“We picked up your distress beacon.”
Ben smiled and closed his eyes, never so happy to be alive.
55
Even Frank was exhausted when they finally reached the rescue boat. It just so happened Enzo had just sounded the siren so there were spooked birds overhead, flying in all directions in the twilight sky. It would be dark soon.
Wanda stumbled across the sand and leaned against the bow’s hull. “I’ve never been so glad to see this beautiful boat,” she said and patted the tire bumper.
Ryan and Jackie went over and climbed aboard.
Enzo stepped out of the pilothouse and gave everyone a welcoming smile. He looked past the couple and saw only Frank and Wanda.
Frank saw the puzzled expression on his face and shook his head. “I’m sorry but Ignacio is dead. So are Ben, James, and Kathy.”
Enzo didn’t seem to react to the bad news one way or the other, which really didn’t surprise Frank. He figured Enzo and Ignacio either had an employee-boss relationship and were not close friends, or Enzo accepted death as just another aspect of living in the dangerous jungle and considered it just a way of life.
“Ryan, help your mom so I can push us off,” Frank said.
Wanda walked wearily down the length of the boat. She raised her hand and Ryan hauled her up on the aft deck.
Enzo started one of the outboards. Frank reached up and placed his rifle on the fore deck. He took off his rucksack and tossed it up. “Okay, I’m ready!”
Frank put his shoulder into it and pushed the bow while Enzo reversed the engine.
The front of the rescue boat started to slip off the sandy shore and edged into the water. Frank ran alongside and gripped the gunwale. Ryan grabbed him by the arm and pulled him onto the deck.
“Wouldn’t we make better time if we used both outboards?” Ryan asked.
“I think Enzo wants to conserve on gas,” Frank explained. “It’s a long haul back.”
“That makes sense.”
“Besides, we can make pretty good time on just one engine.”
Enzo gunned the motor and steered down the middle of the river.
Ryan and Jackie went inside the cabin of the pilothouse to relax while Frank and Wanda went around to the fore deck to watch the sun slowly set in the jagged horizon of treetops.
“I can’t believe we did it,” Wanda said, misty-eyed. “I can’t believe we actually found them.”
Frank put his arm around Wanda’s shoulders. “Maybe we should consider starting our own jungle rescue service?”
“I don’t think so,” Wanda replied, and gave him a weary look.
“Hey, with the peanuts they pay us, might be a good way to pick up some extra cash.”
“Not going to happen.”
“Hmmm. Too bad.”
“Just shut up and kiss me.”
Frank didn’t say another word and did as he was told.
***
In all fairness, Frank decided Ryan and he would help Enzo and take one-hour shifts at the helm while Wanda and Jackie got some much-needed rest. They’d been traveling on the river for almost six hours when the two front halogen lights went out.
Ryan was at the helm and abruptly stopped the boat.
Without the powerful spotlights it was too risky navigating with only the dim moonlight that seemed to come and go obscured by the dark clouds accumulating for the next tropical rainstorm.
“Enzo, what’s happened to the lights?” Frank asked, looking up at the tall masts.
“Corroded lamps,” Enzo replied. He was already inside the pilothouse, rummaging through a locker. He found two packages and carried both out to the aft deck.
“Here, let me help you with those.” Frank took a package and put it under his arm. He slit open the wrapping on the other package and removed the lamp. He followed Enzo to the front of the boat.
Enzo went up the ladder to the cabin roof. Frank followed right behind. Being a natural climber, Enzo shimmed up the ten-foot mast on the portside. Once he reached the top, he swung open a mesh screen and removed the lamp. He tossed the burned-out lamp down to Frank and started wiping out any rust that might have formed in the socket.
A light shone in Frank’s face.
“Thought I could help,” Wanda said, diverting the beam of her flashlight as she climbed to the top of the ladder.
“Thanks, we could use some light.” Frank looked up and saw Enzo had finished cleaning the socket and was waiting. “What, you want me to toss it up?”
Enzo nodded.
“Okay, but—”
“Do you hear that?” Wanda said.
Frank had heard it, too.
Like thousands of dry leaves rustling in the trees. Only this sound was coming down the middle of the river; and it was heading straight for the boat.
“Take cover!” Frank yelled. He grabbed Wanda and they lay face down on the cabin roof, covering their heads with their hands.
Frank peered through the crook of his arm and saw nothing but a frenzy of small bodies with flapping wings. There had to be thousands of them.
“What are they?” Wanda yelled over the screeching and the beating wings.
“Vampire bats!” Frank shouted back. He heard a scream down below. It was Jackie. He could feel the vibration of the bats battering themselves against the bulkheads down inside the pilothouse.
Frank looked up and saw Enzo’s head and right shoulder. The rest of him was covered with clinging bats. He was holding on with one hand and trying to swat them off of his body and looked like he would fall at any moment.
“Frank, the damn things are biting me!” Wanda shouted.
He looked over and saw Wanda’s back was covered and they were walking up her pant legs and using their tiny claws on the edge of their parchment-thin wings to grab hold. He could see their ugly faces as they opened their mouths to nip at Wanda.
“Get off, you...” Frank got up on his knees and began slapping the bats off of Wanda.
But that only seemed to rile them up more. The nasty creatures wrapped their wings around his hands and bit at his fingers like they were a nighttime snack.
They flew at his face.
Then came the steady blare of the high shrill emergency siren.
Mounted on the pilothouse roof, the horn was ear piercing but Frank loved it because it was messing with the vampire’s echolocation and causing them to disband and fly off in every direction.
Once the bats had cleared the rooftop, Frank went over and leaned his head down so he could see into the window of the pilothouse. The bats inside were getting their bearings and flying out of the rear doorway. He could see about thirty dead bats on the deck that had collided into the pilothouse.
Jackie stepped out and looked up at Frank. “It was Ryan’s idea to sound the siren.”
“Tell him good job. It worked.” Frank turned and saw Wanda standing up. “You okay?” he asked.
“Damn little bloodsuckers.”
“Actually, after they bite you, they’re more like little blood lickers.”
“I need help up here,” Enzo said, still clinging to the mast. There were tiny wet blotches of blood on the back of his t-shirt.
“Sorry,” Frank said. “Wanda, we’ll need your flashlight again.”
“Sure thing.” She trained the beam near the top of the mast.
Frank tossed Enzo a new lamp. Enzo caught it with one hand and shoved it into the light housing. He slid down, crossed the roof, and climbed up the other mast. He tossed down the dead lamp and Frank threw up the replacement.
Enzo descended the pole and headed down the ladder to the rear door of the cabin.
“Wanda, we need to tend to everyone’s bites and make sure they’re disinfected. Enzo got bitten up pretty good. I’ll take his turn at the helm.”
Wanda just stood there staring at him.
“What?”
“Oh, I don’t know. I can’t help thinking...what the hell could possibly happen next?”
&
nbsp; 56
Ryan was too keyed up to sleep after the ordeal with the vampire bats and decided to hang out on the aft deck as it was cooler outside. The humidity had to be off the charts, especially inside the pilothouse. Despite only using one outboard motor, the rescue boat was moving at a good clip and offered a nice breeze to anyone on deck.
He heard the rear door open and was glad to see Jackie stepping out of the cabin.
“It’s like a sweatbox in there,” she said. “Great time for the air conditioning to crap out.”
“How’s my mom doing?”
“She and Frank are taking a nap.”
“I’m thinking of sleeping out here,” Ryan said.
“Who’s going to relieve Enzo?”
“I told him I would. I still have another forty-five minutes.”
Ryan leaned against the gunwale and put his arm around the small of Jackie’s back. He could feel her body press up against him.
She looked beautiful in the moonlight.
He couldn’t have picked a better setting for a first kiss; standing under the stars while taking a romantic boat ride through the jungle.
They were cruising under a dense canopy of tree limbs extending over the water.
He leaned in and puckered up while Jackie gazed in to his eyes and opened her mouth slightly. Ryan closed his eyes for the special moment.
“Ahhh,” Jackie gagged.
Ryan opened his eyes and pulled his head back. “What is it? What’s wrong?”
“A gnat flew into my mouth. Aghh, damn thing’s stuck in my throat.”
“Hold on, I’ll get you some water.” Ryan dashed into the cabin. He tried not to wake up his mother or Frank and stepped over to the portable water jug. He opened the spigot, poured water into a cup, and went back outside.
“Here this should...” Ryan stopped when he saw Jackie was gone. He went over to the portside of the boat and looked up the side of the pilothouse but she was nowhere to be seen. He went around the rear of the cabin and looked up the starboard side; still no Jackie.
“Jackie?”
No answer.
That’s when he realized she must have fallen off the boat.
Ryan flew into the pilothouse. “Stop the boat! Stop the boat!”
Frank and Wanda woke and sat up on the bench seats.
“What is it?” Frank said.
“Jackie’s fallen overboard,” Ryan shouted.
Enzo immediately shut down the outboard motor.
“We have to go back!”
“Enzo, reverse the engine. But do it slow,” Frank ordered.
Ryan ran back outside and leaned out over the transom. Enzo had directed the aft spotlights to shine on the water behind the boat.
Frank and Wanda stood on either side of Ryan, shining their flashlights into the water.
“Take it nice and slow!” Frank hollered so Enzo could hear him.
The underwater propeller churned up the water as the boat backed up the river.
“Do you see her?” Ryan shouted frantically.
“No, son,” Wanda said, panning her light on the water’s surface. “It’s so murky, I can’t see a thing.”
The boat started to go back under the dense overhang of tree branches.
Ryan looked up and saw Jackie’s boot protruding out of the leaves. “Up there! She’s up in the trees!”
Frank shined his flashlight in the foliage.
“My God, how did she get up there?” Wanda said.
“I can see her,” Frank said. “Wanda, do you see it?”
Wanda looked up and followed the beam of light from Frank’s flashlight. “I do.” She drew the nine-millimeter Browning, aimed, and fired three shots.
“Everybody look out,” Frank warned as something heavy crashed down through the branches.
The boa constrictor slammed down on the deck with Jackie still coiled in its death grip.
Wanda stepped up and shot the snake in the head.
Ryan and Frank lifted the enormous anaconda and unraveled its thick body off of Jackie.
“Jackie, can you hear me?” Ryan said, leaning down to see if she was still breathing. He was only inches away from her face when she opened her eyes.
“Ryan?”
“Thank God.”
Jackie looked over at the dead snake, which if straightened out, would have stretched to twenty feet long. “As soon as you left, it dropped its tail down, and pulled me up.”
Frank turned and shouted, “It’s okay, Enzo, we have her.”
Enzo waved. He stopped the boat then thrust the throttle forward.
Jackie looked up at Ryan and gave him a smile. “So, where’s my water?”
“Coming right up. Just do me a favor—don’t go anywhere.”
“Deal.”
57
“There it is,” Ryan said, as the rescue boat came around the bend and everyone saw the welcoming sight of the boat dock at the Black Caiman Jungle Lodge and Resort.
A man was standing at the end of the pier.
“Oh my God, is that Ben?” Jackie said.
“It sure is,” Ryan replied. “How the heck did he get here?”
Frank stood at the bow and tossed the mooring line out on the wharf. Ben grabbed the end and wrapped one turn around a cleat then took out the slack as the boat came alongside the pier.
“We thought you were dead,” Ryan said.
“I can’t believe you guys made it,” Ben replied.
Enzo turned off the outboard engine and came out of the pilothouse and joined Wanda on the aft deck.
“How long have you been back?” Jackie asked Ben.
“I just got here. A Brazilian army chopper found me and dropped me off.”
“Thank God you guys are back,” Ally yelled, running down the pier with Macky and Dillon to greet them.
Wanda stepped off the boat. She opened her arms and hugged Ally and Dillon.
Enzo looked down the pier. “Where’s Murilo?”
“We’re not sure,” Ally said. “We can’t seem to find him.”
“Mom, I got to play with baby alligators,” Dillon said.
“You what—?”
“I’ll tell you later, Mom,” Ally said. “It was no big deal, right, Macky?”
“Just another day at the petting zoo.”
“So where’s James and Kathy?” Ben asked.
“I’m afraid they’re dead,” Frank said. “Ignacio as well.”
“Jesus, what a mess,” Ben said. “I guess Ryan told you what happened to Miles?”
“Yeah,” Frank said. “So how’d they find you?”
“The floatplane had a distress signal.”
“You mean they were looking for you guys the whole time?” Wanda said.
“No, I think they picked up the signal by chance,” Ben replied.
“How about we go get cleaned up?” Frank said. “We can share horror stories later.”
“I’m for that,” Wanda said.
“We do have some good news,” Ally said as everyone disembarked the boat and began walking down the pier. “The airport will be opening in a couple of hours.”
“Hallelujah,” Wanda said joyously.
58
After everyone had showered and put on fresh clothes, they packed up their belongings and gathered in the lobby. A luggage cart was next to the front entrance, loaded with suitcases and duffle bags.
Ryan and Jackie were sitting together on a rattan couch, exchanging email addresses. Ryan didn’t have any high hopes his cell phone would even take a charge, let alone work, after what it had been through, but surprisingly it performed just fine.
Dillon glanced through the window and saw a family of spider monkeys outside on the catwalk, scampering down the railing. He looked over at Ally, sitting next to Macky on another couch.
“Ally, can I go play with the monkeys?”
“No,” Ally said in a firm tone. “You stay where I can see you.”
“Mom?” Dillon whined.
&
nbsp; “You heard your sister,” Wanda said. She was standing by the counter with Frank, who had a perplexed look on his face.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
“I’m worried about Murilo. Enzo says he’s looked just about everywhere but still can’t find his brother.”
“The river taxi isn’t going to be here for another couple of hours.”
“We need to help him. These guys put their lives on the line for us. It’s the least we can do.”
“Ally told me a little bit about what happened here while we were gone,” Wanda said.
“Oh, yeah. What was that?”
“Seems Ally, Macky, and Dillon went out in a canoe and the thing capsized. Apparently they got lost in the jungle.”
“Seriously?” Frank almost laughed.
“Yeah, well, Ally thinks Murilo went looking for them and never made it back.”
“So he might not even be anywhere around here.”
“Probably not, but maybe we should take a look for ourselves.”
“Let’s take Ryan and Jackie with us. Ally and Macky can stay here and watch Dillon. Don’t want anybody else getting lost.”
Wanda walked over and told Ally their plan. She waved to Ryan and Jackie to come with her and Frank as they walked out of the lobby.
“First thing, let’s find Enzo,” Frank said. “Tell him we’re going to help him find his brother.”
“I see him,” Ryan said. “He’s down there by that clearing.”
When they got down to the ground and walked over, they saw a pained look on Enzo’s face.
“What is it?” Frank asked.
Enzo didn’t say anything, just pointed over his shoulder at the edge of the jungle.
Frank led the way and they pushed through the high grass and low-hanging limbs into the gloomy foliage. They hadn’t gone twenty paces when they saw the mutilated body on the leaf-covered ground.
“Looks like he found Murilo,” Frank said.
“Oh my God,” Wanda said.
“He’s been torn to pieces,” Ryan said.
The stench was awful, the entrails and chewed flesh smothered with flies.
Jackie covered her nose and mouth with her hand and walked up to the corpse.
Deep In The Jungle Page 14
