Angel of Death - Debt Collector 5 (A Jack Winchester Thriller) Page 16

  To make matters worse she could not get her tour guide to shut the hell up. She wouldn’t have minded if he was giving her the history of Peru or describing some of the sights they were seeing but he kept pestering her for information about the FBI. They were now on their way to the boat that would take them down to Refugio Amazonas.

  What the hell was his fascination with the FBI? They were a glorified police department. Just another bunch of government pen pushers who had been put on a pedestal by Hollywood. But her job was far from being glamorous. She thought about James Gunnar back in Chicago and the amount of money he said he was bringing in on a monthly basis. She was beginning to think she was in the wrong business.

  To blot out the fact that her pants were covered in red wine on the flight, she had toyed with the idea of what her marijuana dispensary could be called and came up with the name Baker’s Dispensary with the slogan “Get baked at Baker’s.”

  She gazed down at her phone and saw another text from Thorpe telling her to contact him again. She wasn’t going to do it. Isabel refused to tell her boss that Winchester had got away from her. She knew she was balancing on the edge of being yanked again and this time it would probably cost her the job. After pressing “ignore” she stepped into the boat with the help of her guide Marcos and settled in for the three-hour journey. The thought of enduring another three hours of his yakking was more than she could bear. She had already swallowed two Tylenol and had bought an oversized hat to keep the sun off her head but now she wished she had snatched up a pair of earplugs.

  When they arrived in the early afternoon it was raining, she was drenched but curious to know how far behind she was. Marcos introduced her to Eduardo and he had a smile on his face the whole time as if he was privy to some inside joke. Had Jack mentioned her? Knowing him, he probably had. His arrogant tone on the phone, the way he spoke to her as though she was just some rookie out of the academy — it was demeaning, at least she thought so.

  “I must say this is very unusual,” Eduardo said as he brought her into the lodge. Isabel wasn’t in the mood for idle chitchat, she just wanted to know which direction so she didn’t waste any more time.

  “Just tell me where he is?”

  After he told her, she turned abruptly and went to head out.

  “It would be best you if you leave tomorrow. It’s the rainy season right now and we can tend to get some serious flash floods. The water is high right now. You should stay here this evening and then see how it is in the morning.”

  She spun around. “You want me to wait?” She paused. “Does it matter how high the water is? You said the only way to get there is by boat.”

  “And by foot,” he remarked leaning against a doorway. Marcos also didn’t seem too eager to head out. It was beyond frustrating, had it been the city she would have ventured out by herself but after the horror stories Eduardo told about people being swept away and snakes, she had to resign herself to the fact that she wasn’t going anywhere at least until the next day.

  “Do you have Wi-Fi here?”

  “Actually, we do. You can go into the lounge area if you want a stronger signal.”

  Isabel went with Marcos into the lounge and he went and got a drink while she phoned through to Cooper. She hated to admit it but he had a way of both riling her up and calming her down.

  When he answered, he was at home sitting on his back porch, smoking a cigar and having a beer.

  “Speak up, I can barely hear you.”

  The connection was spotty at best. She walked around the lounge until he could hear her better.

  “You’re stark raving mad, Baker.”

  “I’m beginning to think I am.”

  “Why not just wait until the morning and catch the next flight back? Say you never found him. Thorpe isn’t going to know.”

  “But I would. No. I couldn’t sleep knowing I had let him go.”

  “You know they aren’t going to give you a medal for this, Baker, and you said yourself you don’t want a promotion, so why are you going to all this trouble? I mean, I understand L.A. Hell, I even get Louisiana but this is right off the deep end.”

  “What cases have you let go?”

  “Me? Loads.”

  “See. I can’t do that.”

  “It’s easy, trust me.”

  She heard Cooper chug back on his beer.

  “But that’s the thing about you, Baker, you don’t know when to let go.”

  “And you let go too easily. Let me guess, you haven’t had a steady woman in your life since… well never.”

  “Oh that’s below the belt, Baker, even for you.” He chuckled.

  Isabel slumped down in a chair and looked out as the rain fell. Droplets splashed off large leaves and she began to feel her body relax. She had been on the go non-stop, and the tension in her neck had worked its way up to her head. No amount of headache pills was going to shift that.

  “Just think, I could have been down there with you. Hell, we could have both had double massages, and shared a waterbed.”

  “This isn’t some fifty buck a night hotel and I’m no bimbo.” She gazed around and took in the sight of fresh fruit in bowls and the décor which was made of the finest bamboo. The rugs and furniture looked as if they had been handpicked out of an upscale fashion store.

  “Okay, a hammock.”

  “Cooper, if I don’t make it back, would you…”

  “Hold on a minute. Where did that come from? Of course you are going to make it back.”

  “You know what I mean.”

  He went quiet on the other end as she instructed him on what she would want. The truth was that in every case an agent was investigating there was a fair chance they wouldn’t return. L.A., she was lucky. Louisiana, she barely made it out alive. History had shown that things could change in the bat of an eye like a rainstorm in the jungle.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Jose woke up Jack within two hours of having fallen asleep. Whatever was in that drink, it had messed with his head and left him feeling drained. For a moment he didn’t even know where he was. He could still hear people outside chanting even though it was pouring with rain.

  “Jack Winchester, it’s me, Jose.”

  Jack squinted at him. “Jose?”

  “The woman. We should do it now.”

  He rubbed the sleep from his eyes and rolled out of bed. Outside the sound of the rain was deafening. It was coming down hard and he was not looking forward to going out in that after having spent the previous evening vomiting, sweating and having mad visuals. Jose handed him his clothes, and he realized that they had placed him in bed with nothing more than his pants on. Jack got dressed but he still didn’t feel as though he was in a state of mind to be dealing with the situation at hand.

  “You know, I was thinking that maybe we do this tomorrow evening.”

  Jose looked back at him in astonishment. Shadows danced on his face as the lightning and moon shone through the one open window. All the other shutters had been pulled closed because of the heavy rain.

  “You said we must do it immediately.”

  “That was then, this is now.”

  It wasn’t that he had lost of sight of why he was there, it was that the medicine they had given him had unearthed things that he had buried so deep inside, he wasn’t sure he was ready to leave. All that had been told to him about this group was they were a cult. He’d seen a video of a woman murdered but that could have been faked. It wasn’t uncommon to see people go to great lengths to convince someone else to do a job they didn’t want to do themselves. He thought about Anyah for a second or two. Had he really known who he was working for, he wouldn’t have taken the job. Was it possible these people here were harmless? Folks who just wanted to seek healing? They didn’t strike him as the kind of people out to inflict pain but then again it would have been easy to conceal their true motives.

  The words of John Dalton came back to him. Be careful they don’t drag you in.

 
He wasn’t going to be dragged into anything, not even if it felt good.

  Jack rose to his feet and Jose led the way to the hut he had seen Danielle go into. While many had retreated to their huts there were still others chanting and partaking of the medicine further down by the water. There were no men with guns. No one checking for runaways. None of it made sense. He’d never been in a situation like this. There were always those looking to stop others. They entered Danielle’s cabin and saw her sleeping. Jose kept an eye on the door while Jack went over to her. He crouched down and placed his hand over her mouth. Her muffled cry was barely audible.

  “Shh. Stay quiet. I’m here to help.”

  He removed his hand and she turned over.

  “My father?”

  Jack nodded. She didn’t waste any time in getting up and slipping into her sandals. When they made it to the door and looked out, there was no movement except the sound of rushing water. Venturing out, their feet barely made any sound on the wooden walkway as the noise of the rain dominated.

  The wind was blowing like a hurricane, the rain came down so hard they could barely see. In the dark it was even worse. The huts looked as if they were beginning to shift or sway. As they made their way across the slippery wooden paths that connected the huts, a large piece of wood that was holding down a shutter flew off and nearly hit them. In the darkness he could see some had come out to try and secure the shutters over the open frames. The wind and rain had turned the forest floor into a fast-moving river. Though the huts themselves were raised up off the ground, that didn’t mean they would stay in one piece. Jack braced himself as he felt the wood below his feet begin to shift. He kept a firm grip on Danielle’s hand as he tried to keep up with Jose. Once they reached the entrance area that would lead them deep into the forest, Jack heard someone scream. He looked back to see a woman who had raced out to get one of her children. A large section of a hut came crashing down and covered them. More screams ensued as others came out to try and help but the weather was merciless.

  Jose tugged on Jack’s arm. “Jack. We must go.”

  He nodded and they continued pushing forward. Jack turned back briefly to see a young child trying to pull a woman out from beneath a section of a hut that had collapsed.

  “Jose, take Danielle and get her out of here.”

  “What are you doing?”

  “Just do it. Whatever you do, don’t turn back. Make sure you get her to the boat.”

  “There are ones close to here,” Danielle said. “I can show you.”

  Jose nodded.

  Danielle stood shivering in the rain. Jose stared back at Jack as though he was mental. Turning away they raced off into the forest, which looked as if it was alive. Large leaves blew all over the place as Jack raced back into the camp to help.

  The young girl wasn’t more than six years of age. Jack tried lifting the wood that had fallen across the older woman. She was unconscious but still breathing.

  He called to a few of the men who were already trying to assist others who had become trapped inside a collapsed hut. The rain and wind assaulted them from all angles as they worked together to drag people out from beneath collapsed huts.

  Jack was busy trying to lift a large section of bamboo off the mother of a child when Castillo raced over to help. Together with many others they managed to pull people out and get them into some of the other huts that were tucked further back into the forest and less exposed to the fury of the wind.

  When they made it inside and the covering was placed over the door, the sound of weeping and agony could be heard. A man and woman went around to the injured to check on them as Jack took a seat with the others.

  Castillo looked at him and he immediately knew something wasn’t right.

  “Where’s Danielle?”

  Jack stood up panting hard. “How would I know?”

  “Because you were the last one seen with her.”

  Another man nodded. More men encircled Jack and he knew that making the decision to head back into the camp might cost him his life.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  The rain that night continued until the early hours of the morning. When light finally broke, Jack saw a whole new side to the group. There were too many to fight off and after an evening of ayahuasca he wasn’t sure he could fight his way out of this. They had kept him isolated from the rest of the group in a hut overnight. Three men with assault rifles now guarded it. He assumed they had kept their weapons hidden in the event that any officials showed up. Gone was the warm welcome. All they wanted to know now was where Danielle was. This was more than just about controlling one person; it was about damage control. Like a piece of clothing unraveling, if they didn’t reel it in fast the whole thing would come apart at the seams.

  Jack sat in the far corner of the room with his back against the bamboo wall like a prisoner in a Japanese concentration camp. Outside he could hear men walking back and forth and talking among themselves. He hadn’t spoken to anyone since late the previous evening. The turn of events had happened so fast. There was no room for doubt and any attempt at lying was shot down immediately.

  The door cracked open and one of the women came in with a tray, she placed it near the door and quickly closed it. Jack stared at it for a moment before going over and collecting the food. It was a bowl of fruit and a few pieces of bread. He wolfed it down as he had no idea when his next meal would be or if they would bring him any more food. Through the small cracks in the bamboo he could see light bleeding in. He placed his eye up to a gap and peered out when he heard a commotion a few hours later.

  At first he couldn’t tell what was going on as the group had gathered near the entranceway but as they parted to allow someone in, his eyes fell upon Jose. Pushed forward he stumbled to the ground. His body was drenched and dirty as if he had been dragged through a swamp. It appeared as though he was the only one there. Jack pulled back once he saw they were bringing him to the same hut he was in. The latch on the door shifted and it swung up open. They struck him in the back and he fell to the floor. Then they slammed the door behind them. At first he didn’t move. Jack scrambled over to him.

  “Jose? Jose!”

  He groaned and summoned enough strength to pick his head up off the floor.

  “Where is Danielle?”

  “She escaped.”

  While he felt relief for her, he knew they weren’t out of hot water yet.

  Jose fixed his eyes on Jack and then collapsed without saying another word. All he could do was imagine the worst. He didn’t even know they had sent men out to go after them. Who in their right mind would have ventured out into the jungle in the pitch dark, in the middle of a rainstorm? Desperate men.

  Jack brought over the cup of water they had left with his meal. He tore off a section of his shirt and dipped it in the water. He tended to Jose’s wounds that were mostly around his head. He looked as if he had been battered severely. His eyes were swollen, blood came from his nose, and his lip had been cut up pretty badly. He was shaking from the cold and his sandals were missing. As Jack wiped away the blood and peeled back his shirt, he began to realize that he was going to need more than a cup of water.

  He began banging on the shutter.

  “Hey. I need a doctor in here.”

  “Shut the hell up,” a voice came from outside.

  “You want this man to die? Get me a blanket, some warm clothes and clean water.”

  They muttered something but didn’t do anything so he continued to drum away at the shutter until they got so annoyed they came inside. Jack didn’t need to say anything. As the light from the day flooded in, it lit up Jose who was shaking badly. One of the two men at the door shouted over his shoulder a woman’s name and the other kept his gun aimed at Jack. Minutes later a woman came in and asked for the two men to help her carry Jose out. Jack went to help but was urged to stay back. He backed up into a corner and allowed them to remove him.

  After the door closed he immediately wen
t over to the crack in the bamboo and peered out. Jose was taken into another hut and that was it. He must have sat there for ten, maybe fifteen minutes before he returned to the same spot.

  At some point he drifted off to sleep before Castillo paid him a visit. Castillo didn’t enter alone. Two of his men remained in the room, keeping a gun on him at all times.

  “Is this necessary?” Jack asked.

  “Where has she gone?”

  Jack snorted. “Kind of figured all that mumbo jumbo was just a show. She’s long gone by now and hopefully she won’t see you again.”

  Castillo clasped his hands behind his back and slowly paced around the room.

  “You know, we have had many try to lead our brothers and sisters astray. It’s never ended well for them.” He stopped walking and crouched down to Jack’s level. “Tell me, did her father send you?”

  “I think you should be worrying more about what she’s going to say about your little group here, than who I was hired by.”

  He smiled and went to strike Jack across the face. Jack caught his wrist and began to twist his arm. His men shoved their guns in his face. Jack stared deeply into Castillo’s eyes with a look of defiance. He didn’t even have to warn him. One look was all it took for him to know that he wasn’t just dealing with some guy off the street. Jack released his grip and Castillo backed away.

  Embarrassed in front of his men or looking to rethink, he retreated from the room. The other two followed in tow. Jack heard the latch lock and they closed the shutter.

  The following hours were spent in silence. Jack’s mind began to turn over and think about how he could get himself and Jose out of here. It wouldn’t take much to disarm one of them and shoot the other. But he didn’t like the odds of being up against the other forty in the camp. He’d only seen a few of them packing weapons but that didn’t mean they didn’t have an arsenal. With Jose battered and looking as though he needed to stay in bed for a few days, the chances of being able to haul him out of here, detected or undetected, were practically zero. Jack had spent the better part of his life dealing with situations that turned on a dime, but he needed to think this one through.