Manny grimaced. “I can last a little longer.”
Nate nodded, agreeing.
So they began the long climb. As they progressed, Nate and Manny were soon lagging behind the others. Kelly kept near them, her face worried. Carrera maintained the rear guard.
Nate’s knees ached, his thighs burned, and his shoulders knotted with exhaustion. But he kept on. “It can’t be much farther,” he said aloud, more to himself than anyone else.
“I hope not,” Kelly said.
“He’s strong,” Manny said, nodding to Frank.
“Strong will only get you so far,” she answered.
“He’ll pull through this,” Nate assured her. “He’s got his lucky Red Sox cap, doesn’t he?”
Kelly sighed. “He loves that old thing. Did you know he was a shortstop for a farm club? Triple A division.” Her voice lowered to a strained whisper. “My father was so proud. We all were. There was even talk of Frank going into the majors. Then he got in a skiing accident, screwed up his knee. It ended his career.”
Manny grunted in surprise. “And that’s his lucky hat?”
Kelly brushed the cap’s brim, a trace of a smile on her lips. “For three seasons, he played a game he loved with all his heart. Even after the accident, he was never bitter. He felt himself the luckiest man in the world.”
Nate stared down at the cap, envying Frank his moment in the sun. Had life ever been that simple for him? Maybe the man’s cap was indeed lucky. And right now, they needed all the luck they could get.
Carrera interrupted their reminiscing. “The jaguars…they’ve stopped following us.”
Nate glanced down the stairs. One of the giant cats stood at the entrance. It was the female leader of the pack. She paced back and forth below. Tor-tor stared down at her, eyes flashing. The female stared at the smaller cat for a moment—then, in a shadowy blur, she fled back into the jungle.
“The lower valley must be the pack’s territory,” Manny said. “Another line of defense.”
“But what are they protecting?” Carrera asked.
A call sounded from up ahead. It was Sergeant Kostos. He had stopped ten steps from the end of the chasm and waved them to join him.
As the group gathered, the eastern skies brightened with dawn. Beyond the stepped chute, a valley opened, thick with dense vegetation and towering trees. Somewhere a stream babbled brightly, and in the distance, a waterfall grumbled.
“The Ban-ali lands,” Professor Kouwe said.
Olin approached Manny and Nate. He reached for the stretcher. “We’ll take over from here.”
Nate was surprised to see Richard Zane at the Russian’s side. But Nate didn’t complain. They passed the stretcher to the new bearers. Relieved of the weight, Nate felt a hundred pounds lighter. His arms felt like they wanted to float up.
He and Manny climbed up to Kostos.
“The Indian disappeared,” the sergeant grumbled.
Nate saw that the tribesman had indeed vanished. “Even so, we know where we have to go.”
“We should wait until the sun’s fully up,” Kostos said.
Manny frowned. “The Ban-ali have been tracking us since we first set out into the jungles…night and day. Whether the sun is up or not, we won’t see a single soul unless they want us to.”
“Besides,” Nate said, “we have a man down. The sooner we reach a village or whatever, the better Frank’s chances. I say we forge on.”
Kostos sighed, then nodded. “Okay, but keep together.”
The sergeant straightened and led the way from there.
With each step, the new day grew brighter. Sunrise in the Amazon was often sudden. Overhead, the stars were swallowed in the spreading rosy glow of dawn. The cloudless sky promised a hot day to come.
The group paused at the top of the chasm. A thin trail led down into the jungle. But where did it go? In the valley below, there was no sign of habitation. No wood smoke rising, no voices echoing.
Before moving forward, Kostos stood with binoculars, studying the valley. “Damn it,” he mumbled.
“What’s wrong?” Zane asked.
“This canyon is just a switchback of the one we were in.” He pointed to the right. “But it appears this canyon is cut off from the one below it by steep cliffs.”
Nate lifted his own binoculars and followed where the sergeant pointed. Through the jungle, he could just make out where a small stream flowed down the canyon’s center. He followed its course until it vanished over a steep drop, down into the lower canyon, the one they had been marching through all night, the domain of the giant jaguars.
“We’re boxed in here,” Kostos said.
Nate swung his binoculars in the opposite direction. He spotted another waterfall. This one tumbled down into this canyon from a massive cliff on the far side. In fact, the entire valley was closed in by rock walls on three sides, and the steep cliff on the fourth.
It’s a totally isolated chunk of jungle, Nate realized.
The sergeant continued, “I don’t like this. The only way up here is this chute.”
As Nate lowered his glasses, the edge of the sun crested the eastern skies, bathing the jungle ahead in sunlight, creating a green glow. A flock of blue-and-gold macaws took wing from a rookery near the misty cliffs and sailed past overhead. The spray from the two waterfalls at either end of the valley made the air almost sparkle in the first rays of the sun.
“Like a bit of Eden,” Professor Kouwe said in a hushed voice.
With the touch of light, the jungle awoke with bird-song and the twitter of monkeys. Butterflies as big as dinner plates fluttered at the fringe. Something furry and quick darted back into the jungle. Isolated or not, life had found its way into this verdant valley.
But what else had made its home here?
“What are we going to do?” Anna asked.
Everyone remained silent for several seconds.
Nate finally spoke. “I don’t think we have much choice but to proceed.”
Kostos scowled, then nodded. “Let’s see where this leads. But stay alert.”
The group cautiously descended the short slope to the jungle’s edge. Kostos led once again, Nate at his side with his shotgun. They marched in a tight bunch down the path. As soon as they entered under the bower of the shadowed forest, the scents of orchids and flowering vines filled the air, so thick they could almost taste it.
Still, as sweet as the air was, the constant tension continued. What secrets lay out here? What dangers? Every shadow was suspect.