Jake couldn't believe what he was hearing from this complete stranger. This guy waltzed up and asked for a cut of the treasure, and he had only known them for what? Maybe five minutes? The audacity. The nerve. Actually, the more he thought about it, he kind of admired the guy's moxie...this Dr. Hugh Graham.

Jake turned at Savannah's spunky reply.

"Absolutely not," she said. "You think you can wander up and leverage your way into an equal share of our find? Just like that. You must have slipped and hit your head on a rock. "

"Oh really? I beg to differ." Dr. Graham pressed the lid back into place on the can of sardines and dropped them into a pocket inside his vest. "The way I see it you haven't found anything yet."

Sarah snarled her nose, her gaze had followed the sardines.

Jake shook his head. The can wasn't resealable. Graham had forced the tin lid into a closed but precarious position with the metal clasping together. Jake imagined the juice leaking into the man's vest. In his disheveled state, the wildlife biologist didn't seem to care. In the heat, he'd better eat the raw fish by the end of the day or sooner, before it spoiled. And he agreed with Sarah, it was gross.

"Come on," Graham continued his sales pitch, "I'm lonely. And bored. And once again, I've figured out how to survive."

"So no one wants to go check out the second ranger station?" Sarah said. "Really? Is it not even an option?"

"Why should we?" Rachel replied. "According to Dr. Graham, it's a carbon copy of what we saw earlier. I don't know about any of you, but I have no desire to see another scene of mangled and decomposing gore."

"Smart lady," Graham said.

"If he's telling the truth," Sarah replied. "We don't know who he is, or if his name is really..."

"Dr. Hugh Graham."

"Right. He could be lying. He might not even be a doctor?"

"Go check it out for yourself, if you like. Maybe if you see that I'm telling the truth about the second station, then you might believe the rest of my story?"

Jake pulled Sarah aside. "Look, I understand your suspicions. We don't know the guy and he suddenly wants to go treasure hunting with us. But I think we can conclude that anyone who didn't evacuate the island after the initial attacks, except the doctor, is dead. The more we look at this, I doubt there's any type of pathogen or biological hazard to worry about. I think we can keep our sample kits in our backpacks."

"You may be right, but still..."

"But what? We over played the biological hazard to give us a reason to be here. I wanted to believe the goods that Dylan was selling. You can blame me." Sarah started to interject. "But, we're here. They're going to do their story, and we have something to do."

"A treasure hunt?"

"It's a noble cause," Tony said. He'd been eavesdropping.

"Besides that," Jake continued, "we could see what kind of predator we're dealing with, and maybe put it down. Invasive and aggressive species can reek havoc on ecosystems."

"Are you crazy?" Rachel said. "I'm not hunting a wild animal with claws and teeth."

"Our job is to right the wrongs of nature."

"We're marine biologists," Sarah replied. "Our job is the ocean."

"We're surrounded by the ocean," Jake said.

"On an island."

Dylan walked over with a sparkle in his eyes and a broad grin. He wanted to tip the scales. "Jake's right. If we have the opportunity, we can put that thing out of its misery, whatever it is. And since we've figured out the first clue, we can—."

"You have?" Dr. Graham said.

Dylan glared at the doctor with a condescending smile. "Now that I think about it, what's it gonna hurt to include the doc in our expedition?" He shielded his mouth with his hand and whispered. "When this thing is over, we can slide him a few gold coins and send him on his way."

"So, now this is an all-out treasure hunt?" Sarah replied.

"Whatever you want to call it." Dylan smirked and winked.

"I'm not beyond decking you."

"I'd like to see you try."

Tony butted in. "Trust me, you don't want that."

"This is getting interesting," Dr. Graham said.

Sarah rolled her eyes.

"He's harmless." Dylan strutted off with Savannah in tow. "160 million dollars split six ways is roughly 26 million a piece. Since Sarah is so resistant to the hunt, she can give Dr. Graham half of her cut."

"If we all die, there won't be a cut for anyone."

"If some of us survive and some of us don't, there'll be a bigger payday for the living at the end of the day."

Sarah groaned, but didn't reply.

And so they pushed on, staying on the north side of the river. At the front of the group, Dylan surveyed the layout of the land while Savannah kept her head buried in the old map, glancing up occasionally to keep from tripping on the underbrush. Dr. Graham stuck close to them, peeking over their shoulders.

Rachel and Tony were next in line. Then came Sarah and Jake.

As Dylan slashed a trail with his machete, Jake sank into deep thought. He wondered why Sarah was being so rough on everyone. Maybe it was the serum she'd been injected with by Roland Zanderthal? Maybe it was the blood tests and the impending results? Maybe it was the threat of a predator on the loose, prowling, out there, waiting to pounce? The death and carnage back at the ranger station? The thought of a foolish hunt for gold? Risking their lives for greed?

Jake asked, "Are you going to be okay?"

Sarah tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "Just...I don't know. I think it's me. I've been under a lot of stress lately. And we're only two weeks removed from the fiasco in Australia."

"Technically, it's been three and a half weeks. Remember the yacht ride over here?"

"I do." She bumped him with her elbow. "Maybe this romp in the jungle will be a getaway of sorts."

"If we can keep from being eaten." Jake raised his voice. "Which Dr. Graham has yet to give us any tidbits on how to stay alive."

The doctor craned his neck around. "First of all, knowledge is leverage. What I know," he pointed to his temple, "is something that I'll share on a need-to-know basis. What if I were to tell you everything and then you shoved me into the river or off a cliff? Or something worse?"

"We're not bad people?" Sarah said. "We don't operate that way."

"But how do I know that?" Dr. Graham said. "Besides that, I can tell by the way the two in front of me behave, that they don't run in the same circle as you four."

"They're journalists for Adventure Magazine," Tony said. "Dylan Cross and Savannah Lockhart."

Graham stopped in his tracks. "Oh, now that changes everything."

Dylan turned around. "Actually, I'm a photographer, Savannah is the journalist."

"Your profession has nothing to do with it."

"Then what changes things."

"I thought I recognized you from somewhere. Now, I know where. Indeed, it's not really where or how, it's who? Ms. Lockhart is the daughter of the famous treasure hunters, Tom Logan and Kate Lockhart. Am I right? I should've known from your moxie you had their rare influence in your life."

"Spill the beans," Savannah said. "If you don't stop mooching off of us and start talking..."

"What are you going to do, Ms. Lockhart?"

"How do we survive? How do we evade this creature?"

"You talk first," Graham replied. "What's the next clue?"

"Why should I tell you anything?"

"Because I've survived two months here. You and your friends are struggling to keep it together on day one. Need I go on?"

"Fine." She sighed loudly. "Two eyes of a serpent reveal the wandering path."

Dylan hardened his gaze. "We determined it to mean the river, and we're looking for a rock formation shaped like a snake head."

"With a pair of eyes," Savannah added. "You happy now?"

"Splendidly." Graham waved them on. "Keep moving while there's still daylight. I'll talk while we walk."

A realization dawned on Jake. He didn't like the idea of spending the night on the island, but that's what the doctor's comment implied. He seemed to be suggesting that they use the available daytime hours to explore the jungle for clues before night fell and darkness settled on them.

As they pushed on, Dr. Graham revealed his first tip of survival. "We need to stick together. There's safety in numbers," he was saying as they hiked deeper into the brush.

But Jake didn't think it was a good tip. He'd already thought of that one, and come to think of it, he was in serious doubt of it now. The park rangers had been together in large numbers, and that didn't help them. He suspected the doctor knew more, but was saving the critical information for when it would benefit him the most.