Page 35 of No Questions Asked

My last thought was that although Natelli had said she was curious about Slash and me, she hadn’t asked a single question about me.

Chapter Nineteen

Lexi

Morning seemed to come earlier than usual since I was roused by somebody’s alarm going off. I rolled over and looked at my watch. Six fifteen. Ugh.

People in the cabin were already stirring, so I yawned, stretched and sat up. I’d slept more soundly than expected, especially since the small air conditioning unit and fan hadn’t helped much in cooling down the room. Not to mention I’d been without Slash and with a bunch of strange women, except for Gwen. I must have been more tired than I thought.

I managed to get dressed in long pants, hiking boots, and a long-sleeve shirt while sitting on my bunk under the mosquito netting. I was already sweating. I slathered some suntan lotion on the exposed parts of my skin before emerging from the netting and grabbing my backpack and hat. Gwen was sitting at the table and putting suntan lotion on her face. She’d dressed similar to me, except she’d fixed her bright red hair into double braids. A brown wide-brimmed hat sat on the table next to her. I looked around. Natelli was nowhere in sight, and the other women were in various stages of dressing except for Sara who was still in bed.

“How’d you sleep, Lexi?” Gwen asked, her blue eyes alight with excitement. She had a glob of white suntan lotion on the tip of her nose. She snapped the tube closed and put it in her backpack.

“Okay, I guess. Are you ready for today?”

“I’m beyond ready and ridiculously excited. I hope it’s permitted for me to snap a few pictures of the rainforest, although Natelli said we aren’t allowed to take photos of the village or the villagers. I want to show Elvis what it looks like here.”

He’d appreciate it. “That’s nice of you. Come on, let’s get some coffee.”

Gwen rose from the table, slung her backpack over her shoulder and we headed out. The camp seemed busy with a lot of security guys milling around and people loading two jeeps with equipment and coolers. Despite my reservations about going on this trek, my heart gave a little leap of excitement.

We walked into the dining room where Slash already sat drinking coffee and talking with Natelli, Salvador and Vicente. Another man with dark hair and a thick mustache sat to the right of Salvador and was saying something loudly in Portuguese, gesturing with his hands. I hadn’t met him yet.

Slash waved us over, so we joined them at the table. “Good morning, ladies,” Vicente said, pushing a carafe of coffee and two empty mugs toward us. “How did you sleep?”

“Great,” Gwen answered. “For what little sleep I got. Greta, Melinda and I talked late into the night. They’re so interesting.”

“They are,” Natelli agreed. “Lexi, how about you? Did you sleep okay?”

“Better than I expected,” I said.

Slash patted an empty seat next to him. As I sat down, our fingers brushed and my heart did a little flip. I wondered if it would always be like that between us—a special connection. I’d never had anything like this with anyone before, and for me, it went deeper than just a physical connection. It was an emotional bond where we didn’t need to speak to know what each other was thinking. I never thought it possible scientifically, but here it was, irrefutable proof.

Natelli set her mug on the table and motioned toward the man with the mustache. “Lexi, Gwen, I’d like you to meet the newest member of our team, Mr. Martim Alves. Martim works in Brasilia for theFundação Nacional do Índioor, as we call it, FUNAI. FUNAI is an official Brazilian governmental protection agency for the native Indian interests and their culture.”

Martim held out a hand across the table to shake hands with Gwen and me. “Pleased to make your acquaintance.”

“What role does FUNAI have in all of this?” Gwen asked pouring coffee into her mug.

“I’ll accompany the team to the villages on behalf of the Brazilian government to ensure that the interests of the villagers are well protected,” he replied.

“Oh, that makes sense,” Gwen said. “It’s a really important thing to do.”

“It is, indeed. We are quite protective of our assets in Brazil. However, I’m of the opinion that this entire project is a waste of government time and money.”

For a moment, we all just stared at him, digesting the bomb he’d just dropped. Gwen spoke first. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Martim waved his hand dismissively, as if it wasn’t even worth his time to answer. “These people want to be left alone. Forcing medicine on them defies natural selection.”

Natelli bristled, the color high in her cheeks. “They came to the government for help. Their people are dying from malaria. We have medicine that can help them.”

“I respectfully disagree. If they want to continue to live in the jungle like animals despite the advances of the modern world, then they should be left to do it...without interference. They can’t have it both ways. However, my job here is to ensure that they indeed want this and their rights and protections as granted to them by the government of Brazil are duly served. Now, if you’ll excuse me.” He stood up and walked out of the building, leaving us all looking at each other in shock.

“What the heck was that all about?” Gwen said.

Natelli shook her head, looking depressed, but Salvador leaned forward, lowering his voice.

“He’s a bureaucrat. He knows nothing about vaccines or disease eradication. And despite what he may claim to the contrary, FUNAI is not always favorably looked upon by the natives.”

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