Carpathian 23 - Dark Storm Read Online Free PDF Page B

stared at her with stricken eyes. Riley’s world crumbled. Capa, Raul and
     Pedro looked at her mother with the same look they had on their faces when they’d
     first seen the viper. They were in real trouble if the guides and porters became hostile
     toward them. She reached for her mother’s hand and held on tightly.

2
    N ights were hell in the jungle. Right at sunset, the buzzing started. It wasn’t as
     if the insects were silent—they were producing a constant steady drone—but Riley could
     push the sound away. This was something altogether different—a soft, persistent noise,
     a low frequency that jangled every nerve in the body. She’d awakened to the strange
     noise the very first night they entered the rain forest.
    Strangely, Riley couldn’t identify the low, irritating buzz, nor could she tell if
     it was outside or inside her head. She’d observed several others—including her mother—rubbing
     their temples as if their heads ached, and she feared that same low frequency of whispers
     one couldn’t quite catch was invading insidiously, adding to the danger of their travel.
     During the day the whispers were gone, but the effects lingered.
    Her senses, since entering the rain forest, seemed to have blazed to life and were
     working overtime. She noticed every little suspicious glance toward her mother. Jubal
     Sanders and Gary Jansen were armed to the teeth and she was very envious of their
     weapons. The two moved in silence, kept to themselves and watched everyone. She came
     to the conclusion that they knew a lot more about what was going on than they let
     on.
    Don Weston and his friend Mack Shelton were a pair of idiots as far as she could see.
     Neither had ever made the trek into a rain forest, and clearly they were afraid of
     everything. They blustered, complained and bullied the porters and guides when they
     weren’t leering at Riley or feeding the rampant distrust among the travelers.
    Ben Charger seemed much more knowledgeable about the rain forest and the tribes occupying
     it. He’d done extensive research and had come prepared. He didn’t like either Weston
     or Shelton, but had to work with them and clearly wasn’t happy about it. He spent
     a lot of time talking to the guides and porters, asking questions and trying to learn
     from them. Riley couldn’t really fault him for anything. Perhaps she was just nervous
     about everyone at this point.
    The archaeologist and his students were very excited and seemed completely oblivious
     to the tension running through the camp, although she noticed they were uneasy at
     night, sitting close to the fire. They seemed driven, amicable and very focused on
     their mission. Dr. Henry Patton and his two students, Todd Dillon and Marty Shepherd,
     were more excited about the ruins they’d heard about than interested in whether or
     not a woman in their company was bringing bad luck to the travelers. They seemed young
     and naïve, even the professor, who was in his late fifties. His entire world revolved
     around academia.
    Riley felt a little sorry for all three archaeologists, that they were so clueless,
     and more grateful than ever that she’d chosen to concentrate her studies on modern
     languages rather than dead ones. She enjoyed traveling, talking with people and living
     life too much to be locked in an ivory tower, poring over dusty tomes. Of course,
     she’d studied ancient languages as well, but primarily as a window to the evolution
     of languages and their impact on various cultures.
    Riley glanced toward Raul and Capa, the two porters who had shared the boat with them
     coming upriver. She didn’t like the way they whispered and sent surreptitious glances
     toward Annabel’s sleeping hammock. Maybe that terrible buzzing in her head was making
     her as paranoid as everyone else, but in any case, there was no sleeping. She didn’t
     just have to worry about the men in her camp; the insects and bats and every other
     night