Spirals

by Scott Bergin

  "You will stay in here." Fimyany said. "You might want to sleep on the floor. The bed, you will find, is a little short."

  Alex ducked, and walked through the doorway. Inside the hut, there was just enough room for him to stand without hitting his head. Alex was glad that the huts had peaked roofs. The hut was only one room. It was circular, and only eight feet across. Against the far wall stood a bed, and it was very short. Beside it was a bookshelf, filled with books. Alex was certain that this was Fimyany's hut. He was undoubtedly the only one who could read, and the books were in English. Alex turned and looked back out the door.

  "This is your hut." He said to Fimyany.

  "How did you know that?" He asked.

  "Your books betrayed you." Alex replied.

  "You are right." Fimyany admitted. "It is my hut."

  "I knew it." Alex said triumphantly.

  "Here is something you did not know." Fimyany said. "You cannot leave this hut until dawn. He will make sure that you do not try." Fimyany pointed to one of the guards who had been beside the fire. Alex hadn't noticed that the guard followed them back to the village.

  "Am I a prisoner?" Alex asked.

  "No." Fimyany assured him. "It just is not safe in this part of the jungle at night. It is for your own safety, and that of the village. You cannot leave until we come and get you in the morning."

  "All right." Alex said, looking at the guard standing beside the hut. Alex noticed that he was carrying a blowgun, and a very large knife.

  "Promise me you won't come out, or try to escape." Fimyany said.

  "Where would I go?" Alex asked.

  "Promise me." Fimyany repeated.

  "I promise." Alex said, then turned back into the hut.

  "Good night." Fimyany said, from beyond the closed door.

  Alex walked across the small floor and sat on the bed. Not only was it too short, it was extremely soft. Alex's weight made the center touch the floor. Fimyany apparently weighed significantly less. It made sense. He was substantially shorter as well. Alex moved onto the floor. He didn't want to break the bed, and he knew that he would find the floor more comfortable. Alex stretched himself across the floor, then stole the pillow from the bed. To his bewilderment, Alex had no trouble falling asleep. As he dosed off, his only concern was what could be so dangerous about this part of the jungle at night.

  Chapter 27

  April 14

  1:10 p.m.

  Yaoundé, Cameroon

  Gabrielle sat on her blanket. In one hand she held the photographs that Robert had gotten developed for her. She was amazed at how a simple bribe convinced a local shop owner to process the film in less than two hours. Gabrielle sorted through the photos looking at each for only a couple of seconds. She glanced up from time to time. With each glance, she saw Robert growing more impatient. Gabrielle was not near enough to the shop owner when Robert presented him with the bribe. Robert had insisted that she stay back. Now she wondered how large the bribe had been. She glanced up at Robert again. He was not terribly well dressed, or even clean shaven. Yet, in spite of their situation, he still managed to have an aura of wealth around him. Gabrielle wondered how much Robert could afford to just give away, but she didn't dare ask. She finished looking through the pictures, and brought the stack back down to waist level. Though, she still concealed them from Robert. He sat on his own blanket, only a few feet away from her. Robert was also concealing a small stack of his own developed photographs.

  "Are you ready to begin?" He asked.

  "I'm ready." She replied.

  "I'll go first." Robert said.

  Robert removed the first photograph from his stack. He placed it on the floor between the two blankets. The photograph was positioned so Gabrielle could see it right side up. Gabrielle leaned over the picture and stared at it. The photograph was an aerial shot of a large crater. The altitude was around a thousand feet, so there was nothing specific of interest. The crater filled the entire picture. Gabrielle knew that it was Lake Nyos. She was amazed at how much water had been in the lake, and was now gone. The lake was several miles long, and it was positioned precariously at the edge of a cliff. The crater that used to house the lake was so large, that the picture had to be taken from such an altitude just to fit it into the lens.

  "Now one of yours." Robert said.

  Without a word, Gabrielle removed her first photograph and placed it on the floor. Robert scanned it quickly, but showed little interest. The picture was of a man on his back with his shirt off. The man's entire body was void of skin. The expression on his face conveyed that he died a horribly painful death. His eyes were frozen open, and his lips had slid onto the ground beside his head. Robert immediately thought back to how he had last seen his friend Charles Silthe. Charles had the same frozen expression on his face when he died, and he also had the same petrified glaze in his eyes. Gabrielle wondered if her pictures were going to be a disappointment to Robert, since he didn't stare at her photo the way she stared at his. Robert only looked at the picture for thirty seconds before he pulled out his second picture. He placed the photograph on top of his first. Gabrielle opened her jaw wide when she saw it. The picture was another aerial photograph. Though, this one was taken from only a few hundred feet up. The shot was not of the lake, but of the flooding. There was no water in the picture, only a path that showed where the lake had passed through. A strip of land two hundred yards wide was absent of all life. It looked as if a huge bulldozer had plowed a path right through the forest and across the land. Gabrielle quickly closed her jaw, and tried to pretend that she was not astounded. She didn't want to let Robert know that all of her photographs would be far inferior to the one he just showed her. Gabrielle took her second photo and placed it on her first. Robert looked at the picture for only a second, then he looked up at Gabrielle.

  "What's this?" Robert asked.

  "That's the museum." Gabrielle replied.

  "The one that was bombed?" He asked.

  "Yeah." Gabrielle replied.

  "Look. You can see the army patrolling in the corner." She said, drawing his attention back to the photograph.

  Robert didn't seem all that interested in the picture. He took out his next shot and placed it on the previous one. Again, Gabrielle looked at the picture with bewilderment. The picture was not that different from the last one. The main difference was that this photo showed the path cutting its way through a small village. Huts were thrown to either side of the massive muddy trench. Mixed in with the huts were the bodies of people and animals. The people had been the residents of the village. The animals had been their livestock.

  "How many people have died?" Gabrielle whispered, still staring at the picture.

  "In the flooding?" He asked.

  "Yeah." Gabrielle whispered.

  "Initial reports put the death toll at twenty-five thousand, but I've heard the latest estimates are closer to fifty thousand." Robert replied.

  "Fifty thousand." She whispered, even softer than before.

  "As far as the cloud, I don't know of anyone who's even taking a guess at the toll." Robert admitted.

  "Your move." He said, after she failed to respond to his comment.

  She took out the next photograph from her stack and placed it on the others. When Gabrielle looked at it, she no longer felt the inferiority that showing her other pictures caused her to feel. The picture was of a large open room. The room was partially destroyed. Sections of the ceiling were burned and strewn about the room. The floor was covered in glass and rubble, and strangely, there were no people in the room.

  "I thought no one was allowed into the museum." Robert said.

  "That's right." Gabrielle replied.

  "Then how did you..." Robert cut himself off in the middle of his sentence. "On second thought, I probably don't want to know."

  "I snuck in." Gabrielle confessed.

  "Wonderful security." He replied sarcastically.

  "Actually, it was rather tight." She replied.
"I had to steal an army uniform to get through."

  "I don't really need to know this." Robert said, revealing his next photograph.

  When he put the picture with the others, Gabrielle fell silent. She looked at the photograph closely, though not with the same awe as the previous shots. There was nothing too spectacular about the picture. The shot was of a large group of people standing across a huge opening in the lake's natural dam. Most of the people were pointing around at different parts of the dam. A couple of them were standing dangerously close to the edge of the ruptured barrier. Gabrielle noticed that one man was busy hanging a tarp in a tree that hung over the gap in the dam.

  "What is this man doing?" Gabrielle asked, pointing to the person holding the tarp.

  "Sharp eye." Robert replied. "He is concealing evidence."

  "What evidence?" Gabrielle asked.

  "Nope." He replied. "You've got to show me something more."

  Gabrielle quickly removed another photograph and placed it on the small pile. The shot was of the same room. However, this time it revealed something else. The picture was taken from a different corner of the room. In the bottom of the photograph there was a small metal plaque. Though, from this distance the plaque was not legible. The corner of the shot also revealed the charred remains of a very old book.

  "What is this?" Robert asked, pointing to the book.

  "That is what this explains." She replied, pointing to the plaque.

  "And what does that say?" He asked.

  "It says that it's your turn to show me a picture." Gabrielle replied.

  Robert took the next picture, and placed it with the others. At first, Gabrielle tilted her head trying to get a proper perspective. Then she realized that the picture was taken from a very strange angle. The photograph was taken from the base of the hole in the dam. Robert had pointed the camera straight up the side of the mud wall. The result was a picture that was mostly sky, but it also contained one other feature. The strange angle allowed the camera to see up under the tarp that the man had been hanging. Gabrielle strained her eyes to see what was under the tarp, but the image was simply too small.

  "What's under there?" Gabrielle asked.

  "In due time." Robert said.

  Gabrielle placed her next photo on her stack. She continued to carefully guard the rest from Robert's prying eyes. The picture was the close up of the brass plaque.

  "The personal diary of L." Robert read aloud.

  "Graciously donated by." Gabrielle finished.

  "Why would someone want to blow up a diary?" Robert asked.

  "To conceal the evidence." She replied.

  "What do you mean?" He asked.

  "The man who blew up the exhibit removed a page from that book first." Gabrielle explained.

  "Who knows about this?" Robert asked.

  "You, me, and my partner." She replied.

  "Your partner." Robert said. "I thought you said you were alone."

  "I am alone." Gabrielle insisted. "He is somewhere in the jungle, trying to catch the man who did this."

  "Well, why did he steal a page?" He asked.

  "I don't know." Gabrielle admitted. "Why don't you explain it to me?"

  "I will if you can explain this." Robert said, showing his next photograph. It was from the same angle, but it was zoomed in much closer. Gabrielle only glanced at the picture for an instant, then she let all her pictures fall to the ground.

  "Holy shit." She heard herself mutter. The picture exposed the entire tree that the tarp was intended to cover. On the tree hung a small satellite dish.

  "Is that a satellite dish?" Gabrielle asked.

  "Yeah." He replied.

  "So what's it doing there?" She asked.

  "That's what I hoped you would tell me." Robert replied.

  "Well, was there a television nearby?" Gabrielle asked.

  "I don't think it was meant to pick up cable." Robert said.

  "You mean..." She began, then cut herself off.

  "That it was no natural disaster." He said, completing her sentence.

  Gabrielle had been thinking that same thought in the back of her mind. She knew that was the only explanation for the satellite dish. She also knew that she had seen a satellite just like that, but she couldn't think of where. The last few days had been so hectic, she was losing track of what she had seen and done. The memory of the satellite dish was as vivid as any other memory she had. The only difference was that she could not place its location. She recalled seeing it just inside a doorway. When she tried to focus on the doorway, she lost the thought. All she could remember seeing was the dish, nothing else that was specific or identifiable. The only other memory that Gabrielle could attach with it was someone's comment. It was another joke about cable television. Gabrielle knew that she was going to have to rack her brain to figure out where she had seen the other satellite dish. She also knew that she wouldn't sleep much until she could piece together the rest of the memory. Gabrielle decided to keep her memory from Robert. She didn't want to let him know that she could only remember seeing it, but that she could not remember where. All he would do was pressure her, and that would only make things worse. Gabrielle knew what she needed to do. She needed a quiet place to think back, to trace her steps. Eventually, she would come across where she had seen the satellite dish. For now, she would just have to keep what she knew a secret.

  Gabrielle gathered up the pictures that she dropped. She placed one in front of Robert, and waited for him to look at it. She continued to trade pictures with him, but she chose not to trade any more information. As Gabrielle looked at Robert's photographs, she made no more inquiries about the satellite dish, or the dam. She also made no attempt to shed light on what was preoccupying her mind. Gabrielle knew that Robert could tell there was something weighing heavily on her mind. To her surprise, he did not mention a word about it.

  Chapter 28

  April 14

  5:44 p.m.

  Gabon

  The small raft floated effortlessly down the river, as it had been doing for hours. Alex sat at the front of the raft. He was relaxed, and he leaned up against the supplies for stability. Fimyany sat on a stump that was attached to the back of the raft. He held the middle of a twenty-foot stick in one hand. One end of the stick swayed over Alex's head. The other end dragged behind the raft. For now, Fimyany let the gentle current guide them. They had been riding on the raft since leaving the village at dawn. Whatever the villagers were afraid of, it did not make its presence known last night. Alex slept straight through the night. The sleeping conditions were far more comfortable than the way he had spent the previous night. He remembered laying down on the floor one minute, and having Fimyany wake him up the next. The night passed in an instant. Shortly after waking up, they were on their way downstream.

  "How far will this take us?" Alex asked.

  "This river goes all the way to the ocean." Fimyany replied.

  "The ocean." Alex said. "Wouldn't we have to go through a whole country to get there?"

  "No." Fimyany said.

  "This river follows the Congo all the way to the ocean." Alex said, surprised by Fimyany's response.

  "The Congo." Fimyany replied. "You really have come a long way."

  "What do you mean?" Alex asked.

  "We haven't been in the Congo." He explained. "We are in Gabon."

  "How long ago did we leave the Congo?" Alex asked.

  "We didn't." He replied. "I was never in the Congo."

  "Your village is in Gabon." Alex said in disbelief.

  "It always has been." He said. "You must have crossed the border, without even knowing it."

  "I guess I must have." Alex admitted.

  "How long were you in the Congo?" Fimyany asked.

  "Only a couple of days." Alex replied.

  "And you got lost that quick." Fimyany said, chuckling.

  "I don't even know when I entered the Congo." Alex confessed.

  "What do you mean?" Fimyany aske
d.

  "I have been walking since I was in Cameroon." He explained. "That was about two days ago."

  "You really have been walking a long way." Fimyany said.

  "Yes, and I'm still starving." Alex replied.

  Alex turned around to face Fimyany, and the supplies. He opened a sack that had been pulled shut with a draw string. The bag was an old potato sack, but it didn't have potatoes in it now. Alex removed a small fruit from the sack, then closed it back up. He peeled the fruit, and set the pieces on the raft. Fimyany watched Alex as much as the river.

  "Don't eat too much." Fimyany said.

  "We're not going all the way to the ocean are we?" Alex asked.

  "No." Fimyany admitted. "But we still need to ration our food. You wouldn't want us to waste time looking for food on land instead of traveling, would you?"

  "I'm only having one." Alex replied, as he scooped up the pieces of the peel. Alex was about to throw them in the water, when he saw Fimyany looking very upset.

  "No." Fimyany said, waving his free arm.

  "What? Are you going to complain about my littering?" Alex asked.

  "I won't be as interested as they will." Fimyany said, pointing to the shore.

  Alex looked at the shore, but saw nothing. Then the grass moved, and a large reptile slithered into the water. Alex quickly scanned the shores on both sides. He could easily see ten more, and he was sure there were others hiding in the grass.

  "Alligators." Alex said. "I hate alligators."

  "Then you've got nothing to worry about." Fimyany assured him. "Those are crocodiles."

  "Same thing." Alex replied.

  "Actually, they are quite different." Fimyany said.

  "I meant that I hate them just as much." He explained.

  "Oh." Fimyany replied.

  "Will they attack us?" Alex asked.