"Are you okay if I dump them, then maybe reorganize them a bit? We should probably get another bag from camp and stock that one too if we can find more food. The hike out might be a bit tough."

  Sam grunted, which Syd took as an affirmation about dumping the bag. She turned it over and shook out the packets.

  That's all that was in there, just the packets. No phone or communication device. Syd wondered if maybe she had hallucinated the conversation she overheard last night. She got to work organizing the packets and made sure a few made their way out of the rucksack. She didn't have a pack of her own, but she hoped that she could stash them somewhere. She grabbed one of the filter straws and put it aside with the food. Syd repacked the sack and moved the packets and the straw off to the side, under some brush. She hoped her sense of direction would be good enough to get her back here if she needed.

  She had pulled out two packets of oatmeal and two packets of orange drink mix. She grabbed the filtered water from last night. She tried to figure out how to pour out each of them enough for the orange drink, then shrugged. By this time, Sam had come back and started the fire. They heated up enough water to eat the oatmeal, then with the water left in the filtered jug, they just dumped the orange drink in with it. They took turns taking swigs of the drink until it and the oatmeal were all gone.

  "Put the empty packets in the front pocket of the sack; we don't want them finding them and knowing we are out here." This seemed reasonable to Syd, besides her dad had always told her to take everything she hiked in with her out, trash included.

  "Okay, so we are headed back to camp today, we will do one more looksy then see if we can maybe get out of here. Sound good?" Sam seemed so sure of himself, like this was going to be the easiest thing in the world. Just grab some more food and water and waltz out of the Florida Everglades with a group of bad guys trying to find them. Oh, and of course, there was the lack of trust on Syd's part. Or was it the idea to keep her thinking he was on her side?

  Syd's head was reeling. With food and water in her system, her brain should be functioning better than when she was surviving on fear and adrenaline, but she just could not get around the idea that Sam was either a good guy or a bad guy.

  Was she a good guy?

  She shook her head, trying to stay focused on the here and now. She needed to stay aware.

  Maggie was missing, maybe not dead.

  Sam was acting normal right this moment

  Was the phone call she heard him on last night just a dream?

  She didn't know what to believe.

  "Let's head out, I got the sack but stick a straw in your pocket in case we get separated. It would probably be best if we could get you a small pack with some food too, that way if anything happens you should be all good." He smiled his Harrison Ford smile and stepped off into the swamp.

  Chapter Eight

  The silence was deafening. Syd had never understood this saying, though she had read it many times in her novels. It was such a true statement now that she was living it. It was so quiet, it was almost loud to her, like her brain couldn't comprehend the silence, so it created its own noise. These were her thoughts as they approached the camp. The smoke had dissipated, but the smell of the bodies lay heavy in the air. Syd listened for the flies but didn't hear any. Her whole body thrummed with anticipation; something was about to go down.

  They walked through the center of the camp; nothing moved. No breeze gently swayed the tops of the trees; the water was so still it looked like glass. Not one bird flew from branch to branch; it was eerie. They headed toward the supply chicken, hopeful to get more supplies for the hike out.

  A scream rent the air, sending birds en masse out of trees, shaking the core of the solitude of the swamp.

  Syd stopped dead in her tracks, dread weighing heavily in her gut. "Maggie." She turned in the direction she thought the scream had come from and took off. A body hit her from the side, knocking her to the ground, scraping up the side of her arm, and jerking her head into the sand. The weight of the person held her tight; a hand slapped down on her mouth.

  "Don't make a sound. They may not know we're here yet." Sam growled in her ear. Syd stared at him, wide-eyed, and nodded. He grabbed her on his way up and shoved her toward the edge of the camp, back into the dark swamp.

  Pushing her ahead of him, Sam made his way through the underbrush until they were a few hundred yards away. It did not feel far enough to Syd, but Sam turned his back on her. He was crouched down, watching the direction of the camp.

  "Sam, I think that was Maggie," Syd said in a panic.

  "Yeah, doesn't matter right now. We need to keep safe."

  "We need to get her back. She needs to be safe."

  Syd started to get up, but Sam grabbed her and roughly threw her to the ground. He stood over her, looming. He pointed his finger at her, and as she looked up at him, he seemed to be a hundred feet tall. The light from the trees shone through, creating an aura around him.

  "We are not going anywhere right now. We are going to try to keep safe. We are going to come up with a plan, and we are not going to get killed. If that means Maggie dies in the meantime, that's what it means. Is that understood?"

  All Syd could do was nod. Tears filled her eyes at the thought of abandoning her friend. Her doubts from the night before lessened, but they did not leave. She still thought something wasn't quite right here, but she could not put her finger on why.

  "Now, we are going to move farther into the trees and hope they didn't hear us."

  He grabbed her up again and pushed her ahead of him for the second time in less than an hour. She veered away from her hiding tree and the area where she had stashed the food. She didn't want him to see these things, just in case she had to hide in the future.

  A sharp whistle floated through the trees, followed by another. Sam looked around, panicked, then pushed her ahead of him harder, "Run."

  Syd took off through the underbrush, pushing past vines and palmetto bushes. She avoided water where she could and stomped through it where she couldn't. Her mind was in an uproar as she threw herself forward. She glanced behind her to see that she was alone. Somewhere along the way, Sam had gone a different direction, or been captured, or been injured.

  Syd couldn't think about that. The whistling had increased. She paused for a moment; it was definitely human whistles. It was behind her somewhere, but she knew she couldn't keep running in a panic; that would get her killed.

  "When scared, stop and think for a moment." Her dad's words came back to her. When she camped with him, he would remind her of this every time they went out. "It doesn't do you any good to be killed by your own panic. Breathe, think, do."

  She crouched down where she was, took a few deep breaths, and tried to think about the situation. The biggest obstacle here was the fact that she didn't know why the camp had been attacked. She wasn't sure what they were looking for. Drugs, maybe. She had heard tales of drug smugglers hiding their goods in the swamps, but she had never seen anything like that.

  Okay, the thinking wasn't helping, except she had calmed down. She stood up and began to move with purpose through the brush. She tried to stay as silent as she could as she moved. The whistling had continued; it seemed closer, but she couldn't worry too much about that. If she did, it would put her in a panic again.

  She heard the swoosh a second before she felt something hit her, then the world went dark.

  Chapter Nine

  Her head hurt, her tongue was swollen, and her wrists burned. She tried to open her eyes, but only one would open. She wanted to close it as soon as her brain sorted out what she was seeing. She was tied to a chair in the middle of the floor of the supply chickee. She looked around with her one good eye. Maggie was tied up to another chair, her head had fallen to one side at an uncomfortable angle. There was blood running from her ears and her nose. Her breath was shallow and labored.

  "Maggie?"

  Syd's voice stirred the woman a little but did not wake her. Movement from the other side of the chickee had Syd whipping her head around, which left the room spinning. She closed her eyes to try to stop the movement.

  "No, no, little bird, no pretending you are asleep now." The deep accented voice moved closer to her, "I saw that pretty eye open. I do want to apologize for the rough treatment you received. Apparently, you fought like a tigress." The guttural chuckle that followed made the hairs stand up on Syd's arms.

  She kept her eyes shut as the man came within touching distance. He ran a finger over her bruised face. "Open your eye little bird." The punch came out of the blue, cracking into her already bruised cheekbone. Her head slammed back against the chair, leaving her dizzier than she had already been.

  "I said open your eye, little bird."

  Syd slowly opened the one eye that she could. He was short and fat, his wife beater shirt was soaked in sweat and dirt. His beard hung down to his collarbone, all scraggly with bits of grey streaked through. His eyes were black, not a dark brown but black like the swamp water at night.

  "There you are, little bird. See, that wasn't too bad." Syd's face burned, and her head started to throb. All she could do was stare at him.

  "Now, tell me where it is."

  Syd thought the blows to her head had left her more confused than she first thought. Where what was?

  "I don't know what you're talking about." She croaked out through her dried throat.

  "Oh, little bird, I think you do. You and her, you were the only two that might have seen it. Her mapping, you cataloging. I have it on good authority that you were the only ones who might know."

  Syd was confused; she honestly didn't know what he was talking about. All she saw were shells, a few sharks' teeth, and some pottery shards, but the teeth and shards went to other researchers.

  "Tell me, tell me where it all went. Or I will kill your friend there."

  Syd glanced at Maggie, not sure if she was still alive. She moved her one good eye to the man, her mind in a tizzy. How was she supposed to tell him something when she didn't know what he was looking for?

  "When would it have come through? I don't always pay attention to things unless they matter to me. Could it still be in the unsorted artifacts?"

  He growled and stepped over to Maggie. Syd heard her whimper right before the man punched her in the gut, knocking the chair over.

  "Is this how we are going to play it? Are you sure you want this to be the game? I can do this all day. She is useless to me anymore."

  "NO! I don't know what you're looking for. I promise. Just tell me what it is, and I will help you find it. Just don't hurt her anymore." Tears streamed down Syds' face. Maggie was on her back, tied to the chair, unmoving.

  He stalked across the room to Syd and grabbed her chin, "Hmm, maybe you don't know. That would be a pity. Then I would have to kill you, too. Of course, they all said you didn't pay attention to what was going on; maybe you just don't know what you saw." By the end of the sentence, his face was so close to hers that Syd could feel his breath and smell his body odor. Both of which made her want to gag.

  "Ser..seriously, I don't pay attention. Whatever you are looking for I may know, but just don't realize it's important. Welks, scallops, conch, those are what's important to me."

  He scowled at her, then stomped out the makeshift door, leaving Syd crying and Maggie struggling to breathe.

  "Maggie? Maggie?" Syd tried to maneuver around in the chair. It scootched across the floor a hair as she tried to turn. This gave her an idea. Syd was an avid watcher of true crime shows as well as those horrible crime shows that every channel now has, thanks to SVU. She thought if she could dump herself over, she might be able to get to Maggie and untie her. She scootched the chair across the floor toward the other woman, aware that at any time someone might come through the door.

  What do I have to lose? She thought. They were probably going to kill me anyway. When she felt she was close enough, she leaned over to tip her chair to the floor.

  "Oof." She couldn't help but make the sound as she hit harder than she had anticipated. Her shoulder hit first, she thought she heard a crunch, so she laid there a moment. She wiggled her fingers and moved her elbows as best she could. Nothing broken, but she would have one hell of a bruise if she lived until morning.

  "Maggie, Maggie." She spoke above a whisper, hoping her voice was loud enough for the other woman to hear.

  Maggie grunted and slowly opened her eyes; she stared at Syd for a moment in confusion.

  "No, no, no. They can't have gotten you. That means there's no one left to go get help." Tears poured down Maggie's face as the realization that no one was coming to save her hit.

  "Maggie, I'm going to untie your arms. Can you move them?"

  The woman nodded, though Syd could only hear the movement as she had her back to Maggie.

  "Good. Can you flip over so we are back-to-back?"

  "I'm not sure, but I'll try."

  Syd heard Maggie grunting as she tried to turn over.

  "That's as far as I can get. Can you get closer?"

  Syd scootched closer until their hands touched. The grasped hands for a second before Syd went to work. She felt the rope for where the knot was.

  One thing about having a Vietnam vet for a dad was that he had her learn all sorts of odd things, such as how to untie a knot without looking at it. He had always been afraid she would get kidnapped. Syd had never figured out why, but she knew it had to do with his time in the army. She had never questioned it; the idea that this was not what normal father-daughter bonding looked like hadn't occurred to her until much later.

  She closed her eyes and started to untie Maggie's hands. It had been a simple square knot, nothing too extensive, but effective if you couldn't use your fingers. Of all the knots, this was the easiest to undo, and Syd had Maggie's left hand untied in less than a minute.

  "Oh my God, thank you. I can get the other one, but let me get one of yours done first. We can free ourselves from there." Syd had always liked Maggie; she was intelligent and pragmatic.

  Within five minutes, they both had their hands untied and were working on the rest of their restraints.

  "We need to get moving out the back. Can you walk?" Syd wouldn't leave Maggie again if she could help it.

  "You need to go. I will hold you back, slow you down. My body is broken in so many places, ribs, I know for sure. And my nose. You don't need the smell of my blood bringing predators to you."

  Syd really looked at Maggie. She had taken one hell of a beating but was still up and moving, if slow.

  "No, we will go together. I have questions."

  Syd slid out the back of the Chickee first, trying not to make any sound. She grabbed Maggie by the waist and helped her down, then supported the woman as they slowly made their way into the darkness of the swamp.

  Chapter Ten

  Syd slowly led Maggie to the tree she had hid out in. They carefully maneuvered around as much water as they could. The mud and muck held them up enough that Syd was worried they would be tracked before they could get safe.

  The tree was a welcome sight, and Syd got Maggie inside and as comfortable as she could.

  "I'll be right back."

  "No, Syd, don't go. Please don't go. What if they find me? What if they get you? Oh God, please don't leave me."

  Syd grabbed her hand and comforted the woman as best she could. "I need to go for just ten minutes. I'll be careful. I promise. Stay towards the back of the tree and don't move. You should hear them if they come this way. I have to go get food."

  Maggie wept as Syd left, breaking her heart, but she had to get the food she had stashed. There was no telling when the last time Maggie ate. And the water straws, she needed water; they both did.

  The trip to where she had stashed the MREs was easy. She was glad she had grabbed the ones with the heaters already in them. The water would be a little tricky since she only grabbed one straw, but she would cross that bridge when she got to it.

  On her way back to Maggie, she could hear men yelling from the direction of the camp. She hustled through the brush and quickly found the old hollowed-out tree. Maggie was slumped to the side within.

  "Hey, Maggie." Syd wasn't sure whether to wake her; she knew the woman must be exhausted.

  "No!" the yell echoed through the swamp. Syd slammed her hand down on the woman's face. "Maggie, it's me, Syd. You are safe. You are safe." She repeated this over and over until the woman calmed down.

  Maggie peeled Syd's hand off her. "I'm okay; it was a dream." Syd nodded and began to get things ready to eat when she heard the movement through the brush. She flattened herself against Maggie as far back in the shadow of the crevice as she could.

  "Stay still, stay calm, be silent," Syd whispered to her. Maggie began to shake with fear, but was silent. They heard the guttural Spanish of two men as they passed behind the tree.

  "We should just leave the bitches out here. No way they can make it back alive. We have the roads blocked and watched."

  "I know, this is stupid. Let them die. Or let them walk right to us."

  They both laughed. They weren't looking very hard for the women, and now Syd understood why. She had to devise a plan that got them both out of here without using the road.

  "The lake." The whisper was so low, Syd almost missed it.

  "If you follow the lake on the eastern shore, it will take you to people. It's not an easy route, but you could do it." Syd stared at Maggie, who laughed a little. "I'm a cartographer, remember. Maps are my thing, the way shells are your thing."

  Syd smiled at this, of course! Of all the people to get lost in a swamp with, Maggie was definitely one of the most useful to get you out.

  "I think they are gone. I'm going to get some water for us; I need you to stay here and be safe."

 

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