Debriefing
AUGUST 6, 9:15 PM.
SAO GABRIEL DA CCICHCIERIA
Nate crossed the street from Manny's offices at FUNAI and headed toward the Brazilian army base. He was accompanied by the Brazilian biologist and Professor Kouwe. The professor had just returned from the hospital. Nate was relieved to hear that Tama was recuperating well.
Freshly showered and shaved, his clothes laundered, Nathan Rand felt nothing like the man who had arrived here only hours before with the girl. It was as if he had scraped and scrubbed the jungle from his body along with the dirt and sweat. In a few hours, he went from a newly anointed member of the Yanomamo tribe back to an American citizen. It was amazing the transformational power of Irish Spring deodorant soap. He sniffed at the residual smell.
'After being so long in the jungle, it's nauseating, isn't it?' Professor Kouwe said, puffing on a pipe. 'When I first left my home in the Venezuelan jungle, it was the bombardment upon my senses-the smells, the noises, the furious motion of civilization-that took the longest to acclimatize to:'
Nathan dropped his arm. 'It's strange how quickly you adapt to the simpler life out in the wilds. But I can tell you one thing that makes all the hassles of modern civilized life worth it.'
'What's that?' Manny asked.
'Toilet paper,' Nathan said.
Kouwe snorted with laughter. 'Why do you think I left the jungle?'
They crossed toward the gate of the illuminated base. The meeting was scheduled to start in another ten minutes. Maybe then he'd have some answers.
As they walked, Nathan glanced over the quiet city and studied this little bastion of civilization. Over the river, a full moon hung, reflected in the sleek surface, blurred by an evening mist spreading into the city. Only at night does the jungle reclaim Sao Gabriel. After the sun sets, the noises of the city die down, replaced by the echoing song of the nightjar in the surrounding trees, accompanied by the chorus of honking frogs and the vibrato of locusts and crickets. Even in the streets, the flutter of bats and whine of blood-hungry mosquitoes replace the honk of cars and chatter of people. Only as one passes an open cantina, where the tinkling laughter of late-night patrons flows forth, does human life intrude.
Otherwise, at night, the jungle rules.
Nathan kept pace with Manny. 'What could the U.S. government possibly need with me?'
Manny shook his head. 'I'm not sure. But it somehow involves your financiers:'
'Tellux Pharmaceuticals?'
'Right. They arrived with several corporate types. Lawyers, by the look of them:'
Nate scowled. 'Aren't there always when Tellux is involved?'
Kouwe spoke around the stem of his pipe. 'You didn't have to sell Eco-tek to them:'
Nate sighed. 'Professor . . :'
The shaman raised his hands in submission. 'Sorry. I know . . . sore subject:'
Sore wasn't the word Nathan would have used. Established twelve years ago, Eco-Tek had been his father's brainchild. It was a niche pharmaceutical firm that had sought to utilize shamanic knowledge as the means to discover new botanical drugs. His father had wanted to preserve the wisdom of the vanishing medicine men of the Amazon basin and to insure that these local tribes profited from their own knowledge through intellectual property rights. Not only had it been his father's dream and purpose in life, but also the culmination of a promise to Nate's mother, Sarah.
While working as a medical doctor for the Peace Corps, she had dedicated her life to the indigenous people here, and her passion was contagious. Nate's father had promised to continue on in her footsteps and, years later, Eco-Tek was the result, a fusion of razor-sharp business models and non-profit advocacy.
But now all that was left of his parents' legacy was gone, dismantled and swallowed by Tellux.
'Looks like we're getting an escort,' Manny said, breaking through Nate's thoughts.
At the gate's guard station, two Rangers in tan berets stood stiffly behind a nervous-looking Brazilian soldier.
Nathan eyed their holstered sidearms warily and wondered again at the nature of this meeting.
As they reached the gates, the Brazilian guard checked their identifications. Then one of the two Rangers stepped forward. 'We're to take you to the debriefing. If you'll please follow:' He turned sharply on his heel and strode away.
Nathan glanced to his friends, then proceeded through the gates. The second Ranger took up a strategic position behind them. Ushered along by their escorts, with a view of the four military helicopters resting on the camp's soccer field, Nathan felt a distinct sense of dread in his belly.
None of this seemed to concern Professor Kouwe. He simply puffed on his pipe and strode casually after their armed escort. Manny also appeared more distracted than alarmed.
They were marched past the corrugated Quonset buts that served as barracks for the Brazilian troops and led to a derelict timber-framed ware-house on the far side with the few windows painted black.
The Ranger in the lead opened the rusted door. Nathan was the first through. Expecting to find a gloomy, spider-infested interior, he was surprised to find the large warehouse brightly lit with halogen poles and over-head fluorescents, The cement floor was crisscrossed with cables, some as thick around as his wrist. From one of the three offices lining the back half of the warehouse, a generator could be heard chugging away.
Nathan gaped at the level of sophisticated hardware positioned throughout the room: computers, radio equipment, televisions, and monitors.
Amid all the organized chaos, a long conference table had been set up, strewn with printouts, maps, graphs, even a pile of newspapers. Men and women in both military garb and civilian clothes were busy throughout the room. Several were poring over reams of paper at the table, including Kelly O'Brien.
What's going on here? Nathan wondered.
'I'm afraid there's no smoking inside,' their escort said to Professor Kouwe, indicating the lit pipe.
'Of course:' Kouwe tapped out his pipe's bowl onto the threshold's dirt floor. The Ranger used his boot heel to squash the burning tobacco. 'Thank you:'
From across the way, one of the office doors opened and the tall red-headed man who appeared to be Dr. O'Brien's brother stepped out. At his side was a man Nate knew well enough to dislike immensely. He was dressed in a navy blue suit with the jacket slung over one arm, a coat Nate was sure bore the Tellux logo. As usual, his dark brown hair was oiled and combed into perfect place, as was his smartly trimmed goatee. The smile he wore as he approached Nathan and his two friends was just as oily.
On the other hand, his redheaded companion crossed with an arm extended and a more genuine expression of welcome. 'Dr. Rand, thank you for coming. I think you know Dr. Richard Zane.'
'We've met,' Nathan said coldly, then shook the redhead's hand. The man had a grip that could crush stone.
'I'm Frank O'Brien, the head of operations here. You've already met my sister.' He nodded over to Kelly, who glanced up from the table. She lifted a hand in greeting. 'Now that you're all here we can get this meeting under way.'
Frank guided Nate, Kouwe, and Manny toward the table, then waved an arm, signaling the others to take their seats.
A hard-faced man with a long pale scar across his throat settled him-self across the table from Nathan. At his side sat one of the Rangers, his two silver bars suggesting he was the captain of the military forces here.
At the head of the table, Richard Zane sat between Kelly and Frank, who remained standing. To the left was another Tellux employee, a small Asian woman in a conservative blue pantsuit. Her eyes glinted with intelligence and seemed to soak in everything around her. Nate caught her gaze. She gave him the faintest of smiles and nodded her head.
Once everyone else was settled, Frank cleared his throat. 'First, Dr. Rand, let me welcome you to the command center for Operation Amazonia, a joint operation between the CIA's Environmental Center and Special Forces Command:' He gave a short nod to the silver-barred captain. 'We're also supported by the Brazilian government and are assisted by Tellux Pharmaceutical's research division.'
Kelly interrupted her brother, raising a hand. She clearly read the con-fusion on Nathan's face. 'Dr. Rand, I'm
