David Knight has been plagued by dreams his entire life, only to have all memory of them vanish when he awakens. Now the dreams are coming with more frequency, and they seem to be drawing him to the Amazon. A scientist with a PhD in ichthyology and a dedication to learning all he can about lungfish, whose existence dates back to the Devonian era, David is determined to see what the Amazon holds. His hopes seem about to be answered when Dr. Carlos Avila contacts him. It seems the Brazilian archeologist discovered the remains of a previously undiscovered species on a tributary of the Amazon, and he’d like nothing better than for David to join the expedition to see if more of the creature can be found. Of course David leaps at the opportunity and flies to Pesadelo Bay to join the mismatched team. Once there, he discovers not only does Dr. Avila have his own agenda, but a former conquest as well as a friend who’d saved his life years before are part of the team and are engaged to be married. Meanwhile, the need to sail up the Amazon to find what ... or who ... is calling him there has become more and more pressing, and David must decide which is the most important -- learning what Dr. Avila really is searching for, or finding the answer to his dreams?

Lagoon of Dreams

A sullen-faced man sat behind the steering wheel, waiting for us. Other than not having been around for the Gold Rush, he was a good match for the jeep. A slouch hat was perched on his head, shading his eyes. He was a number of years older than me, swarthy, with acne scars covering his face. His nose had been broken at some point, and he must have been in a knife fight, because, in addition, he had a scar that ran from the corner of his right eye, across his cheekbone, to his earlobe. To accommodate the warm weather, he wore a shirt with the sleeves torn off, exposing muscled arms that were covered by numerous salacious tattoos—naked women with their legs spread wide or in the air as equally naked men with huge testicles buried their cocks in them.


He glowered at Carlos and sneered at me.


“This is…” Carlos cleared his throat. “Manolo Viejo. He does odd jobs for me. Manolo, this is Dr. David Knight. You will treat him well, sim?”


Chapter 49