CHAPTER SEVENTY-FIVE

“The timetable has been changed. The yacht is coming from the north and will stop here before going on to Manta to pick up another ‘shipment’. They will be here tonight just after dark. There will be 8 in all at this spot, some special young ones brought from the orfanato in Quibido by the doctor who runs the place and including your brother, Owl. The man, Emilio has an increasing habit to feed and with his half he will be content for many months. The doctor has a small habit but is mostly just greedy.

“A patrol boat under the guidance of Ghost will attack the yacht at 9:30 … in the struggle it will explode and there will be no survivors. It is best. These people with all their money have lawyers which would secure their release…… no one ever gets released from Hell, so we will send them there.”

He took a breath and looked at the Abuela who shook her head and kept watching the road.

“When I interviewed Emilio the first time under the pretext of being a buyer, I learned something from him which I did not want to tell you except in person.

“Your mother spent many years not knowing who she was or where she had come from but over the past year of her life she began to remember little things… at first not much but more and more. The day she died ….. everything came back to her and she confronted Emilio, told him that she and the boy were leaving, going home. She tried to leave but Emilio grabbed the boy by the throat and she fought him, trying to save the child from harm. He killed her in his rage, beating her head with a rock from the fireplace until she was gone.”

Urs felt Elena stiffen in his arms and rested his head beside her neck, whispering to her. “Breathe, Baby. Deep breaths. We will get through this.”

She was shaking violently, not crying, not yet, but her eyes had welled with tears and her face gone bloodless and cold.

Urs cleared his choked throat and addressed everyone present.

“We can not afford to let this knowledge color the importance of why we are here. First we must rescue those children before they are caught in any action that Ghost is going to take against the pornographers. Then we can see that Emilio receives the justice due him.”

Hawk nodded at this decision, knowing how it must have cost Urs to make it. Elena had turned to rest her head on her husband’s shoulder and weep quietly while he held her trembling body against him.

“There are many good people in this village, Senors, people who would help if they could but they are poor and afraid. Not many have weapons to defy such as these creatures so they hide behind their closed doors and let the drug trade flow past them. I believe if they knew what was happening here this night they would help us if they could, but I have confided in no-one….. I do not want to see them hurt merely because they live in poverty.”

Elena sat up and wiped her face on her shirt, facing Hawk again and more in control again but still not the cold, almost inhuman person he had known before.

“The children, Hawk…you said some will be very young.”

“Emilio told me there will be another having 7 years, like your brother, a boy having 10 years for a special movie, another that is not yet 6, and 4 baby girls who are less than a year of age.”

There was silence for a moment, no-one able to speak while this news still hung in the air.

Finally Hawk spoke again.

“As soon as the children arrive I will pretend to inspect them and then leave, giving Emilio and his friend some drugs and more good faith money…. Apparently the doctor has a small habit as well. This will be the time for you to act, just after you hear my truck pass this way again.”

Abuela Teresa came back in the house and rummaged for a moment in a cupboard, spooned something into a small twist of plastic and came over to speak softly to Hawk.

“He is standing in front of the cantina, looking this way. You must go. Give this to Emilio, just as you leave him… tell him it is pure, very special, for a very special man but do not say it comes from me for he knows I despise him.”

Hawk held her eyes for a moment then nodded, looked at Elena and saw a tiny, grim smile on her face as she too understood.

He left, entering the truck, waving and going on in to the village to park at the Cantina.

**




Urs relayed what new information they had to Neto and Seb on the boat, using the head set and mike for the first time. He knew how the news of Penny’s death would affect both of them, Neto because of the relationship and Seb because of his gentle soul but they had the right to know everything the others did. They reported no sign of anyone on the water or land, had taken turns keeping watch with the binoculars. He warned them that the yacht was now expected from the north, would likely pass their spot so they must keep alert.

He promised to report back if there was anything new and signed off.

Seb thought for a few minutes about the possibility of the yacht seeing them and how Elena had stressed the importance of the boat being kept available for their escape.

“I have an idea,” he said to Neto who had the binoculars at the moment and without further discussion grabbed a large knife from the galley, took hold of the rope still hanging down the rock face and started up it hand over hand with his feet braced against the rock face.

He reached the top easily and kept his body low, moved into the tree line and soon came back dragging some cut saplings behind him to drop them over the edge onto the boat. Three more trips and he came back down the rope, his shirt full of wet soil that he smeared on the rope as he went down. Soon the yellow of the rope was hidden behind swiftly drying dirt and he was once again on the deck, smiling at Neto’s raised brows.

Carefully he attached the branches in as best a natural formation as he could all over the seaward side of the boat until it became merely a cluster of shrubs growing at the water line.

Neto gave him a thumbs up and went back to his slow scan of the horizon.

**

After Hawk left they sat for a few minutes quietly thinking then David spoke up.

“Four babies…how in hell are we going to get them to the boat? And can we just take them away …what if they aren’t really orphans, if they have loving parents missing them somewhere?”

“Hawk will have already checked that out,” Elena said with a shake of her head. “All he needed was the name of the doctor and he would investigate if babies who were legitmate orphans were under his care. Ghost would know in minutes if they disappeared from the orfanato.”

“How far do we have to swim with them?” Carlos asked and again Elena answered.

“I don’t think Seb can get any closer than maybe a hundred yards, not without running aground.”

“So we have to carry them to the beach and then swim out…impossible without drowning them…the older ninos si but the babies….?”

Abuela Teresa went out to the back yard and came back in moments later, placing a large round laundry tub on the floor. She dropped a soft crocheted blanket inside and then stood back.

“A baby boat…Si?”

Carlos wrapped his arms around her and gave her a huge kiss on the cheek.

“Si, Pequena Abuela, Si!!”

Urs smiled as he looked at the ‘baby boat’. “It will take 2 to guide it and make sure it doesn’t tip. That leaves only 2 of us and 4 more kids. I’m hoping that at least a couple of them can swim, but that’s a long way for a kid. And we may have company while we do it.”

“I think you should plan on one of us staying on shore to cover our backs and since I’m the best shot, it should be me,” Elena said and Urs frowned, not liking this plan at all.

“It makes sense, Urs. You’re all stronger than me and I’m the better marksman. If there’s no trouble then we don’t have to worry about it but it never hurts to be prepared.”

“So we need three more strong swimmers or we have to make 2 trips,” Carlos said summing up the dilemma.

“I hate to bring up more problems but if these babies are less than a year they probably are still bottle fed…. We can improvise for diapers but food…” David shook his head, not having any answers.

“Padre Julio is an excellent swimmer,” Abuela Teresa said quietly and they all looked at her in surprise.

“He is a good man, inclined to talk too much sometimes but a good man…. And I know he worries about the boy. He would be pleased to know that Flip has family who will love him.”

They debated involving the priest for a while but saw no alternative and the Abuela left them with Elena making tortillas from scratch and the cleaned bird roasting gently on a spit over the grill, the guys taking turns rotating the handle.

She was gone an hour and came back accompanied by two middle aged Columbian men, each carrying a basket which they left near the doorway and removed their hats to bob a short bow to her before leaving, never entering the Casa.

Urs stepped outside long enough to retrieve the baskets, one with 6 icy cerveza and two jugs of cold juice, the other clanking gently with nippled, empty baby bottles, folded cloth diapers, a bag of baby cereal and 2 large empty plastic bottles with screw tops.

Teresa looked at the supplies happily and grinned at the stunned silent faces around her.

“As Senor Hawk said…there are good people in the village…. Three will meet you on the beach below the fisherman’s shack after they hear the truck leaving….. and the nanny’s will return to my yard after the sun starts to descend. We will milk them and fill the large bottles then.” She smiled smugly, quite satisfied with the results of her visit to the priest and went out to the garden to collect vegetables for comida.

The relief was evident on all four of the would be rescuers as they tried to keep their laughter in.

Elena was still smiling when she went back to making tortillas on the flat griddle to the side of the grill and Urs took his turn at the spit handle.

“Are the missions you used to go on always this much fun?” he asked with a grin.

“NO, never,” she said with a giggle. “I think it must be the Divo charm.” Her mood changed suddenly and she looked at him with concern.

“Don’t let this peaceful lull go to your head, Urs. It may get a bit dicey later.”

He turned the handle once more then came over and kissed her thoroughly.

“I know, Baby but it’s a nice break in the tension.”

She shooed him back to his job and kept on scooping small balls of dough and flattening them in her small but strong hands.

**