“She did. But not how many.”
There had been enough talk on the subject. He wasn’t about to add them up and provide her with a body count.
“Enough,” he said.
She stared into her paper cup. He let her think it over. Killing someone was not an easy subject to talk about.
For anyone on the right side of the law.
She looked him in the eyes. “That’s one part of my job I’ve wanted to avoid if at all possible. But I could take a person’s life if it was necessary. In the line of duty or not.”
“That’s reassuring,” he said. “So where’s this conversation headed?”
“You believe we have a chance, then.”
“More than a chance.” He was relieved the subject had changed. “We’re a good fit.”
“You really think so?”
“I know so. Now let’s enjoy the night air before it starts raining again.”
He sipped his brandy and let himself sink deeper into his seat. The weather was cool with a little mugginess from the rain, but there were no bugs to contend with. If only the stars would come out.
“Are you worried?” she asked. “Even scared?”
“About what? Going after the necklace?”
“You and me,” she said. “That our feelings for each other are real. That they’re solid.”
“I don’t scare easily.” He, of course, was not talking about lasting relationships.
“Then you’re a rare man.”
He chuckled. “You’re just now realizing that?”
She peered at him over the rim of her cup. Her eyes drew him in, even in the dark.
They always did.
“A year ago when we stopped seeing each other,” she said, her tone wistful, “I was falling in love with you. Those feelings haven’t changed.”
CHAPTER 42
Jack lay awake long into the night, listening to fat raindrops pound the deck above the guest cabin. The quarters inside the starboard stateroom were cramped, but it was nice to have Dana lying tight against him in the narrow berth.
Gradually, the sound of her breathing had grown softer and more even as she slipped into the steady rhythm of deep sleep. Their love making had been slow and tender. More of a melting into each other’s embrace than an insatiable hunger driving them to climax.
The way it’d been in the past.
The way it will be.
But this time his sexual longing had not been fueled by need. Rather a desire on his part to show his love for her. If that’s what the feelings fluttering inside of him like a hundred butterflies on the move all at once, were. He did know he wanted Dana to be a lasting and meaningful part of his life.
He would not let her go again.
Finally, he began to drift off with thoughts of sharing a lifetime together with the lovely lady in bed next to him. He was hopelessly, magically smitten.
The shift on the deck was almost indiscernible. But it was enough to bring him instantly wide awake. This was not the first time he’d felt the boat lurch in a similar fashion.
Then came the squeak of rubber on wet fiberglass that confirmed his suspicion. Someone uninvited was onboard.
Pirates.
Dana lay naked beside him, the soft flesh of ample breast pressed against his arm. Her hand rested on his chest, her long fingers entwined in the dark mat of hair. She hadn’t stirred. And judging from the quiet in the master cabin, neither had Robert or Kazuko.
He gently lifted her arm from his chest, and rolled out of bed. She let out a long sigh of contentment and snuggled into the pillow, her tousled hair spilled across her face. Leaving her to sleep, he slipped on his boxers, quietly opened the stateroom door, and crept aft.
His eyes fully adjusted to the dimness inside, he was able to move quickly and noiselessly into the galley. A cat in the night. No sound other than the beating of his heart.
A shadow moved on the rear deck, drawing his attention to the glass door leading into the salon. Then a second shadow appeared over the transom.
Two big men.
He waited.
Only the two. Not three like before.
Both were dressed in black t-shirts and black shorts. Commando’s attacking in the dead of night. One mistake. Their success hinged on surprise. He’d heard them and was prepared to do them the worst, if necessary.
Repel boarders, Robert had said.
With his eyes focused aft, he grabbed the shotgun from where he’d left it propped against the wall of the cabin. It was a 12-gauge Mossberg 500. Not an expensive gun, but quite effective. And very deadly.
Especially loaded with buckshot.
He held the gun, pointed, his finger resting lightly on the trigger, but he wasn’t anxious to kill anyone.
Not tonight. Not aboard Robert’s boat.
Unless he had to.
He steadied himself. Full breaths in and out. Muscles poised. It was up to the scumbags to make their play.
He was ready.
His concentration broke when he heard the latch on the door to the guest cabin ‘click’ and the hatchway squeak open. Not again. He turned and saw Dana, with the sheet clutched around her, step into the companionway. A spectral image in the darkness. She peered toward the salon.
And then she screamed.
Behind him the door to the main cabin slid open.
Shit.
He rushed the intruder before the guy could react and hammered the gun butt into his solar plexus, doubling him over. Then, with as much force as he could muster, he brought the end of the stock up sharply under the asshole’s jaw.
The sound that followed was much like that of a stick breaking.
Bone, not wood.
The final blow tumbled the thug backward onto the rear deck, the lights out. A handgun skittered free, clanking against one of the aluminum air tanks.
Japanese . . . Shoe, from up on the mountain.
The move sent the second man stumbling behind the fighting chair.
Jack heard a frightened gasp. Dana stood behind him somewhere, watching, but he didn’t turn and look. He wasn’t thinking about her now.
There was another intruder to deal with.
His split-second plan was to stand the guy up at gunpoint and club him over the head, dropping him to his knees. And send him and his friend packing.
Back the way they had come.
But the big man was agile, already steady on his feet.
Holster.
Jack raised the gun barrel reflexively. Only to have it knocked aside by a vicious karate chop.
He lashed back with a kick in an effort to take out the man’s knee.
His foot never made contact.
Another vicious chop, this time to the leg, sent him sprawling. But not enough to dislodge the shotgun from his hand.
Holster sidestepped to the side of the boat, cautious, ready, wanting to finish him off with his hands.
The old-fashioned way.
Jack fumbled to aim the end of the barrel at the guy’s gut. The time for games was over.
Holster reached for a gun jammed into his belt.
“Hold it right there, asshole.” Robert’s voice stopped the big man before he could draw. A solid blow to the side of the head from the butt of the mini-14 dropped him to his knees.
Jack kept the shotgun pointed, his finger solidly on the trigger, and scrambled to his feet the best he could with his sore ribs.
“You okay?” Robert asked.
“Fine.” Jack cringed, forcing back the pain. “Another second and I would have had him.”
Robert smiled. “Couldn’t let you have all the fun.”
The light in the cabin clicked on, illuminating the rear deck. Dana wrapped in the sheet, Kazuko in an oversize t-shirt, stood at the door, watching. Not saying a word. But paying attention to what was happening.
Jack jabbed the bore of his short-barreled gun at Holster. “The pistol, dickhead, ease it from your pants.”
Holster’s gaze
moved from Jack to Robert, and back to Jack. He clearly weighed his options.
Only one.
He slid the semi-automatic from his belt and let it drop to the deck.
“Now slide it over here.”
He did.
Jack kept his gun trained. “Not brave, but smart. What’s your name?”
“Mitsuru.”
The man flat on the deck, moaned.
“Your friend?” Jack asked.
There was a brief pause of uncertainty. He tightened his grip on the shotgun, inching the barrel a little closer.
“Shoji,” Mitsuru answered.
“And the guy with the tight haircut?”
“Takeo.”
Groaning, Shoji struggled unsteadily to his feet. He held his jaw and looked around. When his eyes settled on Jack, his gaze hardened.
Mitsuru stood and held Shoji up.
Or so Jack thought.
Both men turned and disappeared over the side faster than he believed possible. He rushed to the gunwale, Robert next to him. Ten feet astern, a rubber boat bobbed in the swell. One man was untying the tether, the other gathering up the oars. Shoji, probably. He wasn’t doing too well.
The raft began to drift, widening the gap between it and Fast Times.
Another few feet and they would be dim outlines in the dark.
Jack fired a load of buckshot into the front of the inflatable. Air belched from the forward tube, allowing water to flood the interior. The other tubes kept it afloat. Mitsuru and Shoji frantically worked their paddles.
Robert let out a nervous chuckle, and said, “Pirates.”
Jack lowered the shotgun. “They were lucky this time.”
Dana and Kazuko edged in next to him. Dana said, “You’re letting them get away.”
“I know.” He wasn’t about to chase after them in the dark. They probably hadn’t come alone.
“But you shot at them. We need to report this.”
“Do we, Dana?” He gripped her shoulder with his left hand. “They’re gone. No one was hurt.”
“But—”
“No harm, no foul. They came here looking for trouble, remember?” He turned to Robert. “Right?”
Robert had his arm around Kazuko. He was staring into the black of night. “I don’t relish the thought of running into those two again,” he said. “Hopefully, they got the hint that they’re not welcome.”
Dana calmed. “You could have easily killed them.”
Jack held her close. “I may very well get the chance before we’re done.”
CHAPTER 43
Jack leaned down and retrieved the two semi-automatics from the deck. Glock 40’s. Both fully loaded by the heft of them. First one, then the other, he popped out the clip, eyed the hollow-point bullets, and shoved it back in.
He looked at his friends. “They meant business.”
“Well that cinches it,” Robert said. His gaze swept the darkness surrounding the boat. “They know where we are, so we have no choice but to move the boat.”
A gust of wind swept strands of Dana’s hair into her mouth. She brushed it behind her ear with her fingers, and said, “I’m going to go get dressed.”
“Me, too,” said Kazuko, following her inside.
Jack took notice that he and Robert were both standing there in their underwear. He saw Robert turn and look at him. He pointed at their boxers. “We probably should get dressed as well.”
“So what do you think?” Robert seemed to ignore the comment. “About moving the boat?”
“It’ll be light in another hour. We can do it then.”
“Any ideas?”
“The water is pretty rough in the channel with this storm hovering over us. But how do you feel about making the crossing to Manele Bay, see what the weather is like over there. If it looks doable, we can make at least one run along Shipwreck Beach and get an idea what’s ahead of us.”
“I hadn’t thought about Lanai.”
“It’s bound to keep Takahashi’s men guessing about where we are. At least for a day or two.”
“Could be you’re right,” Robert said. “Let’s do it.”
Jack gestured at the salon door. “Let’s get dressed first.”
He let Robert go ahead of him and followed behind. When he got as far as the galley, he stopped and laid the handguns on the table. Then he returned the shotgun to its spot propped against the cabin wall. He worried about Dana.
She hadn’t said much.
He stepped to the door of the guest stateroom and knocked ever so softly.
“It’s open,” she said from the other side.
When he opened the door she was facing him in the nude. Totally. Not a stitch of anything. Her breasts winning the war with gravity.
“Come in and shut the door,” she said.
He realized he was staring. She didn’t have to ask twice.
“I was concerned about you,” he said. “But you look fine to me. Absolutely wonderful, in fact.”
“You really are a rhino.”
“Kazuko,” he said. “Guess there wasn’t a thing about me she didn’t tell you.”
“I’m sure there’s something.”
“Apparently not.”
Her wonderful eyes had yet to blink. She was working up to something. He wondered what it was.
“That’s how it always is, isn’t it?” Her tone conveyed understanding.
She had him off balance.
“What, those guys?” He felt foolish standing there in his boxers, becoming aroused by her nakedness, and talking about the fight.
“Those other times, too.” She slipped her arms around his neck.
“The same, but different,” he said as she eased him close, her hands finding his shoulders, and finally his back.
The embrace was not about sex. But a holding of one another.
A drawing of strength. Reassurance. Security.
He melted into the warmth of her skin.
CHAPTER 44
Jack emerged from his cabin wearing a pair of faded trunks and a t-shirt. While he and Dana lay entwined in each other’s arms, the wind had picked up considerably.
He walked through the salon, glad he hadn’t had to kill anyone, and stopped at the glass door leading aft. The sky was a pale gray mantel. The tempest that hammered them with squalls of heavy rain earlier in the night had turned to a twenty-knot wind with the rising of the sun.
The stern faced the beach, and he could tell the boat was pulling hard against her anchor, keeping the bow pointed into the gale. There was no sign of the two thugs, but that didn’t mean they weren’t on shore watching, along with a few more of Takahashi’s enforcers.
He knew of at least one other.
Takeo.
The big man with the bad haircut. If he had climbed aboard along with the other two, the outcome could very well have been different. One or more of them would likely have died.
He was thankful now that the mooring held in spite of the whitecaps slapping the hull. To have been run aground on the beach during the night would have most certainly spelled disaster.
Retreating to the galley, he got the stove going and put on a kettle of water to heat. Everyone would want coffee.
That done, he unplugged his phone from its charger and tapped the Weather Channel app on the screen. According to the information displayed, the storm was being fueled by a spiraling low-pressure system south of the Big Island. Tropical storm Juanita. Mexico’s first of the year, and a month ahead of their normal hurricane season.
The severe El Niño had the Pacific stirred up.
With the water in the kettle approaching boil, he unrolled the navigation chart of the Hawaiian Islands, spread it out on the galley table, and placed dive weights on the corners to hold it down. Seeing the Kaloi Channel reduced to the size of a playing card made their task appear simple. He knew it was anything but.
“It’s really blowing out there,” Robert said from the companionway.
Jack lifted
his gaze from the chart and looked at his friend who had slipped on yellow and white board shorts and nothing else.
“That it is,” he said. “I’ve got water on for coffee.”
The kettle began to whistle as if on cue. Robert stepped to the stove and turned the heat off under the pot. Jack joined him at the counter and spooned instant coffee into two mugs. Robert filled them with boiling water, adding sugar and powdered creamer to his. Jack stuck with black.
“Kazuko okay?” he asked. He was still upset with her. But he believed she had not intended to hurt him or Dana by exposing the more sordid details of his life. She’d always played mother hen when it came to him. He hadn’t held it against her in the past. He’d not hold it against her now.
“She’ll be out in a minute.” Robert offered a sly grin.
“Right. I suppose she has to pretty herself up a little first.”
“Go figure. How about Dana?”
“Coping. I think she’s actually enjoying all this.”
“Might be she’ll change her mind before we’re done.” Robert stepped to the table and peered down at the map. “What do you think?”
Jack joined him. “Weather is crappy for a treasure hunt, is what I think. A minute ago, I checked the Weather Channel app on my phone. There’s a low pressure system passing south of the Big Island. But as long as it doesn’t kick up worse than this, we can handle it.”
“Tropical storm Juanita. I saw it, too.”
“It’ll be rough. But I think we’ll be all right.”
“As long as Juanita doesn’t swing north and slam right into us.”
“If it does, we’ll find safe harbor and ride her out. Not much else we can do. But that’s a big if. For Takahashi’s people, too. With any luck they’ll wonder the same thing and sit back and wait for this storm to blow past. That would give us a day’s head start on them.”
“Might be all we need.”
“As long as that depth finder of yours does what it’s supposed to.”
“You’ve played with it. That thing provides near-photographic sonar images of fish as well as bottom structure. If we pass over the Orochimaru, the Garmin 7612 will paint us a pretty picture of her.”
“I’m relying on that being the case. Otherwise we’re done before we start. If we had more time we could get equipment more suited for the job. But as you know, time is not something we have a lot of.”
Shipwreck Page 13
