Page 34 of Fear No Evil

All Maggie could think about was food. But then raindrops pattered on the broad leaves overhead, and she fretted that their tracks would wash away. “This is far enough, I think.”

Jake must have agreed as he put his back to a tree and started taking off his boot. Maggie tamped down a growl. Phone call first, then food. She could wait another minute, only the process took far longer than it ought to‍—imagine if this was an emergency.

“Keep an eye out,” he requested as he pulled up the antenna and then powered it up.

The high beep it emitted made Maggie jump. “Pleurage, that thing is loud out here!” She had totally overlooked the sound it made when they were still in the civilized world. A droplet ofcold water struck her cheek. Seeing Jake pull the phone from his ear and frown at it, she guessed, “No reception?”

“Non.”He glanced at the weeping canopy. “Let’s try somewhere else. This is a dead zone.” After jamming his foot back into the boot, Jake shoved the laces inside instead of tying them. He grabbed Maggie’s hand and pulled her with him another hundred yards, where he tried calling again.

“Anything?” Her stomach was literally on fire.

“Nothing. The canopy’s too dense for the electromagnetic waves to penetrate.”

For a second, she forgot about her hunger. “Well, what about the trackers we’re wearing? They’d better penetrate, or the JIC won’t know where we are.”

Given the firming of Jake’s mouth, he wasn’t sure their trackers worked any better than the sat phone.

Maggie’s agitation rose as she watched him put away the phone and lace his boot back up. “You’re saying the only place that phone might work is in the camp.”

“We can’t use it in the camp. Come on. Let’s find some food.”

They hadn’t gone ten steps when Jake caught sight of something. “There.”

With hope, Maggie eyed the distinctive orange balls dangling among its spade-shaped leaves. “Are they edible?”

“Non.”Jake snapped off a leaf and showed it to her. “This iscordoncillo, also known asmatico. I’m surprised it grows at this altitude. Every time you see this tree, I want you to tear a leaf in half and rub the juice onto your incision. It’s ananalgesicandantiseptic.”

The English words, pronounced as if they were French, made Maggie snicker. But then she coughed at the peppery odor the leaf exuded.

“Here.” He squeezed some of the juice onto her finger. “Do it now.”

Maggie delved a hand under her jacket to rub it on her incision. The resulting burn had her sucking air through her teeth.

“Stings, huh? That’s not a good sign.”

“No, it’s fine.” She adjusted her clothing. “Jaques, I need foodnow.”

“Sure. Sorry.” Jake peered around, then drew her over to a shade-loving tree growing in the understory. Whitish globes that dangled among dark green leaves.

“Is that fruit?”

“Yes, garcinia. Look for fruit on the ground that’s not rotten.”

Rain pelted their backs as they bent over, picking through the fruit that had already fallen. Lena found one that still looked intact and started peeling off the spiky outer casing. Her hands were shaking. If only she’d started this assignment a little overweight instead of underweight.

“Looks like lychee.” She popped the translucent globe into her mouth and brightened as she chewed. “Mm. Tastes like it, too.”

He wrested his attention upward. “Same fruit family.”

Following his gaze, Maggie saw dozens of more garcinia fruits hanging on a branch too high for them to reach. A howler monkey hung on it, looking down at them.

“Hey,mon ami,” Jake called, “would you throw some fruit down here for us?”

The monkey grinned as if laughing at their predicament.

Jake grimaced. “I’m not going to be able to climb this.”

Maggie wasn’t giving up that easily. The one piece of fruit had only whetted her appetite. “I’ll climb onto your shoulders like I did in Fontainebleau. Once I’m on the lower branch, I can shake the fruit loose.”

---