Page 62 of Fear No Evil

“Who are they?” Esme craned her neck to look back.

Maggie didn’t answer. She dared not articulate what her brain was telling her‍—that she’d just been recognized.

Her heart did not stop pounding until they’d floundered another mile or more without a hue and cry raised. In her soaked jacket and pants, she shivered with cautious relief. Her knees trembled to support Esme’s weight. Maybe she hadn’t been made. Maybe things would be different this time.

Once the path gave a sharp turn, she peered back at Jake, who was helping Bellini over an exposed root. Across the space between them, he caught her eye, sending her a faint, encouraging smile.If we stay together, we’ll be okay.

Maggie inhaled sharply. Man, she would miss having Jake as her partner!

The brickcasitawhere Arias had met with General Rojas stood at the edge of a clearing filled with overgrown coca plants. One look at the old pipes and barrels thrown outside the building, and Maggie guessed this place had been used bynarcosto process cocaine.

But as they ducked into the watertight building, she was glad to see all the old equipment had been cleared out, replaced by seven hammocks strung from hooks on the center beam and inner walls, each with its own blanket. A hearth occupied the wall by the door, faced by a couple of chairs. The tin roof, cement floor, and bags of rice and beans made this place feel like a five-star hotel.

Huffing with exhaustion, David and Julian carried in the stretcher bearing Arias. As Esme went to help them transfer thepatient to a hammock, Maggie lingered by the door where she could overhear Marquez leaving Boris with instructions.

“Your team will stay here with Gallo and his soldiers while I take your counteroffer to Rojas myself. You may strike a fire twice a day to cook your meals, but no fires at night. Tomorrow, I’ll return with my leader’s decision.”

Boris stammered, “Oh, I thought‍—well, I thought I would be talking to Rojas in person.”

“No need. Stay here with Gallo and your team.”

“Comandante,”Gallo protested, “I have a message for Rojas from our friends that Imustconvey in person. David and his squad can watch the Europeans.”

The fine hairs on the nape of Maggie’s neck prickled. From her present vantage, she could only see the back of Gallo’s head and Marquez’s answering scowl. Jake, who stood not far from them, caught and held her wide-eyed stare. What message did Gallo have to relay to Rojas? Could it be about the map and his suspicion of the French couple?

No, Marquez, don’t take him with you.

“Vale. David and his squad will watch over you,” the commander amended.

Looking as soaked and weary as the rest of them, Boris nodded. “What time will you return tomorrow?”

“Early.” With that terse reply, Marquez gestured for Gallo to flank him as they walked away, continuing their trek.

Maggie stepped aside, letting the rest of the team into thecasita. As they exclaimed over their deluxe accommodations, she crossed to one of the four windows, each fitted with a screen, to see which way the two FARC leaders went. They departed in the same northeasterly direction, downhill to what had to beKi-kirr-zikis. Given Marquez’s promise of an early return tomorrow, it couldn’t be that far away.

Bellini knelt at once at the hearth to make a fire. As Boris went to help him, Jake joined Maggie at the front window. The look in his eyes told her he was dying to see Rojas’s camp in person. Only, how would they slip away from the rest of the group, let alone get permission from David to wander off?

Esme straightened from hovering over Arias. “He is feverish, Boris,” she conveyed to their leader while wringing her hands. “I think he may have contracted malaria.”

Maggie eyed the limp Argentine with a wave of helplessness.What can I do?Her thoughts went to David, whom she had avoided since his betrayal of her to Gallo. In retrospect, her behavior had likely only affirmed his suspicions. With a glance at Jake inviting him to join her, Maggie crossed to the door and stepped outside, leaving him to follow. She found David and his squad members struggling to shore up a decrepit lean-to that listed off the side of thecasita. That was probably where they meant to sleep.

“Need help?” Without waiting for an answer, she added her strength to lift the sagging end of the tin roof while Jake helped Chucho and Estéban wedge the post under the roof so it stood vertically, holding the roof up as it should.

“Thank you.” David met their gazes, then looked away, clearly uncomfortable.

Maggie smiled, keeping her voice warm. “Any time, David. Listen, I was thinking of how well you treated Jacques’ hornet stings, and it occurred to me you might help Señor Arias as well. He has a fever, and he doesn’t deserve to die out here, so far from his family. You’re the only one who knows enough about herbs to help him.” Tears sprang into Maggie’s eyes, surprising her. She wasn’t usually so sentimental. “Please, would you look for something to lower his fever?”

Thoughts shifted behind David’s light-brown eyes. He finally nodded. “I will make a tea for him, though it won’t cure him.”

“But that would help. Thank you, David. You’re a good person.”Even though you ratted me out to Gallo.

Turning her back on him, Maggie noted Jake’s small smile as she grabbed his hand and pulled him back into thecasita, where they found a warm fire blazing in the hearth.

Esme and Bellini were planning a midday meal. They would use a measured amount of their rice and beans each day, getting water from a cistern out front that caught the rain. The bags of food would last them several days, just in case their negotiations went awry. In an ironcacerola, they would boil the water for the rice first, then cook the beans.

Less than an hour later, the team had consumed their modest meal, sharing the surplus with David and the teens. Accustomed to napping in the rainy afternoons, each team member selected one of the hanging hammocks. Constructed out of fibers from thehamaktree, South American hammocks folded around the sleeper like a taco shell, which made sharing a hammock impossible. With a stab of nostalgia, Maggie rolled into the hammock next to Jake’s, just an arm’s reach from him. Would she be able to sleep without feeling him next to her?

Bellini was quick to nod off, his snores filling thecasita. Boris and Esme followed suit. Lying with her feet toward the front window, Maggie spotted David wading alone across the field in search of a healing herb for Arias. Charles saw him, too, and gestured for Jake and her to take advantage of his absence. The JIC hadn’t heard from Jake since he’d been locked up in the shed days ago.