Indiana unzips his sleeping bag and pulls a small plastic pouch from his backpack.
“Where are you going?” I ask as he stands.
“To brush my teeth. I might decide to kiss you later.”
I don’t realize I’m smiling until I see Domenica grinning at me. She heard every word.
I dig my toiletry kit from my pack, and when my compact falls out, I remember that I haven’t looked in a mirror in more than two days. Nor have I brushed my teeth or truly washed my face.
I pluck a camping wipe from my packet and wipe down my face, neck, and arms, but before I can find my toothbrush, Silvana shouts at me from across the clearing.
“¡Princesa! ¡Agua!”
Which is just as well. I can’t brush my teeth without clean water.
While I collect every kettle and empty tin can that will hold water, Julian gives each of the other hostages an MRE—military-style meals ready to eat in thick brown envelopes—and a piece of fruit picked straight from the jungle.
Penelope giggles and I turn to find her feeding bites of her oatmeal to Holden. They pretend they don’t see me, butI know exactly what Holden looks like when he’s playing to his audience.
I hope the water she used in that oatmeal gives them some kind of parasite.
On my way to the stream, I notice that all the rifle-carrying, camo-wearing terrorists—including Julian and Álvaro—are gathered around one fire pit with Silvana. At the other pit, all the unarmed men in dirty tees and cargo pants—including several Americans—sit with Sebastián. Óscar and Natalia stand on the fringes of Sebastián’s circle, and the three of them are the only ones in the group who are armed.
Now that we’re at their base camp, our kidnappers have aligned themselves into two distinct groups, and they look too comfortable in their circles for this to be a new arrangement.
Suddenly I understand. We’ve been kidnapped by two groups working together. And if the tension between Silvana and Sebastián is any indication, neither organization is thrilled with the collaboration.
“¡Vamos, princesa!”Silvana’s shout startles me, and I knock the full kettle into the stream. She and her men laugh while I wade in to fish it out.
When I have water boiling on grills propped over all three fire pits, I sanitize my toothbrush in one of the kettles. While I’m brushing my teeth, the green walled tent opens, then falls closed behind a man carrying a cardboard box. Sweat rolls down his forehead and drips into his eye. Heblinks the sweat away, but never takes his focus off the box, even when he stumbles over a rock on his way to the narrow footpath leading to the beach.
He’sterrifiedof that box.
Unease crawls up my spine as I watch him. Silvana’s bombs are being madehere. Twenty feet from the spot where I slept.
I won’t be sleeping again until this is over.
By the time my teeth are brushed and I’ve used what passes for a bathroom, the other hostages are almost done with breakfast. Except for Indiana.
“Here.” He sets a bulky brown meal packet on my lap when I sink onto the grass mat next to him. “I tried to snag you a piece of fruit, but Domenica’s a beast before she’s had some caffeine.”
“I know how she feels.” I hold up the brown envelope. “If there’s no instant coffee in this thing, my descent into madness will be swift and terrible.”
Indiana laughs. “I’ll alert the men in white coats. So what will the hostages be feasting on this morning?”
“‘Menu twenty-two: Asian Beef Strips,’” I read from the front of my packet.
“The breakfast of champions. I got ‘Menu twelve: Fancy Penne Pasta. Vegetarian.’” He rips into his packet.“Bon appétit!”
I start to tear open my envelope, but when I look up, I find Sebastián watching me from across the clearing.
It’s six thirty in the morning, according to Indiana’swaterproof camping watch. Eight and a half hours until the deadline Silvana gave my father. Time is running out.
“Thanks,” I say as I reluctantly hand the MRE back to him. “But I think I hear opportunity knocking. Wish me luck.”
“I’ve seen you handle yourself. You don’t need luck,” he whispers as I stand. But I can hear concern in his voice, and that makes me feel oddly warm as I cross the clearing.
Sebastián sees me coming, and his smile actually looks welcoming.“¿Qué pasa, Genesis?”
