SeaChange

by Cindy Spencer Pape

  “Now. Tell me why you were following my sister.”

  “Jake, let the man get dressed before you interrogate him.” Heidi tossed Niko the clothes. She was getting tired of trying not to notice the other merman’s…endowments. While he didn’t set off the same tingles she felt when she looked at Jake, it was still kind of distracting.

  Jake grunted an assent and they all looked aside while Niko pulled on the garments.

  Before Jake could pounce again, though, Niko took the offensive, turning to Leta. “Why did you run, dearest? I thought you were happy planning our wedding?”

  “Happy?” Leta screeched. “I felt like a dolphin caught in a fishing net. I told you I wanted out—you, my mother, everyone—but none of you listened.”

  “Well, you certainly didn’t act like it. You didn’t seem trapped last week, when you lured me off to that deserted beach.” His voice lowered. “I’m sorry if the sex was too intense for your tastes, princess. All you had to do was say so. You didn’t need to run away.” He flicked a glance at Wen. “Certainly not to another man, and a human at that.”

  “Whoa, there. That’s way more information than I want to know about my baby sister,” Jake interjected. “And she didn’t run away to anyone, except to me.” Turning to Leta, who still cowered behind Wen, Jake raised one eyebrow. “I thought you said Mother was forcing this wedding?”

  “She is,” Leta insisted, but her gaze sank to the carpet. “Though I might have agreed…in the beginning.”

  “Fuck.” Jake scrubbed a hand across his face and sank onto a chair.

  Heidi moved over to the galley corner of the room and began to assemble sandwiches, her eyes still fixed on the others more than on what her hands were doing. Steve, who had tucked his gun back into the holster at the small of his back, joined her and started a fresh pot of coffee. The man behaved relatively normally—for someone who could teleport.

  “Our wedding would help mend the rift that has emerged among our people,” Niko said directly to Leta. “But that is not why I proposed. I’ve waited decades for you to grow up. I see now I didn’t wait long enough.”

  “Stop right there,” Jake interrupted. “Leta, is this just a case of cold feet?”

  “No, my feet are quite warm, thank you.”

  Heidi laughed. “Jake, you’ve been hanging out with humans too long. Leta, what he means is did you just get nervous about the wedding? Is that why you left home?”

  Leta nibbled daintily on her full lower lip. “Perhaps. But I do want to experience life on land, like Che has. I am not ready to be, as they say on television, tied down.”

  “Where did you watch television?” Jake asked.

  Heidi set a plate of sandwiches on the table and motioned everyone over.

  “At that resort on Catalina Island,” Leta said. “I go there sometimes to ‘hang out’ with the tourists. I love the dancing and volleyball.”

  “Of course.” Jake shook his head and moved over to sit at the table beside Heidi, pulling Leta by the wrist to sit next to him on the three-person bench. That left Wen, Steve and Niko squished into the other side. Steve carried over the coffee pot and a handful of mugs, then managed to insinuate himself between Wen and Niko.

  “We might want to expedite this part of the conversation,” Wen reminded them as he bit into a ham sandwich. “The drug runners will be here in just a few hours.”

  Chapter Nine

  By the time the second round of lunch was over, the tensions had been mostly defused, and they had a plan. Leta and Niko had refused to leave, but had agreed to shift into dolphin form and be out to sea when the drug transfer took place. Jake had promised to talk to them more about the problems facing the merfolk after tonight’s showdown. Steve and Heidi would be hidden in sniper positions on the boat, while Wen would be…somewhere.

  His three divers arrived shortly thereafter and would be underwater, waiting to board the cigarette boat when it arrived, along with a Mexican authority from some unnamed government agency in the capitol. Heidi didn’t even ask what any of the divers were, though one had volunteered that they’d been teammates in the Navy SEALs. That sixth sense she’d been developing in the last few days told her that these guys, like everyone else but her on the boat, were something more than human. They were fitted with rebreathers, so there wouldn’t even be any bubbles to disrupt the waves. Steve mounted several cameras around the outside of the Siren’s cabin, which would record the transaction for evidence purposes. The Mexican agent, a middle-aged man named Miguel, would be hidden in the cabin, monitoring the cameras.

  Shortly before sunset, Leta and Niko slipped into the water and swam away. Then things started to get interesting.

  “Not exactly form-fitting, is it?” she asked as Jake strapped her into a bulletproof vest. Somehow they’d ended up alone in the master cabin—their first moment of privacy all day.

  “If I had my way, you’d be somewhere safe, and not wearing one at all,” Jake grumbled. “You’re absolutely sure you want to do this?”

  “Yep. You’re not getting rid of me that easily.” Her heart clenched at those words. After tonight, this could all be over and she might very well never see Jake again. “You’re wearing one of these too, right?” At least she and Steve would be hidden on the deck, one on each side of the pilothouse.

  “Not the same kind. We don’t want to advertise that I’ve got access to that kind of hardware. I’m just a guy with a boat, remember? Wen brought me a lighter weight piece that will stop a small-caliber pistol round. It’s basically a bulletproof T-shirt.”

  Heidi didn’t like the idea of him being less protected, but she understood his reasoning. “Be careful,” she warned him, biting her lip as she pulled on a black ski mask and stuffed her braided hair up into it. “I want to find Brad, but I don’t want to get you killed in the process.”

  Jake pulled his Hawaiian shirt off over his head, then pulled on the Kevlar T-shirt. “Believe me, Freya, I don’t intend to get myself killed.”

  “Yeah, tomorrow you’ve got to go see what you can do to help your family.”

  Jake rubbed his jaw and Heidi realized he’d forgotten to shave. She hadn’t really noticed the five-o’clock shadow before, but it added a little air of rakishness to Jake’s already sexy features.

  “We’ll worry about that tomorrow,” Jake replied. “Heidi, whatever happens tonight—whether we find Brad or not—I want you to know—”

  “Hey, you two ready to rock? We need to get Heidi in position before dark.” Steve’s voice from the doorway interrupted the moment. Heidi blinked, forcing herself to look away from Jake’s intense dark gaze.

  “Aye, aye, captain,” she said, drawing in a deep breath. She snapped Steve a mock salute. “Are the divers down?”

  “Yep. Everyone’s in position except the three of us.”

  “I’m going to use the head, then I’ll meet you topside. Okay?” She didn’t know how long she was going to have to sit still, and using the bathroom first sounded like a good idea.

  “Sounds good, but be quick. Sun’s setting as we speak.” Steve turned and left the room.

  Jake waited for Heidi, then when she emerged from the bathroom, he hauled her into his arms for one last, fierce, kiss. “Stay safe,” he murmured as he stepped away.

  “Yeah. You too.” Her lips still tingling, Heidi turned and ran up the stairs.

  She settled into the spot the men had prepared, the sniper rifle perched on a tackle box and her body mostly concealed by other equipment. Once she was in place, Steve waved his hands and muttered something. Heidi felt a weird tingle, but nothing looked or felt different.

  “It’s not an invisibility spell,” Steve said. “That takes a hell of a lot of power. But what it will do is make a casual observer kind of look away without noticing you. You should be fine, unless you move or do something else that attracts attention.”

  “Thanks.” Wow, it was good to have magic on their side. She spared a moment to hope the bad guys didn’t a
s well.

  Steve nodded and disappeared, presumably into his own hiding place, opposite hers. A few minutes later, Jake took up his position in the pilothouse.

  Then they waited.

  Heidi kept trying to check her watch, waiting for the ten p.m. meeting time, then remembered she’d left it off so the reflective dial wouldn’t draw attention to her hiding place. Brad, she reminded herself. That’s why she was doing this. Deep in her heart, she was sure he wasn’t dead. She’d dreamed about him again last night, dreamed that he was calling out to her for help. All she could do now was wait, and hope to hell that this crazy plan worked.

  Finally, after what seemed like hours but was probably only minutes, she heard a boat. Chills ran down her spine. It was the same cigarette boat. She’d stake her life on it. These were the same men who had rammed the Zodiac and left her to drown—along with whatever they’d done to Brad. She sighted down the barrel of her rifle at the rear swim deck.

  Jake stood in the pilothouse, mostly hidden by darkness. The moon hadn’t risen yet, and all they’d turned on were the running lights. When the sleek powerboat bumped against the Siren’s stern, Jake took one step out onto the deck and flipped on a floodlight pointed toward the drug dealers.

  “You have the goods?” he asked in Spanish.

  “Sí,” came the response from one of the men on the boat. “You have rest of the money?”

  “Right here.” Jake picked up a small canvas gym bag. “You want to count it?” He took two steps toward the rear, holding the bag out before him in one hand, his other in the air.

  “Bring it,” said the man at the wheel of the smaller boat. “Jorge, get up there and check the bag.”

  “Sí.” One of the four men in the boat looped a rope around the Siren’s rail, while another held a rifle targeted on Jake. The final man climbed out and onto the swim deck.

  Jake stood at the rail overlooking the swim deck. The other man’s head and shoulders were visible above the rail, and even Heidi could see the handgun he had trained on Jake. He held out his other hand for the money.

  “Let me see the product,” Jake said, holding the bag out of the other man’s reach.

  The fourth man in the boat held up another black bag, only this one looked like it was weighted down with bricks, instead of filled with stacks of hundred-dollar bills. “Five kilos, amigo. As promised.”

  Jake nodded. “Hand it over, then.” He held out the bag toward the man on the deck.

  Wen must have somehow been watching and notified the divers that it was time. Suddenly all three of them were out of the water. They climbed into the cigarette boat while Jake leapt down over the rail to tackle the man on the swim deck. He got off a shot, but Jake’s arm knocked his aside, deflecting his aim so it went wild, firing off into the open ocean.

  The pilot and the man holding the boat were disabled quickly, but the one with the rifle used the butt of it to knock aside one of the divers. While the diver regrouped, his target got off a shot.

  Heidi fired back instinctively. She almost breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that the bullet had missed Jake, then cried out in pain as it slammed into her left forearm, the one bracing her rifle. Even before she let go of her rifle, she saw the gunman in the boat collapse. Had she shot him? Or had Steve done it, and she’d just missed the sound due to pain?

  “Heidi,” Jake yelled, scrambling toward her at a run.

  “We’ve got them,” one of the divers yelled. “One down and two unconscious. You want to question number four?”

  “Bring him onboard,” Wen said calmly, having reappeared on deck. “Heidi, how badly are you injured?”

  “Just a graze,” she answered weakly. She’d set down her rifle and immediately covered the burning wound with her right hand. Blood oozed damply between her fingers, but it didn’t feel like it was gushing.

  Jake had reached her and pulled her out of her hidey-hole. He sat on the deck, pulling her down into his lap. “Get me some light over here.”

  Steve stepped around the pilothouse and turned the searchlight straight down, so the glow pooled on the deck around Heidi and Jake. Heidi closed her eyes against the glare.

  Jake pulled her hand away from the wound. “The bullet didn’t penetrate,” he said, with a huge sigh. “It really is just a graze.”

  “Told you so,” she joked weakly. Truth be told, it hurt like a bitch, but she didn’t want to look like a wimpy little girl in front of all these trained warriors.

  “Let’s get her inside and clean it up,” Steve suggested. “Wen and his buddies can do the questioning part out here on the deck.”

  “Sounds good,” Heidi agreed. She wasn’t sure what form the questioning would take, and she really didn’t think she wanted to know.

  Jake stood, lifting Heidi effortlessly into his arms.

  “I can walk, you know,” she argued with a feeble attempt at a grin. “My legs weren’t hurt, just my arm.”

  “Shut up,” Jake growled fiercely. He strode down the steps to the salon, swearing under his breath.

  Heidi’s head was swimming just a little, so she leaned her cheek against Jake’s chest and stopped talking.

  Miguel had just finished packing up his electronics. He wished Heidi well as he lifted his laptop bag off the table and moved around Jake to head up the stairs.

  Jake set her down gently on the table in the galley and grabbed a clean dish towel from the counter. He folded it into a pad and pressed it down on Heidi’s wound. “Hold that while I get the first-aid kit.”

  “No problem.” She was a little muzzy, but she didn’t think she was going to pass out. She was just glad her minor injury was the worst of it.

  “Right here.” Suddenly Steve was there beside them, holding the small red tackle box out to Jake. “If you can take it from here, I’ll go assist with the fun part.” He turned and left the room—this time he even used the door.

  “Gee, too bad none of them can do magical healing,” Heidi joked as Jake wet another towel and began to carefully clean Heidi’s arm. She gripped the table with her good hand, trying not to wince too obviously. “That would come in handy right about now.”

  “Yeah. We’ve got a couple of empathic healers in the colony, but I haven’t met one since I left,” Jake replied.

  “Of course you do.” So much for that being a joke. She was in way over her head here.

  “This will probably leave a scar, unfortunately. I don’t think it needs stitches, though, so you’re in luck there. Though Wen’s much better at that than I am.” He finished cleaning the shallow, three-inch-long furrow, then covered it liberally in antibiotic ointment.

  “Won’t be my first scar, won’t be my last,” Heidi said. She held her arm still while Jake wrapped it in gauze and tape. “Hazards of growing up a tomboy.”

  Jake turned to the sink to wash his hands. “Here. Take these until we can get you something stronger.” He, fished three ibuprofen out of the kit and handed them to her, then grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge.

  “We found out where el jefe’s headquarters are,” Wen said, moving silently in through the open door from the stairway. “We need to move soon.”

  “I’m ready,” Jake said. “Did you signal for Leta and Niko to return?”

  “Yes. I lit the paper lanterns on the front deck.” Wen paused, then added, “The minions outside did say their boss had a prisoner—some rich American he was hoping to ransom—if he survives.”

  Brad! Tears formed in Heidi’s eyes at the news.

  “Excellent,” Jake said. “As soon as Leta and Niko get back here to stay with Heidi, we can leave.”

  Heidi swallowed the pills. “I’m going with you.”

  “The hell you are,” Jake snarled. “You’ve already been shot once tonight.”

  “I can drive,” she reminded him. “They’ve got my best friend, in who knows what kind of shape. I’m not sitting here on my ass.”

  “You stay with the car until we give the all clear.” Ja
ke had apparently figured out that he wasn’t going to win this kind of argument. That was really even sweeter than wanting to protect her.

  Heidi took pity on him. “Scout’s honor,” she replied, tracing a finger in an X across her chest.

  Wen raised one eyebrow. “Ah, but were you ever a girl scout, Dr. Eriksen?”

  Both Jake and Heidi laughed.

  “Yes, I actually was. For one year. Then they tried to teach me to knit, and it was all over.” Heidi held out her hand and Jake helped haul her to her feet. “Okay, boys, let me go put on some clothes that aren’t covered in blood. I’ll be ready to go in five minutes.”

  “Yeah, I probably should too.” Jake looked down at the Hawaiian shirt he wore over the bulletproof T-shirt, which was streaked with blood from Heidi’s arm.

  “I’ll be waiting on deck,” Wen said. “Two of my men are using the cigarette boat to take the prisoners into custody. You can take their spots in their inflatable. It’s probably best not to move the Siren in until afterward.”

  “Sounds good,” Jake called over his shoulder as he followed Heidi into the bedroom.

  Heidi was working to strip off the blood-spattered body armor when Jake came over to unfasten the Velcro straps. “Stop fighting with it,” he said. “You’ll only make the arm bleed more.”

  “Know-it-all,” she grumbled.

  Jake finished peeling the vest off and laughed. “I wish. If I knew everything, I’d know how to keep you safe.”

  * * * * *

  “Remember. You promised. Stay. In. The. Car.” Jake leaned in the drivers’ window and tapped Heidi on the nose.

  “I’m not going anywhere. But you be careful too, okay. These are nasty-assed guys you’re going up against.”

  She had his nine millimeter on the seat beside her, and had traded his vest, which Jake now wore, for the Kevlar T-shirt. He knew this was the closest she was going to come to staying out of the raid on the drug dealer’s hacienda in an isolated little valley just outside of town. But damn it, he’d felt the blow when the bullet struck her arm. He’d known instantly that she’d been hit, and he’d damn near thrown up. The psychic bond forming between them was terrifying, and something he’d have to address later, but right now he wanted to get through this without having to worry about her on top of everything else.