Diesel (The Mavericks Book 13) by Dale Mayer (motivational books for men .txt) 📗

scientists as lab rats as well? That didn’t bear thinking about. But, of course, his mind now didn’t want to let it go. As he sat and waited for Eva to finish eating, appreciating the fact that Eva plowed through a decent amount of food, he said, “The stress will calm back down, once you’re safe.”

She raised her gaze from her plate, looked at him, and smiled. “I’d like to think so, but it won’t happen anytime soon. Every time I close my eyes, even right now, all I can see is the guards,” she said softly. “There’s that sense, even when you’re locked up in your room, that you are waiting for something to happen. And, of course, in our case, we were waiting for them to open the door, without notice, to either bring food in or to let us out, but letting us out would only take us back down to the lab again. There was no freedom. There was no sense of peace inside. Always this tension that just coiled up tighter and tighter and tighter.”

“And so you can understand why Paul may have done what he’d done?”

“If he did that,” she emphasized the last bit of it, “then yes.”

“Do you think Marge would have?”

She raised her gaze again, looked at him, smiled, and said, “In a heartbeat. Marge needs to get out of here.”

“We’re taking her home.” He nodded at the food. “Do you want some more?”

She shook her head, patted her tummy, and said, “I’m fine. I don’t want to get woken up because I can’t digest the food that I’ve had.”

He stood and started packing up the food to put away in the fridge.

“How long are we staying here?”

“Not long,” he said. “The faster we move and put some distance between us, the better.”

“I’m actually surprised we’re here, sitting in China still.”

“Yes. But, if you think about it, they’ll also expect us to make a run for it.”

She nodded. “I would love to make a run for it.”

“But now we have the Russians and the Chinese involved.”

“I don’t understand how the Chinese got involved, and now I really don’t even understand how the Russians got into this.”

“And we’ve sent out messages, letting them know that their Russian scientist didn’t make it, hoping that will call off the Russians again, but there’s no guarantee.”

“I know,” she said. “I just … To realize that you’re in trouble with one group, only to find out you’re in trouble with two, is a whole different story.”

“The Russians, even if they had found you, may have completely ignored you,” Diesel said. “You have to keep that in mind. They would have rescued their scientist and not likely done anything for you guys.”

“They wouldn’t even let us out?”

“They might have. No way to know. They might also want to keep this quiet, and they could have shot you.”

At her shocked gasp, he nodded grimly. “Often in scenarios like this, it’s a best-kept secret, but that means that everybody needs to be incapable of telling opposite tales.”

Looking a little green, she stood and said, “I think, on that note, I’ll go lie down.”

“You do that,” he said. “And, if you need anything, let us know.”

She turned, looked at him, and said, “Thank you.”

Surprised, he smiled and said, “You’re very welcome.”

“I mean it. I kept hoping that there would be a rescue. I kept hoping and telling the others that somebody would come, but they’d heard it all before. They’d had all their own hopes and wishes dashed for months and months on end,” she said. “So I knew that they didn’t believe me, even though I was trying so hard to be positive, but it is hard to be positive in that situation.”

“Absolutely it is,” he said, “but it’s all good now. Don’t worry about that.”

She smiled, nodded. And, on that note, she turned and headed to her bedroom.

As he returned to the empty table and brought his laptop back out again, Jerricho joined him.

“What do you think?” Jerricho asked Diesel.

“I don’t like Marge’s health at all,” Diesel said.

Jerricho nodded. “I saw that. I don’t know if she’s even aware. She’s not quite there yet mentally.”

“Well, she’s been through extreme trauma, stress. This kind of pressure can really play on you. Even if she is aware, she also knows there’s nothing that she could have done about her health in those conditions.”

“How do you want to get back home again?”

“Safely,” he said. “There’s no rush, other than a doctor to see about Marge, and we just have to stay low.”

“No word that the Chinese have heard about Eva’s rescue. Which confirms our theory that the gunfire we heard in the lab was the Russians taking out everyone in that place.”

“Anything from the Russians?”

“Confirmation of the message about their dead scientist, but that was it.”

“That’s not helpful.”

“No, but it is what it is,” Jerricho said. “I’ve just brought up a series of exit options for us. We can go through mainland China. If we want to take a really long and slow route, we can cross over to Thailand, take an international flight or do some hopping across Asia, or we can go via water.”

Instantly Diesel said, “Water.”

“I agree with the water thing, but it’ll take time.”

“But we’re also not in a rush, given a doctor on board, and then, if we could hook a ride on something that’s got enough security, we wouldn’t have to worry about being attacked.”

Jerricho looked at him in surprise. “What are you thinking?”

“Well, I don’t suppose a US sub or destroyer is around that we could hitch a ride on?”

He shook his head and laughed. “Let me ask.” He went to the chat, opened it up, and immediately made a request for a pickup via naval vessel. There was no immediate response. He looked at Diesel and said, “I’m not sure that they liked the idea.”

“I don’t think liking it is an issue,” he said. “I think it’s a case of checking to see who and