by Bryan Koepke
*
Up on deck, sitting in his favorite white leather marine chair, Joseph Woodbine picked up his binoculars and followed the progress of his guests as they enjoyed their diving tour. It was his usual perch on his yacht, and he’d spent many a night looking at starlit skies as the others onboard enjoyed restful sleep.
Over to his right a half mile away was Sandy Island. Joseph sat back enjoying a glass of strawberry rum punch as he surveyed the tiny island. Something caught his attention as he spotted a shiny object covered with palm tree branches headed toward the southern tip. Woodbine quickly dismissed his curiosity and instead swiveled his chair around so he could join his captain, Houston Briggs, who was watching the highlights of the Yankees game from the previous night. Briggs was yelling at the players on the TV as if coaching them. Woodbine got a kick out of his intensity.
He knew the game’s outcome from the news he’d sorted through on his computer earlier that morning, but Woodbine wasn’t about to tell his friend the outcome.
“Hey, Joe, I’m sorry about your equipment. I should have checked it out yesterday,” Huston said, referring to Woodbine’s malfunctioning dive regulator.
“Not a problem. I wasn’t really into diving today anyway. It’s nice to have a break from everyone,” Woodbine said. “All of this entertaining wears on my patience. I mean, don’t get me wrong. I like having company about the boat, but I enjoy some of them more than the others.”
“Check this out. It’s the play I was telling you about earlier. There are guys on first and third. If the bunt is successful, the run will score,” Huston said pointing toward the large flat screen television like an excited kid.
*
Reece took Marie’s hand as they drifted along the reef in the clear blue water, spotting all sorts of tropical fish. The sun’s strong rays penetrated the ocean’s surface above, setting off blue and white hues and accenting the greens, yellows, and reds of the tropical sea life. The water’s warmth heated their skin as they floated farther and farther away from the yacht. Reece looked up from the underwater world. It was a light blue painted by the sunlit sky above him. Farther ahead toward Tiffany, Alex was swimming fast as if on his way somewhere. Reece focused on him and thought the frantic swimming was weird. But then again, so was that Alex character.
Tiffany was to Reece’s left with Karl just beyond her. She pointed toward movement in the coral as she stopped her progress in the ocean’s current, setting down a foot against the bottom. Reece spotted something green and knew it was a Moray eel. He reached out for Marie’s hand and, sensing they were drifting too close, he moved his flippers and steered them a little farther to his right. Just then the Moray turned toward them and opened its mouth, exposing two symmetrical rows of razor sharp teeth. Reece heard Marie let out a scream underwater, and he herded them quickly away from the docile eel, knowing they would be fine as long as they gave the big creature its space.
Reece kicked upward and surfaced, towing Marie with him. She popped out of the water with a look of amazement and fear on her face.
“Holy hell. Did you see those teeth?” she said excitedly.
“We’re fine. That was a Moray—they’re not aggressive unless you get too close.” Just then something grabbed Reece’s left ankle and jerked him backward away from Marie. With his air regulator out of his mouth he instinctively reached toward his ankle to find a hand and arm just as Alex let go of him, and surfaced next to the couple.
“I couldn’t resist,” Alex said. “You were a perfect target.”
Reece grabbed the top of Alex’s head and pushed downward dunking him. He held the man below the water for a few moments and then allowed Alex to come up for air.
“Right back at you,” Reece said, irritated by the British twit.
Tiffany swam up to them. “You’ve got to check this out. It’s one of Joseph’s favorite spots. Follow me over this way. This little cove over here is usually loaded with fish.” One by one they put their regulators into their mouths and they dove down, following as Tiffany led them around a section of exposed rock jutting from the ocean into a half moon-shaped formation of rock and coral reef. As they followed her into the sheltered reef, Reece noticed the surface of the water above them had become smooth as glass, sheltered from the westward wind. He felt a hand on his side and Marie pointed down at hundreds of fish all around them.
He watched the fish for a while until he spotted Alex taking something out of the mesh bag he had tied to his swim trucks. He shook both hands and hundreds of fish came from all directions to sample his fish food. Before long whatever Alex had brought with him to feed the fish was exhausted.
Alex motioned for the group to follow him as he swam around the far side of the half-moon section of rock to show the group a little beach area. It seemed odd to Reece, almost as if the man had been here before. Then he thought about Draecon and figured that Alex probably had. Woodbine, Rhodes, and Alex all worked and played together.
As far as he knew, they’d all been on the Woodbine III many times. Reece let Marie and the others go first, waiting to bring up the rear. Alex swam slowly into what looked like an inlet. The area was devoid of rock and covered in loose sand. Karl took off his swim fins and followed Tiffany out of the water onto what looked like a small beach area. Reece looked for Alex but didn’t see him. Marie, who’d just been at his side, was gone too.
That’s weird. Where did she go? He looked to the right and saw motion. Someone was swimming fast away from the area. Was it Alex? What’s going on? Reece wondered.
He dove into the water and took off in that same direction. As he swam, he heard what sounded like an electric noise. Where was it coming from? Reece swam fast and was closing in on someone. It’s Alex. I’ve almost got him. I wonder if this is another of his pranks.
The sound of a boat motor drowned out the electric noise Reece heard earlier. He was swimming fast and could see the slope of the ocean floor rising up beneath. There must be an island, but what is Alex up to? Then the water went murky and Reece’s knee slammed into the sandy bottom. He fell face forward in the shallow water. Pulling his feet underneath himself. he stood up out of the ocean.
Fifty yards away he spotted a palm-covered island and an aluminum boat nestled into some overhanging trees as if someone had stashed it there. Then Reece saw a sight that chilled him. He tore off his dive mask and regulator. Alex James and a bald man had Marie Rhodes with them. She was struggling. Marie screamed. “Help me. Oh God, help me.”
Reece ran a few yards, desperately wanting to save her. One of his flippers snagged something on the ocean bottom, though, and he stumbled and went down. The wind was knocked from his lungs and he struggled to breathe, climbing out of the water. The high-pitched noise of a boat motor was coming toward him. Get back up, Reece told himself as he kicked his feet out of the swim fins and ran as fast as he could toward the boat. He didn’t know what these creeps were up to, but they weren’t doing it without him.
Chapter 68
Beads of sweat rolled down Julian’s face, stinging his eyes. The time he’d spent waiting in the blazing sun had super heated him. He gripped the handle of the outboard motor and twisted its throttle, sending the boat backward from the shore. Up in front Alex fought to keep Marie Rhodes under control. He made eye contact with Julian and a weird excited look flashed on his face.
“Ouch,” Alex yipped.
Julian had to fight back a smile as he realized the woman they were kidnapping had just bitten Alex on the hand. What happened next, though, angered the assassin. Alex raised his palm upward, pulling it into a fist, and came down hard across Marie’s face. She whimpered and her body went limp.
There was no need for excessive force. They had her inside the boat. Her hands were bound, her head was covered by a black mesh bag, and if James hadn’t have been such a wimp, he’d have had her under control by now.
Julian grimaced at Alex baring his teeth. Alex braced himself, grabbing the gunwale as Julian jammed the
outboard motor to the right, twisted the throttle sending them backward, and half wished the other man would lose his balance and smack into the bottom of the aluminum boat.
He was now looking out toward where the others were standing. Julian followed his partner’s gaze and saw the bodyguard that he now knew as Reece Culver running frantically toward them. Julian raised his gun, aimed mid chest, and fired. Reece dove sideways into the water. Alex let go of the boat and reached out for Marie’s shoulder as she began to flail. “Boom, boom, boom!” Julian kept firing in the direction of Culver.
In the distance the Woodbine III sat a mile or more away. From this distance it still looked huge. More boat than any one man needed. Culver popped up out of the water fifty or so yards behind them. He was still coming.
Julian thought about what he’d told Alex earlier, the day they’d met in Rendezvous Bay—that bastard with nine fucking lives. Julian thought he’d killed him for good back in the mountains of Colorado, when he’d taken out the cabin with the propane tank explosion. He was coming fast—more running now than swimming—in the shallow water. What’s with this guy?
Julian leaned forward as the boat came up on plane, no longer bouncing in the small chop. The wind felt good upon his sweaty head. He was increasing the distance between himself and Reece Culver. He checked his watch and knew they’d soon be meeting Mira. That single fact had kept him interested. Plus, the money was at hand. He’d convinced Alex to show him when they’d met the day before.
All he had to do was get the kidnapped woman to the Brilliant Blue, Alex’s yacht, and he’d be free to go with Mira to wherever they decided. He could taste her lips, feel her skin. He’d learned long before that you either loved killing or people, but never both. He was done with killing.
Up ahead, the woman with the bag on her head was fighting. What had happened to her had sunk in, and she was determined to get away or at a minimum inflict damage on her captors. Her hands came around and caught Alex under the chin. His head bobbed the way a boxer’s head does after a hard punch by his opponent. Julian knew if she managed to fling herself overboard, the two bladed propeller of the outboard might slice her to bits. As much as he wanted to enjoy the spectacle, he didn’t want Alex to be mad. He watched Alex grip her throat with his right hand and wrench her body backward. Then just as severely he wrapped both arms around her torso and held her in between his thighs. He had her under control finally.
Julian saw the big yacht fading in the distance. He pulled the transmitter from the pocket of his vest. His left hand was on the throttle grip of the outboard motor. The noise was loud and a rooster tail of water was shooting out from behind the boat. The thumb of his right hand pressed down on the red button and…
The sound of the distant explosion took all the rest of the noise away as the Woodbine III exploded, heaving upward into a huge, bright orange fireball.
Chapter 69
Something knocked Reece off his feet. It was more of a reaction than an actual force that had blown him forward. He pressed his hands down into the sandy bottom below the water’s surface, trying desperately to stand up. It was an explosion. He’d heard something similar back at the cabin in Breckenridge.
Reece climbed from the ocean’s bottom and poked the upper third of his body out of the water. Chucks of white plastic rained down in the distance, and the elegant boat that had been behind him a few moments earlier was gone, replaced by a huge fireball and a massive amount of thick black smoke. He stood on his feet, realizing it was an explosion. People were dead.
“Oh my god.”
In the distance he heard the whine of the aluminum boat. Alex James, Marie, and the assassin were speeding away. They were going fast now, up on plane away from the scene. He thought of Marie and then turned back toward the burning wreckage of the Woodbine III. No one could have survived the blast.
Reece wanted to chase after them. He needed to stop them and save Marie, but there was no use. He stood there watching what used to be the Woodbine III as large chunks of the burning vessel splashed into the water a few hundred yards from where he was. The stench that came on the ocean breeze was like nothing he’d ever smelled. There was the sweet pungent aroma of burning plastic and fiberglass. It was mixed with vapors of burnt diesel fuel.
Someone was yelling. Reece spotted Karl and Tiffany hugging one another, standing on the half moon-shaped reef, where they’d all exited the water onto the beach. He waved and then turned back. The small boat was almost gone now as it turned on a track taking a path around the island. Marie.
*
Reece swam as hard as he could toward the others. He needed to reach them and figure out what to do next. If he could convince the authorities that Marie’s being kidnapped was serious, he could come to her aid before it was too late. He was swimming fast underneath the surface of the water toward the atoll. The orange glow to the north was hard to ignore. It was a murder scene and Reece knew there were two bodies blown to bits somewhere over that way. He thought about Candice and the vibe he’d gotten from her earlier.
He was glad that he’d called Haisley earlier that morning after hearing that Candice Carlyle had caught a cab to the airport. It didn’t make sense. She had to be in on whatever the hell was going on. There’d been too many hints back in Colorado. Reece chided himself for not seeing. He’d been too enamored with Marie. She’d been the answer to his troubles, and now she was gone, taken from his grasp.
He brought his head up to take a breath and saw the unmistakable fin of a shark. Reece stopped all forward progress. He stopped kicking. Sharks were attracted to motion. The water would be full of them, Reece realized, brought to the scene by the explosion.
Reece floated in the salt water, holding his fist just above the water’s surface ready to connect with their snouts as several fins came by a few feet away like huge gray submarines on patrol, and then turned back toward the orange glow in the distance. He waited knowing if he started kicking, they’d turn on a dime and he’d have more of a problem than wanting to go after Alex James.
Reece slowly turned over onto his back and pushed the water with his hands at first and finally started making gentle kicks. He couldn’t wait. He needed to take some sort of action. This way he couldn’t have seen them coming from underneath the water, preparing to take a bite out of his shin, but he no longer cared. He needed to reach the others, to regroup, and figure out a way to find Marie.
A helicopter flew low over the scene. A boat was coming from the north. Reece thought back to the conversation he’d had just after breakfast with Karl Rhodes about the note. He fought the urge to swim fast, knowing his movements might provoke all-out attack by the sharks. Taking his time, he glided backward toward the island.
All the while one big question filled his mind. Why would Alex kidnap Marie?
Chapter 70
Julian held the throttle full open and was glad to see the harbor ahead. The Brilliant Blue was fueled and ready to go. After several hundred yards he slowed the engine speed to enter the no-wake zone of the marina, and finally pulled up alongside the rear swim deck. Alex leaped up and grabbed at the stern of the yacht but missed.
Julian shifted the motor into reverse and eased back, reaching out with a hand to snatch the side of the boat. With his opposite hand he hit the red emergency kill switch on the outboard motor. It was quiet except for the sloshing of waves between the two boats. Where’s Mira? Julian thought. She should be here. Marie let out a loud moan.
“Quiet her,” Julian said as he stepped onto the swim deck and quickly tied off the line. “Hurry now. Hand her to me. We have to do this fast and get out of here.”
Alex obeyed, wrestling Marie upright to encourage her to cooperate. Julian watched the other man stand rocking the aluminum boat from side to side and in doing so nearly falling overboard.
“Where’s the dark-haired girl, Mira? I thought she was meeting us,” Julian said. Alex had regained his balance, but was struggling to encourage Marie onto the boat.
He had one foot on the raised seat of the aluminum boat and one on the rear swim deck of the yacht. Julian was fuming, wondering where Mira was. He thought about grabbing the other man’s suitcase, he was certain it held his payment, pulling his gun and emptying it into the man’s skull.
But he quickly dismissed the idea – at least for now. As lame as Alex was, he needed his help to get the woman on board, untie the lines, and get them out to sea. Julian ran into the front cabin, pulled the rope he brought with him underneath the bed, tying it off on the side of the headboard with a five-foot length remaining and twisted the rest around the left post, leaving just as much free rope on that side.
The law enforcement activity swarming the island would be looking for departing airplanes, and boats as soon as they rescued the others and knew that someone had been kidnapped.
He knelt down and tied the two remaining lengths of rope onto the legs at the foot of the bed, deciding that would do until they got under way and he could come up with something more elaborate.
Once back out on the rear deck, Alex made a groan and tossed Marie Rhodes sideways toward Julian. With one move he threw her over his shoulder and retreated into the boat. Marie protested, letting out a muffled yell and flailing her arms wildly. To Julian it was nothing as he ran back inside the yacht, down the short hallway and tossed her onto the bed. He wasted no time fastening her to the posts, and then ran from the room, locking the door behind.
When he arrived back on the swim deck, he found Alex gathering his scuba gear.
“Leave it,” Julian yelled.
“It’s got my DNA on it,” Alex protested.
“I said leave it. You just blew up a yacht and kidnapped a CEO’s wife. You think you’ve got time to cover your tracks?” Julian said, waving his handgun at him. “Untie the lines, shove that thing out and get onboard. This place will be crawling with cops as soon as they start plucking your former friends out of the water.”
