The Chaos Order (Fanghunters Book Three) (37 page)

“Before it gets even worse,” Trixie added. They all turned their heads toward her. She looked away, out to the river. Her eyes then lit up. “Hey! Look!”

The others all looked to where she was pointing. Further up river, pink dolphins were jumping along the water playfully. Dom stared at them open-mouthed. They were beautiful, their bright pink skin glowing against the dirty water. Their squeaks were almost like laughter.

“They’re amazing!” Alicia exclaimed.

“Wow!” Rafa added.

They danced along the water, all following the leader, frolicking in the water. They all watched them disappear into the distance.

Dom caught Gus’ stare. He grinned and pointed toward the dolphins.

Dom gave him a thumb up. Gus returned the gesture.

“Well, that was something you don’t see every day,” Dom said.

Trixie grabbed her smartphone and studied it. “Okay,” she began. “By my calculations... with the rate we’re going, we’ll probably be there in ten to twelve.”

“Days?” Dom said in utter disbelief.

“Hours, Dom.”

“Oh. Thank God for that. Still, twelve hours. In this boat? Sheesh.” He glanced over at Gus, who was still steering, having hardly flinched the whole time. He was a soldier, a hardcore robot of the Amazon.

Dom shook his head in disbelief. “Well, wake me up when we get there,” he said before lounging back more, pulling his cap over his eyes and then closing them.

CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

D
om was back on the roof of the I-Sore Tower.

The rain was lashing down from an obsidian sky. The air was thick, heavy with dread and foreboding. Chaos was erupting all around him; vampires were fighting in hand-to-hand combat with soldiers. Blood flowed in rivulets alongside streams of rain.

Dom was at the edge of the building, his face turned up to the sky. The rain ran over his tongue, stinging it like battery acid. There was a weight pulling him down; it strained his shoulder. His eyes rolled down. They met a lumpy mass gripping his forearm, pulling him down. Dom pulled back, a tug of war ensuing. The thing in his grip wanted to pull him down, wanted to take him with him down to the depths.

Dom pulled with all his might, desperate to cling onto life. He began leaning back, winning the battle. Hope bloomed in his chest.

He glanced down again and the thing turned its head up toward him. Dom’s heart stopped.

“You killed me!” the face of his father snarled.

The shock stole Dom’s breath. His strength melted; the body in his grip now weighed a ton. He was pulled forward. The rainy air turned light and he plummeted down into the darkness with a scream.

Dom’s body twitched out of sleep. His wide eyes took in everything. Blue sky met with murky water, flanked by masses of foliage.

Where the hell am I?

Then, he remembered. They were chasing Troy down the Amazon. The sun had sunk down to a late afternoon position, causing a dulling in the humidity.

His body settled, his heart began beating in a steady rhythm. He yawned and stretched his limbs, the bad dream dissolving from his consciousness. He checked on the others. Rafa’s eyes were closed. Alicia was resting on his chest, fast asleep. Trixie was sitting with her back to him, watching the river as they cut through it. Gus was still at the helm; a seasoned pro, probably been up and down this river a thousand times and could stay awake for the whole journey there and back, soaking up the sun like a rock.

Dom staggered over to Trixie. “Are we there yet?” he asked with a yawn.

“Getting there,” Trixie said, showing him her smartphone. They’d gained about half the distance on Troy.

“Did you get any sleep?” Dom asked her.

“A little.” She shook her head. “Something’s not right.”

“With sleeping? I know it’s not easy on a boat, but...”

“No, with Troy. He hasn’t moved from that spot for a while.”

Dom shrugged. “Maybe they’re doing some kind of ceremony that takes a while.”

Trixie sighed. “Maybe. I just got a feeling.”

“It’s anxiety, Trix. We’re out of our element, in strange lands, heading toward a mysterious unknown.”

“A bit melodramatic, Dom.”

“Well, it’s the truth. Relax. We’ve been in enough tight spots not to panic too early.”

Her shoulders eased. “Yeah, I suppose.”

Dom took in the surroundings. The river was tightening, the banks closing in, blocking out the sun more. The wildlife was now more audible. Birds flapped from one tree to another. Large insects were making some kind of weird mating calls. All around him was life: in the trees, in the bushes, in the water. It was a hive of activity. And yeah, the mosquitoes were now having him for lunch. He slapped his forearms. “How come they don’t bite you?” he asked Trixie, grabbing his can of mosquito repellent from his pocket.

“Maybe you taste better than me.”

Dom doused himself. “Well, that’s always been a problem. Things just find me too damn sexy.”

Trixie turned to stare at him sideways. “Yeah, whatever, Dom. Always so full of yourself.”

Dom flashed her an over-confident smile. “It’s all in the game,” he said and winked. He went back and sat down, watching the world go by.

Another hour passed and the river just continued on and on. The sun was lowering all the time; soon night would fall. Dom hated to think what the jungle would be like under the cover of night. All he could imagine was snakes the size of tree trunks, bloated frogs as big as puppies, and hungry lions and tigers, all bathing under the moonlight. He shivered, then slapped the back of his neck where a mosquito bit him. He flicked his eyes over at Gus; he was as stoic as ever, just guiding the boat through the river.

Man, that guy is made of bronze, I swear.

Another long couple of hours passed, full of the same stuff: river, sun and jungle. Dom lay back on the boat, his feet up, trying to occupy his bored mind with stuff other than the Amazon. While he did, the bizarre thought occurred to him that over the last few days, he’d been on an adventure, the kind of which people paid big bucks for. A trip to Tijuana, a visit to an ancient pyramid, and now down on the Amazon. Pyramids, ancient temples, history. Sun and
señoritas
.

And the truth was, it all kind of passed him by. Their focus had always been solely on the Chaos Order and not where they were. And now that they were nearing the end of their adventure, had he really soaked it in? He didn’t know. People waited their whole lives to do stuff like that, and here he was, living it, right smack in the middle of it. He never thought he’d get a chance to do and see these kinds of things, having been locked down in Chicago and the States for so long. Now, he was suddenly worried that it was all... passing him by.

He gave his head a brisk shake. What a weird thought. That’s what having nothing to do for so long, stuck on a boat in the middle of the Amazon does to you. Gets you reflecting on stuff that has no business being reflected on in this moment in time. The reality was that this was his job; what he did for a living. Anything else wasn’t important. Sure, a perk of it was the travel, but he couldn’t enjoy it the way those backpackers back at Manaus could. His adventure was a different kind. One full of risk and danger. His adrenaline rush was a fight or flight response as opposed to a thrill seek.

You know, when all this crap is over,
he thought to himself, staring at the sun as it lowered further,
I think I’ll treat myself to a vacation. Maybe I’ll go to France, or Germany, or Japan. Somewhere different.

Hmm, not a bad idea.

A mosquito bit his forearm and he slapped it before giving it a blast of repellent.

Trixie then shot up; she looked agitated. Dom sat up and watched her dash to the front of the boat to where Gus was still sitting in that same spot as cool as a cucumber. She showed him her smartphone, then pointed at a split in the river. Gus nodded and started veering the boat off toward the split.

Trixie then gave Gus a grin and came back and sat down.

“Where we going?” Dom asked her.

“We gotta come off the Amazon and join the Madeira.”

“The Madeira. Like the cake?”

“Yeah, like the cake, Dom. Except this is a river. The river where they took Troy.”

Dom stretched his legs. “You mean we’re nearly there?”

“We’re getting there, yeah.”

“Thank Christ for that. I can’t stand much more of this.” He took a sip of his water and watched the boat turn onto this new river. The new river was the same as the old one. Dirty, brown, and massive. Flanked by exotic foliage and huge trees like Nature’s skyscrapers.

Another hour scraped by at a snail’s pace.

Dom clocked it up to nine. The sky was starting to enter twilight. Another couple of hours and they’d be in full darkness. Dom gulped. He really didn’t like that notion one bit.

On and on they went, the river unrelenting in its size and length. Another hour trickled by and Trixie had her head in her smartphone again. By that point, they were tired, spaced out from a lack of input, and disorientated. Dom was in no mood to be entering temples and hunting vamps; he just wanted to go to bed. He was tetchy, sweaty, and his clothes were starting to smell.

He slapped another mosquito on his forearm. Trixie then got up and started looking about her left and right like her head was in a constant spin.

She went over to Gus. “All right, all right,” she said to him, slapping the air, her gaze fixed on the smartphone. “We’re here.”

“Finally,” Dom said, stretching his arms.

Gus pulled up. They came to a stop in the middle of the river. Dom looked both ways. It was a clear stretch of water, not another boat in sight. Somewhere high above them, the exotic birds cawed in the lowering light.

Trixie stared at her smartphone in confusion, then at her surroundings. “This is where they took him; this is where he should be!” she stated, pointing down at the deck of the boat with a stern finger. She gazed at them all; Dom shook his head, Alicia looked away; Gus shrugged. Trixie craned her neck forward and stared at the dirty water. Her mouth became an O, her eyes flashing with understanding.

She balled her hand up into a fist. “Troy!” she sneered.

The hot chug of an engine made her spin. From nowhere, a boat was speeding upstream toward them.

Trixie’s eyes widened. “Duck!” she yelled.

Gunfire split the air. Birds now flapped around for their lives. Trixie dived to the deck and hugged it. Dom grabbed Alicia and threw her down with him; she went with a yelp. Rafa fell flat on his nose. The bullets tore into their boat, small pieces of splintered wood erupting into the air.

From the front of the boat, a scream ripped the atmosphere. Dom rolled his head up to catch a horrific glimpse of Gus’ chest explode under the bullets. His arms were spread wide as he juddered under the hail. He then toppled into the river with a splash.

“No! Not Gus!” Dom shrieked. He liked that guy. But, it was too late, Gus was gone.

The boat attacking them glided past at a rapid pace, throwing river water up and over them.

Dom spat the rancid, sour water out of his mouth. “Christ, what do we do now?” he shouted, his face inches from Trixie’s.

“Survive,” Trixie answered.

Dom groaned. He grabbed his crossbow and bolted upright. The attacking boat had shot past them, slamming on the brakes too late. Dom did a quick head count: two in the front, two in the back. The guy steering pointed his way. The one next to him raised his handgun in Dom’s direction. Dom acted on instinct. He raised the crossbow up to his shoulders, caught the guy in his sights, and let rip.

There was a hollow
whoop!
The skewer cut through the air, hitting its intended target. It slammed into the guy’s chest, sending him staggering back. The backs of his legs hit the edge of the boat and over he went. The others watched on in shock. Dom glared down at the crossbow in awe. “Woah!” he gasped, hardly able to believe what he’d just done. Before it had a chance to sink in, the two guys at the front lifted their submachine guns his way.

“Get this boat moving!” Trixie shouted.

Rafa was already halfway there, squatting over and ambling his way along the boat. He pushed the throttle, and the boat kick-started into life. It shoved forward through the water, just as the thug’s guns burst into life. The sudden movement shook Dom off his feet. He lost his balance and hit the deck on his butt. The foliage way behind where he’d been standing began to dance under the impact of the bullets. Rafa pulled them away from the attacking boat, Gus’ body now floating to the surface between them both. Alicia gave her crucifix a quick kiss as she laid eyes on him lying there dead in the water.

But there wasn’t time for dwelling. They had to get these guys, whoever they were. The thugs spun their boat around and began chasing them down. Gunfire rang through the air. Dom ducked down and peeked over the edge of the boat. The bad guys were in a bigger boat with a much faster engine; they were gaining. Fast. River water sprayed up into his face as he reloaded the crossbow.