Into the Darkness

by Margaret Daley

  “Something the male of the species does a lot,” she couldn’t resist interjecting into the conversation.

  “They are solitary creatures with a large territory.”

  “Sounds like someone I know.”

  “Meaning?”

  “You’ve made it abundantly clear you like being a loner.” She swept her arm across her body. “And you’ve got the whole jungle as your—territory.”

  A high-pitched squeal pierced the air. “I think he found his dinner.”

  “Survival of the fittest.” Kate stared into the low flames of the fire.

  “The law of the jungle.”

  “What happens if those men catch up with us?” She shivered when she thought about Slick and the time he had trapped her in the alley. If it hadn’t been for Slader, no telling what would have happened to her.

  “The strongest and smartest will survive, and I intend for that to be us, Kate.”

  The steel thread in his voice caused her to shiver again.

  “But I’m banking on not being caught by Slick and his pals. If we stay ahead of them, then we avoid a fight, which is a much safer plan.”

  “Zach will be able to help when we find him. He has a black belt in karate.”

  “Which won’t do him much good against a gun.” He paused a few seconds, then asked, “What will you do if you don’t find Zach? We can’t wander around in this jungle forever. Have you thought about how long you’ll search before you call it quits?”

  She gripped her hands together, twisting them over and over. “No. We will find him. I have trust in God that this will not remain unresolved.”

  “I hope your God doesn’t let you down.”

  “He won’t.”

  Slader shook his head, shoving to his feet. “Get some sleep, Kate. Tomorrow we have to put distance between us and Slick.” He walked away, stopping at the edge of the jungle and staring into the darkness.

  Kate observed him for a few minutes, realizing the second she had mentioned the Lord he had shut down. Her plan to show him the power and love of God wouldn’t be easy to accomplish. But she hadn’t expected it to be. The reward would be worth it in the end.

  Deciding to take him up on his suggestion to get some sleep, Kate stood and stretched. She ached all over, but the swim earlier and the opportunity to clean up had been wonderful and refreshing beyond her wildest dreams. She was still surprised that Slader had shown her the pool and given her the chance to wash herself. Like making her the palm hat, the gesture spoke of a facet he tried to hide, but she saw through his tough facade to the man she suspected he had tried to conceal from others, a man who had somehow been hurt deeply and had banished himself to the ends of the earth—as a form of penance?

  She made her way to her hammock and removed her shoes. One pair of her socks was still drying by the fire and the other she would wear tomorrow. She knew she was already getting a blister from the short walk back from the pool without her socks on and that wouldn’t do with all the hiking they had ahead of them. If she had to crawl, she would not hold up this expedition.

  After lining up her boots below her hammock, a luxury she hadn’t done the night before because she’d fallen asleep with them on, she slipped beneath her netting and curled up into a ball. She wore her clean shirt while her other one was also drying by the fire next to her torn khakis. She now wore a pair of jeans, her only other pants. Its thick material was a better shield against insect bites but was much hotter than her khakis. At least she had on dry clothes. In Red Creek she had taken clean, dry clothes for granted. Not anymore.

  Listening to the increasingly familiar sounds of the jungle about her, she relaxed her tense muscles. Sleep came rapidly…

  The spatter of water in her face brought Kate out of a deep dreamless state. She blinked her eyes open and realized rain was falling from the canopy of trees above her. The fire was low, giving off little light, but she didn’t need to see the rain. It pelted her with increasing force. She came up out of the hammock, remembering to swing her legs over the side so she wouldn’t tumble to the jungle floor like she had the day before.

  She reached for her backpack and drew out her poncho. After shrugging into it, she looked about her and found Slader stirring in his hammock. He sat up, his focus zeroing in on her. He, too, put on his rain gear.

  Kate had begun to slide her feet into her boots when Slader shouted above the sound of the rain, “Don’t.”

  “Why not?”

  “Check your boots first. Some critters like to hide in them.”

  Kate nearly dropped the boot she held. She turned it over and shook it. A spider crawled out and descended to the ground. She quickly did the same with the other boot, then gingerly put her sock-clad foot into it, hoping there were no more little creatures inside.

  As she laced up her boots, she watched Slader circling the middle of the camp, his frown evolving into a scowl. He muttered something she couldn’t fully hear and was probably glad she didn’t.

  “What’s wrong?” She stood and looked about, too.

  “Pedro and Miguel are gone.”

  Chapter Eight

  “They can’t be,” Kate exclaimed, taking in the place where Miguel had slung his hammock. The empty spot made a mockery of her words. She scanned the area where Pedro had hung his hammock. It, too, was gone. “Why?”

  Slader continued to search the campsite, his expression growing more ominous with each second that passed. “They helped themselves to the extra supplies and my shotgun. It looks like all we have left is our own backpacks.”

  “I guess we should be grateful they left us that.” Kate sank down onto the log near the dying fire, shielding her head with the hood on the poncho. “What do we do now?”

  Slader untied his wet hammock and stuffed it into his backpack. “We keep going. We don’t have a choice. Come on. I want to get moving as soon as it’s light enough to.”

  “It’s obvious Pedro and Miguel don’t feel they owe us any loyalty.”

  “Which means if Slick finds them, they won’t keep quiet. Or Slick’s somehow behind them leaving.”

  Slader’s words heightened the sense of danger. Kate surveyed the dark jungle as though it were a menacing being. Was Slick was out there watching them? If he was, she would go down fighting. Quickly she pushed to her feet and took down her hammock. As she put it into her pack, she wished yet again that she had carried more of the supplies, especially the food.

  When she returned to Red Creek, she intended to lift weights. She would never put herself in this position again—depending on others. Her stomach tightened with hunger, but knowing how limited their food supply was, she didn’t say anything.

  After Slader had cleared away all evidence that they had camped there, he indicated that Kate should follow him. Even though it was after sunrise, the jungle remained dark from the rain and the high canopy that blocked so much of the light even on a bright sunny day. He used his flashlight to help guide him. Kate mirrored his steps, the bottom half of her totally soaked and muddy in a short time.

  Wet, hungry and miserable, she refused to complain to Slader. He couldn’t be any better off. They were in this together which, surprisingly, made her feel better. If she had to have anyone on her side, Slader would be the first person she would pick. In his presence, she felt safe, even though she knew people were after her and possibly not far behind them.

  * * *

  Seven hours later, it was still raining. Kate placed one foot in front of the other, forcing herself to keep going. The sloshing of her steps sounded over the rain striking the trees and falling to the jungle floor. She needed to rest, but she bit down hard to keep the request inside.

  Ever since they had left the camp earlier that morning, Slader had been driving them both hard to get as far away from where they had been the night before as possible. He hadn’t said more than a few words to her and what little they had eaten—a banana and something that was supposed to be beef stew in a pouch—had been consume
d while they had walked.

  A few minutes later, Slader came to an abrupt halt under a large tree with a thick canopy of leaves that sheltered them partially from the continuous rain. He slipped his backpack off, then turned to her to help her remove hers.

  “We’ll take a twenty-minute break.”

  Ignoring the fact that the ground ran with muddy rivulets, Kate sank down onto her waterproof backpack and used it as a seat cushion. She couldn’t stand another second. She spread her poncho over her wet jeans to give her some relief even though she realized it wouldn’t really make any difference. Soaked to the bone was soaked to the bone.

  Slader squatted a foot away from her, staring out into the gray jungle, his eyes intense as if he expected someone to appear any minute. That thought scared her. As he had on the river, did he sense people behind them?

  “Do you have an itch?” she asked.

  He shook his head. “But don’t think they aren’t out there, because they are. That’s why we can only stop for a little while. This rain is miserable, but it does wash our steps away.”

  “So, it could be worse.”

  He swiveled his attention to her. “Yes, I guess it could, Miss Pollyanna.”

  “I prefer to think of the glass as half full, not half empty.”

  “Somehow I figured that. Not always a good thing when you’re running for your life.”

  “How often have you run for your life?”

  He shrugged, his expression darkening with emotion for a brief moment. “A few times.”

  “This is my first and I hope, last time.”

  “The thing about life is that we don’t always know what’s gonna happen.”

  “I feel pretty sure that in Red Creek, I won’t have to worry about running for my life.”

  His chuckle vied with the sound of the rain. “Most of my life I’ve lived in a jungle or a big city. It’s a definite possibility either place. Actually, it is anywhere.”

  Cynicism stamped his features with a scowl, making Kate sad. What had made him that way? There was so much to be thankful for. “It’s obvious that we have had different life experiences. I won’t say that Red Creek isn’t without its crime. Just last summer, the gas station was robbed, and someone stole the clothes off Mrs. Radisson’s clothesline. Justin Black drinks too much on Saturday nights and ends up causing a disturbance. And the teenagers go too fast in their cars down some of the residential streets.”

  Slader again searched the surrounding rainforest. “I can see that your sheriff is busy.”

  The sardonic tone to his voice didn’t upset her. She’d come to learn that was Slader’s way. “I’m thankful there’s still a place like Red Creek left to live.”

  His gaze returned to hers. “Actually, so am I.”

  “You are?”

  “I can’t see you anyplace but somewhere like Red Creek.”

  “True. This trip has shown me a whole different side to life.”

  “The underside.”

  She laughed, liking the thought that she could laugh after the day they had put in. “Yes, and something more than that. There’s a beauty in the jungle that I’ll never find in Red Creek. The rainforest is raw and primitive, but it’s life at its more elemental.”

  “That survival of the fittest we talked about?”

  “Sometimes. But have you noticed how God has balanced out things? Even the most vulnerable animals have defense mechanisms in place. Look at a rabbit. Fair game for many predators, but God has given the rabbit speed, as well as the ability to reproduce in great numbers.”

  “But then man has stepped into the picture and upset that balance. You see a lot of that imbalance in play in the jungle now. That’s why the Quentas have kept themselves hidden from the rest of the world and so far, they have been pretty successful.”

  Kate shifted on her backpack. “Do you think that Zach made contact with them?”

  “Isn’t it a little late to wonder about that? We’re going on the assumption he did, and that they won’t welcome us with spears and arrows.”

  “It’s hard to believe in today’s time that there are places still isolated from the world.”

  “Not many, but where the Quentas reside it’s very isolated, partially due to the terrain, partially due to their reputation.”

  She trembled. “Are you trying to scare me?”

  “Is it working? Are you ready to call it quits?”

  “No, never. Not until I know what has happened to Zach.”

  He twisted about to face her. “You’ve got me for a few more weeks. That’s all. Then we’ll have to call it quits.” He gestured toward the drenched jungle. “This is just a small sampling of what the rainy season is like.”

  Kate only half heard what he had said after, “You’ve got me.” Her mind fixated on those words, and a picture of him and her together beyond the present flirted with her equilibrium. My, where had that image of them come from? Panic festered in her stomach, causing it to churn. Amazed that she could react more intensely to the idea of a relationship with Slader than the fierce Quentas, who at this very moment could be watching them, she swallowed several times and said, “I won’t leave until I know.”

  “Has anyone told you that you’re one stubborn woman?”

  “A few have mentioned that trait.”

  Rising in one fluid motion, Slader extended his hand to her. “Well, then we’d better get moving if we’re going to find that brother of yours.”

  She fitted her hand into his and let him pull her up, every muscle in her body protesting that they were heading out again. “Do you think this rain will stop anytime soon?”

  “It might, then it might not.”

  She laughed. “A definitive answer.”

  “It’s the only kind you can give when it comes to rain and the jungle.” He slung his backpack over his shoulders, then helped her put hers on.

  As Kate trailed behind Slader, she thought about their short break. Something had changed again with them. It was nothing she could put her finger on, but more a gut feeling. It was almost as though they were no longer guide and client, but a true team.

  Rain pounded down on Kate as they emerged from the thick jungle into an area more open to the sky. The uneven terrain headed upward, and her calves quivered with exhaustion. The roar of water sounded in the distance.

  “Are we near a river?”

  “Yes, a small one. It marks the Quentas territory. I haven’t been beyond it. Not many have.”

  Excitement mixed with a healthy respect for the danger before them took hold of Kate. It might not be long before she found Zach.

  “We’ll cross above the waterfall.”

  Hence the reason they were climbing up the steep incline. She could do this.

  “But we’ll wait till tomorrow to do it.”

  Getting a face full of rain, Kate looked up at the sky, dark with clouds and the approaching sunset. Following a path that curved around the side of a cliff, she stayed close behind Slader, only a few feet separating them. She wasn’t afraid of heights, but it was a long way down. Tops of trees lay to her right like a green carpet. Zach was somewhere out there beneath those trees. Despite the arduous task before her, her excitement gave her the energy to do what was needed.

  Near the top of the precipitous slope they had ascended, Slader paused to get his bearings. Kate did, too. Turning slightly on the trail, she faced the sea of treetops, a gray mist interwoven in the green. Off to the west, the rain had stopped, and orange strips infused the blue sky like a woven tapestry.

  “This is beautiful,” Kate said as the rain pummeled her. Although the weather promised to clear soon, the downpour continued, its intensity increasing, masking the sound of the waterfall.

  “Let’s go. We’ll be cutting it close getting to the bottom before nightfall.” Slader crested the rise and started down the other side of the steep incline.

  Ten steps forward and suddenly the path gave away, sending Slader plunging down the slope. Kate fro
ze, her mouth hanging open. Then, before she could move or think what to do, the earth beneath her fell away and she went down, too. The force of hitting the ground sent her machete, hanging from her belt, flying into the brush.

  Branches clawed at her as she slid down the muddy hillside. Something hit her face, stinging it. She grabbed at a passing bush, but her grip on its wet surface slipped away, her fist clutching a bunch of green leaves instead. She struck a boulder that threw her on her side. Then she rolled downward, her descent increasing. Mud and leaves clogged her mouth. The rumbling of the waterfall grew closer, causing her panic to escalate.

  Please, Lord! Don’t let me land in the river!

  Then with a breath-jarring impact, she came to a stop on a small ledge, no wider than her own body, her arm flung over the side, dangling in space. She quickly pulled it back. She stared upward, rain still falling and hitting her face, cleansing away the mud. She opened her mouth to take in some of the rainwater and try to wash out the grime. Slowly she rose, every square inch of her scratched or aching, and searched the tiny abutment.

  Where was Slader? Her panic multiplied. She peered over the ledge.

  She sucked in a deep breath. He lay not twenty feet below her, completely motionless. In the dim light and gray rain, she couldn’t tell for sure, but it looked like his eyes were closed.

  Please let him be alive. She was the reason he was here.

  She looked around, trying to decide how to get down to him without further hurting herself or sending herself flying over a ledge into space. She could use a rope—that was when she realized she didn’t have her backpack. In her plunge down the side of the mountain she’d lost it. Beads of sweat popped out on her face as her panic mushroomed out of control.

  “Slader,” she shouted down the ravine.

  Silence.

  Her heart hammered against her rib cage at a maddening tempo while her breathing became shallow gasps. She had to stay calm. Not lose control. Slader needed her.

  How could she get to him? She took stock of the area and decided the only way was to ease herself over the ledge and pray she’d find a foothold.