Page 44 of No Questions Asked

When I came out from beneath the canopy of trees, I saw that I’d cut the corner on the upstream side of where the tributary entered the Amazon and was now paralleling the beach of the side stream. After a couple of anxious minutes and no more sounds, I came upon two boats beached together on my side of the stream.

I found them!

I darted back into the trees and waited a precious five minutes to see if anyone was guarding the boats. When I didn’t see anyone, I decided to risk it and check out things. I crept out of the trees and approached the boats, expecting any minute to be shot in the back. Thankfully, nothing happened.

I peeked in the research team’s boat first and saw that everything was gone, including the cooler with vaccines. The pirates’ boat was empty except for cigarette butts and empty cans. Gross. I started to leave when I had an idea and spent a minute more in each boat before departing.

Also while still on the beach, I took more precious moments to compare the phone coordinates. I estimated I was within a quarter mile of the other phone. I could see a sandy trail leading away from the boats that everyone must have run down. I headed down it as well, hoping I didn’t accidentally run into the bad guys.

After a few minutes, I stopped to check the coordinates. To my astonishment, I noticed the phone’s coordinates had changed. I did a quick mental calculation and determined the coordinates were moving...directly toward me.

They were returning to the boats.

I had no idea if Slash, Gwen or Natelli were okay or whether they were been captured or hurt. Regardless, if I wanted to help them, I needed a plan. Looking around, I spotted a tree that rose up over the path that had some low-hanging branches. One thing was evident. I needed to get higher for a decent view, because on the ground, the dense foliage gave me no ability to see whatsoever. I strode toward the tree with confidence. Somehow, a delusional part of my brain had convinced me I could climb a tree to get a better look at the trail.

Taking a deep breath for courage, I quickly shinnied up the tree. Once up, I looked down and swallowed hard, thinking it was a lot farther down to the ground than I expected.

Holy geek in a tree.

I had no idea how I did it. Athleticism and me are not usually words used in the same sentence. In fact, I’m positive athleticism hadneverbeen used in reference to me. Not to mention, I’m scared of heights. What possessed me to climb a tree will likely remain a mystery for the entirety of my life, as long as it might last. I wasn’t sure if my mother would be proud of my evolving skill set for surviving in the wild, but I knew Slash would appreciate it. If either of us ended up alive and could joke about it, of course.

I carefully maneuvered to a nook in the tree where I was hidden, and finally had a decent view of the path in the distance. My heart began to pound when I saw a trail of people approaching. I squinted to see if I could see Slash, but I couldn’t. After a moment, one of the bad guys became visible in the front. He was carrying a rifle and the satellite phone hung around his neck. He had no idea it was on and I was tracking his location, so that gave me a small advantage that I’d have to figure out how to exploit.

Slowly the others came into view. I spotted Gwen’s red hair, Natelli, Salvador and then, at the very back, Slash, walking in front of the other bad guy, who was bringing up the rear. I closed my eyes, letting relief and emotion swamp me.

He’s alive. They’re all alive...so far.

They might not be alive for long if I didn’t figure out a way to save them. My eyes snapped open. All of the people in the research group were walking with their hands folded on their heads except Slash, who was carrying the cooler of vaccines. That was good because his hands were not tied or restrained in any way. Still, I had precious little time to come up with a solution to take down two armed men without getting captured or putting the rest of the team at risk.

How can I do that? Think, Lexi, think.

At the first village, Slash had been looking for a distraction to make his move. So, if I were able to provide a distraction like before, it might allow him a chance to take out the men somehow. But what kind of distraction could I make? I was stuck in a tree without a weapon or anything to use. Maybe climbing the tree hadn’t been the best idea I’d ever had.

My eyes scanned the terrain below without finding any solutions. I adjusted my position further out on a branch to get a better look at the terrain when I suddenly found myself next to a large python languishing on the same branch. I swallowed the scream that formed in my throat as I slowly backed down the branch, my heart racing.

Then, I had an idea. I could use the snake as a distraction. Its location was perfect—right over the path—but how could I use it? My mind started racing. If I could make the snake drop on one of the bad guys, that would certainly distract him. But how was I going to get the snake off the branch and on to the bad guy? There was no way I was going to touch it. Besides, using a snake had way too many variables that could go wrong.

But it was the only thing I had at my disposal and I was out of time.

I glanced at the group. They were getting closer. They’d be beneath me in three minutes or less. I had to figure out a way to get the lead guy to stop right beneath the tree. If I could do that, then perhaps I could get the snake to drop on him and cause pandemonium. I peered at the snake, and it still appeared to be sleeping and not paying me any attention. I glanced down by my foot and spotted a dead branch whose leaves had long fallen off. I wrapped my legs around the tree branch I was sitting on and yanked hard on the dead branch, ripping it free.

My breathing was coming too fast again, and I had to fight to slow it before I hyperventilated and fell out of the tree. I did some quick calculations—the lag time for a call based on the signal transmission time and the speed of the people walking—before turning on the satellite phone. I pinpointed a spot in the distance. When the lead bad guy was at the point in my vision, I dialed the phone. As the group got closer and the phone didn’t ring, I cursed myself, thinking I’d miscalculated. Just as the guy stood under my branch, the satellite phone around his neck rang. He stopped where he was and looked at the phone, trying to figure out how to use it. I used the dead branch to poke the snake, but it didn’t budge. It was a heck of a lot heavier than I imagined. I poked again, this time a lot harder. So hard, I almost fell off the branch. The snake hissed at me and lifted its head, staring balefully at me.

OMG!He was pissed.

Panicking about how long the guy would remain there trying to figure out the phone, I aggressively gave it another push, wrapping my legs around the branch for greater leverage. The snake, unhappy, flicked his tongue and narrowed those killer eyes as if it were contemplating eating me whole. It hissed furiously. For a second I thought it was going to strike at me, but I shook a fist at it as if commanding it to fall. To my shock, a miracle happened. The snake became unbalanced and fell.

The guy below screamed as the force of the snake’s body knocked him to the ground. His gun skittered away beneath the foliage. Once on the ground, the angry snake reacted to the guy’s movement by wrapping around his legs and slithering up his body. The guy kept screaming while everyone else started shouting, not knowing what to do. His buddy at the back hadn’t seen the snake fall, but now pushed forward to see him partially constrained by a large snake. Waving his gun at everyone to shut them up, he cautiously approached his downed buddy, who was shrieking and holding the snake’s head in his hands. The downed guy was screaming something over and over in Portuguese that I presumed to be “shoot it!” or something to that effect.

As the one pirate aimed to shoot the snake without hitting his partner, the scariest part of my plan was ready to be executed. I said a small prayer and gathered my legs beneath me. Just before I was about to jump, a movement caught the corner of my eye. I turned my head, and several trees away, I saw a dark-skinned native watching me. He was also in the treetops, and his face had multiple distinctive tattoos and markings. I blinked a couple of times to ensure I wasn’t hallucinating, and when I looked again, he was gone.

Drawing my attention back to the scene below, I gauged my leap, closed my eyes and jumped. As I fell, I heard a gunshot, Slash yelling, and a hard thump before it all went black.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Lexi

When I came to, I found Slash staring into my face. He was holding me and we were both alive. I breathed in relief. Life was good. I didn’t care about anything else, so I decided to go back to sleep.

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