"We're a long way from an answer and even longer from replicating the tree's abilities," Lauren had said sadly. "If the tree's history dates back to the Paleozoic era, then it's had a hundred million years'head start on us. One day we might understand, but not today. As much as we might vaunt our scientific skills, we're just children playing in one of the most advanced biological experiments."
"Children who came damn close to burning down their own house this time," Nate had added.
Luckily, the nut pods had indeed proved to be the cure to the contagion. The "antiprion" compound in the fruit, a type of alkaloid, was found to be easy to replicate and manufacture. The cure was quickly dispatched via a multinational effort throughout the Americas and the world. It was discovered that a month's treatment with the alkaloid totally eradicated the disease from the body, leaving no trace of the infectious prion. This simple fact, unknown to the Ban-ali, had left them enslaved for generations. But luckily, the manufactured nut milk was the immediate cure the world had needed. The plague was all but over.
Contrarily, the prion itself had proved beyond current scientific capability to cultivate or duplicate. All samples of the prion-rich sap were considered a Level 4 biohazard and confined to a few select labs. Out in the field, the original source of the sap, the Ban-ali valley, was found to be a blasted ruin. All that was left of the great Yagga were ashes and entombed skeletons.
And that's just fine with me, Nate thought as he waited on the stoop and stared at the setting March sun and the brewing storm.
Back in South America, Kouwe and Dakii were still helping the remaining dozen Ban-ali tribesmen acclimate to their new lives. They were the richest Indians in the Amazon. Nate's father had successfully sued St. Savin Pharmaceuticals for the destruction of the tribe's home-lands and the slaughter of its people. It seemed Louis Favre had left a clear paper trail back to the French drug company. Though appeals would surely drag on for several more years, the company was all but bankrupt. In addition, its entire executive board faced criminal charges.
Meanwhile, his father remained in South America, helping resettle the Ban-ali tribe. Nate would be rejoining his father in a few more weeks, but he was not the only one heading south. In addition, geneticists were flocking to study the tribe, to investigate the alterations to their DNA, both to understand how it had been achieved and perhaps to discover a way to reverse the species-altering effects of the Yagga. Nate imagined that if any answers ever came, they would be generations away.
His father was also assisted by the two Rangers, Kostos and Carrera, newly promoted and decorated. The pair of soldiers had also overseen the recovery of the bodies. Difficult and heartbreaking work.
Nate sighed. So many lives lost...but so many others saved by the cure their blood had bought. Still, the price was too high.
The sound of approaching footsteps drew Nate's attention back around. The door opened.
Nate found his smile. "What took you so long? I've been waiting here like five minutes."
Kelly frowned at him, holding a palm to her lower back. "You try lugging this belly around."
Nate placed a palm on his fiancee's bulging stomach. She was due in another couple of weeks with their child. The pregnancy had been discovered while Kelly recuperated from the gunshot wound. It seemed Kelly had been infected with the prions during her examination of Gerald Clark's body back in Manaus. Over the two-week Amazon journey--unbeknownst to her--the prions had healed Kelly's postparturient infertility, regenerating what had been damaged. It was a timely discovery. If the prions had been left unchecked for even a couple more weeks, the ravaging cancers would have started, but as with her brother, the nut milk was administered in time, and the prions were eradicated before they could do harm.
As a result of this joyous gift, Nate and Kelly had been blessed. During their treetop lovemaking on the eve of Louis's attack, Nate and Kelly had unwittingly conceived a baby--a brother for Jessie.
They had already chosen a name: Manny.
Nate leaned over and kissed his fiancee.
Distant thunder rolled from the skies.
"The others are waiting," she mumbled between his lips.
"Let 'em wait," he whispered, lingering.
Thick raindrops began to fall, tapping at the pavement and rooftop. Thunder rumbled again, and the sprinkle blew into a downpour.
"But shouldn't we--"
Nate pulled her closer, bringing her lips back to his. "Hush."
Epilogue
Deep in the Amazon rain forest, nature takes its own course, unseen and undisturbed.
The spotted jaguar nudges its litter of cubs, mewling and whining in the den. His black-coated mate has been gone a long time. He sniffs the air. A whiff of musk. He paces anxiously.
From the jungle shadows, a silhouette breaks free and pads over to him. He huffs his greeting to his larger mate. They busily rub and brush against each other. He smells the bad scent on her. Flames, burning, screaming. It triggers warnings along his spine, bristling his nape. He growls.
His mate crosses to the far side of the glade and digs deep into the soft loam. She drops a knobby seed into the pit, then kicks dirt back over it with her hind legs.
Once done, she crosses to the litter of cubs--some black, some spotted. She sniffs at them. The cubs cry for milk, rolling over one another.
She rubs her mate again and turns her back on the freshly dug hole, the planted seed already forgotten. It is no longer her concern. It is time to move on. She gathers her litter and her mate, and the group heads deeper into the trackless depths of the forest.
Behind, freshly turned soil dries in the afternoon sun.
Unseen and undisturbed.
Forgotten.
Acknowledgments
Special thanks to all those who helped in the research of this novel, especially Leslie Taylor of Raintree Nutrition, Inc., for the use of her wonderful plant diagrams in this book and for her valuable knowledge of the medicinal applications of rainforest botanicals. I would also be remiss not to acknowledge two resources of utmost value: Redmond O'Hanlon's In Trouble Again: A Journey Between the Orinoco and the Amazon and the book that inspired my own, Dr. Mark Plotkin's Tales of a Shaman's Apprentice. For more specific help, I most heartily thank my friends and family who helped shape the manuscript into its present form: Chris Crowe, Michael Gallowglas, Lee Garrett, Dennis Grayson, Susan Tunis, Penny Hill, Debbie Nelson, Dave Meek, Jane O'Riva, Chris "The Little" Smith, Judy and Steve Prey, and Caroline Williams. For help with the French language, my Canadian friend Dianne Daigle; for assistance on the Internet, Steve Winter; and for her arduous moral support, Carolyn McCray. For the maps used here, I must acknowledge their source: The CIA World Factbook 2000. Finally, thethree folks who remain my best critics and most loyal supporters: my editor, Lyssa Keusch; my agent, Russ Galen; and my publicist, Jim Davis. Last and most important, I must stress that any and all errors of fact or detail fall squarely on my own shoulders.
About the Author
James Rollins is the nationally-bestselling author of five adventure novels: Subterranean, Excavation, Deep Fathom, Amazonia, and Ice Hunt. An amateur spelunker and scuba enthusiast, he holds a doctorate in veterinary medicine and has his own practice in Sacramento, California. Please visit www.jamesrollins.com.
By James Rollins
SUBTERRANEAN
EXCAVATION
DEEP FATHOM
AMAZONIA
ICE HUNT
Praise
James Rollins
Amazonia
"An adventure tale in the grand manner. Rollins takes the reader through the horror and intrigue of the Amazon like no one else. The action never relents."
Clive Cussler
"[A] nerve-wracking adventure yarn...in the grand tradition...James Rollins delivers a first-rate nail-biter that will keep the reader wary until the last page...A journey that is packed with scenes that excite the mind. The pace is relentless."
Tampa Tribune
/> "A non-stop, thrill-a-minute ride. This is just the book for Indiana Jones fans!"
Tess Gerritsen, author of The Surgeon
And praise for his previous novels
"[Subterranean is] a gripping deep Earth adventure."
Charles Pellegrino, New York Times bestselling author of Her Name, Titanic
"A thrilling journey through an underground world of beauty and horror...[Subterranean] kept me turning pages well into the night."
John Saul, New York Times bestselling author
"A compulsive read...From the opening scene to the stunning finish, Excavation is a real page-turner."
Douglas Preston, co-author of The Cabinet of Curiosities
Credits
Plant drawings provided and copyrighted by Raintree Nutrition, Inc. All rights reserved. http://www.rain-tree.com used by permission of Leslie Taylor.
Maps by Jeffrey L. Ward
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
AMAZONIA. Copyright (c) 2002 by Jim Czajkowski. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of PerfectBoundTM.
PerfectBoundTM and the PerfectBoundTM logo are trademarks of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc.
Microsoft Reader November 2003 eISBN 0-06-072777-2
First Avon Books paperback printing: July 2003
First William Morrow hardcover printing: March 2002
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