Beyond Fearless

by Rebecca York

  She looked around the harbor. Other boats were in the water, but at this hour, none of them were close enough to be in danger. Thank God.

  A crowd had gathered on the dock and along the street that bordered the harbor.

  As she and Zach swam toward the pier, Anna heard a silent voice from the street.

  Anna? Zach? Are you all right?

  Yes, they both answered.

  The mental conversation was punctuated by the sound of fire engines racing along the street toward the conflagration.

  What in the name of God happened? Jordan asked.

  You were right, Swift’s guy was still out there. Only the man’s changed his name to Stone.

  Good catch!

  His hired killer and two thugs were waiting for us.

  And you sent them across the harbor in the boat, Jordan said.

  Yeah. Zach looked toward the flaming craft. Sorry. I guess your names are on the rental agreement.

  Jordan shook his head. And I guess some guys stole it and crashed it into the fueling station.

  Yeah.

  Since you’re obviously not on board, Anna added, then she thought of something. But Claude saw us here. Can you find him and make him think we were on the Odysseus all the time?

  Which one is he?

  Still in the water, Anna scanned the crowd. He’s standing at the edge of the harbor. Coffee-with-cream skin. Curly hair. About five ten. Wearing a Miami Dolphins T-shirt.

  Got it! After we take care of him, we’ll talk to the police.

  Anna and Zach reached the dock. She climbed up and Zach followed. With everybody’s attention focused on the fire, she and Zach were able to hurry down the narrow walkway and climb onto the deck of the Odysseus. As far as anybody knew, they’d been on board his craft all along.

  Once inside, they went down to the master cabin, where he pulled out dry clothes. Anna was towel drying her hair when Lindsay and Jordan climbed on board.

  “You decent?” Jordan called.

  “We’ll be up in a minute.”

  They all gathered in the main cabin.

  “Before the action started tonight, I found out something disturbing,” Zach began, then told about the encounter with Claude.

  Jordan whistled. “Your brother was the one who set you up on that diving expedition?”

  “I may not be able to prove it.”

  “But now you know to watch out for him.”

  Zach sighed. “Yeah.”

  “Right after Claude left us, he bumped into Bill. Then Bill and his guys came after us, and we sent them to hell.”

  Jordan gave a harsh laugh. “You’ve been busy.”

  “Unfortunately. But the main point is that despite Bill’s best efforts, we’re alive.”

  “You do see why going into hiding is a good idea?” Lindsay asked softly.

  Zach looked around the Odysseus. “I hate the idea of selling this boat. Maybe I can take it to a secluded location, repaint the name, and make believe we’re somebody else. After I stage my own death,” Zach muttered.

  Anna’s gaze shot to him. “You’ve been thinking about that?”

  “Yeah. That might eliminate a lot of problems for me. Starting with my brother.”

  “Maybe,” Lindsay agreed, but Anna didn’t know if she was just trying to let him down easily.

  Well, they’d cross that bridge when they had to.

  Jordan looked across the deck toward the still-burning fueling station.

  “Probably you should move the boat tonight. I hate to be a party crasher, but is there room for us to sleep here?”

  “There’s another cabin, almost as big as the master cabin. We can motor down the coast a few miles and anchor in one of the coves.”

  “Yes.” Jordan turned to Zach. “I’d like to leave Lindsay here while I make a police report and pick up our clothes. So, could you come with me while the women stay here?”

  “Yes,” Anna and Zach both said immediately.

  “And I’ll get Anna’s things, too,” Zach said. He paused. “Hell, I don’t even know where you’re staying.”

  “The Palm Court Hotel. But what if they won’t give you my stuff?”

  “I think Zach and I can persuade them,” Jordan added.

  “We’ll be back as soon as we can. Then we’ll cast off,” Zach said.

  The two men exited the boat, and Anna turned to Lindsay. “I wish I knew my way around here better. Let’s see where Zach keeps his linens.” As she thought about beds, she flashed on what she and Zach had been doing earlier in the evening.

  Lindsay laid a hand on her arm. “You don’t have to wonder what I’m thinking about you. I know that you and Zach have a strong sexual relationship—like we do. It’s part of the Darien package.”

  Anna nodded.

  “Sex is a pleasure the two of you share. And it’s a means to an end, because it opens your minds to each other.” She laughed. “Jordan and I found you and Zach because we were practicing a new technique—Tantric sex.”

  “Oh.” She joined in the laughter. “I guess we’d better not tell Zach, because he’ll want to try it tonight.”

  Lindsay grinned. “He might not like it because it means postponing orgasm. Sometimes for hours.”

  “Impossible.”

  “Practice makes perfect.”

  Anna grinned.

  They descended to the second cabin, and Anna checked the bunk. It had a comforter but no sheets. After opening a few drawers, she found the sheets, and she and Lindsay began to make the bed together.

  It was such a normal activity. Yet she felt like everything in her life had changed.

  Lindsay caught her mood. “If you and Zach are like me and Jordan, you probably didn’t have a lot of close friends—because you had trouble connecting with people. Something was always missing, and it was that psychic component,” she said.

  “Yes,” Anna admitted.

  “Finding the two of you makes a tremendous difference to us.”

  Anna swallowed hard. Probably describing their feelings was never going to be easy for any of the Dariens, but she wanted Lindsay to know what was in her heart, so she laid her palm on top of the other woman’s hand, and they stood silently for a moment.

  “A friend like I never had before,” Lindsay said.

  “Yes.”

  They smiled at each other, then finished making the bed.

  When Zach and Jordan returned, the women were up in the lounge relaxing over margaritas.

  “Looks like we got here just in time for the party,” Zach observed as he set down a bag on the deck, then went to the controls and started the engine.

  JIM Stone looked at the news report from Grand Fernandino. He’d been keeping an eye on the island, looking for anything strange. Now he’d found something.

  Picking up the phone, he made a call to a man he’d hired on a short-term basis.

  “Check on the Odysseus,” he said. “I want to know if anybody’s aboard. If they are, keep them in port, and I’ll give you further instructions.”

  A half hour later, he had his answer.

  “Someone’s on board, and they just pulled out of port.”

  Jim fought the urge to vent his anger and frustration. Instead, he carefully hung up the phone.

  So he knew the freaks were alive.

  Well, he’d keep looking for them, and sooner or later he’d find them.

  ZACH piloted the boat out of the harbor, then along the coast to a small cove he’d discovered the week before.

  They seemed to be the only craft in the area, and Zach dropped anchor in the darkness. In the distance, frogs chirped. And when insects began buzzing around the boat, Zach lit a couple of repellent candles.

  As the boat gently rocked in the waves, Anna handed Zach a drink, and he joined the others in one of the comfortable deck chairs.

  “This life has a lot of appeal,” Jordan said in the darkness.

  Zach slid his chair close to Anna and draped an arm over her shoulder.
“I can’t imagine myself not doing physical work,” he said.

  “You got a chance for plenty of action in the past few days.” Jordan looked around the deck. “And you know, if you didn’t want someone to find you, traveling from port to port on a nice comfortable boat would be a good way to go.”

  “It’s a great boat, but it would be a little cramped for four people,” Anna said.

  “We could sell it. And add some of my trust fund money,” Lindsay said. “That way, we could get something a lot bigger.”

  “You have a trust fund?” Zach asked.

  “Yes. I mostly lived on my salary when I was a staffer on Capitol Hill. So I only dipped into my inheritance to buy my condo. Jordan and I both sold our places in D.C. and moved to a farm in West Virginia. But we’re only renting. So we’ve got the real estate money, too.”

  “What about when we find other Dariens?” Anna asked.

  “We get a big enough yacht, and that won’t be a problem for a while,” Jordan said. “And we’d all have to crew. So that should take care of the physical labor part. But we can also be on the lookout for several properties where we could live.”

  Anna swallowed. “What if we run into some Dariens who don’t fit in with us?”

  “We have to be prepared for that,” Jordan answered, his voice turning gruff. Looking at Zach and Anna, he said, “The other couple we found tried to kill us.”

  Anna sucked in a sharp breath. “Are you going to give us details?”

  “They were a twin brother and sister who bonded as children, and they had plans to take over the world.”

  “Bonded? You’re not talking about like what happened with Zach and me.”

  “No, I’m talking about a physical relationship.”

  “They were in an orphanage, and they turned to each other for comfort. But they grew up warped, and they used their powers to establish a fake religious cult.”

  “Like San Donato,” Anna whispered.

  “But on a bigger scale, with richer patrons, in Florida. Where they could indulge the luxury lifestyle they craved. They’d gotten their hooks into a U.S. senator and were planning to maneuver him into the presidency when we encountered them.”

  “Jesus!” Zach swore.

  He was silent as he stroked his hand up and down Anna’s arm, then cleared his throat. “I guess we’d better ask—what happens to our kids? Do they have psychic powers? Or does it end with us?”

  “We don’t know,” Lindsay answered. “And so far, we haven’t been willing to take the responsibility of having children. Not when our lives are so…uncertain.” She cleared her throat and turned to Anna. “I went on birth control pills. You have to decide what you want to do.”

  Zach knitted his fingers with Anna’s. “Another important topic for discussion. But not tonight. It’s been a long day.”

  “Very long,” Jordan agreed.

  “We can meet again in the morning. If it doesn’t sound too mundane, I’ve got cereal for breakfast. And boxed milk. I hope you don’t mind instant coffee.”

  Jordan laughed. “I can deal with that—on a short-term basis.”

  “If you get up before I do, maybe you can row the dinghy to shore and pick some bananas and breadfruit.”

  “Aye-aye, sir,” Jordan answered.

  It felt good to be joking around. And wonderful to have found these people who had so quickly become closer than family.

  Anna rested her head on Zach’s shoulder, and he wedged her against his side.

  They stayed close together as they walked back to the master cabin. And as soon as they stepped inside, Zach closed the door and pulled her against the length of his body.

  He was aroused, and when she tipped her head up, he brought his mouth down to hers for a hungry kiss.

  “Did you ever picture this?” he murmured when they broke apart to drag in a breath.

  “This? You mean love that reaches to the depth of your soul? Passion that burns you from the inside out?”

  Uh-huh. And marriage. Don’t forget we’re getting married as soon as we can figure out how to do it safely.

  Whether I have a piece of paper or not, I know I belong to you. Only you.

  He kissed her again, and they swayed together, their passion building, and she wondered if they were going to get to sleep any time before dawn.

  Well, maybe we can manage a couple of little naps, he whispered in her mind.