“A little elevated, but hey… I just got shot, so it's hardly surprising.”
“Somebody needs a spanking,” Tripoli muttered. “Okay, Miss Smart-ass, I need you to grab a towel from the bathroom. A clean one. Apply pressure as best you can and try to relax. Lie down and put your phone on your chest. No talking until I say otherwise.”
He turned to Francesca. “Time to call in the big guns. I need my cell phone from the safe.”
Not his personal phone, which he’d have on him. He meant his special phone, the one with numbers he never called. At least, not until the murders happened at Elysium.
Francesca left the screen, and the group listened to G’s breathing while they waited. When she returned, Tripoli signaled to Triumph to mute their end of the conversation. “I don’t hear anything to suggest severe internal damage, but I can’t see her, so I can’t be one hundred percent accurate. Does her phone really not have video capability?”
“If she says it doesn’t, it doesn’t. These are cheap-ass burner phones she picked up from a town that holds fifty people, tops. I’m surprised she was able to get international access. Where she is now, she could get one that takes pictures, but it doesn’t sound like she’s in a position to move around much.”
“No, I wouldn’t advise it. I know you left the resort. How close are you to her?”
“I’m at a hotel near the Tocumen International Airport in Panama. Soonest I can get out of here and into Chile is just before noon tomorrow, and it’s almost a seven-hour flight path,” Triumph told him. “After that, it’s at least three hours by car,and yes, that’s the fastest route. I can’t get to her until at least ten p.m. tomorrow, and that’s optimistic, depending on how difficult it is for me to cross the border into Argentina, air traffic delays, and whatever else could possibly go wrong.”
“I’m gonna see if we can get someone to her faster.”
He powered up the phone and hit one of the speed-dial buttons. He put it on speaker so they all heard when a deep voice said, “Yeah?” on the other end.
“Hey, TB. How are ya?”
“About to be going somewhere, I’m guessing. What do you need?”
“We have a friend in a situation. She’s stuck in Argentina and needs medical assistance. Clock is ticking, or she’s going to miss her flight. Think you have someone who can help us out?”
“Someone trying to keep her from her vacation?”
“The immediate threat has been removed, but there are others close behind. We’ve got about eighteen hours before her boss attempts to haul her back into the office.”
“Does this boss have a name?”
Tripoli paused. “Guillermo.”
TB swore on the other end of the phone. “Just a second.” The line went cold for a minute, then he was back. “Steel and Demon are gearing up. Send me the info.”
“I’ve got one more wrinkle. I need you to pick someone up along the way. He’s in Panama City right now. Should I leave him there or get him to Santiago?”
Triumph could almost see the math calculations coming through the phone’s speakers. “Better if he gets himself to Santiago. Flight gets in at seven thirty, yes?”
Shaking his head, Tripoli muttered, “How do you even know that?”
“Midas has golden fingers and an AI that’s the shit. What can I say?”
“Lobo”—Triumph interrupted—“how soon can you be up in the air?”
“They’ll be out the door in under an hour. Another hour to get to the airstrip.”
“Will Medusa be flying?”
There was a snort resembling a laugh. “Yeah, lucky you guys.” The sarcasm was heavy. Lobo feared nothing in the world except Medusa’s driving and flying.
While on the call, he’d also been working on the split screen for travel options. “Okay. What about this idea? It’s roughly six and a half hours to Panama City if you’re taking off from your usual place, and then another six and a half to get to Santiago. From there, we head to a single dirt runway in Tres Quebradas, then it’s a much shorter drive to Los Penitentes. A couple hours to stabilize her, get her to the plane, and go back the way we came.”
There was quiet for a moment.
“Midas confirms it’s the best route. He’ll call you when the guys are in the air and give you an ETA and location for pickup.”
“Thanks.”
