Summer 2005
Near Machu Picchu
THE ROPE BRIDGE SWUNG LAZILY in the bright Peruvian sun.
Every so often, a loose strand of hemp would free itself
and float on the warm breeze before drifting away. Most of
the strings fell to the river thirty feet below where the
water rolled over the rocks in an easy rhythm. No hurry,
the gentle rippling sound seemed to say, no rush.
On either side of the precarious walkway, scarlet macaws
preened in the warmth, their iridescent feathers flashing
against the thick green foliage like priceless jewels. The
birds' exotic calls filled the air, along with the perfume
from the nearby balsam trees.
Pausing on the edge of the gorge, Lauren Stanley studied
the tranquil scene spread out before her. For as far as
she could see, serenity and beauty lay.
Breathing deeply, she tried to trap the essence of the
moment and transfer its peace to a spot inside herself.
She failed.
All Lauren could feel was the fright that had her nailed
to one spot. Big spiders and heights, tight spots and
snakes. Lauren's list of fears was a long one and there
were some things on it she couldn't even name. Despite
their numbers, she'd managed to face most of them because
she was too stubborn to give up on something just because
it was difficult. The perfect example of that was right
ahead of her. Seeing the ancient ruins of Machu Picchu
would have been a straight-forward journey, but she'd had
to come to the lesser ruins first, even though it had
meant hacking a path through the jungle and crossing
remote bridges like the one she was staring at now.
A second passed and then another one. Finally, she managed
to break her paralysis. Opening her eyes, she lifted her
hands and stared at them. They trembled violently, as did
her body.
Behind her, Joaquin, the guide she'd hired, said something
encouraging. At least, that's how she interpreted it. He
spoke almost no Spanish and they'd had to make do between
his Quechuan and sign language. She looked over her
shoulder and the young man made a go-ahead motion with his
hand. She faced forward once more and eased her right foot
out.
The bridge was made of three ropes, two that acted as
handrails and one Lauren would have to balance on as she
walked across. They were lashed together with extra fibers
at gaping intervals. The woven strand beneath her boot was
probably two inches in diameter, maybe three at the most.
She had forty feet to go and there was no other way to get
to the other side.
She knew she shouldn't, but Lauren glanced down. The space
beneath her seemed to widen and the green cliffs on either
side shifted accordingly. A sickening dizziness swamped
her.
I can't do this. She shut her eyes again. I can't do this.
What was I thinking? Why did I come here? Am I crazy or
what?
The questions were rhetorical because she knew the answer
to each. She'd come back to Peru because she wasn't going
to spend the rest of her life living in fear. She refused
to. She'd spent enough time there and she was ready to
move on. She had a great career ahead of her and nothing
but opportunity. All she had to do was conquer the final
frontier — her past. And she probably was nuts, but that
had never stopped her.
Enough thinking, it was time to go. Lifting her left foot,
Lauren carefully placed it in front of her right. She was
near enough to the metal rings that held the ropes steady
that the bridge stayed immobile under her shifting weight
and her confidence took a step forward as well.
She continued, blanking her mind to anything but reaching
the other side. Measure by measure. Heartbeat by
heartbeat. Breath by breath.
She was halfway across when the rope's tension seemed to
change. Gripping the side ropes tightly, she told herself
she was imagining things. Then the birds became quiet.
Turning her head slowly — it seemed to take a year — she
glanced behind her. Joaquin was gone, the platform where
the guide had been waiting now empty.
She puzzled over his disappearance. Maybe he'd slipped
behind the foliage for a moment's privacy…. Maybe he'd sat
down on the forest floor to wait for his turn to cross….
Maybe he'd gone back to his village and left her to her
own devices…. She couldn't reverse her steps so she looked
the way she'd been heading and tried to calm her concerns.
Then the rope bucked.
It steadied almost instantly and she sucked in a gasp of
relief but before she could exhale, the cables went
completely slack.
She screamed in terror as air replaced the support at her
feet. The rope swung wildly and, burdened with her weight,
headed for the rocks in front of her. If she held on,
she'd slam into the side of the cliff.
The rough hemp burned through her palms, peeling the flesh
from her fingers and setting them on fire with pain. The
overhang zoomed closer. A tree branch, reaching out from
the precipice as if to help, scraped her cheek instead.
A thousand different scenarios careered through her head
but she knew she only had one choice. She held on until
the last possible moment, but she finally opened her hands
and let go.
She shrieked all the way down and hit the water with a
splash. There was silence after that. When the last echo
died, the birds resumed their calls.
"HOW YOU DOING? Seen any ruins lately?"
Meredith Santera spoke in a casual way but Armando Torres
wasn't fooled by her tone. Meredith wasn't a woman who
telephoned just to chitchat. Her intensity never abated
and she remained focused at all times. On occasion, she
pretended otherwise, but in reality, she never let up.
"Why do you wake me in the middle of the night to ask how
I feel?" A native of Argentina, Armando's accent became
more obvious. "I think you have something other than my
welfare on your mind."
A pause came over the line before she answered. "How come
you say so little but understand so much?"
He made a sound of dismissal. "If you listened more and
spoke less, you would hear what I hear. I have no special
skills."
"I disagree, which is exactly why I've called you." He
waited in silence.
"I had an interesting conversation yesterday," she began.
Armando heard the sound of shuffling papers and he
imagined Meredith sitting at her desk in Miami. She'd
moved there after she'd left the CIA and started the
Operatives. At the beginning, there had been four of them —
Meredith, Armando and two others, Stratton O'Neil and
Jonathan Cruz — but in the past few years, some changes
had come about.
Stratton had been the first to leave. Following a job that
had gone tragically wrong, he'd moved to L.A. to escape
his past and disengage from life. His plan had been foiled
when he'd taken one last job then had fallen in love. Cruz
had been next. He was teaching at Langley now and he, too,
had a new wife. She happened to be Meredith's best friend.
Cruz had married her after he'd rescued her and her son
from the drug kingpin who was the child's father.
Armando had also wondered from time to time about leaving
the team. He had more work at the clinic than he could
handle and it was good work, productive work. But what he
did with the Operatives was important, and he wasn't sure
he could ever give it up.
Meredith's voice brought him back. "I got a call from a
doctor in Dallas by the name of J. Freeman Stanley. He's a
very well-known child psychiatrist. His expertise is in
repressed memories. Does his name sound familiar?"
Armando held his breath, his past rising up from the grave
where he kept it buried. "Not really," he lied.
"You'll remember when you hear the rest. You must be
getting old."
I am, he thought, and growing even more so as you speak.
He'd never told Meredith much about his early years. Her
father had helped her form the company and he'd been the
one she'd trusted to choose the men. He'd known everyone's
secrets but he was gone now. All Meredith knew was that
Armando had been involved with the Peruvian job. She had
no idea he'd seen the girl. No one knew that, except for
him and her.
"Dr. Stanley has a daughter named Lauren," she said. "Her
mother was Margaret Stanley." Meredith paused. "Don't tell
me you don't remember her. She was —"
"One of the consuls in Lima." He dropped his
pretense. "Christmas eve, 1989. I was sent there that
night, but she was already dead before I could get to her.
They said she interrupted a burglar and he killed her. I
remember."
"Finally! I was getting worried about you for a minute."
He interrupted her, an act of discourtesy he'd normally
never indulge in. "What's wrong?"
If she noticed his shortness, she ignored it. "Lauren
Stanley is twenty-six now. She's a writer for a travel
magazine called Luxury and she's been on assignment in
Peru doing an article about the ruins."
"Luxury, eh?" Armando forced the tightness in his chest to
loosen. "That sounds like a nice job. To visit rich
people's resorts and write about them."
"It sounds good, yes, but something must have happened.
About two weeks ago, she stopped checking in and her
father is getting frantic."
"How did he connect with you?"
"He didn't. My father was still in Washington when
Stanley's wife died and Dad debriefed the doctor after he
and his daughter left Peru. According to Stanley, Dad told
him if there was ever anything he could do for him to
call. So he did. The office forwarded the message to me.
Stanley had no idea that my father was dead."