window, landed a hard blow into eduardo s head that sent blood rushing down his face. the first thing i started thinking about was my children. are my children going to lose their parents right now? the second attacker run at jayne, he yanked open or door, pulled her out of the jeep, she screamed, kicked him, and grab the fence behind. in the bob wire slice through her finger. her tech, or forced her down. i m lying on the ground he just points the gun at my forehead and tells me, in spanish to get up. the first thing i said time was please don t kill me i have three children. then, they hustled jayne and eduardo into a waiting suv. unseen accomplices pillow cases over their head and tightly bound their hands and feet. eduardo was hysterical. i don t think he was completely hearing me. he probably had a concussion. and the suv sped away. jayne tried to comfort eduardo.
two brothers jane had sent to drop the ransom made contact. he was still sitting in his car, at the mouth of that dark road, he was terrified. finally he afi agent told the younger brother of the two who had gotten left behind to go back to the hotel room and stay by the phone. the rest of that night and all the next day jane, the afi agent and the young men in the hotel room in mexico city watch the phone, willing attorney ring. it did not. it took about 24 hours and i got an email, it said, in a cynical way, we have the person you send with the money, we ve counted the money it s all there. and marked bills as we had requested. but now with the kidnappers, now they were holding janes employee and would keep holding him so that when they released eduardo, he and jane would have to cough up even more money to get that man back. wait a minute, at that point you have no employee, you have no husband, you have no money? that wasn t enough for them.
live in mexico, this is where they chose. send miguel. colonial town, a place so lovely it has attracted people from all over the world to come here and live. jane and eduardo loved fixing up and selling old houses. so, they made that their business. and they made children. it had been a big dream of mine to live in the country and to have a big organic gardens, through trees, horses and lots of animals for the kids to play with. it was luck when this place came up. a rundown wrench in foreclosure, perfect. as a great deal, at the time it was a pile of rocks, literally. no road going out here, it was a dirt road that was almost impossible unless you had a jeep and we started building a little by little. every little bit of money that we made, everything we could managed to save we started putting in the ranch. they built a real ranch
which is how, early that morning, eduardo valseca arrived at his back door and asked his wife to make banana pancakes. unmitigated joy and terror. terror? oh yes. it wasn t over. i couldn t even relishing the moment of having my husband back, because we were still dealing with these people. remember the kidnappers were holding jane and edward was employee, the man who had volunteer to deliver the ransom and for his troubles was snatched at the drop site. so now a new round of female demands began arriving. we started negotiating, it was like the whole thing all over again. this time? the kidnappers promised to kill not just the employee but the whole family. all of them. so, you are still terrified i just couldn t believe it wasn t over. the federal police asked them to go to mexico city to be
day to another, everything. every single thing that you can imagine. it s literally two different lives. a kidnapped employee by the way? the kidnappers simply released him. nearly three months later. no ransom at all. the federal police continue to maintain that the kidnapping was the work of a marxist revolution party called the epr. but there were no arrests. there were no answers. and gradually, the memory of their terror was mixed with nostalgia for the life they had left behind. which is in part why a year and a half after eduardo s release, he and jane decided to return with us to their beloved ranch. but it had to be secret, our guaido told us. no one could know that we were coming. you never know who is informing these people. of course. they knew everything about the kids, they knew everything about us. anybody could be there telling them, you know, they are back.