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But how would we take on men with guns and automatic weapons?

While I was musing this over, Amana walked over to me. She placed five blowguns—four short-range and one long-range—one bow, two quivers filled with arrows, two spears, four stone knives and a basket with just a few blow darts on the ground.

It wasn’t the arsenal I’d hoped for, but we’d make it work.

It took some time, but after gesturing for a while, I managed to ask whether they could make more blowguns. Amana looked over at one of the elderly men and asked him something. He shook his head sadly. Apparently, those took more time than we had. But when I pointed to the darts, he immediately gathered some of the other women, hopefully to make more.

I gingerly picked up one of the blowguns and handed it to the woman next to me, wondering if she could use it. She shook her head, looking over at Amana. The tall girl confidently took the long-range blowgun from me while four other women retrieved the short-ranged ones. Okay, that was settled.

I held up the only bow and, to my surprise, Quiver Girl stepped forward and claimed it. Surprised, I looked around, but no one interfered. I sincerely hoped she could shoot more than pretend arrows. Somewhat reluctantly, I handed the bow over. A child archer. I tried not to be discouraged, because she looked so sure of herself. Hopefully her aim was as true as her confidence.

I found an open area in the dirt and began sketching out the arrangement of the buildings in the compound. Everyone peered over my shoulder to see. Other than the building with the laptops where everyone was now gathered, I hadn’t gone near the other buildings. I presumed the one with the smoke was the kitchen/eating area. I had no idea if anyone would be there at night, but figured probably not. There was a large building in the middle, which I thought was the lab, and a smaller building next to it, which was likely the sleeping quarters.

Our focus needed to be the computer building because that was where the prisoners were being held. I put an X in front of the building to indicate that there would be a guard there, and put a couple inside. Because I couldn’t be sure, I put a bunch of X’s around the area where I suspected the guards might be located. It was hardly scientific, but it was an educated guess and the best I had to go with for the time being.

I sat back on my heels thinking, when three small children approached me holding out gifts. A gourd filled with water, a large green leaf holding the white pulp of a sweet, juicy fruit, and a handful of berries. I realized I was ravenous. I sniffed the air, smelling the scent of meat. Thank goodness, because we’d need a good meal to fortify us for the trek.

At some point, I checked on the elderly man making the darts. He and his helpers already had an array of three dozen darts in two groupings, with another thirty or so in various stages of production. The women working with him were quick and adept at following his instructions.

As I stood there, a small group of women returned and showed me a small basket of brightly colored frogs and a small basket of leaves. The elderly man pointed to a pot of boiling water where the leaves were dumped and stirred. Then I watched as he took one of the frogs and killed it. He dipped the tips of several of the darts into the carcass and set them aside to dry, point up.

Holy crap, poison darts. They weren’t kidding around. I almost felt sorry for the drug runners.

I listened on and off to the phone for noises or shots, but it had been mostly quiet. At one point, I’d heard Slash’s voice, which confirmed they were still housed in the room with the laptops and also served to strengthen my determination to rescue him...allof them. I checked the phone and saw it had about thirty percent battery life left. I knew I couldn’t keep it on much longer. I needed to speak with Vicente in the morning, and I had to have juice to do that.

I stared at the phone in my hand. I’d only been married—well, sort of married—for less than twenty-four hours, and I already found it hard to do the logical thing. However, if I didn’t want to be a widow after a day and a half, I was going to have to make some tough decisions. With great reluctance, I pushed the button and ended the call, before shutting the phone off completely.

Everyone began packing up our gear while we ate a quick meal of meat, vegetables and water. Soon the women from dart production arrived carrying several baskets, followed by the elderly dart maker. Quiver Girl stepped forward ready with the bow and quivers of arrows, one of them being my bra. There would be no more pretending. She was going to have to shoot the real things tonight, if we went in.

Amana stepped forward, indicating it was time to go. The older man apparently gave last-minute instructions regarding the darts, presumably reminding everyone to be careful about handling them, especially the ones in the dark-skinned bag.

The villagers watched Amana, waiting for her signal. She exchanged a glance with me, then lifted a hand. After a moment, she turned and disappeared into the rainforest.

We followed her.

Chapter Forty-Eight

Lexi

We set out single file as dusk arrived with Amana and the man who’d been wounded in the arm leading the way. We moved quietly, quickly and with purpose. I stayed in the back, close to one of the women who looked out for me, pointing out places where the footing was treacherous or lending me a steadying hand when I needed it. I was the weak link in this operation, and I didn’t want my clumsiness to jeopardize anyone.

While we walked I ran the mission sequence in my mind over and over, looking for gaps or things we might have overlooked. I was so lost in the planning that it surprised me when I discovered we were already close to the compound.

Twenty minutes later, we’d carefully and quietly crept into a position where we could see all the buildings through the trees. The shadows were getting long and the only light we had was the rising moon. Occasionally, we could see a man walking between the buildings, but there was little other movement. I could hear the thrum of the generator that was powering the lights inside the workshop.

Now we waited. A few of the women disappeared behind a row of bushes and when they returned, I noticed they’d darkened their skin with a coating of mud. Smart. One by one, everyone disappeared to camouflage themselves. At some point it was my turn, and Quiver Girl seemed to enjoy putting a double-thick paste on me.

Night had finally claimed the rainforest and we settled in. I started feeling optimistic that nothing would happen and the agents would be able to successfully rescue the men in the morning. But we had to stay vigilant.

One of the woman scouts who had been sent out to count the number of people in the compound found Amana and held up nine fingers. She pointed to the building with the prisoners and held up two fingers. She then pretended to be sleeping and held up six fingers. One guard was apparently walking around. Nine guards total. Those weren’t bad odds, so long as she hadn’t missed anyone and we were able to disable them one at a time. But for now, we had nothing to do except wait and watch the movement at the compound.

The combination of nervous energy and the need to be still made the hours go by glacially. It was painful knowing Slash was so close and yet dangerously out of reach. The good news was that it appeared there was only one outside guard sitting outside the compound, and from the intelligence we’d gathered, only one more guard awake inside.

The outside guard spent most of his time in a chair, leaning back against the side of the building. He was clearly visible from the light inside the room which spilled out of the window. I thought he might be dozing, but periodically he’d get up from his chair, stretch and take a slow saunter around the building before returning to the chair. Just as my scout had indicated, there was only one guard roving around the grounds. He apparently wasn’t confident enough to penetrate the rainforest in the dark, so I felt we were relatively safe.

While lying on my stomach and watching the movement in the compound, I felt something crawling up my leg. Holding my breath so I didn’t scream, I motioned frantically to Quiver Girl who was lying next to me. Puzzled, the girl followed my finger to where it was pointing. When she saw the spider, she calmly whacked it with the back of her hand before picking it up off my leg and popping it into her mouth. She grinned broadly at me, as if thanking me for the tasty morsel.

Holy crawly snack!