humans are killed by them than you’d think.’
The group took a circuitous route to give the hippopotami wide berth.
But as they neared the reeds where they hoped the small canoe was still
hidden, they had to pass close by two particularly large hippos. The
animals seemed to regard them sleepily until without warning they
charged.
Luckily, they charged for the lake with a huge amount of commotion and
crashing noise. Each multi-ton animal created a new wide trail through
the reeds to the water. For a moment, everyone’s heart fluttered in his
chest.
It took a few minutes for everyone to recover before pushing on. The sky
was now progressively brightening, and they knew they had no time to
lose. The short hike had taken much more time than they had anticipated.
‘Thank God it’s still here,’ Kevin said when he separated the reeds and
found the small canoe. Even the Styrofoam food chest was still in place.
But reaching the canoe posed another problem. It was quickly decided the
boat was too small and too dangerous to carry seven people. After a
difficult discussion, it was decided that Jack and Warren would stay in
the reeds to wait for Kevin to bring the small canoe back.
Waiting was hell. Not only did the sky continue to get lighter and
lighter, presaging imminent dawn and the possible appearance of the
soldiers, but there was always the worry that the motorized canoe had
disappeared. Jack and Warren nervously alternated between looking at
each other and their watches, while fighting off clouds of insatiable
insects. And on top of everything else, their exhaustion was total.
Just when they were thinking that something terrible had happened to the
others, Kevin appeared at the edge of the reeds like a mirage and
silently paddled in.
Warren scrambled into the canoe followed by Jack.
‘The power boat’s okay?’ Jack asked anxiously.
‘At least it was there,’ Kevin said. ‘I didn’t try to start the engine.’
They backed out of the reeds and started for the Rio Diviso.
Unfortunately, there were lots of hippos and even a few crocodiles
forcing them to paddle twice the usual distance just to keep clear.
Before they slipped into the foliage hiding the mouth of the
jungle-lined river they caught a glimpse of some soldiers entering the
clearing in the distance.
‘Do you think they saw us?’ Jack asked from his position in the bow.
‘There’s no way to know,’ Kevin said.
‘We’re getting out of here by the skin of our teeth,’ Jack said.
The waiting was as hard on the women as it had been on Jack and Warren.
When the small canoe pulled alongside, there were literal tears of
relief.
The final worry was the outboard motor. Jack agreed to attend to it
because of his experience with similar engines as a teenager. While he
checked it over, the others paddled the heavy canoe out of the reeds
into the open water.
Jack pumped the gas, then with a little prayer, pulled the cord.
The engine sputtered and caught. It was loud in the morning stillness.
Jack looked at Laurie. She smiled and gave him the thumbs-up sign.
Jack put the motor in gear, gave it a full throttle, and steered
directly south, where they could see Gabon as a line of green along the
horizon.
EPILOGUE
——–
MARCH 18, 1997
3:45 P.M.
NEW YORK CITY
LOU Soldano glanced at his watch as he flashed his police badge to get
him into the Customs area of the international arrivals building at
Kennedy Airport. He’d hit more traffic than he’d expected in the midtown
tunnel, and hoped he was not too late to greet the returning world
travelers.
Going up to one of the skycaps, he asked which carousel was Air France.
‘Way down the end, brother,’ the skycap said with a wave of his hand.
Just my luck, thought Lou as he broke into a slow jog. After a short
distance he slowed, and for the one millionth time vowed to stop
smoking.
As he got closer, it was easy to see which carousel he was looking for.
Air France in block letters showed on a monitor. Around it, the people