“And people would know that.”
Her eyes darkened. “Are you implying that someone would have sold me to those men? That someone would have told them how to get to me?”
“They had to get the information from somewhere,” he said gently. “It doesn’t mean someone deliberately betrayed you. The information could have been gleaned in an innocent conversation. The person who gave away the information might not have even realized what he did.”
Her eyes were troubled. “I hope so.”
He ached when he saw how he’d shattered her trust. He’d do anything to give it back to her, he realized. But once broken, it couldn’t be fixed. Welcome to my world, he thought grimly.
It was only another illustration of how bad he would be for her, how wrong it would be to drag her into the darkness with him. Jessica would only be disillusioned if she stayed with him. Above all, he didn’t want to see her become as cynical and hard as he was.
“Can we pick up the equipment we’ll need somewhere in town?” he asked to distract her.
She nodded, then her eyes brightened. “If they’re smart, those kidnappers would be watching the dive shops. They’d know I didn’t have any equipment with me and that I’d need it.”
“Good thinking. Where are we going?” He waited for her answer, then pulled out the phone and called Devane again. “Put someone on Boss Frog’s Dive Shop. We’ll be stopping there for equipment. Jessica suggested they may be watching the shops.”
He closed the phone and leaned over to kiss her. “I hope you don’t turn to a life of crime,” he said lightly. “We’d be hard-pressed to keep up with you.”
“Don’t worry about that,” she said, equally lightly. “I much prefer working with you. I don’t think I’d like to be your enemy.”
She’d never be that. Emotion stirred inside him again, and he tried to ignore it. Emotion had no place in this job. He needed to catch Simon, and that was all he could focus on.
It was all he could afford to focus on. Because if he didn’t, he’d begin to make mistakes. And this time, the stakes would be too high to contemplate.
“Ready to go?” he asked.
“All set.” She jumped up from the table, her eyes shining with anticipation. “I can’t wait.”
They caught a taxi again, and Jessica leaned forward to give the driver directions to the dive shop. When the taxi slowed, Marcus looked around with narrowed eyes.
He didn’t like this neighborhood. The dive shop was a tiny storefront, tucked into a maze of small shops and buildings. Most of the shops had apartments over them, the perfect locations from which to watch the shop and not be seen. There was too much traffic; there were too many alleys and too many sidewalk cafés.
“Do we have to stop at this shop?” he asked in a low voice.
She snapped her head around to look at him. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing, yet. But there are far too many places for someone to hide. If the kidnappers are watching for you and they’re as smart as we think they are, my men might not ever see them.”
“John, the owner of the shop, taught me to dive, and I’ve never gone anywhere else,” she said, staring at the shop with an almost wistful look in her eyes. Marcus felt a black wave of jealousy wash over him. “But I suppose we could try another shop.”
“No, we’ll go to this one.” He leaned forward to pay the driver. “Hell, it’s what we want, isn’t it?” He opened the door with a savage twist of his hand. “We want them to spot us. I just have to count on my partners being good enough, and lucky enough, to spot the kidnappers.”
“Right.” She gave him a bright look, but he could see that her eyes were troubled. “Let’s go inside.”
“No, stand here for a moment.” His gut clenched at the thought of making her a target, but that was why they’d come. “Are you sure this is where someone would think you’d go?”
“Absolutely. Everyone knows that John taught me to dive. I always visit him when I’m home, and we usually go diving together.”
“So you’d be expected to go to this shop.” He ignored his surging jealousy.
“Yes.”
“Fine,” he said, his voice more curt than he liked. “Then let’s go inside. We’ve given them enough of a chance to see you.”
She gave him a sidelong glance but didn’t say anything as they walked into the shop. A curtain of beads hung in a doorway behind the counter, and he heard the tinny sound of a doorbell ringing in the back of the store. A moment later the beads rustled and a man appeared from the back.
He was thin and wiry, his face like tanned leather. His gray hair hung down his back in a thin braid. When he saw Jessica, his eyes lit up.
“Jess! I didn’t know you were coming in. Why didn’t you call?”
“This was a spur of the moment decision,” she said easily. “John, this is Marcus, a friend of mine. I want to show him the sights and I don’t have my equipment with me. Can you fix us up?”
“You bet.” John’s eyes were on him, assessing. “You want to scuba?”
“No, we’re going to snorkel. But I want the best you have.”
He turned to Jessica. “That’s all I’d give you, sweetheart.”
The man’s eyes softened, and he stepped close to give her a hug. Marcus’s hands itched to push him away, but he clenched them into fists and pretended to examine the masks hanging from a rack by the door.
“You don’t want those,” John said, misinterpreting his interest. “I’ll get equipment for you from the back.”
He disappeared behind the beads again, and Marcus looked at Jessica. “You seem very chummy.”
He couldn’t keep the sourness from his voice, and she looked at him with surprise. “What’s wrong?”
I’m a stupid fool, he thought bitterly. That’s what’s wrong. “Nothing. I guess I’m anxious to get out of this shop.” That was the truth. For more than one reason.
“This won’t take long.”
She was right. They were out of the shop ten minutes later, after Jessica asked John to put their rentals on her bill. She gave him another hug that had Marcus grinding his teeth, then they emerged into the sunlight, carrying their equipment in mesh bags.
Marcus looked around casually, letting his gaze catalog everything he saw. Nothing appeared out of place, but his neck burned as if he was being watched.
He pretended to drop his bag, and as he bent to pick it up, he looked behind him. As he straightened, he made a complete circle on the sidewalk.
He didn’t see anyone who took an unusual interest in them, no one who stared at them. He couldn’t see Devane or any of the other agents. But he knew they were there. He trusted them with his life. He hoped to God they saw whoever was watching them.
“What’s wrong?” Jessica asked in a low voice.
“I don’t know. But someone is watching us.”
Her face paled. “The kidnappers?”
“I’m not sure.”
“I hope so,” she said fiercely.
“My partners are here, too,” he reminded her. “If someone follows us, they’ll know.”
“Good.” She tucked her arm in his and gave him a wobbly smile. “Then we can forget about them and think about where we should go first.”
She was amazing. The men who had kidnapped her might be close by, watching them, but she managed to smile and act as if nothing was wrong.
“You’re something else,” he muttered. He couldn’t help himself. He covered her hand with his and squeezed.
Her face relaxed, and she turned her hand to join with his. “I think that’s my line. Are you ready to go snorkeling?”
Chapter 13
Jessica sat in the taxi and watched Marcus. His head moved constantly, watching out the windows, checking behind them. He’d worn a grim and determined look on his face since they’d walked into the dive shop, and his mood had steadily blackened since.
“Are you all right?” she finally asked.
He turn
ed to look at her. His eyes were as hard and cold as stones. “Why didn’t you tell me you had a personal relationship with John? We would have kept that shop staked out from the very beginning.”
“What do you mean, a personal relationship?”
“You’re obviously close friends.” His voice was stiff.
“Because I hugged him?” She stared at him, amazed. Then she saw the uncertainty deep in his eyes, and warmth uncurled inside her as she understood. Marcus was jealous of John.
“John is one of my oldest friends,” she said gently. “I’ve known him and his wife since I was ten. He taught me to dive and shared all his favorite spots with me. But that’s all there is.”
“It doesn’t matter what your relationship is, just that there was one.” His face was still hard, but some of the warmth came back into his eyes. “You don’t owe me any explanations.”
“Maybe I don’t owe you an explanation, but I want to give you one. John is a good friend, nothing more. And he never will be more.”
He searched her face for a long moment, then finally sighed. “I’m being a jerk, aren’t I?”
“Yep. But I think I like it.” She smiled at him and reached over to kiss him. He tucked her hand into his arm and resumed looking out the window. But his face was no longer shuttered and remote.
“Have you seen anyone following us?”
“Not a soul. And traffic is thinning out enough that I would. Maybe I was wrong. Maybe no one was watching at the dive shop.”
“But you don’t think you were wrong, do you?” she asked quietly.
He shrugged. “I usually trust my instincts. They’ve saved my rear end enough times that I pay attention. But nothing about this case is usual. So I don’t know.”
“Your partners were watching, weren’t they?”
“I’m sure they were, although I didn’t see them.”
“So if anyone tries to follow us, they’ll spot them.”
“I hope so.”
But she could see he was still worried. “Do you want to do this another day?” she asked.
“No. This is why we’re here. We want to draw them out. We’ll go to the four places that you picked and hope that my partner and his men spot them somewhere along the way.”
“All right.”
He leaned against the upholstery and gave her a smile. “And besides, I’m afraid you would kill me if I changed my mind about snorkeling now.”
“I wouldn’t kill you,” she said, giving him a grin. “But I might have to hurt you a little.”
His eyes gleamed. “That sounds very…interesting.”
Before she could answer, the taxi stopped at the first beach. She flung open the door and jumped out as Marcus scrambled after her. They put their clothes in a locker, and Jessica led the way to the water, already pulling on her mask and breathing tube. Since Marcus had dived before today, he didn’t need any instructions. When they both had their fins on, she turned to him.
“I usually just walk out until the water is about waist deep, then I start swimming. We’re heading over there.” She pointed to a large rock that jutted into the water off a small point. “That’s where the reef is. But you can usually begin to see fish before we get there.”
“You lead and I’ll follow you,” Marcus said, taking one more look over his shoulder in the direction of the road. She understood. He didn’t want her to ever be out of his sight. He would stick close by in the water.
She gave him a thumbs-up, then turned and waded into the water. It was pleasantly cool, and she grinned as it washed over her skin. She couldn’t wait to show Marcus the splendors of a tropical coral reef.
When the water lapped at her waist, she launched herself into its silky embrace. Immediately she saw schools of tiny, silvery fish darting back and forth in front of her. She waited until she felt Marcus next to her, then began to swim in the direction of the rock.
This was a reef for the tourists, and therefore a good place to start. It was close to the shore and easily accessible, and all the tourists eventually snorkeled here. It was a logical place for her to take Marcus.
She hoped the kidnappers would think so, too.
The dark wall of the reef loomed ahead of her, and she surfaced and blew water out of her tube. Marcus immediately surfaced next to her. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. I just wanted to orient you. We’re going to have to swim around that rock. The more interesting part of the reef is on the other side, where it’s more protected. Be careful because the water gets pretty shallow. Try not to put your hands on any of the coral, or scrape your knees. It can be really sharp.”
“Got it.” He looked around, and she followed his gaze. There were a few other people snorkeling close by, but they’d all been here before she and Marcus arrived. “Looks like we’re okay.”
She nodded and slipped her breathing tube into her mouth, then went underwater. She made her way around the rock, knowing exactly how far she had to go. Larger fish darted past, among them a small school of queen angelfish with their dramatic black-and-white-striped bodies. A group of blue tang in the water ahead of her looked almost iridescent. Finally she turned the corner and emerged into the brilliant world of the coral reef.
Jessica glanced behind her and saw Marcus on her heels. He gave her a thumbs-up sign when he saw her looking at him, and she smiled. Even underwater, Marcus looked like he was keeping watch.
The reef undulated in front of them, the water so shallow that it felt like she could reach out and touch the coral. Clumps of brain coral, its surface deeply ridged, hid starfish and sea anemones. Fish darted everywhere, their brilliant colors an underwater rainbow.
She turned in the water to watch Marcus. He floated on the surface, staring down at the strange, twisted formations of coral, and Jessica smiled again. The reef had entranced even Marcus.
After a while he looked at her, and she could see the wonder on his face. He gestured toward the deeper water, and she followed him to the surface.
“It’s incredible! I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“You never saw a reef while you were training for scuba diving?”
His mouth thinned. “We weren’t on sight-seeing expeditions. Gawking at the beauty under the water wasn’t on our agenda.”
“You can make up for it today.”
“I wish,” he began, then he stopped abruptly. But she saw the flicker in his eyes and knew what he wanted to say.
“I wish we could just concentrate on looking at the reefs, too,” she said quietly. “I never get tired of it.”
“It doesn’t matter what we want to do,” he said, his voice strained. “We came out here for a reason. How long do you think we should stay before we move to the next beach? What would be reasonable for a beginner like me?”
“Even in this warm water, you’re going to get chilled if you snorkel for more than forty-five minutes without taking a break,” she said. “So maybe we should quit after a half hour and go to the next place.”
“Sounds good. I’ll keep track of the time.”
She smiled. “You know me too well already. I usually set an alarm for myself so I know when to get out of the water. But I don’t have my dive watch.”
“I’ll let you know when we need to move on.”
They swam for another twenty minutes. She pointed out the various animals that inhabited the reef, promising with sign language that she would explain later what they were. Finally Marcus tapped his watch, signaling that it was time to swim toward the beach.
A stingray swimming along the sandy bottom of the lagoon a little way from the reef caught his attention, and he stopped to watch it. The ray glided along the sand, his powerful fins undulating, stirring up the sand in his search for food. Jessica swam a little farther, then waited for Marcus.
He looked up and saw she was ahead of him, then pulled next to her with a few powerful strokes. They swam until their feet touched the bottom, then they stood and pulled off their masks.
“Thank you,” he said quietly. “That was wonderful.”
But he seemed more remote, more withdrawn. His gaze swept over the beach, cataloging the tourists, looking for anyone out of place. They floated in the water for a long time, letting the waves carry them closer to shore.
Finally he said, “I don’t see anything that looks suspicious. Let’s go.”
They retrieved their clothes from the locker and began looking for a taxi. They dried quickly in the hot tropical sun, and by the time they found a cab, Jessica’s bathing suit was almost dry.
They visited two more beaches, each time watching carefully before slipping into the water. They never saw any sign of the kidnappers, or of Marcus’s partners.
Finally, as they were walking into the water at the fourth and last beach, Jessica said, “I can’t believe they haven’t been watching these beaches, especially if they saw me at the dive shop. These are the only logical places to go on the island if you don’t have a boat.”
“We don’t know what’s happening on the beach,” he said, glancing over his shoulder as they waded deeper. “My partner may have seen them or even caught them.”
Jessica was shocked at her gut reaction. She didn’t want the kidnappers to have been captured yet. She wasn’t ready to say goodbye to Marcus.
“Maybe so,” she managed to say.
Marcus gave her a sharp look, but he didn’t say anything. They were heading to a reef that was offshore, but close enough to swim to. “Ready?” he asked.
“Let’s go.”
The water slid over them like warm satin, and she gave herself up to its sensuality. A school of small cornet fish glided past, their long, thin bodies looking like silver sticks. She could see the shadow of the reef far ahead of them. Suddenly a dark shape appeared below them.
She saw Marcus’s instinctive start, and he moved closer to her. Then she smiled. It was a large sea turtle, moving through the water just above the sandy bottom of the lagoon.
Both she and Marcus turned to follow the turtle. He swam steadily, occasionally slowing to browse through a clump of turtle grass for food. Sea turtles looked ungainly and awkward on land, but in the sea they were magnificent. Marcus appeared as entranced as she was.
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