Thalia seemed confused by his statement. "Someone is trying to kill you?"
"Yup. I almost faced death many times. The first attempt was right after my unit was recalled back to the military camp fourteen months ago. Couple days after our debriefing, I was almost run over by a car right in front of our house ."
"You sure it wasn't an accident?"
He snorted. "I was shot by the driver of the car, Doc. The police didn't believe me when I reported it to them, but trust me, I know a threat when I see one. You really have a sixth sense when you work as a black ops. Someone wanted to kill me that day, and it followed two months later. I was motoring when the motorcycle I was riding lost its brakes - two days after I had it tuned up at a motor shop. I almost got hit by an eighteen-wheeler truck."
Her eyes widened. "When you reported it to the police again, did they believe you?"
"Nope. The mechanic also said that the brake connection was just broken. So the police insisted that the brake of my motorcycle just malfunctioned. I didn't argue with them anymore. So I thought it would be better to go with people who share the same fate as Tatum and Pierre."
"Tatum and Pierre?" she echoed.
"They are the only two members left in my unit. The other members are dead." She suddenly heard the sadness in his voice. "Tatum - he's our commanding officer. He has a brother who is also a colleague of ours in the unit, but unfortunately, he was one of those who died when we did the last operation. The rest of our colleagues were ambushed when we were about to return to the camp."
"So you, Tatum and Pierre?" When the man nodded to her, she continued. "So you three are hiding now? In El Salvador?"
"We just moved to El Salvador. Actually, we've been moving from place to place for the past fourteen months. Our last den was in an old fort in Acapulco on top of the mountain, but Tatum's fiancé insisted that we move to a more civilized place where we could live." He rolled his eyes. "Because Ina doesn't want that we are cavemen. So we ended up in a beach house in El Salvador."
Thalia raised her eyebrows. "So your commanding officer brought his fiancée in your hiding place?"
"Actually he met her at the height of our hiding," said Dean. "Tatum wanted her to go home to her parents' house in New Jersey, but she emphatically refused." He shrug. "I think you'll like her. That girl is also a fighter, just like you, Doc."
She didn't seem combative at that moment. Because she's tired and was grieving of the fate of her colleagues. "So you're going to take me to your hideout?"
He nodded. "It's the safest place for you right now, Doc."
"Do you think the general really ordered someone to find me?"
"No doubt about it." Dean curled his fingers over the metal railing and gazed out at the water. "You're on their hit list now, Doc. Just like us."
She absorbed that terrifying truth, let it settle, gave herself a few seconds to indulge in an internal freakout, but just as the panic tried to seize her body, she quickly forced it out. She should not allow fear to prevail. Damn, she really needs a distraction, so she will continue to be in her doctor's mode.
"What do you know about this virus?" She asked Dean.
"I really don't know much, I'm sorry." He drifted away from the railing and walked over to his duffel bag.
Thalia followed, she just watched him as he opened the bag. He took the knife and handgun from the bag, then tucked them into the waistband of his pants. He also took the bottle of water from the bag and looked at it carefully. "You thought that this might be the reason for the death of the villagers in Esmeralda, huh?"
She nodded. "A strain of bacteria makes the most sense. Do you know what kinds of symptoms the villagers were exhibiting?"
"Not really. A source of ours says it's bleeding from the nose and foaming at the mouth. What did your colleague say to you when you spoke on the radio?"
"Not much. I just heard him cough, he seemed confused and disoriented. But he mentioned the water, so I thought that their water was really connected." She chewed on her bottom lip. "I have no idea what this disease could be. It could be cholera, malaria, typhoid...all that can be caused by bacterial infections. It could be protozoal, parasitic, viral--"
"I heard the term the general used was virus," Dean interrupted.
"A waterborne virus..." She searched for her mental databases. "SARS, Hepa A, polio...I think those are common diseases in water contamination, but I don't remember nosebleeds and foaming at the mouth being one of the symptoms."
"This disease was most likely engineered in a lab, Doc. It doesn't seem to have the basic symptoms of the diseases you mentioned. The virus could be mutated as hell."
"Good point."
In the distance, land became visible, lush green and earthy brown, but rather than staying on course, the boat began to veer to the left. Thalia looked at the pilothouse where the captain of the ship was. The captain was in his late fifties, with gray hair, tanned skin and a bushy beard that seemed to consume his entire face. Thalia wondered how Dean was able to convince the said captain just so they could board the ship.
The closer they got to land, the more uneasy Thalia became. She had no idea where they were going, but Dean didn't seem concerned. This morning, the man left her at the marina for a while because he said he was going to meet someone who would arrange for them to board the ship. After he returned, he told her that they had a ship to board. Then he made a call on his satellite phone and secured a 'pickup' for them. She wasn't sure what that meant, but she had faith in Dean that the man knew what he was doing.
Instead of asking questions, she just follow him and take his lead. For a woman who'd always been able to take care of herself, relying on a man and placing her survival in his hands was more than a little maddening. And yet she was doing exactly that. Without a single complaint.
Gosh, what is happening to her?
"All right. This is where we get out," Dean announced.
Thalia gaped at him. The boat was nowhere near the shore. He tilted his head, studying her face. "You know how to swim, don't you?"
"Yes, but..."
"This is as close as we can get. The water is too shallow and there are a lot of rocks if we get closer to the shore. The ship might just run aground."
Although that made perfect sense to her, it didn't make her any more enthusiastic to jump overboard.
Dean shoved the water bottle in the duffel bag and zipped up the waterproof bag before slinging the straps over his shoulder. Dean looked at the captain and he nodded the man in thanks.
Thalia immediately followed Dean to the railing, but she suddenly hesitated. "So you want me to jump over there?"
Humor twinkled in his eyes. "I can throw you into the water, if you want."
"I'll just jump."
"Okay, ladies first."
With a sigh, she carefully climbed the rail until she was balancing on top of it in her sneakers. It was a good seven-foot drop to the water, and in the back of her mind she couldn't help but remember those rocks that Dean was talking about. Will she get lucky when she falls into the water? Yes, she was able to avoid that terrible fire, but she could not avoid possible drowning when she jumped into the deep sea.
"Now, Doc, jump," said Dean's sarcastic voice.
Oh no! What will she do? Will she jump?
*****
