Laura 01 The Jaguar Prophecy (24 page)

He quickly gets twigs and branches with which he makes a fire. The thatch leaves he also collects make a soft bed to sleep on.

After a meal of power bars and water, they snuggle up together, tired from all the excitement. They are fast asleep in minutes, unaware of the eyes watching them, hidden in the jungle, waiting for the right moment to strike.

With expert precision, something moves out of the jungle in complete silence, every movement a calculated one.

Hungry killer eyes watch Laura and Victor for any sign that they detect the danger. The fire had died off long ago. Slowly, inch by inch it moves forward, claws digging into the soft ground, long killer teeth glistening in the moonlight. With only three feet to go until it reaches Laura, suddenly it stops, frozen, silent.

Laura has moved. Is she awake, has she detected the silent killer? Laura rolls over onto her back, but does not wake, unaware of the danger so close to her, able to end her life with one bite of its massive bone crunching jaws, or one hit to her throat with its claws, able to rip out her windpipe with one swipe.

The shadow moves again, cautious and alert, one foot to go. Slowly it opens its massive jaw, leaning its head over Laura’s, its teeth inches away from her face, taking in her scent. A click sound next to the creature causes it to freeze, and then slowly it turns its head to the right. Victor puts the tip of the gun barrel against the jaguar’s head, between the eyes.

“Piss off or die,” Victor says, having pulled the hammer back on the pistol which caused the click sound. Two killers’ eyes meet, animal to animal.

The jaguar pauses for a moment, seeming to decide its actions, then slowly turns its head to the left, looking away from Victor, as if to admit defeat, recognizing the killer in Victor.

Slowly it steps over Laura and walks away, disappearing into the jungle. Victor waits for half an hour before going back to sleep.

Chapter 12

Sounds of birds chirping and monkeys calling wake them up. Victor sits up and then notices a large bird looking for insects 30 feet from them on the soft ground. Slowly he takes out Jose’s pistol, aiming carefully for the bird’s small head, not wanting to waste any meat by shooting the bird in its body. The small caliber pistol is a perfect tool for the job, big enough to kill even large game if you know how to use it correctly, but not so big that it will destroy the rest of the bird. He pulls the trigger just as Laura sits up. The bullet hits the bird dead on, a head shot.

The spent cartridge gets ejected out of the pistol, hitting Laura in the head before bouncing off onto the ground.

“Ouch, what are you shooting at?” Laura asks, rubbing the spot where the cartridge had hit her.

“Breakfast,” Victor replies as he stands up. Laura looks over to the direction in which Victor had shot and sees the dead bird, missing its head.

“You really do like shooting things in the head don’t you?” Victor just shrugs his shoulders. Laura is cheerful and happy.

“Wow, my first night in the wild under an open sky, it’s so cool. I thought it would be scarier and dangerous.” Laura is so happy; Victor decides to tell her nothing about the jaguar. He just hopes she does not see the footprints. While Laura is not looking, Victor quickly rubs out some of the jaguar’s prints with his shoes.

“What are you doing?” Laura is looking at him, head tilted to one side.

“I got bird shit on my shoe, just trying to get it off.”

Laura rolls her eyes at Victor and laughs. “Do you mind if I go and explore a bit further while you start the fire and cook the bird? I don’t really want to see you prepare it, not ready for that yet.” Laura is already making for the opening to the path she had started yesterday, machete in hand.

“Be careful, and yell if you need help or find anything, ok?” Laura does not comment, she just bounces towards the opening, all excited.

While Victor is busy collecting more twigs and branches for the fire, three men in a jeep make their way along the road from Vilcabamba.

“Do you think the tourists left? I did not hear a plane take off last night,” Anthony asks.

“I think they did, we must not have heard them leave, and maybe they left late at night, after their guide told them some scary campfire stories,” Morne comments, causing them all to burst out laughing.

“How will we know where they stopped?” Anthony is driving and is not sure what the plan is about finding out where the plane landed.

“Fancy tourists that rent a private plane and guide will not get their feet wet and muddy in a jungle, there must be some upscale facilities there, bet you there will be a road leading into the jungle, used to transport them. Reckon they will not walk much either, look out for a road or pathway into the forest, boys,” Boris replies.

The conversation dies off and each one tries to be the first to spot the entrance into the jungle.

“Look, Boss,” says Anthony, pointing to the airplane next to the road in a clearing. After pulling the jeep up next to the plane, he switches the jeep off and climbs out, then walks over to the plane and touches the outside of the plane where the engine is.

“It’s cold, Boss, they never left. I do not think it is tourists, maybe officials?”

Boris thinks for a moment then replies, “No, this is a private plane, there is no government insignia on it and the tail markings are not government.”

“Do you think it can be the missing agent we are supposed to meet?” asks Morne.

“Not sure, let’s be careful, looks like they went in there,” replies Boris as he points to some leaves and branches lying on the ground where Victor had cut them off to make a path.

With caution they enter the jungle, using the path Victor had created until they come to a spot where the path is not that clear.

“Which way, Boss?” asks Anthony.

“Not sure, you go directly on, me and Morne will take this path.” Anthony nods and continues on, unholstering his pistol and keeping it at the ready, safety removed. After a few minutes ducking under branches and climbing over others, he comes to the clearing. Carefully he peaks around the last scrub and sees Victor busy preparing to make a fire. He does not recognize Victor. Boris had shown them a photo of Russtoff so that they could easily identify him when needed. Whoever this man is, he will need to catch him alive so that they can find out what he knows.

Unaware of the danger Victor is in, Laura swings the machete with all her might to clear a path, eager to find the treasure. Yet it seems that as soon as she cuts down one branch, three more spring up to take its place. It is exhausting work, yet requires no mental effort, so Laura lets her mind slip to Cayman and the night at the Resort.

Victor had changed her life in so many ways, she wonders if it will all end when they find the lost city. She starts to wonder if he feels the same about her as she about him, or is she just another fling until he has finished his mission?

The thought infuriates her, and she transfers her fury into her next swing. The machete cuts through the air, hungry for more branches, yet it finds none as Laura’s swing is wild and without aim. The heavy machete pulls Laura off balance, causing her to lose her footing and fall face first down into the mud, crashing through the brush she was trying to cut down.

For a moment Laura lies motionless, angry at herself for being so careless, when suddenly a deep low growl right in front of her rips her out of her thoughts. Again, a deep low growl comes from in front of her, this time even closer, it feels like the sound vibrated through her whole body, and Laura can suddenly hear the breathing of something big. She almost cannot get herself to look up, yet she has to.

Slowly, Laura lifts her head, and comes eye to eye with a massive jaguar, twice as large as a normal jaguar. The jaguar opens its jaws and growls again, only an inch from Laura’s face, its breath almost as nauseating as the thought of those large teeth sinking into her skull.

Laura’s whole body trembles with fear, and tears start to form in her eyes.

Mauled by a jaguar, she never imagined this is how she would die. She only wishes that it will be quick and relatively painless. The big cat senses her fear. It smells it on her, a prey to die, another meal, yet seconds ticks by without it attacking.

Time stands still for Laura, and after what seems like hours, yet was less than two minutes, she finally gets the courage to try to crawl backwards, away from the beast. Slowly, she lifts her head, being careful not to make eye contact with the beast and provoke it. She starts to inch backward in the mud. A growl from the beast stops her dead in her tracks, frozen. However, this time the sound is not as threatening as the others, almost like pleading.

Mustering all the courage she has, Laura looks up, right into the beast’s eyes. The jaguar meets her gaze, and it is almost as if their souls communicate, the jaguar pleading for help from Laura. Slowly, Laura lowers her gaze, and then she sees it.

The jaguar’s front right paw is trapped by a wire noose, possibly put there by a hunter to catch smaller game. The wire has cut into the jaguar’s flesh as it struggled to get loose, and Laura can see that there is no way the jaguar will be able to free itself.

Does he really want me to free him? Looking up again, Laura searches for the jaguar’s eyes, but it turns its head away, as if it does not want to frighten her, and submits to her.

Softly and unsure Laura says, “Ppplease don’t eat me.” The jaguar makes neither movement nor sound, yet still keeps looking away from her.

With great uncertainty, Laura slowly stretches out her arms to try to reach the noose. However, she is too far away to reach it, she has to move closer. Carefully, she inches forward until she can touch the noose.

Gently, she tries to pry the wire noose open and loose, yet she has no strength to do it with her arms stretched out, she has to move even closer. Again Laura inches forward very slowly, until she feels she can work on the wire. Her head is almost right by the jaguar’s paw, and her back is under its head. With great care she starts to work the wire loose, pulling it out of the jaguar’s flesh. Suddenly the jaguar growls so loud and deep that the ground under Laura vibrates, sending chills through her body, yet the jaguar does not move.

When Laura gets the wire noose wide enough open to free the jaguar’s paw, she gently takes its massive paw with both hands and lifts. The jaguar senses her movement and lifts its paw, allowing the wire to slip off freely. The jaguar licks its injured paw while Laura does not dare to move, being right under the big cat. Suddenly, the jaguar lowers its head and gives Laura a lick on the cheek, then jumps over her and disappears into the jungle. Laura can hear it moving through the bush for only a few seconds before all goes silent.

It takes Laura a good five minutes before she gets the strength to get up and return to Victor. She somehow feels richer from the experience, as if she has made a difference in the world, as if her life is actually worth something, as if she has a role to play in life.

Laura just hopes that saving the jaguar is not the highlight of her life, nor that she will regret it later when it returns to eat her. She slowly backtracks her steps through the bush towards the ruins and Victor, hoping that he will have been able to start the camp fire and cook the bird, she is a bit hungry after all the hard work and excitement.

Although the going is easier, she is in no hurry to fall down again, so she moves at a slow and cautious pace, not knowing what is awaiting her.

Victor has managed to get a few dry twigs from around the ruins and places them criss cross over each other to allow the air to move between the twigs. He then takes scrap paper from his notebook and crumples it up, placing it between the twigs. Victor removes the back end of the survival knife, which serves as a housing for the compass and lid for the hollow handle. The handle can store a number of small things used for survival, this one contains a small packet with 10 safety matches, a striking strip, two fish hooks and fishing line, two needles with some thread, and a steel cutting cable with rings on each end allowing one to hold the cable with your index fingers and cut wood with it like a saw.

Victor takes one of the matches and strikes it on the striking pad. The match flares up and Victor carefully cups the precious flame in his left hand as he brings the match to the paper. Just as he is about to light the paper Victor feels a sharp blow to his ribs as someone kicks him so hard that he is lifted a foot in the air. Even as pain rushes through his body and he struggles to breathe, his mind is sharp and his reflexes quick.

As he lands he rolls onto his back to enable him to see his attacker, just in time to see the second kick. Lifting his knees, Victor blocks the kick aimed at his ribs and grabs the attacker’s leg. With all his power, he holds on to the attacker’s leg and kicks as hard as he can against the man’s knee of the leg he is standing on. Victor can hear the sharp snap sound as the attacker’s knee gives in and breaks.

The attacker drops to the ground screaming from the pain. Even as the man is collapsing, Victor rolls over backwards and jumps to his feet while pulling his pistol from behind his back where he had it tucked into his pants. As Victor brings the gun up, he has a split second to see his attacker in full for the first time. A well tanned 6 foot athletically built man, possibly Italian, with brown hair and gray eyes. He holds his knee with both hands, looking up at Victor and the gun in Victor’s hand now aimed at his chest.

Gently, Victor starts to squeeze the trigger. The sound of the shot is loud and causes the jungle to fall silent immediately. The bullet hits Victor low in the right side, spinning him around while knocking him to the ground. As he hits the ground, he knocks his head on the rocks he had used to make the camp fire the night before, causing him to lose his grip on his pistol and it slides away from him. Victor’s vision is blurred for a few seconds from the fall, and as it starts to clear he can make out two more men emerging from the jungle, one holding a 9mm Parabellem pistol, with a small smoke trail coming from the barrel.