“No, senhor. I’m just a driver.”
“There’s no reason to be calling people names,” Rafa said to Dr. Quinn. “It was my fault. He was only taking directions from me.”
“You’re damn right it was your blunder. Look at this,” Dr. Quinn said, waving his arms at their surroundings. “Where are your cartography skills now?”
Rafa took a slight step forward, and Miri rushed and put up her hands between the two of them.
“Okay, okay, let’s all settle down,” she said.
“Good idea. I apologize, everyone,” Dr. Quinn said, turning to address the group, who had been observing this interaction, “for letting this screwup get the best of me…”
Miri caught a slight shift in Rafa’s stance as if he wasn’t yet ready to back down, but she placed her hand on his forearm tostop him from whatever was building inside him.He’s not worth it, she told him with her eyes.
He pulled his lips in a tight line and gave her a slight nod as if sayingfine.
“And that’s not the leader I am,” Dr. Quinn continued, gently placing his hand on his heart and giving the crew a quick nod.
“Co-leader,” Miri mumbled under her breath. This time, Rafa gave her a knowing glance with a smile and slight tick of his head.
Touché.
“Now, let’s put the mistakes aside and hit the road. How about you back out of this mud slop so we can climb in?” Dr. Quinn said to the driver.
“Yessir,” the driver responded as the rest of the group backed away to give the van some space. But as he put the van in reverse and revved the engine, the only movement came from the tires spinning and whirling, and little more.
“Try rocking it. Or press harder on the gas,” Dr. Quinn called out.
“I am. It’s not budging,” the driver yelled out the window.
“We should call for help,” Rafa said. “We need a winch.”
Dr. Quinn scoffed. “Nonsense. I’ve maneuvered countless vehicles out of stickier situations than this.”
Miri rolled her eyes to herself. Stickier than a ten-person passenger van getting stuck in the mud in the middle of the Amazon? Unlikely.
“Come on, Quinn, this is silly. What are you trying to prove?” Rafa asked.
“Prove?” Dr. Quinn cocked back his head with an exaggerated flourish. “Excuse me, I’m trying to getmy teamout of the mess that you and your little girlfriend over here created.”
Little girlfriend?Great. Things were even worse between her and Dr. Quinn than Miri had originally thought.
“Whoa!” Rafa said, putting up his hands.Yeesh. Didn’t have to soundsomortified by the idea.“You’re out of line.”
“And you’re in my way. I’ll show you all how it’s done,” Quinn said, pushing past the group.
“Dr. Quinn, maybe we need to take a few minutes for everyone to calm down,” Miri said, trailing behind him as he searched the ground for something to wedge underneath the tire. “We should wait until we can get a tow.”
“Out here?” he said, bringing his hands up and signaling to their surroundings.
“We have a satellite phone.”
“And do you know the number to a tow company?”
Hmm. Good point. “What if we send the other van to find assistance?”
“That’s a waste of time,” Dr. Quinn said, dragging a few logs toward the van. Miri didn’t have experience maneuvering countless vehicles out of sticky situations, but those pieces of wood were little more than glorified sticks. “You’ll see. We’ll be out of here in ten minutes tops.”
“Maybe we can find something to use to pull it out of the mud with the other van. Or we can hike back to the main road and flag down help,” she said, scanning the area for something, anything, that could help get them out of this mess.
