He glanced at the nearby tent, and then he grinned and whispered, “Because you might make some noise?”
As she turned away toward her tent, she looked back over her shoulder and winked. “Of course, ’cause if you’re not going to make me get loud, then it won’t be worth it, will it?”
Before he could reply, she was inside her tent with the flap snapped shut.
He stood there for a moment, watching her silhouette on the tent wall as she undressed for bed, and then he made himself turn away. He knew if he didn’t get into his tent quickly he’d soon be testing the strength of the snaps on her tent door.
As he crawled into his sleeping bag, he heard a low giggle coming from Guatemotzi’s tent next to his.
“Motzi, did you hear all of that?” he asked quietly.
“Sí, señor,” Guatemotzi answered with a low chuckle. “I think the señorita is muy bueno.”
“Me, too, Motzi, muy bueno indeed!”
Chapter 27
Lauren startled awake as a hand holding a steaming cup of coffee slipped through her tent door. The hand slowly waved the cup back and forth, sending the tantalizing aroma of fresh-brewed coffee spreading throughout the small space.
She rubbed her eyes and sat up. “Oh my God, can it be my Prince Charming bringing me coffee in bed?” she said groggily.
“Wake up, sleepyhead,” Mason said, “We’re burnin’ daylight.”
She sat up, grabbed the cup, and took a deep drink, sighing at the wonderful flavor. She leaned forward, squinted her eyes to peek out the tent door, and then she snorted. “Burning daylight my ass! The sun isn’t even up yet.”
Mason stuck his head into the tent, his eyes widening slightly at the sight of her wearing only a T-shirt with nothing on under it. He coughed and then croaked, “Nevertheless, breakfast is served in five minutes. You snooze… you lose!”
She blushed momentarily when she saw where his eyes were glued, and then she grinned slightly until she opened her compact and saw that her hair was as tangled and messy as a bird’s nest.
Got to find a stream or waterfall to wash up in, she thought. Another day sweating in the jungle heat and humidity and even the wild animals wouldn’t want to eat her.
It took her seven minutes to get dressed, fight her hair into some semblance of order, and crawl out of the tent.
She stood and stretched the kinks out and then looked around. “Ummm,” she said diffidently, “any suggestions on where I might… ummm?”
Mason and Motzi both grinned, and Mason pointed off to the left of the trail. “The restroom facilities are over that way. I left a roll of toilet paper hanging on a stub of a branch and a collapsible shovel to bury the… leavings with.”
She blushed again and made her way into the brush. Damn, she thought, another couple of days like this and they would have no secrets from one another left.
When she returned, she found sliced bananas and powdered eggs were cooking in the skillet.
“Not exactly Cordon Bleu,” Mason said, stirring the eggs, “but it’s guaranteed to fill you up.”
“It smells wonderful,” she said, grabbing a tin plate and scooping a banana and some eggs onto it.
Motzi grinned and took her cup and refilled it with fresh coffee. “I find bananas,” he said proudly.
She grinned around a mouthful. “Thanks, Motzi, you did good.”
After they’d finished eating and had cleaned and packed the dishes away, Mason spread a map out on the ground. He oriented it with a compass, and then he asked Motzi to point in the direction of the curandera’s village.
After fussing with the map and lining up a line of sight of distant mountain peaks, he turned to Lauren. “As best I can tell from Motzi’s directions and the map, it looks like the village is somewhere in the middle of the Tuxtla mountain range, probably near Santiago Tuxtla or even Tuxtla Gutierrez.
“Are we equipped to climb mountains?” Lauren asked.
“Well, the Tuxtla mountains are only about six hundred meters high,” he said, shrugging. “Still, climbing six hundred meters through thick jungle isn’t going to be a picnic.”
“Motzi find many good trails through mountains. Make it easy for you,” Motzi said, puffing out his chest a little.
Lauren grinned and ruffled his hair. “I’m sure you will, Motzi.”
It was late on the third day of their journey when Lauren noticed Motzi acting strangely.
The young man kept glancing from side to side as he led them through the jungle, and even occasionally stopping to peer back down the trail the way they had come.
Finally, Lauren asked, “Motzi, what’s wrong?”
Motzi blushed and shrugged, but his eyes had a worried look in them.
Mason could feel the boy’s fear and he slipped his rifle off his shoulder and held it in his hands, ready to fire. He followed Motzi’s gaze back down the trail and asked, “Is someone following us, Motzi?”
Again the boy shrugged. “I not know, Señor Williams. But I see birds fly after we pass, and I no hear big cats growling like usual. Something back there make them not right.”
Mason looked at Lauren. “Perhaps it is some narco-traffickers moving on the same trails as us.”
Lauren glanced at Motzi. “Do you know of these men, Motzi? The ones who carry drugs through the jungle?”
He nodded. “Sí, but this not them. They no use this trail… is why I come this way.”
“How far until we reach your village, Motzi?” Mason asked.
The boy looked ahead, glancing from one mountain range in the distance to another. After a moment, he answered, “I think maybe tomorrow if we not sleep too much.”
“Mason, I think the best thing to do is to have a cold meal tonight without a fire and to get a really early start in the morning,” Lauren said, her eyes reflecting the worry in Motzi’s.
Motzi nodded, murmuring, “Sí…”
Mason glanced at the darkening sky. “I think we can get another couple of hours in before we make camp, so let’s try to get as close to Motzi’s village as we can before we set up camp.”
After they’d eaten cold sandwiches and washed them down with tepid water from canteens, they pitched their tents and each climbed inside and flopped down exhausted from the long day’s march.
Lauren was startled when Mason eased his way into her tent, his finger to his lips.
“What’s going on, Mason?” she whispered, pulling her sleeping bag up to cover her chest.
“I’m going to backtrack down our trail and see if I can find out what or who is back there,” he answered in a low voice.
“Are you crazy?” she asked, her eyes wide. “It could be anything from a cougar tracking us to some other wild critter that’s liable to jump you in the dark.”
He shook his head. “Uh-uh. Just a while ago I backtracked about a mile and I’ll swear I could smell wood smoke on the wind.” He smirked in the low light from Lauren’s lantern. “And last I heard wild animals don’t cook their meat before they eat it.”
“Did you see any glow from a fire?”
“No, and that means they’re taking great care to hide their presence from us, which means they are probably up to no good.”
She reached out and put her hand on his arm. “Mason, I don’t like this. How about I go along with you? After all, two guns are better than one.”
“Two guns also make twice as much noise,” he said, shaking his head.”