Black Sun

CHAPTER 47

Danielle noticed the smell of smoke even before she saw the torchlight flickering in the forest ahead of them.

A moment of apprehension gripped her, but she didn’t share Hawker’s overriding suspiciousness of everything and she thought there could be a chance that meeting other people out here would be helpful. Certainly the men and women of Oco’s village had been fundamental to their initial success.

Still, she shielded Yuri by stepping in front of him as she waited for the oncoming party to reach them.

“I’m telling you,” Hawker said, “we should get out of here.”

“It’ll be all right,” she replied. “I’m almost sure of it.”

McCarter stood by expectantly. He turned on a flashlight and waved.

The train of torches changed direction, heading straight for them.

“There must be a town around here,” McCarter said. “If we’re looking for another Mayan ruin, the locals might know about it. There are hundreds of structures hidden in the jungle, most never seen by outsiders. This could be a stroke of good luck.”

The torches grew closer, winding down a slight hill, until several men came through the brush and trained a series of powerful flashlights on the NRI group. The glare blinded Danielle and she put a hand up.

“Nos puede ayudar usted, por favor?” she said. Can you help us, please?

The lights continued to shine in her eyes.

“Necesitamos ayuda,” she said. We need help.

A rough voice answered her. “Ponga los manos,” the man said. Put up your hands.

And then she heard a sound that needed no translation: the pumping of a shotgun and the racking of the slides on several other guns.

Danielle raised her hands, trying hard not to look in Hawker’s direction.

In a minute they were surrounded by a group of eight men, several of whom had weapons. They were led by an older, shorter man with a full beard and mustache who carried a flashlight and a pistol.

While one of the men searched the plane, another took her backpack and McCarter’s. A third man patted them down and confiscated a black handgun from Hawker.

The man with the beard walked around them, making a wide, slow circle. He seemed to be studying them, at the moment focusing on Yuri. Finally he put his pistol away.

“What are you doing here, señorita?”

That, Danielle thought, she could not explain without sounding crazy.

“We crashed here,” she said. “My husband was trying to fly us over to Puerto Vallarta. But he forgot to check winds or to fill the tanks before we took off.”

The man came closer, looking into her face and then at her hands. “If he is your husband, then where is your ring?”

Before she could answer, he added. “And if you had not circled overhead for an hour, you could have easily made it to the coast. So I think maybe you have a different story to tell. No?”

Danielle felt a sense of fury at getting caught in the lie. It was a stupid lie, easy to see through. She wondered why she’d even thought it would work.

Hawker leaned over to her. “I told you we should have run.”

“Now is really not the time,” she said.

“I’m just pointing it out.”

“Point it out later,” she shot back.

The bearded man turned to the others. “Hmm … maybe they are married after all.”

The men laughed. And the leader stepped over to McCarter. He shone the light in McCarter’s face, studying him for a long time.

“Could you please lower the light?” McCarter said. “It’s hurting my eyes.”

The man turned the beam away, aiming it at Hawker’s face in a similar manner. Hawker squinted into the light as if it were some kind of challenge. He said nothing.

The man who’d gone to search the plane popped out of the cabin. “Nada aquí,” he said. Nothing here.

Another man had been going through their backpacks. He handed the satellite phone and the spherical, glasslike stone to the bearded man.

As it passed in front of them, Yuri tried to pull free from Danielle; he wanted to touch it. She held him back, but the bearded man had seen his reaction.

“Is this your child?” he asked.

“He’s adopted,” she said. “And he has special needs, so if you don’t mind …”

The bearded man handed the stone back to the underling who’d found it. Yuri tracked it as it went, relaxing only when it had been placed in the sand-filled, lead-lined container.

“So many lies,” their captor said. “I think you might need to see a priest.”

He turned and began marching back toward the forest.

“Bring them,” he said.