Free Tampa Burn by Randy Wayne White Page A

because I’ve become a reluctant amateur expert not only on kidnapping, but kidnappings that take place in Latin America. I’ve been forced to learn because of events in my life, and because I’ve spent so much time living near equatorial lines.
    Latin America is the most dangerous place in the world when it comes to that particular crime. More than six thousand people are abducted annually. In Colombia, it’s a tax-free, $200-million-a-year business. In Mexico, there are as many as two thousand kidnappings a year, with ransom demands ranging from five thousand dollars for common citizens up into the multimillions for bankers and businessmen.
    Foreign executives who work in the oil and energy industries are favorite targets. Insurance agencies such as Chubb, Fireman’s Fund, and Lloyd’s of London now offer policies that underwrite ransom payments, medical treatment, and interpreters, and even continue to pay the salaries of the missing.
    Premiums are not inexpensive.
    Business? Kidnapping has become an international industry.
    It was in Guatemala that kidnappers started a chilling, profitable trend. They began to abduct and ransom the children of wealthy locals and foreign workers. Payoffs became bigger, negotiations easier. The practice spread through Ecuador and Venezuela, where each country suffers about two hundred kidnappings a year.
    Pilar’s country, Masagua, soon followed.
    I’d heard and read so much about it and become concerned enough, slightly more than a year ago, to warn Lake in an e-mail. I told him why he was an obvious, high-risk target. Of far more value—now, at least, it seemed—I’d also included advice on how best to survive an abduction. The tips had been assembled for him by a friend of mine, a hostage negotiator who works for the State Department.
    I’d sent the paper along with a note from me that read:
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    During these screwy times, everyone in the world should be prepared, and they should damn well know that:
    â€¢ During a hijacking or hostage assault, the most dangerous phases are the first few minutes and—if there is a rescue attempt—the final few minutes. Anticipate what you should do before it happens so that you won’t panic if it happens.
    â€¢ In the first minutes, terrorists are adrenaline-fogged and prone to irrational overreaction. This is when most hostages die. Remain calm. Avoid eye contact. No sudden, threatening movements.
    â€¢ Do not struggle or try to escape unless success or your own death are certain.
    â€¢ Aspire to be inconspicuous. Do not give your captors the impression that you are memorizing their facial features or keeping note of their actions.
    â€¢ Talk normally. Don’t complain, don’t show anger. Follow all orders and instructions.
    â€¢ If questioned, keep your answers short. Don’t stand out.
    â€¢ If involved in a lengthy hostage situation, the opposite becomes true. It’s easier to kill an object than a human being. Make sure your captors know your name, the names of your family members. Establish a rapport.
    â€¢ Remember that you are a valuable commodity to your captors. It’s important to them to keep you alive and well. Find a way to survive. Others have. You can, too.
    All good advice. The kind that can save a life or lives. Trouble was, I knew there was a possibility that Lake hadn’t even read the damn thing. He’d certainly never made any specific references to the data in a reply e-mail.
    Boys his age are bulletproof. Or think they are.
    But maybe, just maybe, it’d helped him.
    Even so, I was immensely thankful that I’d made the effort. Thankful because it took a bit of the sting out of the overwhelming guilt I felt. It was guilt that any parent would have experienced.
    My child had been taken. Even though I’d anticipated the possibility, I wasn’t there to protect him when it happened.
    Unforgivable.
    It’s guilt that