The Bridge That Went Nowhere — Robert L. Fish

A search for an American's missing brother draws Da Silva into the jungle

In a blighted stretch of the Amazon, three men have come to blow up a bridge. Just before they complete their mission, one of them turns on the others, gunning one down and burying the other with the force of the explosion. He is stepping into his getaway plane when he notices that the first man's body is gone. It doesn't matter, he thinks. An injured man could not last a day in the jungle.

When a daffy young American comes to Rio de Janeiro in search of her missing brother, Captain José Da Silva does his best to stay out of it. But when her search draws her into the mystery of the bridge that went nowhere, Da Silva will have to risk a jungle expedition of his own to save her life.