Peter's Return

by Cynthia Cooke

  “I don’t think I can.”

  She touched his hand. “Peter…”

  “Shh. Let’s not talk about it, not anymore today.”

  “Just promise me you’ll think about it.” She looked up at him with such hope and promise in her eyes, it was all he could do not to pull her into his arms and offer her the moon. In some ways he supposed that would be easier than giving her back his heart.

  She wrapped her arms around him and snuggled up close. And while Peter relished the feel of her against him, he knew it could only be temporary. As soon as he got the information he needed from the lab, he’d get her safely tucked back in Colorado Springs. Then he’d be off again, to parts unknown on some new mission, under some new name. He had to, it was his only choice. Because regardless of what they still meant to each other, there were still too many reasons that kept them apart.

  After they’d rested and eaten, they traveled the remainder of the day then stopped for the night. Snake removed two small tents from the back of the Jeep and a few blankets. Emily stared at the tents that looked barely big enough for one, let alone two, and wondered if Peter would join her in the tent or sleep with Snake in the Jeep. She’d opened her heart to him and had hoped he could see how sorry she was—she’d hoped he’d be able to forgive her.

  She pushed the disappointment out of her mind. She needed to let herself trust Peter to do what was right by her, and she needed to put her faith back in God. If they were supposed to be together then she would have to trust God to bring him back to her. To keep them safe. She jumped as some creature screamed in the night. Easier said than done, she realized.

  She crawled into the small tent and thought about what Peter had said about seeking the Lord and finding him. Deep down in her heart she knew his words were true. She knew that’s what she had to do.

  She closed her eyes and prayed, asking God to forgive her for her broken promises, and for all the mistakes she’d made and all the ones she’d make in the future. Because she wasn’t perfect and she was still learning, and still hoping that she’d be able to give her heart completely to God and to Peter, and to trust that they would both be there for her. It was a huge leap of faith, but one she wanted with all her heart to take.

  “Please Lord, watch after us this night, and keep a special eye on Rosalia and her sweet baby.” As the child entered her mind, a bittersweet ache filled her. He was so small and precious. She’d never forget the joy that filled her the instant he came into the world. He was everything she had always wished for. And more. “Someday, Lord, please give Peter and I a child of our own. It’s what I long for, what I want more than anything in the world.”

  The next morning, she sat up and listened for the sound of Peter’s voice, suddenly afraid that something had happened to him, that Baltasar had found them. She heard him talking softly to Snake and relief filled her. She sighed; somehow they’d have to find a way to make it safely through another day.

  She climbed out of the tent and checked on Rosalia and her baby.

  “How is she doing?” Snake asked.

  “A little better. She’s healing and the bleeding has slowed, but I’m afraid she’s getting an infection.”

  “Is there anything you can do?”

  “Not without antibiotics. We’ll have to get her to a hospital as soon as we can.”

  Snake nodded. They had a quick meal from the few items that Snake had brought, then Rosalia fed her baby. Emily couldn’t help smiling as she watched the baby nursing. “He’s such a good baby. He didn’t even wake me last night.”

  “He fed three times,” Rosalia said proudly.

  “Have you decided on a name?”

  “I’m going to call him Manuel after my father.”

  Snake’s face broke into a pleased grin.

  “That’s a wonderful name,” Emily said.

  Peter sat next to her. “You about ready?”

  She didn’t think she could ever be ready to face what this day would bring. She plastered a grin on her face and said, “Bring it on.”

  Chapter Eleven

  Four hours later, Emily leaned back in the seat and closed her eyes. She hated the jungle. From her small window in the back of the Jeep, she found herself peering through the dense foliage. She saw something large moving through the trees, but couldn’t tell what it was, or if it presented a threat. But she was thankful they were in a vehicle, and though it wasn’t moving fast, it was obviously moving fast enough.

  She was tired of feeling afraid. She felt raw, emotionally and physically. She’d been here too long, felt too many extreme emotions from hope to fear to heartache. Everything was too real here, too harsh.

  Rosalia had been quiet too long and Emily didn’t care for the fine sheen covering her skin or the pallor of her face. “Are you feeling okay, Rosalia?”

  “Sí, señorita. I’m just hot.”

  “Me, too.” This jungle was a miserable place—hot, sticky, buggy. She had bites on her bites. What she wouldn’t give to be back in Colorado Springs. “How much farther until we get there?” she asked, growing impatient.

  “Soon,” Snake said. “I’m taking you to the village of a friend of mine and Rosalia’s.” He said something in Spanish and Rosalia nodded, smiling. “We’ll have lunch, then I’m going to leave you three there while Peter and I check out the lab.”

  Emily nodded. She didn’t like the idea of being left in a strange village with people she didn’t know, but she’d rather be there than at Baltasar’s lab. She didn’t want to be anywhere near that man or anything of his ever again.

  “We should be back by nightfall,” Peter added.

  “What if you’re not?” Emily asked.

  “Then my friend will get you and Rosalia to a hospital in Colombia,” Snake said.

  “But we will be back. Trust that, Em. Snake and I—” Peter looked at Snake “—we’re both real good at what we do. We won’t take any unnecessary risks.”

  “Promise?” she asked.

  “Sí,” they both said in unison.

  Emily smiled. “You two are starting to sound like partners.”

  “Bite your tongue,” Peter mumbled, and turned to look out his window.

  Emily sighed. Another day and this whole nightmare would be over. She looked up in expectation as signs of a village nestled among the trees and vines came into view. Chickens and children and an occasional pig roamed the street. Enchanted by the scene and anxious to get out of the Jeep, Emily opened the door as soon as the vehicle pulled to a stop in a clearing in front of a row of small huts.

  One of the children came forward. He was smiling and appeared to be excited by their presence. “Are you an American?” he asked, in halting English.

  Emily nodded. “I am. What is your name?”

  He smiled shyly. “Carlos.”

  “Hello, Carlos.” Emily turned and watched Snake help Rosalia, with her arms around Manuel, out of the Jeep and walk her toward a small thatched house. Peter, too, got out and stretched his long arms toward the sky. He looked over at her talking to the boy and smiled, a devastatingly handsome smile that took firm hold of her heart and gave it a fierce tug.

  “Are you the lady doctor?” Carlos asked.

  Emily turned back to him. “Yes, how did you know that?”

  A troubled look came over his face as if he’d said something he shouldn’t have and suddenly Emily knew how he knew. Fear slammed into her. She turned, and from the corner of her eye saw a man in a Jeep parked just off the road hidden in the trees.

  “Peter!” she screamed, and it seemed as though her voice echoed through the trees, reverberating through the jungle. Peter turned, but it was too late. The man was standing, holding some kind of huge weapon on his shoulder. A big grin split his dirty brown face. The world stopped as she watched him fire the device. Something shot through the air and impacted with the Jeep, lifting it off the ground.

  The Jeep exploded into a huge fireball. A wave of heat knocked her off her feet and se
nt her flying. She hit the ground hard, tumbling end over end. She heard the boy screaming, and tried to find him through the thick smoke. Glass and chunks of burning metal fell all around her. She spotted him and crawled over the boy, then curled up into a ball, and covered him with her body, trying to protect him as well as she could.

  Stars swam before her eyes. Acrid smoke filled her nose. She lay there for a minute trying to comprehend what happened, trying to determine how badly hurt she was, but everything ached, and a high-pitched sound rang through her ears. The boy was silently weeping. “Are you okay?” she asked. She looked him over, but other than a few bumps and scratches, he appeared to be fine. He glanced behind her, his eyes growing wide, then he jumped up and ran away.

  What had he seen?

  She was afraid to look. She could feel the heat from the burning Jeep at her back, could hear the screams and panic of the villagers as they ran out of their homes and disappeared into the jungle.

  But she did look. She forced herself to turn and stare at the burning wreckage of their vehicle. Emotion overwhelmed her.

  Peter.

  Her stomach turned. She couldn’t think, couldn’t stand, couldn’t find the strength to approach the Jeep and prove to herself that Peter was safe. That, by some miracle of God, he had survived the explosion.

  Suddenly, shots were being fired. She looked back and saw Snake running toward her. The man with the dirty face had dropped the gun that was big enough to blow up Jeeps and was pointing a rifle directly at her. “No!” she cried, but she couldn’t seem to make herself move.

  As if stuck in a dream, she watched Snake stop and level his gun, firing a direct hit. The man collapsed to his knees. Crimson blood saturated his shirt, then he hit the ground face first, falling on the gun. The next thing she knew, Snake had her by the waist, was lifting her up and pulling her toward the burning Jeep.

  “No,” she cried. “I can’t…Peter.” She couldn’t see him like that. God help her, she couldn’t handle it.

  They rounded the burning vehicle; about twenty feet away Peter was lying on the ground, his big blue eyes looking directly at her.

  “Oh, Peter!” She ran to his side and dropped to her knees. “How’d you get away?”

  He gave her a goofy smile. “Saw it coming, jumped.”

  Relieved laughter bubbled in her throat. She turned to Snake as tears slid down her cheek. “He jumped.”

  Snake’s eyes narrowed.

  Emily turned back to Peter. His eyes drifted closed and his head flopped to one side. Fear and hopelessness grabbed hold of her heart and, for a moment, she felt dizzy with it. Oh, God, no. Peter’s hand fell away from his shoulder, and she could see blood soaking through his shirt and running down his chest. A large piece of twisted metal stuck out of his shoulder.

  Emily gritted her teeth. She knew what she had to do. With trembling fingers, she reached for the metal.

  Snake crouched next to her. “Your bag was in the Jeep, along with the phone, food and all our supplies.”

  “Can you find me anything? Water? Bandages? Towels?” She tried to sound calm and professional, but at the moment it was taking all the control she had not to break down and collapse. Snake nodded and ran toward the small thatched houses. Emily focused on the metal and tried not to think about the fact that this was Peter’s shoulder, Peter’s blood all over her hands.

  Gently, she eased the metal out of his shoulder.

  “Hey,” Peter yelled, coming to.

  She quickly applied pressure over the wound to stop the bleeding.

  Snake came running up carrying bandages, towels, water and whiskey. Before Emily could say a word, he poured the alcohol over Peter’s wound.

  Peter howled in protest. Emily shoved gauze against the wound and taped it to his skin. She placed a towel over it and brought Peter’s hand to the wound. “Apply constant pressure.”

  He stared at it and nodded.

  “We have to go,” Snake said. “News of this will get out and others will be coming soon.”

  “But how?” Emily said, and gestured toward their burning Jeep.

  Peter nodded toward the attacker’s Jeep. “We’ll just have to borrow his. It doesn’t look like he’ll need it.”

  Emily had to agree with that. “What about Rosalia? Are you going to leave her here with your friends?”

  “My friend was gone. His wife and daughters, too.”

  Emily was afraid to ask. “Not dead?”

  “No.”

  But Emily could read the concern in his eyes. Before she could comment further, Snake put an arm under Peter’s shoulder and lifted him up. Peter winced, but stood. After they got him settled in the front of the Jeep, she picked up the massive gun that had done so much damage and got ready to heft it into the jungle.

  “Hey, that’s a grenade launcher. Bring that over here,” Peter protested.

  “You’re not serious.”

  “Absolutely. And get his rifle, too.”

  “But he’s holding it.”

  “So?”

  Emily looked at the man lying in the dirt. “He’s dead.”

  “I hope so. I wouldn’t ask you to pry it out of his hands if he wasn’t.”

  Emily shuddered. “We’ll wait for Snake to do that.”

  “Suit yourself.” Peter leaned back against the seat and closed his eyes.

  Snake and Rosalia came hurrying up as fast as they could. Emily held the baby and helped her into the Jeep, while Snake retrieved the rifle. Within minutes, they were on the road again, traveling as fast as they could through the jungle. Emily sighed and settled back into the seat. “Looks like we’re going with you to the lab,” she muttered.

  “Let’s just hope we make it there before Baltasar discovers what happened,” Snake said.

  “Why’s that?”

  “It would be better if he didn’t find out how close we are to his lab, or he’ll be waiting for us when we get there.”

  Emily had a feeling he’d be waiting for them anyway. They hadn’t traveled very long, perhaps forty-five minutes or an hour, when the Jeep began to sputter. “What is it?” she asked, not liking the sound one bit.

  “We’re running out of gas,” Snake muttered.

  Emily looked at the dense jungle around them. “Don’t say that.” Don’t even think that.

  He let the Jeep drift to a stop.

  “What are we going to do?” Emily groaned.

  “Hold on and I’ll check the jerry can.” Snake got out of the Jeep and walked around back. He unlatched the large red gas can and shook it. Then he threw it against the ground.

  Emily jumped.

  “It’s dry,” he grumbled.

  “How can it be dry? It’s not like there are gas stations in the jungle. What was that man thinking?”

  “Obviously he wasn’t planning on going far.”

  “Either that or he planned to get gas from someone in the village.” Emily got out and walked around the Jeep to Peter’s side and opened the door. He was sleeping soundly. She gave him a gentle shake. “Peter, wake up.”

  “What is it?”

  “We’re out of gas. We have to go back to the village to get more.”

  “What?” Peter climbed out of the Jeep. “How long have we been driving?”

  “Not long enough,” Snake said. “There’s still a good ten miles until we reach the lab.”

  Ten miles. The bottom dropped out of Emily’s stomach.

  “We’re going to have to walk,” Snake said, and grabbed some gear out of the back of the Jeep.

  “Rosalia and I will wait here with the baby,” Emily said practically.

  Snake’s eyebrows rose in surprise. “We’re all going together.”

  Outraged, Emily turned to Peter. He shrugged, winced, and then checked his bandage. “The bleeding’s stopped.”

  “We can’t go with you!” Emily protested and stared back down the pothole-ridden dirt road they had just traveled.

  “If you stay here, there’s a g
ood chance you’ll be shot to death. Which do you prefer?”

  Emily stared at him while his words sunk in. “All right,” she relented, but she didn’t understand why they all needed to trudge back to the village just to get gas. She turned to help Rosalia out of the Jeep. The poor woman looked exhausted. “Come on, Rosalia. It’s not too far.”

  Snake pushed the Jeep off the road and through some trees, then continued up the road.

  “Hey, where are you going?” Emily demanded. “The village is that way.” She gestured behind them.

  “There is no one there that can or will help us. No one goes against El Patrón.”

  “But surely you can get more gas there, or even another Jeep?”

  “Don’t count on it. Besides, by the time we’d get there the place would be swarming with opportunists wanting to wipe out the American lady doctor who killed El Patrón’s son.”

  Emily blanched. “Surely you don’t mean that we’re going to walk the rest of the way to Colombia through the jungle?”

  Snake didn’t answer. Didn’t even turn to look.

  “Peter!” She was shrieking. She could hear it in her tone. But she didn’t care.

  “Sorry, Em,” Peter said, as he trailed after Snake. “We’ve got to get to the lab. Trust me, we want to get there before nightfall.”

  “Lady, you can do whatever you want,” Snake called. “Pietro and I have an arrangement, and if that means walking the next ten miles through the jungle to do it, then that’s what we’re going to do. Take it or leave it.”

  And here she actually thought she was beginning to like that man.

  “As if I have any choice,” she yelled back.

  “You don’t. So if you don’t mind zipping it, I’d appreciate it.”

  “Oh, gee thanks. Consider me zipped,” Emily grumbled as she trailed farther behind them. She couldn’t get over him. Over Peter! Bewilderment filled her as she stared at him. Wasn’t he just lying on the ground bleeding all over the place? Now he wanted to walk ten miles through the jungle. Surely there must be a better way. But as she stared at him, she realized that even without his long hair he looked right at home here in the jungle. In fact, he looked to be in his element.