Sudden Recall

by Jean Barrett

  “Charles Moses,” he said.

  She had wondered when he would get around to that. “The P.I. who called on Harriet Krause. What about him?”

  “If the Jamisons hired him to recover Nathanial, it’s reasonable to suppose he’s based in Savannah, too.”

  “Maybe.”

  “But you know who he is, don’t you? After the look I saw on your face back at the Krause woman’s apartment, I remembered what you told me out at the houseboat. About the P.I. you were supposed to marry before he ended up disappointing you and moved on. Where did he wind up, Eden? Savannah, right? This Moses is the same guy.”

  “Yes, Charlie went to Savannah,” she admitted. “And if you’re asking me whether I’m looking forward to running into him again, I’m not.”

  “But a meeting with him will probably be necessary, Eden.”

  “I know.” She would deal with it when she had to, but until then…

  By now, they had turned off East Battery and were on their way down Bahama Street.

  “There’s something else,” Shane said. “Harriet Krause insisted I was never mentioned when she met with Moses, but I think she was lying. I think I might not only have been discussed, but that there could be some involvement with Moses and those two—”

  Shane came to an abrupt halt on the sidewalk. They had come within sight of her car. But it wasn’t the Toyota that had suddenly captured his attention. He was gazing at another vehicle, a silver Mercedes-Benz that had just parked on the opposite side of the street. Or, to be exact about it, he was staring at the two broad-shouldered figures who emerged from the sedan.

  A warning stirred inside Eden. This is trouble, she thought. She understood that much even before Shane, cursing savagely, grabbed her by the arm and thrust her protectively behind him.

  Chapter Eight

  Eden understood now why Shane had referred to his two adversaries as a pair of gorillas. Even at this distance, more than a block away, she could tell as she peered around Shane that they were all bulk and brawn. Gorillas in business suits and driving a luxury car.

  Eden had no doubt at all that these were the brutes who had captured and beaten Shane. She knew he had immediately recognized them, and his reaction terrified her. His body was tensed for action, his hands at his sides curled into fists. Fists that she realized he wouldn’t hesitate to swing with the force of hammers. Courageous, but a mistake.

  “Shane, no,” she appealed to him, plucking at the sleeve of his jacket. “We’ve got to get out of sight.”

  “Too late. They’ve already spotted us.”

  It was true. The heavier of the two men had looked up the street, noticed them on the sidewalk, and was now excitedly alerting his companion. This second gorilla had a head of close-cropped hair so pale it was almost white, and a yell worthy of Tarzan.

  His shout of discovery was still ringing in the air when Shane’s hand whipped around to the back side of his belt where he still carried the pistol under his jacket. Another mistake.

  “You can’t!” Eden cried. “Not out here on the street! Not when they’re probably armed themselves! We wouldn’t stand a chance!”

  She prayed that Shane would accept the wisdom of her argument, and was relieved when his hand dropped back to his side. “You’re right. A shoot-out isn’t smart.”

  “Please,” she pleaded with him, “let’s get out of here.”

  And fast, she thought, because the two gorillas were already pounding up the pavement in their direction. She could imagine how much Shane hated the idea of turning and running, but he must have realized that Eden’s safety, as well as the outcome of their investigation, depended at this stage on flight. They had to stay free if they were going to find Nathanial.

  “Later, then,” Shane said with cold anger, swinging around and snatching her by the hand. She knew he was promising himself a future meeting with his enemies, one in which he would confront and deal with them without the need to retreat.

  How? Eden wondered as they raced back toward the waterfront. How did those two know we were here? Because it couldn’t be chance that they’d arrived on the scene. Harriet Krause? Did she lie about not knowing them? Fear what we would do after we left her apartment? That we would fail to keep her out of it, and in a panic she phoned this pair of thugs, hoping they would take care of us?

  Or had it been the frightened caretaker back at the Jolly Mariner motel who’d called them? Roy, who had known she and Shane would be coming here, because he had provided them with Harriet Krause’s address?

  But what did it matter who had contacted them? They were here and a threat she and Shane had to lose. She was worried about that, worried about Shane’s leg. She didn’t dare mention his leg to him, though. He didn’t want to be reminded it might in any way be a problem for him, and so far he was managing, moving with an amazing speed that left her breathless as he drew her along. But the leg had already been stressed by two lengthy walks today. How long could Shane maintain this pace? Or she, herself, for that matter?

  “Which way?” he asked, pausing on the corner as they reached East Battery again.

  Eden glanced back. Their pursuers were still almost a block away but slowly gaining on them. She and Shane couldn’t hope to outdistance them. They needed a refuge. But what and where?

  Shane supplied the answer when a boat whistle sounded, signaling an imminent departure from a landing on the other side of East Battery.

  “Whatever it is, let’s see if we can get on board.”

  The thoroughfare was a busy one, but there was a break in the traffic that permitted them to streak across the street to the seawall.

  It was probably one of the excursion boats, Eden thought. She knew there were several places along the waterfront that offered various tours of the harbor. Her guess proved correct when they reached the promenade and were able to look down on the craft, whose crew was preparing to cast off the lines. But the prospect of their being accepted among the passengers crowded on deck wasn’t good.

  “Charter buses,” she said, indicating the two long vehicles parked along the promenade. “That means a private party hired the boat.”

  “We’ve just become two of its members,” Shane promised her with a confidence she admired but wasn’t ready to trust.

  Eden cast a last anxious look over her shoulder as he hurried her to the steps that descended to the landing. Their pursuers had reached the corner but were prevented from crossing the street by a heavy flow of rapid traffic. She blessed the delay forced on them. But would it be long enough to permit Shane and her to board the vessel? To put a watery distance between them and their enemies? That is, if they were even allowed on board. Eden still had her doubts about that.

  “Hang on!” Shane shouted to the crew about to release the lines. “Don’t leave without us!”

  Eden felt his strong arm around her waist, rushing her to the craft and practically flinging her onto its deck before scrambling after her. They had made it! And were immediately challenged.

  “What’s this? You’re not part of our tour.”

  The officious young man who confronted them had a loop of tickets in one hand, a packet of brochures in the other and a scowl on his face that indicated an intolerant disposition.

  “Sure we are,” Shane said boldly. “Been with you from the start.”

  Shane’s lie earned him a sneer. “Is that so? Funny that I can’t recall you. And I don’t imagine I’d forget any of the faces on my bus.”

  He’s the tour guide, Eden decided, and we’ve had it.

  Mercifully, an elderly woman nearby came to their defense. “I think I remember them, Ozzie. They’re from the other bus.”

  “That’s right, Ozzie,” Shane said. “We’re part of the other bus.”

  “Then what are you doing on this boat? You should have been on the first boat that pulled out ahead of us.”

  “Got delayed in a souvenir shop across the road,” Shane said. “Wife here can’t resist those souvenirs.�
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  “Uh-huh.”

  “Aw, Ozzie, don’t be a stinker,” an old man in a baseball cap and thick glasses spoke up. “What difference does it make what boat they’re on? There’s plenty of room.”

  They’re all seniors, Eden realized as she gazed at the faces around them. What had they gotten themselves into?

  Not that it was important as long as this boat moved, which it hadn’t yet, although its engine was throbbing. She looked frantically toward the steps from the promenade. No sign of their pursuers on them yet. They were probably dodging traffic on the street, but it could only be a matter of seconds before they appeared.

  The hostile tour guide relented. “Oh, all right. Just find your seats, all of you, so we can get under way.”

  He signaled to the pilot at the wheel, and to Eden’s relief the craft began to draw away from the landing. Their departure was just in time. At that moment the two burly figures charged down the steps to the landing.

  Eden whispered a quick prayer of thanks to whatever god was looking out for them. There was a safe barrier now, widening rapidly, between the boat and the landing. The two men stood there, their broad faces wearing furious expressions as they watched their quarry escape.

  Eden could see now that the heavier of the pair was also fair-haired, though a much darker shade of blond than his companion. In fact, they were enough alike to be brothers, which meant they probably were. They both had the hard looks of men who didn’t concern themselves with how they got what they wanted. Or cared who they hurt. It was a realization that made Eden shiver.

  Aware of her reaction, Shane murmured a quick reassurance. “It’s all right, Eden. We’ve left them behind. Uh, I don’t suppose that one of our two friends back there happens to be your Charles Moses?”

  She shook her head. “Not unless Charlie acquired muscles since I saw him last, and weight lifting wasn’t one of his favorite recreations.”

  “I didn’t think so, but the idea did cross my mind. Ozzie is glaring at us. I guess we’d better behave ourselves and find some seats.”

  The elderly man and woman who had come to their rescue made room for them on one of the benches under the canopy that roofed the open deck.

  “Got another question for you,” Shane whispered when they were squeezed side by side. “Just where are we going?”

  “I don’t know,” Eden whispered back. “Maybe out to Fort Sumter, or maybe it’s just a general tour of the harbor. Shane, have you noticed? We’re the youngest couple here. No wonder the guide is suspicious. I think we’ve just joined a seniors’ bus tour.”

  “Where you folks from?” the man in the baseball cap asked them.

  “Chicago,” Eden replied.

  “Cleveland,” Shane answered simultaneously.

  The old man looked puzzled until Eden hastily explained. “That’s where each of us was from originally.”

  “Chicago, huh?” He nodded. “Used to visit cousins there.”

  He went on to reminisce about Chicago while the gulls swooped overhead, the boat chugged onward through the choppy waters of the harbor, and Eden tried not to mind the chill wind blowing in from the open sea. She only half listened as she tried to determine their destination. She couldn’t ask, not when she was supposed to know where they were going.

  Maybe Shane would have better luck with his own neighbor. He and the old lady on his side were engaged in a friendly conversation. A moment later he leaned over close to Eden and spoke softly in her ear.

  “We’re okay. It is a theme tour, but age isn’t a requirement.”

  She turned her head and looked at him. There was a gleam in his eyes. She wondered if she ought to be worried about it. “Then what is?”

  “Marriage. This is the Renew-Your-Wedding-Vows Bus Tour.”

  “You’re kidding.”

  “I swear. It’s a second honeymoon kind of thing. It all winds up at a fancy hotel where all the couples renew their wedding vows in this mass ceremony. Guess it’s a good thing we bought these matching bands, huh?”

  “What are you doing?”

  Shane had caught her hand and was lifting it to his mouth. For a moment he was too busy to answer her. He spent several seconds nuzzling the backs of her fingers. Then, turning her hand over, he began planting warm kisses in the hollow of her palm.

  Things happened whenever he touched her like this. Things that made her go all limp and weak. Things that cost her her self-control.

  “Shane—”

  “Quiet,” he ordered her in a low voice. “I’m playing devoted husband. Ozzie is standing over there looking at us suspiciously again. You want him to think we’re not the genuine article?”

  As far as Eden could tell, the tour guide was not particularly interested in them at this moment. And Shane was carrying this masquerade too far. She should have objected when, head bent over her hand once more, he resumed his attentions to her palm. But she didn’t.

  It was a slow, sensual affair. A thorough one that involved caresses from his lips, little nibbles with his teeth, and the tip of his tongue stroking her willing flesh. The breath stuck in Eden’s throat while her head spun with the hot memories of what this same mouth had done to her back at the houseboat.

  There was no telling how long Shane would have lingered over her hand if his elderly neighbor’s loud, wistful sigh hadn’t startled Eden into restoring her reason. She quickly withdrew her hand.

  “I don’t know how long you two have been married, but anyone can tell you don’t need to repeat wedding vows to remind yourselves what you mean to each other.” She poked the man next to her in the ribs. “Stan, why don’t you ever make love to my hand like that?”

  “I gave it a big diamond, didn’t I? Say, how much farther is it to this Patriots Point?”

  Eden and Shane exchanged glances. Now that she knew their destination on the far side of the harbor, she explained it to him in a rapid whisper. “It’s a maritime museum. The navy retired four of its ships there. The aircraft carrier Yorktown is the main attraction.”

  Shane nodded. Turning away from him, Eden strained forward in her seat, trying to measure the distance they had yet to travel to reach Patriots Point. “This is good,” she murmured, her gaze on the approaching docks where the four vessels were permanently berthed. “We won’t have to risk going back to that landing, because there’s a visitors’ center at the point. We should be able to catch a taxi there to take us back to the car. With any luck, our friends won’t be hanging around Bahama Street by then.”

  Shane had no answer for her. When she turned to him again, the teasing gleam had gone from his eyes.

  “They aren’t back on Bahama Street, Eden,” he said, jerking his thumb over his shoulder. “They’re behind us.”

  Alarmed, Eden swung around on her seat. While she had been looking forward, Shane must have been checking their rear. The sight that met her gaze made her heart lurch in dismay. There was a speedboat behind them. It was still some distance away but plowing steadily in their direction. She couldn’t mistake the two figures standing near its bow, legs braced apart.

  Their pursuers hadn’t surrendered the chase. They had managed to hire a motorboat. A fast one.

  Why? Eden wondered. Why were they so determined to catch Shane again?

  It was an unnecessary question. She knew the answer, didn’t she?

  To force him to give up the secret they’re convinced he’s hiding, that’s why. To make him reveal to them what he’s done with Nathanial, because they don’t know he’s lost his memory.

  Not that she and Shane knew for certain this was their aim, but everything they had learned so far indicated as much. Anyway, there was only one question here that really mattered: why was Nathanial so important to those two that they would resort to every desperate measure to find him? Did it involve a kidnapping for ransom?

  Remembering the glimpse she’d had of their brutish faces as the excursion boat pulled away from the landing, Eden was convinced their motive was not
a virtuous one. The sickening thought of either of them ever getting his hands on her son made her shake with anger.

  Shane must have been aware of her agitation. He took her hand again and held it, not in any mischievous seduction this time but in comfort. She was thankful for his solid presence.

  Both of them kept twisting around to check on the progress of the speedboat. It was clearly gaining on them.

  “What if they catch up with our boat?” Eden whispered into Shane’s ear. “What then?”

  “I deal with them,” he said, his voice like flint. “But I think we’re going to make it.”

  Eden, too, could see that they were nearing their objective. The immense World War II aircraft carrier loomed in front of them. Probably less than a quarter of a mile away now. And then came a maddening delay.

  The tour boat slowed to a crawl as a shrimp boat cut across its bow. Eden cast another nervous glance behind her. The speedboat was closing on them rapidly.

  Move, she silently urged their own craft. Please, move.

  The shrimp boat cleared them, and the tour boat gathered speed again. A moment later they were mooring at a floating landing on the harbor side of the Yorktown. The lines had yet to be secured, when Shane drew Eden to her feet and hurried her toward the exit.

  The speedboat had also arrived on the scene, but it was forced to stand off from the small landing until the tour boat had disembarked its passengers. She and Shane could still make a successful escape. Except for one problem.

  “This isn’t where I expected them to deliver us,” she murmured to Shane. “I assumed we’d dock at the pier around on the land side. That’s where the center is and where visitors usually arrive.”

  “It looks like we don’t have any choice but to board the carrier,” he said, eyeing the hanging stairway attached to the lofty side of the Yorktown.

  As swiftly as Eden and Shane had moved toward the exit in order to be among the first off the tour boat, there were still people ahead of them. And another frustrating delay while the tour guide, who stood beside the opened gate in the rail, handed out tickets and brochures.