“Zoom out.”
The picture shrank and Qin studied the map. “Where are they right now?”
“I’m guessing about right here.” Another icon appeared further south.
“You said three hours?”
“Maybe less. They’re moving faster now.”
“Have you identified them?”
“Not yet.”
“Find out who they are and what they’re driving,” was all Qin said before hanging up. After only a brief moment, he swiftly began scrolling through the address book on his phone, searching for a name. Three hours might be enough time, given the right resources.
General Wei’s puzzle had just been solved. It was all about his daughter. Everything. The man had fooled everyone and now, whatever was extracted from South America, Wei had hidden it away with his daughter.
The Americans may have figured it out first, but Qin now knew everything. And he would beat them there.
Unfortunately, Qin didn’t yet know that there was still more to the puzzle. And one of the missing pieces was presently scared out of her mind.
45
DeeAnn Draper wasn’t just scared. She was also pissed.
She glared at Caesare with a combination of fear and anger while Anderson stood behind her, cinching two nylon straps in place. The harness was composed of two thick straps running between her legs and up the back side, with two more crossing around and fastening tightly over her chest.
The area below the center plate of her harness left barely enough room for the IMIS vest. It remained on while both Juan and Dulce went through the same ordeal. Anderson cinched hard one more time, causing her body to stumble forward. DeeAnn caught herself against the bare interior wall of the plane.
How dare he, she fumed. How dare he hide this from her. From both of them! This wasn’t some joke. These were their lives Caesare was gambling with. She knew what was involved. There was no reason for him not to tell her. She still would have done it.
Glowering, DeeAnn looked around the cabin. The powerful rushing wind blowing through it filled her with a sense of reality and dread that she couldn’t shake. Okay. She was pretty sure she still would have done it.
Dulce, bound in her own smaller harness, said something that couldn’t be heard above the howling from the airplane’s open door. She seemed to let it go and gazed up as Caesare placed a child’s helmet on her head, fastening it in place. The helmet sat awkwardly atop Dulce’s cone-shaped scalp and she examined the top of it with her long fingers. It wasn’t until the goggles were secured that DeeAnn almost laughed out loud. With two enlarged eyes peering through her goggles, the small gorilla resembled something right out of a cartoon.
Even through her anger, DeeAnn marveled at how calm Dulce seemed to be in the presence of Caesare –– a man she clearly had a strong connection to. She watched as Caesare picked Dulce up in his powerful arms and moved to the other side of the cabin. He made eye contact with Corso and Tiewater, who already had their chutes on, then motioned to the small crates and held up three fingers.
Both men nodded and began detaching the straps that secured them to the wall.
Oh God, she thought. Three minutes! DeeAnn could feel herself beginning to hyperventilate. She didn’t know if she could go through with this. From the look in Juan’s eyes next to her, he was having the same thought.
She had been hoping that somehow they wouldn’t have to jump. That something would change. Maybe Joe would call back from the cockpit that they had to postpone it because of a mechanical problem or bad weather. She couldn’t believe she was hoping for bad weather in a plane!
The last couple of hours had actually been smoother than expected. A break in the storm gave them a surprisingly clear flight and calm conditions. Now, she found herself perversely wishing for the opposite.
She stared nervously at Caesare and raised her voice. “I don’t know if I can do this!”
She jumped back when Corso and Tiewater pulled one of the crates free, sliding it between them, toward the back of the plane.
“You’ll do fine,” Caesare replied loudly. “We’re at a low altitude. We’ll be on the ground before you know it.”
“It’s not the landing I’m afraid of. It’s the part about leaving the plane!”
He examined her calmly. “Are you afraid of heights?”
“I am right now!”
Caesare looked at Juan. “Juan?”
Juan glanced at DeeAnn before replying. “I’m pretty freaked out too.”
All he could do was nod. He understood their fear. Their inexperienced minds racing through all the things that could go wrong. But there wasn’t anything he could do about it. At least not at the moment. The best he could do for them was to make the experience as short as possible. They could yell at him later when they were on the ground.