He continued to berate Essie about his missing part.
Roddy gave the soldier an assuring half smile, as if to say the argument was none of their business. The youth gave no physical reaction so Roddy stepped past him and started down the hallway. He could feel the guard’s eyes boring through his spine. A dozen yards down the hall Roddy slid into a secondary stairway. He climbed quickly. When he reached the third floor he headed in the direction of the executive suite.
He had only met Juana a couple of times and he doubted he’d made an impression on the secretary, but still he was concerned she’d recognize him. He dreaded getting drawn into a conversation with her no more than ten feet from Silvera-Arias’s office. His hands were already shaking enough.
The suite of executive offices had been recently redecorated and the air conditioning seemed incapable of drawing away the heavy smell of fresh paint. The chemical stench only increased the nausea Roddy felt as he stepped into the reception area. Beyond Juana’s immaculate desk he saw the door to Felix’s office. Even as he studied it, fighting the urge to run in and kill the bastard, it swung open.
Felix Silvera-Arias looked smug and self-satisfied in his suit and glossy shoes. His hair was slick with brilliantine and his mustache was perfectly trimmed, a black slash above his tight mouth in the style of a cliched Latin lover. Roddy nearly turned and ran right then, and would have had another man not emerged from the director’s office. He was handsome by any standard, with a commanding presence that clearly defined him as a leader of men. That he was Chinese and looked like he’d just given Silvera-Arias a final set of orders left no question in Roddy’s mind that here was Liu Yousheng.
The emotional surge made Roddy sway. Here was the man behind the whole operation and he had a gun tucked into his waistband. Should he do it? Could he do it? Before he could react, the two men strode past him without a glance.
“Did Esmerelda send you?” Juana asked.
“H’mm? Oh, yes.” Roddy turned to the assistant.
She studied him for a moment, a spark of recognition in her eye. She glanced down at her desk, dismissing whatever feeling she’d had. “Here’s that list. As you can see I’ve blocked out the pilots’ names.”
“Thank you.” Roddy took the proffered list.
At the end of the hall he saw Liu and Felix talking in front of the elevator. With them were two other Chinese men wearing light jackets that did little to hide their concealed weapons. Roddy turned the other way, knowing that the operation would go on with or without its architect and that it was more important to get the six-page list to Mercer than exact revenge right now.
He exited the building as quickly as possible, coming out at the back of the structure near the parking lot. A guard gave him only a passing inspection as he left.
Walking a wide arc around the office, he reached his car a few minutes later. He didn’t bother to give its air conditioning time to vent the stifling waves of heat that washed from the interior. The steering wheel felt like a steam pipe and the gearshift a rock that had lain in a campfire. After tossing the gun under his seat, he jammed the car in gear and spun one hundred and eighty degrees on the quiet street.
Rather than drive all the way across the snarled city, Roddy decided to find a shipping service that sent faxes for business customers.
Once he passed the old Ancon Train Station and encountered the anonymity of heavy traffic he dialed the hotel with his cell phone. “It’s Roddy.”
“Damn,” Harry said. “I was hoping it was General Vanik. I was going to tell him that Mercer’s been making eyes at his daughter. Hey, did you get it?”
“I got it. I’m looking for a place to fax it to you. It’ll be quicker.”
“I’ll tell Mercer when he gets back. He’s downstairs talking to that Barber woman. Any problems?”
“Went fine.” Roddy still felt like the tension was going to make him ill.
“Congratulations. I’ll make sure you’re given the secret decoder ring and learn our club handshake.”
“Hold on, Harry.” Roddy checked his rearview mirror. With traffic so dense it was difficult to be certain but he thought he was being followed. There was little he could do to check. The street he was on was nearly bumper to bumper.
“What is it?” Harry asked finally.
“I’m not sure, maybe nothing.” Roddy scanned the businesses along the street. Usually he saw plenty of places that sent faxes, but now he saw nothing but bodegas and children’s clothing stores. He turned another corner, moving deeper into the city’s commercial district. The car, a sedan with windows tinted so dark he couldn’t see the occupants, stayed with him. “Listen, Harry, I’d better go. I think someone’s following me.”
“Where are you?” the old man asked. “I’ll have some of the French pick you up.”
There! A copy center. “Too late, stand by the fax machine.” Roddy clicked off his phone and bulled his way toward the curb. A Kuna woman on a rickety bicycle almost went down under his car.
Roddy pulled a wad of cash from his wallet and jumped from his Honda. Car horns screamed as he tied up traffic by blocking half a lane. The bottleneck helped pin the pursuing car fifty yards back. He dashed across the sidewalk, clutching the manifest and the money in one hand. The copy center was busy, with employees in blue slacks or skirts and white shirts helping harried secretaries and students with their orders. On the long counter sat a cup of pens. Roddy hurriedly scrawled the fax number in Mercer’s room on the top of the shipping itinerary.
As he did he noted the names of the first dozen ships scheduled to pass through the canal the next day. Oh my God! No! He looked again, more closely. None were named
“Can I help you?”
Without looking at how much money he was handing the clerk, Roddy passed over the roll of bills and the six sheets of paper. “Please send this as quickly as possible.” He was near panic.
Without waiting for an acknowledgment he fled the store. He pushed past several pedestrians, and when he reached the curb he dropped to his knees. The tension and fear and defeat spilled into the gutter.
When his stomach was empty, he looked up, wiping his mouth. Two men stood over him. Locals. Dangerous- looking. Ex-Dignity Brigades for sure. An image of Carmen and the children flashed through his mind in the seconds before one of them reached down and plucked him from the sidewalk. Without a word they began to duckwalk him back to their car. People on the street parted as they passed, all looking at anything other than the pathetic man with vomit on his chin and the look of death in his eye.
Radisson Royal Hotel Panama City, Panama
Maria Barber made no effort to conceal her connection to Liu Yousheng and his operation, although she maintained that she didn’t know the Chinese were going to kill her husband at the River of Ruin. Liu had told her that he only wanted to frighten Gary off so he could get the treasure himself. Because she’d already admitted to tipping off Liu that Mercer was likely headed to the Pedro Miguel Lock, Mercer took her at her word. She was in so deep that lying about her involvement would gain her nothing.
All that took place in the first five minutes of their interrogation. The next fifteen were spent trying to learn if she knew anything about Liu’s future plans. Rene was skilled at asking probing questions, yet it became clear that she’d never been taken into Liu’s full confidence. She knew nothing about his intention to disable the canal, had never heard of
Sobbing, she summed up her role in one line. “Liu needed me at first, then just kept
She wanted to explain what she’d been promised, but no one listening cared. Lauren, if anything, was even more dismissive of Maria’s motivations. One of Foch’s men remained in the room with her as the others took the elevator back up to Mercer’s suite.
In the elevator up to their suite, Lauren said, “Why she prostituted herself doesn’t make her any less of a whore.” She let loose a string of profanity. When she’d regained her composure, she added, “I’m sorry, but women like that bitch sicken me.”
“That is quite obvious,” Foch said with an impressed smile. “And your mastery of the curse does the
