The Rescue, Part One
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Kayleigh glanced at Gwen and smiled, though there was no real happiness in her expression. She’d been on edge since the jet had taken off, and had spent most of the flight trying to deal with her fear of flying. She finally relaxed a bit when she thought of how important this was. The danger of what they were planning to do in Colombia was far greater than the chances they would crash. She finally decided that since flying would be the easiest thing she’d do that day, she might as well not worry about it.
They were somewhere over Panama, having refueled as planned in Mexico City. The Learjet was cruising along at 27,000 feet, and they were expecting to land at Santiago Vila airport in Girardot, Colombia, in about two hours.
Gwen had given Kayleigh a .45 caliber pistol, fully loaded. Kayleigh had fired guns before while preparing for a part in a movie in which she was a cowgirl on a ranch, but she had never fired at any living thing. She doubted she could do so now other than to save someone’s life. She had taken the gun as if it were covered in shit and laid it in her bag after checking twice to make sure the safety was on.
They had taken off from John Wayne Airport before daybreak, and the sun now streamed into the windows facing the east. Kayleigh had watched John Wayne movies when she was little and considered how appropriate it was they were beginning their journey from an airport named for a man who always played the hero who would mount up and save the day at the last minute.
About ninety minutes later they began their descent into Girardot. From there, they would fly something called a Pilatus PC-12 NG, which would seat two pilots and up to eight passengers.
“Strap yourselves in,” Jake, the pilot of the Learjet said. “There’s a bit of a turbulent crosswind coming from ten o’clock as we land on runway 19, so the landing could be a bit bumpy.”
Great, Kayleigh thought. That’s all we need, to crash land and everyone dies.
Soon, though, they were touching down on the only runway the small airport had, and taxiing up to the small building that served as the airport’s terminal.
After shutting down the engines, Jake opened the doors to let the two women descend the steps to the tarmac. They would need to speak to Juan and pay him the $500 to allow them to avoid any questions.
After they entered the building, Juan came up to them and introduced himself with an ingratiating smile.
“Hello, ladies,” he said in perfect, though accented, English. “You are here to set up your rendezvous with Carlo?”
Gwen had already considered the fact that there weren’t many Learjets that flew into this small airport. Jake had mentioned the runway would be just long enough for them to take off for the return to Los Angeles. Therefore, Juan would be fairly certain that the two women who had disembarked from the jet were the ones with money in their possession to pay him.
“Yes,” Gwen said. “Has Carlo called yet?”
“No, he hasn’t. But we have some very comfortable seats in my office where you can wait for him to contact you,” Juan said with a wave of his hand to indicate the way to his office. His smile never left his face.
Juan escorted them to the small room, which held a dented metal desk with a swiveling office chair badly in need of oil to stop the squeaking when he sat, and two padded chairs, one with a small rip along one seam. There was enough dust to cover every piece of furniture in Kayleigh’s house. Various pictures dotted the wall, most of them showing planes and their pilots. Several showed people smiling for the camera and shaking hands joyfully. On the desk was a picture of a woman with a small boy and girl.
“My wife and children,” Juan said as explanation as he noticed Kayleigh’s mild interest in the photo. His smile grew. “My wife is a cousin of Carlo’s. He is a wonderful man.” Then he added, “A truly wonderful man,” as if saying it only once would not make the statement believable enough.
“Yes,” Gwen said and Kayleigh nodded.
“He mentioned you have…a small gift for me?” Juan asked, the smile stretching in anticipation of his windfall.
“Oh, yes,” Kayleigh said. “I’m sorry.” She reached into her purse and withdrew the five one-hundred-dollar bills that she’d removed from the briefcase of money while still on the plane. It could be dangerous to let others see the amount of cash she had with her, even though most of it had already been given to Jake for piloting them here and back home.
Juan tucked the money into his pocket without even glancing at it. It disappeared so quickly that Kayleigh wondered if the man liked to do magic tricks.
“Was it a pleasant flight?” he asked, trying to politely make conversation to fill the time.
“Well, the landing was a bit bumpy,” Gwen answered.
“Is the other pilot that was supposed to meet us here yet?” Kayleigh asked. She’d seen several small planes and a larger one on the tarmac and wondered if the larger one was there for them.
“Oh, yes!” Juan said, the ever-present smile showing a gold tooth, one of the canines. She is here. You probably saw her plane when you entered. A fine plane. Truly fine.”
“So the larger one is the one we will use from here?” Kayleigh asked, smiling slightly at the man’s need to repeat his opinion of people and things.
“Yes, the Pilatus PC-12. A superb plane,” Juan repeated.
Kayleigh nearly giggled at the third repetition but held it in, thinking her nerves must be completely fried by now. She knew when she was very nervous she sometimes found herself giggling uncontrollably, and she didn’t want that to happen now.
“Could we meet her?” Gwen asked.
“Oh! Certainly! One moment,” he said, rising to go get her. “I know her family. They are a marvelous family. Really marvelous.” He left the office, closing the door behind him.
The giggling now seized Kayleigh, and Gwen joined in as they joked quietly between themselves about Juan, his permanent smile, over-friendly attitude, and his penchant to repeat his high opinions.
When Juan re-entered the room, he had a small folding chair and was followed by an attractive Venezuelan woman. He glanced at Gwen and Kayleigh, his smile faltering for a second as he wondered what what they were laughing about, and introduced them to their next pilot.
“This is Lolita Suarez,” Juan said.
Kayleigh considered the odd coincidence of the name Lolita. The man who made the flight’s arrangements had referred to her only as ‘Miss Suarez’ on the phone. He would be paid out of the money they paid Lolita.
“Could we have a moment in private?” Gwen asked Juan.
Looking slightly surprised that he hadn’t thought of that himself, he said, “Oh, yes, certainly. I will go check on things in the terminal,” and left.
Gwen and Kayleigh exchanged a glance. They had asked only for a flight to and from a small grass airstrip, so Lolita was not fully filled in yet. They had debated how much to tell her.
“Just so you know, we aren’t smuggling drugs,” Gwen began.
Lolita shrugged, as if their purpose didn’t matter to her.
“But I do need to let you know that this could be dangerous. We are getting a woman and two children who are being held against their will.”
Lolita’s eyebrows arched in question.
“Tell me about them,” she said. Her skin was the color of coffee with a hint of cream, and Kayleigh wondered what could happen if they were not on such a dangerous mission. Her clit stirred in spite of the situation; the woman was that sexy.
Kayleigh explained how Cindy became a prisoner, and how there were now twin eight-year-old girls who were there to “please” their captor and his evil friends, with Gwen interjecting some details.
Tears formed in Lolita’s eyes while she listened intently to their story.
“Then I have no problem getting these people out and helping you.”
“Do you live here in Colombia?” Kayleigh asked.
“No, I live across the border to the east, in Venezuela.”
Good, Gwen thought. That might make retaliation by Pablo more difficult.
Lolita guessed the reason for the question.
“You don’t have to worry about me. My grandfather is one of the most powerful men in Venezuela, as well as here in Colombia. Whoever this is, and I don’t want to know who, he wouldn’t dare to come after me later.”
Well, that settled it. Now all they had to do was wait for Carlo’s call.
********
Cindy spent much of the day making sure she knew where the twins were at all times. Eventually, Carlo would look at her and nod with his eyes closed, which would be the sign that she should get the girls and make their way to the first rendezvous point. Like her, the girls were always naked. She was glad she would actually have something to wear later that day. She’d been totally naked for five years, and she wondered if she would struggle to get used to wearing them again.
At one point when she was checking on the twins, she found them in one of the rarely used rooms of the compound. They were lying on a plush rug in a sixty-nine, eagerly licking each other. She stood there for a moment watching before retreating, not wanting to bring attention to either herself or the girls. As she left the room she could hear one of them coming. Her own clit began to tingle, but she ignored it.
There would be time for orgasms later. She even hoped to enjoy Kayleigh and Gwen on the plane ride home. She’d never met the private detective, of course, but she didn’t care what she might look like. She owed the woman everything for working to get her back home to her daughter and a civilized life. A few orgasms were the least she could offer the woman. Kayleigh had told her on the phone that the detective knew about Cheryl and Jenna’s relationship with Kayleigh and was ‘more than fine’ with the arrangement, which meant she, too, enjoyed young girls, perhaps as young as the twins. She planned to arrange for the girls to express their gratitude as well — to both women.
Later, Cindy was in the kitchen, trying to force herself to eat something to maintain her energy and strength, when Carlo entered the room.
“Mi madre está muy enferma,” My mother is very sick, he said for the benefit of the girl who was making bread. “Dónde está Pablo?” Where is Pablo?
Cindy had just seen him in his study, so she told him this in Spanish.
“Gracias,” he said and left the room in the direction of the study, exchanging a meaningful look with Cindy. The look said, “Be ready. It will happen very soon.”
She went to the room where she’d last seen the girls. She felt her breath catch in her chest when they were no longer there. Frightened, she walked as fast as she dared to their room. Empty. Now she was nearly panicking. She would not leave without them. She would try to make her way out of Colombia by herself with them without outside help rather than leave them. She decided to look outside in the courtyard, where they liked to play sometimes. Nobody was there.
As she rushed back into the house, she saw Rosalita. “Where are the twins?” she asked, fear evident in her voice and on her face.
“Relax,” Rosalita said. “They are with Gabi in her room.”
Rushing to the room, she breathed an enormous sigh of relief when she found them playing a board game. She could feel the panic flowing away like the sudden gust of wind from a passing vehicle. It was there, then it was gone. Tears of relief filled her eyes, but she blinked them away. No time for that now.
“Come, girls,” she said to the twins.
“It is time?” Rosalita asked, crossing herself.
“Very nearly. Carlo is asking Pablo for the use of the car and time off.”
********
Carlo had no trouble convincing Pablo to allow him to take the car to visit his sick mother, so he went back to the kitchen to let Cindy know by their prearranged signal that it was time for them to depart. He would drive to their meeting place and wait, but he couldn’t wait long.
When he arrived at the kitchen, Cindy wasn’t there.
Looking around the room, he saw the girl making bread, who was now looking at him with an unspoken question in her eyes.
Carlo ignored her and moved toward Cindy’s room. On the way he met her, but Pablo was in the same hallway. The evil man squinted at him, suspicion marking his features.
“Weren’t you eager to leave to see your mother?” he asked.
Carlo closed his eyes and nodded — their signal — a movement Cindy found unnecessary now.
“Yes, I was just leaving,” Carlo said. “I was almost to the car when I realized I needed to relieve myself before the long drive.”
Cindy was thankful Carlo could think quickly on his feet. The bathroom was down the hall from where they now stood.
“Well, then, by all means, go piss,” Pablo said. His suspicions, it was easy to see, had not left him.
Carlo edged past them and entered the bathroom. Cindy watched, her panic rising once again, as Pablo went to the door of the bathroom and listened. The monster’s smile was inscrutable. Did he hear Carlo’s urine hitting the bowl? Or did he hear nothing because Carlo had lied about his need?
Cindy decided that remaining there would just increase the man’s suspicions, so she hurried the twins out to the courtyard. When they were safely away from others who might hear, she said, “Follow me, and do your best to keep up. We are leaving this Satan’s lair.”
The girls, who had more or less forgotten about the plans to escape, followed Cindy as she made her way to the edge of the cleared property. Stepping into the trees that surrounded the compound, Cindy felt an exhilaration she’d not felt before. She already felt freer than she’d felt in the five years that felt more like twenty.
Cindy hurried the girls along the narrow path, praying her disappearance would not be noticed for a long time. Her thoughts were interrupted by Sonia screeching, “Ow!” She looked down. Sonia had lifted her foot and was holding it while hopping clumsily on the other foot. Cindy saw the blood that had started oozing out of the girl’s foot from around the sliver of broken glass that now protruded from the child’s heel.
Before she could think to stop it, Sonia screamed as she saw the damage and the blood.
Without thinking, Cindy clapped her hand over the girl’s mouth, stifling the scream as best she could. Sophia watched in numb silence.
“Shh,” Cindy said. “I know it hurts and it’s scary, but if we are found, we will be killed.”
Tears flowed freely down the child’s cheek as she whimpered. “It’s bleeding!” she said through her tears. “It’s bleeding a lot.”
“Yes, honey, I know, but we can’t stop now, no matter what happens. We must get away.”
“I want to go back and escape another day,” Sophia said. “Sonia’s hurt. She needs a bandage. She could bleed to death.”
“No, sweetie, she won’t bleed to death,” Cindy assured her. “It just hurts and it’s scary to look at. So don’t look at it. Believe me, everything will be fine if we just manage to get away.”
Sophia looked at Cindy with doubt clouding her expression. Cindy wasn’t sure if she should remove the glass shard or leave it in, wondering if removing it would cause more blood to flow. She knew that she would remove it if they were not doing something that would result in certain death if they were caught, but this was a different situation. More blood could bring more screams, this time from both the girls.
“Here,” Cindy said. “I’ll carry you.” She reached out and picked Sonia up and stretched her arm out to Sophia as well. She didn’t want to risk having both of them hurt. She was still well over a mile from the rendezvous point, and she needed to hurry.
Just as she was picking up Sophia, she heard the shouts she had dreaded more than anything else in the world.
Whether it was Sonia’s scream or just bad luck she didn’t know, but she could dimly hear the shouts from the compound that signaled that her absence had been discovered.
She began to run along the narrow pathway. Thorns the size of sharks’ teeth reached out like wild animals and clawed her arms and legs as she passed them. She felt a stab of pain in her left foot as she stepped on a thorn, which broke off and became embedded in the more tender flesh of the instep. She ignored it, though the pain seared her flesh as she ran along the path, hammering the thorn deeper into her skin with each step.
She did her best to push her mind past the pain as she ran to freedom. Now she could hear people running behind her in the distance, the angry sound of men pushing aside bushy limbs clear in the still day. She could not tell how far back they were, but she knew she had gotten a head start of nearly a quarter mile.
As she continued to pound the thorn deeper into her instep with each long stride of her legs, she prayed the head start would be enough.
********
Pablo stood in the courtyard, scowling. The bitch was trying to escape. After all this time, she had decided to run. He couldn’t believe it. What had made her come to this decision? Why hadn’t she tried it before now?
Then it hit him.
Carlo.
It was obvious they were in love, which was one of the biggest reasons he had decided she needed to die on Monday. Now he cursed himself for waiting for a day of great symbolism. Who would really care about symbolism when it came to such a thing as executing the beautiful American woman? Yes, she was a very good partner in bed. But he’d grown bored with her lately, which was the other reason he had for finally getting rid of her. Getting his independence in a way. He had the twins now, and he would make sure they grew up knowing how to please him in every way imaginable.
But now they were gone as well. The bitch had stolen them from him, probably from some silly maternal urge.
Two of his men had already started running down the path in the direction of the child’s scream that had alerted them in the first place. The scream had sounded as though it had come from a long way off, and he wondered if anyone would have heard anything if the bitch and his twins had managed to travel another two minutes.
Now two more of his men were running from the house and climbed into the jeep.
“Let’s go!” Pablo shouted, as he climbed into the back seat and removed his pistol from its holster. “I’m sure the traitor Carlo is waiting for them somewhere. If he has a mother still alive, she won’t be for long. And neither will he. I’m going to kill his entire fucking family!”
The jeep took off with a lurch, nearly dumping its owner, and sped off down the only road that led into or out of the house’s compound.
********
Carlo waited for Cindy and the girls at the prearranged spot. He had told her the path would cross the exit road a little over a mile from the house and he would meet them there.
While he waited, he took out his phone and placed a call to the Santiago Vila airport in Girardot.
“Santiago Vila,” came his friend’s voice.
“Juan, how are things?”
“Things are splendid, my friend. Just splendid! And your friends! Oh, my, my. Beautiful doesn’t even begin to express it.”
“Thank you for your help in this. You are certain nobody is there who suspects anything?”
“Nobody is here at all. It is just me, your friends, and the other pilot. They are getting acquainted in my office.”
“Good,” Carlo said. “Could I speak with one of them?”
“Certainly, my friend,” Juan answered, and placing the phone’s receiver on the desk, he walked back to his office, knocked softly, and entered.
“Carlo is on the phone. He wants to speak to one of you.”
Gwen rose and followed the man, leaving Kayleigh and Lolita to stare at each other as their nerves tightened even more, like a guitar string that was being wound too tightly and was near the breaking point.
Picking up the phone, Gwen said, “Yes?”
“Gwen?” Carlo said. “It’s time. Your pilot knows where to take you?”
“Yes.”
“Good. I hope to arrive with the cargo in about twenty or thirty minutes.”
They hung up, each hoping deeply that the plan would work without a problem.
There was one thing Carlo had done without telling anyone else. He hoped it would buy them enough time if Pablo did figure things out.
Continue on to Chapter 60