[2016] Rubbing Stones

by Nancy Burkey

  “Really?” She heard Michael’s voice, muffled by the distance. He was still in the picnic area. “Wow, that’s amazing.”

  The blade was sharp enough to enter the canvas without difficulty, but the sound of the fabric slicing forced her to cut slowly. Zuka and Thabani were in the hut just on the other side and hadn’t been there long enough to be in deep sleep. Finally she had a slice about eighteen inches long. She went back to the corner. Moving up would be louder—it was against the grain of the fabric.

  She was about to extend the slit vertically from the corner when the toe of a boot appeared in the hole she’d created. She jumped back and held the scalpel tight. The boot disappeared back inside. She waited—nothing.

  “Lorenzo?” she whispered through the opening.

  “Shhh.”

  She opened the slit further, making the opening just large enough to allow her to wiggle her way into the small structure. She gave her eyes a few moments to adjust to the darkness, then focused on Shelly. She was tied to a small cot in the corner, sat halfway up with her legs stretched straight but appeared to be asleep. A thick rope passed through her mouth and was secured around the back of her head.

  “We don’t have much time,” Lorenzo whispered. The bandana tied around his mouth was soaked in saliva. He’d worked it down his face with his teeth. “I’ve almost got my hands free. Help me out.”

  Jane took her scalpel to the back of his chair. He’d already loosened the knot with his movements, and it took only a few quick slices to free him completely. He reached down to untie his feet.

  “Here, this’ll be faster.” She sliced through the rope that bound his ankles.

  He stood and stretched. He glanced over at Shelly, and Jane moved to untie her.

  “Jane, hold on a minute.” They could hear talking outside. He knelt down and peered out the opening, then went to the west window and attempted to see around the corner where Japera stood watch.

  “Michael’s with Japera, keeping him distracted.”

  “He’s a good boy, Jane. Solid kid. This is just all too much for those boys, shouldn’t be happening to them.” He stared out the window.

  “If you and Shelly can get to someone, contact the American Embassy—”

  “No, I’m doing this alone. It’s too dangerous out there. Carnivores, remember?” He smiled at Shelly. “And she’ll just slow me down.” He sat on Shelly’s cot and rubbed her leg gently.

  She stirred.

  “We talked, decided that if one of us could get loose I’d be the one to run. I know my way around.” He got up and moved toward the opening. “Japera will be making the rounds soon and it’s better if it looks like she’s not in on this, like I was acting alone and no one’s messed with her ropes. Keeps her safer.”

  He examined the two slashes Jane had made in the canvas.

  “We’ve got to make this look like it was done from the inside—make sure they don’t think you’re involved either.” He searched around the floor of the hut. “Here, help me out. Take the sharp edge of this rock and rough up the edges of the slash.”

  “Go straight to Harare, to the U.S. Embassy,” Jane said. “Don’t talk to anyone in Vic Falls or anywhere else, we don’t know who’s in on this.” She’d just about finished working on the edge of the hole when she heard Michael’s voice.

  “Jake, I know you’re not sleeping. Come out here, just for a minute.”

  Jane grabbed Lorenzo’s arm. “That’s the signal, something’s happening.” She glanced over at Shelly—their eyes met for a moment. She was moving her legs, seemed to be twisting in the bed, and then the shadows shifted and Jane couldn’t see her well.

  Lorenzo stuffed the cut rope into his jacket pocket.

  “Jake, get out here. I want to show you something.” Michael’s voice was louder.

  “Go now, Jane, I’ll be right after you. Shelly…” He was at her bedside in seconds. “I’ll bring help, I’ll be back as fast as I can. Just tell them you woke up and I was gone.”

  Jane slipped out of the hut and felt Lorenzo’s body wiggle out right after her. “Be safe,” she said.

  “No worries.” He hugged her, then took off into the brush. Jane ducked around the back corner just as she heard Zuka going up the stairs to enter Shelly’s hut.

  Jane put her hands in the basin of water that sat on the bathroom counter. She looked in the faded mirror. She’d barely slept all night wondering how far Lorenzo had gotten. How long would it take him to get to the embassy? Even after he made it back to Vic Falls it would be at least a full day to Harare, and he wouldn’t trust the phones. He’d need to go in person. She tried to visualize the map but couldn’t quite picture the scale. Whatever it was, her task now was to keep her family safe just until help arrived.

  She’d lain awake thinking about what the reaction would be to Lorenzo’s escape. How would this change her captors’ plans? Maybe they’d move to another location. That would be hard on Paul, but at least someone would be searching for them. In the wee hours her mind had wandered to obscure details. Glenn was listed as the emergency contact for the kids. Would they notify him? Would he fly out? She slapped cold water on her face. Why was she thinking about her ex now? Some crazy fantasy that in her most desperate moment he’d finally come through for her? She shook her head, dunked it under water, and let her hair be fully submerged. She was wringing out the excess water when she heard the boys begin to stir in the next room. She walked out of the bathroom.

  “I’m going over to check on Paul’s leg.”

  “Anything you can do about all this light, Mom? I can’t sleep.” The sun shone brightly through the front window that faced east. Michael pulled the top of his sleeping bag over his head.

  It was then that it struck her. She was squinting. She backed up into the bathroom. The contrast was unmistakable. She looked over at the bathroom window. The screen was gone and there was a wooden door standing upright against the opening—the same window she’d exited from the night before. She pushed on the door, which rocked slightly but held secure.

  “Did they block off your bathroom window too?” she asked. Paul’s room was a mirror image of her own. “Mine’s got an old door wedged up against it with a huge boulder on the outside.”

  Tommy came out of the bathroom and wrung the water out of a white cloth.

  She noticed his hand was quivering.

  “He feels kind of hot.”

  “I’ll take it from here, sweetie.”

  Tommy handed her the cloth.

  Paul stirred as she felt his skin, damp and very warm. His lids opened halfway at her continued touch.

  “I’m okay, just need to sleep.”

  “Michael.” It was Japera outside the huts. “Help me unload this.”

  She glanced out the front window and saw a dark van coming down the road. From the looks of it, Japera was expecting it, probably supplies. At least for now they must be planning to stay a while.

  She unfolded Tommy’s rag—it was a pair of boy’s white briefs. She smiled at Tommy.

  “It was all I could find.” He looked away. “Dad must’ve dropped your rag on the hike last night.”

  “This’ll work just fine.” She laid the briefs across Paul’s forehead. “Maybe this will all be over soon.”

  Paul snorted and sat up slightly. “So you found a phone and called in the cavalry?”

  She unzipped his sleeping bag and exposed his leg. She felt the outside of his bandage. It was still dry.

  “Don’t worry, Tommy, he can’t be too feverish if he can still make fun of me.” She looked at Paul. “We should leave this on for now, but you need to start antibiotics. I’ll have to get them from the medical kit somehow.” That was unfortunate—she’d hoped to avoid much contact with their captors.

  “What makes you think it might be over soon?”

  She looked at the swelling around his ankle, compared it to the left. She let out a sigh and whispered, “Lorenzo’s going for help.”

 
“What?” He raised his voice and hoisted himself up further.

  “He’s going to try to make it to the embassy in Harare.” She felt relief in saying it out loud. “I helped him escape just before dawn.”

  “Are you nuts?”

  “Thanks might be more appropriate. You’ve got two-plus edema in the ankle—it’s not draining well. Wiggle your toes.”

  “Two out of how many?” He complied with her directions. “And how do you know he’s going to the embassy? How do you know he’s not in on this?”

  She touched the top of his foot. It was warm. She felt for a pedal pulse.

  “Two out of four—maybe we won’t have to amputate if you keep your foot elevated.” She stuffed a sweatshirt under his foot and threw the top of the sleeping bag back over his legs. “You’re paranoid, or maybe it’s the fever talking. Is hope just not part of your emotional repertoire?”

  “You think those guys got all that rafting equipment from our driver? They’d need someone with a little more clout than the guy who takes people from the airport to the hotel, don’t you think?”

  “But Lorenzo—”

  “Remember how Lorenzo reacted to Shelly?” His voice was getting louder.

  “Yes, but we talked about that and—”

  “Maybe we had it all wrong.” He looked over at Tommy. “Maybe it wasn’t just concern over the kids after all. Maybe there was something else about that other guy being here that was important to their plan.”

  She watched a drop of perspiration work its way down the side of Paul’s face before she glanced out the window. No one was currently within earshot, but they were moving supplies and would pass near enough to hear him if the breeze was right, especially if he kept talking louder.

  She looked back and cocked her head. “Go ahead,” she whispered. “But keep it down.”

  He stopped and stared at her. Then he wiped the back of his neck with the rag and sat back. He closed his eyes and said nothing for several minutes. When he opened them again he looked for a moment at his son before he focused on her.

  “Yeah, I’m not big on hope. And maybe you’re right, maybe it doesn’t make sense that they’re both in on this. When they reach the embassy and tell them about Rick, about us still being here—”

  “They? I said I helped Lorenzo escape. Shelly’s not with him.”

  “But Shelly was with him, wasn’t she?”

  “He’ll be faster alone.”

  Paul hesitated a moment. “That okay with her?”

  “She didn’t object.”

  Jane glanced at the bathroom, light streaming through the window. Why had her window been barred? They would know that Lorenzo was gone by now, but did they know she was part of his escape? Did Lorenzo really think Shelly would be safer here, or…? She looked back outside. She had to talk to Shelly. Michael, Japera, and the driver carried another load from the truck into the main lodge. When they all disappeared inside, she made her move.

  CHAPTER 14

  “That doesn’t make sense. Why would they keep him tied up?” Jane loosened Shelly’s hands. She didn’t want to cut the rope, she’d need it later.

  “From what I can gather, they need to have a lot of people on the inside. You hear about it, but I never really believed it—until now.”

  “Inside?”

  Shelly glanced at the door. “In different commercial businesses, people who are sympathetic to their cause—will come through on favors when they need it.”

  “The rafts?”

  “Exactly.” Shelly slipped her hands out and rubbed her wrists. “They don’t want to blow Lorenzo’s cover. They may need him again in the future, so they make him look like an innocent victim of this mess. You know, a mole.”

  Jane shook her head. Shelly’s explanation didn’t jibe with her experience of Lorenzo, especially at the end—the way he’d hugged her, his reassurances seemed genuine.

  “I don’t know, Shelly, he’s not from Zimbabwe, didn’t seem interested in their politics—more like a river guide who’s just as likely to be here as South America, or anywhere else where the water flows fast.” Jane peered out the side window as Japera came out of the front of the lodge, stood on the porch. She held her hand up to silence Shelly until he’d turned and gone back inside.

  Shelly smiled. “Good cover, isn’t it?”

  “But why?”

  Shelly shrugged. “Business has been really bad and people get desperate—some people even end up taking money from both sides. I can’t really blame them.” She pulled at the rope that bound her feet to the bed. “But it seems awfully risky.”

  Shelly’s ties had been loosened since last night and she no longer had the gag in her mouth. She said they’d questioned her about Lorenzo’s escape—part of the plan to make it look like he wasn’t with them.

  “You didn’t tell them that I—”

  “Of course not.”

  Jane watched her closely. “Then why is my window blocked?”

  “He must’ve told them. Look, Jane, it’s not your fault, there’s no way you could have known about him.” Shelly stretched her neck to look out the window just above her bed. “He certainly fooled me. Any thoughts about what we should do now?”

  Jane noted the quick change in subject. She watched Michael unload another bag from the truck, he didn’t close the back so there must be more. She still had a little time.

  “So where will he go now?” Jane searched the girl’s face. Was it safe to trust her? To help her escape?

  “He’ll probably just hide out until all of this blows over, then come out of the woods like he got lost. It’s quite believable, especially since he’s not a native. I wouldn’t want to be out there alone.”

  “What? You’re not—”

  “They need us all now for the negotiation.” Shelly bit the side of her mouth and looked away. “It was clear from what they were saying—no more losses, that’s what they called Zuka’s craziness. Anyway. . .” She took in a deep breath and rubbed her ankles. “I’d never make it across the basin alive.”

  “But you weren’t on their list, they don’t need you. Someone has to go for help and you—”

  “They do now. If Andrew had been here it’d have been a different story. Thabani has it out for him. But now they want me alive, just in case the American government is less motivated without Rick. They think working with two governments will be to their advantage.” She stopped and looked down at her hands. “I’m so sorry about Rick.”

  “Thanks.” Jane got up and paced the room. She wasn’t going to share her mourning with this girl, not here, not now anyway. She needed to keep on track. “I just think it’s too dangerous for you to stay here. You never know what those three are going to do.” She paused a moment. “Especially Zuka.”

  Shelly wasn’t young enough to be Jane’s daughter, yet she found herself feeling maternal toward her—young, pretty, it wasn’t safe. Shelly looked around the room, she seemed to be struggling with her options. When her eyes finally rested on Jane’s, they were pleading. Gone was the confidence Jane had been impressed with on the river. It was clear that what lay in the wilderness frightened her more than whatever these men could do. Everything Jane read had warned her never to wander away from a trained native guide who knew the terrain. But compared to what? Travel books weren’t exactly weighing that risk against being held by men with guns. She studied the soft features of this young Australian girl. There was something about having her here that added an extra burden on Jane’s shoulders.

  “Okay.” She sat at the foot of Shelly’s cot. “I need to get into one of their heads, make them question what they’re doing, break up their solidarity.”

  Shelly sat back, her eyebrows furrowed. “How?”

  “I’m not sure yet. It depends. The first question is who.”

  Shelly was silent for a moment. “Japera seems the nicest, the softest of the three.”

  “He’s not the leader. He won’t have enough sway with them.” Jane ’s st
omach clenched. What would it be like to try to get close to Rick’s murderer? She squeezed Shelly’s fingers. “Zuka. I’ve got to—”

  “No.” Shelly sat up, her face emphatic. “Not him, Thabani.”

  “It’s okay, Shelly, I can do this. It’s for my kids.” Jane was clear the tables had turned, now it was her responsibility to keep everyone safe, not this young girl’s. “Rick would want me to do whatever it took.”

  Shelly drew her hands away. “He’s not their leader, Thabani is. Zuka’s just the muscle, like the hired help.”

  “I’m not so sure. He doesn’t seem to be taking orders from anyone.”

  “He’s gotten quite a bit out of hand, but they’re reining him in now. Thabani promised that. Lorenzo was really upset—hopping mad—about the shootings, I guess they must’ve promised him no one would get hurt.”

  So there’s already dissension in the ranks. Jane walked over to peer out the window.

  “You think he’s upset enough to go to the authorities? If it’s just about money, how committed could he be?”

  Shelly paused for several minutes before she spoke. She was holding something back.

  “Jane, no matter how he feels, Lorenzo won’t be able do that—he can’t betray them. They’ve got too many men out there…everywhere.” It seemed to pain Shelly to have to say it, to dash Jane’s hopes.

  “But—”

  “Anyone who’s gotten themselves in this deep can’t back out.” Her eyes began to water. “Not now, not with the murders.” She swiped at her eyes to get rid of the tears.

  “But if you know all this—if they’ve said it in front of you—doesn’t that mean they don’t expect you to make it out alive?”

  Shelly laughed with no trace of amusement. “They thought I was asleep. Thabani’d come in here and whisper to Lorenzo. They’d have long conversations while they thought I was out cold. That’s how I knew about him.”

  She was like a child who’s pulled one over on her parents.

  She smiled at Jane. “I was the youngest of four girls, we shared one bedroom, which required me to fake sleep like a corpse to hear the conversations of my older sisters. It was the only way I’d ever know what was going on. You can’t lie too still, it’s a dead giveaway—sighs, occasional turning, and periodic leg twitches are the key.” She licked her fingers and rubbed her face, removing the last remnants of her tears.