He glanced at his watch. It had been about half an hour since their last conversation. Bennett had been positioned just uphill, so he should have been the first to arrive. Brett said that it would take him and Artur fifteen minutes, which meant they should be here as well.
Zane ran a hand through his long locks. He had no choice. He needed to find the other team. The women and civilians had to be his top priority.
Turning his head slightly, he whispered, “We go down.”
Hearing nothing in response, Zane turned completely around. Osak was no longer there.
He let out a groan of frustration. Apparently the independence bug had bitten his indigenous friend again. At least he knew the boy would be safe. He was probably better equipped to survive out here than anyone, even someone carrying a gun.
After checking for movement one last time, Zane stole across the intersection. Once on the other side, he found a trail that led downhill. He’d seen it when they’d arrived earlier. This one was steeper than the others they’d traveled, forcing him to slow his pace considerably.
About ten minutes later, he came to a halt not far from the valley floor. He thought he heard something just ahead, so he ducked behind a tree on the right side of the path.
As he waited, his eyes caught something about twenty yards away. The movement was slight, a shifting shadow behind a bush.
Suddenly a familiar voice carried up the slope. “Zane?”
Brett.
Zane stepped from behind the tree and moved quickly down the slope. Soon Brett came into view, standing in the middle of the trail. As Zane drew near, another figured appeared out of the shadows. Jorge.
“That’s a good way to get yourself killed,” Zane said. “I thought you were a jungle cat.”
“Couldn’t be sure it was you. The fog is too thick to see much of anything right now.” Brett looked Zane over. “What happened?”
“Long story. I had a run-in with another one of our Chinese friends. It’s why I was late.”
Brett nodded. “We even tried to raise both of you on the radio.”
“I lost mine in the fight. I’m assuming Bennett never responded?”
“No,” Brett replied. “In fact, the radio isn’t functioning at all now. The signal is dead. Nothing.”
Zane’s eyes narrowed. “Strange.”
“Anyway, after waiting for a while, we realized that the others might need help, so we—”
“No, you did the right thing. The safety of the civilians trumps everything.”
“So you got jumped by another soldier?”
Zane nodded. “He looked like some sort of bizarre scientific experiment gone wrong. I’m still not sure if he was even a man.”
“That’s two notches for Watson tonight,” Brett said.
“Had our indigenous friend not come along, I wouldn’t have survived the second one.”
Brett frowned. “Osak? Where is he?”
“Gone. He took off again to who knows where.”
Brett looked back toward the village. “What do you think happened to Bennett?”
“I have no idea. He should’ve been the first one back. I’m hoping he’s just holed up somewhere, hiding from the Chinese.” He turned and looked down the path. “Who knows, maybe he had the same idea we did.”
“We need to get moving,” Jorge said.
Zane nodded. He was right. They’d talked long enough. “Where are we exactly?”
“The valley floor is about thirty or forty yards ahead,” Brett said.
“There’s a large clearing down there,” Jorge added, “just like the girl said.”
“Let’s go,” Zane said.
Several minutes later, they arrived at the clearing. Zane had never seen fog so thick in his life. It was like trying to move through a burning house.
Jorge looked around, clearly uncomfortable. “We could run into someone and not know until it’s too late.”
“If anyone else is down here, then they’re dealing with the same issues we are,” Zane said. “And my guess is that the Chinese are still up in the village.” He looked down the line of trees. “Speaking of which, let’s get moving.”
Using Rebecca’s directions, he led them south along the edge of the clearing. The fog limited visibility to anywhere from ten feet to fifty yards. Zane wished he still had his visor, although he realized it wouldn’t be able to detect the Chinese.
Jorge suddenly stopped. “What’s that noise?”
Zane paused and looked at him. “What noise?”
The Brazilian pointed toward the trees on their right. “You don’t hear that buzzing?”
Brett looked up. “He’s right.”
Zane suddenly realized what they were referring to. A steady hum was coming from the rainforest. He’d been so focused on threats inside the clearing that he hadn’t noticed it before.
“It sounds like cicadas, only more intense,” Brett said. “Reminds me of standing under one of those transformers in the summer as a kid.”
As he moved his eyes across the canopy, Zane noticed an orb bouncing in and out of the foliage. Is that what was making the sound? Was it some form of communication? “I wish we had time to figure it out, but we don’t.” He gave them the signal to move out.
After a few more minutes of walking, the jungle rose up in front of them, marking the end of the clearing.
“We’re here,” Jorge said.
Zane pointed to their left. “Rebecca said the trail to the temple was on this end. Let’s see what we can find.”
The three continued along the edge of the woods, looking for any breaks in the dense foliage. Jorge took the lead, followed by Zane and Brett.
Two minutes later, the Brazilian gave a low whistle and pointed to something just ahead. When Zane arrived, Jorge turned his flashlight on briefly, illuminating a path that ran south through the trees.
“Bingo,” Brett said.
Jorge turned off the light. “This has to be it.”
Zane nodded. “I agree. Let’s…” His eyes locked on something just down the line of trees.
“What’s wrong?” Brett asked.
Zane continued to stare. When the fog had swirled away moments earlier, he could have sworn he’d seen a figure moving north away from the jungle.
“Zane, what’s wrong?” Brett asked again.
“I’m not sure,” he whispered.
“Was it someone from the other team?” Brett asked.
“I don’t think so. I think it was a person, but it might have been an animal.”
Brett removed his pistol. “Let’s go have a look.”
Zane looked at him. “No, I want both of you to head to the temple. I’ll catch up in just a sec.”
“We’re not going to just let you run out there on your own.”
Zane held up a hand. “It was probably nothing, but I need to go check it out.”
“He’s right, we don’t need to split up again,” Jorge said.
“It won’t take long,” Zane replied. “I’ll figure out what it was, and if it was nothing, I’ll catch up with you guys in a couple of minutes.”
Brett was about to say something, but Zane nodded at the trail. “Go! Two minutes… I promise.”
And with that, Zane turned and sprinted off into the fog. He didn’t like separating either, but he had no choice. He needed them to continue in the search for the other team, but unless he was going crazy, he knew he’d just seen someone walking.
He’d noted the direction the figure was moving and tried to put himself on the same general path. But without having the jungle as a landmark, he realized it was going to be almost impossible to stay on a straight line.