Captain Waxman ordered the bulk of his Rangers to remain with the other civilians. He and Frank joined in following Nate.
Kelly hurried forward and saw a pair of Rangers on the ground ahead. They seemed to be fighting, one rolling in the dirt, the other striking him with the flat of his hand.
Nate ran toward them.
"Get these goddamn shits off me!" the Ranger on the ground yelled, rolling through the underbrush. It was Sergeant Kostos.
"I'm trying," Corporal Warczak replied, continuing to slap at the man.
Nate knocked the corporal aside. "Stop! You're only making them angrier." Then to the soldier on the ground, he ordered, "Sergeant Kostos, lie still!"
"They're stinging me all over!"
Kelly was now close enough to see that the man was covered with large black ants, each about an inch long. There had to be thousands of them.
"Quit moving and they'll leave you alone."
Kostos glanced to Nate, eyes burning and angry, but he did as told. He stopped thrashing in the brush and lay panting.
Kelly noticed the blistered welts all over his arms and face. It looked as if he had been attacked with a burning cigarette butt.
"What happened?" Captain Waxman asked.
Nate held everyone away from Kostos. "Stand back."
Kostos trembled where he lay. Kelly saw the tears of pain at the corners of the man's eyes. He must be in agony. But Nate's advice proved sound. As he lay, unmoving, the ants stopped biting and crawled from his arms and legs, disappearing into the leafy brush.
"Where are they going?" Kelly asked.
"Back home," Kouwe said. "They were the colony's soldiers." He pointed past a few trees. A few yards ahead a jungle clearing opened, so empty and bare it looked as if someone had taken a broom and hedge clippers to the area. In the center stood a massive tree, its branches spread through the space, a solitary giant.
"It's an ant tree," the professor continued to explain. "The ant colony lives inside it."
"Inside it?"
Kouwe nodded. "It's just one of the many ways rain forest plants have adapted to animals or insects. The tree has evolved with special hollow branches and tubules that serve the ants, even feeding the colony with a special sugary sap. The tree in turn is serviced by the ants. Not only does the colony's debris help fertilize the tree, but they're active in protecting it, too--from other insects, from birds and animals." Kouwe nodded to the clearing. "The ants destroy anything that grows near the tree, trimming away stranglers or climbers from the branches themselves. It's why such spots in the jungle are called supay chacra, or a devil's garden."
"What a strange relationship."
"Indeed. But the relationship is mutually beneficial to both species--tree and insect. In fact, one cannot live without the other."
Kelly stared toward the clearing, amazed at how intertwined life was out here. A few days back, Nate had shown her an orchid whose flower was shaped like the reproductive parts of a certain species of wasp. "In order to lure the insect over to pollinate it." Then there were others that traded sugary nectars to lure different pollinators. And such relationships weren't limited to insect and plant. The fruit of certain trees had to be consumed by a specific bird or animal and pass through its digestive tract before it could root and grow. So much strangeness, all life dependent and twined with its neighbors in a complex evolutionary web.
Nate knelt beside the sergeant, drawing back her attention. By now, the ants had vacated the soldier's body. "How many times have I warned you to watch what you lean against?"
"I didn't see them," Kostos said, his voice pained and belligerent. "And I needed to take a leak."
Kelly saw the man's zipper was indeed down.
Nate shook his head. "Against an ant tree?"
Kouwe explained as he rummaged through his pack. "Ants are tuned to chemical markers. The man's urine would have been taken as an assault on the colony living in the tree."
Kelly broke out a syringe of antihistamine, while Kouwe removed a handful of leaves from his own pack and began to rub them together. She recognized the leaves and the scent of the oily compound. "Ku-runyeh?" she asked.
The Indian smiled at her. "Very good." It was the same medicinal plant that Kouwe had used to treat her blistered fingers when she had touched the fire liana vine. A potent analgesic.
The two doctors began to work on their patient. As Kelly injected a combination of an antihistamine and a steroidal antiinflammatory, Kouwe smeared some of the ku-run-yeh extract on the soldier's arm, showing him how to apply it.
The sergeant's face reflected the immediate soothing relief. He sighed and took the handful of leaves. "I can do the rest myself," he said, his voice hard with embarrassment.
Corporal Warczak helped his sergeant stand.
"We should skirt around this area," Nate said. "We don't want to camp too near an ant tree. Our food might draw their scouts."
Captain Waxman nodded. "Then let's get going. We've wasted enough time here." His glance toward the limping sergeant was not sympathetic.
Over the next half hour, the group wound again under the forest canopy, accompanied by the hoots and calls of capuchin and wooly monkeys. Manny pointed out a tiny pigmy anteater nestled atop a branch. Frozen in place by fear, it looked more like a stuffed animal with its large eyes and silky coat. And of more menace, but appearing just as artificial due to its fluorescent-green scales, was a forest pit viper, wrapped and dangling from a palm frond.
At last, a shout arose from up ahead. It was Corporal Warczak. "I've found something!"
Kelly prayed it wasn't another ant tree.
"I believe it's a marker from Clark!"
The group converged toward the sound of his voice. Up a short hill, they found a large Brazil nut tree. Its bower shaded a great area littered with old nuts and leaves. Upon the trunk, a small strip of torn cloth hung, soaked and limp.
The others approached, but Corporal Warczak waved them all away. "I've found boot tracks," he said. "Don't trample them."
"Boot tracks?" Kelly said in a hushed voice as the soldier slowly circled the tree, then stopped on the far side.
"I see a trail leading here!" he called back.
Captain Waxman and Frank crossed over to him.
Kelly frowned. "I thought Gerald Clark came out of the forest barefooted."
"He did," Nate answered as they waited. "But the Yanomamo shaman we captured mentioned that the Indian villagers had stripped Clark of his possessions. They must have taken his boots."
Kelly nodded.
Richard Zane pointed toward the tree. "Is there another message?"
They all waited for the okay to enter the area. Captain Waxman and Frank returned, leaving Corporal Warczak crouched by the trail.
The group was waved forward. "We'll camp here," Waxman declared.
Sounds of relief flowed, and the team approached the tree, decaying nuts crackling underfoot. Kelly was one of the first to the trunk. Again, deeply incised in the bark were clear markings.
"G. C.: Clark again," Nate said. He pointed in the direction of the arrow. "Due west. Just like the boot trail Warczak found. Dated May seventh."
Olin leaned against the tree. "May seventh? That means it took Clark ten days to reach the village from here? He must have been moving damn slowly."
"He probably didn't make a beeline like we did," Nate said. "He probably spent a lot of time searching for some sign of habitation or civilization, tracking back and forth."
"Plus he was getting sick by this time," Kelly added. "According to my mother's examination of his remains, the cancers would've been starting to spread through his body. He probably had to rest often."
Anna Fong sighed sadly. "If only he could've reached civilization sooner...been able to communicate where he'd been all this time."
Olin shoved away from the tree. "Speaking of communication, I should get the satellite uplink set up. We're due to conference in another half hour."
"I'
ll help you," Zane said, heading off with him.
The rest of the group dispersed to string up hammocks, gather wood, and scrounge up some local fruits. Kelly busied herself with her own campsite, spreading her mosquito netting like a pro.
Frank worked beside her. "Kelly...?" From her brother's tone, she could tell he was about to tread on cautious ground.
"What?"
"I think you should go back."
She stopped tugging her netting and turned. "What do you mean?"
"I've been talking to Captain Waxman. When he reported the attack this morning to his superiors, they ordered him to trim nonessential personnel after a safe camp had been established. Last night was too close. They don't want to risk additional casualties. Plus the others are slowing the Rangers down." Frank glanced over his shoulder. "To expedite our search, it's been decided to leave Anna and Zane here, along with Manny and Kouwe."
"But--"
"Olin, Nate, and I will continue with the Rangers."
Kelly turned fully around. "I'm not nonessential, Frank. I'm the only physician here, and I can travel just as well as you."
"Corporal Okamoto is a trained field medic."
"That doesn't make him an M.D."
"Kelly..."
"Frank, don't do this."
He wouldn't meet her eyes. "It's already been decided."
Kelly circled to make him look at her. "You decided this. You're the leader of this operation."
He finally looked up. "Okay, it was my decision." His shoulders sagged, and he swung away. "I don't want you at risk."
Kelly fumed, trembling with frustration. But she knew the decision was indeed ultimately her brother's.
"We'll send out a GPS lock on our current position and leave two Rangers as guards. Then a team will evacuate you as soon as a Brazilian supply helicopter with the range to reach camp can be coordinated. In the meantime, the remaining party--the six Rangers and the three of us--will strike out from here."
"When?"
"After a short rest break. We'll leave this afternoon. March until sundown. Now that we're on Clark's trail, a smaller party can travel faster."
Kelly closed her eyes, huffing out a sigh. The plan was sound. And with the contagion spreading here and in the States, time was essential. Besides, if something was found, a scientific research team could always be airlifted to the site to investigate. "I guess I have no choice."
Frank remained silent, cinching his hammock for his short rest break.
A call broke the tension. Olin, busy establishing the satellite uplink, shouted, "We're ready here!"
Kelly followed Frank to the laptop, again protected under a rain tarp.
Olin hunched over the keyboard, tapping rapidly. "Damn it, I'm having trouble getting a solid feed." He continued working. "All this dampness...ah, here we go!" He sat up. "Got it!"
The ex-KGB agent slid to the side. Kelly crouched with Frank. A face formed on the screen, jittering and pixellating out of focus.
"It's the best I can manage," Olin whispered from the side.
It was their father. Even through the interference, his hard face did not look pleased. "I heard about last night," he said as introduction. "It's good to see you're both safe."
Frank nodded. "We're fine. Tired but okay."
"I read the report from the army, but tell me yourselves what happened."
Together Frank and Kelly quickly related the attack by the strange creatures.
"A chimera?" her father said as they finished, eyes narrowed. "A mix of frog and fish?"
"That's what the biologist here believes," Kelly said pointedly, glancing to Frank, stressing that even Manny had proven useful to the expedition.
"Then that settles matters," her father said, straightening and staring directly at Kelly. "An hour ago I was contacted by the head of Special Forces out of Fort Bragg and was informed of the revised plan."
"What revised plan?" Zane asked behind them.
Frank waved away his question.
Their father continued, "Considering what's happening with this damn disease, I totally concur with General Korsen. A cure must be found, and time has become a critical factor."
Kelly thought about protesting her expulsion, but bit her lip, knowing she would find no ally in her father. He had not wanted his little girl to come out here in the first place.
Frank leaned closer to the screen. "What's the condition in the States?"
Their father shook his head. "I'll let your mother answer that." He slid aside.
She looked exhausted, her eyes shadowed with fatigue. "The number of cases..." Lauren coughed and cleared her throat. "The number of cases has trebled in the last twelve hours."
Kelly cringed. So fast...
"Mostly in Florida, but we're now seeing cases in California, Georgia, Alabama, and Missouri."
"What about in Langley?" Kelly asked. "At the Institute?"
A glance was shared between her parents.
"Kelly..." her father began. His tone sounded like Frank's from a moment ago, cautionary. "I don't want you to panic."
Kelly sat up straighter, her heart already climbing into her throat. Don't panic? Did those words ever calm someone? "What is it?"
"Jessie's sick--"
The next few words were lost on Kelly. Her vision darkened at the corners. She had been dreading hearing those words since first learning of the contagion. Jessie's sick...
Her father must have noticed her falling back in her seat, pale and trembling. Frank put his arm around her, holding her.
"Kelly," her father said. "We don't know if it's the disease. It's just a fever, and she's already responding to medications. She was eating ice cream and chattering happily when we came to make this call."
Her mother placed a hand on her father's shoulder, and they exchanged a look. "It's probably not the disease, is it, Lauren?"
Their mother smiled. "I'm sure it's not."
Frank sighed. "Thank God. Is anyone else showing symptoms?"
"Not a one," her father assured them.
But Kelly's eyes were fixed on her mother. Her smile now looked sickly and wan. Her gaze slipped down.
Kelly closed her own eyes. Oh, God...
"We'll see you soon," her father concluded.
Frank nudged her.
She nodded. "Soon..."
Zane again spoke behind her. "What did your father mean that he'd see you soon? What's this about revised plans? What's going on?"
Frank gave Kelly a final squeeze. "Jessie's fine," he whispered to her. "You'll see when you get home." He then turned to answer Zane's question.
Kelly remained frozen before the laptop as the arguments began to rage behind her. In her mind's eye, she again saw her mother's smile fade, her eyes lower in shame. She knew her mother's moods better than anyone, possibly even better than her father did. Her mother had been lying. She had seen the knowledge hidden behind the reassuring words.
Jessie had the disease. Her mother believed it. Kelly knew this with certainty. And if her mother believed it...
Kelly could not stop the tears. Busily arguing about the change in plans, the others failed to notice her.
She covered her face with her hand. Oh, God...no...
Eleven
Aerial Assault
AUGUST 14, 1:24 P.M.
AMAZON JUNGLE
Nate could not sleep. As he lay in his hammock, he knew he should be resting for the next leg of the journey. In only another hour, his group was due to depart, but questions still persisted. He stared around the campsite. While half the camp napped, the other half were still quietly arguing about the split-up.
"We can just follow them," Zane said. "What are they going to do, shoot us?"
"We should mind their orders," Kouwe said calmly, but Nate knew the older professor was no more pleased with being abandoned than the Tellux rep.
Nate turned his back on them, but he understood their frustration. If he had been one of those left behind, they would'
ve had to hog-tie him to stop him from continuing on his own.
From this new vantage, he spotted Kelly lying in her hammock. She was the only one who had not protested. Her concern for her daughter was clearly foremost in her mind. As he watched, Kelly rolled over and their gazes met. Her eyes were puffy from tears.
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