“We’ve been cleared for early takeoff. Anytime you’re ready . . .”
“Thank you, Dr. Lee,” Austin said. “I apologize for cutting you short, but we’re really about to leave.”
“I want to come with you,” she said without thinking.
The statement had leaped from her mouth on its own, but then she punctuated it with a firm set of jaw.
“That’s not possible,” Austin said. “We’ll be on the move, and things could get rough. Joe has uncovered information that suggests a Chinese Triad named Pyramid is involved in all this.”
“A Triad?” She got over her surprise quickly. “Why would a Triad be interested in the search for an antiviral vaccine?”
Zavala answered the question.
“The Triad developed the virus as part of a scheme to destabilize the Chinese government,” he said. “Your vaccine would have spoiled their plans. They had to take control of the lab to prevent the antiviral from being used by others.”
“This is overwhelming,” Song Lee said, “but it makes sense. My government is deathly afraid of social unrest, which is why it clamps down so hard at any sign of organized protest. All the more reason to take me with you. I should be part of any attempt to stop something started by my countrymen. I’m intimately acquainted with the entire research program, and there may be something relevant on Pohnpei.”
Austin eyed Lee’s smoky-smelling T-shirt and shorts, apparently the same clothes she had been wearing on Bonefish Key.
“You’d be traveling pretty light, Dr. Lee. We can give you a toothbrush but not much else.”
“I’ll take that toothbrush, and I can buy clothes when we get there.”
Austin sat back and folded his arms. Despite his body language, he was enjoying Song Lee’s display of pluckiness.
“Go ahead, Dr. Lee. You’ve got thirty seconds to make your case.”
She nodded.
“I believe that the blue medusa jellyfish the lab was using in its research was part of native medicine used to cure the crew of the Princess. And if we can find the place where it happened, it might lead us to the lab.”
“That’s a pretty slim premise, Dr. Lee.”
“I know that, Mr. Austin. But it’s something. Right now, we have nothing. Please don’t tell me it’s any more dangerous than the Florida mangroves where I was kidnapped and almost shot.”
Zavala chuckled softly.
“Lady’s got a point,” he said.
Austin turned to the Trouts.
“What do you think?” he asked.
“I was thinking of having Dr. Lee stay with my aunt ’Lizbeth on Cuttyhunk Island until the danger passed,” Paul said.
Gamay chortled.
“I know your Aunt Lizzy. She’d drive this poor woman crazy with her incessant talk about beach-plum jelly.”
“Gamay’s right about Lizzy,” Paul said. “And Dr. Lee is right when she says her expertise in the lab’s work could come in handy. I know how you like insurance.”
Austin had a reputation around NUMA for daring that bordered on the reckless. Those he worked with, like the Trouts, knew that his risks were always calculated. He was like the high-stakes riverboat gambler who kept not one but two Derringers up his sleeves.
Austin threw his hands in the air.
“Looks like I’m outgunned, Dr. Lee.” He got on the intercom to the cockpit. “Ready to go in five minutes,” he told the pilot.
Gamay asked, “What would you like us to do while you’re in Micronesia?”