Afraid to Fall (Ancient Passages Book 1)

by Sutton Bishop

  Giant trees to the west creaked and rustled, yet they were unable to block out the beacons of hope shimmering in the juniper-purple night above her. Water gurgled soothingly behind her as it glided rapidly over moss-slicked rocks and rainforest detritus. Frogs serenaded her while she ate the bar in three bites. Ari’s stomach relaxed completely. She stared at the molten-gold flames in front of her. The damp, hard ground was unforgiving on her sore joints and muscles, but it was also wonderfully pungent—and her last thought before she drifted off.

  Natasha grabbed Luca’s forearm. “This could become our worst nightmare.”

  He ran his hand over the back of his neck in thought. “I will talk to Carlos.” Looking around, he struggled to comprehend what they could be facing. “He grew up here. He knows the terrain well. We will assemble a search team immediately.” He broke eye contact with her, his attention diverted by someone in the distance. “Good. He is here. Walk with me.”

  Luca strode quickly toward Carlos. “Uno momento, por favor.” To Natasha, he commanded, “Prepare for travel. Medical supplies. Pack tents, nets. Lanterns, water, compasses, and… Go off the emergency list. We leave as soon as we can.”

  Natasha moved fast and blocked Luca, facing him, making him sidestep her. She jogged at his side to keep up with his pace. “Luca. Think. If she has been taken, they are way ahead of us. We’re best to leave in the morning. We only have, what, seven hours of daylight? Who oversees Kanul while we’re gone looking for your girlfriend?”

  He gritted his teeth. “Natasha—”

  “Amigo, what is happening?” Carlos asked, looking from Luca to Natasha.

  “Carlos.” Luca motioned for him to walk with them. They stopped at the far edge of the excavated site. His jaw tightened, and a muscle worked in his cheek. “We have a problem. Dr. Ari is missing.” He turned to Natasha for confirmation. “About two hours?”

  She nodded.

  “A young woman, not with our project, according to Dr. Jordaan, convinced her to leave.”

  Carlos’s brown face paled. “This is not good, amigo.”

  “I know. I need a tracker. Do you track?”

  “Sí, but my cousin is better. I will run and get him. My village is an hour. We will return within four hours, ready to—”

  “It’s nearing noon, Carlos. Don’t you feel it makes more sense that we leave at dawn?” Natasha said.

  Luca turned to her, answering slowly, emphasizing each word. “We are not going. You are staying here. You will continue to manage our team and their finds and fill in for me while I am away, overseeing the Kanul site. The other leads will fill in as needed, as they have since we have been here. Excavating Rax and Kaq are collaborative.”

  She returned his frostiness. “Luca. I need to be involved. I need to help search. I have skills.”

  “You are involved and will be, just from here. I know you have skills, but I have the relationship with her. You do not. Set me up so that I can communicate with you.”

  “Understood. But what do I tell the others if they ask?”

  He paused before answering. “What do you tell them the other times I am not here?”

  She nodded. “Right. That’s fair. But Meg and Matt—Luca, they’re close. They are together often. They are going to know something is up, especially if she chose not to go off on her own.”

  “Initiate the protocol immediately. I suggest you stick to the premise that Ari became lost. As of now, we are not certain she was abducted. We surmise. What we do not want to spark is panic. You can share that a team of trackers is searching for her and that I am with them. Is that clear?”

  “I’m not happy about it, but I will do as you request. It appears to be the best course of action right now.”

  “Excuse me. Dr. Jordaan, we do need to leave soon to find as much as we can, before any tracks disappear. Animals and heavy rain can erase signs. Rain is coming.”

  She sniffed the air, a quizzical expression on her face. “I don’t smell rain.”

  As if he didn’t hear her, Carlos continued, “Luca, pardon to your doctor knowledge, but I think it would be a good idea to bring my grandfather. Tata is shaman.”

  “Thank you, Carlos,” he said, exhaling. “We can use all help.”

  “I will assemble what you need,” Natasha said and headed toward the campsite with purpose.

  “Double-check everything. And be sure to add two of our radios and a charger so we can communicate.”

  She responded to Luca without turning to face him, with arms raised, two thumbs up.

  Carlos took off at a run in the direction of his village.

  Luca’s steps grew heavier as he distanced himself from Kanul’s center. When he was sure that no one could see him, he let the emotion come and surrendered to the pain. Gasping for air, his heart thrashing in his ears, he dropped to his knees and prayed.

  The banging of utensils drew Ari from her dream state and added to her raging headache. Sharp needles of pain throbbed in her eyes as she cracked them open. Lush hues of green surrounded her, patches of sunlight mixed with shade. Her head and body hurt more than last night. She shivered. All of her was soaked. It must have rained while she’d slept like the dead.

  “Well, look here,” Inés said in a snotty voice. “The doctor is awake. Harry, help her up. I’m hungry.”

  Fear churned through her system. Ari swallowed convulsively, pushing it down, down, down. She had to find a way to escape.

  Harry grabbed her roughly and held on to her while she got to her feet. “Good morning! Up you go, Doc. How did you sleep?”

  “Untie her so she can cook,” Inés ordered. “We don’t want her to burn the beans again or fall into the fire.”

  “I don’t know.” He laughed, leering, purposely twisting the rope securing Ari’s wrists, causing her to yield to the pain. “She might be tasty. I’m famished. I really worked up an—”

  Inés’s voice was full of acid. “Harry…”

  “Okay. I’m just funning. You’re so damned serious all the time, Nes.”

  She walked over to him, fists on hips. Her fury belied her small size. “Enough.”

  “Guess you didn’t give it to her as good as you assumed last night, huh?” Beto chortled.

  Harry pushed Ari away roughly and stepped over to Beto. He punched him hard in his soft stomach, sending him sprawling. “Shut up, asshole.”

  “Knock it off, you two.” Inés seethed. “Beans, Doctor. Now.”

  Feverish and fighting nausea and dizziness, she moved to do as ordered.

  Ari felt much better after eating. She did not burn the beans this time, but she did undercook them. No matter that they were bland and the texture was what she imagined chewing cardboard would be, she was full. They broke camp quickly after breakfast and hiked for several hours.

  She was less sore now that they were moving. The nausea was gone, and her headache had dulled considerably, but she continued to experience bouts of light-headedness, along with the low-grade fever. Determined to escape, Ari focused on opportunity, recalling the map Joan had shared of the area. One larger river with numerous tributaries ran through this part of Petén. Ari believed she was on one of the two western tributaries. But then again, Kanul was just off the southwestern part of the river. Maybe she was closer to the excavation than she had first thought. Maybe her abductors had walked in circles to throw her bearings off. Maybe. The trouble was that all the rainforest looked the same to her. It was so dense it swallowed them up as they moved through it.

  The sun rose higher in the sky. About two hours out of camp, they topped off water bottles after finding a small stream. Ari drained one bottle within minutes of filling it and refilled it again before they resumed. They trekked for hours over the uneven and rugged rainforest terrain and had not seen any other water source.

  For the first time in over twenty-four hours, she had to pee. “Can we stop?” she asked. “I need to go.”

  “Potty break,” Harry called to Beto and Inés ah
ead of them. They all stopped.

  Off to her left was denser underbrush that would offer her some privacy, but still… “I need privacy. Please.”

  Harry continued to stare. “So polite. Points for that, but nope. Just go.”

  Humiliated, Ari turned her back to him and unzipped her fly, challenged by her tied wrists. There was a slap and a yowl behind her.

  “Knock it off. No more,” Inés barked. “Go up with Beto and wait.”

  Footsteps receded behind Ari’s back. “I can’t possibly drop my pants or pull them up when I’m tied.”

  Inés patted the machete hanging from her belt and glared, sending her a silent message. “Fine. Then I retie them. No trouble. Don’t try to run.” As she untied her, she added, “You are a real pain in the ass sometimes.”

  Ari glared at her and quickly stepped off into the underbrush and peed, then readjusted her pants behind Inés’s turned back. “I’m ready.” She held her arms out, wrists together. The skin was starting to bleed where the rope had chafed.

  Inés wrapped the rope roughly around her wrists and knotted it, then pulled hard to check that the knots held. “Catch up.”

  She blinked back tears from the pain. Her wrists burned more with every step. She walked as quickly as she could with Inés trailing her. Beto and Harry weren’t too far ahead. When they were together again, Inés scampered ahead of Ari, inserting herself between the men. “Get back in formation.” She fell in behind her. Harry was again at her back.

  “Up ahead, Nes!” Harry yelled.

  The sound of rushing water grew louder. The small group trotted down a short steep hill and turned to the left where the jungle stopped at the river’s edge. Sunlight sparkled on the water rushing over towering rocks scattered among vines and trees. It was beautiful and wet.

  Ari edged closer to the bank. A refreshing spray coated her face and scraped arms. She could dolphin kick across. She dug deep into her energy stores and stepped forward.

  “No you don’t,” Inés said, jerking her back roughly.

  Ari fell to the ground. “I only wanted to rinse off.”

  “Bullshit,” Inés ground out. “You think we’re stupid?”

  Harry roughly pulled her to standing. “I’m game but only if you strip down, Doc,” Harry whispered in her ear. “I’m curious if the curtains match the carpet.”

  She shivered with revulsion and stepped away from him.

  Inés moved in, angrily poking Harry in the chest with each word, her back to Ari. “Harry, do you think I’m deaf? Knock it the fuck off.”

  Beto’s back was also to her, so absorbed was he in Inés’s dressing down of Harry. Ari slipped her knife out, cut the rope, and dove into the water. The current was faster than she had realized. She gave up swimming and allowed the current to pull her downstream, hoping, praying it would slow somewhere and she could climb out and find her way back to Kanul. It was a long shot, but it was the only one she had.

  Ari had no idea how far she had traveled when the river slowed into an eddy. She used the last of her energy, managing to swim to shallower water and crawl onto the bank and into the understory to be shielded from the sun.

  The exertion had taken its toll. Her stomach heaved. She rolled away from her vomited beans, took a great shuddering breath, and faded.

  “I found her,” Beto hollered. “Over here. Inés, I’m gonna puke. There’re flies all over her face. Maybe she’s dead.”

  Ari sensed more people gathering close.

  “Naw. Look at her chest, Beto. It’s moving,” Inés said.

  Ari felt a whiff of air, then a cool hand touched her head.

  “Aw, fuck. She’s burning up. Those flies were in her wound. Goddammit, he’s gonna be pissed. We gotta put something on it.

  “Here, tie this so it covers it,” Harry offered.

  Ari’s head was lifted, her neck bent at an uncomfortable angle. She felt a scratchy fabric being wrapped around her head, which was ready to shatter from the pain.

  Needles stabbed at Ari’s eyes as she struggled to open them. She croaked, “Water.”

  “Get her pack. She had a bottle on either side.”

  “Got it. Hey, she has some ibuprofen.”

  “Smart doctor. Get a few of those too,” Inés ordered.

  Her head was lifted again.

  “Open, Doctor. Sip slowly. You have a fever.”

  Her throat raw, Ari drank slowly. She swallowed the two pills dropped into her mouth with more water, choking some as they passed through her throat. She fell back asleep.

  Ari woke, shivering. Her wrists were tied with fresh rope; she had been moved and lay under mosquito netting. The needlelike pain in her eyes was gone, but they still burned. Someone had taken the extra bandana from her backpack and torn it, using it as a barrier between the rope and her raw, seeping skin on each wrist. What else had they taken from her pack? The sun was still high, meaning she had slept more than a day or for not very long.

  “Well, look who’s up,” said Harry.

  Ari pulled back as Inés reached toward her.

  “Stop it, Doctor,” she said, laying her palm on Ari’s forehead. “I’m checking your fever. You’re cool. Appears it broke. Beto, get her some more water.”

  Sipping the water was easier this time. She finished the bottle and then fell back to sleep again—dreaming about fleeing and making her way back to Kanul.

  The next time she woke was to their conversation. Carefully she shifted closer, hidden by the netting, focusing intently on every word.

  “We’re really late bringing the doctor back. He’s going to kill us. You know how pissed he gets. He goes from zero to sixty before I can blink. Remember when he hacked the finger off that woman? Mira. All because she spilled his water? He’s fucking nuts,” Beto said, his voice filled with fear.

  “The doctor is still weak. I think she had a concussion, and the cut on her head is filled with pus. I hate to bring her to him in that condition. He’ll eat her alive or hurt her or—”

  A slap filled the air. “Ow! Don’t hit me again, Inés. She was burning with fever.”

  “She isn’t any longer. What do we care what he does with her, Harry? You’re an idiot. It’s not my fault she hit her fucking head and did that to herself. He’ll probably have the medic look at her. He needs her.”

  “What if she tries to escape again? It took us hours to find her. If we hadn’t seen her hair—”

  Inés’s tone was mocking. “Yeah, and if she hadn’t been on our side of the river, we never would have found her if she had. Such a smart doctor.”

  Ari heard movement and held her breath. It sounded as if all of them had stood up.

  Inés continued. “The doctor was carrying a knife on her. That’s how she cut the ropes. She also had a compass. I took them both. Top quality. She’s not going anywhere, except with us, and we’ve got to get going. We’ll keep her hobbled, giving her enough rope to walk. We need to get her up and go, get as far as we can while we still have light. She’s had enough of a beauty sleep.”

  “You’re a bitch.”

  “No, I’m just being realistic. We’re forced to camp again tonight because of her stunt. The later we are, the more danger we face. We work for a dangerous, unstable man. I’m tired of babysitting her. He can have some of his other minions watch her or whatever the hell he has planned for her. She goes to work tomorrow. That’s it.”

  Ari made a loud rustling noise as she rolled onto her back, her anxiety mushrooming into fear as she watched the insects flitting outside the netting above her. Their conversation ceased. Her pulse jumped erratically in her throat, and she broke into a cold sweat. Who was their employer, and what the hell was work?

  Luca paced. Sleep had eluded him last night, so he read and wrote by lantern light instead. His prayers for Ari’s safety quelled his fear. He spoke to her in his mind, encouraging her to have courage. He packed his bag, stoked the fire, and started coffee.

  Pink fingers of dawn were visible abov
e the treetops along where the river ran to the east. The birds sang loudly as the sky lightened. Luca was draining his third cup when he heard movement in the other lean-tos around the makeshift camp. Good. They would set out soon. He heated more water for coffee.

  “Hola!” Carlos said, rubbing his eyes. “Did you sleep?”

  “Buenos días. No.” He rose and poked at the fire with a stick, then picked up the pot. “Coffee? Did you?”

  “Sí, y sí.” Carlos watched Luca pace. “I’ll wake the others. We need to go.” He placed his hand on Luca’s arm. “We made a lot of progress yesterday.” His almost-black eyes held Luca’s green ones. “We will find her, amigo.” He left to wake the men.

  Luca stared at his boots and ran his fingers through his hair, pulling it up into a ponytail. Inhaling deeply, he nodded to himself, putting all his faith in Carlos’s certainty. He was pulled from his reverie by the groggy men who smiled and rubbed their eyes as they stumbled toward him and the fire. He nodded to the men. “Buenos días! El café esta listo?”

  “Gracias, amigo,” they answered in unison, helping themselves to the steaming brew.

  Carlos addressed the circle of Maya in Spanish. “Attend to your needs and pack. We leave immediately.”

  A chorus of agreement acknowledged his orders.

  Luca brushed the sweat seeping into his eyes without thought, intent on not twisting an ankle as he followed Carlos and the other men through the dense understory of the jungle. Already—even in the deep shade—the temperature was uncomfortably warm.

  They cleared a path with machetes, but it was slow going. Gus, the tracker and Carlos’s cousin, watched for clues—torn leaves, trampled low vegetation, broken branches.

  Luca bit back his anxiety and annoyance over their slow pace. Because they had left early afternoon yesterday, the search party was at least a day behind Ari and the kidnappers; they needed to make it up. Her safety weighed heavily upon him. Working in Guatemala was not without safety issues, among them trafficking of drugs, people, and antiquities. And people lived in abject poverty—many seduced into the low trades and trafficking for the money or silenced by those who were involved. It could be dangerous, deadly. Everyone on Luca’s team knew this. Everyone was well versed and trained in safety protocol, but knowledge and training were not fail-safes. What had enticed Ari to go with the woman?