Dangerous Desires by Dee Davis

Author:Dee Davis
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: FIC027110
ISBN: 9780446569026
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Published: 2010-06-30T22:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 17

The river had grown so wide it was difficult to make out the far bank in the fading light. But the lights of Puerto Remo twinkled in welcome, and Madeline felt her heart soar. “Is that it?”

“Yeah. We’re almost there. I think we need to ditch the boat, though, and walk the rest of the way. No telling who might recognize it and we don’t need questions right now.”

What they needed was an emergency room and the Four Seasons, but based on the shacks they’d passed in the last few minutes, Madeline was guessing Puerto Remo didn’t actually lend itself to such accommodations.

The town was set at the mouth of a shallow bay, the Rio Negro emptying itself into the Pacific Ocean. High on a ridge towering over the town were the tumbled remains of what appeared to have once been a commanding building.

“It’s a cathedral,” Drake said, following her line of sight as he headed the boat for shore. “Or it was supposed to be. It was never actually finished. Fifty or sixty years ago, some bishop decided that this was going to be the next great city in Colombia. He commissioned the cathedral and renamed the town after himself.”

“Bishop Remo, I presume?”

“Exactly. But as you can see”—he waved at the ramshackle houses and palm-frond huts bordering the river—“the idea never took off. Buenaventura became the go-to spot, and Puerto Remo pretty much stayed the sleepy village it had always been.”

“And the bishop?”

“Died here, actually. Malaria. So much for his grandiose dreams.”

“But he must have accomplished something. I mean, you said there was a port?”

“Nothing to write home about. It provides harbor for the local fisherman, a day trip for more adventurous tourists, and valuable access to shipping lanes for the upriver drug trade. Look, we’re almost to shore. Why don’t you head for the bank while I take care of the boat.”

She nodded and then climbed out of the skiff, wading through the shallow water to the edge of the river.

Drake wrapped a tattered piece of canvas around the barrel of his gun and shot twice into the bottom of the boat, the material muffling the gun’s report. Then he pushed it back out into the current, the little boat already riding lower as it filled with water.

“Kind of feel like you just shot a friend,” Madeline said, watching as the boat drifted into the current, the stern riding considerably lower now than the pointed bow. “How long before it sinks?”

“Ten or fifteen minutes, I’d think.”

“So what happens next?” she asked as he joined her on the shore. The area where they’d landed was deserted, but there was a beaten path beside the river leading down into the town.

“We see what we can do about finding you that shower.”

“And getting you bandaged. How are you feeling?”

“Nothing I can’t deal with. Like I said, I’ve been through worse. The bleeding’s stopped,” he shrugged, “which is a good sign. It’s only my shoulder. Nothing a little astringent and a bottle of rum won’t cure.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.