Before Lazaro could act, the still air over the riverbank shivered into bits, a thunderlike blast scattering the birds that had flown in to roost for the night. The restless anaconda’s head fell to the ground with a soft thud, and Alex fell with it. She sat down hard on the wet earth, feeling the grass beneath her fingers as she looked up and saw Herman Myers with a shotgun in his hand.
The blast had torn through the huge serpent’s body and Lazaro wasted no time. With the expertise of a surgeon he sliced the stillshuddering carcass open, then stepped back, caught Myers’ eye, and shook his head.
Alex closed her eyes as the world went black. She reached for something to cling to, felt the strong firmness of a human hand, and would have fainted if not for a childish voice that snapped her back to reality—
“Mom? What’s going on?”
Energized by that voice, Alex opened her eyes and scrambled toward her daughter. Deborah Simons gripped Alex’s arm, helping her to her feet, and she realized that the commotion had brought everyone from the dining hall, including her daughter. Mud-smeared and frizzyhaired, Caitlyn stood beside one of the staff boys, a bucket of fish in one hand and an iron spear in the other.
“Caitlyn!” Alex rushed forward and drew her daughter into her arms. “I thought you were . . . lost.”
“I’ve been fishing.” Caitlyn’s muffled voice came from within their embrace. “Tito took me to a special place where it’s quiet. Look what I caught.”
Not quite willing to release her daughter, Alex peered over the top of Caitlyn’s head. Half a dozen gaping piranha lay wide-eyed inside the bucket, yet Caitlyn didn’t seem to have a scratch on her.
The situation was typical Caitlyn. The child learned best by doing, touching, and tasting, so she’d probably learned more about piranha in ten minutes with Tito than she would if she’d read a dozen articles on the subject.
Closing her eyes, Alex pressed her lips together. Part of her wanted to scream out her frustration, to scold Caitlyn for worrying her so, but if she vented those emotions now she might completely lose control. Besides, Caitlyn hadn’t broken any rules. So it was better to be silent, to rein in her feelings . . . and brace herself for her daughter’s next stunt.
Fortunately, Caitlyn didn’t seem to realize the horror that had risen in Alex’s imagination. Pulling out of Alex’s embrace, she looked past Lazaro, then her jaw dropped at the sight of the huge serpent. An instant later her nose crinkled in disgust. “Ugh! Gotta be an anaconda, right, Mom?”
“I think so. Yes, I’m sure of it.” Alex forced a laugh. “Ugly, isn’t it?”
“Did it scare you or something? You’re as white as chalk.”
“Something like that.”
With her arm firmly around her daughter’s shoulders, Alex turned in time to see Lazaro peel back a thick flap of snakeskin to reveal the creature’s last meal: a pig?
“It’s a tapir,” Caitlyn’s voice warmed with recognition. “I wondered if we’d see one. Never thought we’d see one like this.”
“What’s a tapir?”
“An ungulate mammal with a bulky body, short legs, and a head characterized by a short, flexible proboscis, small eyes, and erect ears.”
“And I suppose you know what ungulate means?”
Caitlyn snorted. “Hooves, Mom. Everybody knows that.”
The Amazonian version of a wild pig, then.
Feeling weak-kneed, Alex turned and led her daughter toward the bungalow. “Why don’t you and I get cleaned up for dinner?” she said, trying to keep her tone light. “I want to hear all about your fishing.”
“It was great, Mom. Tito says you don’t have to be afraid of piranha— he swims in the water all the time. They won’t bite unless you’re bleeding.”
“All the same, I don’t want you to go swimming unless there are lots of other people around. On second thought, stay out of the water all together, okay? I’ll take you swimming when we get home—in a nice, clean pool. I’ll take you anywhere you want to go.”
As Alex ran her fingers through Caitlyn’s tousled hair, profound gratitude washed over her, a feeling so intense and overwhelming that for an instant she almost wished God existed . . . just so she could say thank you.