Into the Darkness

by Margaret Daley

  “You are planning to go back with us?” Kate couldn’t keep alarm from lacing her question. She wouldn’t feel her brother was safe until he was back home.

  “Yes, of course. I won’t send you back without me to face what’s going on. I’ll return here when things are settled concerning who’s trying to kill us. Slader and I talked last night. He filled me in on what’s been going on. I can’t imagine who’d want to see me—us—dead.”

  “The rainy season will start soon, and we need to find a way back to Mandras,” Slader said with a glance around him. “Do you have any ideas?”

  Zach shook his head. “The Quentas can take us to the edge of their territory, but after that we’ll be on our own. I think you two need to recuperate a few days, then we’ll leave.”

  “But, Zach, shouldn’t we leave tomorrow?” Kate scanned the large hut, taking in everything that was different from what she was used to, feeling so out of place in this world. She wanted her familiar surroundings back. This one adventure would last her a lifetime.

  “Kate, I need a little more time. The first four weeks here I was in bad shape from the gunshot wound and the other injuries that I sustained. I’m just getting my own strength back to make the long trek to Mandras. That will give me enough time to complete my gathering of plants.”

  She knew the truth in her brother’s words. She hadn’t been up but an hour and already was tired and wanted to rest again. The jungle had a way of zapping a person’s energy, and hers had run dry in the days it had taken to get here. Just the thought of going back exhausted her.

  “Can I help with your gathering?” Kate asked, not sure what was expected of her and Slader in this new environment. In Red Creek, she knew and couldn’t wait to get back to her dull routine.

  “No, I’m working with the medicine man which I’ve discovered is an honor not bestowed on many. He’s the one who saved me from near death. I think he feels responsible for me now.”

  “What can we do?” Kate slid her gaze to Slader. She couldn’t get the idea that they were a team out of her mind.

  Zach rose. “Explore the area. This is a beautiful part of the jungle. When the little girl comes back, she wants to show you where the women wash. Go with her. It’s a pool set aside for the women of the tribe. No men allowed.”

  Kate remembered the other pool she had washed off in with Slader. That was when their relationship had begun to change, to what she wasn’t sure. In her heart she felt he was more than a friend, but what? They were just too different for there to be anything more between them than friendship, and yet she felt so close to him after their time spent on the hill.

  Later that day, Kate came back into the hut, refreshed, clean, almost feeling new again. She started for Zach’s hammock, and noticed her brother was nowhere to be found, but Slader paced in front of the mat he had slept on the night before. His expression held an excitement that electrified the air about him.

  He caught sight of her and stopped, a broad smile on his face that reached deep into his eyes. “Did you enjoy your bath?”

  “Yes. Zach’s right. The jungle on this plateau is glorious. I feel as if we’re in a story about a lost world.”

  Slader clasped her hand. “Perhaps we are. I have something to show you.”

  He framed her face with his hands and planted a deep kiss on her mouth that took her by surprise. When he leaned away, the zeal barely contained in him spread to encompass her. She smiled what she was sure was a silly grin, as though she were a teenager again and being courted by the most popular guy in school.

  “What do you want to show me?” she asked as he tugged her outside.

  “You’ll see.”

  Behind another long hut there stood a tall round pole with figures and markings faded with time, carved into it. Slader swept his arm toward it. “These markings are from the Inca culture. The symbols are similar to others I’ve seen at Inca sites in Peru. I’ve never heard or seen anything like this from other tribes in the Amazon.”

  “What does it mean?”

  “When I saw this pole, I discovered that this tribe moves it with them when they change their village location. I began exploring the area.” Again, Slader took her hand and strode toward the jungle in the opposite direction from the women’s bathing pool.

  After walking along a worn path, under the thick canopy for twenty minutes, the trail ended at the base of a huge stone structure that was overgrown with vegetation. Now the trees hemming it in towered over it as though cradling it from the world.

  “I think I found my Inca civilization in the Amazon. I think the Quentas are their ancestors. I’ll have to do some more exploring and have Zach ask questions for me to confirm that.” Grinning from ear to ear, he spread his arms wide, his expression full of life. “But in my gut, I know this is what I had been looking for all those years ago.”

  Kate snapped her gaping mouth closed. It was incredible. When she thought about how isolated the Quentas were and how different their lifestyle was, it was a definite possibility they could be the remnant of a lost civilization of Incas who had fled the Spanish conquerors.

  “God has given you back your life, your purpose,” Kate said.

  Slader swung around and faced her, the fervor gone from his expression. “No, God has nothing to do with this. This is pure dumb luck.”

  “I don’t believe anything happens by chance. So, what are you going to do about this?”

  His features again showing his earlier zeal, Slader touched a large stone with moss growing on it. “I don’t know. I just found it. But it does complicate things.”

  “With whom? You with your self-imposed exile?”

  He stepped back as if her words had struck him. The joy that had been carved into his features only a moment before vanished, replaced with anger. “What do you want from me?”

  “To be honest with yourself. Why is it people always blame God for everything that goes wrong?”

  “If, as you say, your God exists, then doesn’t He have the power to control everything? And therefore, He is the cause when things go wrong?” Slader’s voice was lethally quiet, barely heard over the chatter of a troop of monkeys high in the trees.

  “God created us to think for ourselves. We aren’t puppets merely performing a play to His dictation. What kind of life would that be? Is that what you want, no free will?”

  His eyes narrowed, his hands at his side clenching and unclenching.

  “I once read a story about a computer that decided everything for people. What kind of job they would hold. Who they would marry and when. Human error was taken out of their life. Do you think that would bring back Renee and your baby? Is that really what you want—to have no choices?”

  “Yes.” His one-word answer blasted her in the face.

  She moved into his personal space, toe to toe with him. “It doesn’t work that way. Going through life, you will make mistakes. Hopefully you’ll learn from them.”

  “You’ve retreated from men because of what happened when you were a teenager and your fight with your sister. Isn’t there something in your Bible that talks about casting the first stone?”

  His words hurt. Yet, she realized, she was doing the same with him. She had handled this all wrong.

  Lord, Slader is right. Please help me to understand the man and help him to see Your forgiveness, even if he can’t forgive himself for what happened to his wife and child, even if he can’t forgive You for taking them from him.

  The instant she finished her prayer, she realized something that Slader had been trying to get her to see. She hadn’t forgiven herself about Tess. She was doing exactly what he was doing—hiding from life, not living fully, because she didn’t think she deserved to, not after the fight she’d had with her sister.

  He released a long breath. “I shouldn’t have said that.”

  She looked him in the eye. “Yes, you should have. It appears as though neither one of us can move on with our lives because of our pasts. When do you thin
k we’ve done enough penance to forgive ourselves?”

  One corner of his mouth quirked. “That’s the million-dollar question.”

  “Do you think Tess or Renee would be pleased with how we have lived our lives?”

  Slader’s forehead furrowed. “Renee would have chewed me out.”

  “I don’t think Tess would be happy with—”

  “There you two are.” Zach approached them on the path with the Indian girl who had shown Kate the women’s bathing pool earlier. “Ah, I see you found the ruin.”

  “Do you know anything about the Inca civilization?” Slader asked, a silent message in his eyes that said he and Kate would talk later.

  “You think this ruin is Incan?”

  “A strong possibility. I would need to do some digging around. I’m really not equipped for what I would need to do to authenticate it as belonging to the Incan culture, but I’ll do what I can. Is this the only stone structure?”

  “Yes, at least visible. But, as you can see, the jungle reclaims the land quickly after a place is abandoned.”

  Kate listened to her brother and Slader discuss the building and the possibility it was Incan with Slader filling Zach in about his credentials as an archaeologist. She saw the excitement return to Slader’s expression. She heard it in his voice.

  “There’s going to be a feast tonight in honor of the woman with hair of fire and the man with eyes the color of a black jaguar nearby.”

  “There is one close by?” Kate searched the surrounding rainforest, suddenly feeling confined.

  Zach laughed. “You don’t need to worry, sis. Jaguars usually sleep during the day. It’s rare to see one. They stay hidden.”

  “Good. I would love to see one, but I’m afraid at a zoo is about all I can take.”

  “Your sister doesn’t do snakes, rats, bugs, spiders or caiman.” Slader counted off, using his fingers.

  “Oh, that’s too bad,” Zach said, shaking his head. “We’re having rat tonight for dinner. It’s roasting right now over the fire.”

  Chapter Eleven

  “A rat? As in one will feed this whole tribe?” Kate remembered the rat she had seen in the alley as she and Slader had fled Slick the first time. It was big but not that big.

  His lips pressed together, Zach kneaded the back of his neck. “Actually, you don’t need but one or two capybaras to feed this tribe unless you’re extra hungry. I seem to remember you have a healthy appetite.”

  Kate playfully hit her brother’s arm, which sent the Indian girl into giggles. “That’s not what I consider a rat.”

  “It’s a rodent. It’s a member of the same order of gnawing mammals, Rodentia.”

  “Count yourself lucky, Slader, that you don’t have a genius for a brother,” Kate said with a huff and started back toward the village with the girl.

  * * *

  “I wish we could stay a little longer with the Quentas,” Kate said as dawn broke two mornings later. Over the short time they had been there, she had learned a lot about the tribe and the jungle they lived so harmoniously with. She hated to think about what lay ahead for them when they left the Quentas and had to face Slick and his cohorts. But time didn’t stand still and sooner or later they needed to discover who was trying to kill them.

  Zach stuffed the last items into his backpack, then slung it over his shoulder. “We’ll slip by Slick and his men. There’s much to do when we get back to Mandras.”

  Taking Zach’s machete in his hand, Slader grabbed Kate’s pack. “Our guides are ready.” He nodded toward the entrance of the long hut. “Are you ready, Kate?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then let’s do this.” Slader motioned for Zach to go first with Kate next and him last.

  The easy pace their two Quentas guides set allowed Kate to keep up. She still perspired quite a bit, but she actually thought her body was getting used to the humidity. And the past few days’ rest had helped a lot. By midmorning, when Zach had the Indians stop for a break, she didn’t fall to the ground, but managed to ease down onto a log in a somewhat ladylike movement. She swallowed several gulps of water from her canteen then passed it to Slader.

  He tipped it back and drank. Kate watched, the whole time thinking her lips had just touched the same place his did and would again. A thrill shot through her, especially when she began remembering the kisses they had shared. What would it be like to share another one? Up until that moment she had been handling the heat just fine. All of a sudden it felt ten degrees hotter and sweat coated her face even more than usual. How was she going to handle not seeing Slader when she returned to Red Creek?

  “You okay?” Slader asked, handing back her canteen.

  She took another few sips, trying desperately not to think about his lips, his kisses. “I’m just hunky-dory,” she replied, less than successful in her endeavor.

  He gave her a strange look, as though he could read her thoughts and knew she wasn’t really hunky-dory. “If you say so. The pace is all right?”

  She nodded, deciding after using a word like hunky-dory, she should keep her mouth shut. Where was her thesaurus when she needed it? At home safe on her bookshelf. Safe. She’d forgotten what that word meant. When she returned to Red Creek, would all this seem like a dream, including her feelings for Slader? Somehow, she doubted it.

  Zach rose. “We need to get moving,”

  Slader pulled Kate to her feet and stopped her from following her brother with a hand on her arm. She turned to him, arching one brow in question.

  “Something’s wrong. I can feel it.”

  “You have that itch again?” Kate searched the area, half-expecting the four men looking for them to come charging out of the jungle.

  “No, not that.” He shook his head, plowing his hand through his damp hair. “I just sensed something from you. I thought maybe something was wrong. Must be my imagination.”

  It was her imagination that was getting her into trouble, not his. Kate kept her mouth shut this time and spun around to hurry after Zach and the two Quentas guides. But for the rest of the day, she kept from thinking about what it would be like if Slader kissed her again.

  At the end of the day, Kate collapsed at the edge of the river that marked the Quentas territory. She was in better shape than when she’d begun, but not that good that she wasn’t affected by the heat and humidity. The two Indians went into the jungle to hunt for some food while Zach and Slader set up the camp and retrieved wood for the fire. Kate had started to rise to help with the preparations when Slader waved her down.

  “We can handle it.” Slader lit the wood.

  “But—”

  “I’ve been in the Amazon a lot longer than you and have learned to deal with the climate. Kate, you have nothing to prove to me. You’ve been amazing on this trip.”

  She beamed, feeling the effect of his words from the top of her head to the tip of her toes. She was sure she was glowing so much that she could have been a beacon directing their pursuers to them. “I can just kick back and be a woman of leisure then?”

  “Sounds good to me.”

  His light tone set the mood for the rest of the evening while they enjoyed a roasted bird. The two Quentas offered to stand watch, so Kate curled up in Zach’s hammock while both men slept on the ground not far from her. Exhausted, she went to sleep right away, but images of Slick and his buddies invaded her dream. Sometime in the middle of the night, with sweat drenching her, she jackknifed straight up in the hammock with her mosquito netting a veil about her.

  The usual jungle noises greeted her and calmed her frantically beating heart. For a few seconds she couldn’t get the picture of Slick with his knife blade planted across her neck out of her mind. Slowly, she began to see what was really before her. Slader sat by the fire, having obviously put more wood on it, because it was going strong. The two Indian guides were alert at the edge of the jungle.

  “Kate? What’s wrong?”

  Slader’s question, full of gentle query, wafted to h
er, causing her to recall another part of her dream, the part where Slader kissed her again. She inhaled deeply and held the breath for a few seconds. “Nothing. Just a bad dream.”

  “Then go back to sleep.”

  The jolt of coming awake suddenly wiped any desire to sleep from her mind. She swung her legs to the ground and stood. Making her way to the fire, she sat next to Slader and picked up a stick beside her. The scent of smoke blended with the aroma of moldy vegetation, searing her nostrils with the stench.

  “Can’t sleep. You’re stuck with me. Why aren’t you sleeping?” Kate drew circles in the dirt by her feet, aware of the sounds of rushing water and the constant monotonous drone of insects, with an occasional pierce of an animal’s call.

  “Can’t. Trying to figure out the best way to make it back to Mandras in one piece.”

  “Come up with a plan yet?”

  “We’re staying off the river and going by land, which won’t be easy.”

  “You don’t have to worry about me. I can do it.” She tossed the stick to the ground.

  He chuckled. “I knew you would say that. Then I’ll worry about myself. I know how hard it will be and going by land doesn’t guarantee we won’t run into Slick and his pals.”

  “We haven’t come this far not to make it to Mandras.”

  “Because your God is going to protect us?”

  “Yes,” Kate said instantly, knowing that in every fiber of her being. “You believed once, so He was your God, too. Has being angry at Him solved your problem, made you feel better?”

  His mouth curved down in a frown. “I’m just hunky-dory.”

  Kate winced at the expression she’d used earlier. “Who are you really angry with, yourself or God?”

  “Why aren’t you mad? He took your family away from you?”

  “Death is a part of this life. Believing in God was what made it bearable for me, because I’ll be reunited with them one day. If I hadn’t had God to turn to for solace, then I…” She shuddered at the thought of her life without the Lord and His love.