest.

  The General picked up the photo and held it close to his face trying to see the details. “It’s hard to make it out. What’s this up in the corner of the picture? Can you drill down and get me a better picture of what this is?”

  “Already done sir,” the Captain said as he showed the General the next picture. It was clearly a man dressed in camouflage and holding a rifle. “We’ve identified two separate gunmen in the photos. They appear to be guarding the occupants inside that tent.”

  “I think you may have found where these bastards have been hiding,” the General said. “How long until we can deploy the fire team to that area?”

  “They are already making their way through the forest, sir. I expect them to be at that location within half an hour. Permission requested to use force if necessary, sir?”

  “Granted,” the General said. The Captain spoke into his headset and relayed the approval to proceed using force to his marines on the ground. “Put them on the speaker when they get there,” the General said. “I want to monitor this operation.”

  “Yes sir,” the Captain replied.

  Down in the forest, the four marines in the fire team moved through the rainforest with the quietness and precision of well-trained soldiers. It was about twenty minutes later when the fire team leader reported. “Braz Team 3 reporting. Target acquired. Three hostiles confirmed. Unknown personnel under cover. Permission to engage requested.”

  The Captain looked at the General who nodded his head. “Permission to engage granted,” the Captain said.

  Although the operation was now on speaker in the control room, there were hardly any other verbal communications broadcast. The fire team leader communicated with the rest of his team through a series of hand gestures. He signaled for the other marines to spread out so they would each be approaching from a different angle and they silently moved into position.

  Suddenly the sound of a single shot exploded over the speaker in the control room. Two more quick gunshots followed shortly after and the General could hear the sound of the team leader and the rest of his team as they ran toward the tent. Everything went silent for several seconds, but then the speaker came alive with the sounds of a full-scale assault. This went on for about thirty seconds followed by a deathly silence. The only sound they could hear after that was the sound of the footsteps of the team leader as he crept through the compound. Everyone in the control room held their breath and it seemed to take forever for the team leader to report.

  “Braz Team 3 reporting. Operation complete. Six hostiles KIA.”

  The General grabbed the headset from the Captain. “What about the hostages? Did you rescue the hostages?”

  “That’s a negative,” the fire team leader reported. “No hostages found. The location appears to have been some kind of a drug distribution site. There’s no indication that the hostages have ever been here.”

  “Damn it,” the General yelled as he fired the headset across the room.

  * * *

  Back at the compound, the hostages all froze in fear when they heard the gunfire. It sounded like it originated only a few kilometres from where they were being held. Their guards were also spooked by what they heard. Eric could hear them arguing but he had no idea what they were saying. Maria understood their conversation and came over and sat beside Eric.

  “We’re running out of time,” Maria whispered to him. “They’ve already been paid ten million dollars for the release of the hostages so far. Some of the guards don’t want to wait any longer. They want to just kill the rest of us and make a run for it. But the doctor told them to wait for the final deadline.”

  “The final deadline?” Eric asked.

  “Two days from now,” Maria said.

  * * *

  “Hi Tom,” Brian said into the phone. “I need you to transfer two million dollars to the following offshore account.” Detective Mitchell pushed the piece of paper that had the account transit number in front of Brian and he read off the numbers to Tom. Now that some of the hostages had been released alive, Detective Mitchell had authorized the payment of additional ransoms.

  “The money will be there in a matter of seconds,” Tom said after he had read back the account number back to Brian for confirmation. “Is there anything else you need from me?”

  “No,” Brian replied. “Hopefully the boys will be released once they get the money.”

  “Melanie,” Tom shouted after he got off the phone with Brian. “I need you to transfer two million dollars from our trust fund to the following offshore account number.” He walked out of his office and handed Melanie the piece of paper with the account transit number.

  Melanie started to enter the information into her computer with Tom looking over her shoulder. Melanie felt quite nervous. “What’s going on?” she finally asked her boss, looking up at him fearing the answer.

  Tom knew she deserved an explanation. “Brian Baxter’s two sons have been kidnapped in Brazil,” he said. “The two million dollars is to pay the ransom for their release.”

  “Oh my God!” Melanie said. She had been worried that her boss was somehow involved in some shady financial scheme but this was far worse than what she could have ever imagined. She clicked the last button on her screen which transferred the money. A few seconds later, she received confirmation that the transaction had been completed. “Done,” she said.

  Tom headed back into his office and stared out of the window. He remembered when Brian and Jean had brought the two boys out to their cottage in Muskoka. Tom and his late wife, Betty, had never been able to have kids of their own so they had always treasured the days when the Baxters came out to visit them at the cottage. Brian and Jean would try to get some time away by themselves and Tom and his wife were always grateful that they could adopt the two boys, even if it was only for a weekend.

  Tom remembered the first time he took Eric out in the boat and he had caught his first fish. They were going to eat it that night for supper but Eric wanted to save it until he could show his prize catch to his father. Tom looked down at the picture that was displayed on the credenza in his office showing Brian and Eric with the fish. Beside it was a picture of Chip flying into the lake after he had swung out on a rope that hung from a tree along the shore. Chip was more of a challenge for Tom
and his wife to take care of because Chip had no fear. He would climb the highest tree or jump into the lake off of the highest rock.

  Jean and Betty had also shared a special bond, as they had both been raised in Saskatchewan. They used to talk endlessly about the prairie sky and how the sky there was bigger and bluer than anywhere else in the world. And the two of them would plot how they were going to convince their husbands to move back to Saskatchewan when they retired.

  “When will we know if the boys are safe?” Melanie asked as she stood in the door of Tom’s office.

  Tom wiped his eyes as he was brought back from his daydream into the grim reality. “I don’t know,” he said.

  * * *

  Back in the room at FBI headquarters, Hilary Davis pleaded with her husband over the phone to just pay the ransom to get their two kids back. “You had your chance to rescue them, but you failed. It’s now time to just pay the ransom.”

  “We’re close, I know we are,” General Davis replied. “We’ve still got two days until the final deadline. Just give me one more day to rescue them. If we don’t find them within the next twenty four hours, I’ll pay the ransom.”

  Brian couldn’t hear what the General had said to his ex-wife over the phone, but the expression on her face told him that she hadn’t convinced him to pay the ransom.

  Over in the corner, Brian saw Detective Johnson sitting with Jamie Taylor and his sister Sarah. “We’ve both remortgaged our houses,” Jamie said, “but we’ve only got a little over six hundred thousand dollars. Do you think they’d release our parents if we sent it to them?”

  Detective Johnson shook his head. “The kidnappers have been very clear that they want a million dollars for each hostage.”

  “But it’s everything we’ve got,” Sarah cried.

  “Do your parents have any life insurance policies they could cash in?” Detective Johnson asked. “Do you think the bank would give you an unsecured loan for the rest? I’ll talk to your bank manager if you think it would help.” The detective was trying anything he could think of to help them come up with more money.

  Brian noticed Elizabeth Noble sitting at the back of the room crying. She was alone. “My husband refused to pay the ransom,” she said to Brian when he sat down in the chair beside her. “He’s got the money, but he just put on his coat and left. What kind of a father would do that?”

  Brian didn’t know what to say. As she started to cry again, Brian put his arm around her to try to comfort her. “I think all we can do now is just pray,” he said.

  *** Chapter 25 ***

  The military-style truck exited from the trail that led deep into the forest where the prison compound was located and onto a more travelled road, although it was a road that was rarely used as well. The guards were taking Michael, the two Australians and the four Japanese men to a different drop-off point than the one they had used when they released the German hostages. They didn’t want the police to be able to track them to where the rest of the hostages were being held.

  In the distance, the guard driving the truck could see another vehicle approaching. They were not expecting to encounter any other vehicles on this trip. Not taking any chances, he turned off the road and down another small trail that led into the forest. He drove far enough into the forest so that their truck was not visible from the road, hoping that the people in the other vehicle had not even seen them and would simply continue on to wherever they were headed. He stopped the truck and then started walking back toward the main road to check, taking his rifle with him.

  He hid under cover of the forest as he watched the vehicle on the main road approach. “Merda!” he cursed to himself as he watched the vehicle slow down. It was a Brazilian police vehicle. They were probably just doing a routine patrol looking for drug runners. The vehicle continued slowly by the place where they had turned into the forest and the guard thought they were going to get lucky. But when the police vehicle started to back up and then turned down the same trail where they had entered, he knew he was going to have to take action. He moved behind a tree as he watched the police vehicle slowly approach. When it was about twenty paces in front of him, he fired his rifle and the driver slumped over in his seat. But the other police officer threw open his car door and started returning fire using his door as a shield.

  Upon hearing the gunfire, the guard that had been watching the hostages jumped out of the truck and ran down the trail to help his partner. Michael took advantage of this opportunity and threw off his hood and started untying the ropes that held them all together. Once he had his hands free, he started to untie the others. They could hear the gunfire taking place just down the trail. Suddenly, everything went silent.

  Michael had no idea who had won the gunfight, but he didn’t want to take any chances and wait around to find out. “I’d suggest we split up and make a run for it,” he said to the other prisoners.

  The two Australians leapt from the truck and started running through the forest as fast as they could. Michael untied two of the Japanese men and then told them to untie the other two.

  Suddenly a shot ricocheted off of the cab of the truck. Michael ducked down behind the truck and took off through the forest running in a zig-zag pattern away from the gunman, making it harder for him to line up his target. Michael heard some of the other hostages running as well but he wasn’t going to wait for anyone this time. He had made that mistake with Greg and he wasn’t going to make it again. It was every man for himself now. He ran for several kilometres before he stopped. He listened intently for any kind of sound, but heard nothing. He didn’t move for several more minutes, but still heard nothing. He had escaped. He was free. “But where the hell am I?” he said to himself.

  * * *

  The doctor came walking into the compound and headed over to where Eric was sitting. “The ransom has been paid for you and your brother,” the doctor said.

  Eric walked over to where Chip was sitting and helped him to his feet. Although the infection was gone and his leg was much better, it was still not a hundred percent. The brothers just stood there hugging each other for what seemed like an eternity.

  “What about the others?” Eric asked the doctor.

  “The ransoms were only paid for you and your brother,” the doctor replied. “Hopefully they’ll pay the ransoms for the others before the final deadline.”

  Maria felt a tear starting to well up in her eye. She knew that she was just a poor girl from the favela and there would never be a ransom paid for her. She wandered away from the group over to the other side of the compound, but Eric followed her.

  “I’m so happy for you and your brother,” Maria said to Eric when he approached.

  “We’d all be dead already if it wasn’t for you,” Eric said as he hugged her. “Don’t give up hope. I’ll do everything I can once we’re free to come back to rescue you. And don’t forget that Jacob and Emily’s father is a marine and is probably already on his way to rescue everyone.”

  “Time to go,” the doctor said. “We’ve got quite a hike ahead of us. The other guards haven’t returned yet so I’ll be leading you out of the forest myself.”

  The remaining hostages watched as the doctor tied Eric and Chip’s hands together with about ten feet of rope and placed the hoods over their heads. But they were only about a hundred metres out of the camp when the doctor told them to stop. “I don’t think we really need these,” he said as he removed their hoods. They walked for several kilometres through the forest without saying a word. Eric was deep in thought about the people being left behind, particularly Maria because he doubted anyone would pay her ransom. They continued to walk through the dense forest until they came upon a jeep that was parked beside a deserted trail. This was a much smaller vehicle than the military-style truck that had been used in the kidnapping.

  “You drive,” the doctor said to Eric as he untied them. He told Chip to sit in the front seat and the doctor climbed into the back of the jeep where he could keep an
eye on them with his rifle at the ready if they tried anything.

  Eric paused before he started up the jeep. “What’s going to happen to the others?” Eric asked.

  “I think you know exactly what’s going to happen to them,” the doctor answered. And he was right. Eric did know.

  “What if we got our father to pay more ransom money?” Eric asked.

  “Are you sure you want to do that for a woman you barely know?” the doctor asked. He was well aware that Eric and Maria had become quite close during their ordeal. “Do you think your father is going to pay another million dollars for someone that’s not family or that he’s never even met?”

  “Not one million dollars,” Eric said. “How about another six and a half million for the release of all of the remaining hostages?”

  Chip looked at his brother in amazement. “That’s everything that dad has!” Chip said. “And you know he said that leaving a legacy was the most important thing to him.”

  “I know exactly what dad said and how much money he has,” Eric said to his brother. “But we can’t just leave them there to die. I think dad would agree.”

  Eric turned to look at the doctor. “Will you release the rest of the prisoners if my dad agrees to pay another six and a half million dollars?” The doctor could see the desperation in Eric’s eyes.

  “That’s not up to me,” the doctor replied. He thought for a few more seconds, then reached inside the backpack that he had brought with him and pulled out a satellite phone. He spoke on the phone for only a few seconds. “Tell him to call me, it’s important,” was all the doctor said before he disconnected.