splattered through the top of the side window, spraying my shoulder and face.
I shouted at him, above the drumming on the roof.
'Does this road go straight to Charlie's house?'
Aaron was leaning over the wheel, busy wiping the inside of the windscreen.
'No, no this is a loop, just access to an electricity sub-station. The new private road to the house leads off from it. I thought maybe I could drop you off where the two join, otherwise I'd have nowhere to go.'
That seemed perfectly reasonable to me.
'How far to the house from the junction?'
'If the scale on the imagery is right, maybe a mile, a mile and then some. All you've got to do is follow the road.'
The deluge continued as we crawled uphill. I leant down and felt under my seat, trying to find something to protect my documents. I wasn't going to leave them with Aaron: they were going everywhere with me, like communication codes, to be kept on the body at all times.
Aaron looked at me. What do you need?' He was still strained forward against the wheel, as if that was going to help him see any better through the solid sheet of rain as we crawled along at about 10 mph.
I explained.
'You'll find something in the back, for sure. Won't be long now, maybe two or three miles.'
That was fine by me. I sat back and let myself be mesmerized by the rain bouncing around us.
We followed the road as it curved to the right, then Aaron moved over to the edge of the road and stopped. He pointed just ahead of us. That's the road that goes to the house. Like I said, maybe a mile, a mile and a half. They say from up there Chan can see the sun rise over the Caribbean and set in the Pacific.
What do you want me to do now?'
'First, just stay here and let me get into the back.'
I got out and put my jacket back on. Visibility was down to maybe twenty metres.
Rain hammered on the top of my head and shoulders.
I went to the rear of the wagon and opened the tailgate. I was soaked to the skin before I got half-way. I was just pleased not to be in a country where being wet also meant freezing my bollocks off.
I rummaged around in the back. Four five-gallon US Army jerry-cans were fixed with bun gees to the far end of the flatbed, adjacent to the cab. At least we wouldn't be running out of fuel. Scattered around them were more yellowing newspapers, a jack, a nylon tow-rope and all the associated crap that would be needed for a wreck like this. Amongst it, I found what I was looking for, two plastic carrier bags. One contained a pair of greasy old jump- leads, the other was empty, apart from a few bits of dried mud and vegetable leaves. I shook them both out, tucked my passport, air ticket and wallet into the first and wrapped them up. I put that into the second, gave it a twist, and placed it in an inside pocket of my jacket.
I had another look round, but found nothing else that could be of any use to me on the recce. Slamming the tailgate, I went round to Aaron's door and put my face up against the gap in the window.
'Can you give me that compass, mate?' I had to shout to be heard.
He leant across, unstuck it from the windscreen, and passed it through.
'Sorry, I didn't think about it. I should have brought a proper one, and a map.'
I couldn't be arsed to say it wasn't a problem. My head was banging big-time and I wanted to get on. Water cascaded down my face and off my nose and chin as I pressed the illumination button on Baby-G.
'When's last light?'
'Six thirty, or thereabouts.'
'It's just gone three thirty. Drive well away from here, all the way back to the city, whatever. Then come back to this exact spot at three a.m.'
He nodded without even thinking about it.
'OK, park here, and wait ten minutes. Keep the passenger door unlocked and just sit in the car with the engine running.' On a job, the engine must always be kept running: if you switch it off, sod's law dictates that it's not going to start up again.
'You also need to think of a story in case you're stopped. Say you're looking for some rare plant or something.'
He stared vacantly through the windscreen.
'Yes, that's a good idea. In fact the barrigon tree is common in disturbed areas and along roads and-' 'That's good, mate, good, whatever works, but make sure the story's in your head by the time you pick me up, so it sounds convincing.'
'OK.' He nodded sharply, still looking out of the window and thinking trees.
'If I'm not here by ten past three, drive off. Then come back round again and do exactly the same every hour until it gets light, OK?'
His eyes were still fixed on the windscreen as he nodded sharply.
'OK.'
Then, at first light, I want you to bin it. Stop doing the circuit. Come back for me at midday, but not here wait at the locks, by the trailer. Wait for an hour, OK?'
He nodded some more.
'Got any questions?'
He hadn't. I figured I'd given myself enough time, but if there was a cock-up and I didn't make this RV, all was not lost. I could get to a river, clean all the jungle shit off and, with luck, dry myself off if the sun was shining tomorrow morning. Then I wouldn't stand out too much once I got amongst the real people at the locks.
'Now, worst-case scenario, Aaron and this is very, very important.' I was still shouting above the noise of the rain. Rivulets of water ran down my face and into my mouth. If I don't appear at the locks by midday tomorrow, then you'd better call your handler and explain exactly what I wanted you to do, all right?'
'Why's that?'
'Because I'll probably be dead.'
There was a pause. He was obviously shaken: maybe he hadn't realized what game we were playing here; maybe he'd thought we really were here for the tree hugging.
'Have you got that?'
'Sure. I'll just tell them, word for word.' He was still looking through the windscreen, frowning and nodding.
I tapped on his window and he turned his head.
'Hey, don't worry about it, mate.
I'm just planning for the worst. I'll see you here at three.'
He smiled quite nervously. 'I'll tank up beforehand, yeah?'
I tapped once more on the glass.
'Good idea. See you later, mate.'
Aaron drove off. The engine noise was drowned by the rain. I walked off the road into the murky, twilight world of the jungle. At once I was pushing against palm leaves and bushes. Rainwater that had been trapped on them sluiced all over me.
I moved in about five metres to get out of sight while I waited for Aaron to get well away from the area, and plonked down in the mud and leaf litter, resting my back against a tree-trunk as yet more thunder erupted across the sky. Water still found me as it cascaded from the canopy.
Pushing back my soaked hair with my hands I brought up my knees and rested my forehead against them as the rain found its way from the back of my neck and dripped away over my chin. Underneath my jacket, my left arm was being chewed. I gave the material a good rub and attempted to squeeze to death whatever had got up there, quietly welcoming myself to Aaron's 'cathedral of nature'. I should have looked out for some mozzie repellent in the Miami departures lounge instead of a guidebook.
My jeans were wet and heavy, hugging my legs as I stood up. I wasn't exactly dressed for crawling around in the jungle, but tough, I'd just have to get on with it. If I was going to hunt, I had to get my arse over to where the ducks were, so I headed back to the loop. For all I knew it might have stopped raining out there by now. Inside the canopy you'd never know because the water still falls for ages as it makes its way down leaf by leaf.
I turned right on to the single-track metal road: it was pointless moving through the jungle from this
