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“NOT BEFORE I HAVE A word with my wife,” Alex said.
“Why?”
“Because if you pull something on me and I don’t return or see her again, I have plenty to say to her.”
“You’ll see her again. And then all of you will get the hell out of here.”
“I still want a word with her—in private.”
“Ten minutes.”
“In the meantime, I suggest you use that time to get the penicillin,” Alex said. “Because we’re not leaving here without it.”
“That will take longer than ten minutes.”
“Then one of your men needs to hurry up and get it. Because I’m giving you nothing without it. I can promise you that.”
Reluctantly, the man turned to the same man who had patted Alex down, and told him to get twelve rounds of the drug. I saw this as a positive sign, especially when the young man ran away from us down the beach past our ruined plane, and cut out of sight as he sliced into the jungle.
When he was gone, Alex turned around, took me by the hand, and led me just far enough away so no one could hear us when we spoke.
I was shaking as we walked toward the ocean. My heart was beating so hard after their exchange, I felt faint at what might happen to Alex without me there to protect him. Or Tank. Especially Tank. My husband was about to go into this alone, and the thought of it terrified me. I couldn’t imagine my life without him, and here he was, willing to put his life on the line for all of us.
“I’m scared,” I said when we were far enough away from them.
“Don’t be. They want the money. I have a feeling they need it. They’ve already caved to one demand—the drugs. That says it all to me.”
“But what if they don’t make that call? Or if for some reason, you have trouble coming through with the money? They’ll kill you.”
“They won’t do it there. They’ll give the money time to show up in their account. If it fails to go through the first time, they’ll have me try again. They’re not going to be so quick to just walk away from that kind of cash. Don’t worry.”
“Don’t worry? Are you serious? You’re my life. I don’t want you to do this.”
“We’ve been here for nearly two weeks, Jennifer, and no one has found us yet. It’s time to take a risk. Don’t think that I’m taking any of this lightly. But I do know this—it’s time to at least take a chance on something that actually might get us out of here, as opposed to doing nothing at all.”
“How are you planning on handling this?”
“I’ll call Ann. She’ll know it’s me the moment she hears my voice. She has the authority to transfer whatever funds I need transferred, so she’ll take care of the rest. The entire process should take no longer than fifteen minutes. But I won’t do any of it if they don’t alert the authorities of our location first.”
“And what if they don’t?”
“Then they won’t get a dime from me.”
“If you fight them, they might kill you for that.”
“We’re going to an island large enough to have a bank. If they try anything there, I’ll call them out in front of everyone—and don’t think that they don’t already know that. Or expect it. With any luck, we can save Cutter. With some more luck, we might be out of here by tonight.”
“All of this could go wrong in ways that none of us see coming. Have you even considered the thought that they might kidnap you and hold you for ransom for more money?”
That caused him to pause.
“It’s a possibility,” I said. “Why don’t you insist on taking one of us with you? Tank will go with you. I know that he will.”
“You need Tank here in case the others on this island try something when I’m away.”
“What are one gun and one knife going to do for us against all of them? We’re screwed either way.” And at that, I reached out and held him. And kissed him. “I’m trying to be strong, but I’m frightened. If anything happens to you, I won’t be able to bear life without you. You have to make this work, Alex. You need to come back to me. And to our child, should we be fortunate enough to still have a child. And to our future together. This can’t be it for us. It can’t!”
I was so emotional, he held me more tightly than he ever had. He kissed me hard on the mouth, and when he did, his beard prickled against my skin. I sank into his embrace as if this was it for us. This could be the last time that I had my husband’s arms around me, and the very idea of it wrecked me to the point that I was nearly inconsolable. For whatever reason, I started to cry, and that cry turned into a heaving release of all of the fear and anger that was inside of me.
“Stop,” he said.
“How can I stop? Look at what I’m facing. Look at what I might lose.”
“You need to trust in me. When have I ever let you down?”
I wiped the tears from my eyes, took a breath, and then just looked at him. “When we first met, there was that time on the dance floor, when we were on our first pseudo ‘date.’ You remember that night? You went berserk on me.”
He smiled at that, and his smile was so warm, it was enough to bring me back into the moment. “That’s because I was crazy about you, and I didn’t know how to process it. You surprised me. You continue to surprise me. And you will go on surprising me.”
I did my best to pull myself together, but I couldn’t. I just held him again, not wanting to let go because, in my heart, I was afraid that this might be it for us. Who were these men? What might they do to him? For several moments, we just stood there together, holding each other and absorbing each other’s energy as if this could be our last moment together—our most important moment together. Neither of us knew what was ahead of us, but I did know this—I had serious doubts about this group’s intentions when it came to my husband.
“Listen to me,” I said when we parted. “If there are banks on that island, then there must be a drug store. I need you to do something for me. For us.”
He furrowed his brow at me. “What?” he said.
“I need you to buy me two pregnancy tests.”
“Jennifer—”
“I need to know,” I said. “I need to be able to either accept the loss and grieve it, or swell with relief that somehow, the baby survived the crash, and we’re still pregnant. I can’t wait until we get home. Not knowing is eating me alive inside. I’m sure it’s doing the same thing to you. I’m trying my best not to let the depth of it show, but I can’t hold up that facade much longer. I need to know. You need to know. Right now, we have an opportunity to know. A test will answer those questions.”
“Presuming I can even find a test on that island, how accurate will it be? Was it made in the States? Was it made in some third-world country? How much weight are we to put on such a test?”
“Those tests have been around for years. It isn’t rocket science. They all use the same methods to predict whether or not you’re pregnant. Whatever you find will be accurate. So please? Do this for me? I need an answer. I need to know so both of us can move on—however this works out.”
“I’ll find you one.”
“Two. You’ll find me two. We need to make sure.”
“All right,” he said gently. “I don’t know what’s on that island, but I’ll try to find you two.”
“I love you so much. It’s killing me that they’re taking you from me.”
“And here’s how much I love you,” he said. “I’m going to win this game. They’ll make that call. They’ll get their money. And then we’re getting off this island.”
