Free Off Course by Glen Robins Page A

bank to get the money. He’s going to force Collin to get the money for him, since he undoubtedly knows where it is and how to get to it.”
    “Which means he’s going to double-cross Cook,” interjected McCoy.
    Reggie nodded. “However you look at it, Collin loses. He’s in a heap of trouble with little chance of surviving, I’m afraid, unless we can get to him first.”
    Spinner scratched the stubble on his chin. Neither man had shaved since early the previous morning. “What are you saying, Reggie, send in the Navy SEALs?” he said, turning again to the window.
    “I don’t know, Spinner,” Reggie said. His voice dry and growing hoarse. Exhaustion seeped from every word as he spoke. “This whole scenario makes me nervous. It might already be too late for the SEALs. And even if it’s not, the whole thing could back fire on us.”
    “How so?” asked Spinner.
    Reggie balled his fists and leaned into them. “One hint of intervention, and Penh could put a bullet in every man on that boat. That wouldn’t bode well for us.”
    “It wouldn’t help him, either.”
    “Yeah, but I think he’d rather win the game, to show us how serious he is. The money is less important than maintaining control over his syndicate and trying to keep the upper hand against us and Interpol by proving to be merciless. Penh ain’t playing around.”
     
     
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    Scripps Cancer Research Center, La Jolla, California
    June 14, 2:13 p.m. Pacific Time
     
    It was after two o’clock before Dr. Navarro returned to Sarah’s room. The fact that Sarah had not yet awakened concerned him. His apprehension caused Henry a fair amount of consternation. The good doctor checked the read-outs on the machines and looked at the tubes running from the IV bag. He tapped his tablet’s screen and swiped and read and swiped some more. His facial expression changed only slightly as he let out a succession of “hmmphs” after each page was read. He turned to Henry and said, “I expected her to come around some time ago. Everyone reacts differently to these treatments and, being experimental, we don’t have a baseline established yet for patient reactions. Maybe we just need to alter our expectations. Either that, or we need to alter our approach to your wife’s treatment plan.”
    “Is there something wrong, Doctor? You seem much more concerned this time around,” said Henry.
    “My concern is that we find the proper balance between aggressively attacking the cancer, managing pain, and maintaining quality of life. Her body may not be ready for such a potent dosage,” said Dr. Navarro.
    “But if we don’t treat the cancer aggressively, it could spread, right? We don’t want that. She very much wants to live, even if it means she has some setbacks in the short term,” said Henry.
    “Very well. We will continue to monitor her condition very closely. Please page the nurse when she wakes up.” Dr. Navarro left with a promise to check back in another hour or two.
     
      *              *              *              *
     
    London, England
     
    June 14, 10:55 p.m. London time
     
    Nic Lancaster’s jaw dropped open in surprise. Things in the Caribbean rarely moved at the same speed as things in London. The people there were friendly and relaxed and the island culture catered to vacationers looking for that very change of pace.               So when the president of the Bank of George Town returned his phone call near the end of their business day, Nic was pleasantly surprised. When the head of the bank’s security promised to send him a clip from the previous day’s video footage, he was stunned. Now that a link to the footage showed up in his email just an hour later, he was nothing short of shocked. He pumped his fist and let out a triumphant, “YESSS!” when he opened the link. He jumped up from his seat and