The Jungle (Oregon Files 8)

Cabrillo shifted his attention back to Croissard. “You’ve got your deal. He passes.”

“Good, then it is settled. John will accompany you now back to your aircraft and then you will find my Soleil.”

“No. He’s going to meet up with us in Chittagong. In case you aren’t aware, that’s a port city in Bangladesh.” Smith wasn’t going to be aboard the Oregon a second longer than necessary. “And that, I’m sorry, is nonnegotiable.”

“D’accord. But if you do not pick him up as promised, do not think you will get my money.”

“Mr. Croissard,” Juan said solemnly, “I am many things, but a man who backs out on his word isn’t one of them.”

The two men studied each other for a moment. Croissard nodded. “No. I don’t suppose that you are.” They shook hands.

As they exchanged phone numbers with Smith, Max pulled their laser defeater from the window and packed up the bug detector. He snapped the briefcase closed and handed it to Cabrillo.

“If you hear anything from her, no matter the time, call me immediately,” Juan told Croissard at the suite’s door.

“I will. I promise. Please bring her back to me. She is headstrong and stubborn, but she is my daughter, and I love her very much.”

“We’ll do our best,” Juan said, because he would never promise something he couldn’t deliver.

“Well?” Max asked as they were striding down the hallway heading for the elevators.

“I don’t like it, but what choice did we have?”

“That’s why the face-to-face. To spring Smith on us at the last minute.”

“Yeah. Pretty cagey of him.”

“So, are we going to trust him?”

“Smith? Not on your life. There’s something they’re not telling us, and he’s the key.”

“We should back out of this whole thing,” Max opined.

“No way, my friend. If anything, I’m more interested than ever in what the lovely Miss Croissard was doing so deep into Burma.”

“Myanmar,” Hanley corrected.

“Whatever.”

They exited the elevator and started crossing the busy lobby when Cabrillo suddenly hit himself on the head as if he’d forgotten something and grabbed Max’s elbow to turn them around.

“What is it, did you forget something?” Hanley asked. Juan had picked up his pace ever so slightly.

“I noticed two guys hanging around the lobby when we first entered. Both look local, but they’re wearing long coats. One of them noticed us when we got into view and quickly turned away. Too quickly.”

“Who are they?”

“Don’t know, but they’re not with Croissard. If he wanted us dead, he would have had Smith shoot us as soon as we entered his room. And he knows we’re going back to the airport, so what’s the point of following us?”

Max saw no flaw in Cabrillo’s logic, so he just grunted.

They approached the express elevator for the SkyPark. By feel, Juan was able to insert the magazine back into his Kel-Tec automatic. He even managed to cock the weapon against his hip bone without taking it from his jacket pocket. The two men were making their move, coming across the lobby without taking their eyes off the Corporation duo.

The elevator door pinged open. Juan and Max didn’t wait for it to empty before shouldering their way in, all but ignoring the looks of indignation thrown their way. It wasn’t even going to be close. The men had waited too long, and now the elevator doors were closing. It was too public out in the lobby to pull any sort of weapon, so Juan threw them a taunting smile as the doors met with a hiss.

“Now what?” Max asked as they were carried skyward.

Juan took the opportunity to load the ejected bullet into the pistol. “We get to the top, wait about five minutes, and then head back down again.”