Page 20 of Falling for the Enemy

A long, white passenger van pulled into the hotel lot. It was fifteen minutes early, but an earlier start would only help us in the long run.

“I’ll go see what’s taking him so long,” Evan said.

“Thanks, Evan. I only hope he didn’t douse himself with fly spray again.”

Evan took off. Pam had finished her “show.” She started repacking her lotion and bug spray into her backpack. Jack putaway his phone and pulled his backpack onto one shoulder. He was wearing a white linen shirt with the top button undone and the sleeves rolled up. I was used to him being more formally dressed at school. Dressing down looked good on him, too. He was certainly far more toned than I realized but then I probably never gave it much thought because I was always too busy trying to avoid him. Admiring his physique never crossed my mind during one of our contentious exchanges. We’d actually gotten through a conversation at the bar last night without one of us storming out angrily. I assumed it was because we were both fatigued from travel and our defense sensors had been dulled by the alcohol.

The driver was a short man with a thick head of black curly hair and a kind smile. I walked forward to greet him. “Ava Lovely. Thank you for transporting us to the river.”

“Raul, nice to meet you. I can open the back for luggage, or there’s room on the floor in front of feet if people prefer to hold on to their things. The trip will take two hours. A few of the roads are unpaved, so it’ll be slow going.”

I turned around. “If you have snacks or water in your packs, you can keep them with you in the van, or if you’d rather have more legroom, you can put them in the back.” I glanced toward the hotel and was relieved to see Evan and Norman walking out.

Minutes later, we were packed tightly into the van. I ended up between Evan and Robyn. Jack grabbed a seat next to Norm, which said a lot about how much he wanted to avoid sitting near Pam. After the dramatic show of applying suntan lotion, Milo and Ian were eager to sit next to her. She was, however, in a pout because Jack chose to sit next to Norm while there’d been two empty seats next to her. It seemed the team dynamics were taking shape. That was always the case when you had a group of mostly strangers or semi-acquaintances about to embark on an adventure where no one really knew what to expect. And itseemed I was the only person on this trip who’d had extensive experience on a scientific expedition. For some, like Robyn, who was always eager and happy and open-minded, it would be the dream of a lifetime. For others, like Norman, it would probably assure him that he never wanted anything to do with a research grant or expedition ever again.

The van set off. I glanced at my phone to see if there’d been any updates about our river trip or anything from the biological station. Robyn elbowed me lightly. “He sure glances back at you a lot,” she said quietly.

I looked up. “Who? Norm? Gosh, I hope he’s not already getting motion sickness.”

She laughed. “No, I was talking about Professor Sinclair. He’s looked back here like five times, and we only just reached the main road.”

“He’s probably regretting his seating position and looking for an open seat. He’s going to be out of luck.”

“Yeah, maybe that’s all it is,” Robyn said with a sly smile. “I can’t wait to get to the research site. I’m so excited about the next two weeks. I mean, it’s fun to work in the lab and all that, and I’m learning so much about the scientific process, but being out there in the field—” She gazed out the window with a smile. “Always wanted to be a scientist. Every Christmas my parents would buy me a new science kit or a microscope. My brothers would make fun of me and call me a nerd.” She sighed. “I’ve got three brothers and no sisters. You have sisters, right?”

“Four of them and no brothers.”

“Lucky you. Just the other day, we all got together for my dad’s birthday, and the talk was all about football and my brother Rob’s new table saw. I looked at my mom. She, too, had that glazed, bored look that comes over us whenever the men are going on about—well—boring stuff. I looked at her andsaid, ‘Would it have killed you to have just one more girl? We’re totally outnumbered here.’”

“It’s nice you have your mom. I’ll bet the two of you are close.”

“I suppose.” Robyn adjusted the heavy bag at her feet. “Only she has no interest in science, and I have no interest in crocheting and knitting. That’s what she loves to do. She has a whole circle of friends for knitting and another circle for crocheting.” She glanced out the window and sat up straighter. “Did you see that?” She looked at me with those wonder-filled eyes, the same eyes I was sure I wore on my first adventures. She was a true scientist in the making—curious and always ready to learn more. “It was one of those Fruit Loops birds.” (Well, almost ready.)

“Uh, it’s called a toucan, or Ramphastos toco, when it’s not on a cereal box.”

As I said it, the boys in the back shouted in excitement. “Hey, Robyn, did you see the Fruit Loops bird?”

She lifted up and twisted around. “I did. He was so cool.”

Jack looked over his shoulder. “Yes, that was the elusive Fruit Loops bird, and if we ever go to India, we’ll see tigers all named Tony.”

I burst out laughing. Jack seemed pleased with that response and turned forward again.

The van moved onto a semi-paved road. It seemed at one time it had been sealed with gravel and tar, but most of that had been worn away by wind, rain and vehicles. Up until that point, the ride had been fairly quick and smooth, but now the driver had to slow down to avoid potholes and debris. Even at the slow pace, we managed to hit plenty of them. We grabbed the seats in front of us when the van dropped into a hole that made it seem as if we were falling through the ground.

“Sorry about that,” Raul called back. “Didn’t see that one coming.”

Robyn leaned over. “Seems like a Grand Canyon-sized hole would be hard to miss.”

We both had a good laugh over her comment, then we turned to the window. Moving slower gave us a chance to take in the scenery. One thing about Costa Rica— there was no shortage of beautiful landscape, from thickets of lush tropical plants, branches dripping with trumpet-like flowers and colorful fruit, to emerald green fields that stretched and yawned their way to the turquoise ocean.

“See that tree with the big oval fruit? That’s breadfruit. It’s delicious and full of nutrients,” I said.

“I’ve heard of it but never seen one.” Robyn leaned down to take out her notebook. She started writing. “What was the scientific name for the toucan?” A pink blush washed over her cheeks. “I won’t write down Fruit Loops. And spell it, please.”

“R-a-m-p—” Before I could finish a shadow fell over us. Jack gripped the top edge of our seat to keep from being pitched headlong down the aisle.

“I think I’ve done my part on the Norm-watching duty. He says he’s feeling nauseous, so I’m out.”

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