It was scary that he could find me. For the first time, she shares her dramatic story. How she helped secret agents hunt down her captor. Hunt down her captor. Hunt down her captor. Hunt down her captor. This all plays likal thriller. Absolutely. The setting. A perfect island paradise. The plot, a daring under cover sting. You were supposed to get some money. Yes. How much did you get . 10,000 . Facetoface with her kidnapper at last. I just broke down. Its still hard for you. This is real life like pan. Would she get justice . I fought the courage in that moment and i said, im ready. Hello and welcome to dateline. Request itself amanda was a furious jung u Young Journalist in the worlds most dangerous hot spot. Suddenly, she became the story. Kidnapped by raptors in somali. What she endured her. What happened after she was freed was almost as terrifying. Her is kate snow with the capture. Amanda, amanda, i love you. Imagine being the mother on the ought end of the call. If you guys dont pay 1 million for me by one week, they will kill me. Okay. Your daughter, a world away in the hand of kidnappers. Amanda mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy. Both mother and daughter traumatized in their own ways by a callous captor. Their stories are intertwined, Amanda Lindhout. My head was pulled back and there was a serrated knife. And her mother. Lorinda stewart. Did you keep it together . I did. I had to be strong for her. Driven by strength, courage and endurance, these women would not only survive this ordeal, but their determination in a completely new chapter of their story would ultimately lead them to triumph over one of the men who had terrorized them terrorized them so brutally. It almost seems like sting. It does. We often refer to this plan as the hail mary plan. Before all of that, this story begins in a small town in western canada, where a young woman yearned for a world beyond her town. One constant was i wanted to be a world traveler. I wanted to go to every country in the world. Amanda began to realize seeing her world in the 90s. At 19, she was off to venezuela. We are driving in the back of a pickup truck back to the town of santee alaina. The would world was wide opened to me at that time. So wide opened, she kept moving, kept pushing forward. Going from india to pakistan. It did feel like a big deal to me. It was something i really wanted to do. And then i did it. And afghanistan is right next door. Mom grew concerned, semias her daughter trekked into active war zones. She tried to talk amanda out of those trip, but she says her daughter was head strong and the more amanda traveled, the more she began to see a path to Something Else. She thought, finally, you wouldto write a book people need. She resolved to turn her wonder lust into a journalism career. She wanted to get more experience but also cover stories she cared about. You need to get out there and go somewhere, where you can get a break . I am starting to look little further out onto the horizon. How far . One of the most dangerous maces in the world. What other stories are out there that i feel passionate about . At the stop of my list was somalia. Amanda knew she had to tell her mother about her plan. And you are thinking what . I would really rather she didnt go. Maybe you were to use your moms words a little head strong . Yeah, i was head strong. I dont think i had spent enough time thinking about what would happen if something did go wrong. Soon enough, she would find out just how wrong things could go. On the plane into mogadishu she remembers a fellow passenger turning to her and her colleague Nigel Brennan with a stern warning. He said to me, your head, your head alone is worth half a million in mogadishu. Be careful. As amanda left the airport, the capital city was chaotic. Back at home, amandas mother lorinda worried about her daughter. I just made sure every time you take talked to her i told her i loved her. Amanda got to work on her third day in somalia, she was in a car with nigel chasing a story. The vehicle started to slow down and i looked up about a dozen armed men were emergeing from where they had been hidden, all of them with a. K. 47. Next thing i knew my door was pulled opened and then i found myself lying face down in the dirt spread eagle with a gun held to the back of my head. Terrifying. I asked, is this about money . And he said to me, ah, it might be Something Like that. All the way back in canada, her mother lorinda stopped hearing from her daughter. She began to fear the worst. She didnt want to be right. But she knew kidnappings were common in somalia. You must have felt so helpless. I felt we were so far apart and we didnt know where our daughter was. I think i would have been a collapsed puddle on the floor. Well, i knew i couldnt. I couldnt. She reached out to canadian officials who told her this was, in fact, a kidnapping, by islamic rebels and they scrambled to set up a recording system if case the kidnappers called. The next morning my cell phone rang and it was adam, who was negotiator for the kidnappers. Canadian investigators had lorinda lead the negotiations. But what she couldnt know then was just how much terror the man who called himself adam would bring into her life. I am calling to say i dont want to pay any money, otherwise, one million for your daughter. When this adam called her an day four, he had a surprise. Hey, talk the to your daughter. Amanda. Mom . Amanda, i love you, sweetheart. Proof that amanda was alive. After the first couple weeks, we realized that this might go on for longer than we hoped. On the other side of the globe, amanda couldnt know how long shed be held, but feared the worst. I was the only female in a group of about 16 men. So there was a lot of scary thoughts. Coming up, the danger and terror escalates. Tonight they have brought me out to kill me and later, a twist straight out of a hollywood thriller. You are an under cover agent . Correct. Can amanda help turn the tables on her captors . My heart started pounding and fell to my knees and i started crying. When dateline continues. Under control. With less eczema, you can show more skin. So roll up those sleeves. And help heal your skin from within with dupixent. Dupixent is the first treatment of its kind that continuously treats moderatetosevere eczema, or atopic dermatitis, even between flare ups. Dupixent is a biologic, and not a cream or steroid. Many people taking dupixent saw clear or almost clear skin. And, had significantly less itch. Thats a difference you can feel. Dont use if youre allergic to dupixent. Serious allergic reactions can occur, including anaphylaxis, which is severe. 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We were told to beg for our lives. September 17th, 2008, lorinda turned on the tv in canada and saw this. A hostage video on al jazeera. She was crushed. It was the first time she had seen amanda and she didnt look good. What was your feeling as you watched it . I just want to bring her home and never, never let her go. Weeks turned to months and then their captors separated amanda and nigel. Why was that so important . That day and the days that followed were among the very, very worst, because suddenly im alone with my own thoughts and my mind. Amandas mind ran wild. She feared she would be raped. Then one day a captor entered her room. It turns out your fears were justified . He did cross that line and my worst fears were realized. And my whole experience in captivity really changed. Somehow, she held on and then one night amanda was jostled awake and driven out into the desert alone. What happened next was terrifying. They brought me over to an acacia tree. Had me kneel. My head was pulled back and there was a serrated knife. The ruthless kidnappers told a desperate amanda, she only had three minutes to plead for her life, with her traumatized mother on the other end of the call. If you guys dont pay 1 million for me, by one week, they will kill me. Okay . Tonight they have brought me out to kill me. Amanda, amanda, stay strong. Stay strong, hon. That phone call definitely made it harder not to let my imagination go. Did you keep it together . I just felt like i had to. That i had to be strong for her. Canada does not pay ransom to kidnappers, so if lorinda wanted to buy amandas freedom, she was on her own. A world away in somalia, amanda and nigel locked in separate rooms discovered something. If they each stood at their windows, they could hear each other. They began to hatch a plan. I realized we might have a chance to escape out that bathroom window. Which at first seemed like an impossible idea. Each time they used the bathroom, they chipped away at the mortar holding the bricks together blocking the window. Then they would replace the loose bricks until one day the hole was big enough and they made a break for it. From the moment that i dropped down a out of that bathroom window and hit the sand below, i knew that it was bad. They sprinted for a mosque. The one place where they thought theyd be safe. Right before we stepped in, i looked back and i saw one of our young captors. Inside the mosque, one person stepped forward to try and help amanda, someone shell never forget. It was the first woman that i had seen in about five months and when she hugged me and held on to me, it was the first time in those five months that i felt something akin to being safe. That feeling would be fleeting. I just clung on to her and i started pouring out my heart to this woman and she began pleading with my captors to let me go. Her pleas were ignored. The kidnappers circled amanda guns drawn and began dragging her out of the mosque. That woman threw herself on top of me and was drug part way across the floor with me until she couldnt hang on anymore and right before they pulled me out the door of the mosque, i looked back and i saw her on the floor. She had tears pouring down her face and she still had her hands outstretched to help me. You dont know whatever happened to that woman . No, i dont. After the escape attempt, adam and the gang clearly grew frustrated and adam took it out on lorinda. If i had the money, i would pay you. We are not playing games. Its you that are playing games. The escape attempt made things much worse for ayman they tied your arms and legs and pulled your body up by ropes and leave you . Yeah, its very hard for me to go back to that and think about what happened to me during those three days. After that, adam forced her onto the phone again. Its one of the hardest calls to listen to. Amanda. Mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy, listen to me please. Amanda. They need a Million Dollars now because they started to torture meeee. The calls were agonizing. The calls of amanda and nigel desperate to have their Children Home eventually hired a private Security Company to help. Months went by and one night her captors came to her room. They marched me outside and had me sit down on the cement and began sawing through the chains that had been the on my ankles for ten months. Amanda and nigel hadnt seen each other for months, but now they were thrown into the back seat of a car and driven into the dark somali night. We are both crying. And i think this is it. Then a man appears at the window. He says to me, why are you crying . Here, talk to your mother. She said to me, amanda, youre free. Amandas mother lorinda had never stopped negotiating and adam had agreed to accept 680,000 for both amanda and nigel. The captives flew out of somalia into kenya, they were whisked away to a hospital. Mother and daughter finally reunited. I barely recognized her. It was relief, it was joy and it was heart. Heartache to see her like that. I would not be here now if it was not for my mother. My mom gave me life and she saved my life. Amanda lindhout was finally safe, back with her family, but adam, the one who tormented them so much wasnt finished with them yet. A single word from him would bring it all back. Coming up. Did your heart stop . It was so scary that he could find me. A facebook message from across the world and a daring undercover plan to catch a kidnapper. It sounds like something out of a movie. We didnt think it would work. Awesome internet. Its more than just fast. It keeps all your devices running smoothly. With builtin security that protects your kids. No matter what theyre up to. It protects your info. And gives you 24 7 peace of mind. That if its connected, its protected. Even that that petcamera thingy. [ whines ] can your internet do that . Xfinity xfi can because its. Simple, easy, awesome. [ barking ] Amanda Lindhout was back home in canada, struggling to move beyond the horrific events in somalia and trying to cope with the idea that the captors who so terrorized her might never be brought to justice. And as amanda tried to get her life back on track. There was an interruption. I had enrolled in a program in eastern canada. It was during a break between classes. I was checking my emails. I saw i had received a facebook message. One word, hello. It was from the last person she ever wanted to hear from. It was a message from adam there did your heart stop . It was so scary that he could find me even though i was safe and across the world and was at home, it was really disarming. That one simple message was about to launch a new and dangerous chapter of her story. The messages didnt stop there. Lorinda heard from adam, too. But her communications with him extended beyond hello. Out of the blue, you get this facebook message from adam. It must have been shocking . It was a total shock. It was kind of terrifying, too, because it just felt like it was right in my space again. Adam taunted lorinda. He said he was reaching out because he had journals amanda had written in captivity, deeply personal writing that had helped her get through it all. What were you thinking when you applied that . I was hoping that i could get him to send amandas journals. But if lorinda wanted those precious journals, adam said, shed have to pay. For lorinda it was outrageous, her daughters kidnapper tracked her down with more demands for cash. That when she reached out once again to the Royal Canadian mounted police. In ottowa, a Staff Sergeant named larry laren got a call from his bosses. We become aware adam has been in touch with her. At that point my team was engaged to pursue that to the full extent. A 30year veteran, he ran priority undercover projects for the Royal Canadian mounted police. His mission, find adam. If that was even his name. He reaches out on facebook, which means you have his facebook address, right . We do. You kind of know where he is. We know hes in somalia. Right. We suspect he is using an alias, so the principle course of action tant is who is adam . And so to do that, we have to engage him directly through an under cover operation. Under cover agent . Correct . Is he going to start getting in touch with adam . Yes. Thats where this man comes in. Hes a canadian investigator who weve agreed to refer to by his cover name a. K. Right off the top, we want to acknowledge we are hiding your identity. Weve changed your look. Yes. Thats because are you an under cover agent . Correct. A. K. Reached out to adam first by phone. The under cover agent told him he was a Media Consultant for amandas family. Amanda didnt know about a. K. Or what he was doing. All she knew was Adams Facebook messages had triggered some kind of investigation. I didnt really know what was going on. I knew there was the hope to catch this guy. A. K. And adam communicated on and off for years. It was slow work. But a. K. Knew pushing too hard could crater the operation and patience paid off. One day i received an email from him which was a scanned copies of 16 letters. They looked like letters, but they were actually pages ripped from amandas journals. Adam had originally asked for thousands of dollars for them. But now. I call him up and i ask him about this he says, yeah, i send you the letters, i dont need any money for them. Our relationship had evolved to the point where he trusts me enough now. Then adam shared a new idea. He told a. K. He was a scholar and wanted to write a book, a history on somalia. As implausible as that sounds. To investigators, it was an unexpected gift, a way to get adam on the hook. You are telling a kidnapper yes. Who you believe was involved in this really major kidnaping yeah. A lot of crimes that you are going to help him publish a book . Yes. It does, we often refer to this version as the hail mary play. We didnt think it would work. As it was continuing, we were surprised, ours. You didnt think hed want to write a book . No. And i will pursue this with you . No, he convinced himself he wanted to write a book and he was able to write this book. Thats our in. Thats your in. We looked at him and thought how are we moving forward . How are we gathering evidence . Thats our goal, gathering the evidence and maybe one day bringing him to justice. Money, fame. To amanda, it was just the kind of bait that could trap her kidnappers. It totally fits in line with what i knew out of this man. He struck me as the k