The Legacy Read online

  “I’ll get them back safe and sound,” the General said. “I promise. I’ve already got a team engaged to rescue them.” He wasn’t sure she had heard him as all he could hear was her crying.

  It was several seconds until Hilary responded. “Your promises don’t mean anything to me anymore.” Then the phone went dead.

  *** Chapter 17 ***

  Eric and Maria watched as the two Australians lugged the huge wooden bucket of fresh water from the river up to their prison compound. Two of the guards followed about ten paces behind them. They knew how heavy the bucket was – that’s why they had the Australians carry it. About twenty minutes later, they arrived again, this time lugging a large basket filled with different kinds of fruit.

  “Obrigado, muito obrigado,” Maria said as she thanked the guards. Greg looked at Maria suspiciously whenever she spoke to the guards.

  Maria started distributing the fruit to everyone. “I don’t even know what some of these fruits are called,” Eric said.

  “This is açaí,” Maria said, pointing to something that looked like oversized blueberries, “and this is guarana.” She pointed out several more different types of fruit that were native to Brazil and easily found in the rainforest. The basket also contained several pineapples but they couldn’t figure out a way to get into them without a knife. Out of frustration, Michael picked up one of the pineapples by the green leaves at the top and whacked it on the top side of the large wooden water pail. After a few more whacks, they could finally get into the juicy fruit inside.

  Eric took some of the fruit over to Chip and carefully fed it to him. As he held him, Eric could tell that his fever was higher than before. He knew they were going to have to do something soon or else his brother would die.

  The only one who wasn’t feasting on the fruit was Greg. He was still suspicious of Maria. The fact that she had convinced the gunmen to bring them food and water only supported his theory that she was in on the kidnapping, at least it did in his mind. Besides, he had work to do. Whenever the guards looked away, he used the scissors to cut another link in the chicken-wire surrounding the compound. However, as the scissors got duller and duller, it was taking longer and longer to cut through each link. But he kept at it at every opportunity until he had created a hole big enough in the chicken wire for a person to crawl through.

  After they had eaten, Eric, Maria and Michael had a final chat to confirm the details of their plan. Michael took a few more swigs of water.

  “Well, it’s show time,” Maria whispered to them as she headed over to one of the guards.

  “Eu poderia ir até o rio para se banhar?” Maria said. She was confident that they would not object to her heading to the river to bathe.

  The eyes of the guard lit up at the prospect. But one of the other guards overheard the request. This was the guard that normally guarded the entrance to the compound and he seemed to be the one in charge as the other guards referred to him as “chefe”. “Dois de cada vez,” the chief yelled, holding up two fingers.

  That was not part of the plan, but Maria figured that it was too late to turn back now. The guard waved his rifle at Sylvia to join Maria.

  “What are we doing?” Sylvia asked Maria as she walked down to the river beside her. They hadn’t let everyone in on the plan to try to sneak Michael out of their prison.

  “We’re going to bathe in the river,” Maria whispered. “I’ll explain when we get there.”

  When they got to the river, Maria and Sylvia waded into the river up to their knees. They proceeded to wash their faces and hands. Suddenly, Maria started undoing the buttons down the front of her dress.

  “What are you doing?” Sylvia asked. “The guard is right there along the shore. He can see you.”

  “That’s the whole point,” Maria whispered to Sylvia. “I’m supposed to distract the guards while Michael tries to escape to go get help.” Maria could see out of the corner of her eye that a few more of the guards had moved down along the shoreline.

  Up at the camp, Eric watched as more and more of the guards left their posts to head to the river. The only guard left was the chief guarding the main entrance. Michael walked over to sit beside Greg and the two of them pretended to be just talking. Greg positioned himself between Michael and the one remaining guard as Michael secretly started untwisting the links joining the two pieces of barbed wire together. It turned out to be a much tougher task than they thought as the barbed wire was quite thick, but Michael kept at it even though his fingers were now raw and starting to bleed.

  Down at the river, Maria took off her dress and handed it to Sylvia to hold. She headed a little farther out into the river, dropped down under the water and when she rose up again, she swirled her long black hair around her as she spun.

  “Vem, vem. Ela é quase que completamente nu!” one of the guards yelled back to the last remaining guard still at his post. This was too much to resist. Seeing a naked woman bathing was worth leaving his post for just a few seconds. The chief took one last look at the prisoners before heading down to the river to join the rest of the guards.

  But Maria had to keep them away from their posts for more than a few seconds. She continued to bathe and spent a considerable amount of time washing her breasts, much to the delight of the guards.

  Up at the camp, Greg cut the final few links of the chicken-wire fence and pulled the two sections of the barbed wire apart. “Wish me luck,” Michael said as he slipped through the opening. Much to his surprise, Greg followed him through the opening. “What are you doing?” Michael asked.

  “This was my idea,” Greg said. “If anyone deserves to escape, it’s me. I’m coming with you.”

  Michael didn’t have time to argue. They both ran off into the forest. Eric moved over and quickly reconnected the barbed wire back together again and pulled the chicken-wire fence together so it was hard to see where the hole was. “Just act normal,” Eric said to the other prisoners who had watched what had transpired.

  “Should I be doing something?” Sylvia said to Maria down at the river. “I don’t think I can take my clothes off knowing that those men are watching.”

  “You don’t have to,” Maria said. “Hopefully, we’ve given Michael enough time to make his escape.”

  * * *

  Michael sprinted through the forest like a gazelle, hardly making a sound as he jumped over logs and small bushes. Greg was lumbering more like a bull and he had already fallen several times. Michael ran back to help Greg to his feet yet again.

  “You have to be quiet,” Michael whispered. “The camp is only a hundred metres from here and we can’t let the guards see or hear us.” They had to circle around the camp through the forest and then head back down to the river’s edge.

  “I’ll be faster when we get to the river,” Greg whispered.

  They reached the river again about five hundred metres upstream from the camp. Michael put out his hand to stop Greg until he was sure it was safe to continue. Greg could see Maria and Sylvia out in the river, but felt sure that the guards wouldn’t be able to see them since they were up on the bank and there was a slight bend in the river.

  “Okay, I think it’s safe to go,” Michael said. They started running alongside the river away from the compound at a pretty fast pace.

  Maria and Sylvia slowly walked back to the shore where Maria proceeded to put her dress back on. She deliberately spent a long time doing up all of the buttons. They were escorted back to the camp by the guards. Maria was pleased to see that all five guards were part of the escort. She had done her job. She hoped the others had done theirs.

  When Maria and Sylvia walked back into the compound, they tried to act as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. The other prisoners were also trying to make it appear as if nothing had happened while the guards were gone. But Maria couldn’t stop herself from doing a quick scan of the surroundings and a small smile crossed her face when she didn’t see Michael. She sat with Sylvia for a few minutes befor
e walking over to talk to Eric.

  “It looks like Michael got out okay,” Maria whispered to Eric. But she could see from the look in Eric’s eyes that something had gone wrong.

  Eric did a quick look at the guards to make sure they weren’t watching. “Greg went with him,” he whispered back to Maria.

  Maria’s eyes went wide with surprise. When she had looked around the compound for Michael, she hadn’t even noticed that Greg had also disappeared. She hoped the guards wouldn’t notice either, but she knew the chances of their plan working had instantly dropped by fifty percent, probably more.

  The guards hovered around the camp outside the compound discussing their good fortune at being able to watch Maria bathe. Eric couldn’t understand what they were saying but he could tell by their gestures that the conversation was pretty crude.

  About ten minutes later, Eric knew they were in trouble when he saw the chief start counting the people inside the fence. He whispered to everyone to start moving around figuring it would be harder for him to get an accurate count if they were a moving target. It appeared to work for a while when he saw the chief start his count over again. But when the chief started yelling for the other guards, Eric knew the jig was up.

  The chief came into the compound, pointed his rifle directly at Maria and said “Você vai pagar por isso!” He had figured out that Maria’s bathing exhibition had been done to distract the guards.

  Maria knew full well that she would have to pay for her actions. She just hoped it was all worth it.

  * * *

  “Wait, I need to take a break,” Greg said to Michael after they had run less than a kilometre.

  “We don’t have time to take a break,” Michael said. “We’ve got to keep going to have any chance of getting away.”

  Greg was just about to argue with him when they heard the guards yelling. They had obviously just discovered the escape.

  Back at the camp, one guard remained behind to watch the prisoners but the other four split up to go searching for Michael and Greg. The guards had no idea which direction they had headed after cutting through the fence. Two guards followed their trail through the forest, which was pretty easy to do given the carnage that Greg had left behind. One guard headed down the river and the fourth guard headed upstream. It was only a few minutes later when one of the guards found Greg and Michael’s tracks alongside the river and he called to the other guards.

  Michael figured he was about two kilometres ahead of the guards and he was sure he could run faster than they could. But Greg couldn’t. He was already into a slow jog and stopped several times to catch his breath. “I just need a minute to rest,” Greg said as he sat down once again on the river bank. “And I need a drink. It’s so hot.” Greg cupped his hands to get a drink from the river and then splashed some water over his face.

  “We have to keep going,” Michael said in frustration. “I’m sure the guards will have picked up our trail by now.”

  Greg looked back down the river. “I don’t see anyone. Maybe they’re looking for us in the rainforest.”

  Michael didn’t think they would be that lucky. He pulled Greg up to his feet. “We have to keep going. They’re all counting on us to find help.”

  They started running along the river again and after about five minutes, Michael thought he could hear the sound of the waterfall up ahead. He looked back and saw Greg several hundred metres behind him. Michael debated leaving him behind, but when he saw Greg stumble over some rocks and crash head first into the river, he decided to head back to help him. Michael had just reached Greg when he heard the sound of a rifle being cocked.

  “Não se mova,” said the chief.

  Michael froze in his spot and put his hands up to surrender. But Greg got up and started running into the river.

  “Parar ou vou chutar!” the chief yelled.

  But Greg kept running out into the river. The chief fired a shot over Greg’s shoulder which hit the water just a few feet in front of him, but Greg still didn’t stop. The next shot hit him square in the back of the head. The water turned a crimson red as Greg’s limp body moved back downstream toward them. A couple more guards came running up.

  “Obtenha o corpo,” the chief yelled to his partners. They waded into the river and dragged Greg’s body back to shore.

  Michael was pretty sure that Greg was already dead but when the guards flipped his body over, the chief fired another shot into him just to be sure. Michael sank to his knees and started throwing up. He was pretty sure his fate was sealed as well.

  Back at the compound, the rest of the prisoners cringed when they heard the two gunshots. Eric and Maria looked at each other and knew that their plan had failed. Maria fell to her knees and said a short prayer.

  As darkness started to fall over the compound, an eerie silence also spread everywhere. There was no rustling of trees in the breeze. No sounds of birds or animals in the forest. This was the sound of death.

  *** Chapter 18 ***

  Eric was awakened the next morning by the scuffling he heard going on outside of their compound. He could hear someone being beaten and he didn’t know whether to be happy or sad when one of the guards brought Michael back into the compound and threw him to the ground.

  Eric and Maria immediately headed over to take care of Michael. He had been beaten quite badly, but he was thankfully still alive. “I’m sorry, we failed,” Michael gasped before he lost consciousness.

  Maria headed over to the water pail, tore another strip off of her dress and headed back to Michael to tend to his wounds. Eric could hear another man being beaten and he wondered whether it was Greg.

  “Você não deveria ter deixado o seu post!” shouted one of the men. When he looked out through the wire fence that surrounded their prison compound, Eric was surprised to see that the chief was the one being beaten by a new man that had arrived in camp. Eric could see at least two new guards that hadn’t been there the day before. They had obviously brought in reinforcements after the attempted escape the day before.

  One of the new men came walking into the compound. Like the others, he was wearing a mask to cover his face, but his was a surgical mask rather than the bandanas worn by the other guards.

  “Onde está o homem que precisa de médico?” he asked Maria.

  “Aqui,” Maria said as she led him over to where Chip was lying.

  Eric headed over to watch. Although he knew Chip desperately needed a doctor, he wasn’t going to just let a butcher with a surgical mask treat him.

  The doctor carefully removed the bandages that Maria had applied a couple of days earlier. “Você é o único que tratou as feridas?” the doctor asked Maria.

  “Sim, eu fiz o melhor que pude,” Maria said.

  “What is he saying?” Eric asked Maria, trying to figure out what was going on.

  “I asked if she was the one who treated his wounds,” the doctor said in flawless English. “She did a great job with what she had.” He opened his bag which was filled with medical supplies. “I’m going to give him some penicillin because he’s got an infection and I’m going to have to stitch up his leg.”

  Eric watched as he first gave Chip the penicillin injection and then a few more small needles to freeze his leg. As he watched him work, Eric could tell he was a skilled doctor. Chip’s leg required a lot of stitches and the doctor did it with a precision only someone who had been well trained could do. Eric glanced inside the doctor’s bag and noticed several items that had the UCLA logo.

  “Are you American?” Eric asked.

  The doctor laughed. “No,” he replied, “but I went to medical school at UCLA. I wanted to practice medicine in the U.S. after I finished school, but they kicked me out of the country.” He glanced up to look Eric in the eye. “But don’t worry, I know what I’m doing.”

  Eric could easily see that he did. “We’ve got another guy over here with a banged up shoulder you should probably take a look at,” Eric said after the doctor finished stitchi
ng up Chip’s leg. Eric led him over to where Jean-Pierre Girard was lying, still cradling his shoulder.

  “Let me take a look at that shoulder,” the doctor said to Jean-Pierre. Sylvia was still holding on to her husband and seemed reluctant to let go.

  “It’s okay,” Eric said to her. “He seems to know what he’s doing.”

  “This is for the pain,” the doctor said as he gave Jean-Pierre an injection. “This should help, but I’ll be back in a few minutes to check on you again.”

  “What about Michael?” Maria asked the doctor as she tended to him.

  “He’ll be alright,” the doctor said. “He shouldn’t have tried to escape. He’s lucky the guards didn’t beat him any worse.”

  Eric wanted to ask about Greg, but then thought maybe he and Michael had split up and that Greg had made it out undiscovered. Eric didn’t want to let the guards know that two people had snuck out of camp if they didn’t already know.

  Eric led the doctor around to see the other prisoners. However, they only had minor cuts and scrapes so were easily treated.

  “That fellow over there has a dislocated shoulder,” the doctor whispered to Eric as he glanced back over to Jean-Pierre. “The pain killer will help but we should really try to put his shoulder back in place. It’s going to hurt like hell and I’ll need a couple of people to help.”

  Eric waved to Maria who came over to join them. “Just tell us what to do,” Eric said.

  “How’s your shoulder feeling now?” the doctor asked Jean-Pierre when the three of them headed back over to where he was lying on the ground.

  “A lot better,” Jean-Pierre replied. “The pain killer you gave me sure seemed to help.”

  “Yeah, that should ease the pain,” the doctor said, “but you have a dislocated shoulder and we should really try to put it back into place.”