The Portal (A Delphi Group Thriller Book 2) (18 page)

“As I told you before, they are generally much more comfortable around females, which is why I brought the two of you with me. I think they can sense that you’re much less prone to aggression. I’ve seen it time and time again.”

“Is he good with that bow?” Amanda asked.

Max nodded. “You wouldn’t want to be on the other end of one of those arrows. He could probably impale a lizard on a tree trunk at fifty feet.”

Suddenly the boy began to speak and gesture with his hands.

Katiya’s brow furrowed. “Uh-oh. What did he say?”

“I’m not completely sure, something about a chieftain.”

“Maybe he’s asking who our leader is,” Katiya said. “Shall we call Zane forward?”

Max first frowned at the mention of the operative’s name then shrugged. “I guess it wouldn’t hurt.”

Katiya turned and waved at Zane while Max continued speaking to the boy.

“You were right,” Max said. “He does want to speak to our leader.”

Zane approached slowly. When he drew even with the others, he said, “I see you made a new friend.”

Osak fixed his gaze on him. After studying the operative for a few seconds, he said a few words that sounded like a short statement of some kind.

Zane patted his own chest. “Zane.”

“Zane,” Osak repeated.

Osak’s expression suddenly changed. Amanda could tell he was upset about something. He pointed at the sky and spoke in an excited tone.

“He doesn’t seem happy,” Katiya said.

Max listened for a moment then translated what the boy had said. “He’s telling Zane that a bad storm is approaching, and that he should help his people find cover. He mentioned something about fire from the sky.”

Zane looked up. “It’s been clear all—”

Suddenly there was a clap of thunder in the distance. Amanda looked toward a distant break in the trees. The previously blue sky was now steel gray. Seconds later, the trees began to sway, blown by the approaching winds.

As Zane turned to the others and barked orders for everyone to set up their tents, Katiya turned to Amanda. “Osak needs to come with us. Can you imagine how much help he’d be?”

Amanda had to agree. It was as though the little boy had been sent by God.

ZANE STUCK HIS head out from underneath the tarp they’d set up between four trees. The wind had died, and the rain had lightened to a steady drizzle. The worst of the storm appeared to be over, giving him hope that they could be moving again soon.

Hearing a gasp of delight, Zane turned around. Jorge was sitting a few feet away, lighting the tip of a cigar. Osak stared at the flame, his eyes widening with wonder. Then he said something in an excited tone.

Amanda looked at Max. “What did he say?”

“He said he’s heard of fire makers, but it’s the first time he’s ever seen one,” Max said.

Jorge held his lighter out in front of the boy. He flicked the thumbwheel, causing the flame to leap out of the steel hood. Unable to control himself, Osak reached out and took the lighter from Jorge. He flicked the thumbwheel a couple of times, to no avail.

Jorge looked at Max. “Tell him to keep his thumb down.”

The linguist pointed at the lighter and said something to the boy. Osak tried again, this time keeping his thumb in place. The flame flickered to life, and the boy to jump with excitement. He stared at it for a moment before finally bursting into laughter.

“I could just eat him up,” Katiya said. “His reaction is priceless.”

Zane bent over and patted Osak on the back. “We can also thank him for dry gear.”

“Sometimes I think they understand the jungle better than scientists,” Jorge said from a cloud of smoke. “It’s one thing to visit this place for a week or two, studying this or that. It’s another thing to have to survive out here from the moment you’re born.”

“There is so much we can learn from them,” Katiya said.

“Right now I’d like to know where the nearest bar is,” Zane said.

“Three days, and you already have the shakes?” Katiya asked with a wink.

Zane smiled at her then sat down. “On a more serious note, we need to ask him if he knows anything about the crater.”

“We do know how to get there, don’t we?” Katiya asked.

“I know how to get to the crater rim,” Jorge said, “although I’ve never actually been there.” He leaned forward and used the palm of his hand to clear away a few leaves, exposing the soil. Then he picked up a nearby stick and drew a line in the dirt. “This is the trail we’re on now. Eventually we’ll come to a place where you can either keep going straight or turn off to the right.” He drew another line, this one perpendicular to the first. “If you turn right, it will take you in a big loop back to where we crossed the stream yesterday.”

“That’s the route that everybody takes,” Zane said. “Ecotourists, birdwatchers, adrenaline junkies.”

“But instead of turning right, we’ll keep going straight,” Jorge continued. “That’s where… how do you say in English… the going gets tough. The trail will be narrower. We may even have to hack our way through in a couple of spots.” He used the stick to extend the first line a few more inches then drew a circle at the end. “My contacts tell me that if we continue in that direction, we’ll eventually arrive at the crater rim.”

“The slope is fairly steep,” Zane said as he touched the edge of the circle, “but Jorge was told it shouldn’t be too difficult to get to the bottom.”

“And after that?” Katiya asked.

“Once we reach the valley floor, we’ll officially be inside our target zone. Where we go after that depends on what we find. If there are trails, then obviously we’ll use those as much as possible. That’s where I was hoping our friend could help us.” He nodded at Osak.

Katiya looked at Max. “Can you ask him if he knows anything about the crater?”

Max turned and addressed Osak. On several occasions, the linguist reached out and touched the lines drawn in the dirt. After speaking for a couple of minutes, he stopped and allowed everything to sink in.

At first Osak didn’t seem to understand. He simply stared at the lines without expression. Was he even familiar with the concept of a map? Surely he was.

Suddenly a look of recognition spread across the boy’s face. He tapped the circle with a finger, repeating the same phrase over and over.

Max nodded. “He knows about the crater.”

Osak spoke again, this time in a lower tone.

“Apparently the Papaqua see it as a forbidden region, a dark place of myth and legend. He seems shocked that we’d even want to go.”

Osak tapped the circle and uttered a short phrase.

“He said many have gone in, but only a few have come out,” Max said.

“The ones that made it out… what did they say?” Zane asked.

Max posed the question to Osak, who spoke for several minutes. When he was finished, Max said, “He says that he’s never spoken to any of them himself, but that his tribe has passed down the stories. Apparently the ones who made it out were reluctant to say much about their time there. In fact, some refused to talk at all. The ones who did share spoke about seeing spirits and strange creatures.”

Amanda let out a little gasp.

The last thing Zane wanted was for his group to have an unreasonable fear of their destination. It was imperative that they not give in to irrational fear. “Look, we know the crater is in a dark corner of the jungle. My guess is that some of these legends are true, but the likeliest explanation is that many of the people who entered either got lost or were killed by predators.”

“What about the ones who did make it out?” Amanda asked. “They saw spirits and strange creatures. That doesn’t sound like jaguars and ocelots.”

Zane shrugged. “As I said, it’s a dark place… but I believe that’s only in a biological sense. I’d guess their imaginations ran wild.”

“I’m just not sure it’s that simple, Zane,” Katiya said.

“Did you ever get lost out in the woods as a kid?” Zane asked. “Well, I did. And once you realized you didn’t know the way home, things began to change. All of a sudden the trees got bigger and nothing looked familiar. Panic set in and gave you brain fog. That’s a recipe for hallucinations. It’s also how legends are started.”

“These were probably grown men, that’s the difference,” Katiya said. “These aren’t children wandering around in the woods at dusk.”

“He also told me something else. I think it might be helpful.” Max grabbed a stick and used it to draw a dot inside the circle. “He says that there’s a mountain right in the center of the crater. His people believe that many of the strange creatures come from that mountain.”

Zane’s eyes narrowed. He wondered if that was the anomaly that Ross and Chris were looking at back in DC.

“Why do they believe that?” Amanda asked.

“He didn’t say. Apparently the ones that made it back said the closer you got to the mountain the crazier things got. He didn’t use this word, but it’s similar to us saying a certain place is haunted.”

Katiya bit her lower lip then said, “I wonder if this has anything to do with why we’re here. I mean, don’t you find it more than a little strange that the very place we’re going to search for an alien presence is also a place the indigenous people say is haunted? To me it couldn’t be clearer. They saw aliens.”

“It’s not unreasonable to make that connection,” Zane agreed.

“It’s interesting they said things got stranger in close proximity to that mountain,” Amanda said. “Can you think of a better place from which to transmit a signal?”

Zane nodded then looked at Brett. “Do you remember seeing anything like that on our sat photos?”

“No, but I can’t rule out the presence of a mountain, particularly if it’s covered by jungle vegetation. Remember, it’s very difficult to discern topography from a satellite photo. You’re looking straight down at some of the thickest rainforest in the world.”

“I agree,” Katiya said. “If you’re looking straight down, it would likely appear to be one giant swath of green.”

Brett’s eyes narrowed. “I do remember that something caught my attention when I was reviewing the photos. It was a narrow area devoid of vegetation. I assumed it was a stream of some sort because that’s the one place where the canopy was broken. But now that I think about it, the line formed a circle.”

“I don’t follow you,” Katiya said.

“If the bottom slope of the mountain is steep or rocky, you wouldn’t see a lot of trees there.”

Katiya nodded.

“Where in the crater was it?” Amanda asked.

“If my memory serves me correctly, it was right here.” Brett tapped inside the circle. “Dead center.”

Zane thought it was significant that Brett’s anomaly was in the same general area that Osak had indicated earlier. It seemed clear that there was a mountain there. He also had to admit he was intrigued by the Papaqua legends regarding the area around the peak. If they saw some sort of alien being, wouldn’t that qualify as a strange creature?

Brett broke the silence. “I think that settles the question of what we’re going to do once we get in there.”

“We go straight to the mountain,” Amanda said.

Katiya caught Zane’s eye. “I also think we need a certain someone to accompany us.” Before he could respond, she said, “He’s been with us less than an hour and has already provided loads of assistance. Just think how helpful he could be down in that crater.”

“I agree,” Zane said. “Except we’re not in the business of forcing people to do things against their will. It’s up to him.”

Brett looked at Max. “He said he was familiar with the crater. Has he actually been there?”

“He said he’s been to the rim once, but it was at night and he doesn’t remember much about it except that it was a long drop to the bottom.” Max nodded at the ground. “He believes the map Jorge drew is accurate. When the trail comes to the fork, we’ll need to continue straight ahead.”

Katiya looked at Zane. Reading her thoughts, he turned to Max. “Ask him if he’d be willing to come with us.”

The linguist spoke to the boy. His answers came surprisingly quick. When he finished, Max translated his words. “Good news. He said he’ll come with us, but only because he’s afraid our lives are in danger and he wants to protect us. He also said he has two days before his tribe will become concerned by his absence.”

“That’s wonderful.” Katiya beamed.

“Does he know how long it will take to get to the rim?” Jorge asked.

After retrieving an answer from Osak, Max said, “If we hurry, we might get there by nightfall.”

COLONEL ZHENG LEE woke at dawn, hunger pangs gnawing at his stomach. He hated the jungle. The never-ending swarms of insects, the suffocating heat, the lack of a toilet, and now the persistent hunger. And if that weren’t enough, the frugal General Kong had insisted they get by on an exclusive diet of MREs. The only thing those skimpy meals did was keep the stomach acid at bay for an hour or so. Thankfully, Zheng had stowed away his own private supply of rice and fruits.

The colonel tried to force himself back to sleep, but to no avail. Not only was he hungry, but now his bladder was becoming painful as well.

With a loud grunt, he rose his knees. He flipped open the mosquito guard and crawled outside. He stood and stretched his muscles, jump-starting his circulation. Then he turned and made his way through the circle of tents, nodding at two guards who were coming off patrol.

After leaving camp, he continued over to the edge of the jungle about fifty yards away. The newly risen sun had not yet penetrated the thick canopy, but there was just enough light to get around without a flashlight. Finding his favorite clump of ferns, Zheng began relieving himself.

As he stood there, Zheng thought back on their meeting the night before. Apparently the Americans still had no idea what they might find, nor did they know anything about the place they were trying to get to.

Zheng cursed his superiors for sending them on this wild-goose chase. There was nothing out there in the middle of the jungle. After suffering for several days, they would discover what he already knew: the whole thing was a farce. Sure, they would be able to destroy the American team when the time came, exacting some measure of revenge for the dead Chinese Special Forces team, but at what cost? How many men would have to die?