Dragon's Triangle (The Shipwreck Adventures Book 2) by Christine Kling Page B

string of four barges and loads of colorful laundry flapping in the breeze, when Riley saw a long-tail boat approach them headed upriver. The boat was really moving and the prop was throwing a rooster tail of water several feet into the air. That was the first reason she took note of the boat, but as they grew closer, she focused on the two men sitting amidships.
    Riley wouldn’t have recognized Peewee if he’d been alone. Without that medal-covered garrison cap on his head, he looked like a generic little old white man with long wisps of hair blowing back inthe wind. His hands were below the level of the gunwale, and Riley suspected he was clutching the cap on his lap. But the guy from the market was there, too. Him she would recognize anywhere, with or without the blue work shirt. His flat face and mustache, the full head of salt-and-pepper hair pulled back into a knot that looked like a lady’s bun, the ink on the forearms. And he was still carrying the tooled leather satchel.
    Standing at the rail a few feet from her was a German family with two strapping sons in their late teens. She stepped to her right to place the tourists between herself and the passing boat. Through them she could see the topknot man was standing with one hand clutching a support post that held up the long narrow roof over the boat. He didn’t have a gun and as far as she could tell, he wasn’t threatening Peewee. In fact, as the boat passed about fifty feet abeam of the ferry, she saw the topknot guy was talking on a cell phone. It looked like the old man was just enjoying the ride.
    She walked back to the stern and watched as the long-tail boat pulled up to the dock at Wat Arun. Peewee was first off the boat, and he turned to wait for the other man. What sort of game was he playing?

Benguet Gold Mine
Baguio, Philippines
    November 17, 2012
    Elijah was halfway across the yard to the limo when he stopped and turned. Belmonte was still standing in the doorway of the office.
    “Jaime, while I’m here, I am going to visit the lab and talk to Wolf. I’d like to take a look at the work he’s been doing. If you’re right and Benny finds the old man, we could be up and operating again within the week.”
    “Yes, sir. I’ll call down and have him come up to meet you right now.”
    Belmonte turned and spoke to his secretary inside the office.
    “Tell him I’ll meet him halfway,” Elijah said. “Meanwhile, book me on the next flight from here to Manila.” He took off down the gravel path toward the lab, pleased that he would be able to see Esmerelda’s smile even sooner than he had anticipated.
    He had almost arrived at the prefab building when the back door swung open and Wolfgang, dressed in his usual white lab coat, stepped outside. Elijah had hired the chemist six years ago and brought bothWolf and his wife, Ulrika, to the Philippines. Today Wolf was very good at his job only because Elijah had spent so much time in the Philippines teaching him. The German crossed the gap between them and extended his hand.
    “Elijah. Come inside.” He turned and extended his arm toward the door to the lab.
    Once inside the lab, Elijah walked over to the mass spectrometer and rested his hands on the table next to the instrument. “I expected to hear from you, Wolf.”
    “You mean about that sample?”
    Elijah turned and faced the German. He examined him for several long seconds before he answered. “Of course. Are you stalling for some reason?” He no longer trusted Wolfgang. Ever since his wife had taken her own life a little over a year ago, the man had changed.
    “No, not at all. My findings aren’t conclusive. I wanted to pin it down to the exact mine.”
    “And what have you found?”
    “It’s been more than two weeks, and I can’t even determine the country, much less the mine.”
    Elijah’s face broke into a broad smile. “Excellent! If you can’t, no one can.”
    “I don’t know what you did differently this time, but if you can