Dark Storm (Dark #23)(24)
Author: Christine Feehan

Don Weston and Mack Shelton stumbled back into sight. Both had run when the monkeys had descended. Neither appeared to have a scratch. They’d made it far enough away from the battle to evade the onslaught of the primates. They both appeared shaken.

"What the hell happened here?" Don demanded, surveying his scratched and bloody companions as well as the furry bodies on the ground. "I thought monkeys were the least of our worries."

Miguel turned to look at him over his shoulder. "Monkeys do not attack men."

"I got news for you, genius," Don responded with a shuddering snort. "They just did. Do they have rabies?" He actually stepped back away from the others and swept his arm across Mack’s body to prevent him from getting any closer to the others.

Jubal sighed. "They don’t have rabies, Don, but we have to disinfect every single scratch before anyone gets an infection. Marty, I need you and Todd to get busy doing that. Start with yourselves. The medical kits are in the packs. Once you make certain both of you have covered every scratch, use the antibiotics and then split up and help the others."

Riley heard him from a distance. She even knew what he was doing, taking charge, bolstering the two shaken students, giving them something active to do in order to help them recover. She couldn’t move a muscle. There was no recovering. She felt numb, beyond comprehension. Her mind struggled to understand, and on some level she knew she was in shock, but she couldn’t pull herself together.

She dug her fingers into the soil, the only thing real she could hold on to. Dragging two fistfuls out of the earth, she closed her fingers tight around the dirt and just let herself cry. Tears ran down her face, obscuring her vision, falling into the soil, but she could hear the others coming out of their shock, moving around, doing as Jubal instructed.

Jorge, Fernando and Hector, three of the four remaining porters, all cousins, approached Jubal hesitantly from the left side, careful to keep an even pace with the guides who were confronting Jubal straight on.

Ben Charger moved in behind them, deliberately making noise so they were very aware of his presence. Across from the porters, closing in on Jubal, was the fourth porter, Raul. Gary followed him at an easy pace, but, like Ben, making it known he was right behind the porter. He carried his weapon openly.

Miguel stopped in front of Jubal. "Who is hurt?"

"Not hurt, dead," Jubal corrected. "Your porter murdered Annabel. What’s left of her is in those bushes over there." He nodded toward the dense foliage but didn’t take his eyes from Miguel or step back.

Miguel’s gaze followed the direction of Jubal’s nod. He swallowed hard and took a step toward the darkened brush. "What about Capa? Where is he?"

"He’s dead, too," Jubal answered, his voice grim, a warning inflection in his voice. "We were too late to stop him."

Silence once again descended, the news clearly shocking everyone. The men looked at one another. Miguel nodded and led the way to the bloody brush. His brothers followed him silently. The porters skirted around Jubal, who turned to face them all. Ben and Gary flanked them from either side, clearly not trusting what their reaction to the death of their cousin would be.

Don and Mack followed a little behind them, craning their necks, trying to see. Riley held her breath as the men approached the dense foliage. She didn’t want any of them seeing her mother that way. She wanted to scream at them to get away from the body, especially the two engineers. She knew the moment they all spotted the body.

The porters stepped back, backs and shoulders stiffening. They looked from Capa’s body to what was left of Annabel. There could be no doubt what had transpired.

Don leaned over and was sick again and again. Mack gagged and turned away, pressing his hand to his mouth. Riley felt the exact moment they both turned their horrified gazes on her. She refused to look at them. If she held herself very still, her mind wouldn’t fly apart and her shattered heart would remain inside her body. The screams in her head would stay there, locked away forever.

Don stood up slowly, glanced once more into the brush and hastily turned his head away. He made his way slowly over to Riley. He stood there for a moment in silence before clearing his throat.

"I’m sorry about your mother, Riley."

She couldn’t look at him. She nodded her head, pressing her hands deeper into the dirt. She was so numb that the only thing she could feel on her skin was the sensation of the earth.

Mack shuffled over, just as awkward, but well meaning. "I’m so sorry, Riley. There are no words. This is terrible."

Again she nodded, unable to answer them. Life was pulling her back from the brink of disaster. She couldn’t completely lose control. She had to find a way for her brain to function, to think of what to do next.

The four porters picked up the body of their cousin and carried it off into deeper brush.

"What are they doing?" Jubal asked Miguel.

"They will bury him properly," Miguel said. "In our way. We will take care of …"

As the three guides stepped closer to Annabel, Riley’s entire body rebelled. Even the earth beneath her seemed to violently protest, shuddering in a wave of protest. The ground shivered, rose up in two-inch waves and sent vibrations through her body. She "felt" the instant protest and with it came a need to act, to move quickly, to do something-she just wasn’t quite certain what.

"Don’t let them touch her," Riley pleaded. "Jubal, they can’t touch her."

Miguel turned to her, his eyes filled with sorrow. "We didn’t wish for this to happen, Riley. We would never want your mother dead. Capa was not himself. He was a gentle man with a wife and son. He would never harm someone if he wasn’t out of his mind. We need to give your mother a proper burial in the way of your people."

She knew the guide was sincere. She heard it in his voice and saw it on his face, but a deeper force drove her. Her mother’s body could not be touched. Riley forced herself to her feet, shaking her head. Her body felt weak, her legs rubbery, but she had to get up. Beneath her feet, the earth pushed at her, driving her out of her shock.

"Don’t let anyone touch her," she repeated, looking past Miguel to Jubal. She forced herself to meet the guide’s eyes. "We have our own ways, Miguel, and I must attend to her."

She found it a little terrifying to approach that horrible site of blood and death in front of all of them, but it had to be done, even if she had a complete breakdown. She had no idea what she needed to do, but the drive was powerful in her now, pushing her to move.

Weston and Shelton stepped back silently to allow her to walk slowly toward her mother’s body. Riley was aware of the hush descending once more on the group. The two students, busy disinfecting the wounds on themselves and their professor, halted to watch her approach the brush, marred with bloodstains.