*And one more time I have provided translations, despite being in Marc's POV. Don't hang me por favor. ;)


Over the course of four days, the convoy had traveled nearly as far as they could, using the remote path that narrowly handled their vehicles. The next "road" that they needed to take was impassable even to the Jeeps, and would require them to carry on to any further locations on foot. Everyone had been prepared for the eventuality, as they approached the hill country where refugees were hiding in droves from the conflict that had driven them there.

The caravan was settling in for another night's rest, before they would begin the more difficult trek starting the next morning. Marcus had been getting quickly acclimated to the low maintenance style of living, refusing to complain even when he was uncomfortable. The only luxury that he'd clung to for the trip was the cell-phone that Donatello had souped up for him. The purple-masked turtle had not only altered both his phone and April's for satellite contact, but also with the ability to retain a solar charge in a relatively short period of time.

The trees overhead were not as dense as other places in the rainforest, allowing for enough small-breaks of sunshine along their trail for him to achieve an almost full charge over the last couple of days. He'd been keeping phone calls with April or home extremely short to conserve power. As he settled down around the fire that night, he followed through with the call he'd promised his wife she would be getting, as long as the satellite signal cooperated.

It didn't start out as a leisurely conversation, as he tried to relay the last couple days of events with as little explanation as possible, and to find out how things were faring back in the city with her crew. Eventually he relaxed a little bit more, realizing he would have plenty of time to charge the next day.

"...It sounds like it's going to be great April. Are the rest of your people onboard with the changes?"

"I already talked it through with my head at the station, so they pretty much just have to go with the flow of it now. I'm really hoping that Rebecca will come around to being on camera, but I don't know if it'll happen. She might be too shy to go for it."

"I think there's more to her than that April. You should see her talk to these people out here in their own languages - you'd never think she was a quiet person."

"What about that guy, the one you said was giving her a hard time the day you left?"

"Things got better with him actually. He's had us riding in his Jeep the last couple of days, and you'd never guess he and Rebecca had an issue. It's nice to see some things can be worked out."

"And tomorrow's the day you start on foot?"

"Back-packing, for lack of a better term," Marcus replied. "Our guides are leading us into the hill country, hoping to help us find the pockets of people who are isolated. I'll have to be more careful of using the phone when we get deeper in, but I'll have a lot of opportunities to charge when we clear the trees tomorrow."

"I'll be waiting to hear from you. Watch your step out there, okay?"

"I am, and I've got a bunch of other guys watching out for me too. I love you."

"Love you too."

Marcus tucked the phone back at his side, and swiveled in his chair to see Rebecca a few feet away from him, having a somewhat guarded exchange with Nanji. She didn't seem to be on the defensive, but her gestures that went along with the speech were uncertain at best. The young woman turned as Nanji was asking her something else, and caught Marcus' eye for an instant. With a shrug of her shoulders she walked over to join the doctor, with Nanji directly behind her.

"What's going on?" Marcus asked.

"He wants to take us somewhere. He said that it isn't far, and it carries great spiritual significance to his family," Rebecca replied, casting another look at Nanji over her shoulder before continuing. "I feel like it's too late already, but he's quite certain the others would not look fondly on a side-trip for the morning."

"How far does he consider not that far?" the man had to ask.

"He told me it wouldn't take us more than twenty minutes out of the way. I think that we ought be getting all the rest that we can, but it's a matter of honor to him. It's very important in some cultures, and the Congolese is one of them."

"I'm familiar with the concept," Marcus answered. "But is it safe for us to be doing separately?"

The grey-haired Ryan Kirkland had been relaxing nearby too, close enough to have heard their topic of conversation. "Best thing to do would be to wait until closer to dawn. Get some rest right now, and head that way nearer to sun-up. There would be less possibility of being bothered by any kind of beasts at that hour, because they'll be settling down from their nocturnal activities. The other men probably wouldn't object if they only had to wait a short while for you back here. If you'll wait til then, I'll go with you too."

Marcus nodded at once. "I like the sound of that better. Will you ask him Rebecca?"

The young woman turned, and relayed Kirkland's proposal to Nanji. Marcus caught the flicker of dismay in the man's eyes, but he recovered control of his expression in a blink, and quickly agreed.


It was roughly an hour before dawn when they set off that morning in one of the Jeeps, having already packed up their sparse belongings before leaving the campsite. A renewed thrill of excitement ran through Marcus, coupled with a tingling of remaining nerves as he considered the day that was ahead of them.

He hadn't suffered any unusual difficulty in breathing or tightness in his chest associated with the asthmatic condition that had partially hampered him for almost his entire life, but he was still prepared just the same. The proper medication never left his side, and this morning it was the only thing he was carrying along with his phone.

Kirkland allowed Nanji to have the wheel of the Jeep since he knew where they were going, and simply kicked back against the front passenger seat beside him, with his weapon resting across his knees in a casual manner. The car-load was quiet on the way there, so that the engine was the only thing disturbing the otherwise serene quiet of the rainforest.

Marcus' gaze unconsciously shifted to Rebecca, to watch the young woman fingering the multi-colored beaded band that adorned her wrist again."Is that special to you?"

She glanced up with a small start, but then smiled faintly. "It was my Mom's. A Bandundu woman made it for her, on that first trip into the rainforest. She was one of my parents' earliest contacts inside one of the tribes."

"It's a beautiful thing. That's nice that you still have it."

Presently they could hear the sound of water in addition to the noise of their vehicle, and they perked up when Rebecca translated for Nanji, that they were getting close to where he was taking them. For the last few yards the African blazed his own trail with the Jeep, crashing through some brush to get them as close to the edge of the rocky clearing as he could.

A small river ran through it, but the spectacular feature of this particular place was a cascading waterfall that descended from a rock face, what looked like thousands of feet. It wasn't the biggest waterfall Marcus had ever seen, but it was definitely the highest, and the combination with the rainforest setting left him a bit breathless.

Rebecca glanced at him after a couple of minutes of silence, and couldn't keep from smiling. "What are you thinking right now?"

"That this is too perfect. Something like this only exists in movies."

She laughed softly. "The inspiration has to come from somewhere, doesn't it?"

He settled down on a flat rock, exhaling deeply as he felt the spray from the breaking water drift over on a breeze. "You've probably seen it all, haven't you?"

She shook her head. "No Marc, not even close."

They'd been sitting on the rock for a few moments of contemplative silence, when Marcus noticed her body stiffen in the pre-dawn light, and sat up further himself.

"What's wrong?"

"I don't know, I felt...I don't know what it was," she whispered.

Marcus was attempting to figure out why she was whispering, as he glanced around to see Nanji and Kirkland huddled close to the edge of the water, neither looking concerned.

"Rebecca?" Marcus said questioningly.

"It's nothing. It must be nothing." She sighed, and allowed the area to lapse back into the natural silence, interspersed with the sound of birds and a couple of stray monkeys, chattering back and forth in anticipation of daylight. The peace only held for a few seconds longer, before the sound of a guttural command from behind startled both Marcus and Rebecca out of their wits.

They leaped to their feet instantly, though Marcus had no clue what had just been uttered. The stranger who had startled them was backed up with several more individuals behind him, carrying semi-automatic weapons. The African man seemed to be literally clothed in arrogance, even as he squinted at them with one eye that was scarred and useless.

The men had reproduced in the clearing faster than Marcus even had time to take everything in - and all their guns were trained in their direction.

"Whoa, whoa, hold up!" Marcus called, as if the men could understand him. "If we're trespassing, we can move on!"

Only a harshly spoken foreign tongue answered him, and Rebecca swallowed sharply.

"He doesn't want us to move. Keep your arms out straight in front of you."

The man's next angry speech was directed at her, and Marcus could read from her body language that this wasn't a simple territorial dispute.

"He does not understand," Rebecca explained to the speaker in his own tongue. "If you want him to obey, I have to translate for him."

"Tell him to be silent," the irritated man replied, then looked past where the two of them were standing, in a way that made Marcus look over his shoulder too.

Nanji had his own rifle trained on Kirkland, and was still in the process of convincing the stubborn Brit to lay down his weapon. The grey-haired gentleman seemed no more willing to relinquish his gun than he wanted to jump off a cliff.

"Rebecca," Marcus hissed as softly as he could to get her attention, and she jolted at the sight behind them.

"Nanji! What are you doing?" She'd barely taken half a step before the scarred man caught her by the arm, and wrenched it fiercely as he yanked her toward him.

Marcus automatically took an angry step of his own, and was met by a gun pressed further into his face. The doctor held his breath for a long moment, as he wondered if the African would actually unload on him. The man merely covered him to prevent him from moving any farther, while the speaker addressed Rebecca again.

"This man is a doctor, is he not?"

Twice the man asked the question, and the young woman didn't respond at all.

"What is he saying Rebecca?" Marcus barely managed to raise his voice, so great was his fear in that moment.

"He is not the one you want," Rebecca told the stranger firmly. "You have been led astray - he cannot help you."

The man cocked his head at her, as though considering something in his mind. Without warning he turned on heel, and flung his hunting knife past them, striking Kirkland squarely in the left shoulder. "Let us now see what kind of a man he is," he said calmly. "You may tell him that he has ten minutes to treat him."