It took all of my willpower to hold the wheel straight. The truck was close enough that I could see the detail on the grille, and still neither of us wavered as we rocketed towards one another. I clenched my teeth, committed and set in my determination not to move, even as we were rapidly reaching the point of no escape.
Finally, at the very last moment possible, the truck driver's nerve gave out, and he yanked the wheel to his left, the only direction open to him. Both Jaye and Miles snapped their heads around to watch the truck as we sped past on our same trajectory. The last-second maneuver had not worked out well for the truck.
It swerved hard to the left, but before the driver could correct himself he was at the edge of the drop-off. I watched in my rearview mirror as the truck's taillights suddenly disappeared. The sound of snapping tree branches were audible as we continued to speed away down the mountain.
"Woah!" Miles and Jaye both yelled in unison and amazement.
I let out the breath that I had been holding and let off of the accelerator, bringing us down to a safer speed. My heart was still racing and the impossible amounts of adrenaline coursing through my veins left my arms shaking. But we were alive.
Jaye tore her eyes away from where the truck had gone over the edge and looked at me. "Damn Chase, that was ballsy as hell. You didn't move at all," she said in awe.
"I'm not sure I'd go with 'ballsy.' More like stupid," Miles added.
"Hey, it worked, didn't it?" I replied, sounding more confident than I felt.
They both nodded in agreement. My harebrained stunt had worked. Bardales was out of the picture, and most likely dead. But one problem remained. We still needed to get off the island.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Almost all the lights were off when we arrived in the village. Even the big hotel was dark. Yet, when we came rolling down the mountain road and into the center of the village, several of the men wandered out of their houses, curiosity getting the best of them.
Bardales' Jeep looked like it had gone through two rounds in a destruction derby, but somehow it was still running. The poor vehicle creaked and groaned with every bump. Something under the hood squealed loudly, acting as herald for our arrival. The front driver side and the rear passenger side fenders were gone. Both of the remaining ones were in shambles, crushed and barely hanging on. The knobby all terrain tires rubbed against the wheel wells, making driving nearly impossible. Even our rear bumper hung loose from the back of the jeep, leaving a trail behind us as it dragged in the dirt.
As I drove slowly through the village, more and more people came out of the small huts and shacks that they called home. A boy darted out from behind his mother and came running up to the Jeep. Dr. Blatt's face lit up when he saw him.
"Pancho!" Blatt exclaimed, "Stop the car, Chase!"
Blatt leapt over the side of the Jeep as soon as it stopped and ran towards the young boy. He stooped to one knee and wrapped Pancho in an enormous bear hug, lifting him off the ground.
"When the soldiers came and took you away, I thought you were dead," the boy said, tears running down his cheek.
Miles hugged him harder and finally let him go. "Don't worry about that. The soldiers won't be bothering us anymore."
The other villagers, recognizing Miles, quickly overcame their uncertainty and pressed in closer to us. They pointed at the Jeep and asked us questions in Spanish. Some of them pulled at the crumpled fenders, shaking their heads in disbelief. I attempted to shoo them away, but they ignored me and continued pouring over the Jeep, groaning at each new dent they found.
A moment later Miles came back with Pancho in tow. He spoke to a few of the men and then seemed to concentrate on one particular man. This man wore a wide-brimmed straw hat. His skin was dark and leathery, crisscrossed with wrinkles, and when he spoke I could see he was missing a couple of teeth. They two conversed for a minute or two, and when they finished Miles looked over at me and smiled.
"You won't believe this Chase, but it seems one of the village fishermen found your sailboat."
My heart skipped a beat as a flood of emotion washed over me. I had been so busy trying to survive since Bardales arrested us, that I had almost forgotten that he cast Paramour loose on the open ocean. I had accepted that my home of years was gone, even though I didn't have time to mourn. Now all of that pent up negativity and relief hit me all at once.
"She's safe?" I asked.
"Yes, he says he towed her back into the marina last night."
"Oh, thank goodness," I sighed. "That's our way out of here then. Now that Bardales isn't looking for us, we can get off the island and back to the States."
"Not so fast, Chase. He expects payment for salvaging your boat."
"How much does he want? I'm not exactly rolling in cash."
Blatt and the fisherman conversed back and forth in another rapid fire exchange of Spanish. Blatt's expression wasn't nearly as positive as it had been.
"He says he wants a thousand dollars, US."
"I don't have a thousand dollars on me," I cried.
"I might be able to whittle that down some. How much do you have?" Miles asked.
"Nothing, it's
