by Nancy Burkey
Jane shook her head. Paul might have a good point, but she was getting tired of his attitude. Her eye twitched slightly as she watched the river cascade down from the west just beyond the jetty. Two more days of serious rapids, then the rest was supposed to be a calm, scenic float. She could hardly wait.
Paul leaned over and picked up a small, smooth rock. “If I knew what this river was really like, I probably would’ve pulled Tommy out of here when Lorenzo first seemed nervous about the girl.” He turned the stone over in his right hand a few times, then sent it skipping across the water. Jane watched it disappear into the river.
“She’s doing okay.” Jane felt for Shelly. It must be difficult for a young woman to break into this business, with so many men out of work these days.
“My guess is he hadn’t allowed much wiggle room.” Rick had his arm around Jane but was speaking to Paul. “When he got sideswiped with that change, he had to make a snap decision—either go with the flow or cancel the trip. He’s probably been biting his nails the whole time and must be relieved to have reached this beach.”
They arrived at the jetty and had just turned to head back when Jane startled—she could see a raft off in the distance coming toward them. They hadn’t seen any others for two days, and she’d expected to be alone the rest of the trip. She’d been enjoying her fantasy of being explorers in a wild land, and these newcomers reminded her that this was a popular site for rafting.
“I guess tourist season isn’t as low as we’d thought,” Paul said.
Jane didn’t respond, she was starring at the approaching men. Rick moved around her to get a closer view of the boat, but remained behind one of the larger boulders.
“Isn’t that the guy we saw at the airport? The guy who was talking to our driver?” Rick kept his voice low.
“Yeah.” Jane squinted. “And the other one was at the airport too.”
“Oh, that’s right,” Paul said. “I remember them.”
“You saw the other guy at the airport too?” Rick asked. “What was he doing? Did he come in on the arrivals?”
“How should I know?” Paul said. “He was just standing on the other side of the terminal, leaning against the counter, smoking a cigarette.”
Rick stared at Jane.
“I don’t think he came off a plane,” she said. “He wasn’t carrying any luggage. Maybe he was meeting somebody. No, wait.” She thought for a moment. “The first guy said he was taking a rafting trip, with his cousin and a friend.” She watched as the two men maneuvered the last small rapid before slowing down near their beach site. “I guess the friend bailed.”
They watched the raft pull up to shore. The taller African, the one who’d introduced himself as Thabani, got out and pulled onto the sandbank. Shelly had been cooking about fifty yards from the shore while the tents were being assembled behind her. She put down her pan and approached the men.
Lorenzo, Baruti, and the boys had finished setting up the tents and were inside the guide’s quarters. They were supposed to be arranging the rudimentary bedding, but Jane could hear noises more consistent with wrestling.
“May I help you?” Shelly called out loudly. “We’ve got this site, but there’s another one just around the bend.” She wiped her hands on her khaki pants and headed toward the shore.
“Are your guides around?” Thabani yelled.
“I’m one of the guides. Do you need something?”
“Let’s keep walking,” Paul said. “I need to stretch my legs and don’t feel like socializing with the new campers.”
Shelly was close enough to the visitors now for them to be speaking too low for Jane. But just before she was about to turn away, Jane looked back. Thabani had reached out his hand to Shelly as if to shake it, then suddenly grabbed her forearm and wheeled her around with her arm twisted behind her back. And for just a split second, Jane spotted his gun.
The younger African who had pulled their raft up onto shore reached into the boat and quickly removed a rifle he concealed under his large water poncho. She looked up toward the tents and her kids. She wasn’t close enough to reach the camp before these armed men would get there.
Jane looked behind her. The low-lying sun was positioned just above the edge of the western jetty creating a glare in their direction—it might be impossible for the new arrivals to have seen her and the men, even if they’d looked this way.
Without a word, Paul nudged Rick’s arm. He motioned toward the jungle trail to the south. They began sidestepping behind the scattered trees above the beach, their eyes fixed on Shelly and the two Africans.
Suddenly, a burst of laughter exploded from the guide’s tent. The kids were playing, unaware of what was happening outside. Above all the voices, Jane heard Jake’s boyish, high-pitched laugh. She froze.
Rick caught her eye and motioned for her to keep moving toward the jungle.
Every instinct she had told her to run to the tent, to try to escape with the boys, get them out. But it was too late. The trio was heading straight toward the tent and would get there before she could. The boys’ laughter had already identified their location–even if she got the Africans’ attention with some self-sacrificing ploy, it would only delay the inevitable. Jane bit her lower lip. She’d have to leave her children. She had to first get herself, Rick, and Paul out of reach from these gunmen, then she’d make a plan. Maybe they’d try to make it through the trees for help, maybe they’d split up. How could she leave the boys alone in this situation? Desperately, miserably, she kept moving toward the jungle.
“Stop right there, Senator.” The thick African accent was unmistakable.
When they turned around they were blinded by the sun’s glare behind a bulky black figure twenty yards down the beach. He lifted his rifle, aimed it at Rick’s forehead, and took several steps toward them.
“Keep walking straight ahead, slowly, behind the tent, and don’t speak or I’ll shoot.”
“Found some strays, Zuka?” Thabani reached the dining tent. The inhabitants had suddenly gone quiet.
Lorenzo emerged alone from the tent.
“Thabani, hey—sorry, man, this site’s taken.” He reached out his hand in greeting. It was then that he noticed Shelly. “Hey!” Lorenzo yelled. “What’s going on? Let her go!”
That was all Baruti needed to hear—he crawled on all fours out the back of the tent. He stood up, only to face Jane and the others being held at gunpoint. Zuka had shifted his gun to point at Baruti, careful to keep an eye on the others. He marched them around to the front of the tent to join Thabani.
“Actually, Lorenzo my friend, I’m taking this site,” Thabani said, “and all of you with it.”
CHAPTER 10
With one quick move Thabani shoved Shelly toward the guide’s tent. He aimed the pistol at Lorenzo.
“You’re expendable now, so don’t try anything stupid.” There were no traces of his broad friendly smile and warm eyes. He looked at Lorenzo with the kind of stiff coldness that hints at a deep-seated rage, ready to act out at the slightest provocation. “Call Andrew out.” His hand trembled. “Now.”
Lorenzo squinted. His eyes darted, unfocused, back and forth on the ground. He glanced up at Thabani.
“Is this about—”
“Now.” Thabani looked inside the tent flap. “Get out here.”
Jane’s breathing stopped while she watched Thabani’s gun waving carelessly in the direction of her kids. They filed out of the tent in silence. Michael glanced at Jane and kept himself between Jake and the guns.
“Where is he?” Thabani said. He searched inside the now empty canvas room.
“We never take four on a group this size, you know that.” Lorenzo stood solid. He refused to look at the gun pointed at his chest. “If it’s Andrew you want, you’ve come a long way for nothing. He’s back at Vic Falls with a fever.”
Jane’s focus was on the young man with steel-gray eyes who stood in the background. She remembered him vaguely from the airport. His face w
as expressionless except for his wrinkled forehead. His rifle, pointed at the ground, hung loosely from his grip.
Thabani laughed. “You think you know everything, don’t you, Lorenzo? Well you’ve got this one wrong. This is much more important than—”
Zuka cleared his throat and stared without blinking at Thabani, who shifted his feet.
“I don’t have to explain anything to you, Lorenzo. Now you, Baruti, and the girl get back inside the guide tent. Start walking.” He didn’t take his eyes—or the pistol—off Lorenzo. “Japera, tie these three up inside. Make sure they can’t get loose.”
“No.” Zuka’s voice was commanding. They all stopped and stared. “Japera, take just Lorenzo and the girl inside. Baruti stays with us. I want them split up for now. Even if the other two try to escape, they can’t make it anywhere alive without Baruti. We need to keep him close—he’s already shown us he’d run out on his friends if given half a chance.”
Jane glanced from one to the other. Who was the leader?
A look of annoyance passed quickly over Thabani’s face. He stammered as he said, “We can use him to set up the equipment before sunset. Good idea.” He nodded as if congratulating himself on this fine plan. “Go ahead, Japera, take the other two.” Japera and the others had already disappeared inside the tent. “We’ll need to eat and get some sleep before we take off in the morning.” Thabani eyed the equipment raft still loaded with supplies.
“Take off?” Paul asked.
Zuka made a clicking noise with his tongue and stepped between Thabani and the others. “Just sit here where we can watch you.” His forefinger remained on the trigger of the gun. Not that it was pointed at anybody specifically, but the threat to anyone who went against his orders was clear enough.
Jane sat down immediately next to Baruti. He’d managed to fold his large body into a small compact area on the ground. His head was lowered—even his breathing was undetectable. She pulled Jake down close to her. Rick motioned for Michael to sit next to his brother. Michael hesitated a moment. He looked from Zuka to Thabani, then down at his brother. He lowered himself and sat in front of Jake.
“Move over, in a line.” Thabani took a step forward. “I want to be able to see you all, no one’s sneaking off.”
Michael scooted over, but only an inch or two. Jake was now visible, barely. Rick sat down next to Michael, the adults book-ending the kids.
Paul continued to stand, hands on hips, eyes fixed on Zuka. Paul’s stance and stocky build conveyed a picture of a man who was used to his physical presence dominating most situations.
A broad grin spread across Zuka’s face. His gun shifted in his grip so that the weight rested between the side of his body and the base of his palm, his fingers caressing it slowly. Jane’s attention was drawn to Tommy. The boy had moved almost unnoticed to his father’s side. He looked back and forth between the two men, watched their silent standoff without calling attention to himself. When he glanced at the family of four who sat on the dirt not far from them, Jane sensed his yearning, but Tommy made no move to abandon his father. He reached up and put his hand on his father’s forearm.
Paul glanced at his son and motioned for him to sit, but Tommy didn’t let go of his father’s arm—just stared into his eyes. The boy blinked several times, his lip quivering. Paul shrugged. He lowered himself and they sat together on the other side of Rick.
Zuka stepped back and looked at each of them in turn before he motioned for Thabani to go with him several yards away where they could talk without being heard.
Jane studied the beach to the west where they had walked earlier, before all the trouble started. There would be no way to climb quickly over that boulder-strewn jetty. Even if they could run fast enough up the beach before the gunfire started, the rocks were too big for swift ascent. The east end was bordered by a matching rock jetty with steeper cliff-like boulders that fell off precipitously into the river—even more difficult to climb than the west end, and leading nowhere.
She looked to the south and eyed the overgrown trail that she, Rick, and Paul had attempted to reach before Zuka caught them. How far was it until they could reach the deserted lodge? And then? Whatever it was, it was better than here.
Paul sighed loudly. “Now what?” he whispered.
Jane glanced at their two captors, out of earshot and engaged in their own low-toned conversation.
Rick leaned toward Jane. “What do you think this is about?”
“I don’t know, but right now it doesn’t matter.” Jane spoke softly and kept her head facing forward. “What we need is a plan to get out.”
“Probably has something to do with that Andrew guy,” Michael whispered. “The tall one seemed intent on finding him.”
Baruti looked up and was about to speak when Paul’s foot began to shake.
“We’ve got to do something.”
Jake’s eyes lit up. “Maybe now that they know he’s not here, they’ll just leave us alone.”
“Because life’s just like that,” Paul said, who was watching Zuka. “They’re just about to say ‘Excuse us, folks, sorry to frighten you with the guns, we’ll just be on our way if you—’”
“Leave the kids alone.” Jane kept her voice low but intense. “This isn’t any easier on them than it is on you. In any case I don’t think this has anything to do with Andrew. The younger guy didn’t seem to know anything about whatever the tall one was talking about. There’s something else going on.”
Paul looked in every direction, paused, and stared into the jungle. He shook his head, then gazed intently across the river. “Someone has to escape.”
Jane saw Michael look over his shoulder—judge the distance to get over the jetty.
“Michael, it’s taller than it looks, we were just out there. And anyway…” She glanced away from him. “Maybe Rick’s right, if we knew their motive, it could tell us—”
“Jane.” This time Paul raised his voice loud enough for Zuka and Thabani to both look over for a moment before resuming their conversation. He lowered his voice, but the bitter edge sharpened. “We need to come up with a plan, now!”
Rick cleared his throat. “Why do you think he called me ‘senator’?”
“What?” Michael glanced at Rick. “But you’re not—”
“Right,” Jane studied Rick a moment. “But that’s what they think,” she whispered. “And that’s what’s important. It’s what the big guy said when he caught us. It must mean something.” Her mind was racing. What could they want? “I just don’t know if it’d be better for us if they knew the truth or not. Could make it worse.” She tried to scan their faces, but her eyes kept landing on the guns. “We’ll leave it alone for now.”
Paul’s eyes darted toward the raging river, then back to the trail.
“Even if one of us got away,” Jane said, “we’d have to figure out how to get help. None of us knows our way.”
“One of us does.” Rick turned to Baruti.
Paul sat up. “Baruti, if you and I made it down that path, could you get us to a town?”
“Dad, how are we going to get away? They’re watching our every move.” Paul put his arm around his son and pulled him in tightly. Tommy’s face fell, his eyes widened. “No, dad, you can’t leave me here.” His last words were muffled, spoken into his father’s chest.
“Look, Tommy, you have to stay with Jane so I can get help. I’ll be back as fast as I can, trust me on this one.” He rubbed his son’s head, helped him hide the tears. “Timing will be everything.”
Jane glanced down the row at Rick. He was staring straight ahead. She studied the lines on his face. He looked intensely thoughtful, focused. Still, she found her own thoughts wandering to her ex-husband. Glenn was so decisive, so powerful, so ultimately bossy and overwhelming. But right now she could use some of that strength.
She followed Rick’s gaze. Thabani and Zuka had walked over to Baruti’s raft, which sat hoisted up several yards from the shoreline. Zuka kept his capt
ives in his watch at all times, while Thabani looked over the equipment and removed some of the items. Then suddenly he took out his knife and slashed the air tubes of the equipment raft. Jane winced.
“They’re not taking us any farther down the river.”
“So we’ll just have to leave before they do,” Paul said.
Jane glanced over at the jungle and shook her head. “No, they may have others waiting at the other end. You could be walking right into a trap.”
Paul tightened his jaw. “Got any better ideas?”
She looked over at the rocky jetties at both ends, then back at the Zambezi. “Crossing the river is the only option,” she whispered.
Paul studied the river for a long moment. “I think I can get across before being drawn down near the crocs,” he said finally. “How about you, Baruti?”
“No,” Rick said. “I’ll cross the river with Baruti.”
“What?” Paul reared around so fast that he knocked Tommy over. “What makes you think—”
“I raced in college, I’ve been swimming three or four times a week ever since. Unless you’re in better condition, I’m taking the river. We’ve only got one chance.” He didn’t wait for Paul’s reply. “Can you swim, Baruti?”
Baruti hesitated. “I’ll get across.”
Rick studied the African for a moment, then looked back at the river. “You start as far up as possible where it’s narrowest—close to the western jetty. I’ll cross below you.”
“Rick,” Jane said, “there’s—”
“I know what’s in there, Jane. I’ll just have to make it across fast.” He looked into her eyes, then glanced at the boys. “We don’t have a lot of choices.”
Jane watched Thabani pull supplies out of the shredded rafts. Zuka kept his eyes on them at a distance. “You’ll need a distraction,” she said. “Something to pull their attention away so you can get to the river edge unnoticed.”
“Hey, Baruti,” Thabani called out, “get over here and help unload the food.”
Baruti immediately got up and walked to the raft near the shore. Jane couldn’t hear the instructions she could tell Thabani was giving him. Baruti reached into the deflated raft and pulled out two large dry bags. It was then that Jane noticed him lift his head. He studied the shoreline on the opposite side of the river, then fixed his eyes on the furthest shore before it disappeared around the river’s bend. From Jane’s angle, sitting several yards away, it was only a shadow, could have blended with the rocks, until it moved.