She moved back, but David straightened as if that slight touch had reminded him of who he was. And that he wasn’t alone.
“What are you planning to do, Neil?” he asked, contempt clear in his voice. “What’s the great plan this time? And what makes you think it will work any better than your elaborate plan to sabotage our airliner out of London?”
David ignored the red suffusing Neil’s face and continued almost as if they were having an intellectual discussion about some obscure point. “I assume Tony the Pickman was yours? And he didn’t get it right, did he? He didn’t get Claire and he didn’t even get the tainted spinach on the table. Your planning and execution skills seem to lack a little something, don’t they? Like success? My suggestion would be for you to start re-evaluating your plan.”
“Shut up! Shut up, you old fart.” Neil’s face was almost purple. Then he drew a deep calming breath and the color in his face subsided to a dark red, but the tick in his eyelid was now out of control. “What do you know?
“It was her! She messed up everything. It seemed so convenient when you invited her here. It seemed like destiny was calling to me. So I told Tony to take care of her. I thought it would make us even.
“But she was lucky. Too lucky! But no more!” He looked directly at Claire. “Baby, your luck turned this morning when you came bouncing down to the dock, wanting to go with us. Could you come?
“Hell, yes!
“I wanted you to come. The more the merrier, I say.” He laughed that crazy laugh again.
“So how are you going to explain our absence when you show up and we don’t, Neil? Tell me that. Bodies float and bodies with bullet holes are very suspicious.” The calmer David appeared the faster the tick in Neil’s eye beat.
“There aren’t going to be any bodies,” he said, his mouth stretched into a sardonic grin, “only pieces. And after the fish finish with the pieces, I doubt any bullet holes would show.” He watched their reactions. “Actually, I don’t intend to shoot you unless you make me. No, I have another surprise. It’s poetic really. It will be the perfect end for Claire, here.” He nodded with satisfaction at the confusion on their faces. “Yep, it’s a shame this gorgeous motor-yacht has to be sacrificed, but life is like that. It’s a new boat, not fully tested. There must have been a problem with the fuel line, but no one will ever know for sure because it’s going to blow so high over such deep water they’ll never be able to recover enough to figure out what happened.” He chuckled again.
“Yep, it’ll be a miracle that I survive. And everyone will be grateful that I do. Yes, there I’ll be, ready and able to assume the role of leadership at Vantage.
“People may mourn you, David, but you’ll be gone and I’ll be in charge. And right according to plan.” His gloating look was too much.
Claire concentrated on her breathing. She felt physically ill. She took deep breaths, willing herself to stay calm. Neil’s plan was diabolical. And while she had never taken to Neil, she had never suspected him capable of planning this level of mayhem.
David appeared to have gone into shock. This treachery was so great he was speechless.
Claire’s mind was racing. It was unthinkable that Neil could succeed at this plan, yet, he might. Who would suspect him? If Jack or Doug thought the explosion might be part of a plot to kill her, as they had thought the mugging and spinach fiasco were, they would probably never consider Neil as the culprit. After all, he would be the only survivor. His life would appear to have been in as much danger as theirs. She didn’t know what disturbed her most; the likelihood of being blown apart, or thinking Neil might get away with it.
She stared at David, willing him to look at her. They had to do something to save their lives. Neil seemed totally unconcerned. Smiling, pleased with himself, he steered down the Bay, only glancing their way from time to time to ensure they hadn’t moved.
Not much chance of that, Claire thought. They were both frozen in shock.
And now that Neil had told them his plan, he didn’t seem to be in a hurry to put the plan into action. But then Claire remembered he had mentioned deep water. So maybe he had a specific destination in mind for the dastardly deed. If so, she hoped it was still quite some distance away, but she knew better than to count on it.
She wondered, if both she and David attacked him, would they be able to overpower him before he shot them. That seemed too risky. And for all of her concentration she couldn’t even get David to make eye contact with her, say nothing about formulating a plan.
Neil was chauvinistic in his attitude toward women. Claire had observed how he radiated his feelings of superiority whenever he interacted with women. She was certain he wouldn’t even consider her a threat to him. He especially wouldn’t consider her able to physically retaliate against him.
He would be watching David, though. While David was twenty years older than Neil, he kept himself in good shape. In fact, Neil and David frequently competed in various sports so he knew just how fit David was. Yes, he’d be watching him.
Somehow she had to surprise Neil and get that gun. She had to figure out how she could overpower him.
Neil glanced over at her and then at the table behind him. “Claire, make yourself useful and bring me another beer.”
Then, impatient with her slow response he barked, “You heard me. I want a beer.”
She moved reluctantly towards the table, her mind racing. She picked up one bottle and put it in her back pocket. She then picked up the last bottle with her left hand, keeping her back turned away from Neil as she approached. Her eyes swept over David and she felt a little jolt when she saw his eyes on her. Although his posture hadn’t changed a bit, his eyes were alert.
She held the beer out to Neil, who had turned around at her approach.
“Take the cap off, Miss Nosy.”
She complied slipping the cap in her pocket at the same time she grabbed the neck of the beer bottle out of her pocket.
“Now look Neil, I can’t let...” David stood up suddenly.
Neil jerked around, one hand pointing the gun, the other holding his beer, leaving the wheel free to spin totally unmanned. “Sit down, old man,” he roared. The boat lurched just as he fired off a shot at David. The shot shattered the windshield and Neil steadied his gun hand for a second shot when Claire swung the bottle at his head with all her strength.
The bottle shattered. Neil stood there a moment, blood and beer running down his neck. His eyes rolled back and he sank to the deck, the gun and beer bottle falling from his hands. David leapt over him to grab the wheel, steadying the big craft while Claire scooped up the gun. She pointed it at Neil, panting noisily, trying to catch her breath.
“Do you think I killed him?” she whispered.
“God, I hope so.” Then commonsense took over and he looked at Neil lying at his feet. “I don’t know. There seems to be a lot of blood.” Then he looked straight into Claire’s eyes, “Thanks. That was great!
“Well, if Neil does wake up, I imagine he’s going to have quite a headache.”
He turned the boat around. “Think you can find something we can use to tie him up? I don’t want to have to be watching him until we get to shore.” Then he shook his head sadly. “He’s gone over the edge. I don’t know when or why, but somewhere, somehow he went crazy.”
And then muttering under his breath, “And I didn’t even see it.”
Then seeing that Claire still stood there looking down at Neil, he said more sharply, “Come on, Claire. Snap out of it. Hand me the gun and see what you can find to tie him up with. Then I’ll try out this radio and get us some help.”
She looked at him, suddenly feeling faint. She steadied herself by grabbing a chair. “David, we have to get off this boat.” Then she repeated tersely, “We need to get off now! Right now!”
He just looked at her.
“David, he was planning to blow it up. Remember he talked about an explosion? We don’t know when or how. We have to get off now. Forget Nei
l. Forget the radio.” She looked around. “There, the little boat. We can take that and get away. Just stop the boat now and help me get that little boat in the water.” She stuck the gun in her waistband and scrambled down the ladder, calling back, “Come on. Hurry!”
Her fear was contagious. David was right behind her. She was trying to figure out how to operate the wench so it would lower the little silver boat – kind of an inflated raft – to the water, but David managed it with a few flicks of the switch. He held it close to the rear platform while Claire got in. Then he stepped in, moved down to the end of the boat and lowered the motor into the water. It took a couple of tries before the motor caught, and he steered the little craft away from the yacht toward shore.
“Do we have enough gas to reach shore?” she asked, afraid to relax just yet.
“I think so. But if we don’t, we have those.” He pointed to the oars tucked into the side of the boat.
Claire watched as the distance between them and the motor-yacht lengthened and turned to David. “I guess we made it.”
* * *
Jack and Marcus looked up as Wiley held the door for two young men pulling a wheeled cart full of equipment. “Thought we should take advantage of all this hi-tech stuff we have here.”
One of the young men, who Wiley introduced as Nick, poked a few buttons on a panel on the wall to lower a screen. The other, named Guy, set a projector on the table and plugged a laptop into it.
“The file came through, but I thought it would be better to project them so we can get bigger images. Any idea what we’re looking for?” He looked at Jack.
“Nope, but we’ll see it better on the screen. Great idea!” He and Marcus took a seat at the table. Guy already had the first image up on the screen. Slowly they watched the pictures, which could have been anyone’s vacation pictures.
“Oh, I bet Claire didn’t like that.” There was a close-up of Claire. The flash had startled her, because the spoon she was using was in her nose instead of her mouth.
“See anything of interest?” Wiley asked hopefully.
Jack and Marcus shook their heads. Guy clicked the pictures one after another.
“Wait! Go back one.”
They all waited and looked at the picture of a crowd of people in a marketplace.
“Can you zero in here?” Jack was on his feet in front of the screen, pointing at a person.
Guy blocked the area and manipulated the computer to enlarge that segment of the picture.
They all stared.
“Isn’t that Neil?”
“What would Neil be doing there?”
“Isn’t he your executive vice president, Wiley?” Marcus came forward to see better.
“I can’t believe it. Jack, do you know where this picture was taken and when?”
Jack stared at the screen, then said slowly, “I think this must be the picture Liz took in Camden Market.” He turned and looked at them. “I wasn’t there, you understand. I just heard about it.”
“That’s Rosa.” He pointed to the side view of a woman with dark hair. “She didn’t want her picture taken. Ever! Everyone knew that and tried to accommodate her. Except Liz. Of course, later we knew why she didn’t want her picture taken.
“Anyway, there was this big scene in Camden Market, because Rosa said Liz was stalking her and taking her picture. Liz claimed she was just taking a colorful street scene and didn’t even see Rosa. But later she said Rosa was not attending to business. Rosa was supposed to be verifying data in the book for the author, Lucy Springer, but Liz said Rosa was meeting men in all these places instead of doing her job.
”Of course, Liz was a little crazy, or maybe a whole lot crazy. But then, as it turned out, we now know Rosa was meeting with men along the route. Because she was collecting pieces she needed to build her bomb.” He turned and looked at Guy. “Can you go back one more picture?”
“Now, there! Zero in on that area.”
It was another shot of the crowded market, but this time Rosa’s back was to the camera and just over her shoulder they could see a face.
Guy increased the size.
It was Neil, or his twin.
“That son of a bitch!” Jack couldn’t believe his eyes.
“Wiley, do you have Neil’s schedule for the year?”
“Sure, accounting has records and I’m sure his secretary does.”
Jack looked Wiley straight in the eye. “Can you conceive of any reason why Neil should have been in Camden Market, at the precise place and precise time that a terrorist, planning to blow up one of your airliners would also be there?”
Wiley’s skin turned gray and suddenly he looked old.
Marcus’ eyes glittered coldly. “I think we’re going to get to know Neil real well.”
“But, why?” Wiley agonized. “Why would he be involved in a plot to blow up one of the airliners? He’s going to be the CEO of Vantage. It makes no sense.”
“Good question. Perhaps we should ask him.” Jack’s voice was grim.
“Meanwhile, we’d better go through the rest of these pictures in case we find something else.
They sat quietly as Guy finished flashing the photos on the screen.
Marcus walked to the other end of the room and talked quietly into his cell phone. Wiley gave Guy instructions about printing copies of the two pictures of Neil for their use. He sent Nick back to their offices to gather information on Neil’s travel activities, especially during May and June.
Then they sat down to discuss how to proceed.
“Where is Neil now?” Marcus asked Wiley.
“Christ!” Jack looked from one to the other. “Charlie said Claire wanted me to know that she and David were going out on a boat with Neil.”
“They’re with Neil?” Wiley’s voice faltered.
“Maybe not. Wait, let me find out. He pulled his phone out of his pocket.
Charlie answered his cell phone on the first ring, but didn’t know if the boat had returned as he was at the vet’s with MiMi.
Jack glanced at his watch. It had been hours since Charlie had called him. Certainly they should have been back by this time.
He poked in the numbers for the Lickmans and paced while waiting for someone to answer.
“Hello, hello? Is Mrs. Kramer available? This is Jack Rallins. I have to speak to her immediately.” He paused for a moment, then said, “Well, find her!”
“Mrs. Kramer, Jack Rallins here. Mrs. Kramer, did David, Neil and Claire return yet? Can you check?”
“She’s going to check but she doesn’t think they’re back,” he said to the anxious faces in front of him.
“Yeah, yeah. Okay. All right. Well, if they come in will you call me immediately? You have my cell phone number? Yes. Yes. Right.”
“They’re not back?” Wiley asked, his anxiety showing in his stance.
“Mrs. Kramer said JoJo wanted to go, but Claire sent her back to the house. JoJo said that they were only going to be gone for a half hour, because Claire told them I was coming to talk to them about something. That worries me – why did Claire lie? And JoJo is a little put out with Claire. Claire said her grandmother didn’t want her to go, but it turns out the grandmother didn’t say that at all.”
Marcus stood up. “Okay. I’m concerned. Does anyone know the name of the boat or its radio call letters?”
Jack and Wiley shook their heads. Wiley called the Lickmans once more to see if anyone knew what the boat name was.
Marcus called the Coast Guard to find out if there were any problems on the Bay and to alert them they had a situation developing.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
The little boat skimmed over the water, heading steadily toward shore. Claire was calmer now, but every time they went up over a little swell and the boat was high enough to see Neil’s motor-yacht she measured the distance between them.
“David, can this boat go any faster?” She struggled to keep her voice calm even though her heart threatened to burst out o
f her ribcage.
“Not much faster. Why?”
She looked directly at him. “Well, unless I’m crazy, Neil’s coming after us.”
David twisted around to look. “Unfortunately, you’re not crazy.”
“I guess the good news is that I didn’t kill him. I should have listened to you. You wanted to tie him up. But I panicked.”
“Stop it. We were in a hurry! We thought we were heading for safety. For that matter, I should have taken the key out of the ignition and tossed it. That would have slowed him down. Of course, I didn’t think of it, then.”
They looked at each other glumly.
“What’s going to happen? We won’t make it to shore in time, will we?”
He shook his head. “Not a chance. But with a little luck we might make it to shallow water.” He pointed to some markers in the water a long ways off. “We could get through there and he couldn’t.” He turned and looked at the approaching boat. “Do you swim well?”
She nodded.
“Well, if you end up in the water and he tries to run you over dive as deep as you can and stay down as long as you can so you can clear the propeller blades. But if he’s determined and keeps coming back, I don’t think we’ll have much of a chance to make it.”
His eyes told her it wouldn’t be if, it would certainly be when. “He has to kill us, Claire. You know that, don’t you?” His tone was gentle, but certain.
She nodded. No words were needed.
“Well, look in that little locker under your seat and see what kind of survival gear we have. This is a good time to make use of anything we have.”
Claire pulled out the box and opened it. The inflatable vests looked like the ones used on the airlines, but if they needed to swim underwater to avoid the propellers they didn’t need the buoyancy of the vests. She put them back and, rummaging around, she held up each item for David’s inspection.
“There. Give me that.”
She handed him the flare gun.
“Let’s just see if anyone is close enough to help. If nothing else, it’ll give Neil a little more to worry about.” He pointed the gun into the air and fired the flare.
Claire Gulliver #02 - Washington Weirdos Page 18
