YURI AND MIENE were still in hiding with their friends. They were planning their next steps for moving forward, but they were all aware that timing was a very important key. Now they had to wait for their contact to appear and take them to their next location. Yuri and Miene were trying to remain patient, but not knowing what happened to Jonas was almost more than they could handle.
The two, wanting to have a private discussion, moved away from their friends to a more secluded area of the cave.
“Yuri, what do we do about Jonas?”
“Miene, I have given this much more thought. We need to discuss this with Mussa when he gets here. He will know what options we have. He will be knowledgeable in matters of rescue and what can be done in searching for Jonas. This requires skill that we don’t have.”
Yuri gently hugged Miene, and then placed her chin in his hand. His eyes were full of compassion as he looked deeply into her eyes, “Miene, I know how you feel, and we are doing as much as we possibly can in these circumstances. I miss him too, and I’m afraid for him.”
He moved the hair from her face with his fingers and slowly leaned closer to give her a gentle kiss. “Miene, I have faith that he is still alive. You must have it too.”
A noise of footsteps caught their attention, and they both turned to see Nadia come running toward them.
“Yuri! Miene! We have received a signal from Mussa. He is on his way. Jordan is transmitting a message of our exact location. It will only be a short time before he arrives. We are getting out of this cave and ready to travel again.”
“Nadia, does Jordan remember we have to find Jonas?”
“Miene, we will talk about it when Mussa gets here. He knows about the dangers we face in this journey. Mussa will have to inform us about the activity of the EOC. There are many things to consider on this journey, and we don’t have all the facts. But, my friend, Jonas has not been forgotten by any of us.”
All three of them walked toward Jordan, who had found a clump of bushes and vines outside of the cave in which to hide his radio transmitter. Yuri, Miene, and Nadia closed in and formed a circle around him. They listened intently for any sounds that might come out of the radio. You could cut the suspense with a knife.
Jordan spoke softly. “Mussa knows Jonas is missing. When he gets here we will listen to what he has to say. Only he knows what is possible. He did say that if Jonas is still alive, there is very little chance the EOC has found him. There is no boat or sailing vessel washed up on shore near the island where we think he is located. Mussa saw items that fell off the boat during the storm, but that would not indicate to anyone that someone is alive and living on the island.
“From what I have discovered, it would be next to impossible to survive on that island for any length of time. We need to rescue Jonas soon. Mussa is only minutes from us. We’ll know more when he gets here. Get everything back into our backpacks, and we’ll meet at the entrance to the cave in five minutes.”
Yuri and Miene quickly followed directions. They scurried to pick up odds and ends from the cave floor. Before they approached the opening, Yuri clasped his fingers around Miene’s hand and lovingly looked into her eyes.
“Miene, don’t lose faith! No matter what anyone says, don’t give up. In my heart I know Jonas is alive.”
Miene sighed and looked down at the cave floor. She tilted her head forward in one swift movement and looked directly into Yuri’s eyes. “I believe with you, Yuri. Deep within me I believe he is alive. My spirit knows he lives and breathes.”
They continued on to the cave entrance where Nadia was standing with Jordan, who was still busy communicating messages with Mussa. Jordan suddenly stopped and shoved everything in his hand into his pockets. He stretched out both arms and drew the other three close to him. He announced that Mussa was only seconds away.
With disheveled hair and bloodshot eyes, Mussa stood before them. He spoke quietly and firmly as he unfolded the plan for the journey ahead. The plan included trying to rescue Jonas, and Mussa explained the procedure step-by-step.
The EOC was expected to reorganize a more thorough search for all of them. When they were able to reassemble all the necessary pieces of information, they would conclude a detailed search was in order. This would give Jonas only a few more days to hide in safety before the EOC conducted a manhunt.
In his own mind, Mussa was not fully convinced Jonas was still alive. The odds were not in his favor, but Mussa resigned himself to at least try to find him. Close friends don’t abandon their loved ones. Mussa tried to understand the pain his friends must have been feeling with the separation from their only child, but he also understood it would further endanger them to risk looking for Jonas.
Mussa began to verbalize his set of instructions. “Follow me one by one. Stay low until you reach each stopping point. We will travel alone to each designated point until we have collected as a group. That way our trail can’t be easily detected. We will continue moving like that until we have reached the ocean.”
The group of four looked at each other and nodded their heads in agreement. Mussa gave them details to the path that would take them to their first stop. Everyone understood what was expected of them, and with nightfall closing quickly in on them, they proceeded with haste and caution.
Mussa wanted to keep a man between each woman for protection; so Nadia started out after him, followed by Jordan, Miene, and Yuri. They continued in this fashion, stopping at several meeting points, till they reached a cave at the bottom of a sloping trail just twenty yards from the sea.
Two other men were quietly waiting for the group. They had hidden a speedboat in a cove nearby. Minutes seemed like hours, and everyone was attentive to every unusual noise. Yuri and Miene prayed silently as they waited for their turn to sneak down to the boat.