Blowout

by Colleen Cross

  A murderer who had already staged his own death had no reason to stick around. He wasn’t likely to leave them unharmed, either. While they hadn’t witnessed his crime, they had seen evidence of it.

  Kat and Gia’s stateroom search had yielded no further surprises. The murder kit alarmed Kat, but at least they hadn’t found other weapons in the stateroom. Finding nothing provided comfort that at least some areas of the ship were safe, though there were plenty of other hiding places they hadn’t searched. Things would escalate quickly once the truth was exposed, and Raphael’s change in behavior indicated a confrontation was coming.

  She just wished she knew more about Pete’s relationship with Raphael. Was he a partner in crime, or just a hired hand?

  As if on cue, Raphael rose. “I’ve got to go. The crew says there’s a problem.” He kissed Gia on the cheek and headed towards the bow of the ship.

  Kat hadn’t seen any of the crew lately, and Raphael hadn’t answered his cell phone. Probably just a ruse. She shivered involuntarily. “Let’s go inside.”

  “I’m going to my cabin,” Gia said. “Suddenly I don’t feel so well.”

  An hour later Kat, Jace, and Uncle Harry sat inside in the living room, transfixed in front of the TV monitor. Thunder rumbled outside and lightning forked across the sky. The storm was in full swing.

  The 6 o’clock news anchor sat in front of a backdrop of the charred Bukowski boat and gave a recap of the missing family.

  Seconds later the screen flashed to a police press conference. A police spokeswoman stood behind a podium flanked by several male uniformed police officers. “The coroner has ruled Emily and Melinda’s deaths as homicides. Frank Bukowski’s whereabouts are still unknown. The police are anxious to speak with anyone who was in contact with the Bukowski’s prior to their disappearance.”

  “Do you consider the husband a suspect in their murders?” asked a woman off-camera. “Eighty percent of the time, it’s the spouse, isn’t it?”

  A loud male voice rose above the others. “Is the fire the official cause of death? How did they die?”

  The spokeswoman dismissed them with a wave of her hand. “No more questions today. We will update you tomorrow afternoon with any new developments.” She switched off her mic and exited from the podium as the reporters shouted questions.

  The screen switched to a fiftyish balding male reporter who stood in a studio with a backdrop scene from two months ago with the Bukowski’s burnt-out boat. The charred hull was the only part of the vessel still intact.

  “The police won’t comment on cause of death, other than to call it suspicious. Frank Bukowski is still missing, though the police have not yet named him as a suspect.”

  “Given the suspicious circumstances, though, it’s important to note what the police did not say.” He pointed towards the ship’s burnt out skeleton. “The arson experts we consulted said the ship’s burn pattern indicates that an accelerant, like gasoline, was used. Secondly, whoever started the fire was on the boat.”

  Jace and Uncle Harry exchanged nervous glances.

  Kat pulled out her cell phone and was dismayed to see that she had no cell phone signal. They would have to deal with Raphael until service was restored long enough to call for help.

  The camera panned back to the reporter for a close-up. “Police refuse to speculate whether any of that suspicion extends to Frank Bukowski, or whether he is also a victim of foul play. In situations like this, the spouse is always a suspect. With Bukowski still missing, it’s unclear if he is still alive. However, it is telling what the police are not saying.”

  Kat grabbed the remote and switched off the television. “We can’t let Raphael catch us watching this stuff. If he knows we’ve unmasked his identity, he’ll be forced to act.” She still thought of him as Raphael and not Frank, despite what she now knew. “I hope Gia’s okay. Maybe I should check on her.”

  Jace shrugged. “She’s probably just resting. Give her some time.”

  “We need a plan to get through the next few hours,” Kat said. “And convince him to return to Vancouver.”

  Jace shook his head. “He’ll never go back. He’s a wanted man and sure to be recognized.”

  “Then our only choice is to disable him,” she said. “But what about the crew? I don’t think Pete and the others are in on Raphael’s scheme. But what if they are?”

  “Then we’re badly outnumbered.” Uncle Harry scratched his head. “There’s five of them including Pete. Raphael makes six. Against the three of us, four including Gia.”

  The exterior door swung open and a gust of air blew into the room, followed by Raphael. He stood by the door. “Who can give me a hand? We’ve got a leak.”

  Kat frowned. The yacht hadn’t moved from its anchor, and it was unlikely the late-model yacht was in any sort of disrepair.

  “Doesn’t the crew normally take care of things like that?” Harry asked.

  “They already have their hands full trying to contain the leak.” Raphael stepped back towards the door. “Hurry. The ship could sink.”

  Kat met Jace’s gaze. If it was true, they couldn’t just stand by. They had no choice but to follow Raphael. If it was a trick, they had to spring into action much sooner.

  “Let’s go,” Jace motioned for Kat and Harry to follow.

  Kat trailed behind the others as they headed towards mid-ship. She slowed as they passed an open storage box. She peered inside.

  The box contained lifejackets and other survival gear. She paused. If the yacht was in danger of sinking, they should grab lifejackets as a precaution. She reached into the box and froze as a glint of metal caught her eye.

  She pushed aside the top life jacket and stared at a gun. It rested atop a pile of life jackets. She knew next to nothing about guns, other than the fact that they had one true purpose: to kill people. She rearranged the life jackets to get a closer look. She was careful not to touch the gun.

  Was it Raphael’s gun, or did it belong to the yacht’s owner? It was an odd place to store a weapon. Most people kept their weapons on their person, or at least in private quarters under lock and key. She had no idea if most mariners even carried weapons, but many probably carried protection when they traveled to remote places. But only a fool would toss their gun in an unlocked storage box on deck.

  A fool or someone ready to use it.

  She bent to get a better look at the gun. She had no idea whether or not the firearm was loaded, or how to check. Jace and Uncle Harry probably knew no more than she did. She considered her options. She could remove it for safety, but that might alert Raphael. If she left the weapon, though, Raphael could use it against them.

  Of course, Raphael might be unaware of the items in the box since it wasn’t even his yacht. However, since the storage box was open, he had almost certainly placed the gun there, or knew about it.

  She glanced up towards the men, who were by now thirty feet away. She turned back to the storage box and rearranged the lifejackets from one side to the other to get a better look at the contents. A coiled rope rested at the bottom of the box. That didn’t alarm her, until she saw the other items.

  A cry caught in her throat when she saw the hatchet, chainsaw, and a box of latex gloves.

  “Kat?” Jace beckoned for her to follow. “Come on.”

  She waved him ahead. She had to remove the gun and hatchet, but had nowhere to hide them. The safest place was her stateroom, but they had planned to stay together. Leaving now might jeopardize their safety.

  “Kat, hurry.” Jace stood at the door.

  She grabbed the hatchet and shoved it under a lounge seat cushion. She would return for it later. She shoved the gun barrel into the waistband of her jeans like she had seen in the movies. She just hoped like hell it wouldn’t fire. She had no idea if the gun was loaded, or even how to tell whether the safety was on. She walked stiffly in Jace’s direction, petrified the gun might accidentally discharge.

  Jace frowned as he held open the door.
“We’re supposed to stick together.”

  Kat nodded and dropped her gaze to her waist. As Jace’s eyes locked on hers, she lifted her shirt and showed him the gun tucked into her waistband.

  “What the hell, Kat?” He stared at the gun. “You could get us killed.”

  A few whispered words were woefully inadequate to explain how she had morphed into the equivalent of a pirate, so she didn’t try. She focused instead on the task at hand: incapacitating at least one desperate man and seizing control of a ship that didn’t belong to her.

  At least Jace knew she had the gun, though he didn’t know that it might not be loaded. Raphael knew, so using it as a threat was risky. She followed behind Jace as they entered the passageway that led to the ship’s engine room. Raphael and Uncle Harry waited inside.

  “We’ve got to divide and conquer. The ship’s sprung a leak, and the bilge pump is broken.” Raphael pointed at Kat and Harry. “You two, check the engine room and stop the water from going in. Jace and I will try to seal off the hull.”

  She hesitated, but they could hardly refuse Raphael’s instruction if the ship really had taken on water. “The ship’s been anchored here the whole time. How on earth did it suddenly spring a leak?” Most vessels this size were double-hulled to prevent this exact situation. Even she knew that. The odds of a bilge pump failure were equally slim.

  “We’ll figure that out later,” Raphael said. “Every second we waste talking makes it worse. Get in there and start bailing.”

  She followed her uncle through the door into the engine room. It was cleaner than she expected but windowless. Harsh florescent lighting shone down and glinted off the floor. It was slick with water.

  However the water got there, she had to cooperate. Doing anything different than bailing out a sinking ship would raise obvious alarm bells to Raphael. She decided against pulling out the gun. Since she didn’t know how to use it, it would almost certainly be disastrous.

  “I can’t tell where the water’s coming from.” She scanned the area for a bucket or something to scoop the water with but found nothing. A bucket was impractical in the first place, since there was just an inch or so of water on the floor. She turned to Uncle Harry. “We should be bailing out the bilge, not the engine room.”

  There wasn’t even anywhere to empty the water. Raphael had separated them so he could get Jace out of the picture, she realized. He would return for her and Uncle Harry next. Her heart pounded as she realized she hadn’t seen Gia for over an hour. If the situation was so dire, why had Raphael left her asleep in her stateroom?

  Out of Raphael’s sight, she could at least show her uncle the gun. He might even know how to use it.

  As luck had it, he did. “Where did you get this?” He checked the safety, then opened the chamber. He turned the gun over in his hand. “It’s loaded.”

  She recounted her find amongst the lifejackets. “You sure you can shoot this if you have to?”

  “It’s been a while, but it’s like riding a bicycle. Not something you easily forget.” He turned it over in his hand and handed it back to her.

  “No, you keep it. We might need to use it.” She waved her hand away. “It’ll be easier for you to hide it.”

  “You calling me fat?” Uncle Harry patted his stomach. “I gotta eat like everyone else.”

  “Of course not. It’s just that your vest has so many pockets, Raphael won’t notice.”

  “True.” He unzipped his vest and placed the gun into an inside pocket. “I haven’t pulled a trigger in decades.”

  The water level rose to a couple of inches. Alarming, but hardly a catastrophe. “I doubt there’s a leak here. The water’s so low. Maybe something got spilled instead.” Either way, it was odd that the expensive yacht lacked a backup system. Maybe something had been switched off by accident.

  Uncle Harry looked around for something to scoop the water with. “I don’t see the problem either. This ship can handle a little water.”

  They couldn’t hear the men’s voices outside, just a steady drip of water. “It’s hardly the emergency Raphael made it out to be.”

  “He just sent us on a wild goose chase.” Uncle Harry turned towards the entrance. “Let’s go find Jace.”

  Kat grabbed her uncle’s arm. “Wait. We need a plan first.”

  The sound of metal on metal screeched from somewhere above, followed by a loud bang.

  Uncle Harry’s hands flew to his ears. “What was that?”

  The water drip had increased to a steady flow, like a tap had been turned on. It seeped into the hold from above them, not below. “He’s flooding the engine room with water. Let’s go!”

  She raced to the door and grabbed the handle. She turned it, but it didn’t budge.

  The water rose quickly and now reached her shins. The engine room was probably watertight. If it was, they would drown within minutes unless they found and stopped the source of the water.

  She jumped as a loud bang echoed against the walls. The lights blacked out and the engine cut. The power had been cut.

  A killer was on the loose and they were powerless to stop him.

  36

  The water reached Kat’s thigh and continued to rise. She ran her palm over the wall of the hold, feeling for a way out in the darkness. She had searched the entire surface twice over in the last fifteen minutes. The only possible exit was through the locked door. “We’ve got to bust it open somehow.”

  “I’m trying,” Uncle Harry’s voice was hoarse from shouting. “I can’t find anything to pry it open with.”

  Their banging and yelling yielded no response from anyone outside. That Jace hadn’t come to get them out was extremely worrisome. He knew they were trapped inside and would have rescued them if he could. What had Raphael done to him?

  “You’ve got the gun. Can you shoot out the door?”

  “It’s a metal door. You’ve been watching too many movies. That’s not real life.”

  “Try it anyway. We’ve got no other options.”

  “Worth a shot, I guess.” Uncle Harry pulled the gun from his vest pocket. “Here it goes.”

  He removed the safety, took aim, and fired. The bullet hit with a metallic clang and ricocheted off either the wall or the hatch before it splashed into the water. In the dim light it was impossible to tell if he had hit his target or not. The hatch door remained closed.

  “How many shots do you have?”

  “Dunno. It depends on the gun, and I’m no expert on the different types. And whether it was fully loaded in the first place. I didn’t have time to check. Now it’s too dark to see.”

  The water now reached her hipbone, and the dank air was harder to breathe. “We’re not going to last in here. There’s got to be a way out.” Claustrophobia overcame her despite her refusal to think about it.

  “I’ll move closer to the door. That might work.” Uncle Harry waded towards the hatch door.

  “Careful, Uncle Harry.”

  “You know what’s odd?”

  “Besides us being caught in here?”

  “The boat isn’t listing,” he said. “If she had taken on water, we would be tilted, but we’re not. Yet the water’s rising.”

  The water rise was alarming. They had another five minutes at most before the water reached the ceiling. “Maybe shoot upwards instead of the hatch door.”

  “We’ll never escape that way.”

  “No, but somebody will hear us.” A hole in the ceiling also bought them some time. Maybe it was wood instead of metal.

  Uncle Harry shifted his stance and aimed for the ceiling. “Here goes.”

  The shot rang out before Kat had time to answer. It didn’t ricochet or reverberate this time. The bullet must have lodged in the ceiling. She held out faint hope that it was wooden.

  The gun clicked.

  “That was the last bullet.” Harry’s voice held a note of desperation as he waded towards Kat. “I guess there were only two.”

  Bile rose in Kat’s t
hroat. They would die in here unless they drained the water. There was probably some way to do it, but neither she nor Uncle Harry knew enough about ships to even know where to look. She imagined a giant plug. If only it were that simple.

  Suddenly the hatch door creaked open as a stream of light shone inside.

  Kat breathed a sigh of relief. Jace had come for them.

  A dark figure crouched by the door. “Get over here.” Water spilled outside.

  It wasn’t Jace. It was Pete instead.

  Kat waded towards him as fast as she could. Uncle Harry splashed a few feet behind her.

  “Hurry, before Raphael gets here.” Pete’s face was flushed and he looked angry as he pulled Kat, and then Harry, from the flooded engine room.

  Kat was relieved to see lights. The power had been cut only to the engine room, not the entire ship.

  “Thank goodness you came for us. You saved our lives.” Kat squinted as she stumbled through the doorway. Her heart skipped a beat as she saw Jace. His face was bloodied and his shirt was torn. He stood behind Pete.

  A cry caught in her throat as she rushed towards him and wrapped her arms around him.

  He pulled her tighter and kissed her.

  “We’ve got to shut off the water.” She shivered. “Where’s the shutoff?”

  “Already taken care of.” Pete motioned them towards the deck. “Let’s get out of here.”

  “Raphael knows that his secret’s exposed.” Jace grabbed her arm and steadied her. His nose was bloodied and his shirt was ripped. “We don’t have a lot of time.”

  “What happened, Jace?” Harry asked. “Raphael did that to you?”

  “He tried to shove me in the hold, but I got him back.” He shook his head. “I grabbed him but he got away. I think he’s going to set the yacht on fire. We’ve got to stop him before it’s too late.”

  Pete held up his hand in protest. “Count me and the crew out. We’re leaving. You should too.”

  “You can’t just leave and let him get away with murder,” Kat said. “We need to take him down.”