Expedition to the Unknown

Chapter 1-2

“Are you threatening me?”

Claire almost burst out laughing. “Honey, I don"t have to make threats, you self-implode without any help from me.”

Noah studied her with talon-like eyes. “Might I remind you, I"m Department Chair here, so unless you want to be standing in front of glassy eyed freshmen all day for the foreseeable future, mind your manners. By the way, how"s Jason these days?”

Claire"s eyes widened, and she fought to keep from blowing up. Through tight lips, she hissed, “Jason has taken a job in New York.”

“I heard. Long commute, don"t you think?”

“It"s what they make planes for,” Claire said, with her best f**k-you grin. “So, back to Thad.”

“Yes, back to Thad,” Noah said averting his gaze out the window. “Smart kid, but I"m not sure he"s your best choice. Did you know Jorge speaks several tribal languages? Can Thad say the same?”

Claire considered her ex-husband"s loaded question. This was the one area Poppy did not excel in, and to be truthful, it bothered her. But his involvement with her work trumped that deficiency. She said, “He holds his own.”

Noah steepled his fingers. “Really? In what, besides a dalliance in ancient Egyptian, unless you plan on running into some pharaoh?”

“He speaks Quechua, and some Ayaya,” Claire fired back, ignoring Noah"s sarcasm.

Noah c****d an eye. “Fluently?”

Claire paused and thought about her answer. She wanted to be careful not to say the wrong thing. Noah grinned, and obviously taking her silence as a "no", said, “What I thought. Tell me, what is it about this RA you"re so hot on bringing with you. Are you f*****g him?”

Claire closed her eyes and balled her fists. “You asshole! Why am I wasting my time here?”

“I don"t know, why are you? Unless perhaps, you thought you could manipulate me. You were good at that once, you know. Sit down.”

“f**k you!”

“Sit down!” Noah snapped. He locked his eyes on her like a tomcat sizing up a mouse. Finally, he said, “Let"s cut the crap. This is more than just a goddamned grant here. A niece I"m very fond of is involved and I"m going to make damned sure she comes back in one piece.”

He pushed his glasses back down onto his Romanesque nose and looked off through his window. “You need more experience down there.”

“I"ve run expeditions before.”

“Yes, yes, I know – Togo,” he said, looking back at her. He shook his head. “Look, this isn"t some little dirt village on the west coast of Africa. It"s the damned sss!”

“I know that,” she spat back.

Noah shook his head. “No, you don"t!”

“And you do? I wasn"t aware you"d ever been there.”

“A long time ago, yes.”

Claire was taken aback. “You never told me that.”

Noah stared at her, and for a moment she saw a pained expression on his face. “It"s hard to talk about.”

Now it was Claire"s turn to lean forward. “We were married for five years, and I"m just finding this out now?”

“It was personal and if you"ll shut up a minute I"ll tell you why.” He paused. “Twenty-five years ago, my brother and I received a NSF grant to research some of the indigenous tribes.”

“Really?” Claire said.

Noah cleared his throat and frowned. “As I was saying, my brother led a small team of men into the forest one morning while I stayed back to mind camp. It was just a short day trip, reconnaissance and collecting data. He was supposed to be back by dinner, but he and his team never returned. A week later, we found him and his boys. They were skewered alive and left on long bamboo poles: a warning to stay out of where they didn"t belong. They"d crossed some hidden boundary. We got them down and ran the hell out of there. Am I making myself understood?”

Claire was dumbstruck. She knew Noah had lost a brother, but never knew how. Though she"d asked about it many times, he wouldn"t speak of it, nor would his sister. Noah went on, “You have no idea what you"re going into Claire and I"ve tried to keep my mitts out of it. But you need someone who knows his s**t down there. And who"s this guide, Owen Macleod? I hear he leads tourist treks? Christ, woman!”

“True, but he"s spent a good deal of his life right in the backyard of where we"re going,” Claire said, still trying to wrap her head around Noah"s revelation.

“Yes, I looked into it once I found out. But you need a guide. Living there might have only taken him a few kilometers into the forest. You"re going deep into that world. And can I ask you why you"re going through Peru to get there?”

You never stop! “Because that"s where his company operates out of. And his references are excellent.”

You never stop!Noah sat with that a moment then said, “Well, I do see your point about his living there being worthy. But a tourist guide? Really?”

“He"s multi-lingual and fluent in most of them, not to mention a naturalist with a BA in Forestry and Land Management. He knows the river. He knows the people,” Claire said. She looked at her ex-husband with fresh eyes. “Noah, we"ll be okay.”

“Hmmm … And Molly?”

“I"ll guard her with my life.”

“See to it and you better bring her back alive.” He took his glasses off and looked at her hard. “I know you don"t like me after what happened between us. Few people do now-a-days it seems. Tell you the truth: I don"t really care. What I do care about is people getting hurt or worse yet, killed, on my watch – especially family and talented professors.”

Claire looked at him agape and against her will, felt a twinge in her heart for the man. “Thanks,” and added, “And like I said, I"ll look out for Molly, don"t you worry.”

“You do that. We done?”

Claire got up, fighting the urge to thank the man she had come to despise over the last five years. “I expect so.”