Amazon Burning (A James Acton Thriller, #10) (24 page)

Reading
strode down the ramp to shore, Kinti holding his left hand as he one arm hugged
Laura, lifting her off the ground. “Thank God you’re alive!”

“None
the worse for wear, but eager to get home.” Laura stepped back as a thumping
exchange occurred between Reading and Acton. “And who’s this?” Laura smiled at
Kinti, putting out her hand. “Hello, I’m Laura,” she said, patting her chest.

Kinti
shook Laura’s hand, smiling politely. “Kinti.”

“Such a
pretty name.” Laura smiled at Reading. “Does she speak any English?”

Reading
blushed crimson. “Just a few that I’ve taught her.”

“Portuguese?”

Head
shake.

“Spanish?”

Head
shake.

“So, how
do you communicate.”

“Body
language,” coughed Milton as he descended the ramp, finally tired apparently of
waiting for them. He gave them both hugs and Acton could immediately see his
friend was in pain.

“I think
we better say our goodbyes and get underway,” suggested Acton. He pointed to
Fabricio who had joined them. “Please tell the Chief that we are thankful for
his people’s help, and are in their debt.”

Fabricio
translated and the Chief bowed deeply. He translated for his people who seemed
very pleased, many whooping in pleasure. The Chief spoke and motioned to them
all. Fabricio looked to Acton. “He say that you are all friends and you are all
welcome to return at any time.”

Acton
bowed along with Laura and the others. “We are honored.”

The
formalities over, hands were shaken, hugs were exchanged, and Reading and Kinti
left the crowd as they walked toward the trees. Acton kept the smile forced on
his face, but his chest tightened for his friend. It was obvious he was
hurting. He knew from experience what love at first sight felt like. The
intensity, the emotions, the overwhelming sense of desire and need, were almost
too much to handle. It compressed a lifetime of love into a short flurry of red
hot passion that was so pure, it felt as if the world would end when it came to
its sometimes inevitable conclusion.

And this
was one of those times.

It was
an impossible situation.

And
Acton knew the way Reading was.

He would
keep his pain bottled up inside, making it worse.

Reading was sick to his stomach. The hollowed out feeling he had was
beyond compare in his memory though he was certain he had experienced it
before, but not since a young man. At that age you were supposed to feel this
type of pain, it was all part of growing up, of becoming a man. But today he
felt like that boy, desperately in love, who had just been told the love of his
life was moving away forever, never to be seen again.

His
chest was tight, his throat almost sore as he resisted the urge to join Kinti
in her sobs. The poor girl’s shoulders heaved against his chest as she curled
into a ball, allowing herself to be enveloped in his arms. He gently patted her
head, stroking his fingers through her hair, his face buried in it as he
enjoyed her scent one last time.

He
glanced toward the boat and saw everyone boarding and knew it was time.

“Kinti.”
His voice was soft, gentle, not its usual gruff self, this lovely young
creature having smoothed out the rough edges decades of solitude had honed.

She
looked up, blinking away the tears. “I must go now.” Tears finally spilled over
his eyelids as he forced a smile on his face. Her lips trembled into a smile of
her own when he closed his eyes and kissed her one last time, both of them now
clinging onto each other in a desperate attempt to hold onto the moment, to
tell the hand of time to wait just one more second before ticking toward a
future of loneliness and despair.

He
finally let her go and they looked into each other’s eyes, words unspoken,
their faces saying the thousand words that needed to be said. With one more
peck, he led her to the ramp, then with one final kiss and hug, he climbed back
onto the boat, the ramp quickly pulled aboard as the motor kicked into gear, sending
them toward the mouth of the inlet. The entire village ran along the shore,
Kinti in the lead, her hand raised in the air, part waving goodbye, part
reaching for him, not wanting to let go of the bond they had created in two
short days.

Reading
gripped the rail with one hand, at the far back of the boat so no one could see
his face. He waved to Kinti, his lip stiff as he fought back the tears his
tough, reserved British upbringing told him were unmanly, but his face told her
everything she would need to know.

He loved
her.

And
would never forget her.

Tuk heard voices ahead and slowed. He had spotted a village upriver
of where he had camped the night before he had spotted the Woman of Light,
giving it a wide berth as he was unfamiliar with their people and more
importantly, wanted to be alone in his grief over TikTik’s impending nuptials
and the death of his best friend Pol.

He had
been dismayed when the trail he had been following had headed directly to the
village rather than back to the Spirit Boat for it meant far more people to
deal with who might just slow him down in his quest to reach the woman who was
to be his mate and the savior of his village.

Lau-ra-pal-mer.

He
secreted himself behind a large tree and watched as a boat, the very same boat
that the Spirit People had been on left the village, the entire population on
the shoreline waving and shouting. On the boat he could see several of the
Spirit People and his heart leapt when he saw Lau-ra waving at the crowd.

Then he
frowned.

She
appeared happy.

If she
had willingly left the Spirit People to be with him, then why would she be
happy to have been taken back? Perhaps it was merely a façade designed to set
the others who had “rescued” her at ease? Or perhaps she really had
misunderstood the Cleansing Ritual and thought he had abandoned her and was
relieved to be with her own kind?

It made
sense. She didn’t know his language and she had definitely appeared scared when
she saw the pit. He had been forced to push her in after all, and now in retrospect
it seemed pretty clear she didn’t know what the Cleansing Pit was at all.

She
must have thought I had left her there to die!

He
desperately wished he could speak her language, not only so he could win her
heart, but to communicate to her the very real need he had of her help. As the
Spirit Boat left the small inlet it turned downriver, back toward where he had
first seen her. He rushed through the forest, knowing they had no choice but to
pass by the same spot. His route was more direct, theirs requiring them to
travel in an arc around the Mother’s Forest. As he rushed through the trees,
silently as to not attract the attention of the nearby village, he winced as
his shoulder suddenly throbbed in pain. He looked down and finally noticed he
was bleeding from the back of his arm, near the shoulder.

And it
hurt.

There
was an odd hole, as if an arrowhead had pierced it then fallen out. He wondered
if it could have been a shard from the exploding tree trunks when he had made
his escape, the curious sounds coming from the Panther People’s short spears
perhaps causing some magical, invisible arrow to strike the trees as they
missed him.

He
shrugged off the pain, it not important. Saving his people was what was
important now. Saving his mother. Avenging TikTik and Bruk.

He burst
onto the shoreline just as the boat came into view to his right. As it rushed
toward him, the current and whatever mode of propulsion it was using—he could
see no oars—moving it swiftly along, he realized he would have only moments to
get their attention.

Can
the Spirit People even see me when they are on their boat?

He began
waving and shouting at the boat, his arm now noticeably hampering his
movements. “Lau-ra! Lau-ra-pal-mer!”

A sudden
rush of activity on the boat as Spirit People with their own short spears lined
up on the edge proved to him quite convincingly that they could see him. He
recognized no one then suddenly she appeared at the rear of the boat, her mate
from the Spirit World with his arm around her.

And
again he felt a flash of jealousy.

“Lau-ra!
Lau-ra-pal-mer!”

He
motioned for her to come to him but she said nothing, merely standing at the
rear of her boat. He could tell she was sad, her eyes glistening even from this
distance. She was barely a spear’s throw away but he could tell she wasn’t
going to tell the boat to stop.

Then he
yelled the one word he had heard her say several times.

“Help!”

Rio Negro, Northern Amazon, Brazil

“Hostile to port!”

Laura
jumped, adrenaline suddenly rushing through her exhausted frame once again as
Leather’s men rushed to the port side, taking knees as they aimed their weapons
at the shore. She was about to get up to see what the problem was when she felt
James grab her.

“Stay
down!” he hissed. Turning to Leather, he asked, “What is it?”

“Single
native, war paint by the looks of it, naked. Not from the tribe we just left, I
don’t think.”

“What’s
he doing?”

“Waving
his arms and yelling something. I can’t make it out.”

“Silence!”
yelled James. “Fabricio, cut the engine!”

“Yes,
senhor!”

“Lau-ra!
Lau-ra-pal-mer!”

James’
eyebrows jumped. “Did he just say what I think he said?”

Reading
and Milton’s heads both bobbed in agreement. “He’s definitely calling for you,
Laura.”

“Tuk?”
She felt a surge of fear and relief as a mix of conflicting emotions overcame
her. She definitely was happy to be here—ecstatic in fact—but she also felt
sorry for the poor, simple native. His apparently weakened state meant he was
probably condemned to a life alone, and she was convinced he had thought he had
found a mate in her.

And she
had led him on.

In her
efforts in self-preservation she had convinced him there was a bond between the
two of them, and in the end, she had betrayed that bond—at least in his mind. But
if the bond wasn’t real, why did she feel guilt, why did she feel she must
explain herself to this poor man.

But it
was pointless. There was no way to communicate with him.

“He
appears unarmed.” Leather was standing now, binoculars to his eyes. “And he’s
injured.”

Laura
jumped to her feet, concern pushing aside all other emotions. “How so?”

“Looks
like he’s bleeding from his left shoulder.”

She
moved to the aft of the boat and stood near the edge, looking at the poor man
as he desperately waved and called her name. She felt James put his arm around
her protectively, and almost smiled as she thought of him being jealous over
the little man on shore who had stolen her from him.

Then
suddenly everything changed.

“Help!”

She
looked at James. “Did he just say ‘help’?”

James
nodded. “I think so. Does he know what that means?”

“He
heard me say it several times but I never actually taught him it.”

“Could
he have picked it up from the context? Actually understood it?”

Laura
nodded. “He’s very smart. These natives may be primitive by our standards, but
they have their Einsteins and Hawkings just like we do. I think he knows
exactly what he’s saying.”

“Einstein,
eh?” Reading shook his head. “I don’t see it.”

“And two
days ago you couldn’t see yourself falling in love with one of them, could
you?” Laura immediately regretted her statement as Reading’s face clouded with
pain. She reached out and gripped his arm gently. “I’m so sorry, Hugh. I didn’t
mean that the way it sounded.”

“Don’t
worry about it, you’re right. I saw them all as savages, and now I realize they
aren’t. They’re people just like us who are perfectly happy living their lives
the way they are and don’t need our modern ways to be fulfilled. They live,
laugh, love and cry exactly like us, perhaps even in a more pure way.” He
sighed. “I’ve learned a lot on this trip.” He pointed at Tuk. “And if he says
he needs help, then I think we should at least see what he has to say.”

“But how
are we going to communicate with him?”

Reading
shrugged. “Take him to the village? Maybe someone there speaks his language.”

James
smiled. “If I didn’t know you better, I’d say you were just looking for excuses
to spend more time with Kinti.” Reading was about to open his mouth in protest
when James cut him off. “Like I said,
if
I didn’t know you better.” He
turned to Fabricio. “Bring us ashore so we can take him aboard.”

Fabricio’s
eyes widened. “Are you crazy, senhor? He could be a killer!”