Chapter 4 #3
“I thought we were locked in,” Marta spoke softly.
When it was only halfway up, Crusher ducked low and dropped to the ground.
He reached up, gripped her around the waist and swung her down. Then he reached up and lowered the door. The driver would never know they’d been inside.
After a quick glance around the truck and street, Crusher took Marta’s hand and hurried between buildings, heading away from the main street and the truck that had delivered them there.
By the time they reached the outskirts of town, Marta was out of breath and had a stitch in her side.
Crusher finally stopped in the shadows of some trees, pulled out his satellite phone and placed a call.
While he waited for an answer, he grinned at Marta.
“I jammed a rock in the lock mechanism on the truck’s door so that it wouldn’t fully engage, just enough for the lock to hold on the bumpy roads. ”
Marta frowned. “But you tried to open it, and it didn’t budge.”
“I didn’t pull very hard.”
Her brow dipped lower. “You made me believe we were stuck.”
“I was testing it to make sure it wouldn’t pop open and let everything fly out.” He winked. “You assumed it was locked.”
Her chin lifted. “You’re a tricky bastard.”
“Never claimed to be a saint,” he said. “Our guy Nick is the saint of our crew. Not me.”
Marta crossed her arms over her chest.
A voice sounded on the satellite phone, drawing Crusher’s attention.
He turned and spoke softly to the person on the other end of the call. “We’re here on the north end of town. Yes, sir. Thank you, sir.” The call ended, and Crusher slid the satellite phone back into his pocket. “He’ll be here in five minutes. He was already on the way into town.”
Having had their previous escape plan literally blow up in their faces, Marta wasn’t going to let down her guard. She moved deeper into the shadows and stared out at the road leading out of town, watching for any sign of armed men.
Crusher stood beside her.
“So, Miami, huh?” Marta said. “This guy you’re handing me over to, will he help me stop what could be the worst pandemic the world has ever faced?”
“He works for the State Department. He should have access to whatever you need to get in front of the release of this virus.”
Marta’s lips pressed together. “We’ve already lost time, trying to get out of Colombia. I only hope I have time to determine where Vasquez plans on deploying the virus and come up with a way to kill it before it spreads. Will your guy in the State Department take the threat seriously?”
“We’ve worked with him on several Top Secret missions in the past. He’s been there for us. We trust him.”
“With viruses and deadly pathogens, until something hits close to home, people tend to think it won’t happen to them, or it’s nothing worse than the flu.
” She shook her head. “The influenza epidemic of 1918 killed between fifty and one hundred million people. This virus is even more deadly than that. I need to know this guy will give me the bandwidth I’ll need to stop Vasquez before he follows through on whatever threat he plans. ”
Crusher took her injured hand in his and rubbed his thumb over her knuckles. “If he doesn’t help, I promise, I will.”
She curled her fingers around his. “If you hand me over to the State Department, will you be able to help? Won’t they whisk me off to some guarded facility where you won’t have access to me?
” Marta gazed up into his eyes. The thought of being handed off to a government official frankly scared the daylights out of her.
“I was working with the CDC to understand this virus. The current administration gutted the CDC, including me. I’m not sure I want to return to the very people who didn’t believe in the work we were doing. ”
“I get it. Let’s take this one step at a time,” Crusher said. “First, we need to get out of Colombia.”
Marta nodded, feeling a little better having expressed her concern with Crusher.
He’d saved her life and kept her safe. She was beginning to trust the man.
She hoped her trust wasn’t misplaced. After her own government had let her down, and then being abducted by a drug cartel, she’d begun to lose her faith in humanity.
All she wanted to do was save people from a potential pandemic.
People like her parents and small children who had their entire lives ahead of them.
Nobody deserved to die such a tragic death when she could have helped keep that from happening.
The rumble of an engine made Marta’s gaze shift from Crusher to the olive-green SUV heading their way.
“I think that’s our ride,” Crusher said. “He said he’d be in a green SUV.” He turned to Marta. “Just to be sure, I want you to stay in the shadows.”
She nodded and stepped further into the woods, holding her breath as fear rose in her chest.
As the vehicle came within twenty yards, Crusher stepped out of the shadows.
After being shot down from the sky, running through the jungle and hiding from armed cartel members, watching her rescuer step out into the open filled her with panic.