Rick nodded. “The Tayos Caves site. I know of it. That’s almost a four-hour drive from here, then across the Rio Santiago.”
Javier shook his head. “No, not that far. They were located in the jungle between the E40 highway and the river.”
“So, not all the way to the Tayos Cave entrance?”
“No, but they were almost directly north of it.”
Rick thought about that for a moment. “That is, if they haven’t moved since then.”
Luis looked to Sofia and whispered in Spanish, “If they’ve moved, how will we find Papa?”
Sofia touched his arm, but kept her eyes on Javier. “At least we have this information. It’s a lot more than we had an hour ago.”
Luis let out a heavy sigh.
Javier spoke, acknowledging their worries, “They might be on the move. It’s possible they could even be underground, inside the cave system by now, since that is what they seemed most interested in.”
Rick frowned. That would be unfortunate, he thought to himself. It would make finding them a whole lot more difficult and dangerous.
“And that was two days ago?” Rick asked, silently calculating the odds of their father’s survival.
Javier nodded, his big brown eyes conveying his fears about the time that had passed and what it could mean for their missing people. “I made it back to town, but my friends didn’t. I’ve been searching for them ever since, but there’s no sign of them.”
Sofia frowned.
“I can only think that they have ended up where your father was held. If so, I need help to rescue them.” He stared at the bottle in his hand. “I... I do not have anyone else to turn to.”
Sofia thought of something. “So, wait, all this time, are you telling us that you did nothing to help our father?”
“I had no idea who he was,” Javier said, “and I did want to help, but I was alone. I needed to find my friends first, so we could make a plan. My friends and I know the jungle, we have an advantage there.”
“Why not just call the police?” Rick asked.
“I did,” Javier replied, “but they did nothing. I don’t know for certain, but I think they might have been... influenced by these men from Ares. They seemed dismissive of me. Said my friends and I should know the dangers of the jungle. As if that explains away what I saw.”
Sofia sat back, satisfied enough with his explanation for the moment. “I’ve been wondering about that. Others have gone missing in the last few weeks, shortly after those people arrived in the area, and it seems like nothing’s being done to locate them, either, same with our father’s disappearance.”
“Si,” Javier said, nodding. “I know of others who’ve gone missing in some of the villages leading out to the Cueva de los Tayos.”
“We need to do something,” Luis said.
Sofia nodded. “I know.”
Rick listened.
“Those people you wrote about—Ares,” Javier said, looking at Sofia, “I believe they are as dangerous as you speculate. And more.”
CHAPTER 7
Rick realized the math was definitely adding up to Ares being at the center of all of this.
“We have to get our padre back,” Sofia stated, her anger now growing white-hot, thinking of her father in the hands of these mercenaries.
“I hope he’s still alive,” Luis said, his sense of desperation growing.
Sofia squeezed his hand.
“They also stole something from me,” Javier said, a deep frown on his face. “A compass. I need it back. It’s extremely important.”
Luis looked to Sofia.
She nodded.
Luis pulled it out of his pocket. “Is this the compass you’re looking for?”
Javier’s eyes went wide. “How did you get it?”
Luis pointed to Rick. “We have him to thank.”
Luis told Javier about being grabbed a few hours ago, dragged into an alley, and the beating he took before Rick came to his rescue.
“They were asking me a lot of questions about the compass,” Luis said, looking at it. “What did I know about it and how did it work?” He shrugged his shoulders. “I figured if it was that important to them to find out, I should relieve them of it.”
“May I?” Javier asked, reaching out his hand.
“Not so fast,” Sofia said, holding her hand out and then taking the compass from Luis. “I’d like you to explain this to us first. Why were they so interested in it?”
Javier lowered his hand, disappointed. “It’s not an ordinary compass. It belongs to my people. It has great significance to us.”
“What kind of significance?” Rick asked.
Javier looked at him warily. “Historical significance.”
Rick sensed there was something the young man wasn’t telling them, but he let it go.
Sofia looked at it. The symbols on the back were very unusual. “We thought it was broken. It doesn’t seem to tell direction.”
“It’s not broken,” Javier said. “It’s just... old.”
Sofia thought for a moment, then handed it back to him. She had no reason to keep his stolen possession from him.
“Gracias,” he replied, relieved, reverently running his fingers over it. He then tucked it away in his pocket.
“Well, what are we waiting for?” Luis said. “Let’s make a plan to rescue our padre.” He looked to Javier. “And hopefully your amigos.”
Javier nodded. “That is why I came to you. I was hoping we could help each other, since we have a similar problem, I think.”
“How can we go there, though?” Sofia asked. “It’s a restricted area. We need permits, those take time...”
Javier raised his hand and cut her off. “I can grant you access, as long as you’re with me.”
She looked at him, surprised. Then it dawned on her. “You’re one of the Shuar people?”
He gave a small smile.
“Well, now,” she said, “that does explain a lot.”
Rick knew what she meant. The Tayos Caves System was a protected and restricted area. It was inaccessible without gaining permission and permits from the indigenous Shuar people, whose territory the caves belonged to, and who considered them
