Free City of the Beasts by Isabel Allende Page B

the photographers are indispensable to our plan. They will leave here telling the exact story we want them to tell. That way, no suspicion will fall on us, and we prevent Congress from sending a commission to investigate events, as they have before. This time a group from
International Geographic
will be witnesses," Carías explained.
    "I don't understand why the government protects that handful of savages, anyway. They take up thousands of square miles that should be divided among settlers, which is the only way progress will come to this hellhole," the captain commented.
    "All in good time, Ariosto. There are emeralds and diamonds in that territory. By the time settlers come to cut trees and breed cattle, you and I will be rich. I'm not ready for adventurers to come nosing around yet."
    "Then they won't. That's why the army's here, my friend Carías, to see that the law is obeyed. We have to protect the Indians, don't we?" Captain Ariosto asked, and they both laughed.
    "I have it all planned; a person I trust is going along on the expedition."
    "Who is that?"
    "For the moment, I prefer not to name names," said Carías, but then explained further. "The Beast is the excuse for having that idiot Leblanc and the journalists go exactly where we want them to, and be there to cover the news. They will contact Indians; that's inevitable. They can't travel into that triangle of the Upper Orinoco to look for the Beast without coming across Indians."
    "Your plan seems very complicated to me. I have some very discreet men; we can do the work without anyone finding out," Captain Ariosto assured Carías, taking a sip of his drink.
    "No, hombre! Haven't I told you that we must be patient?"
    "Tell me the plan again," Ariosto requested.
    "Don't you worry, I'll take care of the plan. Before three months have gone by, there won't be a living soul left in that area."
    At that moment, Alex felt something on his foot, and choked back a scream: a snake was slithering over his bare skin! Nadia put a finger to her lips and motioned him not to move. Carías and Ariosto jumped up, alerted, and both drew their pistols. The captain turned on his flashlight and swept it all around, its beam passing only a few inches from where the two were hiding. Alex was so terrified that he would happily have confronted the guns if he could have shaken off the snake, which now was curled around his ankle, but Nadia was holding him by one arm and he realized that he could not risk her life, too.
    "Who's there," the captain asked quietly, not lifting his voice in order not to wake the people sleeping in the hotel.
    Silence.
    "Let's go, Ariosto," ordered Carías.
    The soldier again swept his flashlight around the room, then both men retreated to the stairs that led to the street, still holding their guns. A couple of minutes went by before the two friends felt they could move without revealing their presence. By then, the snake was around Alex's calf; its head had reached the level of his knee and sweat was pouring down his torso. Nadia pulled off her T-shirt, wrapped it around her right hand, and very cautiously seized the snake just behind the head. Immediately Alex felt the serpent's coils tighten, and it whipped its tail furiously, but the girl held it firmly and unhurriedly started unwinding it from her new friend's leg until it was free and the snake was dangling from her hand. She swung her arm like the blade of a windmill, faster and faster, and launched the snake over the banister of the terrace, into the darkness. Then she put her shirt back on, all with great calm.
    "Was it poisonous?" Alex asked as soon as he could get the words out.
    "Yes, I think it was a
surucucú
, but it wasn't very big. Its mouth was still small and it couldn't open its jaws very far; it might have bitten a finger, but not a leg," Nadia replied. Then she translated what Carías and Ariosto had been saying.
    "What do you think those awful men are up to? What can we do?" the girl