With the way Dylan smarted off to Sarah earlier, Jake decided to keep his machete sheathed and let him do all the work of clearing the jungle overgrowth. That's what it was...overgrown ferns, weeds, a variety of flowers and wild plants. Vines snaked from the ground up to the tops of the highest trees. Speaking of which, as they hiked the trees became more dense and their trunks thicker. Jake couldn't wrap his arms around half of the widest ones. Their branches stretched together and interlocked at the canopy, green leaves blocking the bright sunlight beaming down from above. It felt like a lost world. The effect was a shadowed, twilight environment in which the air thickened and clung to Jake and Sarah's skin. Everyone else experienced the same. Up ahead, sweat ringed Tony's t-shirt and Rachel's arms and shoulders glistened. But unhindered by the jungle, the river churned within its banks, winding and twisting through the rainforest, leading them on their journey.

On both sides of the river, the terrain turned more mountainous. They treaded through the narrow valley, stepping over mossy rocks and dodging the stray limbs and greenery that Dylan missed with his machete.

An hour after Dr. Graham offered his first tip for surviving the jungle and the predator responsible for slaughtering the park rangers at both stations, mosquitos started attacking them. Jake slung his backpack to the ground and dug out the repellent Dylan and Savannah provided. He sprayed Sarah down and she did the same for him. Everyone went through the same routine: Tony and Rachel, Dylan and Savannah, but Graham refused the mosquito spray. He said he didn't need it; he'd made it two months without it and didn't see the point now. Jake just wanted to keep from getting malaria, or West Nile since there were so many birds. Both were transmitted by mosquitos and something he didn't want to get. But who knew, maybe that wasn't a problem here.

They could have made better time if it hadn't been for the rugged, overgrown trail. The island was only nine square miles; roughly five miles long by about two miles wide. They traversed north to south, across the greater length of the terrain. From what Jake could tell through the canopy above, the sun was directly overhead, which meant high noon. It felt like this morning's boat ride to Cocos was eons ago, but only several hours had passed.

He glanced at Sarah. Sweat beaded on her fair skin, on her brow and the bridge of her slender nose.

"I didn't like the way Dylan turned on you," Jake said. "If you want, I can bust his lip for you."

Sarah's mouth curled up at the corners, showing a hint of her teeth. "That won't be necessary. I don't need you to fight my battles for me."

"But I would, and I will at any time. Just say the word."

"I know. And I appreciate where you're coming from. I know it comes from your heart."

"Speaking of coming from the heart..."

"Yeah?"

"Listen Sarah, I don't care what the others say. I caught Tony and Rachel together...in Tony's room on the yacht."

"On the ship to Hawaii, I knew they'd been sneaking off, finding quote, unquote," she made quotation marks with her fingers on both hands, "reasons to be together. For work related purposes. And they just so happened to be going to the beach together when we docked at Sea Lab West in Honolulu."

As they talked, Jake and Sarah slowed their pace, giving them distance from the rest of the party.

"But I'm not talking about them," Jake said. "I don't care anymore, and you know what? Here goes nothing..."

He grabbed Sarah by the hand and stopped her, spun her toward him and pulled her close. And in the middle of the jungle, with birds calling and small animals scurrying, he planted his lips on hers, and he let himself enjoy the moment. It reminded him of their kiss on Atlantis Paradise Island in the Bahamas. His lips moved across hers. He would describe it as more of a French kiss than an American kiss. But even more so, it reminded him of the moment they shared in the life raft after Zanderthal's ice breaker, the Hercules Australis, sank with the corporate head supposedly onboard along with an overgrown and monstrous great barracuda trapped in an inner hold of the ship. Those barracudas were as big as the great white shark he'd spotted while diving the day before off this island. And the team he had with him today was the same group of smart and daring scientists that put an end to Ocean Blue's mad scheme.

Except now, they weren't saving the ocean. They were saving an island in the Pacific from a predator that they'd yet to see or hear. Not to mention, they were hunting for an elusive treasure. The things they could get themselves into, but Jake decided, he'd rather have no one else but Sarah, Tony, and even Rachel by his side.

Needless to say, it was a long kiss, and when they broke lips, Jake discovered his heart pounding and the heat of the jungle rising. He turned and saw that everyone had stopped and stared. Gawked was more like it.

"About time y'all did that," Dylan said. "I've noticed the way you two look at each other."

"Now that that's out of the way, let's continue, shall we?" Savannah said and started walking again.

After the rest of the group carried on, Sarah grinned widely and leaned in for another kiss. "Cool down, we have a long way to go."

"Not easy to do in this heat."

"We'll just have to try."

"Or not."

Sarah snickered.

Jake sighed. And they started hiking again, pushing harder until they caught up to everyone else.

The midday was going well. As they carried on, Dr. Graham dipped his hand into his vest for another sardine, plopped it into his mouth and swallowed. Jake looked away. So did Sarah. He never cared for the raw fish. Slippery and juicy.

Just when things were starting to mellow out, Dylan threw a hand up and halted the party.

Savannah said, "That's not good."

"What is it?" Jake cut between Tony and Rachel, making his way to the front of the line, past Dr. Graham to where Dylan and Savannah stood, gaping at the carcass of a deer that had been ripped and clawed apart by something savage.

"Obviously, there's something big out there, somewhere," Dylan said.

"I told you," Graham replied. "I saw it, and I escaped from it."

"Yes, as you've already explained." Dylan scratched his temple. "Regardless of the attacks at the ranger stations, this island is only supposed to have deer, like this one, along with pigs, goats, rats, and of course, small feral cats. Nothing bigger than a bobcat. None of the animals are native, all introduced by man."

"I saw a gecko earlier at the waterfall," Rachel said, her eyes and cheeks growing brighter. "And a spider and a few creepy insects." Her nose and mouth snarled as she continued to speak.

"My point is, the island isn't supposed to have any large predators. So whatever this is, it got introduced here by man in some way or another."

"Maybe it was a shipwreck, or a wildlife container blew off a top deck in a storm, and somehow washed ashore?" Dr. Graham said. "These things happen."

"Maybe, maybe not." Dylan shook his head. "Doesn't matter. Something is here now and it's plundering the species of wildlife endemic to this island. Come to think of it, you're a wildlife biologist, this should be your speciality. How come you haven't mentioned anything about it?"

"Yes, well, my primary goal was studying how the native species of fauna, all the living things here, feed on the endemic flora. To see how they interacted and coexisted."

"Well, something's been feeding around here," Jake said. "And it has no desire to coexist. Any idea what type of predator it is?"

"I told you, in the darkness, I only saw its yellow eyes, but whatever it was, I think it had black fur because it blended in with the shadows like a wraith."

Savannah knelt by the carcass, clutching her backpack straps. "I've seen a lot of kills by mountain lions in Texas. Their populations are reduced near Odessa, but occasionally you see one, and sometimes you see what they killed. And this," she pointed at the dead deer, "looks like it was killed by a feline. A big one."

"Would you agree?" She directed the question to Dr. Graham.

"Quite possibly," he replied. "But it's hard to say."

"Or you won't say."

"Could be a wild boar?"

"Doubt it," Jake said.

"I know a boar didn't do this," Savannah replied. "Judging by the bite and the claw marks, this was something much bigger."

"Maybe it was an overgrown gecko," Dylan said with a wise grin.

Rachel's eyes darkened. And Savannah frowned.

"Something's on the loose," he added, his expression growing serious. "Sooner or later maybe the doctor will tell us what it is...until then, we have a treasure to find."

And onward they went, deeper into the heart of the jungle.