El Corazon (2/10)
El Corazon (2/10)
Author: Amy
Pairing: Orlibean
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: Never happened. This has been adapted from the movie Romancing the Stone - it does not belong to me no harm is meant and no money is being made.
Warning: There’s a bit of character death in here. It actually happened before the story starts but it’s mentioned a little graphically in this chapter so the warning is here. And yes I really did it…sorry girls...please don’t hate me.
Beta: The lovely giselleslash all remaining mistakes are mine.
Summary: Romance writer Orlando Bloom travels to Colombia to save his sister who has been kidnapped.
Note: This is for the orlibean Summer Movie Challenge. The movie I chose was Romancing the Stone. There are still plenty of movies to choose from so if you're interested in participating please follow the link above and join the fun.
Note #2: The Next part will be Posted on Sunday 7/29.
Thanks to cammissbloom for my lovely banner and icon!
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Orlando managed to get into his apartment without dumping the contents of the shopping bags his arms were loaded down with. He’d made Elijah stay in the cab instead of helping him because he knew that Elijah had an important meeting to get back to and hadn’t wanted to hold him up. But it had made the trek up to the third floor more difficult than usual. Usually the landlord, Robbie, would appear out of nowhere to help, always going out of his way to make sure his big time tenant was comfortable and well taken care of less he move to some fancier place on the upper East side. But Robbie hadn’t appeared even though the light to his office was on. He must have been out on an emergency call or perhaps a call of another kind all together.
Orlando hurried into the kitchen and dumped the bags onto the counter before he dropped them. Once they’d gotten to the market place Elijah had made sure that he’d stocked up on food and everything else he’d need. Orlando had lost the argument and ended up with enough stuff to last him for a few months. He supposed it made sense that if one was not going to leave their apartment that much then they needed to stock up on stuff when they did. He glanced around the room frowning a little at the clutter. It hadn’t seemed to be that cluttered the night before. Just what had he done during the drunken portions of the night that he couldn’t remember?
He put the stuff away and then hurried down the hall to his office eager to jot down an idea he’d had for adding Karl’s character to the mix. He entered the room and stopped dead in his tracks as his eyes traveled around the room, he knew that something very bad had happened while he was out.
The room was in complete chaos. Not the organized mess that he’d left it in a few hours earlier but completely destroyed. His stacks of paper were demolished, chunks of the stuff he’d had attached to the wall had been torn down and worst of all was his desk.
With building horror he rushed over to his desk. The monitor had been toppled over and there was glass everywhere, the tower had also been destroyed. Thankfully the fire proof hidden section he’d had built into the back of his desk to house his back up hard drive had done its job and all the contents were still in one piece.
Satisfied that his work was safe he hurried out of the office and checked each room as he came to it. Each had been completely demolished. Stuff was strewn everywhere, things broken and smashed. He was a little confused to see that the TV and stereo system had simply been destroyed and not just taken. It was true they weren’t the latest models but they’d surely still fetch some money. And the small bit of jewelry his grandmother had given Samantha that she’d left in his safe keeping, although strewn about, seemed to all be there. Those were expensive pieces and yet they too had been left behind. Giving the living room a once over Orlando became more and more convinced that nothing had been taken. That both confused and worried him.
He felt the familiar tightness of panic grip at his chest as he contemplated his next move. He was about to have a massive panic attack and while it shouldn’t be a surprise given that it often didn’t take much to set one off he knew he couldn’t give into one of them at the moment. He was taking a few deep calming breaths when the phone rang. He lunged for it hoping that it was Elijah. Elijah would know what to do and he was well practiced in talking Orlando down from an attack.
“Orlando?” the voice on the other end cut in the minute he picked the phone up. It wasn’t Elijah but his sister Samantha and even in his almost frantic state Orlando could hear the tension in her voice.
“Sam?”
“Yeah…it’s me,” she said breathing out. “Where were you earlier? I tried to call…”
“Sorry…I was out…” he hurried as an explanation before moving on to a more important topic. “Sam my apartment was broken into…”
“Someone broke into your apartment?” she repeated in a voice that seemed to grow tighter by the minute. “Did they take anything?
“No it’s the strangest thing, the place is completely trashed but nothing was taken as far as I can tell. It’s almost like they were looking for something specific but didn’t find it.”
“Listen,” she said quickly. “Did Karl send you something in the mail?”
“Yeah…I just got it today…or rather just got to it today…” his eyes widened as realization hit him like a ton of bricks. “Do you think this is related…oh gods…” he said his heart picking up as the weight of panic came crushing back down on him. “Of course it is…what are we going to do Sam, I…”
“Orlando,” Samantha cut off his panicked ramble with a tight voice. “I need you to listen to me. I need you to bring the map to me in Colombia.”
“What?” Orlando said sharply almost letting out the bit of choked laughter that had bubbled up at his sister’s words. “You know I can’t do that Sam…you know I can’t travel. I’ll just mail it back to you…”
“No you can’t just mail it back to me,” she said tensely. “You need to bring it to me. I know it’s not going to be easy for you but Orli I need your help on this…please…”
“But…” he said lamely, he'd do it for her but that didn’t mean he wasn’t going to try to get out of it. “Samantha please…”
“Listen, Orli,” a new voice was on the phone filled with a heavy Irish accent and dripping with impatience. “Be a good boy and listen to your sister.”
“Who is this?” Orlando asked in confusion at the new voice.
“I’m the man who’s kidnapped your sister and if you don’t bring the map to me by the end of the week I’m going to feed her to the alligators,” the voice snapped angrily.
Orlando blinked as his heart ramped up in speed and he struggled to remain calm. There was no doubt in his mind that this was very real, between Karl’s death and his apartment being trashed he’d already figured out that his sister had gotten mixed up in something very bad. Now Samantha was in real trouble and he’d do anything to get her out of it. “What…what do you want me to do?” he asked after a long moment of silence.
“I thought you’d see it my way,” the Irishman on the other end of the line said cheerfully. “You have two hours to find yourself a flight into Colombia, when the two hours is up I’m going to be calling back to give you some more information. If you don’t have something good to tell me I’m going to be very upset and then I’ll have to take my frustration out on your sister. Do you understand?”
“Yes,” Orlando answered quickly.
“Good,” the voice said. “I think it should go without saying that if you get any authorities involved I’ll be a little upset with you…so I suggest you don’t try anything foolish like that.”
“I understand,” Orlando said simply. “Can I speak with Samantha again?”
“Just hurry up and get here, Mr. Bloom,” the man said. “Then you’ll be able to speak to her all you want. You have two hours.”
With that the call was disconnected. Orlando stood clutching the phone his heart thudding in his ears. The panic was overwhelming now, the pressure on his chest almost unbearable. He closed his eyes and counted backwards from ten the way his doctor had told him to years earlier. He couldn’t have an attack now. It was something he couldn’t afford.
Samantha needed him.
He took another calming breath and then disconnected the phone and dialed Elijah’s number. He needed a flight to Colombia fast and Elijah would now just how to go about getting one.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
“That’s Cartagena,” the voice was laced with irritation as he spoke into the phone. “No I don’t bloody well know how to spell it. You’re a smart boy…look it up. It’s on the ocean and you’ll need to take a bus to get here, should take you a couple of hours. Now when you get here go to the Hotel Cartagena and say you have a reservation. We’ll leave a throw away, untraceable mobile phone in the mail slot of the room. When we get word that the phone’s been activated we’ll contact you by it.”
Dominic listened tensely as his cousin Colin gave Bloom his instructions over the phone. Two hours had passed since they’d made the initial contact and it sounded like Bloom had managed to get a flight into Colombia and was going to bring the map like he’d agreed to. He breathed a sigh of relief and let his eyes linger over to the sister. She was curled up on the same chair she’d been for most of the evening looking tired and scared. He didn’t blame her really, she’d been abducted on her way to the airport. She’d probably thought her nightmare was ending when in truth it was just beginning.
“That’s a good boy,” Colin said. “Just remember no funny stuff or your sister will pay.”
He put the phone down with a flourish and leaned back against the couch he was sitting on. He took a long drag of his cigarette, blowing the smoke out with a wide smirk. “Your brother came through, luv,” he addressed the sister with a drawl. “Couldn’t get a flight into Cartagena but he’ll be on his way shortly.”
The girl shifted nervously and looked back and forth between them. To Dominic it looked like she wanted to say something but was afraid to. Finally what was probably fear for her brother won out over her own personal fear. “You’d be better off to meet him. He…he doesn’t travel much and he’s rather awful at it. He’ll probably get on the wrong bus without someone to help him.”
Colin rolled his eyes a little but seemed to contemplate what she was saying. Dominic shifted uncomfortably in his chair as Colin’s eyes roamed around the room for a bit and finally landed on him. Dom knew what was coming even before a grin split his cousin’s face.
“Dominic, you’ll go to the airport and make sure he doesn’t get lost,” Colin said with an easy grin.
“No,” Dominic insisted with a shake of his head.
“No?” Colin echoed incredulously. “Why not?”
“I don’t want to get involved in this Colin,” Dominic insisted.
“You’re already in this up to your neck, Dom,” Colin scoffed.
“You’re going to get us both killed,” Dom said tightly, knowing that Colin was right, he was already too deeply involved in this.
“If it wasn’t for me you’d probably already be dead,” Colin pointed out evenly. “How many times have I saved your butt?”
“How many of those times did you get my butt into those situations to begin with?” Dominic asked dryly.
“Come on mate,” Colin said with a wide toothy grin. “This is going to make us both very rich men. Don’t you trust me, Dommie? Your own flesh and blood…”
Dominic hesitated. He really wanted to tell Colin to screw it and walk out the door leaving this whole crazy scheme behind him. Flesh and blood or not he knew that Colin wouldn’t hesitate to do the same to him if it suited him. But on the other hand Colin was right; this crazy scheme would make them a lot of money. It was money that he could send home to his family who desperately needed it. He sighed and nodded his head knowing that there wasn’t really any other choice.
“Fine,” he mumbled in irritation. “I’ll do it.”
“Perfect,” Colin said smugly. “His flight comes in at midnight. Don’t let him know who you are, just nudge him in the right direction if he looks lost. The last thing we need is for him to end up in the middle of the jungle somewhere.”
He wanted to ask why they didn’t just bring the sister to the airport with them and do the trade there. It certainly would make things a lot easier and leave a lot less room for error, but he knew better than to say his thought out loud. Colin loved a crazy scheme and he’d clearly put all his brain cells to use in coming up with this one and far be it from anyone to question him when he got a thought into his head. People who did had a tendency to end up in the hospital and Dominic really didn’t feel like investigating the type of medical services Colombia offered at the moment. There was one small problem in this new plan of Colin’s that he felt compelled to point out.
“I don’t know what he looks like...”
Colin rolled his eyes again and picked up a book that was on the table next to him and tossed it across the room towards Dominic. He smirked as Dominic fumbled with it and almost dropped it. Staring down at the cover his brow creased as he read the title Painted Moon and he was momentarily confused until he saw that it had been written by Bloom. He was still confused until he turned it over and saw that the author’s picture was on the back.
“Now you do,” Colin said dryly. “You can use that to entertain yourself until you leave. Stay here with her and make sure she doesn’t do anything stupid like try to escape. Remember Mrs. Urban that we’re on an island a bit off shore from the city and the entire stretch of water between them is filled with alligators. They’ve gotten into the tunnel systems built into the island itself and there’s not a lot of food for them so I’m sure they’d love for you to misbehave…’cause then we’ll start feeding your pieces to them…” he grinned gleefully as he watched both Dominic and the girl shudder at the thought. “I’m going to go out for a bit I’ve got a few things to do before you leave.”
Dominic forced himself not to roll his eyes. He knew very well that Colin had nothing to do and was simply going to go to the nearest grated area and throw rocks down at the alligators. His cousin was obsessed with those things to the point of almost distraction.
“Throw you to the ‘gators,” he mumbled.
Out of the corner of his eye he saw the girl raise an eyebrow at that comment and realized he must have spoken the thought out loud. Clearing his throat he stood and walked over to the small bar area in the room and picked up the pitcher of water and poured a glass of it. Then he walked back over to where she was sitting and held it out.
“Would you like some water?” he asked softly.
She stared at the glass and then hesitantly took it from him. He watched as she took a few sips and then he hurried back across the room to the chair he’d been occupying. He watched her out of the corner of his eye as he picked up the book that Colin had tossed at him earlier and flipped it open to read the plot summary on the inside cover. It seemed interesting enough for a romance novel, a lot plottier than pure bodice ripper. He turned the book back over and stared down at the picture memorizing the face he’d have to know in a few hours.
It was a handsome face with dark eyes and dark hair. His sister had some of the same features he realized but not all of them. He turned the book back over and sighed, rubbing his hand against the bridge of his nose, he could feel a pressure headache building there. He should get up and get some aspirin but he found he didn’t have the energy.
“You didn’t kill my husband did you?” she asked quietly.
His head shot up and he regarded her with large horrified eyes. “No! I mean…not personally,” he hurriedly tried to explain remembering Colin’s orders on the subject.
“I mean…neither one of you didn’t kill Karl,” she continued in halting tone. “Neither one of you is that…efficient…” she shuddered at the last.
Dominic could see the tears glistening in her eyes and was impressed that she didn’t allow them to fall. If he was her and had his husband murdered, been kidnapped and now had his brother coming after him he’d be a nervous wreck. Again he remembered Colin’s orders that they weren’t supposed to let her know that they hadn’t killed her husband.
”We could have hired someone else to do it for us,” he pointed out quickly.
“You could have,” she admitted her voice a little stronger as she was given something to distract her from her pain for the moment. “But I don’t think you did. I think you just found out about the map and wanted in on the action.”
Dominic tried to come up with a way out of it and then gave up with a shrug of his shoulders. Colin had been on Urban’s trail for months. Just how he’d found out about the map Dom had never asked knowing he wouldn’t have been given a straight answer. When Urban had gone missing and then had been found in pieces Colin had swiftly gotten it into his head that they could get his widow to give them the map, only she didn’t have the map in her possession. How Colin had found out that it had been sent to Bloom Dominica again hadn’t asked. Sometimes it was just better off not knowing these things.
“If you two didn’t kill my husband…then who did?” she murmured softly.
“I don’t know,” he answered her. It was the truth even though he had his suspicions. Colin wasn’t the only one who had been doing some sniffing around while they were in the area.
“But you have your suspicions,” she answered picking up on something in his voice.
“Maybe,” he said not seeing any reason to not talk about it. It wasn’t like she was going to run to these people if she escaped.
“It was the Secret Police wasn’t it,” she said darkly. “Karl was worried that they might have caught wind that he actually found the map and…he was scared.”
“If it was the Secret Police, and it does seem like it was them, then he had reason to be…” he cringed knowing that she already realized that.
In truth there was nothing secret about the Secret Police. Everyone who lived or spent more time than your average tourist did in Colombia knew about them. The only real secret where the SP was concerned was exactly where they ranked in the Colombian hierarchy of power. The Colombian government did not acknowledge their existence to the world at large but they were the first to turn to the SP for help if they needed it. This led to rumblings among the underground that it was the SP that really ran the show in Colombia.
Whatever the exact nature of the arrangement the SP was powerful, very powerful. Much more powerful than the official police force in the country and they even had the military at their beck and call any time of the day or night. Everyone in Colombia was scared of them from the richest politician to the men who cleaned the streets. Even the drug lords were scared.
The Secret Police had their hands in everything including the lucrative Colombian drug trade. It was an uneasy truce for the drug lords but a necessary one because the SP had enough power to keep the US from making too many in roads into the country in their War on Drugs. In return for that protection the SP got to skim more than a little bit off the top in both goods and money. But it was a shaky truce at best in which the drug lords had to watch their every step because if they did something that the SP didn’t like they risked having their entire operation taken away from them and getting thrown into jai,l or worse still, extradited to the US.
It hadn’t always been like this. The SP had always been around but it had only been over the past 10 years that they’d become feared by the whole of the population. And it was all due to the man in charge. A man that had appeared out of nowhere and taken over in less than a month and 6 months later was ruling the country in every way except the official one. A man that was as hands on as they come but still shrouded in mystery.
As far as anyone knew he didn’t have a last name, he simply went by Viggo. If that was his real name no one could say and most people didn’t even say that name for fear they’d be overheard. Most people wouldn’t be able to point him out on the street if he passed right by them and that was fine with them. The man was dangerous and mean and not someone to be messed with.
Yet no one really knew anything about him. The stories were vast and wide. One said that he’d been hired by his predecessor to take over the SP after he’d been ousted and to take out everyone still there and rebuild. Another story said that he was a member of a prominent and wealthy Argentinean family who’d helped his older brother take out their father and with his share of the money he’d gone north in search of new conquests.
Dominic’s favorite story was that Viggo was an actor from the US who’d come to Colombia to get a bit of hands on experience and liked the power and rush so much that he’d decided to stay. That story dovetailed nicely with the rumors about Viggo’s artistic talent. The man was said to be almost godlike, whether it was a paint brush, a camera or a knife and a gun. Voices spoke in awe of how each of the people he’d killed had ended up arranged in the most precise and artistic manner. Even Urban’s pieces had been left in a jaw droppingly gorgeous location. It was like he was giving them in death what he’d taken from them in life.
But make no mistake about it the man was evil incarnate and crazy to boot. If he’d set the SP on your trail you’d better run and hide yourself so deep that even you couldn’t find yourself. Because if Viggo decided to get directly involved then there was no hope for you, he wouldn’t stop until someone had paid with their life.
“Do you think…” she started sounding more scared than she had during the entire ordeal. “Do you think that they know that Karl sent it to Orlando?” She paused and sucked in a breath. “That’s what the break in at his apartment was about wasn’t it?”
Again Dominic could only speak the truth even though he’d rather not. “It probably was.”
“They probably just got some connection in New York too, do you think? I mean they wouldn’t go all that way just to look for the map right? I mean who would do that…” she trailed off and shuddered. “It’s just about the map...I mean he has never been involved in anything that Karl or I have done in the past. So they wouldn’t take a direct interest in him…right?”
“You better hope that they don’t Mrs. Urban,” Dominic said after a moment’s thought about all the stories of how Viggo and his love of beautiful things and Orlando was a beautiful thing. Add to that the fact that if the map led to what Colin said it did then it was a fair bet that Viggo would be personally involved in this on some level. “You better hope that they don’t…”
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Orlando shifted nervously in his seat and tried not to clutch the arm rests too hard. His obvious fear of flying had amused his row mate but he didn’t want it to become bothersome. He was glad that Elijah had insisted on booking him in first class, he couldn’t imagine that being squished together in a row with two other people would help his anxiety level any.
Elijah hadn’t wanted to help him at first. He’d wanted Orlando to call the cops or the FBI or the CIA whoever it was that dealt with international kidnapping. But the very last thing he wanted was for Orlando to go into Colombia to deal with this himself. And Orlando had understood where his friend was coming from, it wasn’t really something he wanted to do either but he had to for Samantha. He didn’t think that the man on the phone had been lying when he’d said that Sam would be hurt if the authorities were lying. And even if it was possible that he might be Orlando wasn’t willing to take a chance with his sister’s life.
So after some argument about the fact that Orlando didn’t like to travel and also didn’t really do all that well around guns or stressful situations Elijah had given in and in less than a half an hour he’d had Orlando booked onto the first flight into Colombia. Not knowing which city he needed to go to he was coming into one in the center of the country and the man on the phone said he could catch a bus to Cartagena from there so that was settled.
Orlando tried not to think about all the unknowns stretched in front of him and everything that could go wrong. There were certainly a lot of both. None of that mattered. Samantha was in trouble and she needed him and that meant the only thing he could do was go after her. He would do anything for her and he knew that she would do the same thing for him.
He laid his head back against the cushioned seat and let his eyes drift closed. The plane bumped slightly as it hit a pocket of turbulence and he cringed but took a deep breath and forced himself to be calm. To distract himself he let his mind drift backwards. Normally when he was forced to fly to a book signing or another press engagement he’d try to think about story ideas but he was too worried about Samantha and wound too tightly for that this time. So instead he let himself think about his sister and how they’d gotten to this point.
They’d started life in the southern part of England. A happy little family unit with their mother and father, it was a warm and happy life that Orlando could only vaguely remember now. Orlando had been sickly since he was a baby and spent most of his time indoors but the family had rallied around that coming up with games and fun things that they could do together. Samantha was two years older than him and he’d practically worshipped the ground she walked on. She told him stories about how he would follow her around like a lost puppy dog and how they were pretty much inseparable.
His happy world was shattered when his parents were killed in a car accident when he was five. Orlando and Samantha found themselves uprooted completely and sent to live with his father’s mother who lived across the ocean in America. Those early days in New York were pretty much a painful blur to him. He was too young to really understand what was going on but he knew he wasn’t home anymore and that his mom and dad were missing.
With the confusion and stress level he’d gotten very sick. Sick enough to end up in the hospital and almost not make it. When he’d gotten well enough to go home from the hospital Samantha seemed to pull away from him and seemed as distant as a 7 year old could be. She’d told him later that she was afraid that he would leave her too and didn’t want to become too attached to him. As an adult he could understand where she was coming from, but as a child he’d been confused and upset and it had made him cling all the more to the only person that seemed to want to be around him, his grandmother.
Because of the lingering illness Orlando had been home schooled but Samantha, though given the option, had wanted to attend regular school. She soon was spending more time with her friends than with her small family. Eventually she asked to attend a boarding school in Europe and their grandmother had agreed reluctantly. Samantha did well in school but her heart wasn’t really in the learning. She was wild but never got into serious trouble.
She wanted to spread her wings and see the world and as soon as she could she did just that. Backpacking her way across Europe she moved on from there, seeing all the places that Orlando could only read about in his grandmother’s books. She’d send home letters of all her adventures which made him long to be able to join her. She came home when she was able and they reforged their friendship but she was gone more often than she was around.
She did return when their grandmother fell sick and helped him take care of her. When she finally passed Sam stayed with him until she could no longer sit still. She convinced him to try to work past the panic attacks and see the world with her. He’d given in and for a while it had gone okay but it had eventually ended in disaster and he’d gone home to what was now his apartment in New York while she’d continued to travel the world.
Orlando was momentarily distracted from his thoughts by the stewardess coming around to see what he’d like to drink and eat. He asked for some 7-up but decided against eating, his stomach was just too turbulent at the moment and he didn’t want to embarrass himself by throwing up. When she returned with his drink he took a moment to glance around the plane. First class was fairly empty, just a handful of people. A man sitting towards the back of the section caught his eye. He was bent over what looked to be a sketch pad making long strokes across the page he as working on. Orlando couldn’t see the man’s face, it was covered by a veil of dark hair, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something familiar about him. Shaking his head he took a sip of his drink and closed his eyes again. His nerves were on overdrive at the moment and he really couldn’t trust anything he was thinking and feel. With his stomach feeling a little better from the drink he let his mind wander back into his previous thoughts.
Samantha had been in and out of New York since he’d returned home. She’d been surprised and then amused when he’d told her that he’d started writing romance novels and then proud once he’d struck it big. Then about five years earlier she’d met Karl and her life had changed. They still led a wild and adventurous life but she was clearly a woman in love. Exactly what she and Karl did Orlando could only guess at but they always seemed to have money and led a comfortable life when they weren’t trekking through the woods. She was happy and Orlando was happy for her. There was some sense that what they did together might tread the line between right and wrong but Orlando never questioned it. It wasn’t his place to do so.
Besides he liked Karl. Karl was funny and charming and treated his sister like a queen. He showered her with affection and gifts and always went out of his way to be nice to Orlando. And it was never in the way that it seemed like he was just trying to get on Samantha’s good side. He honestly seemed interested in the things that Orlando had to say the brief times they were together. He was very impressed with Orlando’s writing and had taken to sending Orlando the tidbits soon after they’d met.
There hadn’t been any rush for the two of them to get married so Orlando had been a little surprised when a few months earlier they’d come into New York with the news that they’d gotten married in Vegas. But he had been happy for them because they seemed happy. Samantha had said that she wanted him to be there but hadn’t wanted to put him through the stress. They’d planned to have a small ceremony in New York for their friends when they got back from their honeymoon trip to Colombia.
Colombia. Orlando had sensed almost right away that there was more to their trip there than a simple honeymoon. Both seemed too excited and had joked about retiring to a quiet life in Karl’s home country of New Zealand within a year. Orlando had assumed at the time they’d been joking but now he was sure they hadn’t been. Whatever the map led to it was something big…big enough that it had ended up with Karl being murdered. Orlando didn’t want to know what it was.
The only thing he wanted to do now was get safely into Colombia. Then he’d get to Cartagena, turn over the map to whoever was holding Samantha and then head back to New York as fast as he possibly could.
Then he could go back to writing the adventures instead of living them.
* * *
TBC
Forward to: Part Three
Back to: El Corazon Fic Index
Author: Amy
Pairing: Orlibean
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: Never happened. This has been adapted from the movie Romancing the Stone - it does not belong to me no harm is meant and no money is being made.
Warning: There’s a bit of character death in here. It actually happened before the story starts but it’s mentioned a little graphically in this chapter so the warning is here. And yes I really did it…sorry girls...please don’t hate me.
Beta: The lovely giselleslash all remaining mistakes are mine.
Summary: Romance writer Orlando Bloom travels to Colombia to save his sister who has been kidnapped.
Note: This is for the orlibean Summer Movie Challenge. The movie I chose was Romancing the Stone. There are still plenty of movies to choose from so if you're interested in participating please follow the link above and join the fun.
Note #2: The Next part will be Posted on Sunday 7/29.
Thanks to cammissbloom for my lovely banner and icon!
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Orlando managed to get into his apartment without dumping the contents of the shopping bags his arms were loaded down with. He’d made Elijah stay in the cab instead of helping him because he knew that Elijah had an important meeting to get back to and hadn’t wanted to hold him up. But it had made the trek up to the third floor more difficult than usual. Usually the landlord, Robbie, would appear out of nowhere to help, always going out of his way to make sure his big time tenant was comfortable and well taken care of less he move to some fancier place on the upper East side. But Robbie hadn’t appeared even though the light to his office was on. He must have been out on an emergency call or perhaps a call of another kind all together.
Orlando hurried into the kitchen and dumped the bags onto the counter before he dropped them. Once they’d gotten to the market place Elijah had made sure that he’d stocked up on food and everything else he’d need. Orlando had lost the argument and ended up with enough stuff to last him for a few months. He supposed it made sense that if one was not going to leave their apartment that much then they needed to stock up on stuff when they did. He glanced around the room frowning a little at the clutter. It hadn’t seemed to be that cluttered the night before. Just what had he done during the drunken portions of the night that he couldn’t remember?
He put the stuff away and then hurried down the hall to his office eager to jot down an idea he’d had for adding Karl’s character to the mix. He entered the room and stopped dead in his tracks as his eyes traveled around the room, he knew that something very bad had happened while he was out.
The room was in complete chaos. Not the organized mess that he’d left it in a few hours earlier but completely destroyed. His stacks of paper were demolished, chunks of the stuff he’d had attached to the wall had been torn down and worst of all was his desk.
With building horror he rushed over to his desk. The monitor had been toppled over and there was glass everywhere, the tower had also been destroyed. Thankfully the fire proof hidden section he’d had built into the back of his desk to house his back up hard drive had done its job and all the contents were still in one piece.
Satisfied that his work was safe he hurried out of the office and checked each room as he came to it. Each had been completely demolished. Stuff was strewn everywhere, things broken and smashed. He was a little confused to see that the TV and stereo system had simply been destroyed and not just taken. It was true they weren’t the latest models but they’d surely still fetch some money. And the small bit of jewelry his grandmother had given Samantha that she’d left in his safe keeping, although strewn about, seemed to all be there. Those were expensive pieces and yet they too had been left behind. Giving the living room a once over Orlando became more and more convinced that nothing had been taken. That both confused and worried him.
He felt the familiar tightness of panic grip at his chest as he contemplated his next move. He was about to have a massive panic attack and while it shouldn’t be a surprise given that it often didn’t take much to set one off he knew he couldn’t give into one of them at the moment. He was taking a few deep calming breaths when the phone rang. He lunged for it hoping that it was Elijah. Elijah would know what to do and he was well practiced in talking Orlando down from an attack.
“Orlando?” the voice on the other end cut in the minute he picked the phone up. It wasn’t Elijah but his sister Samantha and even in his almost frantic state Orlando could hear the tension in her voice.
“Sam?”
“Yeah…it’s me,” she said breathing out. “Where were you earlier? I tried to call…”
“Sorry…I was out…” he hurried as an explanation before moving on to a more important topic. “Sam my apartment was broken into…”
“Someone broke into your apartment?” she repeated in a voice that seemed to grow tighter by the minute. “Did they take anything?
“No it’s the strangest thing, the place is completely trashed but nothing was taken as far as I can tell. It’s almost like they were looking for something specific but didn’t find it.”
“Listen,” she said quickly. “Did Karl send you something in the mail?”
“Yeah…I just got it today…or rather just got to it today…” his eyes widened as realization hit him like a ton of bricks. “Do you think this is related…oh gods…” he said his heart picking up as the weight of panic came crushing back down on him. “Of course it is…what are we going to do Sam, I…”
“Orlando,” Samantha cut off his panicked ramble with a tight voice. “I need you to listen to me. I need you to bring the map to me in Colombia.”
“What?” Orlando said sharply almost letting out the bit of choked laughter that had bubbled up at his sister’s words. “You know I can’t do that Sam…you know I can’t travel. I’ll just mail it back to you…”
“No you can’t just mail it back to me,” she said tensely. “You need to bring it to me. I know it’s not going to be easy for you but Orli I need your help on this…please…”
“But…” he said lamely, he'd do it for her but that didn’t mean he wasn’t going to try to get out of it. “Samantha please…”
“Listen, Orli,” a new voice was on the phone filled with a heavy Irish accent and dripping with impatience. “Be a good boy and listen to your sister.”
“Who is this?” Orlando asked in confusion at the new voice.
“I’m the man who’s kidnapped your sister and if you don’t bring the map to me by the end of the week I’m going to feed her to the alligators,” the voice snapped angrily.
Orlando blinked as his heart ramped up in speed and he struggled to remain calm. There was no doubt in his mind that this was very real, between Karl’s death and his apartment being trashed he’d already figured out that his sister had gotten mixed up in something very bad. Now Samantha was in real trouble and he’d do anything to get her out of it. “What…what do you want me to do?” he asked after a long moment of silence.
“I thought you’d see it my way,” the Irishman on the other end of the line said cheerfully. “You have two hours to find yourself a flight into Colombia, when the two hours is up I’m going to be calling back to give you some more information. If you don’t have something good to tell me I’m going to be very upset and then I’ll have to take my frustration out on your sister. Do you understand?”
“Yes,” Orlando answered quickly.
“Good,” the voice said. “I think it should go without saying that if you get any authorities involved I’ll be a little upset with you…so I suggest you don’t try anything foolish like that.”
“I understand,” Orlando said simply. “Can I speak with Samantha again?”
“Just hurry up and get here, Mr. Bloom,” the man said. “Then you’ll be able to speak to her all you want. You have two hours.”
With that the call was disconnected. Orlando stood clutching the phone his heart thudding in his ears. The panic was overwhelming now, the pressure on his chest almost unbearable. He closed his eyes and counted backwards from ten the way his doctor had told him to years earlier. He couldn’t have an attack now. It was something he couldn’t afford.
Samantha needed him.
He took another calming breath and then disconnected the phone and dialed Elijah’s number. He needed a flight to Colombia fast and Elijah would now just how to go about getting one.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
“That’s Cartagena,” the voice was laced with irritation as he spoke into the phone. “No I don’t bloody well know how to spell it. You’re a smart boy…look it up. It’s on the ocean and you’ll need to take a bus to get here, should take you a couple of hours. Now when you get here go to the Hotel Cartagena and say you have a reservation. We’ll leave a throw away, untraceable mobile phone in the mail slot of the room. When we get word that the phone’s been activated we’ll contact you by it.”
Dominic listened tensely as his cousin Colin gave Bloom his instructions over the phone. Two hours had passed since they’d made the initial contact and it sounded like Bloom had managed to get a flight into Colombia and was going to bring the map like he’d agreed to. He breathed a sigh of relief and let his eyes linger over to the sister. She was curled up on the same chair she’d been for most of the evening looking tired and scared. He didn’t blame her really, she’d been abducted on her way to the airport. She’d probably thought her nightmare was ending when in truth it was just beginning.
“That’s a good boy,” Colin said. “Just remember no funny stuff or your sister will pay.”
He put the phone down with a flourish and leaned back against the couch he was sitting on. He took a long drag of his cigarette, blowing the smoke out with a wide smirk. “Your brother came through, luv,” he addressed the sister with a drawl. “Couldn’t get a flight into Cartagena but he’ll be on his way shortly.”
The girl shifted nervously and looked back and forth between them. To Dominic it looked like she wanted to say something but was afraid to. Finally what was probably fear for her brother won out over her own personal fear. “You’d be better off to meet him. He…he doesn’t travel much and he’s rather awful at it. He’ll probably get on the wrong bus without someone to help him.”
Colin rolled his eyes a little but seemed to contemplate what she was saying. Dominic shifted uncomfortably in his chair as Colin’s eyes roamed around the room for a bit and finally landed on him. Dom knew what was coming even before a grin split his cousin’s face.
“Dominic, you’ll go to the airport and make sure he doesn’t get lost,” Colin said with an easy grin.
“No,” Dominic insisted with a shake of his head.
“No?” Colin echoed incredulously. “Why not?”
“I don’t want to get involved in this Colin,” Dominic insisted.
“You’re already in this up to your neck, Dom,” Colin scoffed.
“You’re going to get us both killed,” Dom said tightly, knowing that Colin was right, he was already too deeply involved in this.
“If it wasn’t for me you’d probably already be dead,” Colin pointed out evenly. “How many times have I saved your butt?”
“How many of those times did you get my butt into those situations to begin with?” Dominic asked dryly.
“Come on mate,” Colin said with a wide toothy grin. “This is going to make us both very rich men. Don’t you trust me, Dommie? Your own flesh and blood…”
Dominic hesitated. He really wanted to tell Colin to screw it and walk out the door leaving this whole crazy scheme behind him. Flesh and blood or not he knew that Colin wouldn’t hesitate to do the same to him if it suited him. But on the other hand Colin was right; this crazy scheme would make them a lot of money. It was money that he could send home to his family who desperately needed it. He sighed and nodded his head knowing that there wasn’t really any other choice.
“Fine,” he mumbled in irritation. “I’ll do it.”
“Perfect,” Colin said smugly. “His flight comes in at midnight. Don’t let him know who you are, just nudge him in the right direction if he looks lost. The last thing we need is for him to end up in the middle of the jungle somewhere.”
He wanted to ask why they didn’t just bring the sister to the airport with them and do the trade there. It certainly would make things a lot easier and leave a lot less room for error, but he knew better than to say his thought out loud. Colin loved a crazy scheme and he’d clearly put all his brain cells to use in coming up with this one and far be it from anyone to question him when he got a thought into his head. People who did had a tendency to end up in the hospital and Dominic really didn’t feel like investigating the type of medical services Colombia offered at the moment. There was one small problem in this new plan of Colin’s that he felt compelled to point out.
“I don’t know what he looks like...”
Colin rolled his eyes again and picked up a book that was on the table next to him and tossed it across the room towards Dominic. He smirked as Dominic fumbled with it and almost dropped it. Staring down at the cover his brow creased as he read the title Painted Moon and he was momentarily confused until he saw that it had been written by Bloom. He was still confused until he turned it over and saw that the author’s picture was on the back.
“Now you do,” Colin said dryly. “You can use that to entertain yourself until you leave. Stay here with her and make sure she doesn’t do anything stupid like try to escape. Remember Mrs. Urban that we’re on an island a bit off shore from the city and the entire stretch of water between them is filled with alligators. They’ve gotten into the tunnel systems built into the island itself and there’s not a lot of food for them so I’m sure they’d love for you to misbehave…’cause then we’ll start feeding your pieces to them…” he grinned gleefully as he watched both Dominic and the girl shudder at the thought. “I’m going to go out for a bit I’ve got a few things to do before you leave.”
Dominic forced himself not to roll his eyes. He knew very well that Colin had nothing to do and was simply going to go to the nearest grated area and throw rocks down at the alligators. His cousin was obsessed with those things to the point of almost distraction.
“Throw you to the ‘gators,” he mumbled.
Out of the corner of his eye he saw the girl raise an eyebrow at that comment and realized he must have spoken the thought out loud. Clearing his throat he stood and walked over to the small bar area in the room and picked up the pitcher of water and poured a glass of it. Then he walked back over to where she was sitting and held it out.
“Would you like some water?” he asked softly.
She stared at the glass and then hesitantly took it from him. He watched as she took a few sips and then he hurried back across the room to the chair he’d been occupying. He watched her out of the corner of his eye as he picked up the book that Colin had tossed at him earlier and flipped it open to read the plot summary on the inside cover. It seemed interesting enough for a romance novel, a lot plottier than pure bodice ripper. He turned the book back over and stared down at the picture memorizing the face he’d have to know in a few hours.
It was a handsome face with dark eyes and dark hair. His sister had some of the same features he realized but not all of them. He turned the book back over and sighed, rubbing his hand against the bridge of his nose, he could feel a pressure headache building there. He should get up and get some aspirin but he found he didn’t have the energy.
“You didn’t kill my husband did you?” she asked quietly.
His head shot up and he regarded her with large horrified eyes. “No! I mean…not personally,” he hurriedly tried to explain remembering Colin’s orders on the subject.
“I mean…neither one of you didn’t kill Karl,” she continued in halting tone. “Neither one of you is that…efficient…” she shuddered at the last.
Dominic could see the tears glistening in her eyes and was impressed that she didn’t allow them to fall. If he was her and had his husband murdered, been kidnapped and now had his brother coming after him he’d be a nervous wreck. Again he remembered Colin’s orders that they weren’t supposed to let her know that they hadn’t killed her husband.
”We could have hired someone else to do it for us,” he pointed out quickly.
“You could have,” she admitted her voice a little stronger as she was given something to distract her from her pain for the moment. “But I don’t think you did. I think you just found out about the map and wanted in on the action.”
Dominic tried to come up with a way out of it and then gave up with a shrug of his shoulders. Colin had been on Urban’s trail for months. Just how he’d found out about the map Dom had never asked knowing he wouldn’t have been given a straight answer. When Urban had gone missing and then had been found in pieces Colin had swiftly gotten it into his head that they could get his widow to give them the map, only she didn’t have the map in her possession. How Colin had found out that it had been sent to Bloom Dominica again hadn’t asked. Sometimes it was just better off not knowing these things.
“If you two didn’t kill my husband…then who did?” she murmured softly.
“I don’t know,” he answered her. It was the truth even though he had his suspicions. Colin wasn’t the only one who had been doing some sniffing around while they were in the area.
“But you have your suspicions,” she answered picking up on something in his voice.
“Maybe,” he said not seeing any reason to not talk about it. It wasn’t like she was going to run to these people if she escaped.
“It was the Secret Police wasn’t it,” she said darkly. “Karl was worried that they might have caught wind that he actually found the map and…he was scared.”
“If it was the Secret Police, and it does seem like it was them, then he had reason to be…” he cringed knowing that she already realized that.
In truth there was nothing secret about the Secret Police. Everyone who lived or spent more time than your average tourist did in Colombia knew about them. The only real secret where the SP was concerned was exactly where they ranked in the Colombian hierarchy of power. The Colombian government did not acknowledge their existence to the world at large but they were the first to turn to the SP for help if they needed it. This led to rumblings among the underground that it was the SP that really ran the show in Colombia.
Whatever the exact nature of the arrangement the SP was powerful, very powerful. Much more powerful than the official police force in the country and they even had the military at their beck and call any time of the day or night. Everyone in Colombia was scared of them from the richest politician to the men who cleaned the streets. Even the drug lords were scared.
The Secret Police had their hands in everything including the lucrative Colombian drug trade. It was an uneasy truce for the drug lords but a necessary one because the SP had enough power to keep the US from making too many in roads into the country in their War on Drugs. In return for that protection the SP got to skim more than a little bit off the top in both goods and money. But it was a shaky truce at best in which the drug lords had to watch their every step because if they did something that the SP didn’t like they risked having their entire operation taken away from them and getting thrown into jai,l or worse still, extradited to the US.
It hadn’t always been like this. The SP had always been around but it had only been over the past 10 years that they’d become feared by the whole of the population. And it was all due to the man in charge. A man that had appeared out of nowhere and taken over in less than a month and 6 months later was ruling the country in every way except the official one. A man that was as hands on as they come but still shrouded in mystery.
As far as anyone knew he didn’t have a last name, he simply went by Viggo. If that was his real name no one could say and most people didn’t even say that name for fear they’d be overheard. Most people wouldn’t be able to point him out on the street if he passed right by them and that was fine with them. The man was dangerous and mean and not someone to be messed with.
Yet no one really knew anything about him. The stories were vast and wide. One said that he’d been hired by his predecessor to take over the SP after he’d been ousted and to take out everyone still there and rebuild. Another story said that he was a member of a prominent and wealthy Argentinean family who’d helped his older brother take out their father and with his share of the money he’d gone north in search of new conquests.
Dominic’s favorite story was that Viggo was an actor from the US who’d come to Colombia to get a bit of hands on experience and liked the power and rush so much that he’d decided to stay. That story dovetailed nicely with the rumors about Viggo’s artistic talent. The man was said to be almost godlike, whether it was a paint brush, a camera or a knife and a gun. Voices spoke in awe of how each of the people he’d killed had ended up arranged in the most precise and artistic manner. Even Urban’s pieces had been left in a jaw droppingly gorgeous location. It was like he was giving them in death what he’d taken from them in life.
But make no mistake about it the man was evil incarnate and crazy to boot. If he’d set the SP on your trail you’d better run and hide yourself so deep that even you couldn’t find yourself. Because if Viggo decided to get directly involved then there was no hope for you, he wouldn’t stop until someone had paid with their life.
“Do you think…” she started sounding more scared than she had during the entire ordeal. “Do you think that they know that Karl sent it to Orlando?” She paused and sucked in a breath. “That’s what the break in at his apartment was about wasn’t it?”
Again Dominic could only speak the truth even though he’d rather not. “It probably was.”
“They probably just got some connection in New York too, do you think? I mean they wouldn’t go all that way just to look for the map right? I mean who would do that…” she trailed off and shuddered. “It’s just about the map...I mean he has never been involved in anything that Karl or I have done in the past. So they wouldn’t take a direct interest in him…right?”
“You better hope that they don’t Mrs. Urban,” Dominic said after a moment’s thought about all the stories of how Viggo and his love of beautiful things and Orlando was a beautiful thing. Add to that the fact that if the map led to what Colin said it did then it was a fair bet that Viggo would be personally involved in this on some level. “You better hope that they don’t…”
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Orlando shifted nervously in his seat and tried not to clutch the arm rests too hard. His obvious fear of flying had amused his row mate but he didn’t want it to become bothersome. He was glad that Elijah had insisted on booking him in first class, he couldn’t imagine that being squished together in a row with two other people would help his anxiety level any.
Elijah hadn’t wanted to help him at first. He’d wanted Orlando to call the cops or the FBI or the CIA whoever it was that dealt with international kidnapping. But the very last thing he wanted was for Orlando to go into Colombia to deal with this himself. And Orlando had understood where his friend was coming from, it wasn’t really something he wanted to do either but he had to for Samantha. He didn’t think that the man on the phone had been lying when he’d said that Sam would be hurt if the authorities were lying. And even if it was possible that he might be Orlando wasn’t willing to take a chance with his sister’s life.
So after some argument about the fact that Orlando didn’t like to travel and also didn’t really do all that well around guns or stressful situations Elijah had given in and in less than a half an hour he’d had Orlando booked onto the first flight into Colombia. Not knowing which city he needed to go to he was coming into one in the center of the country and the man on the phone said he could catch a bus to Cartagena from there so that was settled.
Orlando tried not to think about all the unknowns stretched in front of him and everything that could go wrong. There were certainly a lot of both. None of that mattered. Samantha was in trouble and she needed him and that meant the only thing he could do was go after her. He would do anything for her and he knew that she would do the same thing for him.
He laid his head back against the cushioned seat and let his eyes drift closed. The plane bumped slightly as it hit a pocket of turbulence and he cringed but took a deep breath and forced himself to be calm. To distract himself he let his mind drift backwards. Normally when he was forced to fly to a book signing or another press engagement he’d try to think about story ideas but he was too worried about Samantha and wound too tightly for that this time. So instead he let himself think about his sister and how they’d gotten to this point.
They’d started life in the southern part of England. A happy little family unit with their mother and father, it was a warm and happy life that Orlando could only vaguely remember now. Orlando had been sickly since he was a baby and spent most of his time indoors but the family had rallied around that coming up with games and fun things that they could do together. Samantha was two years older than him and he’d practically worshipped the ground she walked on. She told him stories about how he would follow her around like a lost puppy dog and how they were pretty much inseparable.
His happy world was shattered when his parents were killed in a car accident when he was five. Orlando and Samantha found themselves uprooted completely and sent to live with his father’s mother who lived across the ocean in America. Those early days in New York were pretty much a painful blur to him. He was too young to really understand what was going on but he knew he wasn’t home anymore and that his mom and dad were missing.
With the confusion and stress level he’d gotten very sick. Sick enough to end up in the hospital and almost not make it. When he’d gotten well enough to go home from the hospital Samantha seemed to pull away from him and seemed as distant as a 7 year old could be. She’d told him later that she was afraid that he would leave her too and didn’t want to become too attached to him. As an adult he could understand where she was coming from, but as a child he’d been confused and upset and it had made him cling all the more to the only person that seemed to want to be around him, his grandmother.
Because of the lingering illness Orlando had been home schooled but Samantha, though given the option, had wanted to attend regular school. She soon was spending more time with her friends than with her small family. Eventually she asked to attend a boarding school in Europe and their grandmother had agreed reluctantly. Samantha did well in school but her heart wasn’t really in the learning. She was wild but never got into serious trouble.
She wanted to spread her wings and see the world and as soon as she could she did just that. Backpacking her way across Europe she moved on from there, seeing all the places that Orlando could only read about in his grandmother’s books. She’d send home letters of all her adventures which made him long to be able to join her. She came home when she was able and they reforged their friendship but she was gone more often than she was around.
She did return when their grandmother fell sick and helped him take care of her. When she finally passed Sam stayed with him until she could no longer sit still. She convinced him to try to work past the panic attacks and see the world with her. He’d given in and for a while it had gone okay but it had eventually ended in disaster and he’d gone home to what was now his apartment in New York while she’d continued to travel the world.
Orlando was momentarily distracted from his thoughts by the stewardess coming around to see what he’d like to drink and eat. He asked for some 7-up but decided against eating, his stomach was just too turbulent at the moment and he didn’t want to embarrass himself by throwing up. When she returned with his drink he took a moment to glance around the plane. First class was fairly empty, just a handful of people. A man sitting towards the back of the section caught his eye. He was bent over what looked to be a sketch pad making long strokes across the page he as working on. Orlando couldn’t see the man’s face, it was covered by a veil of dark hair, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something familiar about him. Shaking his head he took a sip of his drink and closed his eyes again. His nerves were on overdrive at the moment and he really couldn’t trust anything he was thinking and feel. With his stomach feeling a little better from the drink he let his mind wander back into his previous thoughts.
Samantha had been in and out of New York since he’d returned home. She’d been surprised and then amused when he’d told her that he’d started writing romance novels and then proud once he’d struck it big. Then about five years earlier she’d met Karl and her life had changed. They still led a wild and adventurous life but she was clearly a woman in love. Exactly what she and Karl did Orlando could only guess at but they always seemed to have money and led a comfortable life when they weren’t trekking through the woods. She was happy and Orlando was happy for her. There was some sense that what they did together might tread the line between right and wrong but Orlando never questioned it. It wasn’t his place to do so.
Besides he liked Karl. Karl was funny and charming and treated his sister like a queen. He showered her with affection and gifts and always went out of his way to be nice to Orlando. And it was never in the way that it seemed like he was just trying to get on Samantha’s good side. He honestly seemed interested in the things that Orlando had to say the brief times they were together. He was very impressed with Orlando’s writing and had taken to sending Orlando the tidbits soon after they’d met.
There hadn’t been any rush for the two of them to get married so Orlando had been a little surprised when a few months earlier they’d come into New York with the news that they’d gotten married in Vegas. But he had been happy for them because they seemed happy. Samantha had said that she wanted him to be there but hadn’t wanted to put him through the stress. They’d planned to have a small ceremony in New York for their friends when they got back from their honeymoon trip to Colombia.
Colombia. Orlando had sensed almost right away that there was more to their trip there than a simple honeymoon. Both seemed too excited and had joked about retiring to a quiet life in Karl’s home country of New Zealand within a year. Orlando had assumed at the time they’d been joking but now he was sure they hadn’t been. Whatever the map led to it was something big…big enough that it had ended up with Karl being murdered. Orlando didn’t want to know what it was.
The only thing he wanted to do now was get safely into Colombia. Then he’d get to Cartagena, turn over the map to whoever was holding Samantha and then head back to New York as fast as he possibly could.
Then he could go back to writing the adventures instead of living them.
* * *
TBC
Forward to: Part Three
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