River of Secrets (18 page)

Checking the side pocket for the gun she’d managed to convince Anna she needed, she gave it a comforting pat, then closed the pocket. She slung the heavy pack over her shoulder, opened the door to her room and stepped out into the hall.

“Where are you going, Miss Amy?”

Amy jumped at the quiet question.

“Hey there, Salvador. I’m…taking a little trip into the jungle.”

“Why?”

She didn’t really want to get into it with him. “I just have some thinking to do and need to get away for a while.”

“That is not safe, Miss.”

“I know, but it’s something I have to do.” Amy flashed him a distracted smile. She needed to get going. She only had a few hours of sunlight left. Plenty of time, as Maria had said the trip should only take about an hour, but Amy wanted to make sure she gave herself extra time in case she got lost. “I’ll see you when I get back, okay?”

“No, I will go with you.”

“Salvador, I can’t ask you to do that.”

“You are going into the jungle. You need someone to be there to help you.”

She really did, but Salvador? Could she ask him to do something that might be really dangerous? The jungle itself held its own dangers, of course, but her situation held threats of another kind. The human kind.

“That’s not a good idea. I can’t ask you to do that.”

“I will just follow you to make sure, then. That way you are not asking.”

Amy gave a mental groan. She really had to get going. “But you don’t have any supplies or anything, and I don’t know that I have enough for the both of us.”

“Please do not worry about me. Give me five minutes to get some things from my room.”

Giving in, Amy decided it was better to be able to have him in plain sight rather than have him follow her and then to be constantly looking over her shoulder worrying about him. Another door down the hall snapped shut and Amy looked up to see Jonathas staring at her, she gave a little wave. Then Salvador stepped out of the room with a pack similar to hers slung over his shoulder.

On their way out the door, anticipation, fear and worry tumbled around inside her. Could she do this? She hated to admit it, but Salvador’s presence brought comfort. A false sense of security? Maybe.
Please God, go before us, lead the way. Keep us safe. And be with Micah. He’s hurting. Show him Your love and let him feel Your presence.

He couldn’t do it. Micah had changed his flight twice already, delaying the inevitable, and security was beginning to give him some funny looks. He couldn’t just leave her like that. Micah groaned at the battle going on inside his soul. The desire to get away from everything and everyone, go home, crawl into bed and sleep for a month overwhelmed him. But he couldn’t. And yet, if he stayed at the orphanage, would he be putting people he cared about in danger? Right now, no one had been hurt in all of the mishaps aimed at him.

Deep down he wanted—no, needed—to stay.

A chill shook him. Micah hadn’t made a big deal about his departure because he had been afraid if the would-be killer found out he was leaving, the assassin would be pushed into making a last-ditch effort to get rid of him. Before he’d left, he’d pressed a note into Amy’s hand with instructions to give it to Salvador and Carlita. His apology for not saying goodbye in person. Then he’d said goodbye to Amy and Anna, climbed into the taxi and sped away. He’d call Lucas from the airport.

The look on Amy’s face when he’d left still haunted him. While her lips remained silent, her eyes had begged him to stay, yet flashed their understanding of why he had to leave. The cabbie had noticed the silent exchange and had shaken his head until Micah wanted to throttle the man. And each time the man had said, “I turn around now,
sim?
You go kiss woman and make up, yes?” Micah responded with a short, “No.”

And so the cabbie left him standing on the sidewalk in front of the entrance to the airport, where he finally made it all the way down the ramp to the airplane. And here he sat, trying to figure out where his anxiety was coming from. The Cruz family wasn’t after him, as everyone still thought he was dead; no one had recognized him from the posters around town. Micah was ninety-nine percent sure it wasn’t Amy’s mother. Romero would escort Amy to meet her grandmother, offering excellent protection should anything go wrong. Everything should be fine. Right?

Wrong. Why was he so antsy about leaving?

Awareness slowly crept up, working its way into his brain until it was crystal clear.

There was no way he could entrust Amy’s safety to someone else. Romero was a good guy, but Micah wasn’t willing to bet the guy would give his life to keep Amy safe. Micah swallowed hard, realizing he would.
Okay, God, I got it. I’m supposed to be there for her.

That realization propelled him from the airplane seat. The door was closing. “Wait!” Hurtling himself down the aisle, he stopped to briefly explain to the stewardess, “I’m an idiot. I need off this plane.”

She eyed him suspiciously. He blurted, “I left something here.”

“What?”

“The woman I love.”

She opened the door.

TWELVE

E
ven in the middle of October, the temperatures stayed in the mid to high eighties. Sweat poured from both Amy and Salvador as they trudged through the overgrown jungle. Amy swiped a mosquito away from her face, and asked, “Where’s the canoe, Salvador?”

“Only a little farther.” Fortunately, Salvador had thought to bring a machete. He used it with skill, slicing his way through the thick vines. Amy’s legs shuddered at the demands she was making on them.

A vine snarled her ankle, tripping her. She landed with a thud, scraping her left elbow. Salvador stopped and looked back. “Are you all right?”

Amy pulled herself up with a grunt. “Fine.” She waved him on. “Don’t worry about me, I’m coming.” Disregarding her assurances, he reached down to pull her up. She stumbled against him and he steadied her. Salvador looked behind. “Do you think
senhor
Micah will come looking for us? He would not like that you are in the jungle.”

“No,” Amy said, grief ripping at her insides, “no, I don’t think we’ll have to worry about Micah. He’s flown home to the United States.”

“What?” exclaimed Salvador. “Why?”

“Because he was worried the person trying to kill him would miss and accidentally hurt someone else.”

Anger contorted Salvador’s features. “He didn’t tell me.”

“Oh,” Amy patted her right front pocket, pulled out Micah’s note and handed it to Salvador. “Here. He asked me to give you this. Don’t be upset with him, Salvador. I didn’t want him to leave, either, but I know why he did it.”

Without another word, Salvador read the letter, crumpled it up and slid it into his pocket. The anger remained etched on his face. Amy’s heart hurt for him. One more slap, one more person he felt had let him down in his life. It wasn’t fair, but Micah had only done it to protect him, as well as every other person at the orphanage. One day Salvador would realize that.

They continued on for another fifteen minutes, although to Amy it seemed to be hours. Panting, she leaned over to grip her knees. “Hey, Salvador, there’s some canoes.” Four little wooden boats sat on the edge of the water, pulled up far enough to keep from being swept away. They crept closer keeping a watchful eye on the surrounding bushes.

Okay, God, now what? Do I continue with this? I don’t want Salvador in danger. He’s gotten me this far. Can I go the rest of the way by myself? I mean, of course You’ll be with me, but…

“You are ready, Ms. Amy? We go on the river now, yes?”

Caution.

Amy sat on an exposed root. “Not yet, Salvador. I want to be really careful. I also want you to return to the orphanage.” She patted her satellite phone in her hip pocket for reassurance.

“No. I am not leaving yet. We need to get into the canoe and go up the river.”

“How far is Lake Tomalis from here?”

Salvador hesitated, glanced around. “About four miles. Should take about an hour to get there.”

“I want to watch for a while. Let’s just sit here a bit and be careful.” Make sure she wasn’t being played the fool. Maria might be her grandmother, but Amy wasn’t dumb enough to trust the woman any further than she could throw her.

Blowing out a huge sigh, Salvador sat down, obviously disgruntled. He fingered the machete, as though he itched to get moving. Amy passed him a bottle of water.

It seemed to take double the time, but Micah finally arrived back at the orphanage. Too late to stop Amy or go with her. He’d have to find a way to follow her trail—or find someone who knew where Lake Tomalis was located. Micah had a general idea, but wasn’t exactly sure he could find it without getting lost and wasting precious time.

Jonathas.

The boy was familiar with this part of the jungle and beyond. Maybe he could help. Micah headed into the main building, striding quickly down the hallway that led to Jonathas’s room.

“Micah!”

Anna’s startled call stopped him in his tracks. He spun and sprinted back to her. Before she could ask, he said, “I couldn’t leave her, Anna. How long ago did she leave?”

“About thirty minutes ago. I begged her not to go, especially after Romero got sick and couldn’t go with her.”

Terror sucked the air from his lungs. “She went alone?”

Ignoring his bellow, she waved her satellite phone at him. “I tried to stop her, but you know Amy. The minute she calls me, I’m to report to the chief where to raid the camp. She’s so concerned about the children being raised there, but she wanted the chance to get her cousin and grandmother out first.”

His jaw clenched. “So she thinks her grandmother should get off without facing charges like every one of those murdering rebels.”

“No, but Amy wants a chance to talk her grandmother into turning herself in. She’s hoping for leniency if Maria’s willing to give the authorities information leading to the arrest of some of the most wanted rebels. I’m not holding out much hope, though. Amy doesn’t realize…” Anna bit her lip and Micah glanced at the time.

“We can worry about this later. I need to find Amy before she meets up with Maria. There’s no way Amy can be sure the woman would keep her word. If Romero were with her, I wouldn’t be so worried.” He punched in her satellite phone number. It never rang, just went straight to voice mail. She had either turned her phone off, or the battery was dead. He snapped his phone shut, barely leashing his anger and fear.

Anna said, “I think Salvador went with her. I never would have let him go if I’d known, but Carlita started wandering the orphanage and appeared to be looking for her brother without any success. Normally, he’s right there when she goes looking for him. This time, though…”

He groaned. “All right, I’m going after her. I’ve got my satellite phone. I’ll keep trying her and will call you when I know something. If Amy calls you, you call me and vice versa. Deal?”

“Deal. Be careful, Micah. I don’t want to lose another person I care about. You, or Amy.”

“Where’s Jonathas? I’m going to need his help.”

“Check his room. I saw him go in a little while ago. He seemed kind of agitated, and he ignored me when I asked him if something was wrong.” She shrugged. “I gave him his space. He knows he can come to me if he needs to.”

Micah spun on his heel and headed for the boy’s room. A quick, hard rap brought no response, but the door swung slowly inward. Micah flipped on the light switch. “Jonathas?”

Nothing.

Stepping into the room, Micah took in the almost compulsive cleanliness. Wow, his mom would’ve loved it if he’d kept his room like this as a teenager. The door must not have latched well when Jonathas exited the last time. Anna said he’d been agitated; maybe he’d left in a hurry.

About to turn and leave, the overhead fan Micah had turned on when he entered caused a paper to flutter to the floor. Muttering about wasting time, he bent over to pick it up and stopped. It was a picture of Manuel Cruz. What was Jonathas doing with a picture of the man Micah had killed?

Unease crept over him. He looked at the stack of papers on top of the dresser, reached up and pulled them down to look at them. The second picture was of him and Amy at the picnic. The look in her eye as she gazed up at him said a lot. He’d investigate that later.

What concerned him right now was Amy’s face had been X’d out with a red marker. He flipped through them, each one making his heart beat faster. The pictures consisted of almost all of the staff, a lot of whom had red X’s on their faces. The one of Salvador and Carlita stumped him. No X, just a big circle around Salvador. Another picture showed Romero working on the wing. His face, too, had been X’d out. Then Anna.

What was going on?

And then he came across one with Manuel Cruz and Jonathas, sitting together in front of a pool. Manuel had his arm around Jonathas with a big grin on his face. Jonathas had a rather stony expression, as though he hadn’t wished to have his picture taken. A young boy sat in front of them playing with some pool toys. Micah gasped. Jonathas was Manuel’s son! Had Jonathas been trying to kill Micah all this time? Of course! He’d been the one to recognize Micah from the pictures posted in town—and come to the orphanage to find him.

And when Micah left, out of his reach, Jonathas had gone for the next best thing, the woman Micah loved—Amy.

Prayers whispered on his lips as he flipped to the next item. His breath whooshed out in shock; the last picture nearly singed his fingers. He was staring at his own face from over two years ago, a fax sent from a number in South Carolina to a number Micah would go to his grave with, the number for the man Micah had been undercover to expose. The date at the top was two days before the mission and had been sent to Manuel Cruz. How had Jonathas come to have this in his possession?

As Micah tumbled the information around in his mind, he realized one thing. Amy was trapped. In front of her was a woman that might very well kill her as look at her and behind her, closing in fast, was a teen who probably wanted to see her dead.