“Sorry,” Chip said.
“Okay everyone, let’s take a break,” Eric said when they had all caught up to where Chip was waiting. He could tell the Taylors desperately needed to take a break.
Anita Taylor was walking arm-in-arm with her husband helping him along. “Don’t stop on my account,” Owen Taylor said. The last thing he wanted to do was to slow them down.
But the sun above them now seemed to be at its strongest and even Eric was feeling the strain. He noticed a small clearing along the side of the road that would offer them some shade. “Let’s rest in the shade for about twenty minutes,” Eric said as he pointed out the location.
Eric pulled the water bottle with the UCLA logo out of his pocket. He knew the water inside would be pretty warm, but at least it was wet. He offered the water bottle to the Taylors first.
“Let everyone else take a drink first,” Owen said. He refused to be a burden to the group.
Eric took a quick swig from the water bottle, but it was just enough to wet his lips. He passed the water bottle to the rest of them in turn who each took a sip. When Emily Davis passed the water bottle to her brother, he just passed it on to the next person.
“I’m good,” Jacob said as he glanced at the Taylors. They had barely drank a third of the contents when Jacob took the water bottle back over to Owen Taylor. “Take as much as you need.”
Owen Taylor drank a couple of mouthfuls and then passed the water bottle to his wife. She refused to drink any water until Jacob encouraged her. “It’s important that you stay hydrated,” he said.
As Eric watched Jacob, he knew that the General would be proud of his son. When Jacob passed the water bottle back to Eric, there was only about two good mouthfuls left. Eric knew that last bit of water would become more and more precious as they continued their journey.
“Do you think it would be best if I went ahead to look for help?” Chip whispered to his brother as they sat in the shade. He didn’t want the Taylors to overhear their conversation.
Eric had been wondering the same thing. “No, I think it’s probably best if we all stay together,” he whispered back. “I’m surprised there hasn’t been a single vehicle go down the road in the entire time we’ve been walking. Once the sun starts to go down, it should cool off a bit and it won’t be so hard on the Taylors.”
But having the sun go down would present them with another problem – the darkness and whatever predators there might be lurking in the forest. Eric felt the gun in his pocket and felt grateful that the doctor had left it for him.
“Okay, let’s go,” Eric said after they had rested for about half an hour. A few clouds were now blocking out the direct sunlight and Eric wondered whether there was a major storm coming.
They were now walking as a group again with Chip leading the way and Eric pulling up the rear. Chip would regularly look back to make sure that he wasn’t going too fast for the others to keep up.
As they walked along the road, Eric had the eerie feeling that they were being watched. The doctor had warned him about some of the predators in the rainforest and he gripped the gun he was carrying in his pocket a little tighter.
Suddenly two men came running out of the bushes alongside the road with their rifles pointed straight at Eric. Eric raised his gun and pointed it directly at one of the men. He wondered if they could see the barrel of the gun shaking as much as he could. He pointed his gun at the second man and then back to the first, not knowing which one he should shoot first, if he could actually pull the trigger at all.
It was only at that point that Eric remembered that he still had the external safety on the gun engaged. He wouldn’t be able to fire now even if he did find the courage.
Suddenly a shot was fired from the other side of the road and Eric fell to the ground. The shooter emerged from the forest with his rifle ready to fire again if necessary.
“Braz 3 team reporting,” the fire team leader said. “One hostile neutralized. Hostages recovered safely.”
“Eric,” Maria screamed as she rushed over to where he had fallen. She could already see the red blood stain growing on Eric’s shirt, on the left side of his chest just below the collar bone. She cradled his head and covered his body with hers. If they were going to try to shoot him again, the bullet would have to go through her to get to him.
Chip came running back down the road to where his brother lay, ignoring the commands of the marine who had fired the shot. The rest of the hostages stood like stones with their hands held in the air.
“Cease fire!” the fire team commander screamed. He was quickly coming to realize that they had shot one of the hostages and not one of the kidnappers. However, the marine who had fired the shot did not lower his rifle until he kicked the handgun away from where it lay beside Eric.
“Braz Team 3 reporting,” the fire team leader said. “Immediate medical assistance required. Location is 22 degrees, 54 minutes south, 43 degrees, 12 minutes west. Immediate medical assistance required.”
Jacob Davis had been around marines his entire life so he knew they were U.S. Marines and that this team had probably been sent by his father. “Why did you shoot him?” he asked the marine who had fired the shot. “He’s not one of the kidnappers. He’s one of the hostages.”
The marine did not respond but the look on his face couldn’t hide the guilt he felt inside. One of the other marines pulled him aside as the team leader knelt beside Eric and applied pressure to his wound.
About a kilometer further ahead on the road, Michael and the two Australians froze in their tracks when they heard the gunshot. They wondered if the kidnappers were still tracking them so they hid in the forest alongside the road.
“What do you think we should do?” Lucas asked.
“I don’t know,” Michael said. They continued to hide in the bushes alongside the road as they thought.
“I think we should hide further back in the forest,” Oliver said after a few minutes. “But we have to make sure we don’t leave a trail that they can follow.” The three of them slowly navigated their way farther away from the road, making sure they didn’t break any branches or leave any sign of a trail.
It was about ten minutes later when they heard the sound of sirens and saw two Brazilian police vehicles go screaming by their location. An ambulance went racing by a few seconds after that. They now wished they had just waited alongside the road so the police would have seen them. They sprinted back toward the road, but the emergency vehicles were already gone. As they peered out of the forest, they could see the flashing lights of the emergency vehicles down the road.
“We should head toward those flashing lights,” Michael said as he led them out of the cover of the forest. “They’ll be able to help us.” As they walked toward the vehicles, they could gradually start to make out the people standing in the road. When Michael recognized Chip, he broke into a full sprint.
“What happened?” Michael asked as he came running up.
“It’s Eric,” Chip said. “He’s been shot.”
“Is he going to make it?” Michael asked as he watched the paramedics load Eric into the back of the ambulance.
The paramedic didn’t really answer the question. “He’s lost a lot of blood,” was all that he said.
*** Chapter 31 ***
“We have an update from Brazil,” Detective Mitchell shouted trying to get everyone to convene back in the meeting room.
When Brian walked into the room, he could already see the TV monitors coming to life showing the feeds from the other locations. The feed from Brazil showed the head of the Brazilian police at the microphone but it also showed a few of the hostages in the background.
“Sylvia,” Elizabeth Noble sighed in relief as she saw her daughter on the TV screen. “Thank God you’re still alive.”
“We’d like to report that we’ve found the hostages,” the Brazilian police chief said. The TV camera then panned to show each of their faces. Jamie and Sarah felt grateful when they saw t
heir parents, the Taylors, appear on the TV screen, although they were concerned that their father was sitting in a wheelchair with heart monitors on his chest and an IV in his arm. Hilary Davis was relieved when she saw Jacob and Emily standing behind the Taylors. Kevin and Lisa Porter hugged each other and shuddered in relief when they saw their son Michael.
“Thank you for paying the ransom for our parents,” Jamie Taylor said to Brian, but he wasn’t sure Brian was listening.
Even though he wasn’t a religious man, Brian held his hands in prayer waiting to see the faces of his sons appear on the screen. He thought his prayers had been answered when he saw Chip standing beside Michael. But then the camera stopped moving.
“Unfortunately, one of the hostages was shot during the rescue attempt,” the police chief said. Brian didn’t have to wait to hear who had been shot. He felt the life drain from his body. “Eric Baxter is currently in surgery in critical condition,” the police chief continued. “We will give further updates as they become available.”
Suddenly General Davis came racing into the room and headed immediately over to Brian. “I’m so sorry,” the General said.
“What have you done?” Hilary Davis asked.
The General looked at her briefly, but then turned his focus back to Brian. “I have a jet waiting to fly you to Rio,” he said. The General helped Brian gather his things to get ready to leave.
Elizabeth Noble came over and gave Brian a hug. “Thank you so much for saving my Sylvia,” she said. “I hope your son will be alright.” But Brian didn’t really hear her as he’d almost gone completely numb. He didn’t remember racing through the streets of Houston in the General’s car on the way to the airport, nor boarding the plane that the General had commandeered to fly them to Rio. He just stared blindly out of the window during the entire flight.
* * *
“Mr. Baxter,” the General said several hours later as they were beginning their descent into Rio. But Brian didn’t hear him. “Mr. Baxter,” the General said again, this time touching him on his arm. Brian came out of his trance just as the huge “Christ the Redeemer” statue came into view through the window of the plane. He remembered pointing it out to Eric as they had flown into Rio together only days earlier. “Mr. Baxter,” the General continued. “I’ve just received word that your son is out of surgery. They think he’s going to make it.”
When Brian made it to the hospital in Rio, he found Chip sitting in the waiting room along with Michael. He gave Chip an enormous hug holding onto him for what seemed like an eternity. “How is Eric doing?” he asked.
“He’s out of surgery but still in intensive care,” Chip said. “He’s still unconscious and they haven’t let us in to see him yet, but the doctor said he may have got lucky as the bullet went clean through him. But he lost a lot of blood, so they’re not sure.”
Chip helped his father sit down in the chair beside him and Brian rocked back and forth with his hands held in prayer in front of him. As he swayed back and forth, he noticed a trickle of blood down Chip’s leg. “Did you get shot as well?” Brian asked.
Chip had not even realized that his leg was bleeding. “No, I’m okay,” Chip said. “I ripped my leg open on some barbed wire at the compound but the doctor stitched it up.”
Michael grabbed a couple of tissues from a box on the end table and came over to give them to Chip. Chip quickly wiped the little bit of blood off of his leg. “You should be really proud of Eric,” Michael said. “We’d probably all be dead if it wasn’t for him and Maria.” Michael turned toward Maria who was pacing back and forth just outside of the doors to the intensive care ward and waved her over to where they were sitting. “This is Maria,” Michael said.
Brian tried to get up out of his chair to meet her, but it was only then that he realized how wobbly his legs were. Maria grabbed his hand and held him steady as she gave him a hug. “Pleased to meet you sir. I’ve heard so much about you.”
Suddenly the door of the intensive care unit swung open. “He’s awake now,” the nurse said. “He’d like to see you.” They all started toward the door. “Whoa, hold on,” the nurse said. “One at a time and family only.”
“You go first,” Chip said to his father.
Brian slowly walked down the hallway toward Eric’s bed with the nurse leading the way. “You can only stay for a few minutes,” she said. “He’s lost a lot of blood and we thought we were going to lose him there for a while, but he’s a fighter.”
Brian hated being in hospitals and the sight of tubes and blood always freaked him out so he steeled himself for what he was about to see. Despite that, he still wasn’t prepared to see how frail and pale Eric looked. His skin almost had a blue tinge to it and it reminded him of when Eric was born. When he was born, Brian had thought there must have been something wrong because he was so blue, not the pink-skinned baby he was expecting.
“Hi Eric,” Brian said as he touched his hand. He was shocked at how cold Eric’s hand felt.
Eric slowly opened his eyes. “Hi Dad,” Eric said. “I hope I don’t look as bad as you do.” Brian didn’t realize that he looked almost as pale as Eric. “I guess I had you a bit worried, but don’t be concerned, I’m going to be alright.”
As Brian held his son’s hand, you could almost see the colour come back into both of them at the same time. “Is everyone else okay?” Eric asked.
“Yeah, I think so,” Brian replied. “Chip’s got a gash on his leg but it’s been stitched up. He’ll be coming in to see you in a few minutes. They said you’re only allowed to have one visitor at a time.”
“What about Maria?” Eric asked.
“I just met her out in the waiting room. She looked like she was okay. Everyone is worried about you.”
“Was I the only one shot?”
“Yeah, and it turns out you were shot by a bloody U.S. marine who got a little trigger-happy.”
“Jacob and Emily had always said their dad would be sending the marines to rescue us, “Eric said. “I guess they showed up a bit late but, I didn’t know who they were when they came bursting out of the forest. They probably shot me because I had a gun. I had a feeling that gun was going to hurt me more than help me.”
“It’s not your fault son. I think the General knows that, because he’s the one who flew me back to Rio on a military plane.”
Eric tried to shift in his bed but the movement caused him to wince in pain. “I should go,” Brian said. “Your brother wants to come in to see you.” He gave his son a kiss on the forehead before he left.
“Is he okay?” Chip asked as Brian came through the doors back into the waiting room.
“Yeah, he’s in a lot of pain but I think he’s going to be alright,” Brian said. “You can go see him now.”
Chip headed through the doors into the intensive care ward. Brian could see Maria hovering in the background listening to everything he had said to Chip. “He asked if you were okay,” Brian said to Maria.
“Oh, I’m fine,” Maria said. “He’s the one who got shot. I don’t know why he’d be worried about me.”
Brian smiled at her. Brian was starting to realize that Maria was more than just another hostage. It was only a few minutes later when Chip emerged from the intensive care unit. “He wants to see you,” he said to Maria.
Maria started to head through the doors but was stopped by the nurse. “Sorry, but it’s family members only,” the nurse said. Maria immediately stopped in her tracks.
“She’s part of the family,” Chip said to the nurse. The nurse knew he was lying, but let Maria in anyway and led her to Eric’s bed. As she followed behind, Maria suddenly felt very nervous. She never cried, but she had been crying a lot lately and she tried to wipe the tear stains from her face as she approached the bed. Eric had his eyes closed but opened them immediately when Maria touched his hand.
“You scared me,” Maria said. “I thought I’d lost you.”
“Not going to happen,” Eric said, “although I mig
ht need someone to take care of me for a little while until I’m fully recovered. Do you know anyone who might want the job?”
“Possibly,” Maria said as she pulled back the sheet to see the bandages that covered the hole just under his collar bone. “But that’s a pretty nasty looking wound. You might need someone willing to stay with you around the clock and take care of your every need.”
“I’m pretty sure that’s exactly what I need,” Eric said.
*** Chapter 32 ***
It was about a week later when Eric was deemed to be fit enough to leave the hospital and head back home to Canada. However, before they left the country, the Brazilian police wanted them to identify the suspected kidnappers they had rounded up since the incident. The other hostages had already been through the process, but there had been conflicting information given because the kidnappers had always wore masks or bandanas to cover their faces. The police were now bringing Eric, Chip, Michael and Maria in to see if they could identify the kidnappers. Brian accompanied them because he wasn’t going to head home this time without taking his sons with him.
Michael was the first one led in to view the suspected kidnappers. “Remember, this is one way glass so they can’t see you,” the Brazilian police officer said to Michael. The door opened and ten suspects were led into the room on the other side of the glass. They were all dressed like the kidnappers had been dressed and had bandanas covering the lower parts of their faces. They all looked like kidnappers but Michael knew that some of them were policemen dressed up as kidnappers. Michael studied the eyes of each of the suspects.
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