According to Annabel, Miles and his two fellow mining engineers had been in the village prepping a trip to the edge of the Andes in Peru, in search of potential new mines for the corporation they worked for. Two men researching a supposedly extinct plant had arrived from Europe seeking a guide to go up a mountain in the Andes as well. An archaeologist and his two grad students were heading to the Andes looking for a rumored lost city of the Cloud People-the Chachapoyas. All of them had decided to pool their resources and travel upriver together.
Two of the guides, the archaeologist and his students and three porters would be in the lead boat soon after they landed, just ahead of them with a good deal of the supplies.
Trapped on the plane’s first class with eight strangers, Emma didn’t feel safe. She wished the plane could land already, where they could go their separate ways.
Annabel shrugged. “It’s a little too late for me for second thoughts. I made the decision to travel together with them and I am stuck with these people. I will make the best of it.”
That was her friend, always calm in the face of a brewing storm. Emma wasn’t sure if she was a psychic, but it didn’t take one to predict trouble was coming. That feeling was growing with every passing hour. She glanced at her Annabel. As usual, she appeared serene. Emma felt a little silly saying she was worried when Annabel had so many other things on her mind.
Still bickering about the discarded bug spray, Miles flipped Cole the finger. “The can was empty. There must be more.”
“It wasn’t empty,” Cole corrected, disgust in his voice. “You just wanted to chuck something at that caiman.”
“And your aim was as bad as your mouth,” the third engineer, Ben, chimed in.
Ben was the quietest of the bunch. He never stopped looking around with restless eyes. Emma hadn’t quite made up her mind about him. He was the most ordinary looking of the three engineers. He was average height, average weight, a face no one would notice. He blended, and maybe that made her uncomfortable. Nothing about him stood out.
He moved quietly and seemed to simply appear out of nowhere, and he watched everything and everyone as if he were expecting trouble. She didn’t believe he was a partner with Miles and Cole. The other two stuck together and obviously had known one another for some time. Ben appeared to be a loner. Emma wasn’t even certain he liked either of the other two men.
Off to the left wing, her eye picked up a white cloud, moving fast, sometimes iridescent, sometimes a pearly color as the cloud twisted together, forming a blanket of sorts. The birds were still following them. Shouldn’t they be tired? Was this normal?
“Fuck you, Ben,” Miles snapped.
“Watch your mouth,” Ben advised, his voice very low.
Miles actually drew back, his face paling a little. He glanced around the space, his gaze settling on Emma, whom he caught looking at him. “Why don’t you come over here, or better yet, your friend come here and lick the sweat off me? Maybe that will help.” He extended his tongue toward her, probably hoping to look sexy, but he suddenly started choking and coughing, swearing thereafter.
Emma smiled, playing with her fingers.
For one terrible moment, when he called her friend and made his gross suggestion, She thought she might hurl her fingers at him and really push him over the plane. But then, with her friend’s little snicker, her anger was gone, her unfortunate sense of humor kicking in. She burst out laughing. “Seriously? Are you really so arrogant you don’t know I’d rather lick the sweat off a monkey? You are just so gross.”
Out of the corner of her eye, she caught sight of the birds growing closer, widening as they moved in formation over the sky. She was counting six birds now. Her stomach gave a little flip of fear. She forced air through her lungs. She wasn’t one to scare easily, not even when she’d been a child.
Miles leered at her. “I can see when a woman wants me, and baby, you can’t take your eyes off of me. Look at your clothes! You’re showing off for me.” He flicked his tongue at her again, looking for all the world like a snake.
“Leave her the hell alone, Miles,” Jubal snapped, impatience edging his voice. “Don’t you ever get tired of the sound of your voice?”
One of the two men researching plants with Annabel, Jubal didn’t appear to be a man who spent a lot of time in a lab. He looked extremely fit and there was no doubt that he was a man used to a rugged, outdoor life. He carried himself with absolute confidence and moved like a man who could handle himself.
His traveling companion, Gary, looked more the part of the lab rat, shorter and slender, although very well muscled from what Emma had observed. He was very strong. He wore black-rimmed reading glasses, but he seemed every bit as adept outdoors as Jubal. The two kept strictly to themselves at the beginning of the journey, but somewhere around the fourth hour, Jubal became a little protective of the women, staying close whenever the engineers were around. He said little, but he didn’t miss anything.
Although some other woman might be flattered by his protectiveness, Emma wasn’t about to trust a man who supposedly lived his life in a lab, but moved with the fluid grace of a fighter. Both he and Gary clearly carried weapons. They were up to something, and whatever it was, Emma and her friend had enough trouble of their own without needing to get involved in anyone else’s.
“Don’t be a hero,” Miles snapped at Jubal, “it won’t get you the girl.” He winked at Emma. “She’s lookin’ for a real man.”
Emma felt another small surge of anger wash over her and she whipped around to glare at Miles, but Annabel laid a gentle, restraining hand on her wrist and put her head close to whisper. “Don’t bother, honey. He’s feeling like a fish out of water out here.”