by RB Schalin
Chapter 18
Hogan wakes up and crawls out of the tent. The sun is just coming up over the treetops and the heat is already oppressive. There is no wind in the air and it feels like he could cut the humidity with a knife. He looks around and sees a couple of canoes on the water a hundred yards away. There are two men in each, and he thinks they are fishing.
He finds Ortiz in the cabin who gives him a chipped cup with strong coffee. Hogan goes back on deck and leans against the railing sipping his coffee.
"Good morning, where did you get the coffee?" asks Kerry coming up behind him.
Hogan points with his thumb towards the cabin and says, "Ortiz. When you come back, I have a couple of questions for you I was thinking about last night."
Kerry walks off and when he comes back the two men lean against the railing and Kerry asks, "what was the question?"
"Actually, I have a couple. You said the letter you found in Cadiz was in a museum, so how did you get access to it to do tests?"
Kerry says, "good question, the museum thought of it as a minor item in their collection. Letters from that period are not uncommon and therefore I was allowed to take it with me, and they had one of their curators go with me."
"OK, but why put all your money and time on that letter. There is nothing in it to prove what the man who wrote it says is true."
Kerry doesn’t say anything at first just sips his coffee, then turning to Hogan he says, "have you ever used your gut feeling?"
"Sure, during combat and as a DEA agent."
"OK, I’m using my gut feeling. There were too many details the man writing it couldn’t have known without actually being there. In those days Wikepidia and the Internet didn’t exist."
"Like what?"
"He describes plants, trees and the different animals that only live in this area, so he had to have seen them to be able to write about them, right?"
"Mm, but he could also have heard it from someone else and then written it down like if it was him being there."
"I don’t think so, or I don’t want to believe so. Maybe I’m an adventurer and a romantic, but in my mind he was here and saw what he saw. All we have to do is ask around and we should be able to find the same place."
They hear a sound behind them and when they turn around Julia is coming out of the tent. Her hair is in disorder and her face is pale and she looks tired.
"Rough night?" asks Hogan.
"I had this strange dream that we were being watched, " she says rubbing her eyes.
"From where? The shore?" asks Kerry.
Julia looks out over the river and a flock of colorful birds, leaves the trees and fly across it, just above their heads. She follows them until they disappear into the jungle on the other side, then turning back to the men she says, "no, the person or persons were on the boat, looking down at us while we slept."
"Impossible, I’m a light sleeper, if an ant walks past me I’ll wake up," says Hogan and throws the sludge of coffee overboard and then continues, "I’m getting another cup, anyone else?"
"Yes, please," says Julia.
Kerry shakes his head, but gives his empty cup to Hogan who goes looking for Ortiz. He finds him at the helm getting ready to start the engine. When he sees Hogan he says something and Hogan turns around, calling to Julia for her to come and translate.
After a short conversation, Julia says, "Ortiz says that from here he can go faster and if we are lucky we could be at the drop off point late tomorrow afternoon. He wants to know what we thought about the visitor we had last night?"
Hogan looks at her and before his eyes, her face goes pale again, and she looks him in the eye with a questioning look.
"Ask him what he means, what visit?"
When Ortiz has finished a long explanation Julia calls for Kerry to join them and when he arrives, she says, "Ortiz says there is a tribe out there," she points at the jungle, "who don’t really interact with the tribes along the river. They are very shy and prefer to hide in the jungle, but sometimes at night when they think everyone is sleeping they will come out and look around in the camps or villages. As far as he knows they are harmless, but if you ever happen to see one of them in, it might scare you."
Kerry asks, "why would it scare someone?"
Julia asks Ortiz, and then translates, "apparently they have tattoos and some kind of disfigurement in their faces."
"Uh-huh, great now we have little Indian monsters sneaking around at night, " says Hogan with a sigh."
"Does he know where they come from?" asks Kerry.
Ortiz shakes his head when Julia asks him and then says something. Julia’s eyebrows go up and she turns to Kerry, "he doesn’t know for sure, but he has heard story's about them since he was a kid. They are about a tribe living deep in the jungle, underground, and only coming out at night. It’s like the local boogie man."
Kerry thanks Ortiz and the three Americans go back to their tent. Just as they arrive the boat slowly moves out to the middle of the river, and Ortiz increases speed until they feel like they are flying over that flat surface.
"Why the look?" asks Hogan
He is watching Kerry, who is in deep thought flicking through his notebook. After a minute or so he looks up at the other two.
"There is a note in the letter, about some Indians the man who wrote it saw. He never interacted with them, it was more like he saw them passing, or if he past them at some point. Anyway, he describes their faces as similar to rabbits?"
Hogan laughs and says, "what? Big teeth and pointy ears? "
Julia giggles, but Kerry looks serious, he searches for a page in the notebook and reads from it, "their faces were narrow and their noses twitched like a rabbit." He closes the book and looks at them.
"So, they have deformed noses, no big deal, "says Hogan.
"I guess not. I just thought it was interesting that we got a visit from someone who could be a relative to the people who lived here around five hundred years ago, don’t you?"
