The Source - Michael Cordy [59]
'What about the police?' said Zeb.
'What about them?' said Mendoza, quietly.
All eyes turned to him.
'She means the bodies,' said Ross.
Mendoza bent down to the remaining body on the deck and rolled it into the river. A red stain marked where it had lain. 'What bodies?' He pointed to three large crocodiles moving through the water. The other two had already disappeared. He took a handkerchief from his pocket and passed it to Ross. 'Wipe your face.' Ross did so and Mendoza looked him in the eye. 'I killed three men to help you. The police here are not as they are in America. They'll ask us a lot of questions – questions I don't need, questions you don't need. They'll take your book of directions and keep it. If you're in a hurry, señor, and want to find what you seek before your rival, don't involve the police. You understand?'
'I'm afraid I agree with him, Ross,' said Hackett. 'The police won't do us any favours.'
Ross looked at the women, who stared blankly at him, ashen-faced, eyes wide with shock, then at the churning river where a crocodile was already pulling the last body under the murky water. He had always had his doubts about this quest but now the stakes were even higher.
Mendoza's eyes met his. 'Where you're going you need a man who knows how to use a gun. When I left the army my boat was my future, but now it's gone. I have no insurance, no prospects. Give me a share of whatever you seek and I'll come with you.'
'You don't even know what we're looking for.'
'It must be valuable.'
Ross tried to judge the man standing before him. Mendoza had saved their lives and proved himself a powerful ally, but he might also make a dangerous enemy. He turned to the others. Zeb and Juarez nodded uncertainly. Sister Chantal lowered her eyes and said nothing. 'Nigel, you're the captain. It's your boat. What do you think?' Hackett hesitated. 'Now's not the time to be polite,' Ross pressed. 'Señor Mendoza says you've met him before. Have you?'
Hackett grimaced. 'I don't know. I've got an appalling memory for faces, but he has no reason to lie and we might easily have met. I've certainly been to Lagunas a number of times and met many river-runners. Anyway, I'd say Señor Mendoza's earned his passage.'
'That's settled, then. Now let's get the hell out of here.'
32
The Sacred Heart Hospital, Bridgeport, Connecticut
Ross and Lauren Kelly's unborn baby was now five months into its development, over halfway through the pregnancy. Its length from crown to rump was more than seven inches, its weight about ten and a half ounces. Though its rapid growth rate had slowed, the baby's organs were maturing and developing.
Yesterday her grandchild's progress had filled Diana Wharton with hope. Now she sat in the dark beside her daughter's bed, drifting into and out of sleep. She had intended to leave at midnight but had changed her mind: she preferred to be with Lauren than alone in her bed at home.
Something snapped her awake. Disoriented, she peered round the darkened room, silent except for the rhythmic beat of the instruments. According to the luminous clock on the wall it was almost three in the morning. As her eyes grew accustomed to the gloom she did a double-take, unable to believe what she was seeing: Lauren's eyes were open.
Diana Wharton jumped up and bent close to her daughter. For a second she allowed herself to believe a miracle had happened – the miracle she had been praying for every day and every night. But Lauren's eyes were closed. It had been an illusion, a trick of the light, a cruel dream.
Tears streaming down her cheeks, knowing she would not sleep again that night, Diana stroked her daughter's face.
33
Iquitos
The remote capital of the Department of Lareto is unique. Linked to the outside world only by air and river, Iquitos is the world's only large city totally surrounded by jungle and unreachable by road.
Founded as a Jesuit mission in the 1750s, a century after Falcon had written the Voynich, Iquitos had to fend off constant attacks from