The Hunt for Atlantis_A Novel

  And it was hard to get much deeper into a tropical jungle. Tefé was in the heart of the Amazon basin, the temperature over eighty degrees Fahrenheit and the humidity sticking her clothes to her skin.

  But they would be going farther still into the rain forest. Examination of maps, satellite photos and aerial surveys of the region had narrowed down the possible location of the lost city to an area roughly eight miles in diameter, over a hundred miles upriver from Tefé. The nearest permanent settlement was more than thirty miles from the target area, and even that was just a small village. Nina had seen the aerial photographs; they showed nothing but a solid carpet of verdant green, the only thing breaking the monotony being the snakelike twists of rivers.

  That same unbroken canopy of jungle had dictated the group’s mode of transport. A helicopter could have reached the area from Tefé in less than ninety minutes—and Kristian Frost had indeed arranged for one to be standing by in case of any emergency requiring a rapid evacuation—but it would have found nowhere to land. People and equipment would need to be winched into the jungle, and Chase, overseeing the logistics of the operation, had decided it was too risky—much to Castille’s relief.

  Instead, they would be traveling upriver by boat.

  But, Nina thought, it was one hell of a boat.

  The expedition would actually be using two boats, but the Nereid was undoubtedly the most important. A Sunseeker Predator 108 motor yacht, the sleek vessel was painted in shades of charcoal gray and silver, the Frost logo prominent on the hull. Nina was astounded to learn that it had been flown to Brazil from Europe in the three days of intense preparation for the expedition, carried to the city of Manaus in the belly of a massive Antonov An-225 transport aircraft and then piloted the three hundred miles upriver to meet its passengers at Tefé. The resources that Kristian Frost was prepared to put behind the search for Atlantis—behind her—staggered her.

  Despite its size—from the very tip of its sharply pointed bow to the stern, the Nereid was over a hundred feet long—it was expected to take the expedition quickly and comfortably to within as little as ten miles of their destination, despite the twists and constrictions of the river. The Predator’s shallow draft of less than four feet, and a set of bow and stern maneuvering thrusters enabling it to turn in its own length, meant it could navigate the larger waterways with relative ease.

  For those parts of the river the Nereid couldn’t negotiate … that was where the second boat came in. The Nereid’s tender, hanging from a crane at the stern, was a fifteen-foot inflatable Zodiac dinghy. It was the antithesis of its luxurious mother craft, but if everything went to plan it would only be needed for the very last leg of the trip.

  The need for a boat the size of the Nereid had come about because the expedition had grown. In addition to Philby, the original team of Nina, Kari, Chase and Castille had been joined by four other people. Two of them comprised the Nereid’s crew: the bearded, rotund Captain Augustine Perez and his “first mate”—the title was used jokingly—Julio Tanega, who smiled frequently and broadly to reveal not one, but two gold teeth.

  The third new member was Agnaldo di Salvo, a broad, powerfully built Brazilian in his fifties with the air of a man who was surprised by little and frightened by nothing. Kari had introduced him as their guide to the area, but di Salvo, when Nina asked, called himself an “Indian tracker.” She felt a little too intimidated to ask further about the exact difference between the two. To her surprise, Chase and Castille seemed to know him quite well.

  Accompanying di Salvo, and not with his total approval, was another American, a tall, reed-thin graduate student from San Francisco called Hamilton Pendry. He was an environmentalist studying the effects of commercial exploitation of the rain forests on their indigenous population—and was also the nephew of a Democratic congressman, who had persuaded the Brazilian government to let him accompany one of their experts into the jungle. Di Salvo, it seemed, had drawn the short straw. Since the Frosts had specifically requested that di Salvo accompany the expedition, they were now saddled with Hamilton as well, though the exact nature of the mission had been kept from him. Just as well, Nina thought; the long-haired young man seemed genuine in his enthusiasm for the cause of the native Indians and preserving their environment, but God! Shut up about it for five minutes!

  Chase had hoped there would be another person joining them, but the reason for her being unable to do so became clear the moment Nina saw her. His friend Maria Chascarillo, when she met them at the dock, turned out to be every bit as beautiful as Shala … and also every bit as pregnant.

  “I swear this is just a coincidence!” Chase told the amused Nina and Castille over Maria’s shoulder as they hugged.

  “Sure, we believe you,” said Nina. “Don’t we, Hugo?”

  “Oh, of course,” Castille replied, munching on a banana.

  While Chase was disappointed that Maria wouldn’t be joining the expedition, he was anything but when he opened one of the crates she’d delivered to the dock. Nina couldn’t see the contents, but could guess easily enough. “Guns?” she asked, once Maria had left.

  “And some other toys,” he replied cheerfully. “We got caught short in Iran—I’m not going to let that happen again. Besides, from what Agnaldo said about the locals, we might need something to warn them off.”

  “What did he say about them?”

  “Well, he’s never met them personally—he’s only heard stories. Because people who do meet them… they tend not to come back home to tell anybody about it.”

  “What?” Nina shook her head. “No, that sounds like total Indiana Jones stuff. The whole ‘lost tribes of the jungle’ thing doesn’t work anymore. We’re in the twenty-first century.”

  “You may be,” said di Salvo from where he had seemingly materialized right behind her. For such a big man he had an uncanny ability to move without being noticed. “But they are not. You think it sounds like a story, but every year dozens of people—loggers, prospectors, even tourists—are murdered by Indian tribes deep in the jungle. It makes my job harder.” He narrowed his eyes and surveyed the dockside, where various people were watching with suspicion. Hardly surprising, Nina realized; compared to the rundown little boats that called the docks home, the gleaming, futuristic form of the Nereid was like a visiting UFO. “These people hate the native Indians, because tribal lands are protected by law—so their livelihoods can be destroyed overnight if a new tribe is found. And it doesn’t help if the Indians are believed to be killing intruders with impunity. So they hate me as well, because it’s my job to find the Indians.”

  “It’s an outrage!” squawked Hamilton. Unlike di Salvo, Nina heard him coming, his sandals slapping along the deck. “There shouldn’t even be any need to confirm the existence of a tribe before an area becomes protected. This entire region should be protected! Logging, mining, ranching, it’s all destroying the rain forest! They’re just burning down thousands of acres every single day to make room for cattle ranches! It’s like cutting out your own lungs to sell them for a few dollars so you can buy a burger!”

  Chase shot a quick sidelong grin at Nina before adopting a completely straight face. “Yeah, that burning thing’s terrible, isn’t it? A total waste.”

  “I know!” Hamilton waved his arms, friendship bracelets flapping. “It’s just… unbelievable!”

  “I mean,” Chase went on, “just one mahogany tree could make dozens of toilet seats. I’ve got one in my place at home. You ever sat on a mahogany bog seat? It’s the most comfortable place to plonk your arse while you read the paper. Lovely and warm.”

  Hamilton stared at him open-mouthed. “That’s … that’s outrageous!” he finally managed to stutter. “That’s the kind of uncaring dominator culture blindness that, that, that …” He trailed off and glared at Chase before turning and stalking away. Nina, who normally took a proenvironmental viewpoint, couldn’t help smiling, while di Salvo roared with laughter.

  “Eddie,” he said, “y
ou’ve done in five minutes what I couldn’t in five days—you got the boy to shut up! You are truly a man of many talents.”

  “Well… yeah, I am.” Chase tugged the lapels of his jacket immodestly.

  “That was mean,” said Nina, still smiling.

  “Aw, come on! He might as well have a big target on his chest and a sign saying ‘please take the piss.’”

  Kari emerged from the main cabin onto the aft deck. “Is everything ready?” she asked. “Captain Perez wants to know when we’ll be casting off.”

  “All our gear’s aboard,” Chase said. “Just got to load Nina’s trunk full of new clothes from Paris.”

  “It’s only a suitcase, and it’s already in my cabin,” Nina said, pouting playfully at him.

  Kari glanced down at the dock, satisfying herself that everything had been brought aboard. “If we’re ready, then there’s no reason to wait. The sooner we start, the sooner we’ll be there. I’ll get Julio to untie us.” She headed back into the cabin.

  “A trip up the Amazon,” said Chase, going to the other side of the boat and looking out across the wide river. “Haven’t done that for a while.”

  “Well, up the Tefé, technically,” Nina corrected. The town of Tefé was built on the bank of the river from which it took its name just before it joined the Amazon proper, at the eastern end of a broad lake over thirty miles long.

  “All right, Dr. Smart-Arse. Either way, so long as I don’t have to wrestle any bloody crocodiles this time, I’ll be happy.” He picked up one of the crates and followed Kari inside the boat.

  Nina chuckled. “Yeah, right. Wrestling with crocodiles? As if!”

  “You’re right,” said Castille as he picked up the second crate and started after Chase. “They were caimans.”

  “Caimans?” Nina said. “But aren’t they basically the same … hey!” She chased after Castille.

  The Nereid reached the southwestern end of the lake in just over an hour, giving its engines a workout without really taxing them before dropping to a speed more suitable for navigating the river feeding the great body of water. From here, the Tefé became a constant series of long undulating curves, never flowing in a straight line for more than a few hundred yards at a time. In places the river was over two hundred feet wide, while in others the banks were less than a quarter of that distance apart. With a slim twenty-foot beam the Nereid was in no danger of getting stuck, but the trees along the sides of the river were sometimes so large and overhanging that they formed a tunnel of foliage above the boat.

  Dusk came, and Nina wandered onto the foredeck to watch the sun set through the trees. At the equator, day became night with an almost startling swiftness. She found Kari already there, leaning over the railing at the Nereid’s prow. “Hi.”

  “Hi!” said Kari, pleased to see her. “Where have you been? I’ve hardly seen you since we set off.”

  “I was going over the satellite photos again.”

  “Did you find anything?”

  Nina shook her head, sitting on one of the loungers built into the deck. “If there’s anything there, it’s completely hidden by the tree canopy. We’d need a radar survey of the ground to see through it. I don’t suppose your dad could whistle one up?”

  “He did suggest it, actually. But it would have taken longer to get a satellite into the proper orbit than it would for us to go and look for ourselves, so …” She sat down next to Nina, indicating the passing jungle. “Have you seen this? I mean, really looked at it? It’s extraordinary. So much variety, so many unique kinds of life. And all people want to do is cut it down and grub it up so they can consume it.”

  “I know. Hamilton might be kind of annoying, but he does have a point.” Nina leaned back, staring up at the twilight sky. “I was thinking about what you said in Paris, about there being too many people in the world. It’s true, isn’t it? All of them fighting over the same resources, all of them believing they have a greater right to exist than anyone else.” She sighed. “Shame there’s not a lot we can do.”

  Kari gave her a half-smile. “Who knows? Maybe in the future we’ll be able to change things for the better.”

  “I don’t know. Human nature being what it is, it’s hard to see how. And I don’t think I’m really the world-changing type.”

  “You will be,” Kari assured her, putting a hand on her arm. “When you discover Atlantis,” she clarified at Nina’s confused look. “That will change the world. Not many people get to rewrite human history at a stroke.”

  “It’s not just me! You’re as big a part of this as I am. More so. I wouldn’t even be here without you. It’s you and your father’s resources that made this possible.”

  Kari shook her head. “No, no. Money is worthless without a purpose. My father and I, we believe in the goals we are using our money to achieve. And so do you. I think …” She paused, considering her words. “I think we have a lot in common.”

  “Well, apart from the billions of dollars …”

  “I don’t know—I think discovering Atlantis will be worth quite a lot!”

  The throbbing note of the engines dropped to idle. The Nereid’s steady progress upriver slowed, the relentless churning of water under the bow falling to a gentle slap of waves against the hull. “Why are we stopping?” Nina asked. “Is something wrong?”

  “On the contrary,” said Kari. “Navigating a river like this in the dark, especially in a boat this big, can be risky. Captain Perez is being safe.” At that, there was a loud rattle from below the deck, followed by a splash as the anchor plunged into the water. “And also, I think dinner is ready. You’re in for a treat. Julio is an outstanding cook.”

  Kari wasn’t kidding, Nina decided. She’d expected the provisions for the journey to be on the level of sandwiches and canned beans, but Julio had somehow managed to use the Nereid’s little galley to whip up a meal of fresh vegetable soup, roast pork au gratin in a port sauce and even a dessert of freshly made chocolate mousse. The whole meal was, if anything, better than anything she had eaten at the extremely expensive restaurants in Paris.

  Now, feeling completely sated and a little buzzed from the wine, she wandered onto the rear deck—as much to escape the increasingly politicized debate going on between Hamilton, di Salvo and Philby as to get some fresh air. The boat’s lights provided just enough illumination for her to pick out individual trees on the Tefé’s banks, but the silhouette of the jungle canopy above was easy to make out against the brilliance of the night sky.

  She sipped her wine and looked up at the stars. Whatever discomforts there might be from being out in the field, far from civilization, being able to appreciate the full beauty and majesty of the heavens was—

  “Bloody hell, I’m stuffed,” said Chase, clomping up behind her. Castille followed, nibbling a guava. “What’re you up to, Doc? Come out here to let one off in private?”

  “No,” she said. “I wanted to look at the stars.”

  Chase looked up. “Oh, yeah. Pretty good.”

  “Is that all you’ve got to say?” Nina tutted. “You’re in the middle of the Amazon jungle, with the most incredible sky overhead, and the best you can come up with is ‘pretty good’?”

  “What do you expect?” said Castille. “He is English, he thinks poetry”—he exaggeratedly pronounced it poe-ee-tree—“is a kind of tree, something you chop down to make toilet seats!” Nina laughed.

  “Actually, I said it was pretty good because I’ve seen better,” Chase told her, for once seeming a little offended himself. “In Algeria. Out in the desert in the Grand Erg. Not a single light for fifty miles, and the air was so clear I could see every single star in the sky. Even went out from the camp and lay on a rock for half an hour just staring up at it all. Amazing.”

  “Really?” Chase had never struck Nina as the type for stargazing.

  “When were you in Algeria?” Castille asked suspiciously.

  “Four years back. You know, when I had words with that gun-runner. Fekkes
h, or whatever his name was.”

  “Ah! So that’s what happened to him. Did they ever find his—”

  “So you see, Doc,” Chase interrupted quickly, “I can appreciate a good sky as much as anyone. I’ve been all over the world—I know natural beauty when I see it.”

  He was looking directly at Nina as he spoke. She turned to face the river, hoping he wouldn’t notice her cheeks flushing. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to imply that you were some sort of, well…”

  “Crude, rude, bad-mannered yob from Yorkshire?”

  “I never said yob!”

  Chase chuckled. “Here, check this out.” He reached around her to a box on the side of the deck, pressing against her as he took a flashlight from it. “Hugo, give me that.”

  “Hoy!” Castille protested as the guava was snatched from his hand. Chase tossed the half-eaten fruit out into the river, where it landed with a soft splash. More splashes suddenly echoed from the darkness.

  “Watch this,” Chase told Nina, leaning close to her again as he shone the flashlight out across the dark water. As if from nowhere, dozens of pairs of yellow lights glinted back at them like gemstones from the surface of the river.

  “What are they?” Nina asked, just as one of the pairs of lights blinked. She gasped, instinctively backing against Chase.

  “Crocs,” he said. “Or maybe caimans, I can never remember the difference.” He lifted his other hand to point at them, holding Nina between the solid muscle of his arms. Her breath caught for a moment. “See how they’re swimming along really slow just below the surface, pretending they’re not actually moving? I’ve seen these buggers close up. They’re really patient. They’ll wait as long as it takes for something to get into range, and then…”