Page 41 of No Questions Asked

We nearly collided.

Vicente jumped back in surprise and held up a hand to shield his eyes from my flashlight. “Lexi?”

“Vicente? Wow. You scared the crap out of me.” I lowered my flashlight, pretending to be frightened, which wasn’t much of a stretch because my heart was pounding like crazy.

“What are you doing out here at this hour?” he asked.

I jerked a thumb toward the outhouse. “Using the facilities. Too much coffee, I guess. Decaf, though. If I drink caffeine after three o’clock in the afternoon, I’d never sleep.” I laughed a bit too manically, then snapped my mouth closed. I needed to shut up because I didn’t want to raise his suspicions. I took a breath, tried to tone it down a bit. “What are you doing out here?”

He shrugged. “The same as you. Come, let me walk you back to your sleeping quarters.”

“Sure. That would be nice of you. Thanks.”

We walked in silence, not passing a guard once. Apparently they were more interested in keeping people out than monitoring the people who were already in.

When we arrived at the women’s quarters, Vicente wished me a good night and walked toward the men’s barracks. I slipped inside, sat on my bunk and tried to calm the rapid pounding of my heart. I had no idea what that’d been all about, but I couldn’t wait to tell Slash in the morning.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Lexi

“So, what do you think he was doing out there?”

I kept my voice low and kept looking over my shoulder to make sure Vicente didn’t somehow materialize and overhear our conversation. I hadn’t been able to sleep for the rest of the night and had been up and waiting outside the women’s quarters for at least an hour until Slash emerged, startled to see me waiting there. It might have been one of the first times in our entire relationship that I’d been up first. Thank God he was an earlier riser, because I might not have survived another hour sitting there in the sweltering humidity.

We moved to the shade near the lab while I quickly filled him in on the night’s events. Slash took a minute to mull it over before he commented, “It’s hard to say why he was out there. You’re sure he exchanged something with someone on the outside of the fence?”

“I’m sure.”

“Maybe he was talking to a guard who was patrolling the exterior, and he gave him a cigarette or something.”

“At three o’clock in the morning?” I replied. “And why would he lie about it?”

“I don’t know. Where exactly did this exchange take place?”

I took him around the back of lab to show him the spot. We didn’t see anything unusual, including cigarette butts, but footsteps on the outside of the fence were visible.

“You’re certain he didn’t catch you watching him?” Slash asked.

“I don’t think so. He seemed genuinely surprised to see me when we ran into each other.”

“That was a risky move.” He took me by the elbow, steering me toward the dining area. “If nothing else, from this point on, we keep a close eye on him. And no more late-night coffee for you, decaf or otherwise.”

“No kidding.”

We headed in for breakfast. No one was in there except for a couple of guards who looked like they were just getting off their shift. I tried to talk Slash into trying thepingado, warm milk with sweetened coffee served in a glass, but he declined. He didn’t want anything in his coffee except coffee, and apparently he liked the strong taste of Brazilian beans. However, we both ate thepão na chapa,which were skillet-toasted French bread rolls smothered with real butter. They were delicious, so I ate four of them.

After a while we were joined by Natelli, Gwen, Sara, Melinda, Salvador and Doug, one of the lab technicians. Vicente was a no-show and Greta was apparently in the shower. Martim arrived, but didn’t sit with us. Instead, he sat one table over, eating his food and ignoring us completely. He was turning out to be a real pompous jerk.

“So, what’s the plan for today?” I asked Natelli.

She took a sip of her coffee and set it down, wrapping her hands around the mug. “We’re heading out in about a half hour. This time we’ll take the jeeps to a spot on the river. From there, we’ll have to take boats. This village is on the other side of the river.”

Ugh! I liked riding in boats as much as I liked flying. But I’ve learned to suck it up when it’s important, so I swallowed my misgivings and pretended I was cool with it. Slash knew better, however, so he patted my arm, giving me a sympathetic look. Still, his lack of genuine concern indicated he knew full well I could do it. I could. I just wasn’t going to like it.

Salvador must have noticed my discomfort, because he leaned forward, eyes sympathetic. “Don’t worry. It’s a fairly quick boat ride and you’ll enjoy the view so long as you don’t trail your fingers in the water.” I instinctively curled my fingers into fists, and he smiled. He was probably teasing me, but I couldn’t be sure.

I wondered if I should mention that I sometimes got boat-sick, but decided against it. I just hoped I’d be so distracted by the fascinating flora and fauna that I’d forget to be sick. While unlikely, it wasn’t outside the realm of possibility.

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