The Severance Trilogy Box Set

by Mark McKay

  ‘So,’ he whispered. The box had five bags of powder in it. White powder. He picked one up and weighed it in his hand. A kilo, he reckoned. Five boxes with five bags makes 25 kilos. He nicked a hole in the bag and licked his finger. He extracted a small sample with the wet finger and tasted it. A sharp, numbing taste on his tongue. He rubbed it on his upper gum and that promptly went numb, too. No doubt about it, 25 kilos of cocaine. Probably pure coke, too. It would have been locally produced. Well, that explained why they didn’t like people poking around here, but had Julian also been aware of it? What would they do with this stuff? They could stash a smaller bag of cocaine inside one of amber powder and conceal it that way. The sweet smell of bulk powder might put the dogs off, if dogs had occasion to sniff around.

  It was time to go. He carefully replaced everything as he had found it and stepped outside. He walked back to the fence and stopped to listen. Nothing. He scaled the fence and dropped back into retreat territory. Then he felt it, the feeling of being watched. He looked towards the owners’ house. If there was anyone on the verandah he couldn’t see them and there was no one at the window. The ceremonial house looked equally quiet, at least from the outside. He could hear people laughing and shouting inside, sounded like quite a party.

  If there was someone watching, they’d need bloody good night vision to actually see him. He took the long way around; keeping his distance as he passed the ceremonial house and then back past the communal area and down to his own accommodation. He walked in and shut the door.

  ‘OK, Emilio. I’m done now. We can get out of here, soon as you like.’

  But Emilio wasn’t there.

  Nick had a restless night. It wasn’t as if Emilio had just stepped out for a bit; all trace of him had vanished. As though he’d suddenly decided he’d had enough and gone back to his boat. Nick couldn’t believe he would walk the jungle trail back to the jetty in darkness; there were too many nocturnal creatures that were hazardous to your health roaming around. But that was the logical explanation. When he went to the restaurant for breakfast, he ran into Jason, who was on his way out with a tray of food.

  ‘Seen Emilio?’ he asked.

  Jason was in a hurry and gave him no more than a sideways glance. ‘Has he gone? He does that. Comes in and out as the urge takes him. Don’t worry about it.’

  Jason was practically out of the building, balancing the tray as he went. Nick had no time to reply. He watched Jason walk away, towards the owners’ house. The tray must be for our new visitor, he thought. Looked like the big company man wanted to keep his distance. He went into the restaurant and grabbed some food. Vanessa came over to join him.

  ‘I’m staying on for the next retreat,’ she said. ‘Everyone else is going home. They’ll take them to Iquitos and bring the new people back on the return flights.’

  ‘So, how’s it been so far?’ he asked her.

  She grinned. ‘I feel full of energy. Very positive, like I could climb a mountain or something. Last night was great.’

  He had to admit she looked well. Her eyes shone and he could feel her vibrancy.

  ‘It can be a bit scary at first,’ she told him. ‘But stick with it. It really changes you, for the better.’

  He told her he’d do his best. In fact, he’d intended to be out of here long before it was his turn to try this visionary drink. But his escort had disappeared.

  The first flight out was an hour later. Nick wandered down to the air strip to see people off. Hank and Don Gilberto appeared to say their farewells to the first group, after which Hank went back to his house and Don Gilberto stayed to chat with the remaining four people, some of whom spoke Spanish. Nick was left to his own devices. He decided to go back to his quarters and figure out whether he should stay or find a way out of here. When he got there, he had visitors.

  ‘The door was open,’ said Jason. ‘Hope you don’t mind.’ His expression suggested that he didn’t give a damn whether Nick minded or not. He was seated on the rattan sofa in the living room, next to a man Nick hadn’t seen before. This new face was dressed more casually now, but Nick was sure he must be the suited arrival of the previous evening.

  ‘So you’re Nick Severance,’ he said. The accent was English and the voice deep and rather neutral. No indication of any real emotion other than a mild boredom, perhaps.

  Nick took a good look at him. Early forties, in good physical shape. Powerful looking arms and shoulders. The face was hard but not exactly expressionless, there was a suggestion of a smile there. The eyes though, were a blank brown. He had the momentary impression that he was being looked at like a specimen in a glass case. With a pin stuck through him.

  ‘That’s right,’ he said. ‘Do we know each other?’

  The man didn’t answer, just looked at Jason. ‘You can leave now. I’ll take it from here.’

  Jason departed without a word. The man got up. He had a gun in his hand.

  ‘What’s this about?’ enquired Nick.

  ‘You’ve been poking around in places you should have left well alone,’ said his new friend.

  ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’

  ‘I saw you creeping around, last night. Up and over the fence. Don’t bother to deny it.’

  He must have night vision goggles, thought Nick. No point in denying anything. ‘So you’re going to smuggle cocaine with your powder. Is that what Julian found out about?’

  That got a laugh. ‘That’s right. But there’s more at stake.’

  ‘Care to tell me what?’

  ‘Not really. I’ve packed your things. We’re going for a walk, now. Get your pack.’

  Nick did as he was told. He slipped his arms through the pack’s shoulder straps and at the point of his captor’s gun, stepped out of the house. He looked around. Everyone else would be somewhere near the air strip, he supposed. They certainly weren’t here. He was motioned towards the trail they’d come in by.

  ‘Move it,’ came the command. They set off into the jungle. They walked for an hour and then he was told to stop.

  ‘On your left,’ said the man. ‘Off you go.’

  Nick was mystified at first. Then he saw that someone had hacked a path in that direction. You’d probably miss it unless you knew it was there. It was narrow and relatively unobstructed. He went on for another minute until they arrived in a small clearing. There were big trees all around them. Emilio had been tied to one of them. Some animal or animals had taken parts of his arms and feet, but the rest of him was recognisable.

  ‘Jesus,’ whispered Nick. He only hoped they’d killed Emilio before the animals had arrived. He looked at the man who must have done this. He seemed disinterested in the results of his handiwork.

  ‘Put down the pack,’ he said, and Nick complied. ‘Now open it.’

  There were some extra items; a bottle of something and a few lengths of rope. The man pointed to a tree opposite Emilio.

  ‘Take one of those ropes and pass it around that tree. Tie your legs with it.’

  Nick did the best he could. He knew that the man wanted him partly immobilised so he could finish the job without coming under attack.

  ‘Do you have a name?’

  ‘You can call me Conrad. Hurry up.’

  Once Nick had his legs bound to the tree, Conrad went to work. He made Nick tie another loop around his wrist and then with Nick’s back to the tree and arms stretched behind him, he wound it all the way around the trunk and secured it to the opposite wrist. He made some adjustments to hands and feet and stood back to examine the result.

  ‘You’re not going anywhere,’ he said.

  That was true enough. ‘Why not just shoot me?’

  Conrad almost smiled. ‘Too vulgar. Maybe later.’ He picked up the bottle Nick had extracted from the pack. ‘Drink this.’ He held it to Nick’s lips.

  ‘What is it?’

  ‘Just drink it, or I will shoot you.’

  The stuff was
thick and brown and sludgy, and made him gag. It tasted like shit.

  ‘All of it,’ said Conrad.

  There must have been nearly a litre in the bottle. He got most of it down. ‘What was that?’ he asked, retching slightly.

  ‘That my friend, was the ayahuasca you were so keen to taste. Quite a lot of it for a novice.’

  ‘You’re poisoning me.’

  Conrad laughed. ‘No, give me some credit. I’m leaving, now, but I’ll be back tomorrow morning. If there’s anything left of you to shoot by then, I’ll happily oblige. Goodbye. I hope you enjoyed your brief time here.’

  ‘Tell Jason I want a refund,’ said Nick.

  Conrad said nothing and just checked his bonds once more. Then he was gone. Nick looked across the clearing at the man that had been Emilio. Once again, his actions had resulted in someone else’s death. He didn’t feel too good about that. His feelings were irrelevant now, because he was about to suffer the same fate. He tested the ropes, but they were unyielding. There was nothing else he could do but wait.

  The jungle was humming with the sound of insects and chattering birds. It never let up. It had been a backdrop to all his time here and now someone had cranked up the volume. It merged into one pulsing, singing vibration. He was swaying inside with the rhythm. He felt something rising, uncoiling in his navel. Then it was him that vibrated, from the inside out. It was powerful, it was pleasant. Like having superhuman strength. The feeling became more intense until suddenly it was overwhelming, and he vomited. It gave him some temporary relief. But then the cycle began again. After several rounds of throwing up, his energy settled. The nausea had passed.

  He started seeing things. Sunbeams pierced the trees to form little lakes of luminescence on the forest floor. Huge motes of dust that looked like multi-coloured snowflakes drifted through the air and came together to form a huge face. The face became a slideshow of all the faces he’d ever known. As soon as he recognised one it morphed into someone else. The faces with all their shimmering colours of the rainbow looked at him with a variety of expressions; anger, joy, love, despair. He saw Lauren, the woman he would have married if she’d lived. He saw her blond hair and her pale, beautiful face. She was asking him a question with her eyes.

  ‘Yes, it was my fault,’ he heard himself say. Then something huge uncoiled inside him and he vomited up a snake. An orange, diamond-speckled snake. Impossible, he thought. The snake slithered across the clearing and stopped exactly halfway between him and Emilio. It coiled itself, lifted its head and spoke to Emilio. The dead Peruvian suddenly opened his eyes and began admonishing Nick in Spanish. He couldn’t understand the words, but the tone was pure guilt-inducement. Emilio didn’t stop for breath, either. After what seemed like forever, the snake hissed loudly and Emilio stopped. He was dead again.

  The visions were more benign, after that. Lauren’s face dissolved into the ether and the snake had gone as well. Nick closed his eyes and found himself transported down long corridors of light, at the end of which he found fabulous buildings with fantastic architecture. To him they were modern day castles, with halls of gleaming grey marble and gem encrusted walls. He was flying. He lost all sense of time. When he opened his eyes the light was less intense and he knew night must be close, now. Then the jaguars came.

  Two of them, from opposite ends of the clearing. They met and rubbed noses and then they sat next to each other facing him, like twins posing for a family portrait. Four amber eyes looked at him curiously. They even yawned in unison. What big teeth you have, he thought. He knew he should be scared to death, but he felt serene. Then he saw a huge Indian with a machete arrive. There was concern all over his face. The jaguars roared and ran for cover and then the Indian was on top of Nick, swinging the machete. Nick closed his eyes, waiting for death. Instead, he felt his arms dropping as the rope that had been holding them was severed. He looked up.

  ‘Don Gilberto,’ he said. ‘Thank god.’

  The shaman untied him completely and Nick slid down the tree trunk and sat at the base. Don Gilberto looked at him for a long time and then offered him a bottle of water. While Nick drank, Don Gilberto went to look at Emilio. The circulation was coming back into Nick’s arms and legs and it was painful. The air was still full of swirling patterns of light, but the effects of the ayahuasca were wearing off. The shaman had arrived just in time.

  ‘Did you see the jaguars?’ The sound of his own voice echoed in his head.

  Don Gilberto turned and came to squat down by Nick. He put a hand to Nick’s forehead.

  ‘Jaguars,’ repeated Nick. ‘Dos jaguars’. He held up two fingers and pointed to the spot recently vacated by the big cats.

  The shaman picked up the empty ayahuasca bottle and took a sniff. He shook his head. He said something and then realised Nick couldn’t understand, so he thought long and hard for a while and then tried it in English. ‘You see jaguars?’

  Nick nodded. Don Gilberto smiled. ‘No jaguars. Jaguar is your spirit animal, in the other world.’

  Nick had no idea what he meant. But he understood that he’d hallucinated the animals. But they’d been there. He saw them.

  He stood up, unsteadily. Don Gilberto was over by Emilio once more, rummaging through his pockets. He came back and pressed a set of keys into Nick’s hand. They were the keys to the bridge of Emilio’s riverboat.

  Don Gilberto pointed at the pack and signed for Nick to put it on. He pointed at the sky then at his watch, and Nick understood. He needed to get back to the boat before nightfall. He wondered how the shaman had known where to find him, but the language barrier made that an impossible question to ask. He took a last look at Emilio’s partially mutilated body.

  ‘Sorry, Emilio.’

  Don Gilberto was pushing him towards the main track. ‘Go now,’ he was saying. ‘Go.’ He pressed the water bottle into Nick’s hand.

  ‘Thank you,’ said Nick. ‘Gracias’.

  He stumbled back on to the track and headed for safety.

  Chapter 7

  Nick was a little disoriented for the first ten minutes. Then his hallucinations stopped, and to his surprise his vision became laser focused. All the colours of the jungle were vivid and sharp. He wasn’t tired, either. He set a brisk pace towards the boat and when the encroaching darkness made visibility an issue he had the flashlight, which Conrad had thrown in the pack along with everything else. When he reached the jetty, night had well and truly fallen.

  The riverboat was where they’d left it. He sighed with relief and wasted no time in casting off the mooring ropes. It took longer to get on to the bridge and get the engine started, by which time the boat was drifting. There was a floodlight on the roof, and when he finally found the switch for it the boat was halfway across the river. He didn’t want to steer back to the Amazon at night, but he definitely wanted to get away from the jetty. He decided to set a slow pace up river and then try the anchor after half an hour or so. If it held, he’d spend the night in that spot and get going again with first light.

  The anchor did its job. He had a moment of panic when he cut the engine and rushed down to the bow to throw it overboard, but it dug in to the riverbed straight away and arrested the boat’s drift. Only then, did he start to relax. He cooked himself a simple meal of rice and beans and ate it on the bridge. After that he checked the pack, looking for his phone. It was where he’d left it, switched off because there was no signal out here. More in hope than expectation, he switched it on. Still nothing. Finally, he took a mattress from one of the cabins below and brought it up to the bridge. He turned off all illumination except the navigation lights, and lay down. But he couldn’t sleep. The ayahuasca was still in his system and he was buzzing with it.

  He thought again about Emilio and shuddered. When Conrad came back in the morning he’d realise he’d made a big mistake. And the best way to rectify that would be to hunt Nick down and do what he should have done in the first place. Kill him. He’d check all the hot
els in Iquitos and as he had access to a plane he’d be able to get there and start doing it before Nick got back. Then there was the small matter of Nick turning up at the harbour minus his skipper. Questions would be asked and he needed to avoid that. But he had to go back to Iquitos. There was no other way out of here unless he steered this riverboat all the way to Brazil, and that just wasn’t going to happen. He would go back to the hotel Epoca and get his things, and then get a flight out of Peru.

  The next two days seemed to take an eternity. He found his way back to the Amazon and pointed the boat in the right direction. He only left his post at the bridge when he stopped on the evening of the first day to sleep. He didn’t dare stop at the place they’d used on the way up from Iquitos. Instead, he took a risk on what looked like a deserted mooring spot and pulled in there for the night. No one bothered him and he was able to refuel the engine and eat some canned food before locking up the bridge and stretching out on the mattress. As he hadn’t slept the previous night, he went out like a light.

  On the afternoon of the following day, he saw the harbour at Iquitos. This was the tricky bit, getting the boat berthed without hitting anything and attracting attention. He came in slowly and just before he made the berth, he put the engine in reverse. It slowed him down enough to stop him ploughing into the boat ahead of him, and he drifted into the spot they’d departed from without any drama. Just a bump as the starboard side hit the wharf. He secured the boat as quickly as he could and then collected his pack and walked away. There were two men talking just a few yards from Emilio’s boat and one of them spoke to him as he went past.

  ‘Buenos Dias,’ he said, and kept going. The man replied, but Nick had nothing more to say. They didn’t sound suspicious or worried. After all, Emilio could be on board doing one of any number of things. By the time they realised there was no Emilio, it would be too late. He kept walking; not too fast, not too slow. Then he found a moto-taxi and a moment later he was on his way back to the Epoca.