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“I’m fine. These are all surface wounds. Nothing time, and you being alive, won’t heal.” He pressed a kiss against my forehead. “Thanks for coming for me,” he said. “Both of you. I presume you heard the conversation I had with Jiang Shi.”

“Partly,” Manny confirmed. “Your phone cut out in the middle of the conversation. We assumed it died. But we heard he intended to take you to China this afternoon.”

“That was his plan.”

“It’s crazy that Shi is here,” I said. “How is that possible?”

“Fate,” Slash replied. “But no worries, he’s not getting away this time.”

“Do you have the recording device?” Manny asked.

Slash reached into his pocket and held it up between his fingers. “Right here.”

“Excellent,” Manny said. “But we’re not out of the woods yet. I told Amiri to stop a mile ahead near a scenic overlook so we can get out. Motorbikes have been left in the woods for us so we can finalize our escape. It won’t take the Chinese long before they find you’re gone and put the pieces together.”

“No, it won’t,” Slash said. “But we’ve got the evidence we need to blow this coup wide-open.”

“That we do,” Manny agreed.

The truck rumbled over the road, every bump jarring my knees painfully against the crates. Shortly, the truck rolled to a stop at the side of the road. Manny and Slash pulled open the back, and we hopped out. I took off my white jacket and hat, laying them in the back of the truck before I handed Sefina back her glasses. Since Slash didn’t have a shirt beneath his jacket, he kept his on.

Sefina tucked the glasses in an inside pocket. “Now what?” she asked.

Manny held up some rope. “We tie you up, so you have plausible deniability in this situation. Your story is that you heard banging coming from the back, so you stopped the truck to check it out. Two men jumped out and ambushed you. They tied you up, left you here, and ran into the woods going in that direction.” He pointed north toward the city, the opposite direction we were really heading.

Slash walked over to them. “Thank you both for helping us.”

“If you’re friends with Ari, Manny, and the true prime minister, then you are friends of ours,” Amiri said.

“Absolutely,” Sefina agreed. “We’re not fans of what the Chinese are doing to our country, so, all the power to you. If you can help us against the Chinese, then do it.”

“We will,” Slash said. “But right now, I need you two to sit back to back over there, away from the road, and we’ll tie you up. The bonds will be loose enough so if there’s any real reason you need to get away, you should be able to slip free without much of a problem.”

“Just stick to your story, no matter what, okay?” Manny said. “Ari will back you up. They should release you right away. You won’t be of interest to them.”

They nodded and sat without protest. Slash and Manny tied them up and we said a quick goodbye before plunging into the woods. I felt worried about leaving them there, but I also knew that it wouldn’t be long before the Chinese found them.

After a minute, Manny whistled. “Over here. We got a couple of bikes waiting for us. Yours is right there.”

Manny had already pulled his bike upright and sat on it. A moment later, he started up the engine.

Slash pulled ours up and climbed on. I got on behind him, wrapping my arms tightly around his waist. Slash started our bike, and Manny gave us a thumbs-up.

“Follow me,” he said. “Time is ticking.” He drove off and Slash followed.

“What the heck do you think Jiang Shi is really doing in the Cook Islands?” I said to Slash as we drove cautiously through the jungle.

“Skimming, cheating, laundering money, and trafficking,” Slash responded. “Along with orchestrating the Chinese geopolitical strategy in the area. But he’s also giving me a chance to finish him once and for all. And trust me, I’m about to do just that.”

THIRTY-FIVE

Slash

Manny pulled over and motioned for us to get off the bikes when we were close to the path leading to the beach and the yacht. We left the bikes and walked the rest of the way until we could look out across the main road and see the water. The skiff was moored to the near side of the yacht. I couldn’t see anyone on the deck. We paused at the edge of the tree line and watched for any unusual activity.

It was quiet. The midmorning sun was still casting long shadows while starting to bake the dunes. The water sparkled and the waves were low. The yacht rocked gently in the water, seeming to be deserted, but we knew better. Still, it offered a sort of beacon of safety—or as close to safety as we could get right now.

A lone fisherman occupied the beach between us and the boat. When I pointed him out, Manny said he was one of the prime minister’s security detail guarding the boat.