This Green Hell

held it out to the boy. Tentatively, the kid stepped forward. He looked from the coin to Garmadia, then up at Alex and the HAWCs. Eventually his desire for the money outweighed his fear and he darted forward. Instead of releasing the coin, Garmadia held on to it and spoke to him calmly. When he had the boy’s full attention, he pointed to the jungle, then to the HAWCs. Alex heard the word norteamericanos several times. The boy looked at the HAWCs again with his eyebrows raised, nodded enthusiastically and said a few words back to the Paraguayan captain.

Garmadia nodded and released the coin, and the boy darted back towards the tree line. Halfway there, he looked back at the group and yelled, ‘Norteamericano,’ then pointed at his chest. When he had their attention, he looked at the HAWC soldiers in their striped battle fatigues, smiled and held his thumb up. ‘Superman, Batman, excelente!’

Garmadia chuckled. ‘To most of the children here, in the cities or the forests, North America is the country where the superheroes live.’ He dusted his hands together and stood up. ‘All right, now we wait. Either he will bring us back a guide…or not.’

Franks yelled to the kid as he sprinted into the jungle: ‘Up, up and away!’

He turned one last time to smile then slipped deeper into the green.

‘About three hours until nightfall,’ Garmadia said to Alex. ‘If we can make a start tonight, and march for most of tomorrow, we may reach the drill site by late evening, or very early the next day. Provided we are not surprised by a storm, or attacked by a jaguar, or fall into a sinkhole, or our guide doesn’t get us lost…’

‘Good enough.’ Alex turned to his team. ‘Okay, people, let’s assist Dr Vargis with her equipment.’

Michael Vargis had removed all of the medical boxes and packs from the truck and stacked them on the grass. Most were small compact field-equipment cases holding computers, microscopes, centrifuges, and several portable batteries in case there was no generator out in the field. There was also a single, reinforced brushed metal case. Alex picked it up and the tips of his fingers tingled. Strange, I can sense radiation, he thought.

‘What’s in here, Dr Vargis?’

‘Michael can carry that, Captain Hunter,’ Maria Vargis replied. ‘It contains micro field X-ray equipment, which is pretty delicate, so please be careful when you’re putting it back down.’ She turned away, indicating the conversation was ended.

Alex knew she was lying, but he could wait to find out why. Instead, he lifted the box that contained the battery packs. It was heavy and he knew that carrying its weight for over twenty-four hours would just about kill anyone else. He thought of some of the miniaturised technology he’d worked with in the HAWC labs — weapons and comm device power packs that contained ten times more power at about a hundredth the size. Guess there’s more money in war than in medicine, he thought as he strapped the heavy box to his back.

Twenty minutes later, the boy emerged from the jungle with another slightly older youth, who, judging by his facial features, was probably related to him. The younger boy walked up to Garmadia. ‘El es mi hermano Saqueo,’ he said, then indicated himself with his thumb. ‘Yo soy Chaco.’

Garmadia turned to Alex. ‘His name is Chaco, and this one here is his big brother, Saqueo — he will be our guide.’

Garmadia pulled a map from his pocket, spread it on the ground and pointed to their current location, then at a red circle about forty miles inland towards the river. He asked Saqueo several questions and the boy nodded to each, replying in a language that Alex thought sounded sometimes like Spanish.

‘It’s a mixture of Guarani, Tupi and Spanish,’ Sam said softly, appearing beside Alex and squinting while he listened.

‘Can you understand it?’ Alex spoke without turning.

‘Some. The Spanish, no problem, but the Tupi and Guarani, just a word here and there. Only had a few hours to pick up the basics on the plane.’

‘Okay. Make sure our captain’s playing it straight, but keep your language skills quiet for now,’ Alex ordered.

Garmadia took two bank notes from his pocket and showed them to Saqueo. He gave one to the boy and made a show of putting the other one back in his pocket. The gesture was clear: this one now, the other when we get there.

‘He can take us to the drill site,’ Garmadia told Alex. ‘And he’s confirmed it’s a 24-hour trek — maybe a bit longer seeing we are not local.’

‘Good. Tell him we want to leave immediately. How long until they can be ready?’

‘Two strong legs and a jungle full of food — they turned up ready, Captain Hunter.’

Garmadia folded the map and got to his feet. He said something to Saqueo and pointed to the piles of equipment. Alex watched as Chaco darted over and lifted one of the small packs onto his shoulder; he’d obviously decided he was coming as well.

‘No. Tell him he can’t come.’

The boy looked up at Alex in shock, understanding the near universal negative. He started to argue with Garmadia, his older brother joining in. The pair of them created a high-pitched chatter that had the captain covering his ears and waving them away.

‘I cannot stop him,’ Garmadia said with a shrug. ‘He will come anyway.’

Alex thought for a second. The two boys stood frozen in anticipation, waiting for a decision from the man who was clearly the group leader.

‘Okay, just to the river. But neither of them is to enter the camp,’ he said.

Though neither boy had a grasp of English, the word okay was obviously universal as well. Chaco was beaming again.

‘Gracias, senor.’

‘What about the truck?’ Michael Vargis said as he shouldered his pack.

Garmadia spoke without turning. ‘It will be safe where it is. We are far from any of our borders, and the Indians have no use for something this large. Just make sure the doors and windows are closed so nothing can take up residence in it.’

‘Let’s move. Chaco, Saqueo, after you.’ Alex made a sweeping gesture towards the tidal wave of vegetation that looked like it was about to crash down on top of them.

Saqueo went out at lead point, but Chaco fell in next to Alex, looking first up at his face, then down to the belt circling his waist with its strange mix of metal objects and pouches. His eyes alighted on the green and black gloves with their hardened ceramic armour. He reached across and tapped one with his small brown hand, feeling the toughened plates, then looked back up at Alex. ‘Como Batman, si?’

Alex shook his head and said, ‘HAWC.’

Chaco’s eyebrows shot up. ‘Hawkman?’ An even more excited look lit his face.

Alex groaned. It’s going to be a long trek, he thought.

ELEVEN

‘Where are they all going … and in such a hurry?’ Maria Vargis looked puzzled as yet another small group of Indians hurried past them in the opposite direction.

‘I was wondering the same thing. They look spooked by something.’ Alex called to Garmadia. ‘Captain, why are the locals leaving?’

Garmadia shrugged and called the question to Chaco, nodding towards the retreating Indians. ‘They are more likely to tell him than they are me,’ he said to Alex.

Chaco scampered after a woman with a huge pile of brightly coloured clothing strapped to her back. Alex watched the boy’s eyes widen as she spoke to him, and he hung onto her arm and pumped it, as though the action would keep the information flowing. He returned to Garmadia speaking rapidly and gesturing towards the jungle. Garmadia shook his head and dismissed the boy with a sweep of his hand.