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

76 OUT OF CAPTIVITYwhere. The tablas rested on top of a couple of ropes. Thin wire rosevertically from the slats and another rope ran parallel to the supportsunder the slats on each side. Together those wires and ropes formed athin handrail.Fifty feet below us was a dried riverbed with just a trickle of waterand some massive rocks. Slip and fall and you were a splat and not atype of lawyer. The FARC must have sensed our unease because theytold us that if the bridge started swaying too much, we should just grabthe rope handrail and push it out away from ourselves. That would puttension on all the strung supports to stabilize everything. On a goodday, it would have been a sweaty-palm crossing, but given how weakand light-headed we all were, this would be a knee buckler. Only oneperson could be on the bridge at a time, so it took a while until we allmade the crossing.We each went, and when Tom, the last to cross, made it over, hestood next to me, his face twisted in a knot of anger and disbelief.“Why would anyone build a bridge out here in the middle of hell andgone? This makes no sense.” Marc and I looked at each other, and wewere both about to say it, when Tom waved us off, “Don’t say it! Don’tsay it! ¿Quién sabe?”I felt bad for Tom. He was a pilot first and foremost, and he’d spenthis life having to think logically, problem-solve efficiently, and view theworld as an orderly and explicable place. He and I had been chewingon the possible answers to what happened that caused the plane we’dseen a few days before to plant itself on the ridgeline of that mountain.Tom’s methodical, precise mental ratcheting through the possibleoptions had served him well in the past, but it didn’t in our currentsituation.Tom and Marc took off ahead of me, and I assumed my place at theback of the line. With about forty FARC guerrillas ahead of me, Tomand Marc disappeared into the jungle, and soon we came to a series ofmakeshift shelters—slightly more advanced versions of the temporary