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

much about that,” he said. “It depends. I know this ship is getting underway and heading off on orders, so we can’t stay here anyway.”

“Right, and you’re trying to keep me undercover as long as possible.”

“Exactly,” he said, with a smile. He looked at her with concern. “I know that Marge’s leaving has hit you hard,” he murmured, “but we need you to stay positive.”

“I am positive,” she said. “I would also be fully prepared to fly a commercial airline. Can you see if we can get on one? Once we’re on and in the air, then we’re pretty well home free.”

“That might work,” he said, “but, according to our intel, the Chinese government has locked down security even tighter.”

“Do you think they’re looking for us, or they’re looking for the Russians?”

“If they know that you’re missing,” he said, “the Chinese will be looking for both us and the Russians. For sure, for the Russians.”

“How are the Russians likely to get out of China?”

“A lot of different avenues,” he said, “but, like you said, the fastest is by air. I don’t know if they would try that right now, when there’s so much security on the go.”

“Fine,” she said. “I’ll just nap here for a while. You tell me whenever it’s time to go, and I’ll go.”

He worried about the tone of her voice. He looked over at Jerricho, who nodded toward the door. “Fine,” he said, as he crouched and gently patted her knee. “If you want to talk, let me know.”

She gave a startled laugh. “I don’t even know what I’m supposed to do anymore,” she said. “Everything’s just flipped.”

“Well, what we’ll do,” he said, “is get you to your father.”

“And, for that,” she murmured, “I would be forever grateful.”

As the guys walked out the door, a seaman approached them.

“The captain wants to speak with you,” he said in a low voice.

Diesel nodded, closed the door firmly behind him, and followed the seaman to the captain.

As they entered the small room, the captain motioned at them to sit down. “You’re involved with the two women who were rescued, I presume?”

“Yes, sir.”

“We had a helicopter remove the one woman just over one hour ago. She was being taken to the mainland and transferred to a medevac, where she would take a commercial air flight out. During the transfer, the medevac was shot down and crashed. All are presumed dead.”

The words were so shocking that it took a moment for it to sink in. “Pilots? Doctors?”

“Yes, two of each.”

“Crap, and there’s no hope of any survivors?”

“No.”

“And do you have any idea what happened?”

“The official version,” he said, looking down at his papers, “will be a freak accident.”

“Unofficial?”

“A rocket launched somewhere close by,” he said. “We’re still working on satellite imagery to see if we can find out more.”

“Damn.” He looked over at Jerricho. “We’re not going back onto the mainland then.”

“No, but you do need to find alternate arrangements. We can carry you for another one hundred nautical miles, as we head toward the mainland, but you need to come up with another pathway to get your other passenger moved.”

“We can do that,” he said, thinking hard and fast. “The farther away from China obviously, the better.”

“It was against our better judgment but, given her dire medical condition, we hoped that Marge would make it.”

“I’m glad her death was quick, but obviously this is a terrible loss.” Diesel stood and said, “If you’ll excuse us, we’ll go make travel arrangements. Are you rendezvousing with anybody we can hook up with?”

“Potentially, if you give me a travel plan.”

“Will do.”

They turned and walked out. Back in their room, Diesel sat down with a laptop and typed in the news to Shane.

A series of question marks came up. I don’t know if it’s related or not.

Of course it is.

I know. I’m trying to work on the whole denial bit. We need to get you out of there.

Obviously they know where Marge came from, so yes. I can’t be seen. Eva can’t be seen.

Suggestions?

Not yet.

Submarine? We can transfer you to another ship.

Still not one of the better answers.

One ship and you just hop along the way.

Or? He looked over at Jerricho. “We have to get off of here. If we go anywhere, we’ll be dealing with an assumption that we came from the same ship as Marge. Anything close to us will be suspect.”

“South Korea,” he said instantly.

Diesel contemplated that. “Maybe as a jumping-off point. Otherwise Thailand? International airports, tons of tourists, travelers, less of a connection to China.”

“Either is possible,” he said. “Hong Kong’s a mess right now, and we want to stay away from there. Vietnam?”

“Possibly.” Diesel thought about it for a moment, and then he sent a message to Shane. Either Vietnam, Thailand, or South Korea.

Thailand.

That’s what I was thinking, but we do still have to get there.

I know, he wrote. If we can get you onto the Vietnam coast, then you can go through Thailand.

Actually forget that Diesel typed. Let’s just do the Philippines.

You don’t think President Duterte will care?

He might care, but he won’t do anything about it. We should get in and mingle.

You don’t look the part.

I don’t plan on staying. The Manila airport doesn’t have very much security, so it’s a good option too.

Fine, we’ll arrange that.

Least amount of ships would be best.

It’ll take what it takes. Be ready to leave immediately. I’ll be back in touch with details.

With that, Diesel signed off. He looked over at Jerricho. “How well do you know Manila?”

“Fairly well,” he said. “You can buy anything you want, so that’s a plus.”

“Or a negative, depending on if anybody else is around, looking for us.”

“Every airport in China will be watched, as are trains, yachts, ferries. All would be under heavy surveillance, and I would suspect that they’ll have some intelligence going out to all their allies as well.”

“It would make sense.” So Diesel sat and wondered if the Philippines was even the right answer. “We have to make a choice. We can’t