Home > One Summer in Monte Carlo(9)

One Summer in Monte Carlo(9)
Author: Jennifer Bohnet

Resolutely, Vanessa pushed all thoughts of the twins and home away as she picked up the laptop and slid it into the travel bag. In a few minutes, they would be on their way to the airport and the adventure would really begin. The last week had been wonderful, but now she had to focus all her energies on spending the next few months with her new husband in one of the world’s most exotic, dangerous and inaccessible places.

They would no longer be alone but part of a team. She hadn’t yet met Harry and Nick, the cameramen, but Ralph had assured her they’d all get on. He’d worked with both of them before on previous documentaries.

‘They’re both as passionate about the environment as I am and I know they’ll do all they possibly can to make sure the film shows the jungle in its current desperate state.’

When the idea of making the documentary had first surfaced, Ralph had talked to her about how the world’s most important ecosystem was being destroyed. How he wanted to do something to help stop the environmental contamination.

‘If the world doesn’t do something about deforestation and forest degradation, sixty-five per cent of the forest is in danger of disappearing in the next fifty years. And that’s before we talk about the loss of the indigenous population and their traditional way of life and the species that will die out as their habitat is destroyed.’

Vanessa knew Ralph was determined his documentary was going to record the lives of the ‘real’ native Amazonians they struggled to survive in a changing forest and it was one of the reasons he’d refused a sponsorship offer from a large multinational company.

‘Staying independent, I can show the truth,’ he’d said to Vanessa when he was outlining his plans. ‘Nobody can tell me what to film or say. I can talk to whoever I want in an effort to uncover the real truth. The budget is going to be tight, but it’s the only way.’

Deciding she had time for one last cool shower before Ralph returned and they left for the airport, Vanessa quickly undressed and stepped under the lukewarm water. Wrapping herself in the hotel’s large bath towel afterwards, she crossed to the window and glanced out at the bustling street scene below. A burst of apprehensive excitement kicked into her thoughts. Tomorrow this room would be a memory, and the chaotic scenes outside would have been replaced by forest and vegetation inhabited by strange-sounding animals.

Their first few days in the Amazon jungle were going to be spent in the comfort of an ‘eco-tourist’ camp before they and the crew moved off to explore and stay in a more remote area, with the help of a native guide. Harry and Nick had flown up earlier with all their equipment and would have organised the next stage of the journey by the time she and Ralph arrived.

Vanessa turned to smile at Ralph as he closed the door behind him.

‘Everything packed? Good,’ Ralph said as she nodded. ‘Ten minutes and we’re off. Think I’ll have a quick shower too. Might be sometime before we get the luxury of unlimited water again.’

Once they were both dressed, they picked up the backpacks Ralph had insisted were far more practical than suitcases in the jungle, and went to find their taxi for the trip out to the airport.

The office of the company that operated the small Cessna plane Ralph had chartered to fly them up to an outpost on the Amazon River, was situated at the edge of the airfield. Only internal flights operated from this run-down airstrip and, walking towards the shabby hut where they had to check-in, Vanessa found herself worrying about the safety of the plane she was about to board.

‘They do have regular maintenance and safety checks, don’t they?’ she asked Ralph.

‘Of course. Don’t worry. José and Carlos are very proud of their planes. Carlos told me they are the best in Brazil. Ah, here’s José,’

‘Senhor Ralph and senhora. We are ready for you. We go and—’ The shrill ring of a telephone interrupted him and he glanced towards the desk. ‘Bom-dia,’ he answered before immediately falling silent. When, after several moments he replaced the receiver, his eyes were bright with tears as he turned to face Ralph and Vanessa. ‘That was another pilot telling me that a mutual friend has been shot down near Manaus.’ José swore angrily. ‘The authorities apparently mistake it for a drug-running plane. The fools! This time it is a big mistake – an American missionary and her family were on board. Now we shall have an investigation.’

Vanessa gazed at him, horror-struck. Manaus was a place on Ralph’s itinerary. They were due to arrive near there in a few weeks. She moved closer to Ralph, who placed a comforting arm around her shoulders.

‘Do they often shoot planes out of the sky?’ she asked.

José nodded vehemently. ‘It happens,’ he said shortly.

Vanessa shivered. Of course, she’d known they were going into a drug-smuggling area, but she didn’t do drugs, nobody she knew did drugs and she hadn’t envisaged the drug trade would impinge on her life.

Images of the twins came into her mind. What if she and Ralph were… No! She couldn’t, wouldn’t, follow that thought. Ralph had warned her about the dangers of this trip, from mosquitoes to alligators, but the shooting down of planes had never been mentioned.

Ralph glanced at José. ‘I need to have a private word with my wife. Give us a couple of minutes, will you, please?’

José nodded. ‘I’ll wait by the plane. We need to take off in the next quarter of an hour, so don’t take too long.’

As José strolled off to prepare the plane and do the last-minute checks, Ralph took Vanessa gently in his arms.

‘Are you sure you want to go through with this? I know you’re thinking about the consequences for the twins if we’d been on that plane. After this flight into the jungle, I promise our exploring will be done on foot, or by water. So, after today, the next plane you get on will be the one taking us home.’ He gently kissed her on the forehead. ‘On the other hand, if you’d rather I continued on my own and you want to return home now, I’ll understand.’

Standing in the circle of Ralph’s arms, Vanessa took several deep breaths. Did he really understand how she was feeling? How torn she felt right now? Should she tell Ralph she couldn’t go with him after all and instead of flying deep into the jungle with José, catch the next available flight back to England and her children. The decision was hers alone to make.

 

 

7

 

 

‘Do you know what time we can expect Mathieu back from Switzerland?’ Jean-Claude asked. ‘If at all?’

‘No,’ Nanette said. ‘I think he was hoping to be back before the twins went to bed tonight.’

It was Sunday morning and Jean-Claude had invited Nanette and the twins for a swim and to have lunch. Nanette and Jean-Claude were sitting on the terrace of his villa, set in the hills at the back of Monte Carlo, with a wonderful view out over the Mediterranean. Down below the terrace, the blue water of the swimming pool shimmered in the heat of the sun and the twins were happily playing with the water toys they’d found in the pool house.

‘Does he say anything to you about his recent trouble?’ Jean-Claude asked.

Nanette shook her head. ‘Seems to have blown over. He was worried that the authorities wouldn’t let him leave but…’ She shrugged. ‘That doesn’t seem to have happened.’

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