Wild Card by Luke Murphy

Author:Luke Murphy [Murphy, Luke]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781775375951
Publisher: ANM Books
Published: 2018-12-19T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 15

The rain had stopped.

Calvin sat on the back seat of the boat, bent over at the waist. His head rested in his hands between his legs, his chest heaving—still feeling the after-effects of the drugs. He was shaky, sweating and his heartbeat pounded in his chest.

His knee throbbed. Although he’d worked hard to regain strength and reduce pain, the dampness of the Amazon and less-than-ideal circumstances had it aching constantly since arriving down river.

“It’ll take a few hours for the drugs to completely wear off,” his cabbie said.

Calvin jolted at her voice. She hadn’t spoken in so long that he’d almost forgotten she was there. He could feel the boat start to slow, the engines silence and the vessel reduce to a float.

She raised the motors out of the water, and let the boat idle as if they had no ultimate destination. Then she shut off the lights.

With the engine off, Calvin was ever aware of the sounds of the forest, even out on the water. The buzzing of insects around his ears, the waves of the murky waters against the side of the boat, the brushing of island bushes with each creature that stirred.

Calvin looked behind them and whispered, “What are you doing?”

“We’re far enough away now. I don’t want the sounds of the motors to attract anyone or anything from any other direction. I haven’t seen any lights following us. It would have taken too long for the cartel to run back to their other boat, which wasn’t docked anywhere near this one.”

She joined Calvin at the back.

“How are you feeling?”

“Hung over, among other things.” He rubbed his chest and lower stomach, battling for control over the discomfort.

“It won’t last.”

She got up to move back to the front of the boat, but Calvin grabbed her by the arm with the little strength he had left.

“You’re not going anywhere. I want some answers.”

She sat back down across from him. He looked into her eyes, but they were unreadable, or maybe it was just the dark of the night.

Calvin took a deep breath. “First of all, what the fuck was that thing back there that killed the guard?”

“A black caiman. They’re the largest crocodiles on the planet and these waters are infested with them.”

He rubbed the sweat from his forehead. “Who are you?”

“My name is Livia Santos.”

“Are you from Brazil?”

“Third generation native.”

“What’s your story? I’m starting to figure out our ‘chance’ meetings weren’t by accident. Were you following me?”

She nodded. “My brother was killed last year. He was an addict, and got involved with the cartel. The official autopsy said suicide, but I know my brother. He wouldn’t have killed himself.”

“So, you’re looking to get back at the cartel?”

“I’m going to take them down.” There was an edge to her voice.

Calvin smiled. “All by yourself?”

“I’ve been researching for a year how to get inside. They know me, and wouldn’t let me anywhere close to them. I heard about the American in the plane crash, knew that someone would be coming to look.

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