Amazon Burning (A James Acton Thriller, #10) Read Online Free Page A

settled soon,
since this little trip was over in four days, the Venezuelan-Colombian border less
than half a day away at which point they would turn around, return to Manaus
and take Laura’s private jet home.
    Home.
    Part of
him wondered why they needed to change anything. It had worked out well so far.
They split their time between London and Maryland, Peru and Egypt. It kept
things exciting.
    But
it’s not a marriage.
    The boat
pulled up to the shore, its shallow draft hull allowing them to get within a few
feet. A ramp was thrown down and several of the crew quickly tied the boat to
nearby trees, the anchor dropped. The clearing and nearby forest were inspected
and the all-clear given. Acton was off first, Laura second with Reading and
Milton taking up the rear. Acton placed Milton’s chair near the shore, pushing
it down to make sure it was stable, then he and Reading helped him into his
seat, the most comfortable on the boat. The crew of six had the clearing free
of debris, a fire pit dug and ringed with rocks, then tents set up within less
than half an hour.
    Acton
had to admit they had skills.
    They had
boarded the Juliana at the end of the main tour that most tourists took out of
Manaus, a city buried in the heart of the Amazon Rainforest at the mouth of the
Rio Negro where it emptied into the mighty Amazon River. This smaller, more
maneuverable boat had taken them where few had gone before, deep into the
jungle where their guides assured them tribes never before seen by modern man
still lived to this day.
    How
exciting would that be?
    To
discover a tribe never before seen by “modern man”. To communicate with them,
to learn their ways and culture. To destroy their entire belief system by
exposing them to modern technology.
    He
sighed.
    They
need to be left alone.
    He would
happily settle for seeing them from a distance, undisturbed, going about their
daily lives as they had for thousands of years. And the thought reminded him of
what he had seen from the boat. He walked over to the tree where he was sure he
had seen something and examined the area, the only light now from the
flickering fire ten feet away. He debated getting his flashlight but decided
against it when the cook announced dinner.
    I’m
sure it was nothing.
    But
something made the hair on the back of his neck stand up as he turned, a
feeling of forewarning he had felt too many times just before something took a
turn for the worse. He eyed Laura, who smiled at him and patted a clear spot
beside her on the ground.
    Perhaps
we should sleep on the boat tonight.
     
     

 
     

    Northern Amazon
Second day of the Third Moon
Three days before the attack
     
    Tuk watched the man from his perch not twenty paces away. He was
tall, taller than any man he had seen before. And there was another older man
who appeared even taller. In fact all the pale ones were tall, including the
woman.
    They
must be from a mighty clan of warriors!
    The man
turned away and Tuk shifted, a loose branch rustling slightly. The man froze,
and Tuk could tell he was resisting the urge to turn around. Tuk prepared
himself, ready to disappear deeper into the forest should it become necessary,
but after only a few moments the man resumed walking toward the fire where a
darker skinned man was preparing what Tuk assumed was food, the few wafts of it
that had drifted his way delicious.
    You
better keep that fire fed, otherwise you’ll have uninvited company.
    Every
carnivore within half a day’s travel would be smelling this feast, the wind
blowing inland. It would shift soon, out over the river, but these strange
people didn’t seem to understand the ways of the Mother. He said a silent
prayer for their safety. Fools didn’t deserve to die at Her hand, these people
clearly not of this land.
    But
where are they from?
    They
wore strange things on their bodies, covering up most of their skin. In the
tribes he had been exposed to, nothing more than a loin cloth was used to cover
the