“Take off that dress.” He pulled off her shoes.
Oh my God! Not again!
Bile rose in her throat. She reminded herself that she was wearing a bikini, something she wouldn’t have thought twice about on Refrainia.
“Hurry up!”
She felt her heart thumping as she slowly pulled the soaked, cotton dress over her head. Her arms immediately covered her body.
“Here.”
She felt something soft in her hands and realized he was offering her a blanket. She quickly wrapped it around herself. It was rough but warm. She breathed out, suddenly aware that she had been holding her breath.
In the dim candlelight, she could see a table in front of them, with another bench seat opposite. The wheel and control panel stood at the bow, behind her. She turned and peered out the big window at the slowly lightening sky. The small windows to the sides had dark blinds drawn down. This was a small cruiser, used for day trips, she guessed. Eban had promised to take her out in one. She sniffed, tears welling in her eyes. Eban. What would he think of her now? Had his dad heard the news and had another heart attack? Kabos seemed to think the whole world would have heard by now.
“Have you any idea what you’ve cost me, whore?”
Taneli was sitting back in his seat, regarding her menacingly.
“No. I don’t know what I’m supposed to have done to you or Mitzi,” she answered truthfully.
He chuckled. “You have cost me everything, that’s what. Including Mitzi.”
His usual, leering manner had given way to something more vicious and sinister. He no longer flirted, or used innuendo, as he had at the house. He sounded bitter and angry. She wasn’t sure what frightened her more.
“Mitzi used to go out with Eban, didn’t she?” Perhaps if she could keep the conversation light it might bode better for her.
He laughed derisively. “Go out? Is that what you call it? Well, they did a lot more than ‘go out’ together. Those two could fuck for Westland!”
That hurt.
“Were they together long?”
“Long enough. Did he tell you why he broke it off? He thought she was a bit too needy. Truth was he just couldn’t give her what it was she needed. Eban always was too much of a goody-two-shoes. He didn’t have a clue what a girl like Mitzi needs!”
“And you do?”
“Oh, I do all right. I was able to give her everything she needs.” He chortled derisively again.
Her heart was in her mouth and she pulled the blanket around her even tighter.
“What did she need that only you could give her?” She wasn’t sure she really wanted to know, but she was certain he wanted to tell her.
He leaned closer to her, making her flinch.
“The same thing I can give you, darlin’.” He stroked her cheek and she felt her breathing hitch. Her heart was pounding again.
“What if I don’t want anything from you?” Her voice shook as she spoke the words.
She expected him to be angry, but he merely laughed. “Oh you’ll want it. You’ll want more and more of it, just like Mitzi did.”
Don’t bet on it!
“Where is Mitzi?” She hoped a different tactic might help.
“Sleeping it off, as always, I expect.”
Assuming he was referring to sex, she was eager to change the subject again.
“How did you find me?”
He sniggered. “Kabos is a contact of mine. He told me about this girl he’d picked up in town. Didn’t take long to track you down, though I’ll admit you gave me a bit of a run for my money.”
“Contact?” That word again.
He huffed. “Yeah, he brings me customers now and then. Not very rich ones though, given the circles he moves in, but now and then he comes up trumps—like tonight!”
“You mean me? He was bringing me to you?”
“Of course he was, darlin’. Why else would he give you a ride? Well, I do know why else, but he wasn’t up to that, if you know what I mean. Taken just a few too many, damned amateur!”
“I don’t know what you mean.”
“Well, maybe you are a bit more stupid than I thought.” He leaned into her and began pulling at the blanket. He wrenched it off with one hand.
“Get off me, I don’t want you!” She tried to push him back but he was like a massive boulder.
“Well, maybe I might have something here to change your mind.” He sounded vicious as he dove into his pocket.
Fearing he was going to pull out a knife, she backed away. The corner of the couch was at her back. She had nowhere to go. Tears streamed down her face as her heart pounded again and she found herself gasping for air.
“Now, how many of these will it take, I wonder?” He held out his hand.
She shook her head and frowned. It was too dark to make out what he had, but it was far too small for a knife. She managed a deep breath.
“I think I gave Mitzi too much earlier,” he said a little ruefully. “Pity. Do you have any idea what these things cost? You should. You cost me a shitload more. But that doesn’t matter now. You see, once you get hooked on these little beauties your loving fiancé will have no choice but to help me get more. He’ll be able to take Greenberg’s place. He can get on a ship to Eastland any time and fetch them over for me. Then he can give you what you need, and I’ll be able to give Mitzi what she needs. It’s a win-win situation.”
He crowed cruelly as he grabbed her face, forcing her jaws open.
“No!”
Something was placed on her tongue and she tried hard to spit it out. He tipped her head back, trying to force her to swallow. In blind panic, she kicked out her legs, her arms flailing. She didn’t even feel the candle, which she sent flying across the boat. The first thing she knew of it was the blinds ablaze and the suffocating, smoke-filled cabin.
“You stupid, fucking bitch!”
Amaranda felt the sting to her cheek as Taneli’s hand slapped her face.
He leapt to his feet and started swiping at the window with another blanket. The flames had already engulfed the couch and the whole boat was a ball of crackling, hot light.
Amaranda made for the door and pulled it open. She could hear a siren wailing over the snapping sound of the fire and she screamed, praying it wasn’t too late. Taneli’s hefty frame landed on top of her as she reached the well at the stern, flattening her to the burning floor. She was momentarily winded.
“No you don’t! You’ve cost me enough already, whore!”
Her leg was jammed in the doorway and she tried to kick out as she felt the flames licking at her bare flesh. She tried to suck air into her aching lungs but the smoke was suffocating. The pain was becoming unbearable. His weight pinned her down. She was trapped. Although she knew the sun would soon be rising, the world was becoming darker. Then it was black.
* * * *
Pascal followed the squad cars to the docks. It was a long shot that Taneli would have turned in for work tonight, and they weren’t surprised to hear he hadn’t showed up. Det. Sgt. Blum, who had been in the second squad car, scowled as Eban and Pascal followed the cops around, listening in on their conversations as they questioned the dockworkers. They weren’t getting very far. Either Taneli had been missing for a while or he had a lot of friends on the docks!
Jerusha climbed out of the car after a while and wandered around the floodlit quayside. In between talking to the cops, workers were loading and unloading the ships, coiling ropes and working on machinery. It was raining hard and she pulled her collar up around her neck. Although it was a rough night and getting colder, she was relieved to be out of the stuffy car and breathing in the crisp, briny air. A little further up the quay she spied an old wooden bench with a tiny shelter over it, where the roof leaned out over the rough concrete path. She made her way over, and noticed a bundle of something in a dark corner. On closer inspection, the ‘bundle’ turned out to be a middle-aged man, wrapped up in an old tarpaulin. At first she thought he was a
sleep and went to turn away, but then realized he was muttering to himself.
“I’m so sorry,” she said, afraid that she had disturbed him.
The man poked his head from beneath the oilcloth. He frowned, more out of confusion than anger, Jerusha felt.
“Did I wake you?” she asked gently, not sure if he was a dockworker taking a break, or a tramp trying to find a shelter for the night.
“I wasn’t sleeping, my sweetie. Noo, not whilst on duty.”
She smiled at him. He was very scruffy-looking, and she was sure he was a bit drunk.
“That’s all right then.”
He sat up, cross-legged on the floor, pulling the tarpaulin around his shoulders. He was rather large, and looked most incongruous in that position.
Jerusha perched on the corner of the bench, facing him.
“You one of ’em reporters?”
“No.” She smiled. “Nothing like that.”
“Good. ‘Cos I think they’re just nosey, if you ask me.”
“Do you? Why’s that?” She humored him, pleased to have some lighthearted conversation while she waited for the men to finish interviewing.
“They’re looking for that girl, Fern, ain’t they?”
“Fern?”
“Yeah. They say she’s called something else, but I know what she told me. Her name’s Fern. Said she’s meeting a friend here, but I know different. She was going to stow away, if you ask me.”
Jerusha looked at him closely. “Where did she go?”
“Ran off. Oris thought I was bringing him another contact so he sent the boys rushing over. Scared her off, they did. She ran. Dunno where.” He shrugged.
Jerusha was on her feet, waving her arms to her son.
Eban frowned, nudging Pascal. They were only eavesdropping on yet another worker who claimed he hadn’t seen Taneli in days.
“What is it?” Eban rounded on his mother in seconds.
“This man’s seen her. She ran off.”
“What’s it to you?” The man sounded annoyed at the sight of the two men.
“A lot. And it’s a few hot meals for you.” Pascal tucked some cash into the man’s grubby hand.
“When was this?” Eban studied the man’s face.
“Few hours maybe. I can’t rightly remember.”
“Try.” Pascal shoved more notes into the man’s fist.
“The start of the shift. She ran off though.”
“That’s several hours.” Pascal frowned as he turned to Eban.
“Which way did she go?” Eban was becoming frantic.
The man waved his arm in the general direction.
“He’s seen her,” Pascal told Blum, who ran up to them as they left the man.
While Blum whipped out his notebook, Farache and a couple of men scrambled into the squad car and followed Pascal as he raced out of the dockyard.
“He thinks she wanted to stow away.” Jerusha panted from the backseat. “So she’s probably not gone far.”
“We’ll keep to the coast then.” Pascal managed to keep calm as he swung the car down the quiet streets.
“She could be hiding anywhere,” Eban moaned as he stared out of the window.
“She’s a sensible girl. She’ll have looked for somewhere dry,” Jerusha said, peering through the raindrops on the side window.
“The shops are shut. A diner, maybe?” Pascal suggested.
“She’s got no money.” Eban sighed.
They drove down the coastal road, looking out for anywhere suitable.
Suddenly the squad car pulled out and overtook them, sirens screaming and lights flashing. Pascal’s heart flipped as his foot went to the floor and they tore behind it.
“Oh my God!” Eban’s heart was in his mouth as they rounded a bend and saw flames leaping from a small jetty.
Chapter 16
Eban was out of the car before Pascal had cut the engine. He ran toward the massive flames as Farache was hauling Taneli from the stern. The bastard was trying to make a run for it, leaving Aramanda dying in the well of the boat. Thick smoke marred his vision, making his eyes sting and water, so Eban had to feel his way as best he could. Something soft squished under his right foot as he rushed toward the wheelhouse door. Her! Choking, he bent down and felt Amaranda’s arm. Next to it was her head, face down in the bottom of the boat. Most of the flames were coming from the wheelhouse, the door to which seemed to be wedged open by her leg. He pulled away the blanket that half-covered her. It was already alight. Her skin seared his as he scooped her lifeless body effortlessly into his powerful arms.
“Pass her over!”
Eban turned to the sound of Pascal’s voice. A couple of steps toward the stern and he could see his friend’s outstretched arms. It took all he had to let go of his precious woman. Pascal took her from his arms and then all that was left was black smoke. Misery took the place of adrenalin, as Eban realized that, in all likelihood, she was dead. In that moment he wanted to be dead, too.
“Eban!”
Pascal’s shout pulled him from his reverie, and he felt the bite of flames around his feet. The heat, which enveloped him from behind, was intensifying as he took a large stride and then leapt from the burning wreck.
“Get off me!” Taneli was giving Farache and the three other cops who had come to his aid a really hard time.
Eban was tempted to kill the fucker, but getting Amaranda to breathe proved more important.
“Still no response,” Pascal said as Eban ran over to where his friend had laid her on the cold, stone jetty. The cars had all left their headlights on, and he could see her face, red and scorched.
“Let me try.” Eban sealed her blistered mouth with his and tried to blow the life back into her, between his own coughs. Pascal tried more chest compressions. The scream of the ambulance siren filled their ears as they endeavoured to revive her.
“I think we’ve done it!” Eban took a deep breath as Amaranda spluttered weakly.
“Let’s see.” A blond paramedic arrived and checked her pulse while his dark-haired colleague set up an oxygen tank next to the poor girl.
“She’s breathing—but only just.” The first paramedic took a mask from his colleague and fixed it over Amaranda’s mouth.
A third man, who was older and balding, rushed out of the ambulance carrying more oxygen and masks.
“Let’s get you both checked out, too,” he said, trying to coax Eban away from her body.
“I’m staying with her.”
“She’s his fiancée,” Pascal explained as he stood up, panting. His voice sounded tight from the smoke. He was coughing, too.
“OK, sir, you can accompany her to the hospital if you wish, but please let them do their job first. You won’t be any good to her if you keel over.”
Eban reluctantly let the paramedic check him over. He needed some oxygen and his ankles and shins were quite badly burned. He sat on the jetty and allowed the older man to tend to his wounds as he breathed through a mask. His legs stung, but it was nothing compared to the pain in his heart.
“That leg doesn’t look good,” the blond paramedic said, and Eban tried to jump up. Amaranda’s leg!
“Please keep still, sir, this won’t take long,” the balding paramedic admonished as he pushed him back down.
“Let them look after her, bro,” Pascal called over, removing his oxygen mask to do so. His laid-back drawl sounded calming, somehow.
Eban rolled his eyes. He knew his friend was right.
Two of the medics were tending to Amaranda, hovering over her, blocking his view. The other man was now consoling Jerusha, who was crying, obviously shocked. The sky was slowly becoming lighter. One more day! At least give her one more day. Eban prayed to the universe, to all the Gods, to anyone willing to listen.
“They’re going to put her in the ambulance now.” The older paramedic crouched beside Eban and adjusted his oxygen mask. “You can follow them in, but keep the mask on, you’ve inhaled a lot of smoke.”
>
Eban stood up and almost fell back down again. The man’s confident, strong arm held him round the waist, supporting him until he recovered himself. It was then that Eban realized how weak he felt, and that tears were streaming down his cheeks. The medic helped him to climb into the ambulance once the stretcher was secure, and Eban sat on a small seat at Amaranda’s side.
“I’ll follow on with your mom,” Pascal called as the doors closed.
The sirens screeched all the way to the hospital. The medic had followed Eban into the back of the ambulance and was monitoring Amaranda closely.
“Will she be OK?” Eban croaked.
“She’s alive, that’s the main thing.” The man turned to smile sympathetically at Eban, while straightening a thin sheet over his fiancée. “I would say the next twenty-four hours will be most critical. A lot depends on that leg.”
“That leg” had been carefully covered so Eban couldn’t see just how bad it was.
“It was trapped in the door.” He vaguely remembered having to tug it a little when he lifted her out of the well of the boat. He hadn’t thought much about it at the time, but now he remembered a thud which must have been the door closing after he got her up. She had had a cover of some kind, possibly a blanket, over her but wasn’t wearing much, probably her bikini. Nothing to protect her skin.
Oh my God! Why wasn’t she wearing her clothes? Bile rose in his throat at the thought of what Taneli might have been doing in order for her not to be wearing a dress. He recalled the comments Taneli had made about removing her dress when he had only just met Amaranda, and how she had told him his friend unnerved her. Taneli had made a pass at her in the house and frightened her. His mind flashed back to the incident on Destiny Rock when a drunken lech had tried to rape her. He could still hear her ear-splitting scream that alerted him to her jeopardy, and the way he had felt when he realized what was happening. If ever Taneli had…
Scourge of the Siren Page 13
