For the first time in I didn’t know how long, I laughed. I cried tears of real joy.
I was so involved with Max that when Gabriel told me a few moments later that John the Snake Man had taken Trace’s life I dropped to the sand on weak knees. And I sure as hell was glad I didn’t see that before John delivered the killing blow, he had sliced off Trace’s ears and tossed them to the circling gulls above.
The lights of New Seattle beckoned in the distance. Standing out in the ink of night, they twinkled and waved, looking friendly and harmless.
Not so.
The lights were huge fires, lit on platforms that stood hundreds of feet in the air. The Runner fires. Fire from hell was more like it.
New Seattle held the largest contingency of Runners in the northern hemisphere. After the last big wave, they had sailed into the city, set up base, and never left. It had pretty much ruined my underwater shopping adventures. And even though I had prayed that most would be gone, frightened off by my message of impending doom and all, it was unrealistic to think there would be none left behind. There were always disbelievers in the bunch. And there were the opportunists. The ones who would risk anything, even their own lives, for the old finders-keepers game. That applied to anything left behind. Including women and children.
We had sailed from New San Juan with the wind and sea pushing us along at an unbelievable speed. It was like nature knew what lay ahead and was forcing us forward before we changed our minds. But forward to what? I had to wonder. Life? Or death?
We had said good-bye to John. For now. Using Trace’s boat, which was now his boat, minus the rotting body and skulls, John had sailed to New False Bay.
The Snake Man, it seemed, was our new babysitter.
And no one was more shocked about that than I was.
But, boy, were the twins revved up. When we had raised them on the shortwave, they had insisted on putting Aubrey on for introductions. She was excited to see all his colors.
The boys knew him. Turns out John the Snake Man had been a friend who had visited New False Bay often. Gabriel trusted him. And me? Well, I had saved his life, so he owed me. But when the kids didn’t sound scared anymore, when they knew John was on the way to take them as far north as possible, I decided we were even. Because even Tsunami Blue hadn’t been able to take their fears away.
John had been a friend of Gabriel’s in another life before being captured and hauled away to perform in Trace’s cage of terror. He’d been born with the spooky film over his eyes. A birth defect. A freak on nature. And didn’t I know how that felt. But the tattoos and piercings and the rest had been done by the Runners. Then they had split his tongue.
All against his will.
And I thought my childhood was hard.
But for me it was saying good-bye to Max—again—that was the hardest. I had gotten my best friend back, but as I watched him run along the deck and bark his good-bye, I broke down all over again. Logic dictated that it was the best move to take Max to the kids and Bacon and safety. But my emotions said differently.
I wiped my eyes.
“Thinking about Max?” Gabriel reached out and smoothed my hair. “I’m so glad you got him back.”
I managed a smile and nodded.
A huge flash of flames shot high into the night sky.
“The fires of hell are burning bright tonight,” I said.
I stood with Gabriel, and as we sailed into New Seattle, I braced for the same old insanity that only this many Runners could conjure.
But tonight was different. There was more chaos than ever. More insanity.
The Runners were moving out.
There was panic in the air. We could see the flurry of frantic activity. Like a mass of killer bees, the Runners swarmed. Men raced across platforms, carrying supplies. They hung from scaffolding, using pulleys and weights to haul cargo down to the waiting ships. They shouted, swore, fought, and killed. I watched as a man slipped, snapping his leg. As he lay screaming in agony, a Runner kicked him off the platform. Another put an arrow in him halfway down. He was still screaming when he hit the water. A crippled Runner was a dead Runner. It was just the way of the world. Their twisted world, that is.
We sailed on, blending easily into the insanity all around us. What was one more ship in the midst of hundreds? We passed the shark pens and a fierce chill swept along my spine. The pens were legendary. As were the great whites held captive in them. It was once thought that the sharks couldn’t survive in captivity. But leave it to the Runners to figure out a way.
They kept the sharks well fed.
To keep my fear at bay, I sat in the cockpit huddled under a blanket and watched Gabriel at the wheel. And I talked. And talked. And, well, basically, I drove Gabriel crazy.
“So you’re not a Runner, but you pretended to be a Runner and then you got a tattoo. Doesn’t that make you a Runner?”
“Blue.” He leaned down where I now sat and kissed me. “I am not a Runner. I never was a Runner. I only pretended to be a Runner to find you. If I could find you, then together we could do so much good. We could stop these monster waves, stop this insane destruction, save lives. We could try to give humanity a chance.” He sighed and ran his hand through his hair. “There were thousands of Runners looking for you, Blue. Thousands.”
“Thousands?” My voice squeaked.
He nodded. “They had better resources. More manpower. So I joined.”
“And that doesn’t make you a Runner?”
“It makes me a pretend Runner. Pretend.” He swung the wheel and the sails responded, filling with the night wind.
I thought for a moment. “And when you found me? When you gave me Max? Why?”
“I couldn’t get you out safely. They were closing in. All the factions. Trace, Indigo, all getting close. So I took them in another direction. That other direction lasted five years,” he said bitterly. “I left you Max just before I convinced them to go south.”
“Ah, south.” I thought of his sun-kissed skin. “And when I found you? When you almost died?”
“They had found you and were coming for you in the morning. I tried to beat them to it. The sea was rough, too rough.” He shifted his hands and gripped the wheel. “I almost didn’t make it in time to save you.”
I watched the tension in his body build as he relived that night. I stood and shared my blanket with him. “But you did make it, tough guy, you did.”
“So. How ’bout I change the subject?” I said after a moment. “I have a few more questions.”
He looked skeptical.
“How does this thing work?”
“This thing?” he asked.
“Yeah. You know, the whole, stoppin’-the-wave thing.” I twirled my finger in the air.
“It’s complicated.” He looked wary, like he always did when he didn’t know what was gonna come out of my mouth.
“So let me see if I can wrap my mind around this.”
“Let’s not.”
“Crystals?” I said, ignoring him.
“No.”
“Meditation?”
“No.”
“Chanting?”
Sigh. “No.”
“Incense and peppermint?”
“Not funny.”
“What?”
“Never mind.”
“I’ve got it. Parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme.”
“Damn it, Blue.”
I shut up. The shark pens were too close. He might give ’em a snack. Me.
We sailed through the city that had once been so green and lush, so unbelievably beautiful on a summer’s day. It now lay in ruins, like every other major city in the world.
We passed Seattle’s famous landmark, the Space Needle—actually, just the needle. That was all that remained for human eyes. Everything else was underwater.
Stick a needle in your eye, the sea whispered at me.
It was then, at that moment, that I knew the exact location the wave would come in. The sea, with i
ts taunting game had just pinpointed it for me.
Do you know how to thread a needle, Blue?
I knew without looking that all the color had drained from my face. I thought I might be sick.
And of course Gabriel noticed.
“You okay?” he asked.
“No, not really. But I will be. If you can really do what you say you can. Because now I know exactly where the wave will crest. Exactly.” I fought back the nausea while the sea laughed and taunted. Needle in a haystack, Blue. Needle in a haystack.
“The wave?” Gabriel asked.
“There,” I said as we sailed past. “The wave crests there.”
Gabriel squinted into the dark at the famous, now partially submerged Seattle Space Needle. “The Needle, then?”
“The Needle.” He didn’t ask me again. He believed me.
And it was time I believed him. Completely.
We sailed among the rooftops of Pike Place Market. I had been there only once as a kid. I remembered the noise and the people and colors and smells and food. But mostly, I remembered the fish.
I remembered the boys at the fish market throwing salmon through the air for their customers to catch if they dared. The kings were slippery and a worker was always there as backup should the customer miss. The customers missed a lot.
I loved it. So sure was I that those fish, the king salmon, could fly, I told Seamus. It was the first time he called me stupid. But now, knowing he had suffered and died without giving me up, that in the end he had protected me, took the sting out of the memory. It took the sting out of a lot of memories.
Gabriel tied the boat to an old sign advertising Starbucks Pike Place Blend. If Christmas Blend traded like gold, the Pike Place Blend would be platinum.
“We wait here,” he said. “It’s a good vantage point. I can watch the water.”
I went below. I didn’t want to care anymore. I was with either a madman or a miracle worker. Either way I didn’t think we’d live to see the morning. And for the first time I started to grieve for my future. For Gabriel’s future. A future that held the promise of us.
I woke to footsteps above deck. Loud voices echoed in the night. Swearing, laughter, and one oh, so familiar voice. Indigo. Damn it. I’d so much rather die in a wave.
The hatch flew open and a nasty-looking Runner, ripe with alcohol and weed, climbed down.
“I found the bitch!” he said, revealing teeth he’d filed into wicked points.
I turned to run. Yeah. Like that was gonna work. So much room in a sailboat.
He grabbed me and twisted the butter knife out of my hand, almost breaking my wrist. I was hauled up by my hair and tossed at Indigo’s feet. When I looked up, he was embracing Gabriel.
Gabriel pulled away and thumped Indigo on the back with a hearty slap. “I knew I’d find you here. Thought you’d be pleased with my little present.” He nudged me with his boot. “All that’s missing is the bow.”
I thought I was going to be sick.
Both men looked down at me like so much garbage.
Indigo, still wearing his stupid hat, spit on me and laughed. I thought I saw Gabriel flinch. No. I was wrong. He was smiling.
I. Would. Not. Cry.
“She looks like shit, Gabriel. All black and blue and purple. Please tell me this is my work.”
Gabriel thumped Indigo on the back. “It is.”
Indigo probed at me with his boot. “Did you nail her? Break her in for me? Tell me our little wave rat is a good ride.”
I. Would. Not. Cry.
“Naw.” Gabriel looked at me like I was dirt under his boot. “She’s too damn scrawny for me. Look at her, she’s a fucking toothpick. What fun is that?”
Indigo’s eyes narrowed. “Do you not want to share her? Is that it? Because she may be a little shit, but she’s gorgeous.” He reached down and captured my chin. “Just look at those eyes.”
“Suit yourself. I’m done with her.”
I do not share. How many times had I heard that? How many? Was everything about this man a lie? Not possible, my heart said. Not even.
“You’re a good man, Gabriel, one of my favorites. I should be pissed at you for leaving the cage without even a proper goodbye. But since you saved my little weathervane here along with your own sorry ass, I can forgive the slight. I just wish I’d been there sooner to help you out with that bastard Trace. But I heard in the wind that you took care of him just fine.” He laughed a wicked, mean laugh. “And that idiot thought he was having me for dinner.”
Chapter Thirty-two
Indigo had given Gabriel “last rights” with me. It was another twisted and sick Runner ritual: giving the captor one romp with his captive before she was handed over to the next in line.
I sat cross-legged on the V-berth. My hands were bound and I stared up through the hatch where the twins had first appeared. If I closed my eyes, I could see their hazel almond-shaped eyes, their shaggy heads, their wide-eyed look of innocence. It was that look, fixed forever in my mind, that haunted me the most. Gabriel cared about the kids—hell, he loved the kids. And he loved me. If I died this night at Runner hands, that was just what I would choose to believe. That was what I had to believe to keep on breathing.
The hatch swung open, and Gabriel stepped down into the cabin. He brought the smell of fresh sea air that mingled with the scent that was uniquely Gabriel Black. It was like an embrace from an old friend. The wind blew in behind him, sending his duster flapping around his leather boots. Midnight hair whipped around his shoulders, and his scowl was back. He looked like he had the morning after I found him, when I had held a knife to his throat. He looked dangerous and dark and threatening all over again. But I wasn’t afraid. I couldn’t be afraid of him. I loved him.
He slammed the hatch closed and threw the bolt. He came to me and swept me off the berth and into his arms. He carried me into the main cabin, away from prying eyes, and set me down. He pinned me against the teak-wood wall and kissed me. It was hard and bruising and desperate. He kissed me like he never wanted to stop. He kissed me like I was his and his alone. He kissed me like he was saying good-bye. Tears spilled down my cheeks at the thought. And finally, he kissed me like he loved me.
He broke from the kiss and untied my hands. He kissed my wrists where red, angry welts started to rise. Cupping my face in his hands, he looked into my eyes. I saw worry and fear reflected in his gaze, but I saw something else too: a raw, fierce determination.
“I will be back for you. You know this, right?”
I hesitated.
He put his hands on my shoulders and gently shook me.
“Right?” he said again.
I nodded, unable to find my voice.
“You will survive. Right?”
I nodded again.
“Damn it, Blue, say it. I need to hear you say it.”
“I will.”
“Will what?”
“Survive.”
“Until?”
“Until you come for me.” I couldn’t believe my own voice. I sounded scared, weak, defeated. And Gabriel could hear it too. But he had it wrong. I wasn’t afraid for me. I was afraid for him. How was he going to get past the entire Runner nation and live? How?
He put his forehead to mine and whispered, “Where’s my Tsunami Blue? The one who swears and kicks and spins knives?”
“And throws a mean rock,” I added. That got me a smile.
“Where is the woman who will fight for Max and Nick and Alec and—”
“Aubrey,” I finished the sentence for him. I reached up and looped my arms around his neck. “She’s right here, tough guy. Come back for me. Or I’ll come lookin’ for you.” I punched him in the arm. And for the first time ever, I punched him like a girl. I couldn’t bear to put another mark on his already bruised body.
A fist pounded at the hatch and my heartbeat kicked into overdrive.
“Time’s up, lover boy. We’re all getting under way. We got a fuckin’ wave to outrun.”
>
Gabriel pulled away. He reached out and mussed my hair, then tore my thermal and retied my hands.
And before he delivered me to the lions, he said the only words I needed to hear: “I love you.”
I climbed onto Indigo’s boat and was immediately thrown on the deck face-first. I pushed up, frantically brushing my hair from my eyes so I could watch the tall silhouette of Gabriel Black fade as we were pulled away from his boat by the currents.
He was watching me.
At that moment I knew I might never see him again.
It hurt like hell.
Good-bye, the sea said, lapping against the hull. Good-bye, good-bye, good-bye.
So there was my answer. The sea knew. This was good-bye.
There would be nothing left for me in this wet, fucked-up world without Gabriel and his little band of kids in it. And Max. Nothing. So I did what anyone in my position would do: I set out to make a plan. I’d forgo the pie charts and spreadsheets and five-year goals. I figured I had a five-minute, three-step goal. One, stay alive, at least for a while. Two, get the Runners to hang a bit longer. And three, wait for Gabriel to save me. Or else I’d save him. Again. Oops. That was four.
But deep down in my gut, I knew Gabriel could not save me. If he truly could stop waves, there would be no time to come back for me. I could only pray that he would save himself. Save himself for the little family who depended on him so. Save himself for Max.
And I thought I knew how to buy him time to make it happen.
Runners were predictable, greedy bastards. That was why they were still here. Still sacking and hoarding and looting. They couldn’t bear to leave anything behind. Greed was what drove them. Greed would kill them. Greed would take them straight to hell. The only problem with my plan was that I might have to go to hell with them.
I thought of the blood I’d spilled. And maybe, just maybe I deserved the same fate too. But not Gabriel. Not the kids. Not Max.
It was time to put my plan in action. And it had to start with His Blueness, Indigo.
I struggled to my feet, gaining balance against the rail. I tried to smooth my long and knotted hair with my tied hands. And when that didn’t work, I went for the obvious: I tore my thermal down farther, revealing cleavage. I turned to find Indigo.
Tsunami Blue Page 24
