Slater appeared in the doorway, his gaze panning nearby buildings. “If it’s all the same with you, we’ll part ways here.”
“That’s probably for the best,” Crusher said. “The less we’re seen together, the safer you’ll be.”
Slater nodded. “It was nice to meet you and your lady.” He smiled and waved at Marta.
“Thank you, Mr. Slater,” she said, touching her good hand to the hat with a smile. “For everything.”
Crusher wanted to correct Slater. Marta wasn’t his lady, but the words didn’t irritate him. He actually liked how they sounded.
“Anyway,” Slater continued, “good luck out there. I hope you resolve your issue with Vasquez. The man loves money and power. He resents when people try to take either away.”
“Then he’ll be angry,” Marta said. “I’m not afraid for myself. What worries me more is that he has another scientist ready to pick up where I left off. If he succeeds in releasing the virus, millions could die.”
Slater’s brow dipped. “I’ll be tucked away on my coffee plantation, growing my own food, should that happen. Let me know if I can help you further. If you need a place to stay safe from an epidemic, come stay with me.”
Crusher reached up and shook Slater’s hand. “Thank you for getting us this far.”
He escorted Marta to the rental car and held the passenger door open for her. Once she settled, he rounded to the other side of the vehicle and slid into the driver’s seat. He brought up the map on his satellite phone and entered the coordinates Royce had texted to him. Soon, they were driving out of the airport and into the busy streets of Panama City.
Marta sat beside him, her hands clasped in her lap, her gaze shifting from the road ahead to the side mirror and over her shoulder nervously. “Do you think Vasquez’s men will follow us to Panama?”
Crusher remained vigilant, checking all angles around them for any signs that they were being followed. So far, nothing seemed amiss. Yet, a knot had formed in his gut, and everything felt...off.
The coordinates on the map led them to a townhouse complex on the edge of the city, tucked between a sprawling apartment complex and an older marketplace.
Crusher slowed as they neared the address, but didn’t stop. As he passed the building, he noticed a man seated in a chair on the porch of the townhouse. He stared out at the street, unblinking. Something about the way he slumped in the chair made the nerves on the back of Crusher’s neck prickle.
“Do you see that man?” Marta said softly. “He’s not moving. I think he might be...dead.”
As she uttered the word, the same realization struck Crusher. He slammed his foot on the accelerator and shot past the house.
“Armed men are coming out of the bushes,” Marta cried.
Bullets slammed into the rear window.
“Get down!” Crusher yelled. At the first street he came to, he barely slowed and spun the steering wheel to the left. The tires squealed, and the rear of the vehicle skidded sideways several feet before it straightened. Crusher hit the accelerator hard, sending the rental car flying down the narrow street, dodging older cars and trucks parked against the curbs.
When a dark SUV appeared in his rearview mirror, he tried every evasive measure he could to lose the tail.
Marta twisted sideways in her seat, looking back. “I don’t see him. We lost him.”
Seconds later, an SUV shot out of a side street as they passed and slammed into the rear of the rental, sending it into a one-hundred-eighty-degree spin.
Crusher used the directional change to their advantage and headed back the opposite direction, turning onto another road as soon as he could. The other SUV had to take time to turn around before it could follow.
The road they entered was jammed with traffic, eventually slowing them to a stop.
Marta swiveled in her seat, checking the roads on either side and behind. “He’s back there,” she cried. “I can see him. Holy shit!”
Crusher checked his rearview mirror.
The SUV had driven up onto the sidewalk and was blasting through pedestrians, gaining on them where they sat, paralyzed in traffic.
“Get in the back seat behind me and be ready to jump out.”
“What?” Marta shot a wide-eyed glance his way.
“Just do it,” he urged.
