“So…I take it you already know what I’m going to say?” Miri said, tugging on her earlobes.
“We’re stuck here overnight,” Felix said, very matter-of-factly.
Miri scrunched her face and gave them a shaky nod. “But it’s not all bad. At least this way we’ll get to know the rainforest a little better,” she said with an upbeat flourish. “Did you know the Amazon is home to over two point five million…” Miri let her voice trail off as Logan and Felix stared blankly at her. Okay, so maybe they weren’t interested in getting to know the insect species up close and personal.
“What are we supposed to do out here all night?” Logan asked.
Miri fiddled with the phone some more. “Hopefully we can find a couple of books or a pack of cards in someone’s bag to keep us entertained?” she said.
Logan sighed, then turned to Felix and said, “Let’s gather some firewood.” The two of them headed into the forest, leaving Miri and Rafa alone again.
“What were you saying about bad guys?” Rafa asked.
“Oh, it’s nothing,” Miri said, tucking the satellite phone back in her bag. “Anissa says Dr. Quinn is delirious, is all.”
“Delirium doesn’t sound like nothing,” Rafa said, lifting his brows.
“You know what I mean,” she responded, waving it off.
“Not really. Is Quinn okay?” he asked.
“He’s definitely got a concussion, and his hand is broken, so he won’t be coming back. But otherwise everything is fine.”
“You have an interesting definition of ‘fine,’ ” Rafa said, tilting his head. “Not sure I’d classify being stuck out in the middle of the Amazon rainforest with a broken-down van as everything being fine.”
“It’s only for one night. I’m sure we’re not in any danger,” Miri said.
“Areyou sure about that? Bad guys? Do you even know anything about Quinn?”
The chirps, hoots, and howls from the forest seemingly stopped as Corrie’s warning popped into Miri’s head.Tell no one about this.
Surely Corrie didn’t mean Dr. Quinn. He was a renowned archaeologist. A legit scholar.
Wasn’t he?
Fuck. She needed to know.
“I’ll be back,” Miri said, hopping up from the ground and heading over to the van without waiting for a response from Rafa so she could read Corrie’s letter again. See if it had any other clues.
She rounded the van once Rafa couldn’t see her, then she ducked inside, digging through her bag for Corrie’s note.Vautour has spies everywhere…There’s no telling who he might have gotten to.
Dammit. No clues.
Miri carefully folded the paper and tucked it back into her satchel. With a sigh, Miri scanned her surroundings as if thisbroken-down hunk of junk or the rainforest would give her a sign.You’re being ridiculous, she thought, rolling her eyes at herself.
Bad guys? Seriously?
Shaking her head at her gullibility, Miri started to back out of the van when she saw it.
Dr. Quinn’s bag.
His bag must have fallen on the floor during the collision. And with all the ruckus to get him to the hospital, it must have gotten overlooked.
Maybe Miri could take a quick peek inside.
Usually Miri wasn’t one to go snooping into other people’s belongings. Something she’d learned the hard way at fourteen years old when she thought it would be funny to look through her older sister’s diary and read,God, why is Miri so WEIRD?
Capital W-E-I-R-D weird.
