Leaving the children with the fisherman's family, Valerie and the rest walk through the bush to find a villager with a truck to take them to Tshikapa. The Lunda Libre have been there before them, however, and Scavino and Alben arrive soon thereafter. Valerie flees when Scavino's helicopter is shot out of the sky and the opposing forces do battle.

Valerie and her companions evade Scavino's helicopter attack on the river then hide out with a local fisherman. In a rare moment of peace, Valerie and Jaime yield to their growing passion.

David makes his way to Bukedi, where he learns Valerie is still alive. Scavino tortures Bobby until he confesses that Valerie is at Mai-Munene. When the agent arrives in the village, he forms an uneasy alliance with Alben to chase her down.

Bobby is captured by Scavino in Kinshasa. When the agent learns Valerie is still alive, Bobby tries to lead him on a wild goose chase. Meanwhile, in Mai-Munene, Valerie discovers diamonds inside the stolen nkisi. When Alben finds one of the dolls is missing, he sends his soldiers rampaging through the village to find it.

Valerie meets Jaime's assistant Pieter Jakobsen in Tshikapa with supplies for the children at the clinic. There she hears official news reports that she was killed at Bukedi. In Washington, David Powell is devastated by the same news. Bobby, Valerie's cameraman, flies to Kinshasa to repair a vital piece of equipment.

On the way to Mai-Munene, Valerie stops at the refugee camp in Bukedi, run by an American aid worker who looks a lot like her. Not long after they leave, Scavino arrives in the camp and mistakes the camp director for his target, Valerie Grey.