* * *
After fifteen minutes they stopped under a large canopy. Aldo pointed up and Jane saw her gear suspended from the trees. Jane looked at the base of the tree, which was the size of a compact car, and wondered how the hell she was going to get up there to retrieve her stuff.
But Daniel was up the tree before Jane could say anything. He pulled a knife from his waistband and cut the cords. The packs dropped and Jane hurried forward, afraid the fall might have damaged the vials.
Jane moved toward the packs, but Reynaldo stopped her with a hand on her arm. “Someone’s coming.”
“It might be—”
Reynaldo covered her mouth and the men all drew their weapons. Jane found herself in the middle of a protective circle. She thought about trying to explain that she could take care of herself, but it was such an odd feeling, having someone try to protect her, that she was bemused.
Mac burst through the underbrush. Mac had survived, but then she’d figured he would. He had the look of someone who had survived a lot of things. But she was still relieved to see his familiar face.
Mac put his hands up, showing that he was clearly not armed.
“Jane, tell them I’m with you.” The command in his voice rubbed her the wrong way. Given the tension in the air she understood his impatience but she didn’t like it.
“He’s with me,” she said to Reynaldo. But the men didn’t lower their weapons.
Reynaldo said something to Mac in the same language Aldo had used earlier. Jane listened in shock as Mac responded. What was going on? Was Mac known to them? Why weren’t they lowering their weapons?
The conversation continued for a few minutes and then Reynaldo and his men lowered their weapons. “You can check on your stuff now.”
Jane moved forward. Mac joined her at the packs. She opened hers first and saw that the Styrofoam was cracked around one of the vial containers. Digging deeper in her bag she removed some medical adhesive tape to repair it.
“What was that about?” Jane asked in English.
“I’ve spent a lot of time in this area. They wanted to make sure I wasn’t from one of their rival tribes.”
“Why are you in South America, Mac?” she asked, suddenly wishing she’d asked a few more questions before leaving Lima with this man. He wasn’t Peruvian, but here in the jungle he looked as if he was in his natural environment.
“You invited me,” he said, his voice low and quiet.
She was well aware that he hadn’t answered her question. She couldn’t help but think there was more to this man than he’d revealed. There was so much ambiguity around this virus and the people who were denying its existence. Had Mac been sent to keep her from reaching the Yura?
Actually, she knew why she wanted to find out his secrets. Then maybe she could answer some of her own questions. She wasn’t burned out by her job, but she did fear misdiagnosing something, or getting a treatment wrong as she’d heard Mac had. Going to an outbreak hot zone and killing everyone instead of curing them. That fear always lingered at the back of her mind. And with this trip it was in the forefront. What if something she did in the lab translated not to a treatment, but instead to death?
“And you always go where you’re invited?”
“Always,” he said, in a way that made her realize he wasn’t as cocksure as he seemed. The man was a mystery to her. By rights he should have left the world of virology and locked himself up in a lab. But instead he was here still fighting to save people despite the devastating setbacks he’d encountered. How had he gone on?
She shook her head. “Reynaldo mentioned that the Yura were in trouble. I want to find out what he meant. Would you ask him?”
“I doubt your friend will tell me anything. He doesn’t trust me.”
“Why not?”
“Let’s just say I’m friends with some of his enemies.”
The way he said it sent shivers down the back of her spine. She realized she should have conducted a more in-depth interview of this man, looked closer at his past. “I need more answers.”
“That’s all you’re getting right now. You’ll have to trust me.”
“Trust has to be earned.”
He leaned in close, speaking in a very low tone. “Do you want me to leave you here alone with these men? Or do you want to get to your father?”
She sensed he was manipulating her. Deliberately using her father’s peril to keep her from asking any more questions.
“I’m focused on what needs to be done.”
She jerked away only to trip on the buttressed roots of a strangler fig. The trees were called killer trees by the natives because they completely covered the other trees in the forest and eventually strangled them. But they also provided much-needed fruit for year-round consumption by the animals.
Mac reached down and pulled her to her feet. She noticed again how strong he was. She just hoped she had someone at her side who she could count on personally as well as physically.
Jane wasn’t used to counting on anyone, let alone a guy with a tough reputation. And Mac was hiding something from her.
Did Reynaldo know something that Mac didn’t want her to know?
Jane didn’t know who to trust. There were more dangers in the jungle than the disease infecting the Yura. Diseases she could handle. Liars just pissed her off.
The rains had held off for a while, but now they fell in a steady pattern. The water was unexpectedly cold, making her shiver with each drop that hit her skin. When she felt a chill moving up her spine she knew she needed to put on something else. She’d packed a vinyl rain jacket for just this kind of situation. She stopped. Aldo continued moving and Saturnino and Daniel jogged past her as did Mac. But Reynaldo stopped.
“What’s wrong?”
“I need my jacket.”
He nodded. Jane pulled out the vinyl shell and pulled it on over her clothing.
“How much farther to your village?” she asked.
“Not long now. You and your companion should consider staying the night with us.”
Nothing sounded better to Jane. Especially when they arrived at the village fifteen minutes later. The cluster of huts was nestled in a small clearing, surrounded by tall trees. A well stood in the center, along with a fire where women were cooking. The dry huts were tempting. But her mission was urgent, and they had no time for rest.
Mac disappeared as soon as they got into the village. Jane was shown to a dry, clean hut. She didn’t bother changing her clothing because she knew being wet was part of being in the Amazon.
She got out her Blackberry and called the airport. They hadn’t heard from Bob.
She used her Blackberry to check her e-mail and was stunned to read a message from Meredith to the staff saying that she, Jane, was on a sabbatical and that her current projects were being reassigned. So she was really on her own.
Meredith hadn’t mentioned moving Jane’s workload around. Jane started to respond to the e-mail but decided it wasn’t worth the effort.
She did send an e-mail to Tom and Angie, telling them that things weren’t going too smoothly and that they’d been forced to jump early. She gave them her coordinates and asked Angie to check to see if Bob had survived the crash.
She