River of Secrets (22 page)

Amy shot a glance at Lucia, making sure the girl wasn’t listening. She was talking softly to Alexis. “My grandmother?”

“No word yet,” Anna said. “I know the camp moves a lot, so there’s no telling whether she was there or not. I know you thought she and Lucia walked a long way, but it’s possible the camp was closer than you believed. I honestly think it was Maria who tipped the authorities off before meeting you. It’s the only way they would have known how to find the camp. Once she had Lucia out of there, she knew there’d be no going back.”

Amy drew in a long breath. Maria had done this on purpose. She was dying and this was her way of doing something good with her life. Allowing Lucia to escape from the camp had signed her death warrant. “She gave up the camp to get Lucia out. If any of those rebels escaped the raid, they may come here to exact their revenge.” Maria had sacrificed herself for her granddaughter.

“I can’t find her!”

Jonathas’s shout brought all attention to him. His brown eyes were wide, worry stamped on his young features. He might not like Carlita’s brother, but he had always treated the little girl with nothing but love and respect.

Amy frowned, “Did you check the playroom?”

“Yes, I’ve checked everywhere. She’s not in this building.”

“Where else would she go?” This was definitely odd behavior for the little girl. She worshipped her big brother and kept him in sight whenever possible. Salvador sat in the chair, hands still bound, worry written across his face. Shifting, he looked at Amy and answered her question. “I don’t know, but you’ve got to find her. There’s a storm coming and you know how she hates the thunder.”

Amy nodded.

Micah took over. “All right, everyone, spread out. We need to find that little girl before the storm hits.”

“I’ll go this way,” Gabe immediately offered. He looked at Micah’s father. “Sir, you want to help?”

“Of course. Tell me what I need to do.”

While Micah and Gabe formulated the plan, Cassidy said, “I’ll stay with the girls.” She nodded toward Alexis and Lucia. The chief put in a call for a unit to be dispatched to the orphanage.

Amy stopped to grab the flashlight from her pack, then ran out the lobby doors. “Carlita!” she called into the darkness, desperately trying to hear over the night sounds of the jungle.

Thunder rumbled in the distance. Soon it would be overhead, and Carlita would be one scared little girl. Amy glanced at the jungle. Surely she wouldn’t dare try to head into the thickness.

“Wait! Come back!” The shout came from Salvador still inside. Amy hurried back in. “What is it? You know her best, Sal. What would she be thinking?”

“That she doesn’t want to be separated from me.”

Gabe called out, “Micah told me about the chapel. I’ll check there.” He trotted off into the woods toward the little chapel Amy and Maria had used as their rendezvous place only a few short days ago.

Think, Amy, think.

Could someone from the rebel camp have followed her back here after her meeting with Maria? Would they have snatched Carlita as revenge for Maria bringing Lucia to Amy?

It just didn’t seem possible.

Lightning split the sky, turning night into day, flooding the lobby with its brightness. Amy blinked against it. Her heart clenched at the fear Carlita must be feeling.
Please, Jesus, be with that little girl. Keep her safe. Don’t let tragedy strike now.
So many dangers lurked in the jungle, dangers that could kill a small child so quickly. She shuddered and pushed the scary thoughts aside as she focused on searching for Carlita.

Micah came back in. “He think of anything?”

“Nothing.” She bit her lip thinking, racking her brain to figure out what the child might be thinking. “I don’t see her going into the jungle. She’d be too scared. Unfortunately, I can’t think of where she
would
go.”

“She’d hide. Somewhere where Salvador would be able to find her.”

Micah looked over at the boy who sat with his shoulders hunched against his bonds, eyes ping-ponging back and forth between Amy and him.

Swallowing hard, Salvador focused on Amy. “I don’t know. I cannot even think. She is nowhere inside, but she hates storms so there is no way she would go outside.”

“Would she go on the river?” Amy asked, dreading to hear the answer. “She left before the storm started sounding this bad.”

Salvador paled. “No,” he whispered under his breath. “She wouldn’t, would she?”

He whirled around to face the chief. “Let me go to the river, please. I won’t escape. I couldn’t go far if I did. I just need to see…”

The chief hesitated. Amy pleaded, “Please, she’s only six years old. If he can help…”

Finally, the chief nodded, but warned, “Go, but I’m right behind you—and I’m not taking the cuffs off.”

Before she or Micah could respond, the young man jumped up from his chair and took off toward the dock on the river. The chief, Amy and Micah followed at a fast clip, praying the little girl wasn’t out on the rocking water. The small canoe could easily overturn in the surges caused by the wind.

The four of them came to the dock, and Amy caught her breath as her nightmare materialized before her eyes. A lone canoe floated about fifty yards from shore, overturned and definitely empty. An object near the edge of the river caught her eye as it was tossed to and fro by the increasing violence of the waves. Salvador saw it, too, raced down to the edge of the river and stared down at it. Then he let out a wail that raised goose bumps on Amy’s flesh.

He sank to his knees in the mud, crying, “Carlita, my little sister. Come back.” Dropping face-first into Carlita’s favorite toy, her bunny, he wailed in heart-wrenching agony. Amy frantically ran her gaze over the water, but if Carlita was somewhere in its depths, it was too late to help her now. Tears dripped down her cheeks. Micah put an arm around her, pulling her into his shoulder. She let him offer the comfort for a brief moment, then pulled away.

She went to Salvador who, with his arms awkwardly behind his back, rocked and weaved with his grief. Disregarding the mud, Amy sank to her knees beside him. She let him howl his misery as she picked up the filthy bunny. The chief stood watching, knowing he could catch the agony-stricken brother at any time if he had to.

Leaning back, Salvador clenched his teeth and said, “I told her if there was ever trouble at the orphanage to get the canoe, get in it to hide and I would know to find her on the water.”

Her heart breaking, Amy wanted to cry out her own sorrow.
Oh, God, why did you allow this? Please, Jesus, make this right. I don’t even know what to pray, God, but do something, please.

They’d have to call the authorities to drag the river, but most likely the body of the little girl would never be found. Amy felt a hand under her elbow. Looking up, she stared into Micah’s wet blue eyes. He’d cared for Carlita, too. He helped Amy up, then pulled Salvador to his shaky feet. Together, the three made their way back to the orphanage where Gabe, Micah’s family, two other police officers and Anna met them with questions in their eyes. Salvador wrenched himself away, still sobbing. The chief walked with him allowing him time to work out his grief.

Flatly, Micah stated, “We think she went out on the river. Her bunny was floating out near the shore and the canoe was out on the river…upside down. Carlita never went anywhere without that bunny. She loved it.”

Grief choking her, Amy whirled to run, to get away and have a good cry, when movement captured her attention. She gasped. “What was that?”

Micah looked at her as if she were crazy. “What?”

“I saw something. Over there. Carlita hated storms. I think she may have tried to get in the canoe to go out on the river, but what if she got scared when the thunder and lightning started? She would find another place Salvador would be sure to find her…and she’d want to be inside,” Amy stated, excitement and hope coloring her voice.

Micah stared at her, confusion written on his features. “But she’s not inside. We’ve searched everywhere.”

Amy walked toward the cars parked in the mud near the entrance to the lobby. The wind whipped her hair around her eyes, and she pushed it back. Thunder boomed closer, and a fat raindrop hit her square on the nose as she looked in the first car, then the second. When she came to the third, the chief’s car, she pulled open the door.

Carlita sat upright in the backseat where she stirred in her sleep with the next crash of thunder. Joy flooded Amy.
Oh, thank You, precious Jesus, thank You.

“She must have moved her head from side to side and I was standing at just the right angle to see it. That’s the movement I saw.”

Amy reached in gently to shake the sleeping child. “Carlita, sweetie, wake up.”

Carlita opened her big brown eyes. Amy reached in to pull her out of the car. The child resisted, frowning and shaking her head. Amy stopped. “What’s wrong, baby? You gave us all a scare. We thought you were out on the river.”

Another negative shake of her little dark head.

“Salvador. Come on, honey, we have to go see Salvador. He thinks…Well, never mind what he thinks. Come on.”

Still frowning, Carlita allowed herself to be dragged from the vehicle. More rain started to fall and she pressed into Amy. Picking up the girl, Amy headed for the doors of the orphanage when she heard a shout.

“Hey!”

It was Gabe.

“That boy is going into the river!”

FIFTEEN

M
icah heard Gabe’s warning through the roar in his ears. Carlita was alive; Salvador thought she was dead in the churning water.

Turning, Micah raced for the river. Pounding down the dock, he stopped at the end. Salvador was swimming for the canoe…his only illumination the moon shining its full glory. “Salvador, come back!”

The boy kept swimming. Amy charged up beside Micah, two heavy flashlights in hand. The chief, clutching his forehead, blood oozing between his fingers, arrived with Gabe, who had Carlita clutched in his arms.

The chief huffed, “I let him out of his cuffs. I felt sorry for him with his sister and all. He was a mess and said he wanted to clean himself up. When I stepped back, he came around with something and caught me in the head. It stunned me long enough to allow him to get away.”

Micah grabbed one of the lights and pointed it out on the water scanning the surface. Caimans were nocturnal animals, known to sleep during the day and hunt at night. Salvador’s splashing would only bring attention to himself. And with the churning water…

“Salvador, Carlita’s alive!” he called. “Come back!”

It seemed to take forever, but Salvador finally managed to reach the overturned canoe. Treading water, struggling with the weight, he flipped it upright. Of course it was empty; he just didn’t realize the person he was looking for was on the dock. Micah watched him lean his forehead against the wood, his shoulders shaking with the force of his sobs.

“Salvador!” The small sweet voice beside him brought his attention to the little girl in Gabe’s arms. Carlita had spoken.

Amy stared in shock, then a wide grin split her lips. She glanced at Micah to share the moment of joy, and Micah reveled being there with her, hearing Carlita speak for the first time since her parents’ deaths.

“Call him again, sweetheart. It’s hard to hear over the wind.”

“Salvador!”

Salvador heard her. His head shot up, and he looked toward the sound, but there was no way for him to be able to see anything except the bright spotlight glaring back at him from the dock.

Thinking fast, Amy turned the light on Carlita, who waved to her brother. “Come back, Salvador! I’m here.”

Salvador seemed to be in shock, unable to move. A wave swept him under, and he came up sputtering. Micah wondered if he should grab one of the boats and motor out to get the boy.

Amy hollered, “Swim!”

Salvador swam with strong strokes, fighting against the current to get back to the sister he loved. He reached the shore of the river safely. Panting, gasping, Salvador squinted through the now falling rain.

Gabe passed Carlita to Micah, who hurried to the end of the dock. The reunion between the siblings brought almost as much joy to his heart as the moment when he’d turned to see his mother’s face only moments ago. And a deep sadness, too, because Salvador’s actions would have consequences that would separate brother and sister for a very long time.

Still crying, Salvador swept his sister into his arms and hugged her. She wrapped her little arms around his neck and squeezed back, giggling now that Salvador had her.

She cupped his face in her little hands. “Salvador, you came back.”

“And you’re alive!”

“I was afraid when the policeman came,” Carlita said. “I remember what you said about if there was trouble. I went to get in the canoe but it got away from me. And I dropped my bunny in the water. And then I was so tired, but I didn’t want to go back in where the policeman was because he was going to take you away. So I got in his car. If he was taking you to jail, I was going, too.”

Thunder cracked again and lightning followed quick on its heels. “Come on,” Micah said, “let’s get inside and get dried off. We need to let everyone know we found her.”

The group trudged back to the orphanage, dripping with water, their happiness marred by the realization that Salvador would have to face the consequences of his actions. The chief had a tight grip on his arm. Micah took the little girl from Salvador who stood meekly, allowing the chief to cuff him once more. Micah passed Carlita off to Gabe, then snagged Amy’s hand. He held it until they reached the door. While everyone else was entering, he pulled her back.

She looked up at him. “Micah?”

“I don’t have much time, so I’m going to make this quick. Come with me to the chapel.”

“Now?”

“Now.”

“But what about your family, all those people—”

He placed a finger over her lips. “Please?”

She nodded. “Okay. Anna will be busy helping everyone settle in their rooms for the night. We probably have a few minutes.”