Page 50 of Colombian Chemistry

She stopped mid-sentence, but her eyes finished it.

“Yeah,” I breathed. “I know.”

We stood in a silent understanding, then I had to force my mouth open to say the words I didn’t want to say.

“We should get going. But I need my t-shirt back or I’ll attract attention.”

“Yeah you will,” she teased, and I laughed at the insinuation.

She waggled her eyebrows before gesturing for me to turn around. I did, and a few moments later, she tossed my t-shirt onto my shoulder. I slid on the t-shirt that could have used a launder days ago and turned around to see her buttoning the last buttons of the blouse she’d worn over it.

“Ready?” I asked.

With a deep breath, she stepped to my side and slipped my hand in hers. “Lead the way.”

I glanced down at our intertwined fingers, shocked by how natural it felt to hold her hand again. Like my whole life had brought me to this moment, just so I could be here for her. To save her. Protect her. And even though it meant saying goodbye and having an ache in my soul I knew would never fade, it was what I had to do.

“Let’s go,” I said on a sigh, tugging her behind me. “And keep your gun hidden so you don’t scare civilians and draw attention to us. We’re just two visitors going for a stroll.”

We both tucked our guns into our waistbands, then stepped out onto the streets. Quickly but casually, we moved down the blocks leading us to the embassy, blending into the crowds whenever we could. Dread pierced my gut when the building came into view.

“This is it. All we need to do is get you inside and you’ll be safe.”

Irene pulled me to a stop. “What about you? Are you really just going to drop me off and go?”

Raw emotion swirled inside me. “I have to, Irene. You’ll be safe. I promise.”

“But what about you? How will I find you again?”

I let out a deep sigh and squeezed her hand. “You won’t.”

“What?” Her lip trembled. “What do you mean?”

“Once I drop you off, I’m going to need to disappear again. I’m on the cartel’s radar now, and they’re going to be looking for me to find you. I’ll hide out, put my house up for sale and relocate.”

Those bright blue eyes clouded with pain. “I’m never going to see you again?”

As much as it killed me to do so, I nodded my head. “My life is dangerous. I can’t have anyone else in it.”

“Your life is dangerous? I’m the one with the Colombian drug cartel trying to kidnap me, and I still don’t know why.”

“I do,” I answered, suddenly remembering that she didn’t have the information I did. I’d forgotten to tell her in all the running.

“You do? What? How?”

“You father. I saw him at the compound.”

“What?” she gasped. “You saw him? He’s alive? Where is he? We have to go back and get him!”

She started pulling me toward the alley we’d just come out of, but I tugged her back to a stop. “They’ve already got him on a plane to Cartagena. There’s nothing we can do for him right now.”

“I don’t understand. What do they want with my father?”

“Your father needed funding for his research, and he made a deal with the Jungle Kings for the research money.”

“What?” she choked out. “My father would never take money from a drug cartel!”

“He didn’t know they were the cartel. They tricked him. And they tricked him into making the drugs that they have now used to become the most well-funded and powerful cartel in Colombia. The drugs he made are now the hottest drugs in the country, and they are making hundreds of millions of dollars off them. The reason they are after you is that your father found out and refused to cooperate to make more drugs. That’s what happened the night he disappeared. When he said no, they took him. He would rather die than harm others. But they found out about you and knew he’d do anything to protect you.”