“You said they have been missing for three days?” Hugo asked Dane.
“Yeah, that’s what Ben Jamison said. But they were at least six or seven days back into the jungle from base camp. If they high-tailed it out of there, they still wouldn’t be back at base for four more days,” explained Dane. Sherrie bit her lower lip.
“What are you thinking to do, Dane?” she asked.
Dane looked up at both of them with a look of puzzlement. “Hell, I don’t know. I just don’t know.” He paused for a second and scratched his head. “But one thing is for sure. If she and Randall don’t show up at base camp in four days, my ass is headed to the Amazon.”
Hugo looked Dane directly in the eyes. His face showed his seriousness. “If your ass goes, my ass goes.”
“I can’t ask you to do that, but I do appreciate it,” said Dane with a meek smile.
“You are not asking… and I’m going. You are the only family I have. It ain’t gonna’ happen any other way.”
Dane smiled broadly and slapped Hugo on the back. “Damn you crazy Texan!”
“What about me? Dana’s my friend too,” cried Sherrie.
“Wait a second. No one’s going anywhere yet. And besides, we all can’t go. Let’s wait and see what comes up,” Dane said calmly.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Wayne Johnson pulled up in front of the Nader home. He dreaded the next hour. But he felt he must do it. Nathan was a good friend and surely needed the support. There were a few cars parked in the driveway, two of them with out-of-state tags. The family had begun to arrive. Wayne trudged up to the door and rang the bell. He was genuinely happy and relieved for Nathan to answer the door.
“Hi, Nathan,” Wayne said quietly. “I thought you might like someone to talk to.”
Nathan smiled weakly and stepped out onto the front porch. “Thanks for coming by. We can talk out here. Mom’s not taking this very well, as you might imagine. My aunt and uncle got here ten minutes ago so it’s pretty much a tear fest inside right now.”
“Yeah,” Wayne said, looking out toward the driveway, “I bet it is. Jesus, Nathan, do you have any more information since we talked?”
Nathan put his hand on Wayne’s shoulder and turned him toward the street. “Let’s take a walk.” The warm Florida sun filtered through the branches of the trees lining the street. Nathan wondered how the world was still moving ahead when his family was so devastated by his father’s brutal murder. But the world goes on; most everyone oblivious to the pain in his heart. He had a hard time trying to reconcile how everything outside of his house was so normal. Wayne walked with Nathan for about a half a block without saying a word.
“They killed Dad in cold blood, Wayne. It was cold-blooded murder.”
Wayne didn’t know how to respond.
Nathan looked up into the palm trees lining the street and then down at the ground. “Wayne, I got more info from the Feds. Dad was deeper into this than I first thought.”
“Your dad?” Wayne responded, genuinely surprised. “I can’t believe it. He was such a nice guy. I can’t believe it, no way.”
“It’s all true. You would not believe what I learned from the FBI and Homeland Security. They have been watching Dad for months. The Feds say Dad worked with some group moving a lot of gold from South America to the United States. Dad told me about it two days before he was killed.”
“Damn, did you tell the police?” asked Wayne.
“I told them part of it but not everything. Frankly, I’m scared for Mom and myself. We could be next.”
“We have to go to the police and get some protection,” said Wayne with a sense of urgency.
“Yeah, but I think we are already being watched.”
“Whoa, wait a minute, Nathan. Let me get this straight. You believe that whoever killed your father is watching you and your mom right now?” asked Wayne.
“Yes. Last night and the night before, I saw a black car riding up and down the street past my parents’ house. I’ve been at home with my mother since Dad was killed. Sometimes during the day I have seen the same car parked down the street.”
“Why haven’t you gone to the police?” asked Wayne, suddenly looking all around for any suspicious cars parked down the street.
“I told the Miami police I knew Dad was involved in some kind of group transferring large amounts of gold in and out of the country. The police called in the FBI and Homeland Security, who have been over to my parents’ house to talk with Mom. I’ve been down at FBI headquarters twice already since talking with you yesterday.”
“And that’s when the FBI questioned you and filled you in?”
“Yeah, but you know how they can be. They work like they do on TV. They listen and then make it sound like you are the cause of all of the crime and evil in the world,” explained Nathan with a sigh. “They also say they are working on Dad’s murder with Miami Police but they haven’t told us much at all yet.”
“So this was definitely not drug related; right?” asked Wayne, stopping at the corner. “With the way… well, you know, the type of death, it certainly sounded like a drug cartel or something.”
“No, Wayne; these guys are worse, much worse. I think they would kill their own mother to protect themselves,” Nathan said, clearly still hiding something. They continued walking.
“You know who did this, don’t you?” Wayne asked quietly.
“Let’s say that from what Dad told me, I have a pretty good hunch,” Nathan said, looking up at the sun. “It is a beautiful day, though, isn’t it?” he said, trying to change the subject.
The two turned around and started back toward the house when Wayne saw the car. It was a black, non-descript Ford sedan parked at the curb two blocks up the street from the house. Wayne was not sure the car was there before he and Nathan left the house. He didn’t look up the street in that direction. But it was there now. Nathan saw it and froze. As the two men stood there, the car pulled away from the curb, made a U-turn and slowly drove off. Wayne and Nathan could not read the license tag but Wayne saw it was an out-of-state tag. Before they could snap a finger the car turned down a side street and vanished.
A chill ran down Wayne’s back. “Damn, you are right,” he murmured. “Someone is watching you. You sure it’s not the police?”
“Nope; the police say they are not watching us. Neither are the Feds. I think it’s them,” said Nathan as he picked up his stride back to the house. “I need to check on Mom.”
When they returned to the house, all was fine. At least as fine as it could be under the circumstances. However, both Nathan and Wayne were worried. Wayne called work and told them that he would not be in at all today. He wanted to stick around and help Nathan.
Later in the evening after more family had arrived, Nathan wanted to go out to eat. Actually, he really wanted to get out of the house. Dozens of family members had arrived, bringing in all types of food. But all they wanted was to pull Nathan to the side and ask about the grisly details of Klaus’ death. Aunt Ester was planning the funeral and basically running the household while Nathan’s mother tried to get some rest. Overall the house was a zoo.
About 9:15 p.m., Wayne was talking with one of Nathan’s cousins when Nathan walked by and whispered to Wayne.
“Hey, I gotta go. Come with me.”
Wayne excused himself and followed Nathan out of the door.
“What’s up?” he asked. “Are they back?” said Wayne as he looked up and down the street in the failing light of the evening.