“What were you looking for?”
“A safe.” He pointed to a wall safe with a combination. It was closed, but a smaller, portable safe—what might have held a large necklace—stood open. Several handguns and magazines from rifles lay inside. David closed it and handed Kate the key. “You and I have guns now. Only us. We need to decide what to do from here. Stay focused. One of them is not who he claims to be. Their next actions could reveal who.”
CHAPTER 63
Somewhere off the coast of Ceuta
Mediterranean Sea
David led Kate up the stairs to the upper deck where the four men were waiting. Kamau and Shaw stood and paced impatiently; Chang and Janus sat, staring out the boat’s windows like nothing was amiss.
David focused on Kamau. “How much fuel do we have left?”
“Less than a quarter of total capacity.”
“Range?”
“Depends on our speed—”
“Can we make it to the coast?”
Kamau wavered. That made David nervous. “Assuming we fix the leak, I think so, but there is no guarantee that we will find fuel there.”
“We’re sitting ducks out here,” Shaw said. “This luxury liner is the juiciest bait on the Med. Pirates will be on us within hours, certainly by sunrise.”
David wanted to rebut the argument, but… it was true. In the post-plague world, for those that had survived the initial outbreak and avoided the Immari or the Orchid Districts, the seas were safer than the shore. A lot of people were waiting the plague out on boats scattered across the Mediterranean. Survivors could fish and catch rainwater—a lot of it on a boat this big. The one-hundred-thirty-foot-long motor yacht was irresistible bait, and it would draw pirates.
When David didn’t respond, Shaw continued. “Kate, I need to use your sat phone. I’ll have my government airlift us out of here within hours. You know we’re racing the clock here. We’ll be in London soon. You can continue your research there and hopefully save some lives.”
Chang and Janus both stood. “We’d like to join you—”
“Nobody’s going anywhere,” David said.
“We’ve been doing our own research,” Chang said.
“What sort of research?” Kate asked.
“Research on a cure,” Janus said. “We were close to a permanent cure, or at the very least, an Orchid alternative. We have worked in secret, withholding our findings from the Immari.”
“The treatment you gave Martin,” Kate said.
“Yes,” Chang said. “That was our latest prototype. It’s not one-hundred-percent effective, but it was worth a shot.”
Kate whispered in David’s ear. “Can I speak with you?”
Below deck, Kate turned to David and said flatly, “You know Shaw is right.”
David stared out the window. Shaw’s option was their best. David couldn’t take Kate back to Ceuta. Everyone would know who she was. The brunette look wouldn’t fool anyone. She wouldn’t be safe there. If word got out that she was in Ceuta, the entire world would storm the base.
David wanted to throw the other men off the boat, find a small island, escape there with Kate, and wait until the world was fit to live in again. Or better yet, stay there forever.
Is that my fear: losing her? Letting her go? Not seeing her again? He wondered what he would do in London. He was likely a wanted fugitive, but he could probably sort that out.
But… if Shaw had killed Martin, if he had cut the fuel line to set this up, David would be delivering Kate to him.
“Let me think about it,” David said, still not looking at Kate.
“David, what’s there to think about? Come with us.”
“Just… give me a few hours, Kate. Let us fix the boat.”
David thought Kate was going to press him, but she eyed him for a moment, then nodded. “While you do that, I want to work with Chang and Janus. I want to show them Martin’s notes. They’re written in a code I haven’t been able to break.”
David had to smile. In Jakarta, Martin had sent him a coded message that had set the entire chain of events of the past few months in motion. The old man had been trying to warn David, but he and his team hadn’t unraveled the message fast enough. “Martin did love his codes.” David considered the implications. It certainly helped his cause: Kate could be making progress on a cure while he stewed on what to do.
“Just make sure they don’t make any phone calls,” he said.
Kate had spent the last hour discussing Martin’s notes with Doctors Chang and Janus. Both men had listened intently, occasionally raising their hands and asking a question.