When The Jaguar Sleeps: A jungle adventure (19 page)

‘Gabriela.’ Brian spoke her name inwardly and started to ponder his own feelings for her.

A shadow of boredom had crept into their relationship and their secret meetings had become routine. The exciting feeling of risk and adventure, which in the beginning so strongly dominated their liaison, adding spice to it, had begun to weaken. Their affair was ceasing to amuse him. In fact, he had to admit he was fed up with it. It was time for a change, a new conquest. Gabriela was different to him. She took their relationship far too seriously. She wanted to see him more often and spend more time with him while he wanted the exact opposite. The last time they had parted Brian had refused to make a date for their next meeting. Even to him his excuses, that he was too busy at the moment, had sounded weak and unconvincing. To soften the blow he’d promised to get in touch with her soon, but Gabriela did not say anything to that, only stared at him for a long, uncomfortable moment with her large, dark eyes, filled with sadness and disappointment.

Clearly impatient and irritated, Brian looked again at his watch. It was almost half an hour past the appointed time and still no one had shown up, still no drink had been brought.

‘So he thinks he is such an important person that he can keep others waiting,’ he thought with contempt. ‘If nobody comes in the next quarter of an hour I swear I’ll go away.’

He pulled out a cell phone and called Emilio, but got no answer. The line rang several times and then kicked into voicemail. No, he did not want to leave a message.

Brian stood up. He was genuinely tired of waiting, honestly fed up with it. He had better things to do, big money or not. He picked up his bag from the table, and stepped into the hallway, the hard soles of his polished cognac leather shoes clacking loudly on the tiled floor.

‘Hello, is anyone there?’ he shouted, but a deafening silence was the only reply.

He went over to the room on the other side of the hall. He pushed open the door and peered inside. It was completely empty. There was no furniture at all. There was another door on the far side of the room. He turned its round knob and pushed hard but it would not budge. It was locked. He tried the other doors opening out of the hall but they were locked, as well.

What was going on?

He’d had enough. He grabbed the front door handle but discovered that this was locked too. And there was no sign of the key.

Suddenly, he heard muffled footsteps behind him. Someone was coming. Instinctively, he released the door handle and turned around only to find himself standing face to face with an unfamiliar tall, well-built, black-clad and drab-looking man. Was this his potential client? Brian’s mouth opened ready to issue a rebuke when from the corridor opening emerged three more similar figures. They took his bag away and twisted his arms behind his back, crossing them at the wrists. At first he was so surprised at this unexpected, strange unfolding of the situation that he just stood, frozen.

Soon, however, he snapped out of his passive state. Someone had set a trap for him and he’d walked straight into it. But who? And why? Did they want to rob him?’ He did not anticipate anything of this kind at all.

With a sudden twist and a wrench Brian managed to tear one arm free and, using all his strength, he struck the face of the assailant closest to him. The man, caught by surprise, staggered and nearly fell. Then in quick succession Brian kicked the other men as hard as he could in the knees. Stunned they let go of their grasp and Brian darted away and leapt up the staircase, at the same time reaching for the gun tucked in a holster hidden under his jacket. But then came the loud cracking sound of a bullet being fired and at the same moment he felt a piercing, burning pain in his calf. Turning, he saw the first of the black-clad men was pointing a smoking pistol at him.

Brian staggered, a grimace of pain contorting his face. His gun dropped from his trembling hand, rolling over the steps before falling down with a loud thud at the bottom of the staircase. He somehow managed to pull himself up the next couple of steps.

When he looked up, he caught sight of someone else standing on the first floor landing in front of him. No, it was not one person, but two. A man and a woman. He wanted to scream, cry for help, but before any sound could leave his mouth, he froze, stunned. The woman had her hands tied and her mouth was gagged, and the man standing next to her pressed the muzzle of his gun to her right temple.

‘Gabriela . . .’ Brian’s voice choked with emotion as his gaze met her pleading eyes.

At the same time he felt himself grabbed from behind. Overpowered, he was pulled down the stairs. Blood was running down his calf, drenching his trouser leg, filling his shoe.

The black-clad men took him back to the same room in which he had previously waited. They pushed him into the armchair behind the desk and tied him to it, wrapping thick cords around his body so thoroughly and so tightly that he could hardly breathe. Brian’s ears were filled with the sound of blood pumping in his temples, growing ever louder, drowning out all other sounds.

The tallest of the men produced a first aid kit. With one quick, efficient movement of his sharp knife blade he cut away Brian’s trouser leg and placed a dressing on the gaping gunshot wound. Then he wrapped around a bandage.

What was going on?

First they shot him, and now they were attending to his injury. All this did not make much sense. Perhaps they did not want to kill him, just imprison him. But for what purpose? A spark of hope lit inside him that he might still get out of this alive.

Then one of the assailants took a knife and slashed the sleeves of his jacket and shirt, revealing his bare skin. Then another one stabbed his arm with the needle of a syringe, injecting him with some clear liquid. In a fit of a sudden desperation Brian tried to jerk his arm away, but his efforts were to no avail.

After a while all the attackers went away, leaving him alone in the room, strapped to the chair. He didn’t feel sleepy, so guessed they had not injected him with a sedative.

A painkiller? A poison?

His arm began to tingle with a slight burning sensation. A small swelling appeared where the needle had punctured his skin.

Why had they captured Gabriela? What were they going to do to her? He wondered briefly if Emilio had also fallen into their trap? Who was behind all this?

He tried frantically to think of a way to escape from his bonds, his mind whirring and racing with thousand thoughts but coming up with nothing useful at all. Feeling that it was pointless he abandoned soon his futile attempts, passively letting himself go, waiting for his enemies next move.

Just then his ears picked up a noise in the hallway outside, the sound of approaching footsteps. Hard-soled shoes struck rhythmically and determinedly on the terracotta floor. His assailants had worn soft-soled shoes so it was not one of them. Someone else was coming.

Soon the silhouette of an elderly man appeared in the doorway, his face hard to identify in the dim light of the hallway.

Yet he did recognise him. It was Emilio.

He walked over to one of the leather armchairs and sat down facing Brian, not taking his eyes off him. His pale face was expressionless except for a strange glee in his gaze.

‘Emilio, did you fall into the trap too? Who are these people? What is this all about? Help me! Set me free before they return. Come on, hurry up! We do not have much time.’ Brian felt waves of relief washing over him, sure that the familiar figure was his saviour.

But Emilio did not move or say anything, just sat stiffly in the leather armchair, staring with cold confident eyes while something like a shadow of a smile flickered across his lips.

Suddenly Brian felt a sharp, excruciating pain in his head, and his voice stuck in his throat as he was seized by a wave of nausea, the room spinning in front of his eyes, everything becoming blurry. Then the attack passed as quickly as it had come.

Two more people entered the room. Gabriela was propelled forwards by one of the men in black, his gun pressing into her.

‘Make her sit here next to me and stay with us,’ said Emilio. ‘Keep an eye on her. I don’t want to strap her to the chair. But arm yourself with patience. I do not know how long it will take, maybe even two hours.’

Brian stared at him aghast, words dying in his throat. Like a bolt from the blue it dawned on him that Emilio was not a victim. On the contrary, it was he who had decided to imprison him. Him and Gabriela. He knew about their affair.

He wanted to take revenge.

Brian’s stomach churned and beads of cold sweat appeared on his forehead, glistening in the warm lamplight of the room. His head was spinning and bursting with pain, everything blending and blurring in front of his eyes. He was fighting to stay awake. He felt very, very tired and his breath was coming in shallow gasps.

‘What have you done to me?’ he choked, the effects of the syringe apparent in the slurring of his speech and the quivering of his lips. Two thin rivulets of saliva escaped and trickled down his chin.

‘What sort of poison did you tell them to inject me with? You know… you…you son of a bitch… you are a real coward because you lured me into a trap... in such a treacherous way…’ The veins on his forehead and neck stood out like ropes while his whole body began to shake uncontrollably.

Emilio had so far only looked on in silence, his eyes cold and hard, full of contempt and hatred. Finally he spoke, his hoarse measured voice sending shivers of dread down Brian’s spine.

‘What sort of poison? Well, if you really want to know … but mind you, knowing it won’t save you. Coral snake venom. Very strong, contains a lot of neurotoxins. It works pretty fast. Death usually occurs within a few hours after the bite. But the dose you were injected with is greater than the amount from a snake, so in your case death should occur soon, but not before you have fully experienced the fear of anticipation. I don’t want to be here until the evening – just an hour or two enjoying your suffering is enough for me. And Gabriela will have enough time to regret all the wrong she has done me. Yes, I know about your affair. I had suspected you for a long time, then got irrefutable evidence. You were both so confident, thinking that I knew nothing. You are too much used to having everything you want, Brian. You just take, without worrying about the consequences. You knew how much Gabriela meant to me, how much I loved her. For you she was just another conquest, another spicy adventure. You would soon get bored with her and reject her, not giving a damn. To die from a gunshot would be far too fast and too easy for you. That’s why I chose the snake venom. I want you to suffer and have the opportunity to regret what you did, to feel the fear of your fast-approaching, inevitable death.’

Gabriela’s eyes filled with tears that began to trickle down her cheeks in two thin rivulets. She could not speak, because her mouth was still gagged. She gazed alternately at Brian and at her husband, her eyes full of sadness and an uncontrollable impotent rage.

An almost palpable tension filled the room, making the air feel heavy and it became eerily quiet again.

Minutes ticked away.

Brian had the impression that his mouth had become numb and his tongue swollen, and although he tried to, he could not utter another word. He felt he was getting weaker with every minute that passed. Before long his whole body felt numb. In the awkward silence that reigned in the room he could hear only the coarse whistling sound of his own rapid, shallow breathing.

Half an hour later, his body shook in violent spasms, then suddenly was stretched like a string, stiffened and froze motionless, his head flopped to one side.

Emilio waited a moment, then walked over to him and checked his pulse.

‘He’s dead. Death came sooner than I thought,’ he stated briefly. ‘Untie her and remove the gag from her mouth,’ he said, pointing at Gabriela.

‘You bastard, I hate you, you did not have to do that. You are a cruel, disgusting man. I loathe you and will never forgive you. I hope you will burn in hell,’ she blurted out in one breath as soon as she was freed. Primal, uncontainable rage seethed through her, lighting strangely her eyes, a venomous hatred blazing in them.

‘You brought it upon yourself. You should not have betrayed me. I have always let you do and have everything you wanted but you rewarded all that good with pure evil, you ungrateful creature. When I married you, you had nothing. I took care of you and gave you everything, made you what you are now. And Brian… well, he got what he deserved. Did you think I’d let you insult me, sully my honour without doing anything about it? I don’t want to see you anymore. Go back to your mother. Now, right away, immediately. Get out of here! Go!’ he spat the last words, unable to control any longer the anger boiling inside him.

‘Well, if that’s what you want. You can have it your way.’

Gabriela stood up proudly, straightened her dress, gave him just one last look, her intense, beautiful eyes brimming with utter contempt and loathing, and then went briskly out into the hallway, and without ever looking behind headed towards the front door, now standing wide open.

Emilio followed her a few paces behind and watched as Gabriela walked swiftly and gracefully down the broad, low stone steps. At the bottom a car was waiting. Gabriela was about to get in when Emilio reached into his pocket and pulled out a small revolver, aiming it directly at the young woman. Without a moment of hesitation he pulled the trigger. A shrill whistling sound could be heard as two bullets flew through the air and entered the soft flesh of Gabriela’s lower back. She swayed, a short groan of pain escaping her lips. Her body stiffened and instantly tipped over, crashing down to the ground, head first. She was dead. There was little doubt about it. A pool of bright crimson blood formed quickly around her.