Out of Captivity : Surviving 1,967 Days in the Colombian Jungle

308 OUT OF CAPTIVITYMilton’s “command” stood and watched us pack up. Then they formeda kind of rough line and said good-bye. Tatiana had a little chick thatshe wanted Marc to take with him so that he could finally have an egglayer of his own someday. I found myself feeling a little emotional atthe thought of separating from this group. We’d been together for twoyears and now it was over. It wasn’t quite that old line about feelinggood when you stop banging your head against the wall, but it wassomething like that mixed with a little bit of genuine regret.All of those emotions changed when Milton pulled the three of usaside. He started by explaining that he was turning us over to a newgroup. He said that Jair, a short blond guerrilla we’d seen in camp thelast two days was now going to be in charge of us. We assumed that wasall Milton was going to say, but then he went into cover-his-ass mode.Stating that he was only human—which we had seen ample evidenceof, what with all his failings—he admitted that he’d made some mistakes.He was aware that he’d denied us the things we wanted most—radios and books—and he claimed that he’d told Jair to provide us withthose things. He also said that he’d put in a good word with the newFront. We’d been no trouble to him. He offered his hand. As much asI hated the guy, I figured there was no point in pissing him off. I tookhis hand and Milton walked away, back to the jungle and the life heseemed to love so much.Jair led us on a ten-minute march and we met up with a larger group.He struck us as a sharp and energetic guy. With his blond hair andcrew cut, he seemed like a gringo who’d been airlifted into the jungle.Still we were concerned about losing the connections to the guards inMilton’s group and the information channels that we’d worked so hardto cultivate. The Plumber and the others had been vital in helping usget what we needed and stay on top of our situation. We were all a bitanxious about having to start over.Immediately we could sense the change in attitude among this newgroup. Suddenly we were being stared at again—novelty attractions on