Miri’s and Dr. Quinn’s heads snapped toward the front of the van as the driver cursed and swerved, tossing the rest of passengers around like balls in a bingo caller machine. Miri glanced over at Dr. Quinn and saw his face twisting in horror.
“We’re all going to die!” he screamed, creating panic among the rest of the group.
She clenched her hands atop the bench seat in front of her as she looked ahead out the windshield at the dense forest in their path as they skidded off the dirt road. Straight toward a giant kapok tree.Oh no, oh no, oh no!She squeezed her eyes shut, bracing for impact, when the engine cranked and sputtered before the van came to an abrupt, jarring halt. Miri slowly opened her eyes, as if opening them quickly would somehow be worse. They’d stopped mere inches from the tree.
“Is everyone okay?” Miri called out.
Yeses accompanied by moans and groans carried through the van cabin as the crew re-situated themselves in their seats.
“Let’s get out and have a look. Everyone, we’ll be okay. Don’t worry,” Dr. Quinn called out, suddenly recovered from his distress.
Before the team made it to the door, however, it swung open with Rafa on the other side, already out of the passenger seat and assessing the damage.
“Is everyone all right?” he asked in a panic. “Did anyone get injured?”
One by one, he helped the others from the van, quickly pulling them out and away from the puddle of mud and muck surrounding them. As Miri, the last to exit, approached the door, Rafa reached in and put his hands on Miri’s face, checking her for bumps and bruises. His warm hands and the concerned look in his eyes sent a flash of heat over her entire body. Five other people were in that van, but none he seemed as concerned about as her.
“My God, are you okay? I’m so sorry,” he said, unable to take his hands away. Not that she wanted him to. Had a man ever touched her like this? Been so attentive to her well-being?
I could get used to this. And to those dark brown eyes…mmm…He has nothing to be sorry for.
“It wasn’t your fault, but yes, I’m all right,” she said. “What happened up there?”
The driver walked over. “I’m sorry. I lost control.”
The other van rolled up, with Anissa immediately hopping out and running over to find out what had happened. Rafa finally took back his hands and hung his head. Darn. Miri almostwishedshe’d gotten injured—moderately. Like a scrape that he could tend to.
Or a bump that needed a kiss to make it better.
“It was my fault. I thought I saw a warthog,” Rafa said.
“There aren’t any warthogs in the Amazon, you idiot!” Dr. Quinn snapped, marching up to Rafa. “You could have gotten us killed.”
“It was probably a tapir. I’m sure it wasn’t intentional,” Miri said, trying to defuse the situation.
“Where the hell are we, anyway? This doesn’t look like the road to Caracaraí,” Dr. Quinn continued, clearly having no interest in defusing anything.
Miri glanced around at their surroundings, the rainforest completely enveloping them. Lush vegetation covered the ground on either side of the dirt road. Ferns, orchids, and palms were scattered throughout the understory, overshadowed by the towering mahogany and ceiba trees covered in moss and vines.Hmm…Dr. Quinn is right. She was no expert on Brazil, but the road to Caracaraí should have been an actual paved road. A straight shot from Manaus, not some jungle dirt trail like the one they had been traveling on. Had they taken a turn when she wasn’t paying attention?
“Senhor Monfils thought this was a shortcut,” the driver explained.
“A shortcut? Through the fucking Amazon?” Dr. Quinn yelled, turning back to Rafa. “Did you flunk geography in school or something?”
“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize you knew exactly where we were supposed to be going to find this centuries-oldlostcity,” Rafa snapped back.
“Well, where the hell are we?” Dr. Quinn asked.
Miri, the drivers, Dr. Quinn, and Anissa took the GPS from Rafa while he stood close behind.I’m sorry, he mouthed, and she waved her hand at him, signaling that it was okay. Though once the GPS was up, Miri quickly realized things were theopposite of okay. Instead of being on the main road to Caracaraí, they’d somehow gotten off course and were on a dead-end dirt road in the middle of the jungle not far from the Rio Anauá, a tributary to the Rio Branco, but still hundreds of miles from Florestacasa.
“This is on you, Miriam.” Dr. Quinn pointed his index finger at her. “I knew you had no clue what you were doing.”
“Hey—” Rafa started.
But Dr. Quinn cut him off. “Oh, here we go. Coming to defend her honor, Mr. Shortcut? I thought you were using the GPS?”
“I was, but it looked like this road went through,” Rafa responded.
“Went through?” Dr. Quinn said incredulously. “And what’s your excuse, you nitwit?” he asked, turning to the driver. “I thought you were from around here.”
