Amazonia by James Rollins

Author:James Rollins [Rollins, James]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi, pdf
Tags: Fiction / Thrillers
ISBN: 9780061965838
Google: AgMw4SAMbaAC
Amazon: 0061965839
Publisher: Harper
Published: 2010-04-27T05:00:00+00:00

7:28 P.M.

As the day darkened into twilight, Kelly heard a strange noise, a sharp whirring or whine. She walked around the Brazil nut tree. Squinting her eyes, she tried to focus on its source.

“You hear it, too?” Kouwe asked, meeting her on the far side of the trunk.

Nearby, the two Rangers stood with weapons raised. Others stood by the camp’s large bonfire, feeding more dry branches and bamboo to the flames. With the threat of someone stalking around their camp, they wanted as much light as possible. Stacked beside the fire was a large pile of additional fodder for the flames, enough to last the night.

“That noise…it’s getting louder,” Kelly mumbled. “What is it?”

Kouwe cocked his head. “I’m not sure.”

By now, others heard the noise, too. It rose quickly to a feverish pitch. Everyone started glancing to the sky.

Kelly pointed to the rosy gloaming to the west. “Look!”

Cast against the glow of the setting sun, a dark shadow climbed the skies, a black cloud, spreading and sweeping toward them.

“A swarm of locusts,” Kouwe said, his voice tight with suspicion. “They’ll do that sometimes in mating season, but it’s the wrong time of the year. And I’ve never seen a swarm this big.”

“Is it a threat?” Jorgensen asked from a few steps away.

“Not usually. More a pest for gardens and jungle farms. A large enough cloud of locusts can strip leaf, vegetable, and fruit from a spot in mere minutes.”

“What about people?” Richard Zane asked.

“Not much of a threat. They’re herbivorous, but they can bite a little when panicked. It’s nothing more than a pinprick.” Kouwe eyed the swarm. “Still…”

“What?” Kelly asked.

“I don’t like the coincidence of such a swarm appearing after finding the Ban-ali mark.”

“Surely there can’t be any connection,” Anna said at Richard’s side.

Manny approached with Tor-tor. The great cat whined in chorus with the locusts, edgy and padding a slow circle around his master. “Professor, you aren’t thinking the locusts might be like the piranha creatures? Some new threat from the jungle, another attack?”

Kouwe glanced to the biologist. “First there was the mark at the village, then piranhas. Now a mark here, and a strange swarm rises.” Kouwe strode over to his pack. “It’s a coincidence that we shouldn’t dismiss.”

Kelly felt a cold certainty that the professor was right.

“What can we do?” Jorgensen asked. His fellow soldier, Private Carrera, kept watch with him. The front edge of the swarm disappeared into the twilight gloom overhead, one shadow merging with another.

“First shelter…” Kouwe glanced up, his eyes narrowing with concentration. “They’re almost here. Everyone into their hammocks! Close the mosquito netting tight and keep your flesh away from the fabric.”

Zane protested. “But—”

“Now!” Kouwe barked. He began to dig more purposefully in his pack.

“Do as he says!” Jorgensen ordered, shouldering his useless weapon.

Kelly was already moving. She ducked into her tent of mosquito netting, glad that they had set up camp earlier. She closed the opening and positioned a stone atop the flap to hold the cheesecloth netting in place.

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