Diamonds Are For Never: Crime Travelers Spy Series Book 2

by Paul Aertker

  Ms. Günerro gasped, her hands covering her mouth. “That’s a tragedy,” she said. “I’m so sorry to hear this news.”

  Magnus folded his arms. “What exactly is the problem for us?”

  “If Lucas is wanted by Interpol and his body shows up in the Mediterranean, it’s going to be awfully—”

  “Fishy,” Ms. Günerro finished.

  “Yes.”

  “But that’s really not my concern anymore,” Ms. Günerro said. “If my container is on this ship, then I don’t care about pressing charges against the Benes boy.”

  “If you’re not pressing charges,” Agent Janssens said, “I’ll pull his name from the wanted list.”

  Lucas crawled backward out of his clothing cave to check on Alister’s work. On the bottom of the phi container there was a perfect black gash gouged through about half of one side. The air smelled of burning metal. Through the welder’s helmet Alister glanced up at Lucas, and then he went straight back to slicing the container.

  Lucas crawled back to his nest and scooted on his belly right into the middle of the pile of clothes.

  Astrid put her hands on her hips.

  “Lucas hates dark water,” she yelled. “He would have never in a million years jumped into the sea at night.”

  Travis asked, “Did you throw him overboard, Mac?”

  Mac stepped forward. “We just told you that Lucas probably took one of the lifeboats.”

  “Aye,” Eye Patch said. “No worries. He’s with the celebrities over in Mallorca.”

  The Curukians moved closer, and Astrid and Travis backed up.

  “My brother is floating somewhere out there in the Mediterranean Sea,” Astrid said.

  “Lucas is no longer wanted by Interpol,” Agent Janssens said.

  Travis said, “You’re a police officer, aren’t you?”

  “Yes,” Agent Janssens said. “But the fact that Ms. Günerro is not pressing charges against Lucas for wrecking her bus means I can no longer pursue him.”

  “Look at it this way,” Ms. Günerro said. “The good thing is that Lucas is not wanted by the police anymore!”

  “He could be dead,” Travis said.

  Astrid pointed her finger at Agent Janssens. “You just drop everything because Ms. Günerro says she cares more about her diamond container than she does my brother.”

  “I don’t have to be right,” Agent Janssens said. “I just have to follow the rules.”

  “Don’t worry about this little ninny,” Ms. Günerro said. “She will find an argument anywhere at any time, won’t you, young lady? Don’t answer that! I’m here for my container, so let’s get on with it.”

  Ms. Günerro looked up at the mountain of containers in front of her. “Which one is mine?”

  Mac offered his arm to her. With his other hand he pointed. “It’s on the other side of these containers.”

  “Well, you know,” Ms. Günerro said, “it strangely resembles Stonehenge. Is the container ready to go, Mac?”

  “Yes it is,” he said, motioning to the others to get ready.

  The Chinook moved into position with the hoisting wires dangling down.

  Lucas backed out of the clothes pile and crawled over to Alister to check his progress. He had already started on the third side, but the bottom section of the container still appeared to be intact.

  Alister kept the flame in his right hand and flipped the visor up with his left. The two dots on his cheeks were big and bright red.

  “Five more minutes,” Alister said. He flipped the visor down and continued melting away the old metal.

  Farther back down the side of the ship, Kerala and Jackknife were cutting the Curukian boat free.

  Lucas slid back under the Stonehenge containers and wormed his way through the laundry pile.

  Astrid spoke up. “Why wouldn’t you just leave the container here on the ship?”

  Ms. Günerro turned around and faced Astrid. “What?”

  “Yeah,” Astrid said. “Just pick up the container at the port in Barcelona?”

  “I know this game, young lady,” said Ms. Günerro. “That’s exactly what you want me to do. Send the container to Barcelona. Right? You’re trying to pretend that the opposite of the opposite is not the opposite, right?''

  “Exactly.”

  “The fact that you’re trying to stop me is proof that I should take the container now because I’m sure you and your little friends have some plan waiting over there in the port. Only a fool would let it go to the port as planned.”

  Ms. Günerro turned her back on Travis and Astrid and Agent Janssens. She faced Magnus, Mac, and the Curukians.

  Four boys stood at attention holding the four cables that were attached to the phi container.

  “Enough!” Ms. Günerro said, “Hook this thing up to the helicopter and send it to our warehouse in Barcelona. Now!”

  BYE-BYE PHI

  Lucas slithered backward out of the pile of clothes. He flung a pair of underwear off his shoulder and ran his index finger across his throat to signal Alister. Jackknife shut down the generator while Alister killed the flame on the torch.

  “Sorry,” Alister said. “I could only get half of it cut. Ms. Günerro may lose a little, but she’ll get away with the bulk of whatever is in there.”

  Lucas thought for a second. “But it’ll bend, right?” he asked.

  “After twelve years on the ocean, in the salt air,” Alister said, “and half of the bottom cut—yeah, the metal should be pretty weak.”

  Lucas mashed his cap down. He needed to keep the Curukian disguise just a few minutes longer. He snatched up a rope and hitched it to the lip underneath the phi container. Then he dragged the other end of the rope to the bow and tied it to the ship’s railing.

  Mac and the Curukians were still trying to catch the helicopter’s swaying cables.

  As he slipped back behind Stonehenge, Lucas hoped his rope idea would work.

  The helicopter moved into position. Its nose dipped, causing the hoisting wires to swing out over the bow again. The Curukians snatched them and clipped the hooks to the cables that were already on the phi container.

  The container jolted as it lifted off the ship’s deck. It tilted away from the opening that Alister had cut in the bottom. A rumbling sound came from inside the metal box. As the container rose, it swung and clunked into the surrounding containers. The cables holding it began to spin and straighten.

  Lucas’s rope, the one that was tied to the container and the railing, snaked across the deck.

  Slowly the container rose and floated toward Mac’s desk. Everyone was watching.

  The helicopter would soon rip the railing off, but the rope would slow the helicopter for a minute. Long enough for Lucas to play one more game.

  More slack came out of Lucas’s line.

  Just as the Chinook was starting to fly out over the water, Lucas’s rope on the ship’s railing became taut, and the helicopter and the railing played tug-of-war with the container in the middle. At this first sign of tension, one of the two cables that Lucas had unlocked popped loose.

  The helicopter stopped its ascent and came back down a little.

  A few diamonds sprinkled out of the opening that Alister had cut.

  Ms. Günerro didn’t move except for her eyes, which bulged as she watched the shiny stones peppering the deck like hail.

  The helicopter jerked the container back and forth, up and down. Lucas’s rope held tight.

  As the midair battle for the container grew more violent, Lucas’s rope yanked wildly on the container, whipping around and spinning the container like a giant piñata filled with diamond candy.

  The second cable that Lucas had unlocked snapped free. The container dipped toward the gash Alister had cut, and more diamonds clattered out onto the deck.

  A few Curukians tried sweeping them up with their hands.

  Magnus and Ms. Günerro watched in horror, their mouths widening. Magnus pointed at the railing.

&n
bsp; A group of Curukians stormed the bow and tried to unknot Lucas’s rope, which only made the container swing more wildly. The helicopter stopped moving forward and hovered in place.

  Magnus was on his walkie-talkie. “Tell the pilot to get out of here.”

  As the helicopter rose, the gash that Alister had cut began to wrench open like a giant mouth.

  The container now spun out of control, swirling in wide loops above the ship. The container spat out diamonds, some of them rattling on the ship’s deck but most spraying out into the sea. Gold coins pinged on the metal floor and rolled across the deck and into the water.

  Fragments of rotted paper blew out across the ship like confetti.

  The helicopter seemed to lose control and spun the container in wide and uneven arcs. It sailed over the water and back over the edge of the ship, where the container opened completely. Elephant tusks heaved out and smashed down on the deck and bounced into the water.

  Everyone scattered.

  The helicopter rose, snapping the railing from the ship’s deck. With the lopsided weight beneath it, the helicopter itself began to spin out of control.

  The Chinook crew released the cables so that the spinning container and the railing careened down toward the deck. It looked like it was going to smash right on top of everyone, but the container sailed above the ship and out over the water.

  Then the metal box and all its remaining contents crashed into the sea. The water burbled around the sides of the phi container, and in moments it sank.

  The helicopter tilted forward and flew away.

  No one on board the ship said anything. Everyone stared at the wreckage.

  Strewn all over the deck in front of them were maybe a million dollars in gold coins, diamonds, and a few ivory tusks. Sinking into the sea behind them was a fortune.

  “My ivory!” Ms. Günerro screeched at the clump of Curukians. “My diamonds! You just ruined my entire shipment. My own boys destroyed ninety percent of the contents of that container!”

  Just then a thin-armed Curukian came running up to the group gathered on the deck.

  “Hey, two of our boats are missing,” he reported.

  “What do you mean?” Magnus asked.

  “Someone cut the ropes,” the boy said. “There’re only two boats left.”

  “Maybe they floated away,” Mac said.

  “No,” Ms. Günerro said. She stomped her boot and looked up to the sky. “No, there is only one way this got messed up. Lucas Benes is on this ship. Find him now!”

  HOME IS WHERE THE HOTEL IS

  Magnus ordered the Curukians, “Cut the other two boats free, first. I don’t want Lucas to have an escape.”

  No one had noticed Lucas yet. He clumped in with the group of Curukians that was supposed to be looking for him. They walked straight across the deck past Ms. Günerro and Agent Janssens.

  When he passed Astrid and the others, Lucas motioned for them to follow him. As soon as Lucas rounded the container with the surfboards, he huddled together with the other New Resistance kids.

  “Out of the frying pan,” Astrid said, “and into the fire.”

  “I know,” Lucas said.

  “There are too many to deal with,” Travis said.

  “What are we going to do?” Alister said. “Retreat?”

  Jackknife said, “We’re on an anchored drone ship.”

  Kerala added, “It won’t take long for them to recognize Lucas.”

  Jackknife asked, “What about the Curukians’ boats?”

  “Magnus just cut them free,” Astrid said.

  Hervé stepped out from behind a container. “We are in the Mediterranean, no?” he said. He tapped his cane on the container with the surfing gear. “Why not take kite boards?”

  It was a brilliant idea. If it could work.

  With Magnus and most of the Curukians now on the other side of the ship, the New Resistance set out.

  Hervé joined Lucas, Kerala, Travis, Jackknife, Astrid, and Alister as they each snatched a kite board from the container.

  In a matter of minutes they were standing at the gap in the ship’s railing. They tossed the boards down into the water and then launched their kites and jumped into the Mediterranean.

  Holding on to the kite lines, they body-dragged a safe distance away from the ship. Then they locked their feet into the boards. Even Hervé with his cane and bum leg managed to get up and hang on.

  The seven kids sailed away from the Leviathan and into shallow water. Behind them they could hear Ms. Günerro and Magnus and the Curukians yelling after them. Lucas looked back and saw Ms. Günerro putting on goggles and a snorkel. Two Curukians jumped into the water, but they dog-paddled and would never catch up.

  Toward the south the two Curukian dinghies that Magnus had cut loose floated aimlessly.

  The wind blew and the kites filled with air. Most of the kids just sailed straight to the shore. Jackknife of course did flips and tricks at every opportunity.

  When they landed on the beach, the tide was coming in and washing away sandcastles that had been built that day. They dropped the kites and sat on their boards and looked out over the water.

  They were all pretty tired, but when Jackknife finally skidded his kite board onto the sand, he summed it up for everyone.

  “That my friends,” he said, “was awesome!”

  The news of the container accident must have traveled fast. Groups of boats filled with scuba divers were speeding toward the newest and richest dive site on the Spanish coast.

  A little while later they heard a familiar voice.

  “Vámanos!” it said.

  Wearing shorts and flip-flops and a flowery hat, Coach Creed marched across the beach.

  “Where are we going?” Travis asked.

  “To the hotel,” Coach Creed said.

  Jackknife asked, “Where is everyone from the plane?”

  “They’re at the hotel in Barcelona,” Coach said. “Everybody from hotel school is coming here.”

  “Why?” Astrid asked.

  “We had a problem with our concrete,” Coach said. “The construction company that was doing work on the hotel in Las Vegas was paid off by the Good Company. They implanted audio and video equipment in the new dorms. It’s a mess.”

  Astrid asked, “So what are we going to do?”

  “We’re moving to Spain.”

  Coach Creed drove them in a van from the beach to the Globe Hotel Barcelona where Mr. Benes, and the other New Resistance kids from the airplane were waiting. There they ate squid and octopus for dinner and slept four to a room. Lucas got the spot closest to the air conditioner so he wouldn’t have to hear Jackknife snore.

  Lying in his bed in the Barcelona hotel, Lucas felt connected, somehow tethered to his past. To his mother, his grandfather, and his family’s history. Knowing something about where he had come from gave Lucas new hope about where he was headed.

  One thing he knew for certain: He would not stop until the Good Company was gone for good.

  MAPS

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  For the second book in a row, I am indebted to my editors, Brian Luster and Karen Sherman, who have yet again taken a good manuscript, sprinkled a lot of fairy dust on it, and turned it into the best book it could be.

  Thanks to Amy McKnight for quarterbacking the design, and to Pintado in the Philippines for his unbelievable cover. And special thanks to Paul Devine (Instagram @Paolo_Vino) for his realistic and artistic maps, which I hope will inspire kids to learn more about the world.

  A huge thanks to Jennifer Currie for reading this story in its oh so rough-hewn form. A tip of the hat to Captain Dave Hussey for righting the ship.

  A shout-out to some of the many people who have helped me. Brad Haight, Kristen Monroe and the Denver Public Library, Annette Shope, Jeff Miller, Kenny Creed, Joseph Michael (@ScrivenerCoach), Carol Lord, and the gang at the Bookies.

  Finally, there are no words to describe what my wife, Katherine, has had to put up
with to help me get this book out. All I can say is thank you and I love you.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Paul Aertker (pronounced ETT KERR)

  As a traveler and multilingual teacher, Paul has clocked nearly half his life outside the US. When he was a teenager, he slept on the streets of London to watch a royal wedding. He took the CIA exam because he wanted to be a spy for the good guys (and not the Good Company). He was an au pair in France and built a children’s library in Africa.

  Paul currently lives with his family in Colorado where he is working on more books, and making plans to hit the road, again. More information at www.crimetravelers.com.

  Don’t forget to write a review online.

  For speaking and Skype engagements, please contact me at crimetravelers.com/speak