by Tawna Fenske
“We’d planned to ambush the ship on land. Maybe we can still pull it off.”
Jake stared dubiously at the controls. “Do we have enough fuel to make it there?”
“We’d planned to haul ass coming back anyway,” Alex said. “Twenty knots, remember? We planned on burning some fuel. Let’s crunch the numbers.”
“You want to take the helm for a minute?” Jake asked. “I’ve got the charts right here; Phyllis and I can plot it out.”
Alex took the controls, and Jake grabbed a fistful of charts out of a cupboard. Striding over to the table, he dropped into the chair beside Phyllis with a notebook in his hand and a determined expression on his face.
“Cookie, would you mind checking into the weather and the currents along that course?” Alex asked. “And Juli?”
“Hmmm?” she said, biting into another cookie as she watched them all work.
“Keep an ear on that radio,” Alex said. “You’re now the official translator of this pirate mission.”
Juli grinned, wiping at her milk moustache as she surveyed the rest of the crew. “Cool. I’m the medic and the translator.”
Jake shook his head as he stared down at a chart. “Unfuckingbelievable.”
Juli just smiled and dragged a stool over to the controls. Perching on the seat, she took a bite of cookie and got to work.
She was officially part of the team. It felt damn good.
***
Jake scowled at the numbers in front of him, pencil poised in one hand as he anchored the chart with the other.
“So we can do this,” Phyllis said, sounding like she was trying to convince herself.
“Maybe,” Jake said. “There are a lot of ifs here. And no offense, Juli—I mean, we all like you and everything, but it’s pretty fishy that this is all happening while you’re stowed away on our boat.”
Juli grinned at him. “No offense taken. I’m flattered you think I could figure out how to hijack a ship that’s several hundred miles away.”
“Let’s stay focused on the ifs here, guys,” Alex interjected from his spot at the helm. “If we’re right about where they’re headed. If whoever’s driving the ship isn’t armed to the teeth. If we’re not completely wrong about what just happened out there. If we can even figure out where to dock once we hit Barbados.”
“If this guy doesn’t stop telling stupid jokes on the radio, I’m going to throw myself overboard,” Juli said, scowling at the controls. “Seriously, blonde jokes in Bajan aren’t any funnier than blonde jokes in English.”
“Just keep listening,” Alex told her. “Tell us what they’re saying.”
“He says the trade winds have been really bad the last two days, so they’ll have to be careful. Now the other guy is saying something about taking care of the details with customs at Bridgetown Harbour so they can make it through without a problem.”
Jake glanced over her shoulder at the notepad where she was jotting all the information.
“Hell,” he said, turning back to Phyllis. “Can we use the same doctored-up paperwork we used before?”
“I think so,” Phyllis said, frowning. “It looks like we can come in either through Bridgetown Harbour or Port St. Charles, but we’ll be required to leave customs through the same port we entered.”
“Something to keep in mind,” Alex murmured.
“So how long until we make it there?” Juli asked, keeping one ear tuned to the radio. The voices had fallen silent, and she wasn’t sure what that meant.
Alex frowned down at the calculations Jake and Phyllis had jotted on a notepad beside their stack of charts. “We’ve got about three hundred miles to cover. Factoring in the windstream and the currents we’re likely to hit along the way, we can make it in about twelve hours if we average twenty knots.”
Juli studied him, noticing dark circles under his eyes. She couldn’t remember the last time Alex had gotten a solid night of sleep, but it hadn’t been in her bed. They’d been much too busy for that. “Maybe you should go sleep for a little while,” she suggested. “You didn’t get a lot of rest last night.”
Alex frowned, his hands still on the controls. “I’m fine.”
Juli rolled her eyes. “Look, I’m no expert, but you’re obviously the most experienced member of the crew. I don’t know much about boating, but it seems like it would be a dumb idea for our captain to be falling asleep at the wheel by the time we arrive.”
Alex seemed to be on the verge of protesting, but Phyllis interrupted. “She’s right, Alex. We’re going to need you when we dock. None of us can get the ship into port without you.”
“I can take the next six hours,” Jake offered. “And Cody and Phyllis can split up the rest. We want you to be sharp for the next part of this mission.”
Alex sighed. “We don’t even know what we’re going to do when we get there. We need to have a plan. We can’t just pull up alongside the cargo ship and ask if they have any Grey Poupon.”
“We have Grey Poupon,” Cody offered helpfully.
“We’ve got twelve hours,” Jake said. “We’ll chew on it while you sleep, and we’ll wake you up with plenty of time to spare so you can help us hammer out the details.”
Alex glanced at his watch. “It’s 10:00 p.m. now. Wake me up at 4:00 a.m., okay? No later. I’ll just rest my eyes.”
“Go,” Juli said. “We’ve got it covered.”
Alex looked at her and shook his head. “Why does that not reassure me?”
“Go!” Juli said again, this time more forcefully. “Are you waiting for someone to tuck you in?”
Alex gave her a tired half smile. “Actually, that’s not a bad idea. There’s a Battleship game we need to finish.”
Juli rolled her eyes. “The moment’s gone, sailor boy.”
“I’m good at creating new moments.”
His tone was playful, but something in his eyes made her go warm all over. Her mind flashed an image of him wearing nothing but his boxer briefs, his body hard and lean and ready to—
She dropped her cookie.
“Got it,” Alex said, stooping to pick it up.
He handed it to her, and Juli was so dizzy at his touch, she shoved the cookie in her mouth without thinking.
“Five second rule.” She flushed and looked down at the radio. “Can I just detach this handheld thingy on the radio here if I need to move around the ship for a second?”
“Sure,” Alex said. “You coming with me?”
“I need my sweater from my room, and I want to get Uncle Frank. I’ll follow you down there, but I’m coming right back. I don’t want to miss anything.”
Alex shrugged. “Mi casa es su casa.”
“It’s my room,” Juli pointed out.
“Yeah, but it’s my boat.”
“Technically, isn’t it a rental?”
“Are you going to gab all night, or are you going to get your sweater?”
Juli grinned and pushed past him, making her way toward the master stateroom. Alex followed. In the doorway, they both paused for a moment, surveying the Battleship carnage.
“Quite a game,” Alex said.
“That it was.”
“Tell me again what it was you were hoping to accomplish there?”
Juli moved past him and set the portable radio on the bed. Grabbing her knapsack, she felt the tingling sensation she’d come to recognize as Alex’s eyes on her body. She bent over the bag, pawing through the contents in search of her sweater.
“I was hoping to distract you,” she said, tossing out shorts and shoes and other random articles of clothing. No sweater. “Put you off your game so you wouldn’t notice you were losing the challenge.”
“It’s tough to make a man forget he’s sitting there in his underwear.”
“I didn’t care about the underwear,” she said. “I just wanted to get your defenses down so you’d forget about your plan to cut me out of the heist.”
“You’re right then. I forgot about that part.”
> Juli found her sweater and pulled it out of the pack, tugging it over her arms as she avoided his eyes. She felt very naked all of a sudden, even more than she had in her bra.
Naked wasn’t a bad thing, but not what they needed right now.
“Anyway, it’s a moot point now,” she told him. “You’re not going to handcuff me, and I’m going to be a part of the mission one way or another.”
“That you are.”
Juli was quiet a moment, hesitating there at the foot of the bed. Alex moved first, stooping to collect the Battleship pieces. Juli joined him, pulling the little red and white pegs out of the boards and collecting them in little bags. When she finally spoke, her voice sounded small to her.
“Should I be scared?” she asked. “About what’s happening with the mission, I mean.”
“No.”
“Are you?”
Alex was quiet for a moment, his expression unreadable. “I’d be an idiot if I pretended this wasn’t risky.”
Juli frowned and rubbed her hands over her arms.
“This mission is personal, Juli,” Alex said, handing her a bag of red pegs. “It’s not about money or power or pirate booty or anything like that.”
“Really?”
“Okay, it’s a little bit about money.”
“Money can be important,” she agreed. “Seems to matter a lot to some people.”
He flinched—just a little, but Juli noticed. She opened her mouth to ask about it, but he cut her off.
“Anyway,” he said, “there’s a lot at stake here. That’s all.”
Juli nodded, not sure they were still talking about money or pirate missions. She waited, wondering if he’d continue. When Alex said nothing, Juli reached for the Battleship box. Her fingers brushed his arm as she leaned across the bed, and she shivered a little at the contact.
Drawing back, she put the box in front of her and began setting the game boards and little bags inside. Alex handed her the bag of gray plastic boats, and Juli dropped them in the box and set the lid in place.
“So one of us will come wake you in six hours,” she told him.
“Feel free to join me if you need a nap.”
Juli rolled her eyes. “If you and I continue sharing a bed, I think the odds are pretty slim we’ll get much sleep.”
“Probably true. Kind of a shame. I’ll miss sleep.”
She giggled. “I thought we agreed we weren’t doing this.”
“That’s right.” He took a step closer, and Juli felt his breath ruffle her hair. “Why was that again?”
“I might be a spy, you might be a criminal, and we’re on a ship with no condoms,” she said, feeling dizzy at his closeness. “Or something like that.”
“Right. Other than that, though—”
Juli lifted the box and smacked him softly over the head with it. “Good night, sailor boy.”
He grinned and grabbed her around the waist, pulling her against him before she had a moment to lower her arms or protest. Then he was kissing her again, his fingers twining in her hair as Juli held the Battleship box awkwardly above them. She whimpered and leaned into his chest, enjoying the kiss, craving his body, wishing she weren’t standing there like a moron with a Milton Bradley box raised over her head.
She wasn’t sure who pulled away first, but they were both breathless. Alex looked down at her, his gaze unfocused at first.
“I didn’t mean to do that,” he said.
“Okay.”
“I’m not sure what came over me.”
“Well—”
He smiled. “Next time, try putting the box down first.”
Juli rolled her eyes and lowered her arms. “Next time, give me a little warning.”
Alex’s smile widened. Juli could feel his breath ruffling the curls around her face. “Funny how we both assume there’ll be a next time.”
Chapter 12
By the time Juli returned to the cockpit, the others seemed to have settled into a routine. Jake was steering the boat, his brow furrowed as he checked the compass every few minutes, guiding the ship back toward the Caribbean again. Juli watched him for a moment, noticing the way he stole glances at Phyllis every couple of minutes, the tension in his forehead relaxing each time he did it.
Phyllis was hunched over the laptop, studying something on-screen as she tapped a pencil against the map. She was frowning slightly, but it was obvious she was in her element as she scrolled a page with one hand on the mouse button.
“The weather’s clear, but those guys on the radio were right about the trade winds,” Cody announced, moving past her and setting a coffee urn on the table beside a pile of charts.
Phyllis glanced up just long enough to accept a mug from him, then went back to focusing on her computer. “Direction?” she asked, taking a sip of coffee.
“Prevailing easterly. Sugar?”
“Thanks, Cookie.”
Keeping an ear tuned to the radio, Juli accepted a mug of coffee as well, allowing Cody to add a splash of homemade vanilla-infused creamer. She took a sip, wondering what it meant that there had been no chatter on the radio for several minutes.
“So we promised Alex we’d brainstorm a plan,” Jake said. “Anyone have any ideas?”
Phyllis set down her pencil and looked up. Lifting her mug, she took a long sip of coffee and sighed. “Has anyone ever even been to Barbados?”
Jake and Cody shook their heads.
“Nope, sorry,” Juli said. “Want any help researching it?”
Phyllis took another sip of coffee. “I think I’ve got it covered for now. We’re aiming for 13 degrees N Latitude, 59 degrees W Longitude, and that we’ll reach Barbados sometime around 10:00 a.m. local time if the wind and the weather cooperate with us.”
“Have you figured out where we should berth once we get there?” Jake asked.
“Two options,” Phyllis answered. “Either Bridgetown Harbour or Port St. Charles, which is about ten miles north of Bridgetown on the west coast.”
“Which is better?”
Phyllis shrugged. “Clearance is easier up in Port St. Charles, since it’s not a commercial port. That might be our best choice.”
“What about the other boat?” Cody asked. “Will they come in the same way?”
Phyllis shook her head. “They’ll need a lot more room with a cargo ship. There’s Esso Jetty, just outside the breakwater. That can accommodate tankers up to 244 meters long and 11.6 meters draught. That’s the most likely place. There’s also the Arawak Cement Plant—which they mentioned on the radio earlier—or Needham’s Point, which is used for crude oil imports.”
“Can they take a cargo ship like that?”
“Arawak can handle ships 121 meters long, 9.0 draught. And Needham can take them 193 meters long and 11.6 meters draught.”
Jake nodded thoughtfully. “It doesn’t sound like a huge place. No matter where they put the ship, I don’t think we’ll have much trouble keeping them in our sights.”
“True enough.”
“When we get closer, we’ll want to switch over to VHF 12/6.”
“What’s the port call sign?”
“Eight, Papa, Brava.”
Juli listened to the comfortable rhythm of their banter, understanding more of their boat-speak than she would have just a few days ago. She knew the situation was dire, but it was nice to feel like a part of the action. Cody was wiping down the counter with a rag, glancing at his watch every now and then.
“So who will get there first?” Juli asked, taking a sip of her coffee. “Us or them?”
“Hard to say,” Jake answered. “They’re bigger and faster, but we’ve got a head start.”
“We can adjust our speed a little bit, so it’s pretty likely we’ll arrive close to the same time they do,” Phyllis added. “Maybe even an hour or so before them.”
“So are we just better off waiting to form a plan?” Juli asked. “I mean, without knowing who they are or what they’re doing, we can’t narrow thing
s down much.”
Jake shrugged. “Maybe so. We can come up with some elaborate plot to sneak onto their boat and run recognizance, but who knows what’ll happen when they get there? They might have someone waiting to unload the cargo the instant they berth.”
“In which case, we’ll be chasing them across land?”
“Or not,” Phyllis said. “Who knows, maybe they’re just planning a handoff to another ship.”
Jake shrugged. “It’s also possible they don’t have a clue what sort of cargo they’re dealing with. This could be a random thing, right? You hear about pirates stealing boats sometimes just to get their hands on the boat itself.”
“True,” Phyllis agreed. “And there’s still the possibility it’s a mutiny—that it’s the same guys who’ve had the boat all along.
Juli took another sip of coffee, jumping a little as she heard a quick bark of static on the radio. She waited, but no one spoke. For a few more moments, everyone sat in silence, waiting for voices.
“So we wait for another clue on the radio,” Juli said finally. “And if we don’t get one, we stay the course to Barbados.”
“We’ve still got the GPS tracker,” Phyllis added. “Even if these guys don’t say anything else on the radio, we’ll be able to see where they’re headed.”
“Okay,” Juli said, trying to stifle a yawn. Even with the coffee, she was fighting to stay awake. She looked up to see Cody staring at her.
“You should take a nap,” he said.
“Gotta listen to the radio,” Juli said, giving in to the urge to yawn.
Jake glanced up at her and shrugged. “So sit right there. Put your head down on the counter so you hear the radio if anything happens. It’ll wake you up.”
“Oh,” Juli said. “Maybe. I don’t think I could fall asleep, but maybe if I just rest my eyes.”
It was the last thing she said before she trundled off into dreamland.
***
When Alex woke at 4:00 a.m. to the sight of Jake’s bald head, he was admittedly disappointed.
“Where’s Juli?” he asked, blinking against the overhead light Jake had just switched on.
“Napping,” Jake said. “What, I’m not cute enough to wake you up?”