part0015

The exodus had just begun. Cody, Brandi, fourteen rescuers, and thirty-nine children faced impossible odds. Capistrano’s rogue army of hardened fighters was in pursuit. With no provisions, isolated from the world, their prospects were grim. Soon, a disturbance arose among the children at the rear.

“Paco! Paco! Come back!”

Six-year-old Paco had run off. The kids had tried to call him back, and several had run after him. Chavez, Cody’s tactical commander, held up the march and scrambled to the rear. Paco, the traumatized child whose brother had been shot earlier, had stripped off most of his clothes and had taken off like a gazelle into the jungle.

“¿Por cuál camino se fue?” Chavez asked. They all pointed into the jungle in the direction Paco had fled. The few who had run after him were panting. They declared that Paco was way too fast to catch.

Brandi and seven-year-old Knoxi stood together looking at the youngster’s clothing lying on the ground. “Why did he run off, Mama? Where’s he going without his clothes?”

“He witnessed his brother shot this morning,” Brandi told her. “He’s really sad, not thinking straight.”

“What’s your plan, Chavez?” Cody wanted to know.

“I vote we try catching him, but it’s your call. I don’t wanna lose any more kids, but we don’t have any time to waste. Capistrano isn’t going away.”

“Why did he leave his clothes here?” Brandi was confused.

“My guess, ma’am? It’s because he’s traumatized. No telling what some of these kids have been through.”

“We’re goin’ after him,” Cody said. “Let’s gather up his clothes. He’s bound to be tired, and he can’t go far with no shoes — not on this stuff.” He pointed to the rocky ground.

“Okay.” Chavez pulled together a search team. “Dakota! Hampton! Seaman! You’re with me!”

“Here are his clothes, Mr. Chavez.” Brandi handed him Paco’s things. “You think you can catch him?”

“In answer to your question, ma’am, Dakota is the best tracker here, and Joe Hampton and Lefty Seaman are former rangers who know this sort of terrain. We’ll find Paco. Just hope he hasn’t fallen into a hole or quicksand.”

Knoxi reacted, “Ohhh , roger that.” Her tearful eyes caught Brandi’s attention. Brandi picked her up.

“Babe, you and the rest stay here and guard the kids,” Chavez advised. “Make sure they keep their heads down. If you don’t hear from me in thirty minutes, start everybody moving again. We’ll catch up.”

“Copy that,” Cody nodded. “Thirty minutes.”

They circled the area, looking and listening, but found no sign that Paco had been there. Dakota stopped in his tracks. His well-tuned sense of smell detected the odor of human urine. One of the tall acai palms began to drip around the base. He looked upward.

Paco was frozen, clinging to the trunk approximately thirty feet up, hugging it with arms and legs that shook with fatigue.

“I dunno,” Dakota said.” He’s about to fall. He can’t hold on much longer.”

“Yeah,” Hampton agreed. “He won’t be able to come down on his own. Gimme a hand!”

Hampton began shimmying up the tree, using the webbing between his feet to push himself upward. He looped the second strip of bark around the tree as a safety belt and used it to pull himself toward the boy, sliding it upward as he went.

Paco began to slip. Hampton was still seven feet shy of reaching the exhausted child. “He’s gonna let go! Gonna fall!”

When Paco let go, Hampton made a valiant effort to catch him, but the sweaty youngster was slippery, difficult to grasp. The petrified boy slipped through Hampton’s grip, but somehow managed to latch on to Hampton’s ankle with both arms. Hampton carefully slid down the trunk of the tree with the child holding on. Both came away with only minor scrapes.

The four men cleaned Paco up. One side of his face and neck was still spattered with dried blood. His brother had been shot while running next to him during the escape from the compound earlier that morning. In the rush, no one had noticed the dark red spatters on his face until now. His feet had a few cuts from running over the rough ground, but were heavily callused. This kid was used to running barefoot on hard surfaces.

Paco said nothing. They could only guess what country he was from and what he had been put through. Paco showed no emotion and displayed what soldiers call the “thousand-mile stare.”

“This kid’s definitely a climber,” Hampton said. “There are some tribes about two hundred miles from here in the center of the forests that survive by climbing trees to get the fruit. They work naked. He may be from that region.”

“Yeah, he seemed to know what he was doing,” Chavez said, as he helped Paco put on his t-shirt, pulling it down over his head and onto his bony frame. Then Chevy lightened up and asked the boy a question, grinning and rattling off some Spanish, but Paco was still unresponsive.

“So wha’ didja say to him?” Seaman wanted to know.

“Not yet,” Diamond whispered. “I want to tell you that I borrowed your socks this morning.”

“No, I picked them up off the floor where you left them. I washed them thoroughly and used them to strain the drinking water.”

“Victor’s watching the back door. He took over after your shift.” She held up his wet socks. “Here’s the crazy thing. I strained enough water to fill five mugs, but your socks have no gold in them.”

Cody sat up. “So, the gold in the water is intermittent. Hmmm. That’s unexpected.”

“I wonder if this Angel person will come today. Maybe he or she can fill us in. Here are your socks.”

“Yeah, I have one more pair in my carry-on which I managed to recover. Uh, how’s your sore shoulder and the other scrapes and bruises?”

“The scrapes still bother me a little, but my shoulder wound isn’t infected. Parker did a good job sewing me up.”

“Something else, Cody. I . . . Don’t laugh, okay? I prayed to God last night after you went to bed.”

“I asked Him to reveal Himself if He’s really there, but I didn’t feel the agape love you talk about. Is that when you’re supposed to feel it?”

Cody chuckled. “Come here.” She sat down next to him. “You took a positive step. You’re going the right direction. You might be surprised by what happens next.”

“By the way,” she said. “I had this crazy dream this morning. I was in a black airplane with two blond teenage girls.”

“I guess livin’ in a cave does crazy things to your mind sometimes. Your two friends are blond, but they’re not teenage girls.”

She changed the subject. “You want some leftovers from yesterday? We have some fruit and veggies left.”

“Yeah. I’m gonna have to interrogate the prisoners if this Angel person doesn’t get here. We need to burn those bodies on the beach, but it may not be wise to leave this cave until we know more.” He munched down on a juicy giant pear.

Victor approached Cody. “One of the prisoners wants to talk to you. He won’t talk to anyone else.”

“Well, maybe I’ll get some answers sooner than we expected. I’ll head down there after I drink a mug of Di’s coffee brew.”

Cody and Victor dropped a rope into the lower chamber where the two prisoners were being held. The younger of the two took hold. Cody and Victor pulled him up. They secured his hands with a length of roped used earlier to tie the hands of Tige and Betsy after they had been abducted.

“Uh, my name is Vance Carter. That’s actually my real name. I’m from Panama City but I’m an American.”

“I understand you have some information for me. Let’s go around the corner to the waterfall.”

Cody led Carter to the area where the water was falling into the reservoir. It made a steady, cool, splashing sound. Carter was near Cody’s height at around 5’10”, with light brown hair, handlebar mustache, broad shoulders, and a scar underneath his left ear. His hands were burn-scarred but fully functional, and his right eye squinted.

“You wanna take a shower? Might wanna leave your boxers on cuz they could use a shower too. Those mugs are there if you want a drink. There’s plenty o’ water.”

Cody leaned against the wall. “So, before we get started with the important stuff, tell me about the water. Got any idea where that water you’re drinking originates?”

“Comes from up the hill. There’s a mountain behind this cave. The water has gold particles in it. Pure gold.”

“We had it tested. It’s as pure as a diamond mist in Montana. Lotta people claim it helps arthritis and skin rashes. We both know that ain’t true, but with the gold shortage, they’ll pay ‘bout $4900 an ounce for these flakes.”

“Sounds like a profitable business for someone with red-hot initiative and ice-cold fingers. Is that what your bosses use child laborers for? To strain out all the flakes? Good source of free labor, right?”

“Look, the only ones who can afford the gold are those rich Japs and greedy Jews. And, about the kids; they come from the streets. They’d be dead already if we didn’t have ‘em here.”

“I do know that, Mr. Carter. I checked the Tokarev you carried. It hadn’t been fired. But you were an accessory to the murder of a good man who was brought here against his will.”

“Already have me convicted? You ain’t gettin’ off this island in one piece unless you listen to what I came to say.”

“I have no idea who you are, hero. But my bosses will pay you ten times what you’re making right now. A man with your skills could go a long way if you hook up with us. We’re the future in this region of the world.”

Cody shielded his mouth. “Tell Victor to keep Angel out of sight ‘til I put Carter back in the hole. Angel might be an infiltrator, and we don’t wanna blow his cover.”

“Okay, Carter, let’s go,” Cody said. “Hope you enjoyed the shower and the gold-flaked water. We both found out what we wanted to know.”

Cody returned the prisoner to the hole. As he prepared to meet Angel in the front chamber, he saw Diamond coming toward him.

“Cody, please tell me you aren’t thinking of playing a shell game with these guys.”

“Don’t worry. That guy’s just a drone. He’s not authorized to make a deal with me. He was just sizing me up. You want to meet Angel?”

Cody and Diamond scurried anxiously toward the main chamber of their hideout. The heartbeat of anticipation grew with every step. In a few moments, they would put a face with the name on the clock. Would this be a game-changer?

When they walked into the cavern’s front chamber, Victor and the man calling himself Angel were steeped in animated conversation in Spanish. When they saw Cody and Diamond, they stopped abruptly.

Angel was thirtyish, short and stocky, his brown hair thick and curly. His tan face was weathered, his broad chest and bulging legs on display despite wearing dungarees. Two things became immediately apparent: Angel wasn’t one who spent much time behind a desk, and yes, he was entirely human. He wore Radian 5 combat boots like those that Cody had confiscated from his two prisoners.

Angel’s face lit up when he recognized Diamond. “Buenas días, beautiful lady. I see some of your films. You are more beautiful than I imagined. I am so glad you survived the crash, but I am sorry we meet at a time of so much death and sorrow.”

Victor turned to Cody with a disquieted face and an edgy voice. “Cody, you need to hear this guy out.”

“I am Angel,” the stranger announced. “That is codename. My real name is Juan Angel Fernando Roberto Castillo. I am from the province of Andalusia in the country of Venezuela. I am agent for Candle of Freedom trying to make liberty for all my people. I apologize I leave so quickly yesterday. I am nearly late to check in and I must get back before the rain because the storm would have slowed me down.”

“Oh, Señor , the first time I see you, my prayers are answered. I recognize you from Librador many year ago. I was with your sister Knoxi and other children. We escape. I was called ‘Paco.’”

“Well, Angel, that was before I was born. But people do say I look like my father.”

“I was very sad. My brother Raul die with bullets. I was only six, but I remember. Your father, he is great man. Chevy great man. I want to grow up to set free children like your father and Chevy.”

“So, Angel, you have to understand one thing. The information about that event is a matter of public record. Anyone could have memorized all that. So, let me ask you a question. Your dog had three names. Do you remember them? That part was never made public.”

“No, Mr. Cody. The only name I remember is the name I give to him. It was Los Heridos . It means ‘The Wounded,’ for all the wounded children who were sad in their hearts. But now they are free, and I am free. I was fast runner. Climb up tree. I fall. They catch me. Chevy comfort me, help all children be free.”

Diamond reached for Cody’s hand and placed her lips near his right ear. “I believe him, Cody. I think he’s telling the truth.”

Cody glanced at Tige and Betsy. They both nodded their heads with positive but somber expressions.

“Many children here, sad like me before. They must work. Many die here but no one care.” He paused to make eye contact with everyone.

“My country is in ruin. The central government has lost control. Powerful men try to revive my country by taking over businesses, new technology. But they fight poverty by eliminating the poor, and they use the little ones for free labor.”

“They call their company La Luz del Cambio , ‘The Light of Change.’ They grow bigger and bigger. Soon, they will take over whole country of Venezuela, and then whole continent.”

Diamond offered Angel a cup of water. He took a sip, then thanked her politely before continuing.

“They have big operation here. This island very isolated. They activate shield to hide the island from view. Even satellites cannot see. Giant gold and silver deposits here. Largest in the world, but we have no evidence to prove.”

Cody frowned. “You mean they can make this island invisible? So where do they get the technology?”

“La Luz del Cambio has plenty money because of gold and silver. They use children in mines. Free labor. The make captured scientists create new inventions, like technology that bring your plane here.”

“Okay, okay, I’m beginning to understand. How did you know we were hiding in this cave, and how did you know who I was?”

“When you rescued these two pretty ladies, I see you with my field glasses from a distance. Me and my compadres have decided we will let no more women or children be captured, on forfeit of our lives if necessary. If you had not been there, I would have rescued them. But I did not want to break my cover.”

Victor broke in. “So you saw Cody from a distance and recognized the physical similarity to his father? You must have a good memory.”

“Oh, no,” Angel said. “Look here in my wallet. I have Cody Musket baseball card. I receive it when I send in Cocoa Puffs coupon.”

“So,” Cody said, “you and your fighting men have managed to infiltrate La Luz del Cambio and you’re working’ undercover with Candle of Freedom?”

“Si, that is correct. After we successfully infiltrated La Luz, they assigned us to this island under penalty of death if we reveal its location to anyone.”

Cody examined Angel with eye-to-eye scrutiny. “So what will you do if you ever get off this island?”

“I will reveal location to everyone. The freedom of my country is, how you Americans say, up for grabs. The wounded people with sad hearts are many, but my life is only one.”

“Amigo, can you tell us why they remotely hijacked our plane and brought it here?”

“Si, of course. They want to hijack planes so they can shake down any airline in the world. But so far, the process is only experiment.”

Parker jumped in. “So, Angel, you’re saying this whole thing was an experiment that didn’t work?”

“That is correct, sir. The lightning from the storm must have broken their connection, and the plane crashed in the water. They wanted to land it safely on island to capture alive Thirsty Giant and our beautiful film star.”

“Because of film Land Without Shame which will expose corruption of La Luz and many government officials.”

“No sir, but he is powerful ally of children and was getting too close. He want to, how you Americans say, ‘blow La Luz del Cambio operation out of the water.’”

Cody put his arm around Diamond who now clung to him. “So, why didn’t they just abduct Diamond and this Thirsty Giant person off the street? Why the elaborate hijacking?”

“Because capturing Thirsty Giant and film actress with this technology would be big deal. Like Americans say, ‘feather in cap .’ It would cause great fear with anyone resisting them. They like to scare people and never show their faces.”

“Hmm,” Cody mused. “Seems like this Thirsty Giant person is good at scaring bad guys without showing his face either. I’m familiar with him, but I dunno who he is. Was he supposed to be on this flight?”

“So, the hijacking would have accomplished two purposes,” Victor surmised. “It would have eliminated two enemies and served notice that an unknown entity at an unknown location could remotely capture a commercial aircraft while the whole world stands by.”

“Mr. Cody, another boat with children left Caracas today. It arrives here tomorrow night. We must save those kids. We must stop the boat.”