Page 9 of Keeping Amanda
It hurt. A lot. But she didn’t blame the pilot either. Was glad he’d chosen the children over her.
She had no idea who the man was who’d basically tackled her before she could run into that clearing, screaming for the helicopter to come back. He was American, she could tell that much by his lack of accent. And she couldn’t believe he hadn’t left with the rest of the rescue team.
Why did he stay? Forher? That couldn’t be right. Maybe he’d been off looking for James too, and was also left behind.
But no…he knew James was in the helicopter already.
She couldn’t think straight. Her mind was spinning. Adrenaline was making her shaky. Making it hard to think rationally.But for the moment, all she had to do was exactly as she was told…which was a good thing, because Amanda didn’t think she could make any decisions right now. Not good ones at least.
Doing her best to copy the man, she crawled on her elbows and knees across the wet jungle floor. She refused to think about what kinds of critters she was disturbing as she slithered over their hiding places under leaves and dirt and mud. She felt a little shell-shocked. Happy that the children were safe and out of this stinkin’ jungle, but terrified for herself.
She had no idea how long she and the man had been crawling away from the clearing where the helicopter had landed, but when the man stopped, Amanda had never been more relieved.
She dropped down onto her belly and tried to ignore her shaking muscles. Crawling while trying to stay as quiet and low as possible was hard work. Much harder than it looked.
Resting her forehead on the backs of her hands, Amanda closed her eyes. She was tired. Bone-deep tired. The adrenaline that had been fueling her flight had waned and now all she felt was exhaustion.
“We’ll rest here for a bit,” he told her.
At that, Amanda’s head came up. The man had turned around to face her, and he was talking a little louder than the barely there whisper he’d used earlier, but not by much. “Shouldn’t we get as far away from here as we can?” she asked, mimicking his low tone.
Her rescuer stared at her without speaking for a long moment.
“Probably. Weshouldbe putting as much space as possible between us and the assholes who kidnapped you and the kids, but the thing is…” He sighed, then continued. “We have no provisions. I hadn’t planned on leaving my chopper, so I have nothing with me. No food, no water container, no way of lighting a fire. We need that stuff if we’re going to get back to Guyana.”
He wasn’t wrong, but the thought of having to retrace the path she’d been forced to take to get where she was now was extremely disheartening. “The helicopter can’t come back and pick us up?” she asked, knowing what the answer was, but needing to ask the question anyway.
“We surprised them once. We wouldn’t be able to do it a second time. And I have no way to communicate with my partner and the rest of the rescue team. I can’t tell them where we are. My friend and copilot could try to find us by using thermal radar, but that would also bring attention to the fact we’re in the jungle, and pinpoint our location to the rebels. Bottom line is that we’re most likely going to have to walk back to the border.”
Amanda wanted to protest. To tell this man she couldn’t do it. That she was too tired, too dirty, too hungry, too thirsty, too…weak. But the words wouldn’t come. She was overwhelmed and scared. And she had a feeling if she opened her mouth, she’d lose the little composure she was currently hanging on to by the skin of her teeth.
Instead, she simply nodded.
But the man seemed to understand how close to the edge of control she was. He scooted closer so their heads were right next to each other. “You’re doing great. Just keep hanging in there.”
His words were gentle and encouraging…and they did nothing to make the tears Amanda was desperately holding back go away. She nodded again and swallowed hard. After about ten seconds, she thought she could talk without breaking down. “So what are we going to do about supplies?” she asked.
“You’re going to stay here. I’m going to go recon the camp. See what I can steal. I’ll grab what we need, since it’s still dark, meet back up with you here, then we can go.”
Amanda felt extremely uneasy about that plan. But he had a point about seeing what he could get now, while it was dark. Thelast thing she wanted to do was hang around for a whole day, waiting for nighttime to fall again.
As if he could sense her unhappiness with his plan, he went on. “We have no idea what they’ll do come morning. They could all just up and leave, taking the things we need with them. I have to see what I can get now, while they’re all still confused about what just happened and wondering how the kids were taken right from under their noses.”
“Won’t they be pissed though? Making them more dangerous?”
“Yeah,” the man said, and Amanda appreciated that he wasn’t trying to downplay the situation. “But I’ll be careful.”
Making a split-second decision that she had a feeling she’d regret, Amanda said, “I should go with you.”
Her rescuer shook his head firmly. “No. You’ll stay here where I know you’re safe.”
Amanda snorted.
“Shhhh,” he reprimanded.
“Sorry,” she whispered once more. “But I don’t think there’s any such thing as safe right now. I could get bitten by a suntiger tarantula, or some rebel trying to find a place to pee could stumble over my hiding spot. Besides, I’ve been in the camp. You haven’t. I can tell you where everything is. Where you’re most likely going to find stuff we can use.” She didn’t know why she was arguing to go back to the place where she’d been completely miserable and terrified, but she was even more scared of being left alone here in the middle of the jungle. What if something happened to him and he didn’t come back? She’d certainly die out here.
His facial expression didn’t change as he stared at her.
