What she couldn’t remember was having more than a handful of one-on-one conversations with him over the years. And those talks had always been more awkward exchanges, at least for her, because she’d had a crush on him and hadn’t wanted anyone to know. Especially Grant or her brother. Darren had always seen her as the little sister he had to keep safe from the world. Even when she’d been all grown up and in medical school. And she’d always imagined Grant saw her in the same way. So she’d made herself forget about him. Until today.
“Are you hungry?”
She looked up at Grant’s question, realizing one of the women was standing in front of her with dinner.
“I’m sorry.”
The woman handed her a bowl of stew. She thanked her, but her appetite had long since vanished. She tried to eat a few bites, but only to keep up her strength.
“How’s Ana?” Antonio asked from the other side of Grant.
“I’ll have to watch her carefully, but the rehydration drink already seems to be helping and her fever’s gone down some.”
“That’s good news,” Grant said.
“Yes, it is. I just wish I could treat her properly.”
Grant pulled out a zippered canvas tote from the backpack he’d been carrying. “One of the men confiscated most of what I brought, including the two-way radios and phones, but I convinced them to let me keep the clothes your mother sent. Your parents met me at the Denver airport before I flew out. She thought you might need a few things when I found you.”
When he found her. Not if.
Maddie felt a surge of emotion as she looked down at the set of blue scrub pants and T-shirt with the Doctors International logo she’d been wearing since they snatched her. Grant’s reminder that the holidays were just around the corner had managed to make her feel more homesick.
Even as a med student, when she might’ve had to come late or leave early, she’d never missed Christmas with her family. Her mother would have already decorated the tree and started planning the meal that would include all of the relatives in a hundred-mile radius as well as a handful of people from church who didn’t have family nearby.
She balanced her dinner on her lap and opened the bag her mom had sent. A pair of tan pants, a black tank top and an olive-colored button-down shirt, along with some underwear, a purple sundress, a compact Bible and a small toiletry bag full of travel-size products, including a toothbrush.
“I wish I could have brought more—”
“No. Wow. This is perfect. I never knew how excited I could get over deodorant and a new toothbrush.” She let out a soft chuckle and smiled at him. “Thank you. Now all I need is a hot shower.”
“There’s a letter in there as well from your mother.”
She pulled out the pink envelope and traced her finger across her mother’s handwriting on the front. She’d wait to read it later when she was alone and didn’t have to keep her emotions in check. Because at the moment it wasn’t going to take much for her to lose it.
“You said you needed to talk to us about something,” Grant said.
She set the bag down beside her and picked back up her bowl of food, keeping her voice low enough to ensure none of the guards across the compound could hear her. “I’m sure you know that this is not just some military camp. The men here are involved in drug trafficking, and their network is extensive.”
Antonio nodded. “My country’s involvement in the trade is no secret. Cocaine barons of South America use countries like mine as part of their route to dealers in Europe.”
For as much as she’d seen, she still had questions. “As a doctor I’ve heard the rumors, and I’ve seen firsthand patients who have overdosed from cocaine. But why do they stop here? Why not just fly directly to Europe?”
“It’s a way to avoid detection of large shipments by European militaries,” Antonio said.
“So, what?” she asked. “They break up their shipment and then transport it?”
“Exactly. It’s sent by smaller aircraft or even by human mules. South American cartel members show up here with more firepower than our police and military put together. Our police don’t have handcuffs or computers or even enough guns for our officers. They, on the other hand, have money, rifles, ammunition and know every inch of this country’s remote areas. They can literally buy the government and do what they want.”
“Enough money to pay people off to look the other way and make what they do even easier,” Grant said.
“They brought me here because they needed a doctor,” she continued. “And I’m sure you know by now that they shot and killed my supervisor, Gavin Richards, when they found out he wasn’t a doctor.”
She closed her eyes for a moment, wishing she could erase what she’d seen. She’d tried to stop them, but could only watch as one of them pulled the trigger. Simply because they didn’t need him.
I need You to help me through this, God...please.
She drew in a slow breath. “But that’s not all. The day before I was abducted, I met a man at the hospital during one of my shifts. His name was Sam Parker.”
“Sam Parker.” Grant leaned forward, his arms resting against his thighs. “He’s a journalist, isn’t he?”
Maddie pushed her food around on her plate with her spoon, nodded.
“I saw something about him on the news before I left the States,” Grant said. “He was shot, wasn’t he?”
“Yeah. He was here in the country doing some research for a spread in a magazine and stumbled across a story someone didn’t want to get out. Whoever it was tried to kill him. Initially he survived, and a Good Samaritan brought him to the hospital where I treated him for a gunshot wound, but he didn’t live through the night.”
Maddie hesitated before continuing. Death had always been a part of her job, but lately she’d seen so much tragedy. Tragedies that should never have happened. She leaned forward and lowered her voice, her dinner forgotten. “Before he died, he told me he had evidence of a high-profile US State Department employee tied to this country’s drug trafficking.”
Grant let out a low whistle. “That’s a big story.”
“Yes, it is,” she said.
“And plausible,” Antonio added. “The trans-Atlantic traffickers of drugs and other illegal substances need countries where they can not only fly under the radar of the international community, but also—due to high corruption—not have to worry about the local authorities. And with the profits involved, it’s not surprising to discover there are outsiders involved.
“Do you have a name?” he asked.
“No, but I’ve got something just as good.” She clutched the locket she was wearing between her fingers. “It’s a flash drive with the evidence Sam was planning to expose. He said if anyone found it he could tell them it was a gift for his girlfriend and no one would think twice.”
Grant glanced behind them where a couple of the guards were laughing and drinking. “Does anyone know you have this information?”
“It’s possible someone saw me talking with Sam.” She shook her head. “But when he gave it to me, there was no one else in the room except for a few sick patients, and I’m sure they weren’t paying attention.”
“So you think you