Birds checked in-squawking louder and more ferociously than Nolan ever had even at his crankiest.
“Just listen to them,” Laura said. “They’re all around us and loud as can be. Oh, Mac-what do you think the ice acid does to animals? Like Grubster and Nolan?”
I stopped cold and stared at her. “I hadn’t thought about them. Doesn’t it make sense that they’d sleep just like we did? That they’d wake up, just like we did? That they’d be all right?”
I thought she was going to burst into tears.
“That was a stupid question,” I said without hesitation. “I’ll wager my AK-47 that they’re just fine.” The panic calmed in her eyes. “Maggie’s probably feeding them. Don’t worry, Laura.”
We kept walking, looking carefully down and around before we took each step. To walk a mile would take three hours, I figured, cursing at the boots rubbing my heels.
Then, suddenly, with no warning, it started to rain. We just looked at each other, tilted our heads back, and opened our mouths. The water tasted wonderful. Suddenly, something with a dozen skittering legs landed on my cheek. I shook it off, cupped my hands together, and drank.
The rain was so heavy, even coming through the dense canopy of green overhead, that in just a minute or two we weren’t thirsty anymore. We were also sodden and nearly steaming, it was so hot. It felt miserable. God, I couldn’t wait to be on a ski slope, puffs of cold air streaming out of my mouth.
I raised my hand and rubbed my fingers over a dirty smudge on Laura’s cheek. “You know, Laura, when I flew from Washington just a week ago, I never imagined ending up in a rain forest with the woman I love, someone I had to come three thousand miles to meet.”
“This isn’t anything I’d anticipated either,” she said, and kissed my fingers. “We’d better get to work on finding Savich and Sherlock.”
I laid my weapons on the ground and buttoned her shirt up to her neck, then raised the collar. It touched her chin. “Let’s keep as much covered as we can,” I added, and buttoned my own shirt up to my chin. Our sleeves were fastened at our wrists. At least our fatigues were tucked inside our boots and the boots were sturdy. It was good protection from all the creatures that slithered close to us.
We started walking northeast, roughly parallel to what looked like clear-cut land just outside the rain forest, not more than a hundred yards distant. We wanted to stay hidden until we were well beyond the compound. After another hour, we turned south again. It didn’t take more than twenty minutes to reach the edge of the rain forest. The thick foliage suddenly thinned. The sun was bright overhead, the air immediately drier. The difference in the landscape couldn’t have been more dramatic. The lush, dense forest simply gave way to an indistinct barren patch.
I figured we were at least a hundred yards northeast of the compound.
Chapter Twenty-Three
There were mountains in the distance, their tops shrouded with clouds.
There was no sign of people, of any habitation at all. We’d stepped out of a green world filled with more creatures than anywhere else on the planet into desert terrain. The sun dried our clothes in less than fifteen minutes. It also made us thirstier than hell.
“We need water,” Laura said. “Then some shelter.” She pointed toward a copse of trees not too far away. The copse was on a small hill. From there we might see some sign of life, perhaps even the compound.
“Listen,” Laura said. She pointed up. Above, a small plane was coming closer.
It was then I saw the empty airstrip a few hundred yards from where we stood. A four-seat Cessna was coming in.
We ran back into the rain forest until we heard the plane land, then slowly eased out on our bellies. We could barely make out three people getting off the plane, walking to a jeep, and getting in. Men or women, we couldn’t be sure. The jeep drove off, due east from the airstrip.