Terrors of the High Seas

Chapter

Twenty-two

“YOU KNOW SOMETHING, Dar?” Kerry was sprawled on her back on the big, comfortable bed. “I didn’t realize just how wild the last couple of days had been until we told someone about them and watched their brain dribble out their ears.”

“Errff.” Dar made a small sound of bemused agreement. “I thought he was going to fall over when we told him about shooting at the pirates. Did you see that?”

Kerry nodded. “He knows something.” She looked at Dar. “You were right. He was really relieved when you told him no one appeared to have gotten hurt.”

“And did you see how fast he changed the subject?” Dar cracked her knuckles. “All right. So now they know everything.”

“And boy, I bet they wish they didn’t.”

Dar smiled. “The captain said he was going to haul in our detective friends if he could find them, and he’s contacting DeSalliers to make sure he leaves us alone.”

“I think we put in a few points for Bob,” Kerry mused. “But we’d better warn him to lay low.” She drew up her knees and stretched, arching her back. “But I’m really glad we got the police involved. I feel a lot better now.”

Dar’s ears twitched approvingly at that. “Yeah, even if he did look at us like we’d dropped a ticking bomb onto his desk,” she agreed. “So, you up for a dive now that we’ve put things to bed?”

Kerry folded her hands across her stomach and considered.

“Yeah,” she said after a moment. “I don’t feel sick at all today. A dive would be nice.” She turned her head. “What did you mean about a blue hole?”

Dar grinned and held out a hand. “Come with me, Yankee. I’ll show ya.”

Unable to resist that kind of invitation, Kerry rolled up off the bed and joined Dar, taking her hand as Dar shouldered the backpack and they headed for the door. “Make sure you lock it.”

She had their overnight bag in her hand, just in case.

Dar snorted. “I’m willing to bet anyone who opens this door for 244 Melissa Good someone gets their fingers cut off.” She opened her cell phone and dialed Bud’s number again. “C’mon, Bud, you damn big chicken.

Answer the phone.”

But still, it went to voice mail. Dar shook her head. “Bud, we’re heading out for some water time. Let us know how Charlie’s doing, okay?” She considered a moment. “We just got finished telling the cops everything. I think we’re clear now. Gimme a call.” With a frown, she closed the phone and restored it to her belt. “Damn stubborn old mackerel.”

“Give him the benefit of the doubt, Dar,” Kerry chuckled.

“Maybe he’s getting Charlie out of the hospital. If it were me, I wouldn’t be answering my phone either.”

“Mmph.” Dar rocked her head from side to side. “He doesn’t call back in a little while, I’ll call the hospital and find out what’s going on.”

They walked together to the lobby and out the front door. The sun was out, and everything seemed peaceful and quiet, back to the sleepy friendliness of normality again. They made it down to the dock without incident.

The docks were fairly busy; boats were pulling in and out. Dar noticed there was no sign of DeSalliers’ monster. They reached their slip and she paused to check the boat over before they boarded, but the vessel seemed untouched, floating in its assigned space. “Looks okay.”

Kerry hopped over and jumped to the stern deck, going to the door and peering inside.

Dar unlocked the door and pushed it open, and they entered to find it reassuringly just as they’d left it. Even the apple Kerry had left on the countertop was still in place, beckoning invitingly to her as she crossed the floor and took possession of it.

Dar continued on and poked her head into the rooms in the bow, then returned looking satisfied. “Well, if they did search the place, they didn’t leave any marks.”

Kerry nodded and took a bite of the apple. It crunched pleasantly, mostly sweet and a little tart against her tongue. It felt good to be back on board their traveling home, and she felt herself relaxing and looking forward to their dive. “Tell you what. You go get the gerbils hustling, and I’ll check out our gear. Deal?”

“Deal.” Dar circled her and leaned in for a kiss. The brief notion lengthened as Kerry put her apple down and returned the kiss with gentle passion. When they parted, she rested her forehead against Kerry’s and nibbled the tip of her nose affectionately. “I think things are looking up.”

“I think they are, too.” Kerry tilted her head up and brushed her lips against Dar’s again, coaxing her into a longer, deeper exploration. “Oh, definitely,” she whispered, lifting her hand to Terrors of the High Seas 245

caress Dar’s cheek. She felt the skin under her thumb move as Dar smiled.

They loitered together a few minutes longer, then reluctantly parted and went about their separate tasks. Kerry ducked down into the gear room and set aside their buoyancy compensators. She felt the engines rumble to life as she carefully checked Dar’s regulator, connecting it to a single tank they kept strapped to the wall for exactly that purpose and pressurizing it.

Cocking her head to one side, she listened for leaks, then shut the valve and repeated the process with her own equipment.

Satisfied, she slung both regulators over her shoulder and picked up the BCs on her way out the door.

The boat shifted as she traveled, her body compensating almost automatically for the motion. The view out the windows changed as Dar directed the vessel out and away from the docks. Kerry caught a breath of cool, sea air as it rushed through the portholes, and she found herself smiling broadly as she stepped out onto the stern deck.

What a gorgeous day it was. She tipped her head back. The sky was clear, deep blue, with only a couple of fluffy clouds down on the horizon. There was a nice breeze, and as they headed out across the water the spray from the boat’s wake whisked through the air and dusted Kerry with its damp richness.

With a chuckle, she went to the tank cabinet and opened it, removing two of the tanks inside and lifting them with a grunt. She carried them over to the bench and set them in their holders, letting the BCs slide down onto the bench next to them. “Hey, Dar?”

“Yeah?” Dar’s voice carried down from the flying bridge.

“This blue hole thing a good place for pictures?”

Dar laughed.

“I’ll take that as a yes.” Kerry finished readying their gear and trooped back inside to get her camera and its waterproof housing.

DAR SLOWED THE boat as she approached the lee side of the island, its overhanging cliff structures circling them with wild grandeur. The sun poured in over her shoulders, reflecting off the glittering surface of the sea in molten darts, and she could see the pale green of the shallow waters deepening to a deep clear blue as it neared the cliffs. Since the open topped cave wasn’t a popular choice with the beginning divers who peopled the cattle boats, the few other dive boats nearby were smaller ones. Dar picked a spot in relatively open water and circled it. “Ker?”

“Yeah?” Kerry was on the bow, peering avidly at everything.

“What have I got under the keel?”

Kerry looked down, shading her eyes. “Sand.”

246 Melissa Good

“You sure?”

Kerry leaned over, coming perilously close to examining the surface in a real, personal way. “Yeah. Go ahead; let it loose.”

Dar hit the switch for the anchor and heard the rumble as it released and plunged into the water. Then she cut the engines and stood up, stripped off her shirt and let it drop onto the back of the chair. She adjusted the strap on her swimsuit and made her way to the ladder, climbing down it to the lower deck. Now that the engine was off, she could hear the lap of the water and the rustling crash of the waves against the stone walls of the cliffs nearby. Kerry joined her a moment later, and they stood side by side near their gear.

“Weren’t you going to call about Charlie?” Kerry suddenly remembered. “At the hospital?”

Dar paused in the act of fastening her regulator to her tank.

“Damn. You’re right.” She shook her head. “Hang on.” She walked over to the cabinet near the door, and then stopped in realization. “I don’t think I have the number.”

Kerry had connected her tank to her BC. “Is there Information out here?” she wondered aloud. “Or, the hotel probably would know the number.”

“Good thought.” Dar dialed the number of their hotel, listened, and then scowled. “Busy.” She tapped the cell phone against her neck as she thought. “Well, let’s go under, and when we come back up, I’ll try it again.”

Dar put the cell phone in the drawer of the cabinet and closed it, then walked over and got into her BC, fastening the belly strap and standing up. The heavy tank shifted and she had to make a few adjustments, then she buckled the front buckles and turned, waiting for Kerry to stand.

Kerry preferred to buckle everything first. “Okay, ready.” She stood upright, then hopped a little, getting everything settled over her center of balance as much as she could. “Let’s go.”

They each picked up fins and mask and walked to the back of the boat. Dar let down the dive ladder and opened the back gate, then rested her hand on the gate as she slipped on her fins. “We’re gonna go in, then just go down for ten feet or so. We’ve got to swim over to where the water changes color.”

“Okay.” Kerry felt a little excited and a touch pleasantly scared. “I’ll be right behind you.”

Dar settled her mask over her face, pulled her hair out from under the rubber, and seated the seal firmly. Then she winked at Kerry and inserted her regulator in her mouth, took a big step off the back of the boat, and plunged into the water.

Kerry followed, clasping one hand over her camera case and one over her mouthpiece and mask as she stepped off the deck and entered the ocean. Ooh. Not expecting the relatively mild chill of Terrors of the High Seas 247

the water, she opened her eyes wide in surprise. She’d been used to the almost bathtub warmth they’d been in so far, and this was definitely a change. Briefly, she wondered if putting her shortie wetsuit on over her swimsuit would have been a good idea, but after a moment her body adjusted and she let herself drift down to the shallow bottom in water so clear it was almost like glass.

Dar was resting on her knees on the sandy bottom, her dark hair floating freely about her head as she waited for Kerry to descend.

Kerry hugged her arms and rubbed them, giving Dar a wry look from behind her mask.

Dar slapped her head, then held her hands up in apology and pointed to the surface with a questioning look.

Kerry shook her head and pointed toward the rocks.

After a moment’s hesitation, Dar flipped over and started swimming slowly, glancing behind her as Kerry caught up. They finned along, side by side, over the sandy bottom, moving through schools of colorful fish that scattered at their approach then re-formed behind them.

Kerry looked ahead to where she could see a rocky escarpment that rose almost to the surface. The waves were breaking over it, churning up the water and sending bits of debris tinkling down to the ocean floor. As they swam closer, Kerry could feel a current of cooler water and see the faintest hint of a shimmer. She unstrapped her camera and took a few shots of the approaching wall.

Dar swam ahead of her to the wall and caught hold of it, reaching out to grab Kerry as she came closer. She grinned around her mouthpiece and mimed snapping a shutter near her mask, indicating that there was about to be a good photo op. Kerry lifted her camera, but Dar held her hand over her eyes.

Oh, c’mon Dar. But Kerry humored her, covering her eyes as she trustingly allowed her partner to maneuver her over the escarpment. She sensed the rocks moving under her, felt her fins brush against them, and heard the sound of the waves close over her head. Then Dar pulled her hand away, and she could see.

For a moment, Kerry simply stared. Beyond the escarpment was a vast chasm in the sea, filled with the deepest blue water that was yet clear enough for the sunlight to penetrate down for what seemed to be hundreds of feet. It was gorgeous. She could see divers far off down the rocks, exploring the sides of the underwater canyon. Swarms of fish darted past them, reflecting the sun.

Quickly, she lifted the camera and snapped off a few shots, then looked at Dar and simply pointed imperiously downward.

Dar smiled and pushed off the wall, letting the air out of her BC and sailing downward. Kerry shoved off after her, feeling a wash of cooler water ease past her as she descended. It was like 248 Melissa Good floating into a fantasy world. The rocks on either side were crawling with life—schools of small fish and crustaceans hanging within the crevices. A swordfish whisked past her and she barely focused in time to catch it, only to have Dar tug her arm.

She turned to see a dark, gray figure lazily moving through the water and her eyes widened. She didn’t need the up-thrust fin to identify the newcomer as a shark, and she quickly looked at Dar to gauge the danger.

Dar seemed quite relaxed. She pointed to her right. Kerry looked and saw a grouper bigger than she was nibbling at the wall; then they both jumped as two clown fish chased each other between them, brushing their legs as they sped toward the rocks.

They were still drifting down. At the bottom of the abyss, Kerry could now see a cave with a ripple above it. The water also seemed to mist. She pointed at it and looked at Dar in question.

Dar tapped the water bag Kerry had strapped under her tank, and mimed a gush of something welling up.

Oh. A freshwater spring. As they drifted closer, Kerry saw a crab making its way along the rocks. She turned and set the lens for a tight focus, then got a good shot of its blue-black shell against the tan rock. Looking down, she saw the bottom coming up. She turned and looked across the space, watching it fill with swarms of fish. As they swam in and out of the sunbeams, she could barely take one shot before another presented itself.

Lowering her camera for a brief moment, she checked her dive computer. At 120 feet, it was the deepest she’d ever been, but with the clarity of the water, it hardly seemed like more than a regular reef dive. She looked at Dar, who was watching her with a visible grin. Kerry held up three fingers, then made an O with her thumb and forefinger, then three fingers again. Wow.

Knowing that she only had about ten minutes at that depth, Kerry was determined to make the most of it. She moved off toward the underwater spring, and swam over the gap in the rock through which fresh water gushed. She put a hand into its path, feeling the pressure, and then she took a picture of it.

Turning, she saw Dar relaxing nearby, idly playing with a blowfish. The creature had blown itself up into a spiky ball, and Dar was bouncing it gently from hand to hand as she floated. Kerry quickly snapped a picture of them.

A flounder wafted past. It watched Kerry out of one eye as she turned in the water and photographed it. A sand shark squiggled below her, and she jumped a little, getting out of its way. Then she flipped over onto her back and took several shots looking straight up, through the clouds of fish to the surface.

Gorgeous.

Kerry felt lines of poetry erupt into her mind, and she just Terrors of the High Seas 249

floated there for a moment, exulting in the sheer wonder around her.

At last, with an almost apologetic look, Dar swam over and tapped her wrist. Kerry nodded reluctantly, and they started drifting upward. She shot the rest of her roll of film on the way up, and wished she had a second.

DAR’S HEAD BROKE the surface, and she grabbed the boat’s ladder. With a grunt, she pulled herself on board and dumped her fins and mask, then turned to help Kerry up out of the water as she felt her weight on the ladder.

Kerry barely waited to get her body clear of the sea before she pulled her regulator out of her mouth and squealed like a pig.

“Eeeeeeeeeeehyhoooo!” She jumped onto the deck and hopped a few times, despite the fact that she still had her gear on. “Dar, that was by far the most awesome thing I’ve ever seen!”

Dar dumped her tank and dropped her mask and snorkel into the water well. “Guess I picked a good one, huh?” she asked with a grin. “Gimme your stuff.”

Kerry unbuckled her vest and turned, shrugging out of it as the weight of the tank lifted. “Oh my freaking God!” She set her camera down and went to the cabinet to grab a towel to dry her face. As she opened the door, she heard a chirp. “Your cell’s squeaking,” she told Dar. “Bet Bud called back.”

Dar turned from where she was putting up the gear. “Good. I’ll get it in a minute.”

“That place is great.” Kerry walked over and dried Dar’s face for her. “Did you see the caves that kind of went on from the bottom?”

Dar nodded. “I did. But you really don’t want to go in there unless you’ve had cave training. It’s dangerous.”

“No problem.” Kerry reached into the cooler and pulled out a bottle of water, uncapping it and drinking deeply. “I loved looking up and seeing the sun all that way up. Jesus!” She still felt exhilarated. “Dar, that was worth the entire damn trip.”

Dar turned and walked over, wearing a very pleased grin.

“Glad you liked it.”

“Liked it?” Kerry put down the water and threw her arms around Dar instead, hugging her fiercely. “Errrooof. I loved it,” she told her partner. “I got some fantastic pictures. I think I’m going to do a series of underwaters from this trip for the cabin.”

“Mm.” Dar exhaled in satisfaction. She liked underwater shots.

She liked the cabin. She loved Kerry. So far as she was concerned, it all seemed to be falling together perfectly.

Kerry gave her one last squeeze and then released her. “How 250 Melissa Good about I make you a special surprise for dinner?”

“Surprise?” Dar inquired. “Like what?”

“Hardly be a surprise if I told you, sweetie.” Kerry winked.

“Trust me. You’ll like it.”

“Okay,” Dar agreed amiably. “But as hungry as I am right now, you could serve me pureed asparagus on wheat toast and I’d like it.”

Kerry chuckled. “I’m going to go shower and change.” She gave Dar a pat on the side and disappeared into the cabin.

Dar wiped off her hands and picked up the still-chirping cell phone. She opened it and dialed her voice mail, listening to the phone as she dried herself. Her brow creased at the voice. Instead of the expected Bud, it was Charlie.

“Hey, Dar? This is Charlie. Listen, they let me loose from this joint, and I’m trying to get hold of Bud to come pick me up. Gimme a call here if you’ve seen him. Cell’s not answering, and I’m figuring he got stuck in some damn poker game or something.

Thanks.”

“Huh.” Dar studied the phone. “Now what the hell is going on?” She dialed the number Charlie had left and waited. “Charlie?”

“Hey, Dar?” Charlie’s voice sounded relieved. “Glad to hear ya. You know where Buddy is?”

Dar took a breath. “Charlie, we thought he was with you,” she said reluctantly. “He left our room this morning, and he was just going to check on the boat. Haven’t heard from him since. I left him a couple of messages, but no answer.”

Hearing voices, Kerry stuck her head out of the door. “What’s up?”

‘Bud’s missing,’ Dar mouthed.

“Well, damn,” Charlie said. “Where the hell can he be?”

Good question. Dar ran her hand through her damp hair. “I don’t know,” she admitted. “Listen, we can…” Her eyes shifted to Kerry.

“Um…”

“Go back, pick up Charlie, and find Bud.” Kerry completed the statement with a wry smile. “Lift the anchor, Cap’n Dar.” She patted Dar’s arm and disappeared again.

“Charlie, stay put. We’ll swing back by and get you,” Dar relayed. “We’re out off the western side of St. Thomas, so it’ll take a little while.” She acknowledged the grateful response and then closed the phone. She made her way to the ladder and climbed up, her mind turning thoughtfully to the new problem. Bud was a loner, no question about it. The fact that he’d disappeared someplace didn’t really surprise her, but he hadn’t told Charlie where he was, and that did.

He could just be in a bar somewhere, but Dar didn’t think so.

Too many things had been going south on her lately for it to be Terrors of the High Seas 251

something as simple as that. In fact, she was beginning to think their vacation was cursed.

All we wanted was a week of peace and quiet. Dar sighed as she adjusted the throttles. Instead, they’d found nothing but trouble and more stress than she’d bargained for. Just wasn’t damned fair.

DAR LOOKED UP as she heard Kerry climb the ladder, her motions slower and more hesitant than usual. “Kerry!” She grabbed for the throttles, slowing the boat as she watched her lover balancing an armful as she attempted to get up onto the upper deck.

“You’re gonna kill yourself!”

“Shh. I’m fine.” Kerry managed to get her footing. “Relax and keep your eyes on the road, honey.”

Dar increased her speed, but couldn’t resist keeping one eye on Kerry as she made her way over and settled next to her. “What’s that?”

“Well,” Kerry set down a big covered plate, “we don’t have time for me to make what I wanted, so I compromised.” She uncovered the plate, revealing two neatly made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and some cookies.

“Mm.” True to form, Dar went right for the cookies, her eyes widening when she felt them. “They’re warm!”

“Well, yeah.” Kerry slid an arm around her. “I just made them.

Thank goodness for Pillsbury.” She put a Thermos on the console.

“I figure we’ll just have time to have lunch before we pull back into dock.”

“You didn’t have to do that.”

Kerry leaned back, the wind blowing her pale hair off her face.

“Of course I didn’t. But we’ve gotten so little time to relax on this so-called vacation, I thought I’d better get in some lunch before we have to run off and save the world again.”

“Mmph.” Dar regarded the horizon with a grumpy expression.

“I was just thinking about what a crock this vacation turned out to be.” “Well,” the blonde reached over and gave her partner a scratch on the back, “at least we’re together.”

Dar made a low, grumbling noise.

“Honey, we’re trouble magnets.”

“Mm.” Dar made a face.

Kerry’s eyes twinkled a little. “We attracted each other, didn’t we?”

“You saying we’re both trouble?”

“Consider the last couple of days. What do you think?” Kerry asked wryly.

She had a point. Dar leaned back a bit, relaxing her tense grip 252 Melissa Good on the throttles.

“PB and J?” Kerry nudged her and indicated the plate. “Get ’em before they blow away.”

Dar agreeably selected half a sandwich and bit into it. “Wonder what the hell’s going on?” she mumbled. “Bud just being a jerk, or…”“With our luck on this trip?” Kerry laughed wryly. “Or.

Definitely or. Maybe he tangled with that nasty shark we paid off this morning. They sure didn’t seem friendly, and that thug seemed like the type to hold a grudge for no real reason.”

Possible. Dar nodded as she chewed. “Might be. Or maybe he’s checking on Rufus and the damn battery on his cell died.”

They looked at each other and Kerry sighed. “You don’t really believe that, do you?”

Dar shrugged and took a cookie. It was a nicely browned, chocolate chip cookie, Dar’s favorite, despite Kerry’s experimentation with many other exotic types. “Guess we’ll just have to find out the hard way.”

Her phone buzzed, making them both start. Dar frowned, put the cookie down, and picked up the phone. The caller ID showed a private number, making Dar’s eyebrows hike up. She opened the phone. “Hello?”

“Hello, Roberts.” DeSalliers’ voice sounded cold and smug, not a good combination at any time.

“What the hell do yo—”

“Shut up!” the man bellowed. “You just shut up and listen to me, you bitch, if you want to see your little fag friend again.”

Dar felt Kerry move closer, as she heard the words even over the rumble of the engines. A sick feeling washed over her and her nostrils twitched, but she carefully bit her tongue and withheld a retort. Her heart rate sped up, making a faint thunder in her ears as she waited.

Kerry slid an arm around Dar’s waist and pressed her ear against the other edge of the phone.

“Roberts?”

“You said to shut up and listen.” Dar heard the icy clip in her own tone, though her voice had dropped to almost its lowest register.

“All right,” DeSalliers replied with a verbal smirk. “This is very simple. I kept it very simple so you’d understand it.”

Dar’s eyes narrowed but she remained silent. Beside her, Kerry made a noise halfway between a spit and a growl.

“You will give me what you found. When you do that, I will give you your friend,” the man said. “If you call the police, I will kill this piece of trash. If you mess with me, I will kill this piece of trash. If you do anything that makes me think you’re crossing me, I Terrors of the High Seas 253

will not only kill him, I will drag him over the reef to kill him. Do you understand me?”

“No,” Dar said. “That would require a graduate degree in animal psychology, which I don’t possess. Where do you want to make the trade?”

“Just for that, bitch, he gets two smacks with a pipe,”

DeSalliers told her. “I’ll let you know where to bring my property.”

The line went dead. Dar licked her lips and put the phone down on the console, gazing at it in honest consternation. Kerry slowly let out a breath, her head still resting against Dar’s shoulder.

The sound of the boat’s engine filled the air for several very long moments as neither spoke.

“Oh boy.” Kerry finally exhaled. “We are so—”

“Fucked.” Dar completed the thought succinctly. “Oh yeah. Big time.” She slowly released a breath and concentrated on driving the boat for a moment. Her stomach was clenched in knots, and she struggled to catch hold of the thoughts whirling in her mind.

“You…” Kerry cleared her throat. “You think he was serious?”

Dar replayed the conversation in her head. DeSalliers’ voice had been very different than she remembered from their previous encounter. It had held an edge that was making Dar very nervous.

“He might be, yeah,” she answered softly. “I think we may have pushed too hard by stirring up Wharton.”

Kerry exhaled. “Dar.”

“Yeah, I know. I feel like shit,” Dar said in a small voice. “I didn’t think this through at all.”

Kerry rested her head against Dar’s shoulder as the island’s marina grew ahead of them. “My God, what are we going to do?”

she asked. “Dar, we don’t have anything to give him!” Dar didn’t answer. “He won’t believe us if we tell him that,” Kerry went on, her tone rising. “Jesus!”

“Okay,” Dar said. “Freaking out is not going to help.”

“I’m not freaking out,” Kerry objected. “I’m just…” She paused. “Okay, maybe I am freaking out. But I think it’s justified.”

The buoy approached and Dar steered past it, aiming for their slip. Her hands trembled on the throttles, but she focused on what she was doing. The last thing she needed to do was take out the dock and have that to worry about on top of everything.

Kerry seemed to realize that, and she kept quiet while Dar maneuvered the boat into its place. “I’ll go tie us up,” she muttered softly, using that as an excuse to burn off the churning of nervous energy in her belly. She climbed down the ladder, a thousand screaming thoughts fighting to gain the upper hand in her mind.

Horrified pity for Bud was uppermost. Despite the fact that she’d started out not liking him, seeing him talking to Charlie at the hospital had softened her attitude. The thought that they’d put him 254 Melissa Good in mortal danger mortified her. How could they have been so damned irresponsible? Couldn’t they see how strung out DeSalliers was getting? How desperate? What made them think he’d just go running away if they challenged him? Damn.

With a sigh, she climbed onto the dock and secured their lines, glancing up to the flying bridge as she did so. Dar was still seated at the console, her head buried in her hands. Her heart lurching, Kerry finished her task and jumped back on board, scaling the ladder and approaching the still figure. “Dar?” She put her hands on her partner’s shoulders. Dar had been right. Freaking out wouldn’t help. “Hey.” Slamming themselves or each other wouldn’t either.

Dar lifted her head and rested her chin against her clasped hands. “Yeah?”

“We’ll figure out what to do.” Kerry leaned against her back.

“C’mon. Let’s go meet Charlie, and then we’ll all come back here and just talk this out.”

Dar straightened and let her head rest against Kerry’s chest.

“How could I have been that stupid, that wrong?” she asked in a soft, plaintive voice. “What’s wrong with me?”

Kerry put her arms around Dar’s neck, and kissed the top of her head. “There’s nothing wrong with you,” she said. “We’re just way out of our league, Dar.”

Dar blinked a few times. “Are we?”

“Well, I can’t speak for you, but they never taught megalomaniacal fruitcake avoidance in my IT classes at Michigan,”

Kerry said, taking a deep breath. “Sorry I freaked out.”

The dark head tipped back and pale blue eyes searched her face. “Don’t be. You were right; it’s justified,” Dar said. “I put someone’s life in danger with my own arrogant stupidity.”

“Hey.” Kerry slid around the console and sat down next to Dar.

“Someone I know once told me when you make mistake, know it, then move on and get it fixed.” She took Dar’s hand. “We made a mistake. Let’s just go figure out how to fix it.”

Dar stared at the console morosely. “What if we can’t?”

“Dar, if anyone can, it’s you,” Kerry murmured. “We’ll find a way, somehow.” She rubbed Dar’s shoulder, worried at the pained, lost expression on her lover’s face. “C’mon.”

Dar visibly pulled herself together, rubbing her face with one hand and straightening. “Okay,” she sighed. “We’ll see what we can come up with to fix this cluster.” She shook her head. “God knows it could have been worse.” She moved to stand up.

Kerry moved with her. “How’s that?”

One hand on the console, Dar paused, and then she looked at Kerry. “He could have taken you.” She eased past her lover and pulled her head close as she did, kissing it. “Let’s go.”

Terrors of the High Seas 255

Jesus. As she turned to follow Dar mechanically, Kerry sucked in a shocked breath. She’s right. She stopped me from coming down here alone to check the boat.

She tried to imagine what that would have been like, a flash of her time in the mental hospital appearing stark and vivid in her mind’s eye. How angry she’d been. How ashamed at being taken like that, by her own father. What would Dar have done if it had been her? Kerry watched Dar carefully lock the cabin door. “Hey, Dar?”

Dar turned, apparently having recovered her composure for the time being. “Yes?”

Kerry took her arm as they crossed onto the dock and started the long uphill walk to the hospital. “I was just thinking about what you said.” She folded her fingers around Dar’s. “I was thinking about what I would have done, if it’d been you DeSalliers took instead of poor Bud.”

Dar looked at her. “And?”

“And I think I would have gone after his ugly ass with that shotgun,” Kerry admitted with a wry, brief smile. “I can see me doing a Rambo and getting my fool head blown off.”

Dar squeezed her hand. “Nah.”

“Yeah,” Kerry said seriously. “So, I know this really sucks, and it’s going to be tough on both of us, but I’m selfish enough to be glad I don’t have to be thinking about you locked up someplace in that guy’s clutches.”

“Well,” Dar kicked a pebble out of the way, watching it skitter down the docks past two men working near one of the boats, “I think you know that goes double for me.” She squared her shoulders. “I guess we need to figure out what our assets are, what advantages we have, and decide what to do.”

Kerry felt a tiny sense of relief. “Right.”

They walked along in silence, passing the other boats and collecting a few curious glances from the men working on them.

They left the dock and headed up the road. “Kerry?” Dar finally said when they’d passed the marina and mounted the first of the steps up the hill.

“Mm?”

Dar paused and put a hand on Kerry’s shoulder. “I wouldn’t have gone after him with that shotgun.”

“Oh?” Green eyes searched her face.

“I would have just used my bare hands.” Dar spoke the words with eerie calm. “And ripped his heart out of his chest.”

“Ah.”

They resumed walking.

“We’ll find a way to fix this,” Kerry stated firmly. “I know we will.”

256 Melissa Good Dar grunted softly in response, her eyes fastened on the hospital on the slope above.

CHARLIE REMAINED SILENT for a while after Kerry finished speaking, a look of shock on his face. His eyes slowly went from her to Dar, who was sitting in the chair on one side of the hospital room.

The dark-haired woman had her elbows resting on her knees, her clasped hands resting against her chin. She lowered her gaze to the floor, tacitly accepting responsibility for the situation in which they found themselves. “So, our plan was to get you out of here, then figure out what the hell we’re going to do.”

“Son of a bitch.” Charlie sighed deeply.

Dar’s shoulders hunched just slightly. This was a failure of self that was eating a hole inside her, and she knew it. There had been very few times in her life when she’d known down deep that she’d committed an unfixable error, but this surely seemed to be one of them. Even Kerry’s gentle reassurance wasn’t helping.

She heard Kerry’s footsteps approach and then felt a hand come to rest on her back. Between her shoulder blades, Kerry’s thumb moved slightly, giving her a comforting rub. She would never blame Dar, but she also knew the truth about what had caused Bud’s abduction, and knowing that Kerry knew, that made Dar feel hollow inside. Hollow and empty and sick to her stomach.

Dar could hear Kerry continuing to speak, but the words just seemed to slip past her and without really realizing it, she rested her head against Kerry’s hip and let her eyes close, shutting out the sight of all that disappointment.

“I know this is pretty tough to hear,” Kerry said. “Believe me, I wish I wasn’t here saying it.”

Charlie glanced at the silent figure next to Kerry. His lips twitched slightly. “Y’know, I told that damn fool he shoulda listened to you in the first place, Dar,” he said, with a sigh. “Too damn stubborn, that’s what his problem is; always was.”

Kerry could feel Dar’s breath warm against the skin of her leg.

“About the loan, you mean?”

Charlie nodded. “Don’t blame yourself, Dar. We got ourselves into this mess. We went after that kid’s offer instead of doing the smart thing and accepting the hand of a friend,” he said. “We never’da been here otherwise.”

Kerry scratched Dar’s back, running her fingertips over the tense surface. She could almost feel how upset Dar was. It was like a gray baseball sitting in the pit of her stomach, and she really wanted her lover to shake off the darkness so obviously clouding her mind. “Honey?”

Terrors of the High Seas 257

The truth was too much to shrug off. Dar looked up reluctantly and inhaled. “I know,” she muttered. “What ifs, what ifs. What if Kerry and I had just gone to another island, or picked a different damn wreck to dive…”

“Look.” Charlie collected himself and eased off the edge of the bed onto his newly restored prosthesis. “Bud’s a big boy. I ain’t sure they don’t have themselves a bigger problem than they started out with, grabbing him.”

“Mm.” Dar straightened up a little. “They ready to cut you loose?” she asked. “We figured we’d head on back to the boat and regroup.”

“Good idea.” Charlie nodded. “After what you told me about what happened at that inn, I don’t trust them people further than I can pitch ’em off the cliff.”

Dar stood up, feeling very tired. “All right. I’ll go downstairs and get us a cab.” She gave Kerry a simple, brief hug, then left them to collect Charlie’s things.

Kerry exhaled.

“Dar’s taking it pretty hard, huh?” Charlie asked.

“Yeah.” Kerry glanced at him shyly. “She hates being caught by surprise.” Her eyebrows contracted together. “So do I, actually.”

“Life does that.” Charlie stuffed the last shirt into the small, battered canvas bag and slung it over his shoulder. “She done all right. Guy’s nutters.” He limped slowly toward the door. “Whole thing’s nutters.”

“Well, I thought so.” Kerry opened the door for him and followed him out. “But Dar’s pretty big into situational responsibility.”

Charlie grunted. “Just like her daddy.”

Kerry thought about that. “That’s true,” she mused. “Dad does like to make sure everything’s just so.” She looked up to see Charlie glancing back at her. “I appreciate that about him. I’m glad Dar inherited it.”

“He put up with you calling him that?” The ex-sailor seemed amused.

“What?” Kerry asked. “Dad?”

Charlie nodded.

“Sure.” Kerry walked slowly next to him. “I don’t have a very good relationship with my own family. Dar’s folks treat me more like a daughter than my parents ever did, and they know I love them for that.” She found a surprising lump in her throat and had to take a moment to swallow it. “Besides, I never got the feeling he minded being a daddy.”

“No.” The older man smiled briefly. “Andy wore one of Dar’s nappy pins on his gear for years, and nobody dared say boo to him about it.”

258 Melissa Good Kerry had to smile at the vision. “She’ll be all right,” she assured him. “She just has to finish kicking herself, and then we can figure out what the heck we’re going to do about this mess.” Her hand curled around the door handle at the end of the corridor and she pulled it open. “I’ll feel a lot better when we’re back on the boat, though.”

“You and me both, Kerry.” Charlie limped toward the front door of the hospital. Dar’s distinctive form was visible through the half glass. “Me and Bud have some friends out here. Maybe we can get some help from them.”

They emerged into the warmth. Dar was standing with her hands in her pockets, her sunglasses effectively hiding her eyes. A battered cab was waiting nearby.

Kerry followed Dar over to the cab and got in, while Dar held the door open so Charlie could ease gingerly into the front seat.

Dar joined Kerry in the back and they drove off, navigating the winding streets in silence.

DAR WENT BEHIND the galley counter and poured herself a glass of milk, then went into the bathroom and took a couple of aspirin from the bottle in the medicine chest. She swallowed them as she emerged to rejoin Kerry and Charlie in the living space of the boat. Kerry patted the seat next to her on the couch, and Dar detoured from the chair she’d been aiming for and settled next to her partner instead. Now that the shock had worn off a bit, and despite the headache she’d developed, her problem-solving instincts were beginning to kick in again. Facts were starting to sort themselves out from the chaos.

“Okay.” Dar took a sip of milk. “First off, Wharton’s got no home base here in the islands, right?”

“Not that we know of, no.” Kerry had the laptop fired up and had been doing some quick data searches. “Not that he couldn’t be anywhere,” she added with a sigh.

“True,” Dar agreed. “But if he’s on the islands somewhere, we should be able to find a record of him doing business.” She looked over Kerry’s shoulder. “See who has the telecom contract for St.

Thomas.”

Kerry’s fingers moved and then she pointed. “There.”

“Do we have a reciprocal with them?”

Dar’s voice had started sounding more normal, and Kerry took a moment to be grateful for that as she searched out the information her lover was asking for. “Better.” She suppressed a smile. “We’re the outsource.”

“Okay.” Dar nodded. “Give me the laptop.”

She traded her milk for the machine and settled it onto her lap.

Terrors of the High Seas 259

“All right. Let’s start solving this problem by using our heads instead of our asses for a change.” She started up her programming language and began constructing a script. “I’ll capture traffic to Wharton’s area code and match it against his telco’s records database.”

“What’ll that tell you?” Charlie asked curiously. “We don’t much care, do we? They ain’t sent Bud all the way over there, did they?”

Dar shook her head. “Probably not. But if we get a hit on Wharton’s number, coming from this island, chances are the originating number is DeSalliers’.”

“He probably has a cell,” Kerry stated quietly.

“If he does, it’s probably a sat cell like ours.” Dar finished her task, then opened a connection to the managed switches and inserted the program into place. “Pretty simple,” she muttered. “I’ll just have it dump to a log, and email me with it every hour.”

“Is all that legal?” Charlie inquired.

Dar glanced up at him. “What, data parsing? Technically it’s all part of the internetwork I’m paid to manage, so if you mean do I legitimately have access, yes. Should I be dipping into that data stream for my own purposes? No.”

“Oh.”

Dar continued to type. “The cops can request this, with a court order. But we can’t call the cops and we’re not in a position to petition the courts, so I’m just doing what I have to do.” She opened another window and considered it, drumming her fingers lightly on the keys. “Let ’em sue me.”

“Assuming we find it, what are we going to do with the information?” Kerry asked. “Chances are, when he calls back, he’ll tell us where to meet him anyway.”

“True,” Dar agreed absently. “But we’ve been waiting for someone to make the next move the entire week. I’m over it. I want control back.” She opened her cell phone and typed a number off the back into the new script she was building. “When he calls me, this’ll locate him to his nearest relay point station.” She linked the script to a mapping module.

“Won’t do no good to call the cops anyhow,” Charlie remarked.

“He’ll just buy ’em, if he hasn’t already.”

“Like the pirates have?” Dar asked without missing a beat.

“Just before he left, Bud was fixing to tell us about your friends.”

She felt Kerry stiffen in surprise next to her, heard the faint hiss of indrawn breath.

Charlie turned red, and directed his eyes to the deck of the boat. ‘Damn,” he muttered softly. “I know you ain’t understanding that at all, huh?”

Dar felt very little satisfaction in her guess being on the mark.

260 Melissa Good She finished her program and compiled it, finding it very soothing to her jangled nerves to be doing something at which she was comfortably competent. She had a brief, incongruous memory of her mother retreating to her easel after a stressful bout, losing herself in the canvas where she alone had control of what happened, and felt an odd sense of comprehension about that, finally.

“Understanding?” Kerry spoke up. “So, you know those pirates?”

Charlie didn’t answer for a bit. He flexed his hands, then rested them on his knees. “It’s not what you think,” he started off. “Things are tough down here.”

Kerry tore her eyes off the coding Dar was doing and concentrated on their guest. “And?” she prompted. “That makes what they’re doing okay?”

Charlie shrugged. “Survival is what counts,” he said. “Bunch of folks got together and kind of worked out a deal: if you had a little extra, you’d toss it in the kitty; and if you needed a little, you’d take.” He shifted, still gazing at the floor. “Worked out okay.”

“Okay?” Kerry could hardly believe what she was hearing.

“That’s not what those pirates do. I know. I saw them,” she said.

“They weren’t Robin Hood and his merry men.”

He gave her a guilty look. “Didn’t start out that way. It was just… One day this guy who was in with us, his cousin came in from the States. Slick guy.”

“Bet we know who that is,” Dar muttered, her eyes fastened on the screen.

Kerry grunted agreement.

“They’d just been doing little stuff—salvage, selling bits of wood and stuff to the shops, that kinda thing,” Charlie explained.

“A little smuggling, just bullshit stuff. But this guy talked them into a deal where he could get them big money, he said, if they could get him abandoned boats.”

“Abandoned?” Kerry said. “You’re not seriously saying anyone believed that those boats were abandoned, are you?”

Another shrug preceded Charlie’s continuing. “Anyway, they got him one, nothing big, just a little skiff, and he sold it off for them. Worked out pretty good. Made it nice. Helped out a lot of folks.” Charlie still couldn’t meet Kerry’s eyes. “Nobody got hurt.”

“Except the guy who lost his boat,” Kerry said.

“They got their money back,” Charlie argued. “Them insurance companies pay off but good. Probably went out and got him a brand new one, like the rest of them did,” he said. “He gets a new boat; we get what we need. Who gets hurt?”

“The insurance company,” Dar said.

“They can afford it,” Charlie said, his voice going harder. “All Terrors of the High Seas 261

these folks out here—not the big shots who stay in them hotels, but the rest of us, just trying to scrape out a living—can’t.” He finally lifted his head. “They never went after little people, just the big rollers with more money than sense. The fat cats.”

Dar looked up at him. “People like me.” She glanced at Kerry.

“Like us.”

Charlie took a breath. “No, that ain’t true.”

Dar cocked her head. “Of course it’s true.” She lifted a hand and gestured around. “I’ve got a five million dollar condo to go with this, and four times that in the bank, Charlie,” she told him. “I run one of the biggest computer companies in the damn world.

Hell, they came after me the other day.”

Charlie sighed. “Jackasses,” he muttered. “Bud told ’em to steer clear of you.”

“Gee, thanks,” Kerry murmured.

“You don’t understand,” Charlie told her.

“You’re right. I don’t,” Kerry readily agreed. “So let me ask you this—if these guys are so wonderful, how come you had to get a loan from the greasy bastard we paid off this morning?”

Dar’s eyebrow inched up at Kerry’s tone. She set the laptop down on the table, all its programs busily running, and leaned back. “Good question.”

Charlie sucked his lower lip for a moment, then shrugged again. “Same old story,” he said quietly. “After they started this all up, they’d put up with us taking a few bananas. But when it came to hard cash, it was ‘just say no to the dirty fags.’” His eyes held theirs steadily. “They tolerate us now. Took a while. Bud just refused to ask ’em to pay down the loan, though.”

Dar just shook her head.

“Like I said, you don’t understand,” Charlie said. “You got it all.” He got up and walked to the door, going out onto the back deck and closing the portal after him.

“Whoo,” Kerry murmured. “This is getting really icky.”

Dar found herself relaxing, despite the truth of that statement.

She took Kerry’s hand in hers and clasped it, then brought it up to her lips. “He’s right, though.”

Kerry’s blonde eyebrows hiked up almost to her hairline.

“Huh?”

“I do have it all.” Dar looked steadily into Kerry’s eyes, watching the expression on her face soften as warmth crept into the green orbs. “I don’t agree with what they did, but I understand what drove it,” she added. “It’s been tough for them out here, and I think they were looking for a way to survive more than anything else.”

Kerry nodded briefly. “I know. It’s not like they got rich off it,”

she admitted. “But I can’t go along with the fact they think no one 262 Melissa Good gets hurt. Someone does, Dar. People could get hurt; they could even get hurt themselves.”

“Like they almost did the other day.” Dar sighed. “Let’s save that problem for after we solve this one, huh? I’m about out of crusader coupons at the moment.”

Dar had a point. “Okay,” she concurred. “Let me go talk to him.

I know he’s under a lot of stress. I can imagine how I’d be acting if I were in his place.” She got up, leaned over and brushed Dar’s lips with her own, then eased past her partner’s outstretched legs and headed for the door.

Dar exhaled heavily, the air puffing her dark locks up off her forehead as she slumped back into the couch and regarded her laptop. She still felt like an idiot for getting into the situation, but her more practical side had taken over and put itself in charge—at least for the moment. Logic made a lot better platform for problem solving than hysteria.

Dar let her head drop back against the couch, easing a hand behind her neck and rubbing the tense muscles just at the base of her skull. “What next?” she asked the ceiling. Her instincts were urging her to action, but aside from the digital searching her programs were doing on her behalf, she wasn’t sure if there was anything else she could do until DeSalliers called again.

Calling the police captain crossed her mind, but Dar rejected that idea out of hand. Even if she thought he might be on the up and up, and would keep the contact under wraps, she had no such confidence in anyone he worked with. Besides, she wasn’t sure he was honest, and she wasn’t about to risk Bud’s life on it. After all, the people there had no reason to trust or help her any more than they did DeSalliers. We’re both just rich Americans, aren’t we? Dar’s face scrunched into a frown as she applied that label to herself and didn’t like the sound of it.

Charlie was right, she realized, but not for the reason he thought. She really didn’t understand condoning piracy, but it had nothing to do with not knowing what scraping by was. She’d spent her whole childhood knowing that intimately. Maybe she’d just never bought into the whole Robin Hood thing.

That brought up the question of whether DeSalliers would make good on his threat. He’d avoided using brutal force in their first encounters, but as things had progressed, she’d gotten a sense that he was getting closer to crossing the line.

Okay, Dar, she lectured herself, let’s think of this in more familiar terms. She got up and picked up her milk glass, carrying it back to the galley. “DeSalliers has a contract he’s got to execute. He makes good on it, and he wins—he stays in business, he’s got the money to keep going, life is good.” She poured another glass and stood there sipping from it. “He probably figured this to be a no-brainer. He’s Terrors of the High Seas 263

got power, he’s got people, just head down here and rope off the wreck, dive it, destroy it, bring back proof, and he’s home free.”

She poked in the basket and retrieved one of the cookies Kerry had made earlier, dunking it in her milk and taking a bite of it.

“Think of it from his perspective, Dar. You think you’re frustrated? Picture how he has to feel—he’s got Bob to deal with, then he runs into you and you wreck his boat, then you keep him from Bob again, then your friends enlist with Bob to mess him up, then you call his contract holder and tell them he’s a loser.” Dar finished the cookie and fished around for another one. “Bet he’s got a stuffed Rottweiler with my name pinned to it that he’s using for target practice.”

The thought put her in a slightly better mood. “Okay—so now I’ve got to convince him I’ve really got something he’s looking for, long enough to trade it for Bud or at least find out where he’s got him.” She licked her lips. “Just like bluffing out a competitor, Dar.

You can do that.”

What was DeSalliers expecting? He was expecting her to run scared, back off, wait for him to make all the moves. All right. Dar took the basket back to the couch, then sat down cross-legged and retrieved the laptop. She opened her mail and started typing.

KERRY EASED OUT of the cabin and spotted Charlie sitting on the stern bench they used for gearing up. She walked over and took a seat next to him, resting her arm on the back of the boat and gazing out across the marina.

“Y’know,” Charlie spoke first, “that’s why Bud never could stand Andy, I’m guessing.”

“What do you mean?” Kerry asked.

“He had everything. Everybody liked him; he was real good at what he done; he had a good marriage, had a kid he was proud of…

He made it seem like everybody should be just like him.” He glanced at the door. “She’s just like him.”

Kerry thought about that. “I wish more people were like him,”

she remarked. “I wish my father had been.”

Charlie shifted and looked at her.

“When I first met Dar and we were getting to know each other, every time she talked about her father, deep down in my heart, I found it hard to believe what she was saying.” Kerry spoke softly.

“Because my own experience had been so different.”

“Dar got off lucky,” Charlie said. “Most of us don’t.”

“True,” Kerry agreed. “But then I met Andy.” She turned her head and met Charlie’s eyes. “He gave me something my family never had, and I cherish that, and him, more than I can tell you.”

The ex-sailor leaned back and rested his arm on the stern 264 Melissa Good railing. “I’m not gonna apologize for us doing what we had to do to keep our heads up,” he said. “I got a kid to take care of.”

Kerry regarded him. “I’m not into judging people. I’ve been on the receiving end of that too many times myself,” she said. “I think the important thing right now is just to get Bud out of that nutball’s clutches and resolve this.”

One of Charlie’s eyebrows twitched. “Thought you weren’t inta judging,” he drawled. “Calling that sonofabitch a nutball like that.”

Kerry produced a faint grin.

“Anyhoo…” Charlie shook his head. “Dar’s just like Andy, got that same attitude. Reminded me of him real strong there for a minute. I know she’s right, a little, but sometimes you just ain’t got no choices in life except the bad ones.”

Kerry tipped her head back and looked up at the sky. “I know,” she said. “I’ve made some of them.”

Charlie studied her. “You ain’t old enough to make that case, lady,” he told her bluntly. “Come back here in twenty years and we’ll talk.”

Kerry merely smiled. “Dar has a very strong sense of right and wrong, and you’re right— she got that from her father.” She propped her foot up against the railing. “I, on the other hand, only got a sense of wrong from mine. But no matter who was needing what, those guys were pointing guns at us, and let me tell you something, they’re lucky I wasn’t pointing one back.”

Charlie sat up. “Huh?’

“Mm.” Kerry looked steadily at him. “I would have shot them.”

“They never hurt no one,” the ex-sailor said. “No one. Them guns were just for show.”

“I don’t care.” Sea green eyes took on a cool tint. “They were threatening the only thing in the world that matters to me.” She leaned forward and rested her elbows on her knees. “So that’s the way that is.”

Charlie scratched his jaw thoughtfully. He studied Kerry’s profile for a few minutes in silence as the boat rocked gently under both of them, the rigging clanking softly in the warm air. Finally, he half smiled. “Feisty thang, huh?”

Kerry glanced up at him with a wry grin, acknowledging the unlikeliness of it all. “Don’t look it, huh?”

Charlie managed a chuckle. “Get your point, Kerry,” he added, suddenly turning serious. “Think those guys maybe got into something we don’t know about. Wasn’t that serious before.”

Kerry pondered that. Could it possibly tie in to what was going on with them? Was it coincidence the pirates had come after them right after they’d gotten away from DeSalliers? “Could be.”

Hearing footsteps approaching down the dock, Kerry cocked Terrors of the High Seas 265

her head. She got up and leaned over the side of the stern, spotting a familiar figure moving toward them. “Ah.” She exhaled. “Bob.”

Charlie got up and joined her. “That little asshole.”

“Mm.” Kerry climbed up onto the side deck and jumped to the dock just as Bob trotted up to the boat. “Hi.”

“Oh! Hey!” Bob seemed a little out of breath. “Glad I found you. Listen, the cops are after me. Can I hide out in there for a while?” He glanced behind Kerry and spotted Charlie’s glare. “Oh.

Ah…okay, maybe not.”

Kerry sighed. “C’mon. We need all the help we can get.” She paused. “Even yours.”

“Huh?”

Kerry took hold of his shirt and pulled him after her as she jumped back onto the boat. Left with a choice of following or losing his clothing, Bob joined her. “Our friend DeSalliers has been busier than you think,” Kerry told him.

Bob hid behind Kerry as they moved onto the stern. “Listen, Kerry did explain to you what happened the other night, didn’t she?” he asked Charlie hopefully.

“I know what happened the other night, you pissant,” Charlie told him. “You ran out and left us. C’mon over here and let me pop your damn little…” Charlie limped toward them.

“Uh… uh…” Bob started moving backward.

“Hold it!” Kerry stepped between the two of them and held up her hand. “C’mon, guys, we don’t have time for this.” She raised her voice when Charlie kept coming. “Stop it!”

One, two, three, four… Kerry counted silently, feeling the boat shift a little under her as something started moving.

The door to the cabin slammed open and Dar bounded out onto the deck, her eyes immediately taking in the situation. She pounced on Charlie, grabbed his shirt, and unceremoniously hauled him backward. “Hey!” she barked. “Cool it!”

“Let go of me!” Charlie yanked against her grip. “I owe that bastard a big right one.”

Dar got in front of him and blocked his way. “I said, cool it.”

She bristled. “We don’t have time for this crap. Like you said at the hospital—you made the choice to trust him. No one forced you.”

Charlie tried to brush by her. “Dar, get out of my way.”

“No.” Dar didn’t budge. “Don’t even think about trying to move me.”

He stopped and stared at her. “You think you’re Andrew? Get your ass out of my way, girl.” He put his hand against Dar’s shoulder and pushed.

Dar didn’t budge. She lifted her hand and closed her fingers around Charlie’s wrist, tightening her grip with sudden explosiveness. “Charlie,” she gazed steadily at him, “this is my 266 Melissa Good boat, and you’re on it,” she said. “Stop it.” Their eyes locked. “I’m not my father,” Dar warned him softly.

Charlie examined the glittering blue eyes, cold as ice, that were fastened on him, then he stepped back. Dar released his arm and he resumed his seat on the stern bench. “When we get off this boat,” he told Dar, “you ain’t stopping me.”

Satisfied with the answer, Dar turned. “All right.” She looked at Bob. “This has gotten a lot more serious. You can stick around, but keep your mouth shut, and if we need you to do something, don’t make me have to explain it in words of less than one syllable.”

Bob took a step backward. “Maybe I should just go hang out somewhere else.”

Kerry turned. “DeSalliers kidnapped our friend Bud and he’s threatening to kill him,” she said. “Sure you want to go out wandering around?”

Bob looked honestly shocked. “No kidding? I didn’t think he…

I mean, yeah, he’s famous for all this salvage crap, but I never thought he’d get as serious as that.”

“Let’s go inside.” Dar opened the door. “Hopefully, he’ll call soon and we’ll know where we stand.”

Kerry led Bob inside, taking a moment to give Dar a wry look and a pat on the side as she passed her. “Would you like some coffee?”

Dar gave a tiny moan in response. She turned and waited for Charlie to get up and limp over, standing back to let him enter. He paused as he came even with her and their eyes met again. After a minute, Charlie shook his head and walked past.

Dar turned and briefly surveyed their surroundings. She scanned the nearby boats, assessing their occupants. Nothing jumped out at her, and of course, DeSalliers’ yacht was nowhere to be seen. Her eyes spotted two policemen, however. One was standing near the beginning of the wooden dock, and the other was walking up and down near the beach.

She heard the sound of engines behind her, and she walked to the other side of the boat and looked out over the water. A racing boat was idling into the marina, big, throaty engines rumbling as it moved past them. There was a man behind the controls, with what Dar could only describe to herself as a babe next to him.

The man looked around and caught Dar’s eye, producing a smile and a wave in her direction. “Nice boat!” he yelled.

“Same to you,” Dar responded with wry civility. She watched the boat move past, making note of the name and the Miami Beach home port under it. The racer pulled into a slip two past theirs and disgorged its occupants onto the dock. The man gave the woman a slap on the butt and pointed up to a nearby restaurant. He turned Terrors of the High Seas 267

and walked the other way, toward Dar’s boat.

“Figures.” Dar stuck her head inside the door. “Got company.

Ker, watch my phone, will ya?”

Kerry had artfully positioned Bob and Charlie as far away from each other as she could in the living area and was preparing coffee behind the galley. “Aye aye, Cap’n Dar.”

Dar shut the door and walked to the side of the boat to meet their visitor.

“ANYWAY, SINCE YOU’RE a neighbor, I thought I’d pass the word,” the man said with a wry grin. “It was a hell of a weather system, and since it’s headed this way, you might want to check your float plan.”

Dar exhaled. “We had a bad storm here the other day,” she said. “I thought we’d finished with the tropical weather this year.”

The other boater shook his head. He was a relatively good-looking man, of medium height and the type of build that indicated he guilted himself into a gym a few times a week. “Yeah. And you know, I just heard we’re up for an El Nino again this year.

Weather’s been real weird.”

Dar glanced up. “Well, if what they say about global warming is true, better enjoy the islands now,” she said. “We’ll be diving them as reefs some day.” Her hand extended over the water.

“Thanks for the warning, Roger. I appreciate it.”

“No problem.” The man clasped her hand. “Hey, you said your name is Roberts?”

Uh oh. Dar nodded warily. “Yeah.”

His head tilted and he looked at her. “You’re not any relation to Andrew and Cecilia Roberts, are you? They’re my slip neighbors over at the South Beach Marina.”

Oh. Dar managed a relieved smile. “Yeah. They’re my parents.”

“Had a feeling.” Roger pointed at her. “You look like Andy.

He’s a trip. Well, good to meet you, Dar. Have a safe trip back, and watch out for that storm.” He lifted a hand and started back down the docks.

“Small world,” Dar murmured in bemusement. “Small, small world.”

“SO THAT’S WHAT happened.” Kerry put the Thermos of coffee on the tray and added some cream and sugar. She picked it up and brought it over to the table. “Whatever it is you’re looking for, Bob—it must really be there.”

Bob exhaled. “Yeah, that’s what I thought too, when the cops came after me. No smoke without cigarettes, right?”

268 Melissa Good Kerry looked up with a dubious expression. “Right.” She set down the tray, and then jumped as Dar’s cell phone rang. With a quick glance toward the laptop, she picked it up and opened it.

“Hello?”

“Roberts?”

Kerry considered lying, but discarded the idea. “No,” she answered.

“Put the bitch on the phone right now.”

The door opened and Dar entered. Kerry held up the phone and then directed a rude gesture toward it. Dar’s eyes narrowed as she crossed the deck and took the instrument. “Yeah?”

Kerry dropped to the couch and pulled the laptop over, clicking on the window Dar had running for the cell phone. The program had activated. She noticed Charlie had moved to the edge of his chair, listening intently to Dar’s conversation.

“Write this down, Roberts. If you fuck it up, your little buddy’s toast.”

Dar took a deep breath, willing herself to patience. “Go ahead.”

“I’ll give you two coordinates. You be there at midnight tonight. Bring what you’ve got, plus twenty-five thousand dollars,”

DeSalliers said. “That’s to cover the cost of fixing my boat.”

Considering his demands, Dar pulled her new pocket watch from her shorts pocket and opened it. “Forget it,” she told DeSalliers crisply. “Try again.”

There was a momentary silence. “You’re not really understanding the situation, are you? You don’t tell me what to do, Roberts; you do what I tell you to do.”

“Listen, moron, the bank’s closed,” Dar said. “If you want to recoup the cost of repairs to your hull breach, gimme the bill or rethink your plan.”

“That’s not my problem, Roberts. It’s yours. Bring the cash and the relic, or I’ll chop this piece of shit up and use him for bait.”

The phone went dead; Dar closed it. “Shit.”

Kerry studied the screen. “Looks like he’s out on the water, Dar,” she said. “Nearest coordinates are just west of St. Johns.” She tapped a few more keys. “Jesus, you captured the digitized output?”

“I never do things halfway.” Dar sat down. “We’ve got a problem. He wants twenty-five grand.” She studied the phone. “So now, in addition to a relic I don’t have, I also have to turn over a suitcase of cash I don’t have. This is getting better and better every damn minute.” Her disgust was evident in her expression. “And to top it all off, a damn tropical weather system’s headed this way and it might be developing circulation.”

Kerry frowned. “At this time of year? Dar, it’s December!”

“No kidding.” Dar rubbed her eyes. “All right, let’s see where Terrors of the High Seas 269

these coordinates are.”

Charlie got up and walked over, leaning on the couch arm to see what Dar was doing. “Weather means trouble,” he commented.

“But not ’til after this damn thing’s over.”

Dar typed in the two coordinates DeSalliers had given her and waited for the program to plot them on a map. The grid drew in, then a sketchy outline of the islands, then a blinking crosshair. It was set in the middle of the water, as she’d expected it to be, in a lonely stretch of water south of the islands.

“No-man’s-land.” Charlie grunted. “’Bout two hours run out there. Not much but a hole in the ocean.”

“So he has to get from here...” Kerry put her fingertip on the place where the cell signal had been tracked from, “…to here. And we have to get from here…” she pointed to where they were in St.

Thomas, “…to here. Much shorter.”

“We could get there first,” Bob commented. “You think they’ll have your friend in the boat with them? I guess they’d have to, huh?”

Dar studied the screen. “If they actually intend on making the swap, yeah.” She heard Charlie suck in a breath. “I figure I need to make him show me he’s got Bud before I agree to anything.”

“You think he’d double-cross… Oh, what a stupid question.”

Kerry rubbed her face with one hand. “Dar, if we don’t really have anything to give him, what are we going to do?” she asked. “You can only bluff him so far.”

Dar folded her hands together and rested her chin against them. “I know that.” Her pale eyes became hooded, the lids becoming mere slits over icy eyes. “If it takes us two hours to get out there, we’ve got until around nine thirty before we have to leave the dock. We’ve got until then to get something to turn over to him that’ll seem real enough to pass.”

“What about the money?” Charlie asked. “Got some people I can call.”

“Not that creep from this morning!” Kerry blurted out. “Christ, I’d rather hock the boat than see his face again.” She reached forward and pulled over the coffee tray, setting up two cups and starting to prepare them.

“No.” Charlie cleared his throat gently. “Somebody else.” He stood up and took out the cell phone. “Damn bill’s gonna cost me an arm this month.” He limped toward the door and went outside, closing it behind him.

Kerry and Dar exchanged glances. Dar pulled the laptop over and opened another program. “I’ll get a wire transfer through, but it won’t clear until tomorrow. Maybe if he can get something temporary until then…”

“Expensive vacation.” Kerry leaned against her lover’s 270 Melissa Good shoulder. “Next time, how about we just go do something traditional, like visit Niagara Falls?”

“It’d probably stop while we were there and we’d have to fix that, too.” Dar finished her request and hit enter with an annoyed click. “Okay.” She examined her other running programs. “Nothing else yet.”

“You think there will be?” Kerry asked.

Dar shrugged and shook her head. “I don’t know. And you know something? I’m getting pretty tired of saying that I don’t know.” She rested her head against her hands again, banging her forehead against her fists lightly as she rocked back and forth.

Kerry put an arm around Dar, rubbing her back with light fingertips. “Okay, Bob, what specifically did you think you’d find here? Really, I mean.”

Bob had been staring at Dar in fascination. Now he looked at Kerry with startled eyes. “Um…I dunno, really. I kinda expected...um…well, Tanya thought the old man would maybe work a deal with us if he knew we were trying to rake something up.”

“No, huh?” Kerry’s brow creased. “Somehow, a guy who would steal from his own mother doesn’t seem to me to be the type to deal.” She gently moved the laptop away from Dar and cracked her knuckles before opening a database request and starting to type.

“Now, if we assume Grandpa Wharton wasn’t nuts, then he was here for a reason, right?”

“Mm,” Dar grunted.

“Okay. I’m going to search the exports from here during that time period and see what I can find. If he was here, it must have been for something worth his while. Since he was a fisherman, I doubt it was timber.” Kerry typed quickly and accurately. When she felt warmth on her shoulder, she looked up to find Dar’s chin resting on it. Her hand stopped moving for an instant, then started up again. She was very aware of Bob’s watching eyes, but the comfort of Dar’s cheek pressed against her jaw trumped the mild embarrassment at the intimacy, and she leaned her head against Dar’s.

“Hey,” Dar breathed into her ear, “while you’re there, do a search in the public archives for smuggling busts during that time period.”

Kerry turned her head slightly and looked into Dar’s eyes at very, very close range. “Smuggling?”

“Smuggling?” Bob asked.

“And do a public records search on him in Maine,” Dar said.

“We’re assuming he was here for a reason. Nothing says it had to be a legal one.”

“Hey!” Bob protested. “He was a good guy.”

Terrors of the High Seas 271

Kerry nodded slightly as she typed.

Charlie came back in, his face visibly red. He limped over and sat down, juggling the cell phone as though he wanted to chuck it against the cabin wall. “Waste of a phone call.”

Dar looked up from a conversation on her own cell and shook her head.

Kerry motioned him over to the galley where she was standing.

“Want a beer?” she offered sympathetically.

Charlie sat down on the stool bolted to the deck and rested his arms on the galley counter. He played with the phone, still visibly upset. “All we done for them, and they tell me to get lost.” He rested his fist against his jaw. “Thought after all this time, things’d changed. Guess I was wrong. Wait ’til the next time those bastards show up with a busted head, wanting Bud…” He stopped suddenly and his eyes blinked a few times. “Damn, I hope he’s all right.”

Kerry set an opened bottle of beer in front of him and leaned on the counter. “I’m sure he will be, Charlie. We’ll do our best to make sure of that,” she assured him in a gentle tone.

Charlie looked at her. “I feel like a first-rate fool. Thinking them people’d gotten to be our friends.”

Dar walked over and leaned next to him. “All right. I arranged for a draft for tomorrow. When I talk to DeSalliers tonight, I’ll have to work a deal with him. I can’t get it any sooner. There isn’t a big enough supply of cash on the damn island. The nearest place I could get it from was one of the cruise ships, and the closest one isn’t due in until tomorrow night.”

Charlie looked at her. “DeSalliers ain’t gonna buy that. He wants to get the hell out of here.”

“I know,” Dar agreed. “So I have to make what I’m gonna give him good enough for him to forget about the cash.”

Kerry tapped her on the arm. “Dar, we don’t have anything.”

“He doesn’t know that.”

“You can’t risk it,” Kerry protested quietly.

“Kerry, what choice do we have?” Dar asked, just as quietly.

“The searches came up with zilch. We’ve got no clue as to why Wharton was here. We have no proof he was nuts, no proof he wasn’t. What we have is a damn wooden cigar box and my ability to lie through my teeth.”

Kerry closed her eyes. “Christ.” She exhaled, staring at the counter. Then she looked up. “DeSalliers is probably going to head around St. Thomas and then around the east part of the island to the meet point, right?”

“Probably. Why?”

“Why don’t we go dive the site? What do we have to lose? Maybe we can find something,” Kerry said. “We’ve got a couple of hours.”

“Hey, that’s a great idea!” Bob had joined them. “He won’t 272 Melissa Good even be paying attention to the site now.” He sounded excited for the first time since he’d joined them. “Let’s do it!”

Dar calculated the times, then turned and headed for the door without a word. Maybe they would find something, maybe they wouldn’t, but it was something physical she could do and that sure as hell beat the crap out of sitting around the boat for four hours pulling her hair out. And sometimes, she acknowledged, she got lucky. Dar hoped this was one of those times.