Barefoot Beach

by Debbie Mason

  He bobbed and weaved. “Theia!” he shouted from the end of the dock as she went to get in the plane. She had the duffel bag in her hand.

  Caine, Jasper, and Kitty turned. Jasper put a protective arm around Kitty’s shoulders, his expression daring Marco to say one hurtful word. Caine moved to stand beside Theia, placing a hand on her shoulder. Marco wanted to rip it off.

  Then he looked at Theia, and everyone else faded away. He walked toward her, holding her gaze. “I know what you’re doing, and you’re not doing it alone. I’m coming with you.”

  Whoa. He didn’t just say that, did he? If he went by Theia’s shocked expression, he did. He had just volunteered to climb into that extraordinarily small space and fly. In the sky. Over the ocean.

  He wasn’t sure, but he thought her eyes filled with amusement for a second. It didn’t last long though. The risks involved, the lives of those she hoped to save superseded all else, even his terror. Which was why he repeated himself. “I’m serious. I’m going with you. You can’t go alone.”

  “She’s not. I’m going with her,” Caine said.

  “Yeah. So, what’s the plan? You’re going to just drop the money wherever he tells you? No backup because the police won’t agree to the ransom being paid and no doubt Wilson has already warned against involving them. You two are in this alone. So the way I see it, while one of you drops off the money, one of you will have to swim to the tour boat and, using the element of surprise, take out Wilson.”

  “That’s exactly what we’re going to do. So, if you don’t mind, you’re wasting—”

  He interrupted Caine. “Who’s doing the drop-off, and who’s doing the swimming?”

  “Marco, don’t,” Theia said.

  “Theia will fly us close to the drop-off point, and then she’ll swim to the boat. She’s better trained than I am.” He looked from Marco to Theia. “Is there something I’m not aware of?”

  “Yeah, a hell of a lot.” Pushing past his nearly paralyzing fear, he walked to the plane. “Neither of you knows this area or the water like I do, and neither of you swim as well as me. And if that’s not enough to get you to back off, Elliot, I’m in love with her. And if—”

  Caine clapped him on the back, a lot harder than Marco was prepared for, and he may have stumbled a bit. He blamed it on his weak knees. He was feeling a little dizzy too. “About bloody time,” the other man said, and stepped aside.

  “Marco, you can’t do this.” Theia glanced around and then went up on her toes, placing a hand on his shoulder. Then she said so only he could hear, “Look, I appreciate what you’re trying to do, but—”

  He slid his arm around her waist, holding her close. “Did you not hear me two seconds ago? I said I love you. I’m not letting you do this alone, and there’s no way I’m letting you swim at night.”

  “I love that you want to do this for me, but, Marco, you look like you’re going to faint. I know you’re terrified of flying.”

  “It doesn’t matter. My family is out there with a madman. Just like yours. There’s no one better than me for the job, and you know it. I trust you to get me there in one piece.”

  “I trust you too.” She briefly touched her mouth to his but then drew away to hold open the door. “It’s a little cramped.”

  He cursed in Italian as he climbed inside. Once he got strapped in, he drew his arm across his sweaty brow. “It’s starting to rain,” he told Theia as she settled in beside him.

  Her lips pressed together, she nodded and put on a headset. She pointed to his, glancing at him when he didn’t move. She dug around by her seat and pulled out a plastic bag, placing it on his lap. “Just in case.”

  At that moment, he thought a paper bag might be more appropriate. He felt like he was hyperventilating. He cupped his hands over his mouth.

  “Marco, you’ll be fine. Just try to relax and breathe.”

  “Keep talking. Listening to you helps.”

  As Theia maneuvered the plane into the harbor, Rosa and the Widows Club reached the dock. He closed his eyes, not just because he was terrified but because he didn’t want to see his grandmother and Kitty fighting. They’d had their ups and downs over the past couple of years, but in the end they’d always been there for each other when times got tough.

  Warm fingers wrapped around his. “Look.”

  He cracked an eye open to see his grandmother and Kitty standing side by side, the Widows Club huddled around them. He nodded and gave Theia’s fingers a relieved squeeze in return.

  “It’s okay to be scared, you know. Even pilots get scared. If anyone tells you they don’t, they’re lying.”

  “If you’re trying to make me feel better, it’s not working.” He had to raise his voice to be heard over the noise. His stomach felt like it was riding a wave, rolling over as the plane lifted off. “Are you afraid?” he asked.

  “I…” She glanced at him. “There was a time not so long that I was terrified. I didn’t think I’d fly again.”

  “What happened?”

  “An accident. My plane was shot down during a joint operation in the Pacific. Friendly fire. I lost my NFO. My naval flight officer. For years I was terrified I’d make a mistake and someone else would die on my watch. Healthy fear is one thing, but terror is a completely different beast. So, to answer your question, no, other than for our families, I’m not afraid. If the weather holds for another couple of hours, we’ll be good.”

  “What was your friend’s name?” he asked, keeping his eyes on her.

  “Holden. I called him Maverick. Corny, but he loved Top Gun. He swore his wife married him because of the movie.”

  “It was a great movie. What did he call you?”

  She smiled. “Ice. We’d flown together for three years. His ejection seat didn’t deploy right away. The explosion took out our emergency equipment. We crashed late at night in the western Pacific. It took a while for them to find us.”

  “So Holden was still alive?”

  She nodded. “He’d go in and out of consciousness. He died about an hour before they rescued us.”

  “How long were you out there?”

  “Eight hours.”

  His heart ached for her. “Theia.”

  She lifted a shoulder. “So now you know why I have a problem swimming in the middle of the ocean. And because I know how difficult it is to deal with that kind of fear, I hate to ask you this, Marco, but I need you to take those night-vision goggles and start looking for the tour boat. I’ve mapped out the coordinates Wilson gave Jasper, but we’re pretty sure there will be some distance between the drop-off point and where he’s stashed the boat and passengers.”

  He put on the goggles, working hard to convince himself he was in a boat, not a plane. “Give me the coordinates.” He’d plug them into his phone.

  “Jasper said it’s around Twilight Bay.”

  He nodded. “Makes sense. He probably ran the tour boat aground on one of the small islands. He might have a speed boat stashed on another one to make his getaway. What time did he schedule the drop-off?”

  “Two hours from now.”

  “It’s only going to take…Got it. You don’t want him to take hostages when he makes his getaway.” He shifted in the seat. “Don’t get me wrong. I think your plan was well thought out, but you didn’t factor in the weather. We have to get them off the island before the storm hits, and from what I can see, it’s moving in faster than we expected. So as much as you don’t want to involve the police or the Coast Guard, we don’t have a choice.”

  She smiled. “It’s already taken care of. The Coast Guard cutter left shortly after us.”

  “Sully. Should have known. Liam and Griff with him?”

  “I think so.”

  “Okay, we’ve got this.” And for the first time since he’d learned the whale-watching boat was missing, the vise-like grip on his chest relaxed. He leaned in and kissed the corner of her mouth before he began stripping out of his clothes. He pulled the wet suit from behind the
seat. “This should be interesting,” he said wryly.

  “Wait until I land. You can sit on the float and change.”

  “At least one of us is thinking.”

  “Fear has a way of short-circuiting our brains. You’re doing great. We’ll be landing here.” She pointed to the smallest of the three islands. “As far as Caine’s IT can tell, there’s no heat source and nothing that looks like a speedboat or the tour boat.”

  “Okay. So I’ll swim to the second island, disable the speedboat if it’s there, and then find the best way to get to the third island and the tour boat undetected.”

  She nodded as the plane began its descent. “How long do you figure it will take you to do that?”

  “Forty-five minutes tops.”

  “Okay, so once you’re in the water, I’ll set my alarm for forty-five minutes. When it goes off, I’ll contact Wilson using the megaphone so you’ll hear me. If you get in trouble, you have flares in the waterproof knapsack. There’s also a gun, a knife, and a first aid kit.”

  “Good to know,” he said, praying he didn’t have to use the weapons or the first aid kit.

  As though she read his mind, Theia said, “He’s desperate, which makes him dangerous. Go in armed.”

  The plane bounced along the ocean, water spraying the windows. Theia shot past the small island and then brought the plane back around. Something came over him as he opened the door to the plane. He’d never felt as close to anyone as he did to Theia in that moment.

  He shifted in the seat to look at her. “There have been two women in my life I thought I was in love with. But when I went to propose to them, I couldn’t get the words out. I used to think it was because I was a commitment-phobe. Now I know it’s because I’ve been waiting for you. Will you marry me, amore mio?” At her wide-eyed expression, he quickly amended, “Not now, but one day.”

  “This is crazy. We’re going to rescue our family, and you’re asking me to marry you?” She tilted her head to the side. “Are you asking because you think we’re going to die? We won’t, Marco. We’re all getting out of this alive.” She leaned across the seat and kissed him. “Be safe.”

  “You too,” he said, unwilling to tell her that fear of dying had nothing to do with his proposal.

  The swim to the second island didn’t take Marco as long as he’d expected, but the hunt for the speedboat did. It wasn’t there. The unsuccessful search had eaten up more time than he’d thought. Just as he rose from the water to walk onto the shore of the third island, Theia’s voice came over the megaphone. He scrambled up the rocky shore, listening closely as he did.

  “You’re early.” Wilson’s voice cut through the sound of the wind and waves.

  “I don’t know the area well. I didn’t want to be late. I have your money,” Theia called back.

  Wilson directed her to the other side of the third island and the tour boat. Marco didn’t like it. He set the knapsack beside a tree and pulled out a pair of sneakers and the gun. He heard the seaplane coming around the island and rushed to get the sneakers on.

  “Slow down, Theia. Slow down.” His heart raced as he began to run through the undergrowth, grimacing at the snap of branches, the rustle of leaves. He needn’t have worried, he thought as he got closer and heard the kids’ anxious voices, the women trying to comfort them.

  “What are you about, Ryan?” he heard Daniel ask.

  “Shut up, old man, and stay in your seat.” The sound of the plane grew louder, and then seconds later the engine shut off. Theia was there, and he was at least a few minutes out. “Step onto the float with the money and hold up your hands.”

  Marco cleared the trees, crouching behind a rock. As they’d expected, Wilson had grounded the boat on the shore. Theia left on the seaplane’s lights, and he could see the outlines of adults and children inside the boat.

  Wilson stood at the helm. His hand came up. He held the gun straight-armed in front of him, pointed at the plane. At Theia. Marco opened his mouth to call a warning just as the door to the seaplane opened. There was a loud bellow, and Daniel threw himself in front of Wilson. The gun went off. Daniel cried out, stumbled, and then crashed onto the deck.

  There was a splash near the plane. Theia must have dove into the water. Marco stayed low and ran alongside the boat, shutting out his fear for Theia, the sound of the women and children crying, and Daniel moaning.

  “You’ve got two minutes to give me my money or more people start dying,” Wilson yelled, scanning the water.

  Marco stood and raised his gun. “Drop it, Wilson.”

  The other man spun around. Marco didn’t hesitate. He fired. Wilson got a stunned look on his face. Then he pressed a hand to his chest, fumbling with his gun.

  * * *

  Deep beneath the cold, dark water, Theia’s jacket snagged on the boat’s hull. With her clothes weighing her down, she struggled to breathe. She didn’t know how much longer she had left. She’d already used up a lot of oxygen swimming under the water to the boat.

  Panic tightened her limbs, and she forced her thoughts to Marco. He’d come with her despite his fear of flying. She thought about the fears she’d battled over the years. She could do this. Her family was depending on her. Maybe Marco was too.

  Afraid they might need the ransom money, she couldn’t drop the duffel bag, so she placed the handles between her teeth. Then she struggled to get her arms out of her jacket. She didn’t have much time left. She was losing feeling in her limbs. But just when she was about to give up hope, she managed to free herself from her jacket. On a sudden burst of energy, she kicked her way to the surface, gasping for air when her head cleared the water.

  “Everyone, stay in your seats,” she heard Marco call out, the sound of his voice filling her with dizzying relief.

  “Theia! Theia, where…?” He leaned over the side of the boat. “Thank God,” he said, reaching for her. “Here, give me that.” He took the duffel bag, dropping it on the deck beside him, and then he hauled her from the water.

  “Sorry,” she said at her inability to help; her arms and legs felt like waterlogged noodles.

  “That’s okay. I’ve got you.” He lifted her over the side, and she wrapped her arms around him, holding on as tightly as she could.

  He drew back and framed her face with his hands. “Are you okay?”

  She nodded and went to look past him, but he held her in place. “Daniel’s been shot. I’ve done what I could to stop the bleeding and keep him from going into shock. Sully is less than a mile out, and there’s another cutter on the way. Everyone else is okay. I don’t want them out here until Daniel and Wilson have been taken off.”

  “Right. Of course. Wilson?”

  “Dead.”

  She nodded. “You didn’t have a choice.”

  He gave her a quick kiss. “I’ll stay here with Daniel. You go back with your sisters and the kids and get warm.”

  “I’ll check on them, but I’d rather stay with you.” And as she looked into the eyes of the man she’d fallen head-over-heels in love with, a man who made her see stars when he kissed her, she said, “I’ll marry you someday, Marco DiRossi. If you still want me.”

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Colleen had been waiting impatiently for Theia to return to the tower. It had been two days since the rescue. Daniel remained in the hospital recovering from his gunshot wound. He’d been a hero from what she’d heard, risking his life to protect Theia. Colleen imagined that went a ways to making amends for how he’d behaved when Theia’s relationship with Wicklow Developments had been made public.

  And wasn’t that a pickle. How was Colleen supposed to hold on to her anger against Caine when he’d played a prominent role in the rescue of her family, providing them with the ransom money? She didn’t know what to make of the lad. She’d give it more thought later. At the moment, she had more important things to occupy her mind. Like the manor.

  They’d weathered many a storm, and they’d weathered this one, but they’d p
aid a high price. The winds had uprooted centuries-old trees and the surf had risen to frightening levels, flooding the tunnels for the first time in distant memory.

  Still, she smiled from where she stood by the window in her suite, looking down over the hive of activity. The kidnapping had brought the DiRossis and the Gallaghers together, and now the damage to Greystone had brought out the town.

  “You have to endure the storm to appreciate the rainbow.” She murmured her mother’s favorite saying and then turned at the beep of the door’s lock, smiling at the sight of a sleepy-eyed Theia coming into the room. From what Daphne and Penelope had said, Theia had spent the past two nights with Marco, grabbing what little time the two had together in the aftermath of the kidnapping and the storm.

  Theia glanced around the room. “Hey, I’m back. You probably already know this, but in case you’ve been…I don’t know, hanging around someplace else, everyone’s fine. Well, Daniel isn’t exactly fine, but don’t worry; the doctors say he’ll be okay. He seems different though. Brushes with death have a way of changing people, I know, but Pen, Daph, and I are in wait-and-see mode.”

  Her phone rang, and she answered. “No. That’s blackmail. Okay, fine. But only one song.” She shook her head as she disconnected and then pointed her phone at the room. “You better appreciate this, GG. I’ve agreed to a sing-off with my cousins tonight after the clambake.” She half-laughed. “You probably have no idea what I’m talking about. The clambake is to thank everyone in town who’s come out to help at the manor. The sing-off is to raise funds to pay for the manor’s repairs.” She rubbed her hair. “I guess I’d better grab a shower and get changed…You stay out here, okay? I won’t be long.”

  Colleen chuckled when Theia grabbed her clothes and walked into the bathroom, saying, “I was right all along. Love really does make you crazy.”

  She wondered what Theia would think when Colleen delivered the message she’d received early this morning. It was from a man named Holden. Colleen believed he was Theia’s friend in the photo. She’d begun to think she wouldn’t hear from him. Which wouldn’t have been surprising since she’d never communed with the dead before. Though, truth be told, she’d never thought to try. In all this time, she’d only ever seen one other ghost, so she wasn’t sure how to go about it.