Family Ties - Chapter 8

Family Ties by Nina Lavoie

Intermediate Level English. All in the present for transposition exercises.

China is back. No, she isn't dead. Not yet. But the Stroessner Fortune is still in play and powerful forces are trying to get it back. The problem was Miguel Angel. His DNA and the codes were both needed to unlock the treasure. And the arrowhead.

When Jane and Miguel Angel are kidnapped, things kick into high gear. China comes out of hiding and a raid is planned for the Stroessner cabin in the jungle near the border with Brazil. From tunnels and caves underground to a bottomless well, things heat up in this final chapter of the adventures of Jane Bertoni and her family in Paraguay.

Family Ties is the third in a series of three books (Family Secrets, Family Matters, and Family Ties) about the Bertoni Family and their adventures in Paraguay.

CHAPTER EIGHT

“I will go alone,” China says.

“They told me to come with you,” Juan Carlos says. “Besides they will release Jane to me immediately once I give them you.”

“Fine,” China says, “but no one else. We don’t need to put anyone else in danger.”

Arnold is about to argue but China cuts him off with a gesture. “Let me do it my way,” China says. “I have a plan, and this isn’t my first time in situations like this.”

They all nod their agreement. They are meeting in an all-night restaurant on the edge of town just before the paved roads turn into dirt on the way to the house.

“It may take all night,” China says, “and I have backup outside the house. They will come running if I need them. Juan Carlos can bring Jane back here and then go back to the house to wait for Miguel.” She doesn’t mentioned herself.

She has told them of her plan and her talk with the President of Paraguay. They are duly impressed and arriving by helicopter only made it more so. But China isn’t sure she will make it out alive.

It all sounds good on paper but, in real life, anything can, and usually does, go wrong.

The house looks eerie in the moonlight; half burnt ruins with no lights outside. Juan Carlos pulls the car up near the house and blinks his headlights a few times. When nothing happens, he honks his horn.

A shaft of light lights up the yard as a door is opened. A man stands there with a gun in his hand. He indicates them to come closer.

Juan Carlos and China get out of the car and slowly walk toward the house. They step into the shaft of light so that the man with the gun can identify them.

“There better not be anyone else out there,” the man says. “We have traps in the jungle and mines all around the house.”

“We are alone,” Juan Carlos says.

China knows that he is telling the truth, so far as he knows. But the problem isn’t getting into the house but, rather, out again, alive.

“Where is Jane?” China asks. “You promised to release her immediately.”

“We changed our minds,” the man says. “We need her as leverage to get the boy to cooperate.”

“That wasn’t the deal,” Juan Carlos yells.

“It is now,” the man says. “Take it or leave it.”

“You want the codes,” China says. “I have them. Give us the girl like you promised.”

“We want the money, not the codes,” the man says. “I’m keeping the girl as insurance. End of discussion.”

Juan Carlos is visibly shaking with anger and frustration. China knows that they really have no choice. “Go back to the others and explain the situation,” she says. “I can handle it. Trust me.”

Juan Carlos looks at her for a long moment, thinking. Then he shrugs his shoulders and turns to go. He turns back to look at China and says, “Thank you. I hope you make it but, in any case, you have my deepest gratitude.”

The first thing that China notices when she walks into the house is that the man is not German but Paraguayan. He is probably not part of the neo-Nazi cell.

That is interesting. The second thing she notices is that the refrigerator is facing the wrong way. The man indicates that she should walk into the kitchen and then she realizes that there is a tunnel behind the fridge and another man waiting there with a lantern. He turns to walk into the darkness and China follows him. This is their secret way into the jungle.

When they get to the cavern, she realizes that something is not right.

Someone comes up to the man with the gun and reports something in German. She doesn’t understand anything. He barks some orders and then leads China into the middle of the room. China looks carefully around, not seeing Miguel Angel or Jane anywhere.

She sees the mattress by the wall in the shadows and the worried looks on the faces of the captors. Her heart leaps within her. Have they escaped? Now she knows why he doesn’t want to give up Jane. He doesn’t have her.

As if reading her mind, the man with the gun says, “Yes, they escaped but that is almost certainly a death sentence for them. No one has ever found their way through the tunnels to the outside. Believe me, we’ve tried.”

“If you don’t find them,” China says, “you won’t get the money. The codes are not enough.”

“We already extracted DNA samples from Miguel Angel while he was sleeping,” the man with the gun says, “and we have a doctor to verify that he is alive.”

“The DNA will deteriorate within twelve hours with no indicators that it came from a live host,” China says. “Then it’s over.”

“We have four hours to go,” the man says calmly. “Then you will die.”

“Do you hear voices,” Jane asks urgently. It is so strange that they aren’t sure what they are hearing. Besides the incessant croaking of the toads and the sound of the water dripping from the walls and ceiling and trickling down the floor of the tunnel, they aren’t sure what they are hearing. The water can make you hear everything from quiet laughter to urgent whispers in the darkness. It is driving them crazy.

They stop and listened again. But this time it really does sound like voices. It even sounds like China’s voice. The look at each other and then start yelling, “We’re here. We’re here.” They are so relieved to be rescued that it doesn’t even occur to them that it can be someone else.

Shadows move towards them quickly in the dim light and someone grabs Jane’s arm roughly. “Hey,” she says. “Why so rough?”

But no one talks until they are back in the cavern. It is only a hundred meters away, the voices magnified by the tunnel walls. They realize their mistake as the light intensified and they can identify their captors, again. Somehow, they have circled back and are about to come into the cavern through one of the other tunnels near the entrance. What bad luck.

Then they see China.

“China, China,” Jane yells. “We’re here.”

Jane can see that China wants to come to them but there is a man beside her with a gun talking to her, forcing her to stay in her seat.

“I’m here, mi amor,” China says loudly as Miguel Angel and Jane are escorted back to their mattress. They are tied hands and feet and a guard stands over them. Gags are put back into their mouths.

No chances are being taken.

Johnny doesn’t know what to do. Everything is happening too fast. First Alicia had come to him with her news. The secret service knows about him, and he is about to be expelled from the country but, more importantly, they know all about the Stroessner Fortune and are trying to make a play for it.

Then Lujan had told him what she had done to force those same two agents to promise to raid the house tonight to save Miguel Angel and Jane.

To top it all off, China had reappeared and given him a message for the CIA to motivate them to rescue Miguel Angel and Jane as well. Once he had left the house, he read the message and realized what China was up to. He raced to the safe house and presents the note to his unit chief. It quickly goes up the chain of command and then to Washington, D.C. It takes a couple of hours, but they get the green light.

Then in the early evening, just as they are about to leave for Bella Vista Norte, they get the order to stand down. It comes straight from the top. There is no argument to make. And Johnny is left alone and frustrated trying to figure things out for himself.

He knows that the States is not interested in the money, just geo-political stability in the region. Certain forces are at work to undermine the present democratically elected government and the U.S. doesn’t want that to happen. China’s note had been explicit. The money will go to Paraguay. Not anyone else. She will make sure of it. She has a plan.

The price of her cooperation is the rescue of the children. Now they have been told to stand down. Something is going on. Perhaps Washington had decided to stay out of it and let the local police and secret service handle it. Even though Americans are involved. If something goes wrong, they are in the clear. Politics again.

Johnny trusts China although he doesn’t know her entire plan. Somehow, she will pull it off. The only thing he can do is wait and cover her back. Where is China vulnerable? Where does she need help? Then Johnny knows. Within twenty minutes he is headed north into the jungle to be there at the end when things really matter.

Copyright © 2023-2025 by Bert A. Amsing and vanKregten Publishers. All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by an information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from Bert A. Amsing and/or vanKregten Publishers.

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