The Darkest Heart (24 page)

Are we going to let them take him?

Leonardo clamped his jaw tight and blinked hard in frustration. There was a pause, then he nodded once, almost imperceptible, but enough to give me the tiniest sense of relief. As soon as he
had done it, though, he dug his pistol a little harder into Daniella's ribs, making her wince in pain.

Marco heard the sound and turned to look at them. Leonardo smiled at him and the two watched each other before Marco turned back to the old man.

‘How long has he been like this?' He was barefoot, his feet wet from the water in his own boat, and he left prints on the boards of the
Deus.

‘A while,' I said.

‘And why is Rocky tied? She's never tied'

‘He doesn't like dogs.' I tilted my head in Leonardo's direction.

The air was growing darker and cooler now. It was a strange grey-blue light, with the sun still above us, and the black, brooding clouds in the distance, rumbling and flashing. The breeze was picking up and carrying the smell of the forest across the water. It was damp and earthy, as if being brought from the centre of the storm, rushing along the course of the river, swelling around the
Deus
and moving on towards Piratinga. It would be on us soon and, judging by the smell and the speed of the wind, it would be bad.

I followed Marco, but Leonardo hung back where he could see the man with the rifle. He tried to appear relaxed and sat on the bench seat, bringing Daniella down beside him, keeping his arm around her so his pistol was blocked from view.

‘Some kind of fever.' I said. ‘Been getting worse, but he's been like this for an hour or so.'

‘Looks like it could be dengue.'

‘I still say he'll be fine.' Leonardo shifted on the bench.

Marco watched him for a few moments then squatted beside Raul. The old man was drenched with sweat, despite the cool breeze leading the oncoming storm, and his face was flushed bright red.

‘He's not fine.' Marco scratched Rocky's ear when she stood to greet him. ‘He needs a doctor. Shit, he looks really bad. You want him to die because you can't get him to a doctor in time?'

‘You're probably right,' I agreed. ‘With that rain coming up
behind us, we're not going to make it back to Piratinga. This boat's not fast enough. We're going to end up stuck out here.'

‘So you want me to take him?'

‘Yes.'

Marco lowered his voice. ‘Is everything OK here?'

I considered asking for a different kind of help, but I thought about what Leonardo had done yesterday, and how he had shot at Rocky, and I remembered the gun in his hand and where it was pointed.

‘Yeah. Everything's fine. I just need you to help the old man.'

We remained still for a beat, Marco with his body facing Raul, his face turned back towards me, then he spoke. ‘Of course I'll take him. Raul's a good man.'

‘Yes he is.'

‘Then we're wasting time. Come on, help me.'

‘He'll slow you down,' Leonardo interrupted. ‘Leave him here.'

‘Let him go,' I said to him. ‘Rocky too. That way we'll have no more problems.' And I looked him right in the eye, letting him know that if he did this for the old man, I would do what he asked of me. I would get him to Mina dos Santos.

The muscles in Leonardo's jaws tensed. I could see them bulging and working, his upper lip lifting a fraction so that a wrinkle appeared beside his right nostril. Then he sighed and waved with his free hand. ‘Take him. For Christ's sake just take him. And take the damn dog too.'

Marco and I pulled Raul to his feet. He was conscious and his eyes opened, but he was feverish and delirious and weak. He was unable to walk without our help, and he was barely able to speak. ‘What's going on?' he asked, his voice quiet and dry.

‘Getting you home faster,' I said. ‘Marco will take you.'

Raul turned his head, his neck moving like it was on a ratchet. ‘Marco?'

‘Sure.' Marco patted Raul's shoulder. ‘We'll get you home, old man. Don't you worry.'

Raul nodded and allowed us to guide him to the edge of the boat, where we helped him over the side. Marco and I took most
of his weight, while the other man came over and held onto the
Deus
with both hands, pulling the smaller boat against it.

‘Take him to Ernesto's,' I said, grunting with effort as we finally manoeuvred Raul into the smaller vessel. ‘Ernesto will call his wife, take him to the hospital.'

‘Sure,' said Marco. ‘I'll make sure he's OK.'

‘Thank you.'

I went back for Rocky, untying her and lifting her down into the outboard where she went straight to be close to the old man.

Marco was sitting beside Raul, keeping him from collapsing into the water, while the other man revved the engine, preparing to leave. ‘You want to come, too?' Marco looked up at Daniella. ‘A storm's no place for you.'

‘She's fine right where she is,' Leonardo told him. ‘Just take the old man and get the hell out of here.'

Marco narrowed his eyes at Leonardo before turning to me. ‘By the way,' he said. ‘You seen another boat on the river? Anyone passed you?'

I shook my head. ‘No one.'

Marco nodded. ‘My brother was out fishing for a couple of days.' He glanced back at the approaching storm. ‘I saw him yesterday but there's been no sign of him today. I don't want him to get caught in the rain. You sure you haven't seen any one?'

‘Sure,' I said.

‘He's a little taller than me, wears a red cap. He and his friend were in a boat like this one.'

‘Maybe he already made it back to Piratinga,' I ventured.

‘Hmm. Maybe.'

32

‘You killed his brother,' I said as the small boat became nothing but a trail of disturbed water.

‘You do something like that again, I'll kill
you,'
Leonardo said. ‘Or her.' He pushed Daniella away from him. ‘And you'd better hope we get to Mina dos Santos before the old man sends someone after us.'

‘He won't send anyone, he hardly even knew where he was. Anyway, we're here to make some money and that's what we're going to do. He knows it and I know it. And you don't need that.' I inclined my head towards his gun. ‘Not any more. I'll do what you want now.'

‘Well, I'll keep it handy all the same.'

‘You can trust me to make your delivery if that's what you're thinking. We
will
make it to Mina dos Santos. There's no way it's not going to happen now. We're going to make your delivery and your people are going to pay me. The old man needs that money.' And I needed to get there before Sister Dolores Beckett. I had to be waiting for her, but any more delays and I might end up having to chase her up the Rio das Mortes after leaving Leonardo and his cargo. It would be difficult to explain that to Daniella. And thinking about the nun reminded me I had another weight on my mind; another tough choice to make.

‘The Rio das Mortes is up ahead,' I told him. ‘We'll get on it and stop. After that ...' I shrugged. ‘After that we wait for the sky to clear.'

Behind us, the rain was a stampeding herd, unstoppable in its advance, so I took the wheel, guided the
Deus
to the mouth of the
Rio das Mortes, and took us as far upriver as I dared before steering us well inshore. The course was wide where the two rivers met, but narrowed as we headed deeper, as if the world was closing in on us. With the darkening sky and the thick forest reaching up on either side, there was a very different sensation to be had from being on the Rio das Mortes. There was still the loneliness and isolation, but there was a more imposing and threatening feeling. The openness was gone, replaced by the dark embrace of the wilderness. It was as if the country was gathering itself around us in the way the shadow gathered itself around me. The beaches were fewer and smaller, just tiny strips of white sand. Some were marked with the tracks of turtles that had pulled themselves ashore at night, others were untouched, but all would soon be drowned by the rising water. There were shallow inlets, but in most places the forest grew right up to the edge of the water and the undergrowth was thick and impenetrable. The air was different here, too; it carried a darker, earthier smell as the odour of living trees mixed with the decaying detritus that lay at their roots.

I brought the boat as shallow as I could, and once the
Deus
was secured, I helped myself to a Coke from the cool box and retook my seat behind the wheel, leaning back, putting my feet up on the dash.

Daniella came to sit with me, Leonardo staying at the bow, watching us.

‘Not much for us to do now except wait,' I told her. ‘And Leonardo should be more relaxed – there's no reason not to just go straight to Mina dos Santos and finish the job.'

‘Raul will be all right,' she said, understanding that I was worried about him. She knew what he meant to me. I'm sure of it. It's good they took him.'

‘Yeah. I'm glad he's gone. He's safer –
we're
safer – but there's something about seeing him go,' I said, ‘that doesn't feel right. He should be my responsibility. I should be taking him.'

‘You know that couldn't happen.'

‘No. But still ...' I shrugged. ‘It feels wrong. Final, somehow.'

‘Don't say that. You'll see him when we get back.'

‘Yeah.'

‘Shouldn't we get to shore?' Leonardo called to me. ‘You said we shouldn't be out in the storm.'

‘We're safe here,' I told him.

‘You sure about that?' He looked worried, but I turned away from him and spoke to Daniella. ‘The water might chop a bit, give him a scare, but it shouldn't be too bad. And there's more shelter here. We should stay under the canopy and wait for the rain. If it's gone before dark, we'll move on. If not, we can sleep on the boat tonight.'

I went to the side, leaned over and looked out to see how far off the rain was. ‘They'll be well on their way to Piratinga by now,' I said. ‘Maybe the old man is feeling better, looking forward to being home with Carolina. She'll make him right.' Or he might be lying face down between the slats, his cheek in the water that wallowed in the bottom of the boat.

I shook my head at Daniella. ‘I'm sorry. I shouldn't have let you come.'

‘What?' she said. ‘And miss this? Not for the world.'

I smiled at her strength, and looked over at Leonardo watching us. Forever watching us.

‘Is it always this exciting?' Daniella asked.

‘Usually it's boring.' I turned away from Leonardo, knowing I'd have to shut him out. There was nothing to be done with him right now, and if I brooded, I'd eat myself from the inside out. I would take him to Mina dos Santos, we would deliver his guns and then he would pay me.

Then I would set my mind to the other task I had to carry out.

I hadn't thought about Sister Dolores Beckett for some time, but now she appeared to me once more as that black and grey image. Monochrome dots floating in my consciousness, merging to form her likeness, and I wondered what Sofia's advice would be. What would Daniella say? I watched her and thought about how it would feel to explain my dilemma to her. I had a sense of relieving the weight of my choices, but also of burdening her. And what would she think of me, that I was even
considering
Sister Beckett's death?

‘Maybe we should press on a bit further,' I said feeling a sudden eagerness to reach the mine and be done with all of this. The sooner it was finished, the sooner I could get home and put it behind me. ‘Perhaps the rain won't be so heavy, or maybe it'll take a while to get here. I could at least push us a little further upriver. That way we'll get there quicker. Get back to Piratinga faster.'

‘He'll be OK, you know,' Daniella put her hand on my face and turned my head so I was looking at her. ‘He'll be fine. Carolina will make sure of it.'

‘Yeah,' I nodded. ‘But I can't help worrying about him he's ...' I shook my head.

‘Like a father,' Daniella said. ‘I know.'

I turned and leaned on the gunwale, looking back at the approaching storm. ‘I want to get back to him. To do something for him. I feel so weak.'

‘What would Raul do?' Daniella asked. ‘Go further or stay here?'

I stared at the gathering storm, the dark clouds like pursuing beasts spurred on by the thunder that bayed at them. Outlined from time to time by the flickering whiteness of lightning, forcing them closer. Before long, that turmoil would wrap itself around us, taking our senses. If I lost our way because of the poor visibility, our journey would take even longer. And if I damaged the boat, my friend's livelihood, I could never forgive myself. After all, Imperatriz might not have been Raul's dream, but the
Deus
and this delivery were his way of trying to make it happen for his wife.

‘He'd stay here.' I sat down and gripped the wheel, my mind divided between starting her up or staying where I was. Whatever I did, I didn't want to let my friend down. But even as I thought about it, the first rain began to fall. Tiny ripples and splashes in the river that grew with each passing second, and as it became heavier and harder, I knew there was no way I could take the
Deus
into it.

It came at us as a wall of water, a hazy force advancing over the forest, then reaching the Rio das Mortes and beating the surface to froth. One moment it was beyond our reach, just the sound and the rush of cool air coming at us, and the next it was on us and
over us and around us. The nails of water were driving into the canvas above, pounding the exposed deck at the bow of the
Deus
, and battering the tin roof of the covered stern section. It was like the staccato rattle of gunfire that had been my childhood lullaby.

There were many times in
the favela
when rival gangs exchanged shots over the rooftops, muzzles flashing in the night. Some even used tracer rounds that flickered like fireflies as they spat back and forth. As a child, the crackle and stutter had frightened me, and Pai would sit with me, stroking my head to soothe me. Voices would shout in the streets, but he would reassure me. When he was dead and buried, though, I was already twelve years old and accustomed to the sounds. Instead of cowering in our beds, Sofia and I would sit up and play cards or listen to Pai's old tapes, turning up the volume and singing along with the words. Sofia even taught me to samba, telling me that when I was older, the girls would love it that I could dance.