“What are they?” Nina asked, just as one of the pairs of lights blinked. She gasped, instinctively backing against Chase.
“Crocs,” he said. “Or maybe caimans, I can never remember the difference.” He lifted his other hand to point at them, holding Nina between the solid muscle of his arms. Her breath caught for a moment. “See how they’re swimming along really slow just below the surface, pretending they’re not actually moving? I’ve seen these buggers close up. They’re really patient. They’ll wait as long as it takes for something to get into range, and then…”
Seeing all the eyes watching her so coldly made Nina very nervous. “Are we safe?”
“As long as they don’t figure out how to climb the ladder from the boat deck, yeah. But there’s probably loads more on the other side as well. Just thought I’d show you in case you were planning any midnight skinny-dipping.”
“Hardly,” she huffed, stepping away from him.
Chase slowly panned the beam of the flashlight around the rear of the boat, more sinister eyes reflecting it back at the observers. “Even without this lot, I wouldn’t recommend swimming anyway. There’s probably piranhas too-and that nasty little bastard that swims up your pisshole if you take a leak in the water.”
“I was hardly planning to do that.”
“Nah, you’re too classy, I suppose.” Chase switched off the flashlight, then let out a very loud fart. “Ah, that’s better. Been waiting to do that since the main course.”
“God!” said Nina, both disgusted and-she had to admit-amused.
“Better make sure I didn’t follow through!” He handed the flashlight to Nina, then padded back into the main cabin.
She blew out her cheeks. “God, what is wrong with him?”
“It’s just his way,” Castille assured her, leaning on the railing.
“Well, I wish it wasn’t. Why does he have to be so… gross?”
To her surprise, Castille almost sighed. “It’s a defense mechanism, I’m afraid. He tries not to get too close to his clients. Especially when they are… well…” He nodded at her. “Attractive women. But he wasn’t always like that. When I first met him, when he was in the SAS, he was always… what’s the word?”
“Polite?”
“Chivalrous, that’s it.”
“So what happened?” Nina asked.
Castille looked pained. “It’s not really for me to say.”
“Well you started it! What happened?”
“Ai, I shouldn’t have said anything… Promise me you won’t tell him I told you?” Nina nodded. “He… he once fell in love with a woman he was supposed to protect.”
“What happened?” She already thought she knew. “Did she… die?”
Castille snorted. “Of course not! Edward is not so incompetent. No, he married her.”
“He was married?” That wasn’t a possibility she had imagined.
“Yes. But… it did not last long. They were very different people, and she did not treat him well. And then she, ah…” He glanced at the cabin door, lowering his voice. “She had an affair. With… Jason Starkman.”
“What!” Nina exclaimed. “You mean the same guy that tried to…”
Castille nodded. “We used to work together in joint operations for NATO. Jason was a friend-maybe even Edward’s best friend, at the time. Then Jason disappears to join with Qobras for whatever mad reason, and then Edward learns the truth… It was not a good time. He thought he had been betrayed by everyone he trusted.”
“Except you.”
“Ah, if Edward did not trust me, who would keep him out of trouble?” The moment had passed; it was obvious to Nina that Castille was not about to return to the subject.
She looked out over the river again, this time with the knowledge that she was being watched herself. The idea gave her a chill. Finishing her wine, she hurried back into the safety of the cabin.
TWELVE
The Nereid raised its anchor shortly after dawn, resuming its snaking voyage upriver. But the boat’s passage was so smooth that Nina didn’t wake up. It wasn’t until the scent of breakfast permeated her luxurious cabin that she stirred.
After washing and getting dressed, she made her way up to the bridge. Kari was there with Chase and Perez, studying a picture on her laptop. Julio smoothly guided the craft through the river’s sweeping turns.
“Morning, sunshine,” said Chase.
“Hiya. What’s up?”
“We’ve been sent the latest aerial photos of the search zone,” Kari said, turning the laptop to face Nina. The curves and twists of the river on the screen were even more pronounced, like a child’s doodle. In places, the Tefé even looped back on itself, creating circular islands surrounded by a natural moat. “There are four areas that are the most likely sites for the city, based on the terrain.”
Nina examined the image. The vivid green of the jungle canopy was more broken in the new, higher-resolution photo, revealing tantalizing hints of the shadowed world beneath. She zoomed in on one of the four marked sections until it pixelated. A gray smudge lurked in a gap between the trees. “Could that… could that be a ruin under there?”
“Could be,” said Chase. “Or it could just be a rock. This kind of jungle, you could hide an aircraft carrier under it and not be sure what you were looking at from the air. Only way to be sure is to get boots in the mud.”
Kari brought up a map on the screen. “Captain Perez now thinks we should be able to get the Nereid to within three miles of the search zone before the river becomes too narrow to navigate.”
“That’s a lot closer than we thought,” said Nina, examining the map. “How long will it take to get there?”
Perez looked at the controls. “We’re doing twelve knots at the moment, but I doubt we’ll be able to hold that for much longer. In about another fifteen kilometers we’ll be heading up a tributary with much tighter bends, and we’ll have to slow down. But we made good time yesterday, so… If the river’s with us, it could be as little as four hours.”
“Well before nightfall, then,” said Nina. “So what’s the plan when we get there?”
“That’s up to you,” Kari said.
“Me?”
“It’s your expedition.”
Nina shook her head. “No, Kari, it’s definitely yours! I’m just, I dunno, an adviser.”
Kari grinned. “Then advise me! What should we do when we arrive? Do we wait on the boat until tomorrow so we can have a full day’s exploration-”
Chase clapped his hands. “Sounds good to me! Julio’s cooking again, right?”
“Or do we take the Zodiac and start the search for the city as soon as we arrive?”
All eyes were upon Nina. “Er… we… take the Zodiac?” she finally decided.
“Aw, bollocks,” Chase complained, not meaning it.
“Good,” said Kari. “In that case, we’d better get prepared. I don’t want to waste any time.” She closed her laptop and left the bridge.
“You bloody workaholic,” Chase said to Nina after she had gone. “We could have had another nice night on the boat if you weren’t in such a rush to find this place! You know, it’s been there for ten thousand years, it’ll still be there tomorrow.”
“Oh, admit it,” she replied. “You’re just as curious about finding it as I am!”
“Okay, maybe I am. But,” he said, his tone becoming more serious, “You’ve got to promise me something.”
“What?”
“If we find this place-and I think we will; you obviously know what you’re doing…”
“Thanks.”
“Then I want you to promise me that you’ll keep calm, okay?”