“What do you mean?”
“I mean, I don’t want you to get all excited, go running off-and then fall down a pit, or set off a giant boulder that goes rolling after you, or something.”
“You’ve been watching too many movies,” Nina teased. “As you said, it’s been there for ten thousand years. Even if the place was crawling with booby traps, which is highly unlikely, the mechanisms wouldn’t be working after all this time. Any moving parts would have seized up or rotted away by now.”
“You know what I mean,” said Chase, slightly exasperated. “I just don’t want you to get hurt, okay?”
“Okay, okay. If we see any spear traps, I’ll stay out of the light.”
“Promise?”
“Promise.”
“Good.” Chase grinned. “By the way, that was officially the worst Harrison Ford impression in the world. Ever.”
“Oh, I’d like to hear you do any better,” said Nina. “With your Cockney accent.”
“Cockney!” Chase pulled a face of exaggerated outrage. “Bollocks to that! I’m not a Cockney, I’m a Yorkshireman! Ought to throw you in the bloody river for that. Hmm…” He looked at her calculatingly.
“Oh no you don’t,” said Nina, backing away.
“Time for a swim, Doc!”
She shrieked and fled, Chase pursuing her with a maniacal laugh.
With a last throaty rumble, the Nereid’s engines fell silent. “This is as far as we can go,” said Perez.
According to the GPS, they were just under three miles from the search zone; slightly closer than Perez’s prediction, but his instincts about the navigability of the river were correct. Not only were the serpentine twists of the narrowing tributary too tight for the lengthy Predator to negotiate, but the sluggish water was increasingly clogged with debris. Despite Perez’s best efforts to avoid them, several fallen trees floating in the water had banged alarmingly against the hull.
Nina looked through the bridge window at the jungle. It appeared much the same as it had during the rest of the voyage… but now that the banks were so much closer, it seemed to loom higher. More menacing, almost alien.
“We’ve got just over five hours until sunset,” said Chase. “Enough time to let us get the lie of the land. Hell, maybe we’ll be lucky and walk right into this place.”
“That’d be nice,” Nina said. She had spent most of the day inside the air-conditioned cabin, finding the atmosphere outside more humid and stifling than ever.
“Is the Zodiac ready, Mr. Chase?” asked Kari.
“All set. Just add water.”
Everyone returned to their cabins to collect their packs and equipment. Nina decided to carry as little as possible, sticking to basics like water, food and insect repellent on the grounds that between them Chase, Castille and di Salvo would have all the survival gear the team could need. But she paused before picking up her pack, staring at the Atlantean sextant arm on the desk. She touched the pendant around her neck, thinking for a moment.
“What the hell,” she decided, picking up the metal bar and wrapping it in its cloth.
Kari tapped on the half-open door. “Can I come in?”
“Hi! Of course.”
“You’re bringing it with us?” asked Kari as Nina put the artifact in her pack. “I thought you were going to leave it in the safe.”
“I was, but…” Nina shrugged uncertainly. “I don’t know, I just thought it might be useful. If we get lucky and find something, maybe I can compare any text with it, be sure we’re in the right place.”
“I think we are. I know we are.”
A piercing whistle cut through the air. “Oi! Doc! You ready?” Chase called from outside. “Shift your arse!”
“Coming!” Sharing an amused roll of the eyes with Kari, Nina hoisted the pack over her shoulder and left the cabin. Chase was waiting for them.
“Don’t you ever get hot in that thing?” Nina asked, prodding the sleeve of his leather jacket.
“Hey, if it’s good enough for Indiana Jones… Anyway, I only sweat when I’m hassled.”
“And how often do you get hassled?”
“Since I met you, a lot more!”
The Zodiac was loaded, Perez and Julio lowering it into the river. The water was thick with algae and dead leaves, the boat making more of a turgid splat than a splash. Chase poked at the surface with a stick, sweeping rotting vegetation aside to check the color of the water.
“Top tip of the day,” he told the rest of the party, “don’t go in the water. And definitely don’t drink it either.”
“But surely the water should be perfectly fine,” declared Hamilton, who had donned a rather vivid red shirt in contrast to the earth tones worn by every one else. “It’s fresh rainwater, with no man-made pollutants!”
“Well, stick a straw in the river and suck away if you want. But you can clean out the bog afterwards.”
Hamilton looked confused. “Bog? Are we going into a swamp?” Chase sighed and shook his head.
They boarded the Zodiac, Chase sitting at the rounded bow while Castille worked the outboard motor. Nina and Kari sat facing each other on the boat’s fat inflated sides behind Chase. Di Salvo, Hamilton and finally Philby clambered aboard behind them. There were no seats, but those packs containing camping gear-Chase had decided to prepare for any eventualities-served as substitutes.
There was one pack that nobody wanted to sit on, however. Although it was closed, it was obvious from its angular bulges that it contained guns.
“Okay,” said Chase once everybody was settled, “all aboard the Skylark!” He waved to Julio, who untied the ropes. Castille started the outboard, which rasped and burbled into life. He guided the Zodiac carefully around the flank of its parent craft, then revved the engine and started the boat on its journey upriver.
“Christ,” muttered Chase. “Apocalypse Now time.” They were now inside the search area, looking for somewhere to make landfall-but being hampered by a dense mist. Even though the banks were barely twenty feet apart, the roiling fog was sometimes thick enough to obscure the trees.
The temperature had dropped noticeably. Nina had thought she would be glad of the relief from the oppressive, muggy heat, but instead found herself feeling uneasy. Even the constant shrieking and whooping of birds and animals had died away.
Di Salvo and Chase apparently felt the same, both men watching the banks intently, something about their postures suggesting that they were poised for action.
“What is it?” she asked Chase as the boat rounded another turn.
“I think we might have company.” No trace of his usual levity; he was all business.
“Eddie,” said di Salvo quietly, pointing off to the left. Nina followed Chase’s gaze, but saw nothing.
“Yeah, I see it,” Chase replied.
All Nina could see were trees. “What?”
Chase pointed. “Footprint in the mud.” She still couldn’t make it out even with his help.
“This is excellent,” Hamilton said, talking in his normal overloud voice and earning annoyed glares from Chase and di Salvo. “This is everything I hoped for! We’ll be the first people to meet this tribe, won’t we, Agnaldo?”
“Other people have met them before,” di Salvo said in a low, ominous tone. “They just didn’t come back to tell anyone.”
“Hugo,” Chase hissed, making a throat-cutting gesture. Castille immediately switched off the outboard.
“What is it?” Nina whispered. In reply, Chase pointed ahead.
Something emerged from the mist as the Zodiac drifted forward. Objects seemingly floating above the water… until the fog thinned enough to reveal that they were tied to bamboo poles.