Amanda i love you her mother an ocean away. She would turn investigator, then negotiator. We are not playing games could she save her only daughter . Had to be strong for her. Im lester holt and this is dateline. Heres kate snow with kidnapped. This call. If you guys dont pay 1 million for me, by one week, they will kill me. Okay. Her daughter was on the phone a world away. Shed been kidnapped in one of the most dangerous places on earth. I feel so awful. I cant believe theyre doing this. I hate doing this to you guys. This mother negotiated with kidnappers, with her daughters life on the line. I understand. Did you keep it together . I did. I had to be strong for her. And the daughter faced unimaginable fears. My head is pulled back. And then there was a serrated knife. Their stories are intertwined, amanda and her mother lorinda stewart, both women driven by strength, courage, and most of all, endurance, a story amanda told in detail in the book shes written and here on dateline. It all begins here in western canada in the small town of sylvan lake, a place that looks and sounds idyllic. But her childhood wasnt. Her parents divorced when she was 8. Her mother worked mostly cashier jobs to raise three children. The family always seemed to be on the move. Life wasnt easy for mother and daughter. Amanda yearned even at an early age for a world beyond her hometown. One constant was that i wanted to be a world traveler. I wanted to go to every country in the world. Youre a kid. How old are you . 8 years old. And you had stacks of national geographic. The images that i saw on the pages were everything that my hometown wasnt, like something out of a dream, really. Amanda realized her dreams of seeing the world in the 1990s when she was 19. She saved up enough tips working as a waitress for her first big trip to venezuela. Were driving in the back of a pickup truck from a village. The whole world was wide open to me at that time. So wide open she traveled to guatemala, thailand, even the middle east. Then on a trip to africa in 2006 she found not only adventure, but Something Else love. I see an attractive man sitting on the porch out in front of the hotel, and that was Nigel Brennan. An australian photo journalist was drawn to her as well. What are those first weeks of the relationship like . We bonded. I felt inspired by what i saw him doing, capturing images and telling stories that he felt really passionate about. But the passion and adventure that amanda experienced with nigel was shortlived. There he told her he had a girlfriend. That wasnt true. He had a wife. I received a phone call from a tearful nigel telling me he had something to disclose. I felt sort of devastated by that news. Amanda and nigel went their separate ways. She moved on, all the way to india. Its the interesting thing about pushing boundaries. You cross one and go into the next. Going from india to pakistan was a big deal. It was something i really wanted to do. And then i did it. And afghanistan is right next door. Mom lorinda wasnt thrilled as her daughter trekked into afghanistan and pakistan, both active war zones. She tried to talk her daughter out of that trip but her daughter was headstrong. And the more amanda traveled the more she began to see a path to a career. At first she was traveling just for the sake of traveling, seeing the world. Then she thought, wow, i would love to write about the people that im meeting. Amanda sold her first story and photos about the remote kuchi people of afghanistan. Soon after that she got an unexpected call. A tv station backed by the iranian government wanted her to work for them. She hoped it was a steppingstone to a better job. This is amanda, press tv, baghdad. To be paid to live somewhere exotic must have been really attractive. Yeah, absolutely. But war reporting was more daunting than she expected. Amanda wanted to get more experience but also cover stories she cared about. You need to go out there and go somewhere where you can get a break. Im also starting to look further out onto the horizon. What other stories are out there that i feel passionate about . At the top of my list was somalia. Somalia, one of the most dangerous countries on the planet. So much so few reporters traveled there. Theres been no National Government for more than 20 years. Islamic rebels rule much of the country, but amanda on her own as a freelance journalist wanted to make a name for herself. She didnt tell me she was going to somalia. Kelly cox was amandas best friend. Theyd traveled the world together. She remembers her desire to go to somalia. She felt that it was really important that she go there. That there were hundreds of thousands of refugees starving in the refugee camps and no one was telling their story. As amanda was launching this new phase of her professional life her personal life intruded. She unexpectedly heard from nigel, now divorced. I got an email out of the blue. You tell him where youre going. I tell him where im going. Hes still interested in pursuing journalism. Why not invite him to come with me. Amanda emailed her mother about the risky trip. And youre thinking what . I would really rather she didnt go. Do you think you were to use your moms word a little headstrong . Yeah. I was headstrong. And i was even a touch naive. I dont think that i had spent enough time throughout my 20s thinking about what would happen if something did go wrong. It was on the flight into somalia that another passenger warned amanda and nigel just how wrong things could go. He said to me, your head, your head alone is worth half a Million Dollars in mogadishu, be careful. That warning would be more prophetic than she knew. When we come back, the terrifying moment that transformed amandas life. A dozen armed men were emerging, all of them with ak47s. I went into shock. All you expect from theive skin. Numberonerecommended by dermatologists. All free clear is free of dyes and perfumes and has powerful stainlifters to help get your whole wash clean. Its all good. Enamel is the white, outer layer of your tooth surface. The more that we can strengthen and reharden that tooth surface, the whiter their patients teeth are going to be. Dentists are going to really want to recommend the new pronamel strong and bright. Its going to give their patients whiter teeth. Nyone has a reason that these two should not be wed, speak now. coughs so sorry. Oh no. Its just that your friend daryl here is supposed to be Live Streaming the wedding and hes not getting any service. I missed, like, the whole thing. What . And i just got an unlimited plan. Its the right plan, wrong network. You see, verizon has the largest, most reliable 4g lte network in america. Its built to work better in cities. Tell you what, just use mine. Thanks. No problem. All right, lets go live. Say hi to everybody who wasnt invited vo when it really, really matters, you need the best network and the best unlimited. Plus, get the pixel, by google for 5 a month. Howd we rethink light yogurt . Kicked out artificial sweeteners, added real fruit, and made it 90 calories. New light and fit greek nonfat yogurt with zero artificial sweeteners. Youll go from mmm to wow. Right now, all your refreshiare just a buck. Ves with zero artificial sweeteners. Whether diving in or chilling poolside, stay cool while you check things off your summer bucket list. Like summer, any size soft drinks for a dollar wont stick around long. Only at mcdonalds. vo more dper rollres for mom more doing chores for dad per roll more earning something you love per roll bounty is more absorbent, so the roll can last 50 longer than the leading ordinary brand. So you get more life per roll. Bounty the quicker picker upper. It looked peaceful from above, as Amanda Lindhout and her friend Nigel Brennan descended into the wartorn country of somalia in 2008. I get my first glimpse of somalia out the airplane window. Just untouched paradise from the sky. But as soon as our plane touched down and we got off i knew what many had told me about somalia was true. The capital city seemed lawless. This was, after all, the city where 18 u. S. Army rangers died in the battle for mogadishu depicted in the movie black hawk down. It was more frenzied than any other place shed been. Is this something in the air . It was very palpable in the airport. Very chaotic environment. The pair went to their hotel and met their local staff and Security Team, the people they hired to protect their lives. Those first few days they moved around somalia with ease. I feel like i kind of settled into the mogadishu experience. Back at home, lorinda was worried about her daughter. I just made sure every time i talked to her i told her i loved her. I couldnt say it enough. Amanda managed to tamp down her nervousness and got to work looking for stories. Thats what she was doing in the car with nigel on the day that would change their lives. As youre going down the road, what are you doing . Looking out the window and lost in thought. The vehicle started to slow down, and i looked up. About a dozen armed men were emerging from where they had been hidden behind that vehicle, all of them with ak47s pointed at ours. I went into shock. Next thing i knew, my door was pulled open. And then i found myself lying face down in the dirt, spread eagle with a gun held to the back of my head. Terrifying. That was a line in the sand of my life. There was my life before that moment, and there is my life after that moment. In that moment, she feared her life might end. But instead, she was picked up and shoved back into a car with nigel, three gunmen crowded into the front seat. Several more in the back. She didnt know who they were or why they were being taken. We went on this wild desert drive, off road. And one of the leaders of this whole kidnapping operation was in the front seat. I asked is this about money . And he said to me, ah, it might be Something Like that. 9,000 miles away from mogadishu, here in sylvan lake, canada, amandas father was sitting on his back porch in the sun when his phone rang. It was a radio journalist on the line. Hed seen a report amanda had been kidnapped. Amandas father called her mother in a panic. You still remember johns voice on the phone . Yeah. Yeah. He was just in a complete panic and saying i dont know what to do. You must have felt so helpless. I felt like we were so far apart. And we didnt know where our daughter was. Lorinda was still in shock when she arrived at her exhusbands house. She was desperate to figure out what to do next. I just knew from the minute i walked through the door that i needed to snap myself together. I think i would have been a collapsed puddle on the floor. Well, i knew i couldnt. I couldnt. Because if i did, who would she have . Canadian officials suspected this was a kidnapping. They scrambled to set up a recording system. They told lorinda amanda was likely taken by islamic rebels. The phone kept ringing. It was the kidnappers. They had amanda and her friend nigel. The ransom, 1. 5 million for each of them. The negotiators told lorinda, as hard as it would be, every time she answered the phone she had to stay calm. The next morning right before noon, actually, my cell phone rang. And it was adam, who was negotiator for the kidnappers. Hello. Hello. When he called on day four, he had a surprise for lorinda. Okay, lorinda. Yes. Talk to your daughter. Amanda . Mom . Amanda . I love you sweetheart. That call was the first proof that amanda was still alive. Lorinda being coached by investigators told her mother how much the captors demanded for each life they held. Whats the amount . I have no idea. Okay. Well, he has asked for 1. 5 million. Oh, my god. And oh, mom. Amanda begged her captors to understand that the ransom might never be paid. My family is trying to make money. I come from a poor family. Hello . Then the call disconnected. Did you have that kind of money . No. I was a single mom, raising, you know, raising my children. And her dad certainly wasnt in, you know, in a position to pay that kind of money. By then, canadian officials had routed lorindas phone to an Operations Center they set up and kept covert. She lived there, always ready for the next call. After the first couple weeks we realized that this might, might go on for longer than we hoped. On the other side of the globe, amanda and nigel couldnt know how long they would be held, but amanda 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. A mother springs into action. Youre playing detective. I learned to analyze everything. As the stakes for her daughter rise dramatically. Tonight they have brought me out to kill me. I had to be strong. We knew that things had taken a change. When dateline continues. When you have allergies, it can seem like triggers pop up everywhere. Luckily theres powerful, 24hour, nondrowsy claritin. It provides relief of symptoms that can be triggered by over 200 different allergens. Live claritin clear. Having a baby. Caring for your parents. Learning you have a condition. These are moments when people realize that where you get your medicine matters. And they look to us. Cvs pharmacy. For advice. And ways to save money. Plus, get up to fifty extrabucks each year just for filling prescriptions. Switching is easy. Were here for you. Join us. At cvs pharmacy. Amanda lindhout and Nigel Brennan were kidnapped on a dusty road in somalia by islamic rebels and taken to a compound somewhere in mogadishu, she had no idea where. We were in a room together. There were thin Foam Mattresses on the floor and a sheet on each one. That was amandas new reality. Her mother lorindas new reality, an unprecedented role. Lead negotiator. Family members dont normally participate in negotiations, its too emotionally draining, but because she had developed a rapport with the negotiator they asked her to keep going. Every phone call, i had a list of objectives. We were trying to find out as much information as we could. Did you have this in front of you when you were on the phone . Yeah. And i would also have a negotiator beside me. Can you read some of these to us . I have to know if amanda and nigel are alive. You are playing detective. I have to analyze everything. I was scared to leave the phone at all. Lorindas entire existence revolved around the negotiations. And nearly a month after amanda was taken there had been dozens of nerve wracking calls. She was constantly trying to lower the ransom all the while knowing that aid workers and journalists had not only been kidnapped but killed in somalia. Lorinda feared her daughter might be next. Desperate for support, she reached out to amandas good friend kelly. Kelly traveled to ottawa. She really didnt have a choice. Im not sure that i could do that. I have a whole new respect for lorinda and what she went through and how strong she is. She literally worked around the clock, 24 7. By the third week of captivity, amanda and nigels existence was reduced to one room. Her body was sore from the hard floor. The thing she missed the most was seeing the sky. Some of their captors were nicer than others. Some threatening. She says abdullah was the worst. Almost as soon as we were taken abdullah seemed to lay some claim on me. During their ordeal, amanda and nigel were moved house to house, many times. Some worse than others. Mold on the walls, cockroaches and rats on the floors. They were always trapped indoors. But all that changed nearly a month after they were taken. They were roused out of their room and taken outside. We were terrified and a small video camera was brought out and sat down on the ground before us, and we were told to beg for our lives. It was a pivotal moment. On september 17, 2008, lorinda turned on the tv and saw this, a hostage video on al jazeera. She was crushed. It was the first time shed seen amanda and nigel, and it didnt look good. Were just analyzing her, how she looks, how shes holding herself. You take your negotiator cap off and put your mom hat on. It was terrifying, but to be honest, i couldnt keep my mom hat on very often, because i couldnt function. The video was broadcast without sound so lorinda couldnt hear her daughter, but the image of the masked, heavily armed captors made the situation very real. What are you feeling as you watch it . I just want to bring her home. Never, never let her go. Weeks passed, and each day grew longer and more desperate for both mother and daughter. Then after two months, their captors moved amanda and nigel into separate rooms and kept them apart. 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, the only woman in a house with 16 men. She feared she would be raped. It turns out your fears were justified. Abdullah starts coming to your room. Yeah. This is very hard to talk about. He, he did cross that line, and my worst fears were realized. And my whole experience in captivity really changed. Locked in that room, a simple act gave amanda strength. I would just walk in circles in this room that i was held in. I would walk with the dreams of the life that i hoped one day i would be able to go on and live. And thats what helped pull my out of the slump that i went into immediately after abdullah started paying those first visits to my room. Then one night in the fourth month of captivity she was jostled awake and driven out to the desert alone. What happened next was terrifying. They had brought me over to an acacia tree. They had me kneel. My head is pulled back. And then there was a serrated knife. I cant imagine the horror you must have been feeling. So many times in those first months, i had feared that my head would be cut off, because it was something that they threatened us with a lot. I was sure that that was it. That they were going to kill me. Must have felt like an eternity. It did. I felt despair, because i, i didnt want to be the end. And then they hand you a phone . And whos on the phone . My mom. Desperate, amanda had only three minutes to beg for her life. Mom . Amanda . Amanda, i love you. Amanda, amanda, how are you . Mom, listen, listen to me, okay . Okay, okay. Closely. 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. But theyve, theyve given me one more chance to call you guys. 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 did. I did. How . I just felt like i had to. That i had to be strong for her. But after the call, we just sat there and cried. Things had taken a change. They werent going to be nice anymore, if you could call anything they did nice. Coming up, a daring new plan. We might have a chance to escape. Armed with nail clippers and courage, the hostages make a dash for freedom. Ive ever been in. Right, freshness for weeks unstopables by downy. For a fresh too feisty to quit. The ford summer sales event is in full swing. Its gonna work, i promis