by Tawna Fenske
Once she was standing on the pier beside him, she took a deep breath. “So the owner of the cargo ship is meeting these guys in St. Lucia?” she asked. “That’s what Phyllis said, right?”
Alex nodded. “There wasn’t a lot of info, but he has access to a private jet. He should be there in a couple hours. They’re meeting at the airport.”
“And what about the cargo on the boat—the stuff you guys were after in the first place?”
Alex’s expression darkened. “Let’s just say things weren’t quite what we expected,” he said stiffly.
“What do you mean?”
Alex looked out at the ocean, not meeting her eyes. “Cody was taken before we really got a chance to assess the situation, but there may have been a misunderstanding.”
“Oh. Not a good one?”
“No,” Alex said, looking grim. “Not a good one.”
“So what did you—”
“Could we maybe not talk about this right now? It’s just—I haven’t really had a chance to digest things.”
Juli took a step back, trying not to feel stung. What did she expect, really? Alex still wasn’t willing to lay all his cards on the table. He didn’t trust her, probably never would.
She was spared the need to say anything more as Malcolm and his brothers rejoined them at the ocean’s edge.
“Your friend, he’s a big guy?” Malcolm asked.
“Huge,” Alex said. “Former NFL tight end.”
“The gentlemen at customs may have seen him, but they didn’t notice which way they went.”
Alex glanced at his watch. “Should we split up and look for them? We’ve got two hours before they’re scheduled to meet up with their boss. They couldn’t have gone too far.”
Malcolm nodded. “Juli and I will venture inland, toward the south. You and Phillip and Percy can try the north.”
Alex shook his head and took a step closer to Juli. “She’ll go with me. We work best as a team.”
Juli felt an odd flutter in her belly, and she couldn’t be sure if it was joy at Alex’s protectiveness, or the sheer pleasure of having him so close.
Or possibly a little terror. Okay, a lot of terror.
Malcolm stared him down for a moment before nodding. “Fine. We meet back here in one hour. You have protection?”
Alex gave an almost imperceptible nod, and Juli felt the hair prickle on her arms. She was pretty sure they weren’t talking about safe sex.
“Okay then,” Percy said. “Back here at 7:00 p.m.”
The three brothers turned around and stalked away, not once looking over their shoulders as they retreated to the far end of the dock.
“Let’s go,” Alex said and turned away.
Juli hurried to keep up, and they walked in silence for a few moments. She kept an eye out for Cody, noticing every figure, every movement around them. They passed a funky little bar with a terrible sound system blaring reggae music into the street, and Juli peered inside, hoping for a glimpse of Cody.
Nothing.
They kept walking, checking out a bakery, a roadside stand selling T-shirts, and a kiosk hawking timeshares.
Still no sign of Cody.
Juli bit her lip and looked up at Alex. He was scowling. “You think he’s okay?” she asked.
“Yes. I have to believe that.”
“What if—”
“Don’t,” Alex said, halting his steps to turn and look at her. “We can’t even think that way.”
Juli stopped too, taken aback by the intensity in his eyes.
“Sorry. I won’t. Cody’s fine. He’s probably teaching his captors to make a spicy Creole remoulade as we speak.”
“That’s the spirit,” Alex said and started walking again.
Juli wasn’t sure how long they’d been searching when they heard raised voices coming through the cracked window of a ground-floor room at a cheap hotel. She and Alex froze in their tracks and looked at each other. The voices continued, louder this time.
“You just ate the last spring roll, asshole!” someone shouted.
“Yeah, we ordered enough for everyone to have three and that was your fourth. I saw it!”
Alex raised an eyebrow at Juli, ready to keep walking, but she shushed him. Then they heard another voice inside the room.
“But you guys, the sauce is really good! It’s just the right blend of lemon and ginger, with the little flecks of zest in there.”
Juli gasped. Alex made a fist.
“Cody,” he mouthed.
“Shit,” she mouthed back, stepping closer to the window, trying to keep her head down. Alex joined her, his arm brushing her rib cage as they crouched together.
“What do we do?” she whispered.
“I don’t know yet.”
They were both silent again, listening to the voices on the other side of the grimy window.
“All the breadfruit custard is gone too!” someone complained. “Dammit, I told you we didn’t need a hostage. Especially one who eats like this.”
“Of course we needed a hostage, Todd,” another voice shot back. “You have to have a hostage if you’re stealing a boat. Duh! That’s just how it works.”
“Give me those noodles!” shouted a third voice, definitely too high to be Cody.
“Seriously, don’t you think those pirates are going to be mad we took their guy?”
“We needed him to drive the cigarette boat back to them after we meet up with the boss,” reasoned a man with a bullfrog voice. “We were being helpful. Thinking ahead. Don’t we get, like, pirate points for that?”
“I get to drive the boat?” Cody asked, clearly delighted. “Awesome! I’ve never driven one of those fast boats before. Can I have some more sauce?”
Juli moved below the window and slid up the wall, trying to get a peek inside the room. She squinted into the dim interior, spotting three strange men, two machine guns, Cody, and about eighteen takeout containers. She slid back down the wall.
“Guns?” Alex whispered.
Juli nodded, holding up two fingers. Alex grimaced.
“How many guys?”
“Three, plus Cody, all of them sitting on the floor eating,” she whispered back. “Apparently everyone’s confused about who’s who. I don’t think they know who Cody is, and Cody doesn’t seem to know who they are. They’re all just sitting there glaring at each other.”
The voices continued inside, sounding increasingly agitated.
“What, the rest of the pirates never let you drive the boat before, big guy?” shouted the man with the bullfrog voice, responding to Cody’s last statement.
“Well sure, but we had a big powerboat,” Cody said. “Not one of those little fast things.”
“You jerks were in a cigarette boat when you hijacked our ship,” Bullfrog argued. “That’s not a big boat at all.”
“We didn’t hijack your boat,” Cody said with exaggerated patience.
“Well, stole it then. Whatever you call it.”
“We didn’t steal it,” Cody insisted. “We were just going to take some stuff onboard, but not the boat. We were going to leave that with you guys.”
“Well then why the hell did you steal the boat?” Bullfrog asked, clearly angry now.
“We didn’t steal the boat! We didn’t even make it to the boat before the pirates got it.”
“I thought you said you were a pirate. You were on the goddamn boat!”
“I am a pirate,” Cody said, his voice now equally agitated. “But I’m a good pirate. The ones who stole your boat were the bad pirates.”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
Cody sighed loudly. “We’re pirates now, but we used to work for Kranston too. Just like you guys. I don’t know who the bad pirates are, but they didn’t work for Kranston. And we didn’t steal your boat.”
“This guy is crazy,” Bullfrog said. “Pirates who work for Kranston. What a crock of shit!”
There was a loud whacking sound inside the room. J
uli looked at Alex, alarmed.
Smack!
“Ouch! Dammit, he did it again.”
Smack!
“That’s it,” Bullfrog said. “I told you the last time—”
“Hey, give me back my spatula,” Cody said.
Alex put his head against the wall, looking pained. Juli stretched up again, trying to catch another glimpse through the window. Alex yanked her back down.
“I’ve got a better idea,” he whispered. “Come on.”
He tugged her by the arm, leading her to the crooked front door coated with six shades of peeling paint. He paused for a moment, composing himself. Then he knocked.
“What the hell?” someone inside yelled.
“Don’t answer it! It might be the pirates!”
Alex shook his head and knocked again. The door flew open and one man peered around the edge of it, looking alarmed.
“Hello, boys,” Alex said, shouldering the door open wider and pushing his way inside.
Juli saw his hand go to the middle of his back where she’d watched him tuck the pistol. She sucked in her breath. If she’d been Catholic, she would have crossed herself. Instead, she stepped inside the room behind Alex.
“A word with you, if I may?” Alex asked, and he kicked the door closed behind them.
Chapter 15
“So here’s the thing, boys,” Alex said, leaving his gun tucked in the back of his pants for now and raising his hands in his best impression of a harmless guy. “I know who you are. You’re the crew of the Kranston cargo ship that got hijacked yesterday. And I also know you’ve just stolen a cigarette boat and taken a hostage. That doesn’t make you any better than the pirates, now does it?”
Alex watched as two of the men shook their heads in shame and looked at the floor, blanching a little at his words.
Good, he thought. That’s good. A little guilt could be a powerful weapon.
A third man frowned, looking confused. Fortunately, none of them were looking at their guns. That was a positive sign.
Cody opened his mouth to say something, but Alex shot him a warning look. The last thing he needed was Cody revealing too much.
“But they started it!” one of the men protested. “Those pirates who stole our cargo ship—they started the whole thing, I swear!”
“I know, I know,” Alex said, holding up his hands again. “But see, they’re real pirates. Bloodthirsty ones. And you stole their cigarette boat. They don’t take kindly to that. In fact, they’re very angry.”
At that, all three men turned pale. Alex continued, edging almost imperceptibly between one of the men and his automatic weapon. For now, they seemed uninterested in violence, but Alex wasn’t taking any chances.
“Who are you?” one of the men asked. “Are you one of the bad pirates?”
Alex ignored him, focusing on the basics, on keeping his voice calm. “Here’s the thing. The bad pirates are pretty upset about the boat and the hostage. But I know you’re due to meet Tom Portelli in less than an hour.”
At that, all three men looked startled. From the corner of his eye, he saw Juli’s eyes widen.
“Hey, that’s how I know you!” one of the guys said. “Aren’t you like a VP or something for Kranston Shipping?”
“That’s right!” another guy chimed. “His picture’s in the company newsletter all the time. He’s a real big shot.”
Alex tried not to react to the words, but he could feel Juli’s eyes boring into him.
“Forget about me,” Alex said, folding his arms over his chest. “You guys just need to get out of here alive, hop on that private jet of Portelli’s, and get the hell out of here, right? You don’t need a hostage. And you sure as hell don’t need a bunch of angry pirates slitting your throats when you’re almost home free, do you?”
Three heads shook side to side, their expressions grim. From what Alex could tell, he was dealing with stupid here, as opposed to violent. Not that stupid wasn’t every bit as dangerous, but if he handled this right—
“The, um, pirates,” one man said, swallowing hard. “They’re here?”
“They followed you,” Alex said. “They came all the way to St. Lucia to get you. They’re very angry, and they’re looking for you right now. As a matter of fact, we’re helping them look.”
One of the men sat down hard on the bed and pulled his knees to his chest, rocking back and forth. Another gave a pitiful whimper and covered his eyes.
Alex glanced at Juli and quirked an eyebrow at her. She took her cue and nodded gravely.
“Should I call the pirates now and let them know we’ve found the guys who stole their boat?” she asked Alex.
“And stole their man,” Alex said. “Don’t forget that.”
“You’re right,” Juli agreed. “They were pretty mad about that part.”
“But he wasn’t even their guy,” one of the men protested. “He just told us he wasn’t really one of them.”
“Who’s fault is that, Todd?” one of the guys muttered. “I told you we didn’t need a hostage. You couldn’t even get the right guy, stupid.”
“Who are you calling stupid, stupid?”
“You, stupid. You’re a big, stupid—”
Alex turned to Juli. “Make the call,” he said loudly enough for the men to hear.
Juli, who didn’t even have a cell phone that Alex knew of, began rummaging through her bag. Alex suppressed a smile as he watched her hair fall forward, framing her face as she focused on playing her role.
“No, wait!” one of the guys interrupted. “See, we took Cody here so he could bring the boat back to the pirates after we escaped. We were helping. Honest!”
Juli looked up and shook her head sadly. “I don’t think the pirates will see it that way, do you?”
Alex sighed. “No. I don’t.”
“Please!” Todd said, falling to his knees in front of Alex. “You’ve got to help us. Don’t call the pirates.”
“Here’s what I’m thinking,” Alex said, and Juli stopped rummaging. “You give us the hostage. No hassles, no guns, no violence. We go back and tell the bloodthirsty pirates we’ve already killed you—”
“But—”
“We won’t really kill you,” Alex said. “We’ll let you continue on your merry way to meet the boss. We’ll call the pirates off, and you can jump on that plane, sip champagne, and forget this whole thing ever happened.”
The three of them frowned, clearly trying to figure out how they were being trapped.
“Or I could just call the pirates,” Juli offered helpfully, digging in her bag again.
“Here, take him,” one of the guys said, giving Cody a nudge toward them as he stepped back. “We don’t want him anyway. He eats too much.”
“Hey—” Cody started to protest, but Alex grabbed his arm and yanked him closer.
The man named Todd frowned at them. “So you’ll make sure the pirates don’t kill us. You’ll tell them, um, you took care of things already?”
“We’ll tell them we butchered you in cold blood and left your corpses to rot in an alley,” Juli said cheerfully. “They’ll be happy to hear it.”
Cody looked at Alex. “You have a gun, right?”
“Well—”
“Use it to get my spatula back from these guys before we leave, okay?”
***
None of them spoke as they walked away from the hotel room, their pace as brisk as they could manage without actually running. Since Cody and Alex both had a good twelve inches on her, Juli was practically running just to keep up.
As soon as they were out of earshot, Cody was the first to speak.
“That was so cool! How did you guys know where I was? That was the coolest thing, really, really cool!”
“Our first rescue mission,” Juli agreed. “Nice job, Pirate Alex.”
Alex grinned and looked down at her. “You weren’t so bad yourself. Now we just have to find Malcolm and the rest of the guys.”
Juli glanced at her
watch. “You’re right—we only have two minutes before we’re supposed to meet the pirates.”
Cody paled and stopped walking. “You mean the pirates are really here?”
“They’re really here, but they were helping us find you,” Alex said. “And their boat, of course.”
“And they’re really not bloodthirsty,” Juli added. “Much.”
Cody frowned, then started walking again. “So now what?”
“Well, I guess we head back to Barbados,” Alex said.
“The cargo ship?” Cody asked hopefully.
Alex frowned. “Things weren’t quite what we expected. Jake and I didn’t have much time to look before you were kidnapped, but I think there was a misunderstanding about the cargo.”
“Misunderstanding?” Cody repeated.
“The cargo we expected wasn’t there.”
“Oh.” Cody frowned and glanced at Juli before looking back at Alex. “That doesn’t sound very good.”
“No. It’s not good at all.”
Cody looked like he might be on the verge of tears, and Juli saw Alex give him a sympathetic pat on the back.
“It’ll be okay,” Alex said. “The five of us can regroup once we’re all back in the hotel room. Maybe figure out our next move.”
Juli watched the exchange in silence, trying to decide whether to feel disappointed about the unknown cargo or hopeful they were considering her a part of whatever came next. Alex had said five. That meant she was included.
As they approached the meeting spot, Juli spotted Malcolm barking orders at his two brothers.
“Right there! On the other side, next to the flat box. No, not that one, the other one. Good!”
“Um, Malcolm?” Juli asked, stepping beside him. “What’s going on? Why are the boats full of boxes?”
Malcolm turned and grasped her hand. “My dear. There’s been a change in plans. We had the opportunity to procure some rather valuable cargo on short notice. There’s a certain urgency involved in transporting it from the area as hastily as possible, you see.”
