Chapter 11
Amonkey howled. Was it different than the others? Amy’s pulse raced as she focused on the sound.
As Lorna opened her mouth to speak, Knox stopped cold, put a fisted hand up. Military training wasn’t required to guess what it meant. An involuntary shiver rocked her body at the thought of being caught in the sights of mercenaries, drug cartels, or whatever else might want to kill and/or feast on the three of them.
Questions surfaced. How had Donnie skated free? How had he survived alone in the jungle?
Before, Amy assumed it was skill, but now that she knew he’d only ever flown over the jungle—if that was even true—how could he have figured out how to live? More questions assaulted her. Was it her brain’s way of distracting her from the fact she might end up with more bullet holes in her than Swiss cheese?
The monkey calls had to mean something or Knox wouldn’t be concerned.
Minutes ticked by as they stood frozen. Amy’s legs itched to move. Her calves burned. Standing in one spot was so much more difficult than walking. She measured her breathing so as not to make a sound.
The calls grew distant but Amy’s pulse refused to return to normal.
Knox opened his hand, motioned forward, and then went back to cutting a path through the thick vines. She imagined if they came back to this exact spot in a matter of days, the path would be closed up again, swallowed as though they’d never been here.
Right now, though, it meant anyone could follow them. Amy glanced backward. Lorna caught her gaze and shot a concerned look.
A second later, it must have dawned on her what Amy was doing because Lorna nodded and then surveyed the area. Amy could concentrate on their left and right flanks if Lorna covered them from behind. Knox was focused forward, carving a way through the jungle.
At this point, she was grateful they were dry, if she didn’t count humidity. They weren’t waist-deep in water or trying to swim in anaconda and tarantula infested waters. So, that was something.
As bright green as everything was, she also noted dangers lurked everywhere.
Knox stopped, his head turned, and then he brought the machete across his body before hacking a vine. A snake’s body flopped to the ground in two pieces. Knox pushed them back a couple of steps as the head tried to strike. He swiped the flat of the blade on it like a baseball bat. The striking snake’s head flew into homerun territory.
Amy’s heart battered the inside of her ribcage. She remembered the breathing technique she’d been taught in the yoga class her mom had given her as a birthday gift last year. In through the nose and out through the mouth. Slow, deep breaths.
Surprisingly, it worked. She needed to go back home and hug her mom. Speaking of whom, should she tell her about Garrett’s love? About his plans to come back to the Amazon to be with the woman he loved? About his plans to build a life with someone Amy and her mom would never meet?
To each their own, as far as Amy was concerned. Her mom would feel the same way. Knowing Garrett had plans for a future somehow comforted Amy. He’d found true love, which was no small feat. Would the knowledge have the same effect on their mom? Or would it dredge up more pain?
Because her mom still wasn’t doing great more than a year after Garrett’s death. Amy couldn’t say she’d been living her best life either, but she was still in the game. Still trying.
Garrett wouldn’t have wanted either of them to waste energy crying over him. He would encourage them to move on, live life. Her brother had been so full of life. It didn’t surprise her one bit that he would find the love of his life in some remote village. It was the most Garrett-like thing he could have done, just like when he’d surprised them by announcing he was enlisting. He’d never talked about a career in the military, so the news had caught Amy and her mother off guard.
His college plans, he’d said, weren’t for nothing. He planned to get the military to pay for his education. Amy knew there wasn’t money to cover since her dad’s death. As much as her mom tried to keep a brave face and pretend they were fine, Amy noticed all the little signs they weren’t doing as well as her mom wanted her to believe. For instance, she started shopping in bulk. Her mom had never been a hoarder but she got a big discount buying canned goods from the big box store down the street. Amy used to joke that her mom needed a forklift to bring groceries in once a month. The outdoor freezer was full. Her mom bought meat in bulk too.
But they’d never gone without. And there’d been enough food to ensure Knox had a warm meal every day.
His father, on the other hand, had money to spare. He drove a flashy Corvette but there never seemed to be food in the house or enough money for Knox to get a car. Once, she’d overheard her mom whispering to Garrett that Blaine Preston could sell his expensive sports car and buy two practical vehicles. She’d said the man would rot in hell for his deeds, but Amy didn’t truly understand what that meant until now, until the scars, until Knox’s admission that his father put them on Knox’s body.
Knox stopped again; fist came up.
Amy listened for the monkey calls or any other sound that didn’t scan with the ones she’d heard so far. More preparation was needed for this trip as she remembered her camera that was always within arm’s reach or hanging around her neck on a strap. In the heat of the moment, she’d stopped filming.
At this point, she could put together quite a film if she made it out of this place alive.
Grabbing her camera, she picked up filming as they continued on. The threat must have passed but she got the creepy-crawly feeling it was still all around them. There likely were other tribes in the area. There were other men in those battle-fatigue getups. Some were good guys, working for the government or so she’d been told. Some were straight-up bad guys, like drug runners who used the jungle as cover because no one in their right mind would come into this place for no reason.
Before this trip, Amy read there were eight thousand people who disappeared in the Brazilian Amazon in one year alone. Violence and crime were counted as the reason but she suspected large-scale government coverups were also to blame. Those were the disappearances on record. She could scarcely imagine how many more there must be. No one kept records of the tribes. Their hunters went out to find meat on a regular basis. How many came back? How many encountered rival tribes competing in the same location for food? How many were given to the river in the form of alligators, anacondas, and God only knew what else? Jaguars?
Tourists would be accounted for, by and large. How many vacationers set out for the trip of a lifetime only to disappear or become prey?
This probably wasn’t the time to recount those facts. It wasn’t helping ease her mind about the possibility of spending another night out here.
After getting deep sleep last night, she could make it twenty-four hours with none. Probably more. Given the current situation, she doubted she could fall asleep. The only reason she’d been able to last night had to do with being curled up against Knox in a hammock that was protected from blood-sucking mosquitoes. The villagers looked out for one another and the huts were free of creatures that would take her life with one bite.
None of those conditions applied here.
They were back out in the jungle with no protection, aside from each other: Lorna watching their backs; Knox keeping an eye on what lay ahead of them; Amy with her camera, panning back and forth to make certain no one came at them from the sides. And hours of walking.
The jungle went from dark to light to misty and back. Time meant nothing in here because even the light was heavily filtered with green the times it peeked through the canopy.
Listening became the pastime. Amy listened for any variation in the monkey calls. If they had to spend the night here, she could review the sounds with Knox and Lorna. He might be ahead of the game when it came to separating real monkey calls from tribal voices, but Amy and Lorna could use a review.
Amy’s thoughts bounced back to Donnie. Had he come here without telling Lorna? Did he have friends? Allies? Had he bargained for his life? Tossed her in the ring?
With no way to ask, she had to march ahead. When they’d had him, though, she wished she’d thought to ask more questions.
Would he answer honestly?
She highly doubted it.
Night fell based on the time on her camera and they hadn’t stopped to eat or rehydrate. At this point, sweat covered her in places she didn’t know she could sweat. Breathing the soupy air made physical activity harder. It made breathing harder.
This probably wasn’t the time to wish she’d stuck with her running routine back in Houston. Or, as long as she was wishing, that she hadn’t taken this assignment when all the warning bells sounded after being tricked. Was she getting too desperate to launch her career?
If she made it out of this jungle alive, she needed to reassess her life choices up to this point. This project had been the equivalent of a Hail Mary pass anyway. It wasn’t panning out. She couldn’t regret it, though. She’d met the love of her brother’s life. She’d been reunited with the elusive Knox Preston. She’d gotten her answer as to what might happen if they met up again as adults this time.
Closure?
“The extraction point is still far,” Knox whispered. “We can take another break to eat and rehydrate here.”
Here, meant sitting by the riverbank. It was probably safer in many ways but still made her skin crawl.
“Hold on,” Amy said as she panned over the top of the water. “I think I just saw one.”
“One what?” Lorna asked with a little pep in her voice. It was the first real sign she would recover after breaking up with Donnie.
“Anaconda,” Amy supplied.
“Where?” Lorna’s attitude improved a thousand-fold.
“Right there.” As Amy spoke, a green snake body slid in and out of the water near the edge.
Amy’s breath caught in her throat. For a moment, she couldn’t find words to speak.
“Keep your film going,” Knox said before wading into the water, straddling the snake, and then grabbing hold of its body. The green reptile was so large, he couldn’t fully clasp his hands around it.
Knox struggledto hold onto the green giant slithering through his arms. He knew enough about anacondas to realize the three of them were lucky the damn thing hadn’t surprised them as they were known to do when attacking. Their backward facing teeth sinking into his flesh wasn’t how Knox saw this trip ending.
As much as he’d like to think he caught this snake off guard, he realized the vibration caused by their footsteps near the riverbank had most likely done the job. Anacondas detected vibrations and had eyes near their nostrils, which made it easier to stay almost completely submerged while waiting for prey…patiently.
Humans weren’t their first choice for a meal but they, like most predators, were opportunistic feeders. They took what was available when they were hungry.
The snake contracted, sliding through his grasp. He had a choice as he reached the end of its body, jump in the water or admit defeat. Considering they swam twice as fast as they moved on land, he let go and hopped onto the embankment. Both his ankle and bad wrist reminded him that he wasn’t as quick or strong as he used to be.
Amy’s lens followed the snake as it slipped through the water.
Lorna’s jaw dropped. “That’s amazing.”
Amy tapped a button on her camera, no doubt to stop recording. Her eyes wide, smiling, she said, “We don’t have a measurement but I’ve never seen anything that huge before on video.” Her gaze immediately shifted to Knox. The satisfied smile caused his heart to squeeze. “You risked your life to get this footage.”
He waved her off like it was nothing because he’d taken a calculated risk, nothing more. Surprising the snake instead of the other way around gave him the advantage.
“Now you’re soaking wet,” Amy said as he shook off excess water before rejoining them.
“I’m amazed,” Lorna said, still sounding in disbelief.
“Once we get settled, we can watch the footage,” Amy stated before turning toward Knox. “Any chance we’re going to make the site you mentioned in the next few hours?”
He shook his head. “It’s doubtful we’ll make it today at all.”
“I don’t need sleep,” Amy offered. “How about you, Lorna?”
“I’m tired from all the walking and Donnie kept me up talking last night, but all I need is a few minutes of rest here and there,” Lorna said. “I should be okay.”
“We don’t want to push ourselves too hard,” Knox said. “The goal is to make it across the finish line. If someone needs to rest or rehydrate, we make that a priority.”
Patience was key.
“I could use a few minutes,” Lorna admitted.
“This is a good spot,” he said, picking up his machete and clearing an area. “Hydration stop or full-on rest?”
“Probably both,” she said with a look of apology. She didn’t need to worry. He intended to get all three of them out of the jungle in one piece.
Knox had no idea if that was the footage Amy needed with the anaconda, but she had one helluva story to tell once he got her back to civilization. One he hoped would give her enough notoriety to jumpstart her career so she could quit her part-time job at the bar.
He didn’t like her working around so many drunks.
Knox smiled at the thought.
Amy could take care of herself. She wouldn’t put up with a lot of crap from anyone, including him. Still, someone could end up fixated on her. Last time he checked, humans still caused more destruction and devastation than any other species. She could pick up a stalker, or worse.
Knox mentally shook off the line of thinking that had him closing his hand around the machete handle tight enough to cause his knuckles to turn white.
“Mom’s moving back to Seattle,” Amy said, surprising him as she fidgeted with the camera in her hands.
“When?” he asked.
“Two more months,” she said on a shrug.
“Can I ask why?”
“Said she can’t take the heat anymore,” Amy said. “I hardly come around, considering I work most nights and she works days. Says she feels useless now but she’s been reaching out to long-lost family members since Garrett’s…since he died. Apparently, she reconnected with a great aunt and wants to spend time with her while she’s still vibrant.”
“That’s a big change,” he said.
“Where in Yellowstone do you live?” she asked.
It was more than headquarters now. It was home. “I have a cabin in the mountains. It’s not much but has everything I need.”
“WiFi?” she asked.
“Yes,” he said. “There’s a cell tower nearby.”
She nodded and shot him a look. “Cabin for one sounds like your speed.” She smiled. Smirked was more like it.
“For your information, it’s built for two, but can fit three if necessary,” he snapped back, enjoying the break in tension once again. Joking around, keeping spirits up was half the battle.
“A threesome also sounds right up your alley,” Amy shot back without hesitation.
“I was thinking more like a crib, but that works too,” he retorted.
“You and a family?” she asked, shocked. The depth to her surprise stabbed him in the chest.
“Someday,” he said.
Amy shrugged. “I didn’t think you were the settling down type.”
“I wasn’t,” he defended. “Things change.”
Amy paused as though letting that sink in. “Hey, off topic but why was my brother nicknamed Bi-Lo?”
Knox laughed at the mention. Talking about Garrett was surprisingly good for the soul. Knox had avoided the topic for the past year, mistakenly thinking it would be too hard.
“If you know about Bi-Lo, then you must have heard about me being called Sell-High,” he said.
Her face wrinkled. “Nope. Do tell.”
“Your brother shows up to the first day of Ranger school sporting one of those grocery club cards. The kind that gives you a discount for being loyal,” Knox said. “Suffice it to say most young dudes aren’t exactly thinking about getting a discount on toilet paper. So, they started calling him Bi-Lo. Since the two of us were inseparable, I picked up the name Sell-High by association.”
Amy laughed. That was the thing about her. Growing up with a brother, she understood the humor. She instinctively knew how much Garrett would shake his head whenever he was called by that name and had to explain the reason.
Were they all immature back then? Hell yes. They’d been young and full of piss and vinegar, pushing the limits of their minds and bodies. Now, the nicknames made Knox smile.
“Some had it worse than us,” he added.
“Oh, I can imagine the teasing that would happen when throwing a group of like-minded individuals together all at the same maturity level,” Amy said.
“We gave each other a hard time but it was all good fun,” he said. “No harm was meant, even though Bi-Lo wasn’t exactly a chick-magnet nickname.”
“That would end a lot of first dates,” she said on another laugh. The sound was music to his ears, as good as slow jazz on a rainy night.
Now he was waxing poetic. The jungle did that to him. Had him remembering all the things about being back home that he took for granted. The crash, rehab, had given him a new perspective too. One that made him realize life could be taken in an instant. The whole world could change in a second—that was all it took to twist the world on its axis. The crash had also taken too much from him.
Knox didn’t want to think about that right now.
Circling back to the family conversation, Amy was right about one thing. He hadn’t thought about having one until now. The idea was growing on him if he could find someone easy to talk to, like her. Someone he couldn’t wait to come home to, like her. And someone he wanted to spend a whole day in bed with, like her.
So, basically, he needed to find another Amy.
She was rare, though. Special. The mold was broken after she was born, he was certain of that.
Could he find someone who reminded him of her? Or could he come clean with her and see where the cards landed?