Page 36 of Fear No Evil

Jake met Lena’s wide eyes. He’d give just about anything to meet this missionary in person.

“Today’s reading comes from the book of Matthew, Chapter 14. ‘When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place‍?—’”

The radio cut off abruptly, causing all ten teens to exclaim their disappointment as they looked toward the boom box sitting on the windowsill of the officers’ quarters. In the next instant, the screen door flew open, and Gallo came swaggering out, railing at them to put their lazy backsides to work.

As they scuttled up to do themondo’s bidding, Jake felt sorry for them. These kids were no different from teens in North America, looking for meaning, trying to find hope where hope was scarce. Did Father Joshua know what effect his work was having? Imagine what would happen to the FARC movement if they all became Christians. It would fall apart.

CHAPTER 8

Arooster crowed, and Maggie’s eyes sprang open. The ghostly shimmer of the mosquito netting reminded her that she was in a bungalow, way up on El Castillo, pretending to be a UN peacekeeper while snugged up against her college sweetheart, to whom she grew more attached by the day.

As with the previous night, she must have rolled toward him and moved closer until her head was on Jake’s chest. They were tangled together now like they’d been married all this time. And, for the life of her, she couldn’t bring herself to move away.

Sleeping by his side, pretending to be married to him‍—it was so much easier than she’d thought it would be. It also filled her with something she hadn’t realized she was missing.

Imagine doing this assignment without Jake. She would have slid down the mountain yesterday and never made it back. But theyhadmade it back, just in time to hear Maife and Ixtabel‍—Maggie’d learned their names at supper‍—sing as sweetly as angels. Those two had cooked another disappointing meal of rice for all the mouths in the camp. Jake had tried offering Maggie a portion of his bowl, which, of course, she’d refused.

He was willing todiefor her, if he had to.

In that instant, a memory, long repressed, returned to her unbidden. Following her return from Paris, she had cried herself to sleep each night. Jake had been her closest friend. The void in her life had seemed too deep to cope with.

Imagine if she’d received the texts he’d sent. The entire course of her life would have changed as she attempted to keep their bond alive. Ironically, even after all this time, the bond was still there.

The familiar groan of Gallo’s door brought Maggie’s head up. Through the thin slats of the bamboo blinds at her feet, she could tell themondowas carrying a lantern to the far side of camp where a young rebel manned the .50-caliber machine gun.

A minute later, Gallo snarled at the youth to wake up. Maggie waited for him to carry his lantern back to his quarters, but rather than grow brighter, the light of the lantern faded completely.

Had Gallo left the camp? He was probably just heeding the call of nature. She listened for his return, but after what had to be five minutes, the camp remained quiet. Gallo’s screen door never opened again, which meant the officers’ quarters stood empty, as Marquez was still away with Arias.

Now was the perfect opportunity to examine that notebook on the officers’ desk.

Recalling Jake’s lecture the previous day about being partners, she started to waken him, only to change her mind. The two of them moving around was bound to be overheard by the others, while she herself made scarcely a sound.

As she had the previous afternoon, she eased out from under the blanket, managing not to waken Jake with her movements. Stealthily, she eased into her jacket, tugged on her socks, then wriggled her feet into her loosely tied boots. Dread swirled in her like a cold tide, but she ignored it and slipped out of thebungalow the same way she’d left it yesterday, right out the back flap.

Hugging the rear of the building, she crept through the darkness toward the front, her footsteps silent on the damp earth. A peek at the quiet camp encouraged her to dart across the open space to Gallo’s screen door. To her relief, it gave the barest squeak as she opened it just far enough to slip inside.

The generator had been turned off. In the dark space, Maggie paused to feed her pounding heart oxygen before starting her search.

Predawn light brightened the window, showing her immediately that Gallo had taken his handheld radio with him. The notebook, thankfully, still lay upon the desk. She crossed the room to pick it up, then stepped toward the window to better see its contents. It was obviously an officer’s log. She skimmed the last entry written by Gallo about his playingfútbolwith the UN guests and beating them soundly.Hah.

Flipping back in time, Maggie came to an entry about eight months old and encountered a drawing‍—no, it was a map! A map of El Castillo, complete with a compass indicating which way was east, west, north, and south, with three sites clearly marked with anX, two of them named.

Adrenaline flooded her arteries. With no way to take a photo, she could either try to memorize the map or tear it out to show it to Jake. This was just the kind of intel the SEALs at the JIC wanted from them.

Opting for the latter, Maggie stepped back to the desk, then parted the page from the binding as seamlessly as possible. It tore away fairly cleanly, leaving only stray bits of paper that she blew away before folding up the map and slipping it into her pocket.

Next, she peered under the bed, seeing nothing because of the dark. Feeling with a hand, she identified folded clothing andextra pairs of boots. Next, she ran a hand between the lower bunk and the wall. When her fingers closed around the haft of a little dagger, she pulled it out, reveling in the sense of security it gave her. She was stowing it in her left boot to lie along her ankle when the approach of footfalls jerked her upright.

Was Gallo back? With no time to dive beneath the bunk and hide, she flattened herself against the nearest wall. The screen door gave a squeak, and a dark figure stepped stealthily into the building. She was about to be caught red-handed!

“Lena?”

Her whispered name turned her weak with relief. At her exhalation, Jake whirled toward her. In the next instant, she was hauled nose to nose with him, his grip conveying frustration. “You did it again. When are you going to realize we’re a team?”

“I found a map.” It was the only way to check his anger. She’d be mad, too, if she woke up to find him gone.

“A map? Where is it?”