“No. The ScanoGen people might be somewhere close by, and they’d hear the gunshot. If it can be helped, I don’t want to warn them that we’re catching up to them.” They had taken a risk and traveled through the night. One person in each boat took a turn piloting the craft while the other two slept in the bottom of the boat, using mosquito netting for a blanket.
They had not let Kaylin take a turn, a decision about which she vigorously protested. Dane reminded her that she was on this expedition against his better judgment, and that her carping was liable to draw the attention of unfriendly natives or worse. Now she satisfied herself with the occasional resentful look, or an “I told you so” stare whenever Dane or Bones yawned.
“Fawcett claimed to have killed an anaconda that was sixty-two feet long.” Kaylin gazed at the snake in admiration. “He was generally ridiculed by scientists, but I think he might have been telling the truth. That thing has got to be close to that long.” She raised her camera and snapped a few pictures. “Hey Bones, why don’t you swim over there and stand next to it so I can get some scale perspective?” She winked at him.
“Will my middle finger be enough scale for you?” The anaconda chose that moment to slither away at a glacial pace, slowed no doubt by its heavy burden. “See that? It’s camera shy.”
The banter ceased as Dane’s boat slid gently onto the bank, followed moments later by the second craft. Willis and Matt sprang out of their boat like commandos storming the beach, alert for danger.
“You’re not fooling anybody,” Bones told them as he helped Kaylin to shore. “You two think if you stand there like you’re on guard duty, you won’t have to help unload the boats.”
“True that,” Willis said. “But I got out first, so guess I’m gonna be the guard.” He looked at Matt, who was glowering at him. “What? What? You too slow, ranger boy. Get to work.”
“How did I ever get lassoed into hanging out with a bunch of SEALs?” Matt slung his MP5 across his back and turned to help Simáo unload their boat, while Dane and Kaylin unloaded the other. In a matter of minutes, they had divided their provisions and loaded up a backpack for each person. Matt and Willis hid their boats within a thick stand of trees, camouflaging them with foliage. Bones, meanwhile, scouted the jungle nearby. He returned just as the rest of the group was donning their packs and getting ready to move.
“We’re definitely in the right place,” he pronounced, “and so is ScanoGen. They left plenty of prints on their way out of town. I also found their boats hidden close by.”
“Hopefully that means the guy inside the anaconda is one of theirs.” Matt bared his teeth in something between a grimace and a grin.
“How many boats did they have?” Dane wondered how many men they’d be facing.
“Three. I couldn’t guess their numbers by the tracks they left behind.” Bones was thinking along the same lines as Dane. “But if you figure they needed room for supplies, there can’t be more than a dozen in their group. Probably fewer.”
“Minus the one inside the snake,” Matt added.
“All right. Let’s move on, then.” Dane consulted the map on which Jimmy had projected their path, then re-checked Fawcett’s rough map. “It looks like we’re headed that way.” He pointed in the direction from which Bones had come. “Think we should just follow ScanoGen’s trail?”
“As long as they’re on the right track, why not?” Bones nodded. “If it looks like they’re drifting off course, we’ll change directions.”
“We’ll need to move as quietly as possible.” Willis and Matt did not need to be told, and perhaps neither did Kaylin and Simáo, but Dane did not wish to leave anything to chance. He and Bones took the lead, with Matt and Willis bringing up the rear.
The farther they trekked from the lagoon, the denser the jungle grew, with the shafts of sunlight sifting through the treetops fewer and farther between. The unnerving silence continued, with no sounds of any kind, save their soft treads and the occasional rustle of branches up above. He glanced back to check on the others. Kaylin appeared transfixed by the beauty and mystery of this dark place untouched by modern civilization, though her knuckles were white from the tight grip with which she held her M6 Scout, a multi-purpose weapon, an over-under weapon that fired both .410 shotgun shells and .22 bullets. It wasn’t a high-powered combat weapon, but it was the right fit for her. Dane had no concerns about her using the weapon. She was the daughter of his and Bones’ former commander, and knew how to handle any number of firearms.
Simáo, on the other hand, was trembling and sweating profusely. He periodically stopped short, aiming his bolt-action hunting rifle in the direction of some unseen enemy. The third time he did this, Bones threatened to take the weapon away from him. The guide shook his head profusely and muttered something in his native tongue; but after the scolding, he ceased pointing his rifle at every sound.
They had hiked for hours, following the trail left by ScanoGen, when the path suddenly fell away in a deep trench that had been reclaimed by the native flora. Dane halted at the edge and held his hand up for everyone to stop. It was difficult to discern the lay of the land beneath the dense foliage, but he could make out a series of circular terraces rising up behind the trench. This was not a natural formation, but something many centuries old, or perhaps older.
“It’s like a moat,” Kaylin whispered, looking down at the circular ditch that wrapped around the terraces. “They’ve found formations like this in Xingu National Park, though not as formidable as this.”
“This must be the next landmark.” Bones tapped the paper Dane held in his hand. The image, carved so long ago, looked like a layer cake, and had baffled Dane until this moment.
“Circular terraces, one on top of the other, ringed by a ditch. You’re right. This is it.” His heart pounded. Despite the perils inherent to the Amazon, he would have been thrilled with the tantalizing possibility of discovery, were they not facing the threat of armed men from ScanoGen somewhere up ahead. “Okay, the map makes it look like we’re supposed to go right over the top of this thing. I wonder if we couldn’t just go around?”
“Help me!” No sooner had the faint voice floated up from somewhere below than the crack of rifle fire shattered the silence. “Don’t shoot! Please!”
Cursing, Bones snatched Simáo’s rifle and gave the man a shove. He landed hard on his backside and sat glaring at Bones in bitter resentment.
“Don’t you realize there are people out there who want to kill us?” Bones hissed. “If they’re anywhere close by, they heard your shot, and they know we’re right behind them. Idiot!”
“I thought it was the dead ones.” The man trembled, the anger already gone from his eyes.
Dane didn’t have time for native superstition. He raised his M-16. “Whoever you are,” he called down into the ditch, “come out slowly.”
A small, bedraggled man crawled out of the foliage and wobbled to his feet. Dane could not imagine anyone looking more out of place in the depths of the Amazon than this slender, fair-skinned man.
“Andy!” Kaylin gasped. “What are you doing here?”
“You know him?” Dane frowned.
“This is Thomas’s colleague. The man who gave me the Fawcett picture! The one who was kidnapped.”
Dane gave Andy a hand up the embankment, and the little man stood trembling as Kaylin hugged him. His quaking finally eased enough that he accepted a drink of water from Matt’s canteen before sinking to the ground.
“Tell us how you got here.” Dane squatted down so he could look Andy in the eye. Depending on how long the man had been wandering in the jungle, his information might not be reliable. He seemed lucid, however, as he began his explanation.