Pleasantries were always spoken, generosities extended. It was the life he’d been born to live, and despite it all, one man didn’t have the decency to yield to him: Gideon Barnes.
With back-to-back meetings, William had no time to follow up with Daniel on his progress in securing a private investigator to track the mysterious explorer. His day was occupied with other matters. Political grandstanding took up a great deal of his energy, and Hartman had brought up Gideon’s no-show again. Everything from that point had turned to shit, and it was beyond fixing at this point. He had tried.
He had attempted to find solace in the sanctuary of his home office last night. But after Matthew had come to him with his last-minute expedition, it was impossible. The boy had no set schedule at all.
William wasn’t blind to the fact that his son preferred to live his life that way. Flying by the seat of his pants, as the saying goes. He didn’t have any responsibilities pinning him down. If Matthew had only married Robyn years ago, William would have grandchildren by now and Matthew would have stability. But, again, that’s not what his son wanted.
A trace thought of envy over his son’s freedom appeared and was dismissed just as quickly. William required grounding to remain focused. The opposite of order was disorder.
Walking into his house at eight thirty, Daniel greeted him with a smile.
“Good evening, sir.” Daniel took William’s coat and draped it over his arm.
“You tell me if it is.” Only a few words were needed for Daniel to get the implication.
“I have hired an investigator to find Gideon Barnes.”
“His name?”
“Justin Scott.”
“And you trust his work ethic and discretion?”
“Certainly, sir. I’m not sure if we’ll need his services, however.” Daniel reached into his pocket and extended him an envelope. “It is from Gideon Barnes.”
William accepted it. It was the size of a greeting card. “Gideon?”
“Yes, sir. He stopped by today. He was awfully regretful that he had missed you.”
“You should have sent him to my office.”
“I did call, but you were in a meeting at the time.”
William maintained eye contact with his servant as he slipped his thumb under the seal. He wasn’t impressed with Daniel. The man was aware of how badly William wanted to meet Gideon. And for the money he shoveled Gideon’s way, waiting around for a meeting to end shouldn’t have sent him on his way. Surely he could have waited for a few minutes. An hour or more, even.
William read the sentiment, a brief and impersonal thank-you, at best. It wasn’t that he required some touching piece, but this only fanned his fuming anger. “I assume he’s in the city for a while.”
“Um, actually, sir…”
William waved the card in Daniel’s face. “This is utterly ridiculous and unacceptable.”
“You said that if—”
His glare quieted his employee. He clearly recalled what he had said: all that he needed was an acknowledgment. Yet to receive a card so soon after the gala struck him as a mocking gesture. And that was to say nothing of the fact that Gideon showed up so soon after the event.
“You make sure that Justin Scott gets on this right away. I want to know where Gideon lives. I want to know where he’s going to be before he knows where he’s going to be. Do you understand?”
“Yes, sir.”
“All right, then.” He pressed the card to Daniel’s chest before turning to leave. He was surrounded by idiots. And apparently, he funded them, too.
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Chapter 24
MATTHEW HATED HIS WORDS FROM the other night, the ones that expressed his true feelings on this entire scenario. Let’s get it over with.
It wasn’t how he imagined ever feeling about treasure hunting, let alone a discovery of this magnitude.
The sun wasn’t even up yet, and the landscape was covered in darkness. He had woken Cal, and then the two of them headed for Robyn’s room.
The scent of coffee wafted from beneath her door. She was already awake. She always took that portable machine with her. It operated on a small propane tank, making it the caffeine addict’s best friend when roughing it.
Matthew knocked.
“I’m up. I’m up.”
Matthew heard her steps coming toward the door, and then she opened it. Already dressed for the day, she wore beige khakis with a matching long-sleeved shirt. She’d left the first few buttons undone, exposing the curve-hugging white tank she had on underneath.
“Don’t look at me like that, Matthew.” Her eyes flashed to Cal. “Morning.”
“Yep, it is.”
She smirked and shook her head. She spoke to Matthew. “Looks like someone’s not in a good mood.”
Cal interjected. “Do you blame me? My girlfriend is being held against her will and her life is being threatened.”
She watched as Cal helped himself to her coffee, but she didn’t say anything about it. “You’re right,” she said in a serious tone. “The situation sucks, but somehow, we have to stop letting it get to us. Otherwise, it will weigh us down and blind us.”
Cal set down the small cup. “I wish I could turn it off like that.”
“Matt, will you help me out here?”
He wished he could, but he was at a loss for words. While he had a feeling he knew where she was going with this, he was having a hard time detaching from how Cal must’ve felt. But they were all friends with Sophie, even Robyn. He had heard that the women had shared a bottle of wine on more than one occasion.
“Sophie and I are friends, Cal,” Robyn reminded him.
“Well, you’re not acting like you’re too upset about all this.”
“What am I supposed to do? Sulk and be grumpy about it? We need to keep our heads for Sophie. We’re not going to succeed in saving her if we don’t.”
Her speech resulted in her and Cal locking eyes. Seconds passed in silence before Cal nodded.
Matthew noticed the dark bruise on Cal’s nose. At least it wasn’t broken.
Robyn glanced from Cal to Matthew. “All right, let’s do this. For Sophie.”
Matthew witnessed it then, the sorrow that lay buried within her eyes. Her portrayed strength was for Cal’s benefit, for Matthew’s benefit, and maybe even for her own. Whether the courage was genuine mattered little. It was enough to latch onto.
JUAN AND LEWIS TOOK THEM to the river where two motorized canoes sat on the bank.
It had been an hour since Matthew, Cal, and Robyn were in her hotel room mentally preparing themselves—yet again—for this mission.
The early-morning air hung heavy with humidity, hinting that another downpour was possible.
Kevin and Ian were dressed as if they were on a pleasure-camping trip rather than an expedition through the jungle. Their clothing was generic, as if from any random department store, and their bags were just slightly glorified backpacks, like the ones high school students strapped on their backs.
Ian glowered, his mouth set in a tight frown, but his eyes were beady and focused. If it was even possible, he looked more miserable than he’d been the day before. The spot on his jaw where Matthew had cuffed him was a dull red and starting to bruise.
Kevin appeared just as indifferent as yesterday. Like his apparel, he gave no indication that he thought their outing at all risky.
Cal was the first to trudge through the long grass and sit in one of the canoes. Lewis joined him and then so did Kevin.
“Ian, you go with them.” Kevin gestured toward Robyn, Matthew, and Juan.
As the motors rumbled to life, Matthew experienced the buzz of excitement. And so their quest for the City of Gold was underway.
-
Chapter 25
DANIEL HAD WATCHED THE PROOF-OF-LIFE video an hour ago
and didn’t imagine the upset feeling that had settled in his stomach would go away anytime soon. Technology should be used for good, to find cures for diseases, to unite nations, but sadly, it also supported the perils inherent to an imperfect and greedy society. It dispensed knowledge on how to achieve global annihilation, how to build bigger and better weapons. It brought together terrorist networks. And even when science wasn’t taken that far, the Internet was a stomping ground for pedophiles and a hotbed for pornography. He had come across plenty of these sites when carrying out research for expeditions. For the most advanced species on the planet, humans dedicated an awful lot of their resources to extinction.
But today, technology had brought him something new. The video of a frightened young woman being held against her will and forced to talk to the camera. What made it worse was that he knew her.
He connected his phone to his desktop computer and copied the file. He’d have an easier time analyzing background images on the larger monitor. His hand hovered over his mouse as he gathered the courage to watch it all play out again. With a quick blink of his eyes and a deep breath, he clicked “play.”
Sophie appeared to be confined to the bed. Maybe she was strapped to a leg of the bedframe. The headboard had built-in shelving. But with the dim light in the room, it was hard to make out what was on the shelf in much detail. There were picture frames, but the artwork or photographs they held were impossible to see through the reflection on the glass.
He paused the footage and enlarged it. He wasn’t the most technical person, possessing only basic computer and Internet knowledge. He was still learning to use his smartphone. But he’d try for Sophie’s sake. The poor girl.
He took another deep inhale and exhale, detaching himself from the images. This was a movie, not real life, he tried to convince himself. The leading actress just resembled someone he knew.
There, that was better. He felt his heart rate come down and his breathing even out.
He angled his head left, then right, stretching it out, as if by doing so he’d find clarity and the image on-screen would come into focus. And it worked. He noticed a reflection in the glass of one of the frames that revealed a pinpointed light. Probably just the light from the camera phone. It made him realize he’d been thinking about this too hard.
He pulled up the video message on his phone. The sender’s number was blocked.
He gripped his cell tightly. What did he expect? The caller ID to be right there for him?
He turned back to the screen and saw that Sophie was only bound by one wrist. He zoomed out to the video’s natural resolution.
He enlarged the frame he had analyzed seconds earlier in an effort to discern more around the pinpoint of light, but it was just darkness. He let the video play in slow motion next, placing his attention on each corner of the frame. Then he caught a reflection. He hit “pause.”
He angled his head again, this time to the left. His eye caught two shadows. It was difficult to assign them proportions, but one was significantly smaller than the other. And one was a woman.
His left fist balled while his right remained poised over the mouse. He’d bet anything it was Veronica Vincent. He never disliked anyone as much as he did her, especially one he had never met in the flesh. But he had heard enough from Matthew, and what he had failed to tell Daniel, Robyn had filled in. It came down to one summation: Veronica had caused Matthew a lot of pain.
Daniel pulled back from the shot, with nothing striking him as useful in helping him determine Sophie’s location. She could be anywhere in the world.
As he watched the video play through again, his stomach knotted. Any earlier self-advisement to detach was forgotten.
About fifty seconds in, a flash of colored light shone across the room. He rewound the video and watched it again. The source wasn’t from inside the room, but rather, from outside. It wasn’t clear enough to discern anything else, though.
He slumped back in his chair. “Wow, good job narrowing things down, Daniel. The girl’s in a bedroom that has a window.”
-
Chapter 26
ROBYN PULLED OFF HER LONG-SLEEVED shirt and tied it around her waist as she prepared herself mentally, once again, for what lay ahead. There was no way to forget that this wasn’t a vacation. It wasn’t even a fun expedition. Despite being on the verge of a remarkable find, suffocating threats hung over them.
She tried to keep positive, to speak courageously to Cal and Matthew. She sensed that Matthew had seen through her attempts but appreciated her efforts nonetheless.
She sat toward the back of Juan’s canoe. Matthew sat at the front, next was Ian, then her, and finally, Juan. She watched as the gentle breeze, which beckoned a whisper of relief from the heat, teased Matthew’s dark hair. It brought her back to the past when her fingers used to do the teasing. She abruptly stopped the walk down memory lane. Nothing good came from rehashing what had been.
She looked around at the beautiful landscape. Tall grass, grand trees, and all types of flora lined the shore on both sides. Here, the river wasn’t very wide, maybe a hundred feet at the most. The water would have tempted her for a dip if it weren’t for the hazards that lurked everywhere.
Alligators watched lazily from the riverbanks, their eyes like windows to the past. Was it true the species dated back to the dinosaur era, and if so, what had they witnessed?
The boat jerked as it came to a stop and she turned to Juan, who was showing off his toothy grin again. He yelled something to Lewis in Spanish.
“Si,” the man replied.
“What’s going on?” Ian asked.
“We’re grounded,” Juan said.
“What does that mean?”
Juan leaned in toward Robyn. “The guy’s not too bright, is he?” He straightened up. “It means we have to push the boat.”
Her eyes widened. She was just thinking about the water and the— “We have to push the boat?”
“Yes.” Now Juan was giving her a look that questioned her intelligence.
“There’s nothing else that can be done?”
“You stay in the boat, Robyn. The guys have this.” Matthew winked at her and jumped out.
The man had a constitution of steel, but he was also aware of how she didn’t like being treated as if she were fragile. And that wink he’d just pulled…
“I’m fine, thank you,” she said, stepping out of the boat.
“Suit yourself.” Matthew flashed her a dimpled smirk.
She grimaced at him, but the expression met only the back of his head.
Her feet reached the river bottom quickly. She figured it best not to analyze the water or contemplate and imagine what was lying in wait beneath the surface.
The four of them unloaded. Ian was the last to take the plunge. Cal, Lewis, and Kevin also had to get out of their boat.
“What about the alligators?” Ian asked.
“Nah, they won’t hurt you if you don’t bug them. It’s the poisonous jellyfish you have to worry about.” Juan started whistling a tune.
Despite her own fears, she found it amusing how a “tough guy” like Ian could be such a wuss.
-
Chapter 27
IAN CAUGHT THE LOOK THE woman gave him, and he didn’t like it one bit. But it didn’t matter whether he liked it or not. It was impossible to reverse time. If he could, he never would have touched Bolivian soil.
Hell, if he really had the ability to reverse time, he’d have rejected Vincent’s proposal in the first place. This job was more of a headache than the compensation was worth. And it wasn’t as if he was being paid any more to risk his life in the jungle.
It was then that he felt a brushing against his ankles. Instinctively, he stopped moving.
“Move it, Ian!” Kevin barked.
He hated the guy almost as much as he hated this country. But Ian wa
s confident that in a face-off with Kevin, he’d be the victor. And as far as he was concerned, this entire venture only heightened his awareness of self-preservation.
“There’s something touching me,” Ian said, again catching the look in the woman’s eyes and perhaps the hint of a smirk on her lips. The message she sent him, the lack of fear in her, didn’t suit him at all. Somehow, he’d have to establish himself as a killer. But for some reason, being out here had muted what he really was. He was letting his anxiety over the unknown get to him, and that was uncharacteristic. Maybe it was the fact that every bit of this jungle concealed killers. He sensed their eyes on him. He was used to being the hunter, not the prey.
Juan laughed. “It’s probably just a fish.”
Again with the ridicule from this squat man.
Matthew, Gideon, whoever he was, might have made a speech about all of them needing to have one another’s backs, but as far as Ian was concerned, he only had one to worry about: his own.
MATTHEW GLANCED BACK AT ROBYN. She seemed to be moving along without concern. He figured her determination would counterbalance any fear she may have had over being stung by a jellyfish.
“We can probably walk from here.” Juan bobbed his head toward the shore. The riverbank appeared clear of alligators, but it was thick with lush greenery.
“We? You’re joining us?” From what Matthew had understood, their guides were going to bring them to this point and then turn back.
“Sorry, there must have been a misunderstanding. Daniel made it sound as if we would be coming along. We were the ones to fly overhead and take the photos,” Lewis said.
Matthew took in one man and then the next and wondered if he was overreacting. The more people on this expedition the better. With hired guns sent by Vincent, they needed all the help they could get, so at least he’d have two more men on his side.
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