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It wasn’t a question. Slash took a sip of his coffee and shrugged. “They’re clearly hired muscle, not military, and I’ve had a bit of training.”

“A bit? More like extensive training. You said you work in computers?”

“I do.”

Vicente studied Slash for a moment longer, perhaps hoping he’d say something more. When he didn’t, Vicente looked disappointed but didn’t press. “Well, here’s the interesting part. Gabriel said some of the authorities in Coari think these two guys may be associated with drug smugglers who have been setting up labs in remote area of this region.”

“Drugs? What kind of drugs?” Gwen asked.

“Cocaine.”

She furrowed her brow. “That’s not likely. Cocaine doesn’t grow at lower altitudes or in a rainforest environment.”

Vicente set down his fork on his plate and picked up a napkin, wiping his mouth. “It does if it’s being bioengineered to grow in this climate.”

For a moment we all just stared at him.

“Bioengineered?” I repeated. “Is that even possible?”

“Apparently so. The Brazilian government has been trying to track them down to stop them before they get too much of a foothold, but not surprisingly, they don’t have many antidrug resources in this part of the country. As a result, these troublemakers have been randomly causing problems up and down the Amazon for the last few months.”

“So the men we caught were drug runners?” I asked.

“It’s possible,” Vicente said. “But if so, trust me, they’d never admit to it. They’re more afraid of the drug lords than they are of the authorities.”

I didn’t doubt that was true. Still, to imagine that we’d run into possible drug runners was a scary thought. “So, what exactly happened today at the village? What did Martim say to the villagers to cause them to hesitate with the vaccines?”

Vicente exchanged a glance with Natelli, who sighed. “He basically undercut a lot of important work that had been done. We’d already spoken with the villagers, and they had their tribal sessions and made the decision to move forward with the vaccinations. Martim is a new addition to the team. Our long-time government representative, Paolo Ibáñez, was abruptly recalled to Brasilia just two days ago. We’ve briefed Martim on where we are with things, but he apparently likes to do things his own way.”

“The wrong way,” Gwen grumbled.

Natelli was being diplomatic, but it was easy to see how Martim could easily derail this entire process. It heightened my anxiety.

“So, what’s the plan?” I asked. “Do we go back to that village again?”

She shook her head. “Not right away. We’ll stick to the schedule, which means we go to a different village tomorrow. Lilith and Hayden are supposed to talk to Martim’s boss to make sure he’s clear that we’ve already done all the negotiating we need to do with the villagers. We can’t afford a mistake of that caliber to happen again. As it stands now, we’ll have to send a small team back out there again to see if they’ll agree to do the vaccinations again.”

“A wise move,” Slash said.

“I just hope Martim gets the message. We don’t have the luxury of egos at this point. All of which leads me to the following question. Who among you is willing to accompany us again? Melinda has decided to sit this one out, as she was quite shaken up today. I’d understand if none of you wish to go either.”

“I’m totally going.” Gwen lifted her chin. “I’m not going to let some drug thugs stop me.”

Wow, Gwen kept surprising me. There was more to her than I’d expected—and that was a good thing.

“I’ll go, too,” I said, surprising myself. I hadn’t really thought about it and had no idea why I said it except perhaps it was the principle of the matter. No way was I going to let drug runners interfere with helping children and infants get protected against malaria.

“I’m in, as well,” Slash said. “I’ll carry the needed coolers and equipment and be available to help security, if desired.”

“Oh, yes, trust me, it’s desired.” Visible relief showed on Natelli’s face. “Thank you so much. By the way, you all may feel more secure knowing Gabriel has assigned two extra men to our detail, one of which will be him. We had considered the lab to be the most vulnerable part of our operation, but we’ve changed our mind about that. It’s us—the team. Gabriel wants to put more strict measures in place to protect us. He’s bringing in some more guys to safeguard the lab and he’s going to personally accompany us on all trips from here on out. He said he’s grateful for your support today, Slash.”

“It was my pleasure.” The hard glitter in his eyes indicated to me that it probably was. Slash had little sympathy for people who ran drugs. Still, I wondered if Gabriel really welcomed Slash’s help or resented it. It was hard to say when I hadn’t seen them working together yet.

We talked for a bit more before heading back to the lab. Slash and I got to work on the computers—me reviewing Slash’s enhancements and checking for anomalies, and him running additional diagnostic tests. We sat shoulder to shoulder working in a comfortable rhythm.

I was in the middle of writing a program when my email box dinged. I opened it and saw Mom had sent me an email. I weighed the pros and cons of opening it until, against my better judgment, I decided to open it.

Lexi, it’s Mom. Can I be invited to the bachelorette party?