Two of his bearded henchmen had grabbed her in a small village in the foothills where she and Olimpia had stopped earlier that morning to clean up at a barrel of rainwater after they had parted ways with their Kogi guides.
The men pulled up in a red 1960’s Chevy truck, snatched her from amidst a group of curious children, and forced her into the cab, wedged between them. As the truck skidded onto the muddy road, Diane could hear Olimpia screaming after them.
Diane’s greatest fear had materialized. Overwhelmed with terror, her mind clicked through the possibilities ahead: a forced jungle march, months (maybe years) as a hostage, torture, rape, childbearing in the wilderness, death by various, horrible means.
Assuming she knew no Spanish, the man on the passenger side, the friendlier of the two, attempted to calm her with a few words of English: “City. Safe. Food.”
Then the driver spoke to the other man in Spanish. “You want to pull off the road and have a piece of those juicy loins?”
The other, who seemed to be in charge, replied: “The Padrone would have your cajones; he ordered fresh meat.”
Once they arrived at their destination, she was turned over to two less-brutish men who provided her with a clean shirt and shorts and permitted her the use of the small bathroom. Then she had been served a light lunch and ordered to stay put.
Now, after being held prisoner for two hours, she heard footsteps on the metal stairs. Then the door swung open and he entered.
“Diana,” Gabriel said softly as he moved down the aisle of his plane, parked on the tarmac at Santa Marta’s Simon Bolivar Airport.
Diane struggled to control conflicting emotions as Gabriel moved toward her. But when she lifted her head to look him in the eye, her hatred surfaced unchallenged.
He sat down across from her and leaned forward.
Diane shot him a cold stare. “Why am I being held prisoner here?”
Gabriel’s voice was gentle, dismayed, hurt. “I have been worried. I have searched the earth and the heavens for you since that night.”
Diane responded in an icy tone: “Hey, I thought we had fun too. But I’m surprised a man with your experience would take a one night stand so seriously.”
Gabriel winced, and she enjoyed it.
She pressed her advantage. “Why didn’t you have your thugs grab me on the mountain after your father saw me? It would have been easier to dispose of me there.”
At first Gabriel looked puzzled. Then understanding dawned. He smiled indulgently. “You have apparently encountered the ‘knights errant’ on your mountain trek. You have nothing to fear from them. They are just misguided romantics who live their lives in seventeenth century fiction. Years ago, I chose not to participate in the quarterly fantasias of The Knights of New Granada… Diana, why did you run from the island? Why are you angry at me?”
Diane stared at him with contempt. In his arrogance, he thought himself capable of the perfect crime. It was time to disabuse him of that notion. She experienced a sudden calm—perhaps like a suicide bomber just before he sets off the explosive, she thought. Her voice went flat. “I know you were involved in Vincent’s murder.”
At first, Gabriel’s eyes widened in utter surprise. Then they began to dance as if to celebrate the discovery of such a trivial problem. His lips quivered on the verge of laughter. “But that is absurd,” he managed to blurt out. “Vincent was my friend. We emailed and spoke on the phone often. He knew I had controlling ownership of BRI; he was disturbed about some irregularities—”
“I saw the video. I watched the MARIA V flee after intentionally crippling Woodwind. I’m sure your elderly father could not have been aboard the boat in that horrible weather. It had to be you. As for your missing former boat captain—Jaime? I have reason to believe you threw him overboard.”
Gabriel stood and walked slowly toward the front of the airplane. He stopped, leaned on a high seatback and cupped his forehead in his hand.
After a few minutes, Diane heard him take a deep breath and exhale in resignation. He returned to her, his brow wrinkled, his eyes pained. “We will settle this at a later time. Meanwhile, I will have my pilot take you wherever you want to go.”
With that Gabriel walked away. But then he turned and slowly, pensively retraced his steps to her side.
He reached toward her. She froze.
With a feathery touch, he brushed the bruise still visible on her jaw, then smoothed some stray hairs behind her ear. In a choked voice he said: “‘Thou art too dear for my possessing.’”
He turned away and stepped quickly to the door.
μ CHAPTER FORTY μ
Maxine sounded glad to hear Diane’s voice on the phone. “Huck sure will be happy to see you. Where’re you calling from?”
“The plane—Gabriel’s plane. We should be landing soon.”
“Cool! It’s nice to know jet-setters. But Gabriel will be disappointed when he gets here; Raymond’s not back from Australia yet.”
“Gabriel Carerra’s not with me; he had his pilot bring me back.”
“You have the whole plane to yourself? Way cool.”
Diane glanced around at the upholstery adorned with gold brocade figures of Colombia’s ancient Chibchan tribesmen. The seats were empty, but she did not feel she had the cabin to herself.
For the entire flight, she had been struggling to blot out Gabriel’s indelible presence, to erase his touch from her cheek, to eradicate her appreciation of his kindness at letting her go.
But why did he release her? And why did he provide her with the means of escape? That’s assuming the plane’s actual touchdown will be in Houston, rather than some secret lair in the Bahamas.
The only answer that made sense was: Gabriel knew the video was no longer a threat. In which case, he knew it had been stolen. That’s it! He was the one who ordered the theft of the camcorder. Without that video, there was no proof of Gabriel’s involvement in Vincent’s death. That’s what the break-in was all about—to steal the video; the rest was just a ruse.
“Diane?”
“Yeah… um… When do you expect Bellfort to return?”
“I talked to him two days ago. He said the fishing’s good, so he won’t be back for at least another week.”
Diane felt a rush of relief. Not knowing whether Bellfort was involved with Gabriel in Vincent’s death, she was concerned for her safety while she was in Texas.
Whether or not she took the job in Maine, she was moving back up North. She had planned to ask Sara Solomon for protection while she packed up her house and office. But that wouldn’t be necessary now. She’d hire professional packers who would store her things until she established a new address. She’d be gone before Bellfort returned.
Maxine was still talking on the other end of the line: “I haven’t been able to find any of the stuff you asked about on Raymond’s computer. Maybe I’m looking in the wrong places.”
“Thanks for the effort anyway.”
“I wish you’d call David. He keeps bugging me about whether I’ve heard from you. I told him you couldn’t very well call from the jungle. He’ll be glad you’re back.”
“I’ll phone him later… I’ll stop by and pick up Huck on my way from the airport. Thank you so much for babysitting.”
“No problem. See you later… Wait! Are you still there?”
“I’m here.”
“I almost forgot to tell you. Harry Lee’s uncle Hu Lee phoned here looking for you three times in the past two weeks. He said he’s coming to a banking conference in Dallas. He wants to fly down to Houston and meet with you. He said he’ll call when he gets to the States.”