Chapter 4
“We shouldn’t stay here for long,” Knox said, and he was right. Still, nothing inside Amy wanted to stand up, let alone leave the relative safety of this spot.
Then again, she realized they were sitting ducks if they stayed.
“They were set on killing us,” Amy recalled, now that some of the shock had worn off and clear thinking returned.
Knox gave a slight nod. Meanwhile, Lorna sucked in a breath.
“What if they circled back and found Donnie?” Lorna asked. “What if…?”
The look on Knox’s face said they would never find Donnie’s body if he was already dead. This place would swallow him whole and spit out his bones.
Amy put her arm around Lorna. “The men followed me. Donnie is probably hiding somewhere or he might have made it back to base camp by now. He’s familiar with the jungle. Even without A.J., he should be able to circle back.”
Lorna pursed her lips and shot a look of apology.
“He has been in the jungle multiple times before, right?” she asked her friend.
Lorna gave a small headshake. “I may have exaggerated about that part so you would relax.”
“Relax?” Amy felt her blood pressure rise. What about this mission was the honest truth? “You lied to me, Lorna.”
“I know and I feel like crap about it,” Lorna whined. “It’s just…would you have gone if I’d told you this was only Donnie’s second time?”
“Where did he go the first time?” Knox interrupted before Amy could answer.
“Near here,” Lorna said.
Knox practically bared his teeth. “Did he go inside?”
Lorna shook her head. “Aerial view.”
“Does that mean what I think?” Knox ground out.
“Someone needs to clue me in here to what the hell you two are getting at,” Amy interjected.
“Your friend here neglected to give you the details of her boyfriend’s first mission because he didn’t enter the jungle at all,” Knox accused. “In fact, he flew over it in a helicopter, probably taking a tour.”
“Sounds expensive,” Amy clued in. “I thought this mission was important because further funding hinged on it and you were out of options. I sold my piano to take this assignment that has been nothing but lies and deception—deception that almost got me killed once already and has my life on the line now.” She scooted away from her friend. “Were you even sick or was that an excuse to get out of going with us?”
“I was sick, Amy. You saw for yourself.”
“Yeah? I don’t know what to trust anymore.” Amy stated. How could someone who claimed to be her friend deceive her like this? The words selfish gain came to mind. Others followed like devoted girlfriend. Did Donnie have his hooks in Lorna to this degree?
“Would you have come with us if I hadn’t told a little white lie?” Lorna asked.
“We’ll never know now, will we?” Amy responded flatly.
“This could get you out of the Honkey Tonk too,” Lorna said softly, looking like she would jump at every noise. “It’s not like I ever expected anything like this to happen.” She waved her arms around.
Amy sighed. “I’ve known you for years, Lorna. I realize you wouldn’t put me in this position on purpose. The problem is that I trusted you and you lied. Once this ordeal is over, we need to go our separate ways.”
Lorna shrank. “I’m sorry, Amy. I really am. Can you accept my apology? Believe me, I wouldn’t do this to you. You’re my best friend.” But the documentary mattered more than their friendship the second Lorna lied to gain Amy’s cooperation. This wasn’t the time to point out the fact, though. Amy had said her piece. There was no use beating a dead horse. And that’s exactly what their friendship was to Amy right now…dead.
Of course, they needed to stick together if they had a prayer of getting everyone out of the jungle in one piece. It also occurred to Amy that she hadn’t thanked Knox for dropping his life on a dime and showing up to save her.
“Thank you, by the way,” she said to him. “I’m sure this wasn’t part of your plans for a Tuesday.”
“I knew what I was getting myself into,” he ground out. “Big difference.”
Amy didn’t respond. He was right, though.
“I couldn’t feel worse about this,” Lorna continued. “It’s all my fault and I understand if you hate me for the rest of our lives.”
“Hate’s a strong word,” Amy countered. Donnie was another story. The man had ditched her, allowing her to take all the heat. For a split second, she’d believed that maybe he was regrouping to find a spot to attack or throw her pursuers off balance, but no. The man had disappeared, saving himself while sacrificing her.
Logically, he might have circled back to the Flooded Forest as a meetup point, and then accidentally slipped into the water never to be found again. The last place Amy wanted to go was back to that place. The darkness. The sounds. The smells. Her body involuntarily shivered at the memories. The image of being porcupined haunted her. Being eaten alive by insects kept her from closing her eyes for more than a few minutes at a stretch.
“What can I do?” Lorna asked.
“Stay quiet, for one,” Knox said through clenched teeth. Amy wanted to hear his theory about what happened. It would have to wait. The groove deepened and his eyes darkened as he moved.
“Excuse me,” Lorna said under her breath, a little too indignant for someone in her circumstances if you asked Amy.
“Your voice might be giving away our location,” Knox seethed. “And, you know what? We aren’t just trying to escape the obvious threat here, men with automatic weapons. You already know there are anacondas and jaguars. How schooled are you on pit vipers, scorpions, wasps, army ants? Oh, and lest I forget about the pin-size catfish that can swim up a stream of urine to lodge itself in your urethra? Because I’m looking out for those things in addition to drug smugglers and hostile strangers. And if you would shut the hell up, I might be able to get us out of here in one piece without taking anything we don’t want with us, like a terminal bite.” He glared at Lorna. “So, yes, I’m telling you to zip it. And if you can’t do that, you’re on your own.”
Lorna hugged her arms, clearly rattled by Knox’s monologue. But then, maybe she needed to be in order to get some sense back into her. Apologizing for getting Amy into this mess could wait until they were safely back at base camp where Amy reserved a piece of her mind to unload on Lorna.
“What’s the plan?” Amy whispered to Knox.
“Get back home alive.”
“No shit, Sherlock,” Amy quipped. She had a bad habit of responding with the first words that came to her mouth. It wasn’t a good habit. Or so she’d been told by her last three boyfriends consecutively. “You have to have some idea of how we’re getting out of here.”
“Plans in the jungle are a ridiculous fantasy,” he defended. “Nothing goes according to schedule in here. So, the task is to get back to base camp alive. How we get there will be determined by the jungle anyway. No point in kidding ourselves into thinking we’re in control.”
She couldn’t argue his logic. Nothing had worked out for her so far.
Not true,a voice in the back of her mind pointed out. Knox was here. His survival skills were unparalleled according to her brother and her brother knew him better than anyone.
Amy was still surprised that Knox hadn’t attended Garrett’s funeral. She wanted to know why. That was a subject for another time and place.
“What time is it?” she asked. Her phone was long gone, along with the other supplies she’d brought.
Knox checked his watch. “Late. We should probably figure out a place to bunk down for the night.”
Another night in this place made her skin crawl and set her nerves on edge. The monkey calls had returned now that the rain was gone and she listened for any variation in the sound. Variations, she’d read, could kill her because they were the means by which dangerous tribes communicated and indicated they were nearby.
Inside the tangled green walls of the jungle, the once-bright world was sunless. The light was filtered green, which obliterated any sense of time, or direction for that matter. Since grade school, she’d known the sun awoke in the east and set in the west. The trees were so thick she couldn’t see much past fifteen or twenty feet, which was also problematic with men—who blended into the environment—on her tail.
Vines tangled and crept in all directions. Donnie had used his knife to cut through them when they’d been together. That felt like a lifetime ago.
Leaves littered the ground, sometimes a foot and a half deep.
This place was surreal. And beautiful in its own way, as much as it was deadly.
Knox’s gaze shot left. He put a hand up to stop Amy and Lorna from following him as he crouched low, walking while practically sitting on his heels. With his back to her, she couldn’t see his expression but didn’t have to in order to realize he was in pain. He’d been limping earlier. Was the injury recent? Or a physical remnant from the helicopter crash he’d been in with her brother?
Slow and methodical, the man made no sound as he moved, which was a miracle considering how difficult it was to be quiet out here.
He stopped at the point where the trees became thicker, creating a wall.
His hand came up, fisted. It was a warning to stay back and stay put.
Lorna started to move. Amy put her hand on Lorna’s shoulder to stop her.
Knox looked to be examining something on the ground. Amy followed his gaze but whatever he stared at was too far away to see clearly. He moved around the area, checking the perimeter, occasionally pausing before returning to them.
“What is it?” Amy asked in a whisper.
“Jaguar droppings,” he supplied.
“This close to us?” she asked as her pulse kicked up a few notches.
He nodded. “And they’re fresh, meaning it’s close.”
Amy surveyed the area, searching for any signs of movement as Lorna attached herself to Amy’s back. There was an odd comfort in banding together. For now, Amy had to set aside her anger toward Lorna and keep the goal in focus. Getting back to base camp safely was the only priority.
“We can’t leave him,” Lorna whined. “Please.”
“Have you considered the possibility that he would have left you behind if you’d been the one chased?” Knox asked. “Believe me when I say that I understand loyalty and why it’s important. But the man left Amy out here to fend for herself in unknown territory, with no background or training to defend herself.”
Lorna lowered her chin onto Amy’s shoulder as she moved the two of them closer to Knox. Tightening up the ranks made sense for their survival. Knox just found a new best friend.
He reached for Amy’s hand and then linked their fingers after shouldering his pack. Glancing at his watch, which she was close enough to realize had a compass, he figured out a direction and then headed that way. She had no idea if they were traveling north, south, east, or west at this point.
“Where are we going?” Amy asked, making as little noise as possible as she walked. She no longer had the burden of supplies which lightened her load but also left them more exposed.
“Away from here, so I can find a place to camp for the night. You need to rest,” he explained. With his free hand, he wielded a machete, slicing a path through thick vines with the kind of ease that makes it seem like an extension of his arm.
“I don’t need?—”
“The shape you’re in isn’t good,” he quickly countered. “You barely made it this far. If I can get a few hours of rest in you and another protein bar, more fluids, we have a chance of walking out of here alive. Either way, though, I’ll stay right by your side.”
Amy wasn’t used to depending on anyone else. Having an older brother who treated her like the tomboy she’d been had taught her to fend for herself. Garrett had wanted her to be independent, to not need anyone—including him. Losing him had tipped her world on its axis. As strong and self-reliant as he’d encouraged her to be, he would have had her back in a heartbeat if she’d said the word. Even from the grave, he was protecting her. Knox wouldn’t be here without his loyalty to her brother.
Again, why hadn’t he seen fit to attend Garrett’s funeral? Did he hate the town they were from that much? Did the limp have anything to do with it?
She’d lost track of Knox, not that she’d kept a log on his whereabouts before the crash. Garrett mentioned Knox’s name the few times he’d called to check in. Contact was minimal once he entered the military. There, Garrett found his groove.
Amy was still wandering, trying to find where she fit in the world. Still trying to get out of wearing Daisy Dukes to a soul-sucking job that covered rent, bought food, and kept her in gas money with little else.
Maybe it was time to hang it up and go back to school. She’d dropped out after freshman year after…
Amy shook off the reverie before it took hold. She was a survivor. She’d survived. The incident had shocked her into her shell. Going over it again in her mind never stopped it from haunting her or eased the pain.
“What happened just now?” Knox asked over his shoulder, soldering on.
“Nothing,” she responded. “Why?”
“You tensed,” he said. “Thought maybe you saw something.”
Nothing but ghosts from the past. Another shiver rocked her body at the memory she’d never shared with anyone, not even Garrett.
Knox stoppedwhen he heard the sound of rushing water. “This looks like a good place to bunk for a few hours. Give me a minute to confirm.”
Amy stopped. Her friend was stuck to her like a wet swimsuit.
He shook his head, trying to shake out the image of Amy in a two-piece. Not the play, dude.
He walked the perimeter, found nothing to be concerned about. Being near water wasn’t ideal for his peace of mind, but Amy was weak. She was barely keeping up and Lorna wasn’t exactly helping. The woman appeared to be in a minor state of shock. As much as he wanted her to experience the same danger she’d put her friend in, he didn’t have the heart to throw her out here on her own.
It was clear to him that she’d never experienced the Amazon either. She and her boyfriend had gone off on a hair-brained scheme as a last-ditch effort to make a name for themselves.
They’d most likely read pamphlets, studied maps, and read online accounts or books to gain knowledge of the area. Being here versus reading about it was a whole different ballgame.
He cleared an area using the machete, which took longer than he wanted with the rush of the nearby stream causing his stomach to turn queasy.
After throwing up a fly tarp, he managed to set up the two-person ripstop nylon parachute hammock by tying it to a pair of sturdy trees. This would keep them off the ground while the attached mosquito net would protect them from other dangers. Snakes—God help him—could slither inside, as could some species of spiders; he’d deal with those if the time came. The Velcro seal should hold, keeping out unwanted creatures.
“We should eat and each have a bottle of water,” he said, handing out the supplies after he mixed in the hydration powder. They were gone in a matter of minutes. The hydration packs would make the water hold longer and the protein bars got the job done enough to keep his stomach from growling loud enough to wake the ladies during the night.
He was most concerned about Amy. She’d been through hell and back and had little sleep to go on. Of the three, she was physically the most drained. Lorna, he couldn’t quite figure out. But she would be distressed about the absence and unknown whereabouts of her boyfriend. As much as Knox hated leaving anyone behind, he also figured this Donnie person was good at looking out for himself. He’d had no qualms about ditching Amy, a fact that still riled Knox up every time he thought about it.
If his calculations were correct, they were going back as close to the way A.J. had brought Amy and Donnie a couple days ago as he could manage. Which meant they had a good chance of running into Donnie, if he figured out the direction back to base camp. After losing his supplies, he would be moving slower unless he was more of a skilled naturalist than Knox assumed.
At this point, the three of them had a day’s walk ahead of them. If they left early and there were no surprises, they could make it back by nightfall. He would keep those facts to himself. Disappointments seemed bigger when your whole world turned upside down and you were in unfamiliar territory, and so far outside your comfort zone it wasn’t funny.
Keeping morale up would be a challenge but it was important.
“If we lie on our sides, we should all fit. I’m the heaviest, so I should get in first,” Knox said, after properly disposing of the wrappers. Any hint of the smell of food around them while they slept could prove deadly. He positioned himself inside the hammock. Amy joined him, positioning herself in the crook of his arm. Then, Lorna filed in behind Amy, who ended up being sandwiched by Knox and Lorna.
It worked.
Knox pulled the mosquito net over them and then secured it. The mosquitos were thirsty tonight.
He checked his watch. “Five to six hours should do the trick.”
“I won’t be able to sleep,” Amy warned.
“Any particular reason?” he asked.
“I just won’t,” she reiterated. “Not out here with all the creepy sounds.”
“You’re as safe as you can be inside this hammock next to me,” he whispered. “I’m a light sleeper. Anything shows up, I’ll know. So, you can close your eyes.”
Lorna conked out first, not five minutes later. Amy took longer but even she gave into sleep at the ten-minute mark.
As for Knox, a light sleep would do the trick. He wouldn’t have needed that before the accident.
This place was just as he remembered, loud, with deafening chirps that only got louder as night fell. Mosquitos in large numbers tapped against the netting, searching for a weak spot to break in. Probing for entry, they had the bullheaded determination of a Southern Baptist preaching to a sinner.
For hours, Knox lay still, powering down for the journey ahead as his mind tried to play tricks on him. Shadows took on new meaning out here. Everything was bigger, louder, hungrier. The jungle made Darwin proud. Survival of the fittest.
The pair of men could still be out here but Knox suspected they were long gone by now. They wouldn’t have reason to stick around. If they were in the drug trade, they’d done their job, spooking Amy and Donnie away from the area. If they were moving drugs through this area, they would have kept going.
Local tribes wouldn’t likely have men dressed the way Amy had described, so he could rule them out.
And what about Donnie? Knox wasn’t sure what to think about him. Did Lorna know her boyfriend as well as she thought?
In the morning, he would ask questions. Tonight, he would let her rest. Would Amy know much about the pair? Knox could ask questions in the vein of trying to figure out Donnie’s skill level when it came to surviving out here. Amy had lived by staying on the move. The strategy had taken its toll.
The constant buzzing was enough to irritate the hell out of Knox. Give him a mission in the desert before sticking him in the jungle. The water. The possibility of drowning.
They would have to wade through water to get back to base camp. There was no getting around it. Convincing Amy might be a different story.
Knox tried not to think about how good her body felt against his despite the circumstances. Her warmth. The way she seemed to fit him perfectly. How the world seemed to right itself when Amy was this close. It was a feeling like he’d never experienced before and shouldn’t be now. Not with Amy, no matter how much his brain protested.
Their clothes were wet and would stay that way until this ordeal was behind them. The bacteria-infested waters were part of the reason he’d been frustrated with the cut on her arm. It was too easy to end up with a life-threatening condition his small tube of antibiotic ointment wouldn’t be able to heal. Even the smallest cut opened doors for infection that needed to stay closed.
Suddenly, the chirps quieted, drowned out by what sounded like a jet engine taking flight. Next, a soaking, driving, all-consuming rain inundated them.
At least they got a break from noisy mosquitoes.
Knox was finally able to drift off.
Too soon, he awakened to sounds that were too close for comfort. He reached for the knife strapped to his thigh, secured in its sheath. He flipped the leather strap off that held the knife in place. The metal handle cool against his warm palm.
The Velcro would make a noise, alerting whoever or whatever was lurking around their temporary campsite. Amy stirred, so he whispered, “Still.”
Her body tensed against his, muscles stringing tight.
Knox managed to move his arm from underneath her neck and then roll onto his opposite side, ready for whatever came through the trees. Slowly, painstakingly, so as not to make unnecessary noise, he opened the Velcro.
Like a coiled snake, he mentally prepared for a quick strike to catch the predator off guard. The element of surprise could give him all the advantage he needed to hit first.
Tightening his grip on the handle, he inched the Velcro open more as the noise was twenty feet away, maybe more.
The first break came when the predator switched directions. Just in case it was one of the men, or both, searching for Amy, he slipped out and onto all fours on the ground. Keeping low, he moved toward the sound, tamping down the pain in both ankle and wrist. The pain was always worse following a period of rest. The stiffness wasn’t helping matters as he remained as stealthy as possible.
The predator might be circling their encampment, angling for the perfect place from which to strike.
Speaking of striking, from the corner of his eye he saw movement in the canopy. A green vine snake?
Yes, he confirmed as the damn thing slithered away. This seemed like a good time to remind himself snakes were more afraid of humans than the other way around. Most snakes. And it depended on whether or not the snake was surprised by the human. Catching a snake off guard was a good way to end up with a bite.
Since he was currently doing just that, he forced his thoughts to what he was really after…or should he say who?
Movement up ahead caught his attention. A person. Male.
Knox circled around to get a better look.
Covered in mud, the person was unmistakably American. He was taller than the locals, who barely reached five feet. Hair in a ponytail that ran down his back, dressed like an adventurer from one of those popular clothing stores, Knox knew exactly who he’d found.
Donnie.
The man was walking in the opposite direction of their camp, lost. Knox had half a mind to turn back and leave the sonofabitch after what he did to Amy.
Could he?