He began unbuttoning his shirt, staring at her with an unfocused leer.

She trembled in the corner, still atop the desk, and contemplated a break for the door.

Sensing her thoughts, Pablo stepped over and blocked the way, then began inching closer.

Ann was about to scream when another sound blared through the cabin.

It was audio static, emanating from a ceiling speaker wired to the shipboard intercom. Then a voice roared through the cabin, as well as the rest of the ship. “Señor Pablo, please report to the bridge. Señor Pablo, to the bridge.”

Pablo shook his head and gazed at the speaker with disgust. Fumbling to button his shirt, he stared at Ann with hungry eyes. “We shall resume our visit later.” He eased out of the cabin and locked the door behind him.

Ann wilted in her corner, tears of relief wetting her cheeks for the reprieve she feared was only temporary.

Leaving her cabin, Pablo climbed to the bridge and approached the captain with irritation. “What is it?”

“An urgent call for you on the sat phone.” The captain motioned toward a waiting handset.

Pablo shook off his alcoholic stupor and spoke into the receiver. The conversation was one-sided. Pablo remained quiet until ending the call by saying, “Yes, sir.” Then he turned to the captain. “How far are we from the canal?”

The captain adjusted the scale on a navigation screen. “Just over six hundred miles.”

Pablo looked at the digital map and studied the nearby coastline.

“We need to make an emergency trip into Puerto Cortés, Honduras, to pick up some paint and cargo.”

“A delivery to the estate?”

“No, a requirement on board.”

“But we have only a skeleton crew aboard the Salzburg.”

“Then I’ll need every man’s full effort,” Pablo said, “or skeletons they will become.”

Chapter 62

62

PITT HONORED ZHOU’S REQUEST AND HEADED west through the jungle. He thought about circling back and trying to locate the boat that Zhou had most certainly arrived in but ultimately figured it would be well concealed. As he pushed through the brush, Pitt wondered who the man was and why he’d been sent to destroy Bolcke’s operations. Not that Pitt didn’t harbor similar feelings, but he presumed the motive had more to do with the trade in rare earth elements than for humanitarian reasons.

Soon after they had parted, the sun had dropped from the sky, and the canopied jungle turned dark. Pitt stumbled through clouds of mosquitoes that appeared at dusk to feast on his exposed skin. The going became treacherous as the dense world around him gradually faded to black. He found himself walking into sharp branches or tripping over unseen logs, but there was nothing he could do about it.