Part 5 (1/2)
Dr. Basehart tried to defend himself. ”Dr. Cooper, we can't be sure what caused-”
”Then find out!” Dr. Cooper snapped back. ”You're the scientist, the biologist with the lab. Find out what the stuff is and how we can undo whatever it's doing!”
”My primary purpose here is not biological research, Doctor!” Basehart objected loudly. ”I'm here to find the treasure of Kachi-Tochetin-and so are you, I might add!”
Dr. Cooper spun around, eyes blazing, clenching a fist, ready to strike. He quickly controlled himself but struck hard with his words. ”Put your greed on hold, Dr. Basehart, until we find my daughter!” He turned and continued pus.h.i.+ng through the brush.
Armond Basehart followed, clearly offended. ”I beg your pardon!”
”You heard me! You and your boss can just-”
They burst into the clear.
Juan screamed. The others froze, guns in hand.
They were standing before the crumbling stone wall of what had been an Oltecan dwelling. On the ground at the base of the wall, a human-shaped ma.s.s of squirming, slimy blobs boiled, crawled, hissed, and squeaked.
For a moment, no one moved. No one could think of what to do.
Toms came up behind Dr. Cooper and whispered in his ear. ”They are turning from yellow to green,” Toms noted. ”They may be more timid now.”
Dr. Cooper approached cautiously, machete and spray bottle ready to take on any carvy that came near him. Some of the slimy creatures began to notice him and half-fly, half-hop away.
So suddenly that he startled the others, Jacob Cooper yelled and flashed his machete back and forth, causing a commotion that sent the carvies fluttering into the trees and ruins like a flock of frightened birds.
”Oh no ...” said Dr. Basehart as he looked, horrified, at what remained on the ground.
Toms took one look and then crossed himself.
Jacob Cooper approached cautiously, s.h.i.+ning his flashlight on the remains of a person, now nothing more than a skeleton covered with green slime, propped against the wall. ”It's Brad Frederick, one of the Cory party.”
The others moved closer in shock and amazement, flashlights illuminating the dead, grinning skeleton before them.
”How can you tell?” Dr. Basehart asked.
”Remember the video?” Dr. Cooper responded, s.h.i.+ning his light in the skeleton's face. ”That big, white grin is unmistakable.”
”No one touch it,” Dr. Basehart cautioned as he knelt beside the skeleton to sc.r.a.pe off a sample of the green slime with a stick. ”I'll take this sample back to the lab and see if I can match it with the slime we took from Lila earlier today.” He carefully folded the stick in his handkerchief and placed it in a vest pocket. ”But now it all makes perfect sense, doesn't it?”
”Does it?” Dr. Cooper asked.
Dr. Basehart looked up at the group. ”The slug toxin. The Kachakas use it to tip their darts. We found darts at the Corys' camp, so we know the Kachakas must have attacked them. This man, Brad Frederick, must have been hit with a poison dart, and he contracted the same symptoms as your daughter: madness and extreme paranoia, followed eventually by paralysis and death. He fled the scene of the attack, wandered among these ruins, and finally succ.u.mbed here. The carvies are the jungle's housekeepers. They have, uh, cleaned up the remains in their own way.” Now he directed his words to Toms, Juan, and Carlos. ”So this 'curse' you've been so afraid of is nothing more than the toxin the carvies produce in their slime. Nature itself has found a way to guard the treasure of Kachi-Tochetin: poisonous slugs.”
Toms tried to argue. ”But Seor Basehart, Juan and Carlos and I have all touched the green slime before. We have handled the green slugs. We have never gone crazy. The slime does not hurt us.”
Basehart thought that over. ”Your ancestors have probably developed an immunity over the generations. The slime, regardless of its color, could produce a very different reaction in foreigners.” He looked at the Coopers. ”Which could be why Kachi-Tochetin found it so appropriate.”
Jay had been pondering something for several moments, and now he finally got the chance to ask, ”But Dr. Basehart, if this is Brad Frederick, then who's buried in the grave back at the Corys' camp?”
For just an instant, Dr. Basehart seemed stumped by the question. ”I forgot. There were four in the Cory party. We buried the three we found in the camp. This one, Mr. Frederick, met his terrible fate here in the ruins.” Dr. Basehart rose to his feet ceremoniously. ”But now he, too, will be buried in a proper grave. We will see to that.”
Jacob Cooper was quite edgy. ”But first we have to find Lila, before she ends up”-he shot a glance toward the skeleton at their feet-”like this.”
Jay swallowed. The thought was too horrible to imagine. ”Man, let's go.”
”Toms and Juan will help you search,” said Dr. Basehart, not even looking at his men to see if they approved of their a.s.signment. ”Carlos will accompany me back to the lab. I'm going to a.n.a.lyze this sample to see if I can isolate the toxin. We'll have to hope I can find an antidote in time.”
”We'll find Lila,” said Dr. Cooper with grave determination, ”and we'll bring her to you.”
They were startled by another long, mournful wail deep within the ruins.
”That's Lila,” said Jay excitedly. ”She's not too far away.”
”Good luck,” said Dr. Basehart, heading back toward the compound.
Dr. Cooper instructed Toms, ”You and Juan circle that way; Jay and I will go this way. We'll try to keep Lila between us until we can narrow down her location.”
They split up and headed into the jungle, moving slowly, cautiously. They kept an eye open for snakes and yellow carvies while keeping an ear open for any other sounds from Lila.
After they had gone some distance, Dr. Cooper stopped and motioned for Jay to hold up. They listened a moment. There was no sound.
And then there was. Another long, mournful wail.
”Dad,” Jay whispered in concern, ”that wasn't Lila.”
Jacob Cooper nodded, then whispered, ”Which means Armond Basehart has some explaining to do.”
”What do you mean?”
”He worked with the Cory party until they were killed. He had the video, he knew them by name, and now he's asking us to believe that he buried three of them and forgot about the other two.”
”Two?”
”Brad Frederick ... and now this other scream we've been hearing.” Dr. Cooper listened a moment, but there was no other sound. ”It's a human being in anguish, just like Lila. If you ask me, I think it's another one of the Cory party.”
Jay wrinkled his nose. ”So there were five people on the Cory team?”
”We don't know. But I'm bothered that Dr. Basehart doesn't seem to remember.”
Jay asked, ”If two of them went crazy like Lila, why would he try to hide that from us?”
Dr. Cooper sighed with disgust. ”Greed. He's so intent on finding the treasure that he doesn't want us concerning ourselves with the Corys.”
Jay thought it over, then nodded. ”Yeah. If we thought the Corys were still alive, we'd be trying to help them instead of searching for the treasure.”
”Exactly. I don't think a man like Armond Basehart has time for such moral considerations. And I don't think he was planning on us finding that skeleton-or hearing these screams.”
”So what really happened? Were the Corys attacked by the Kachakas or did they go crazy from contact with slug slime, or was it both, or what?”
”I think Armond Basehart knows but isn't telling. And now I'm wondering if he really has claustrophobia. It could be he's-”