by Wendy Rosnau
On the third dunk, Sly felt a strange presence around him. It would be just like a sadistic bastard like the Chameleon to toss in a reef shark or a stingray to add a little more sport to the game, he thought. He waited to see a pair of jaws open and start sampling his flesh, but instead of a hungry animal, he saw a light. And, as the high-powered beam came closer, Bjorn's words came back to him once more.
Reminds me of that time in Roatan, Sly. We were going to die then, too.
Yes, they would have died if Pierce Fortier hadn't shown up to rescue them from their watery grave. Suddenly, Pierce swam into vision and quickly offered Sly the extra clip regulator on his air tank while he cut the ropes at his ankles and wrists, then handed him a gun and a knife.
A few hand signals, and a wicked grin later, and Pierce motioned to the chair and they silently settled on a plan. The rat fighters had worked together for seven years, and as if they could read each other's thoughts, the air tanks and BC vests that Pierce had brought were stowed, then they each grabbed onto the iron arm as it began to lift.
They broke the water, guns raised. Sly shot three guards while Pierce knocked off four. As the guards were caught by surprise and fell one by one, the Chameleon took cover. Pierce pulled himself out of the water and raced to the wall to cut down Bjorn, while Sly sprinted to Eva. Dropping to his knees behind the chair, he cut through her ropes.
"There are men in cells in a passageway, Sly. We have to get them out," she told him.
"Later. Where's the Chameleon?"
"There," Eva pointed as he began cutting the ropes that bound her ankles.
Sly looked up just as the Chameleon made a mad dash for the water and dived headfirst into the black hole. He swore viciously, then yelled, "Get Eva out of here, Pierce, and take Bjorn with you. I'm going after the Chameleon."
Sly dived into the hole and swam hard for the wall where they had stowed their gear. When he reached the spot where they had hung the BC vests and tanks, he saw one set was gone and the others had been destroyed.
Without knowing how far the cave extended before dumping out to the sea, Sly had no way to assure himself that he could make it without an air tank. But tucking tail had never been his style, and so with the determination that had earned him the title as one of Merrick's elite, he swam fast and furious into the blackness.
When he saw the beam of a headlamp, or what could have been an underwater flare, he pushed himself faster, believing he might be able to catch the Chameleon before he reached open water. But before that could happen, the cave opened up and Sly saw a man on an aqua glider pick up the Chameleon, while two others turned toward him.
He pulled hard, kicked his legs, not wanting to get trapped underwater. He was nearly out of air when he surfaced. While resupplying his lungs, one of the gliders shot out of the water three feet away from him. He was near an outcropping of rocks, and he quickly climbed out of the water. When the glider came at him the man wasn't expecting Sly to lunge off the rock. He struck fast, drove his knife blade between the man's ribs, then knocked him off the glider to take control of the machine. He shot the second guard off the other glider, then sped toward the Pearl, which was now on the move, sailing for the open sea.
Sly maxed out the glider, worried now that he might not be able to rescue Merrick. He was sure the Chameleon was already on board, that the Pearl had a secured underwater hatch that had allowed him to enter the yacht on the aqua glider from some pressurized chamber underwater.
It occurred to Sly at that moment that the Chameleon could indeed piss on the run. But then why not? The man was an ex-Onyxx agent.
Gunfire on board the Pearl had Sly raising his eyes to the upper deck. He had no idea how Merrick had managed to get himself free, but he was armed. Within a matter of seconds two guards went over the side, then his commander pitched himself overboard as well.
That he would abandon ship without the Chameleon told Sly that something was amiss. He turned the glider, searched the water for Merrick, and when he surfaced, Sly opened up the glider once more. One handed, he pulled his commander onto the machine behind him as he sped past.
Merrick motioned for him to send the glider into the deep. Sly didn't question the request. He cut away from the Pearl and started down, just as an explosion sent the yacht out of the water and into an orange fireball. A geyser of water went up, then rained down as the water churned and the earth around the lagoon shook. The force of the C4 sent debris spraying the perimeter, littering the sea for a half a mile in all directions.
Sly blacked out and when he came to, Merrick was swimming toward a fishing boat, with an arm locked around him. It occurred to him at that moment that his injuries must be serious, since he couldn't move. Then that the men on board the boat Merrick was swimming to looked familiar—Onyxx agents.
He heard Bjorn's voice, then Pierce's. He had trusted his comrades countless times with his life, and in that moment he felt confident that Eva was safe on board, too.
It was only then that he gave in to his injuries and slipped into unconsciousness.
* * *
Chapter 20
« ^
Three weeks later Sly strolled down the hall at Onyxx headquarters and, without knocking, stepped into Merrick's office.
"McEwen, I was told you were in the building," Merrick said from behind his desk.
Sly studied his commander. It was the first he'd seen Merrick since they had both been airlifted to a hospital in Athens, where he'd spent five days and Merrick had spent less than twenty-four hours.
It was during those days that Bjorn had explained how he had called Pierce and Ash back in D.C. and asked them to fly to Greece. Stating his reasons, they had hopped a plane as quickly as they could. While Ash had stayed behind in Santorini to stand watch over Reznik until they had made arrangements to fly him back to the States, Pierce had been elected to follow Bjorn to Paros and play a game they called double-tag.
Bjorn had allowed himself to be captured by the Chameleon's men in order to fool them into thinking they had captured Sly's backup. Since they had seen only Bjorn at Cupata, Pierce had been able to wire the Pearl with explosives, then enter the monastery through the back door. At that point, Pierce had reminded Sly that with so many sea caves in the Greek Isles he had figured the Chameleon's back door would be an underwater tunnel of some kind.
Within hours of the explosion, the Agency had dispatched a mop-up crew to Paros to sweep the mission, and tie up loose ends. They had found a number of bodies, and on hearing the news, Sly had insisted that Bjorn and Pierce break him out of the hospital. Together, along with Ash Kelly, they had supervised the recovery of the bodies, and Sly had identified the Chameleon—or rather Paavo Creon—along with Simon Parish.
"You look good, McEwen," Merrick said. "I was wondering how soon I'd see you. Does this mean you're ready to start back to work?"
"I resigned two months ago, remember?"
"Yes, I do. But I told you that I tore that paper up."
Sly shrugged, wincing a little. He was still sore from the shrapnel that had been dug out of his shoulder and back. "I just came by to tell you I'm taking some time off. An extended sabbatical. And to give you this."
He tossed a file on Merrick's desk.
"Is it all here? Everything?"
"Everything. Including pictures."
Merrick opened the file, thumbed through the many pages. Glanced at the gruesome pictures of several bodies. He located the one identified as the Chameleon. "I see in your report you've confirmed the Agency's suspicions."
"That's right. The Chameleon is … was Paavo Creon."
Merrick looked up from the file. "Do you believe that?"
"No." Sly handed over the neatly written letter Bjorn had given him in the hospital from Eva. "In that letter it says the Chameleon surgically copied the face of Onyxx agent Paavo Creon fourteen years ago after killing Creon and his wife in Atlanta." Sly paused, then said, "Eva's father … your friend didn't betray you, Merrick. Paa
vo never killed your wife."
"If what you say is true, and I'm inclined to believe you, then we still don't have a positive ID on the Chameleon's body, and it'll take weeks, maybe months, to positively ID the remains."
Sly hoped so. Merrick needed time to deal with his own health issues before he discovered the truth.
"We're still looking for the Chameleon's daughter, but there's no sign of Melita. We haven't been able to get much out of those eight prisoners that we found at the compound, either. But we're still working on both." Merrick peered into the box. "Bjorn mentioned some tapes. At least a dozen from a Dr. Fielding concerning Eva. Where are they?"
"Gone."
"Gone?" Merrick looked up. "Those tapes are evidence."
"I can't say for sure, but I think Simon Parish stole them off the Hector the night I was captured by him." Sly's lie was believable. He said, "Bjorn says Reznik is refusing to talk."
Merrick grunted. "There's a rumor that the Chameleon gave him a kill-list. That they made a deal of some kind. Know anything about that?"
"Some. It's in my report. Where is she?"
Merrick was back flipping through the file. He looked up. "Eva's fine. You don't need to concern yourself about—"
"Where?"
"Signing the Hector over to her was a nice gesture. She told me to thank you. We did agree that when she was free, she should fly and things would get back to normal. I mentioned to her what you and I had talked about and she agreed that disappearing would be the best for everyone. I told her you'd be coming back to work, and… Well, you know as well as I that as agents we do a lot of things that we normally would never think of doing otherwise. Our lives here at Onyxx force us to role-play and use people. We—"
"Where is she?"
"Listen, McEwen, nothing can come of this. As your commanding officer, my advice to you is to— Hold on, where are you going?"
Sly's hand was on the doorknob. He looked over his sore shoulder. "I'm taking off."
"Then I'll see you tomorrow?"
"No. I told you I'm taking a sabbatical."
"Dammit, McEwen. For how long?"
"Can't say."
"What are you going to do?"
"A little fishing." Sly opened the door.
"But you gave away your boat."
"Yes, I did."
"Don't you want to know where she is?"
Sly turned to face his commander. "I know where she is, Merrick."
"You do? Then why did you ask me?"
"To see if anything had changed."
"Changed?"
"You're an asshole, Merrick. You still have an ice chunk where your heart should be." Sly started out the door again. "Oh—" he spun around "—get that operation. You're going to need to be in shape in a few months."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Trust me, get yourself fixed up and in shape."
"In shape? Who saved whose ass in Greece?"
The door was pushed open and in walked Bjorn. "I believe I saved both of your asses." He sauntered past Sly and took the chair in front of Merrick's desk. "You wanted to see me, Merrick?"
"That's right."
"You're really taking off, Sly?" Bjorn asked.
"I'm really taking off."
"When can I expect you back to work?" Merrick asked.
"When there's something worth coming back for." Sly stepped through the door.
"How can I reach you?" Merrick yelled.
"You can't." Sly started down the hall. "When I want to be found you'll be the first to know."
Eva angled her head and let the warm sea breeze touch her cheeks and lift her hair. She had sailed the Hector to the private cove weeks ago expecting Sly to follow her within a week.
She'd seen him briefly just before he'd been wheeled into surgery. She hadn't been able to speak to him, not even to thank him for … everything.
She'd been interrogated for five days before she'd been allowed to disappear. That's the word Merrick had used when he'd come to talk to her that last day. When he'd described her relationship with Sly as an encounter during a dangerous mission.
He'd said, "I know you and Sly became close … friends, Eva, and that's why … Sly signed over the Hector to you. Here's the deed. It's yours. A gift. A way of saying thanks."
A way of saying thanks.
She hadn't wanted to believe Sly could be so cold about what they'd shared, but after the week had turned into ten days, she had started to have doubts. Now, twenty-one days later, she could no longer keep pretending that he'd just been delayed.
The truth was, he wasn't coming. Merrick, as gently as he could, had been telling the truth. She and Sly had had an encounter during a dangerous mission, and the Hector was her consolation prize.
She felt like a fool for thinking that he had cared about her over and above job level. That he would want to spend some time away from the job with her.
When Merrick had handed her the deed to the Hector, she had thought that Sly was sending her a silent message. A message to meet him here where they had fallen in love. Correction. Where she had fallen in love.
He wasn't coming.
Eva felt the lump in her throat swell as tears stung her eyes. She wanted to cry, but that would really make her look like a fool.
It was actually generous of him to give her the yacht considering she had no money or home. Nothing now but her freedom.
She should be thrilled. She'd always wanted to be free to go anywhere her heart wished. To sail away with the wind and never look back. It was all possible now. No more rules, no more games.
She could disappear and she would.
She would leave tomorrow and go … where?
East, west, north or south.
One thing for certain was her food supply was running low and she would need money to restock the galley. That meant she would have to find a job. She wasn't qualified to do anything. Anything but survive, and at the moment she had no idea who would hire her with that one word written in the skills column on a job résumé.
It was late afternoon when she heard the motor, then saw the fisherman in the distance. He waved and she waved back. Her heart had sped up for a moment, had allowed her to hope for a brief few seconds.
She went below, and had a good cry. Feeling better, she went back up on deck ready to enjoy another beautiful sunset alone. Curling up on the cushion along the stern, she drew up her legs and stared out over the blue water.
She couldn't blame Sly for not coming. Tomorrow she would leave this beautiful place and never return.
"It's over," she whispered. "It's finally over."
"Is it?"
She whirled her head around to see Sly standing in the doorway of the wheelhouse. He was soaking wet, as if he'd come straight out of the sea. He looked … tall, and too good for words.
"The fisherman…" she said, absently pointing in the direction she'd seen the boat.
"Nice guy. Says you've been out here awhile. A few weeks."
"Soaking up a little sun," she said. "You know me. I love the sun. I found your underwater cameras and went exploring. So what brings you out here? Did you finally wrap everything up?"
"The Agency is still looking for Melita."
"I wanted to help, but Merrick told me that you … they preferred I just disappear. Did you find his body?"
"Yes. Simon Parish's, too. When did you finally remember?"
"That the Chameleon wasn't my real father? I suppose deep in my subconscious somewhere I always knew. That's what Dr. Fielding would say. My father was never the same person after my mother died because he, in fact, wasn't that person. My papa died that night."
"So it was just a hunch you were playing when you called Merrick?"
She had hoped he had come to see her, but he'd come to tie up the loose ends. That was all.
Eva settled back on the seat cushion and raised her chin. "Since I was a little girl I felt something wasn't right, but how could I dispute what was staring me
in the face? He looked like my papa. Had the missing index finger on his right hand. The scar on his chin. He even carried the silver lighter my mother had given him. Still, I couldn't believe that my papa would abandon me like he did. We were so close when I was little."
"Because you believed he loved you."
"He did love me. The Chameleon admitted that to me at the compound. When you started calling me Evy, I didn't know why I liked hearing it so much. But later I remembered my papa used to call me that. I'd forgotten that, just like I had forgotten that I called him Papa, not Father. The Chameleon always said to me, 'You are your father's daughter.' Not, you're Papa's little Evy. That's what Papa used to say. I didn't remember that until Merrick brought me the sucker. The Chameleon gave me this ring." Eva raised her hand. "It's my mother's wedding ring. He must have taken it from her before he killed her because after the fire started he was too busy getting out of the burning house and taking me with him. At the Chameleon's compound he told me about that night in Atlanta. He helped me remember why I was so frightened, and confused. I saw him and my father together in the hall, and they had the same face, only one of the faces was—"
"Laughing. I remember you telling me that after you read the file the night you left."
"You let me leave so you could follow me."
"Yes. And you left knowing I would follow."
Eva nodded. "Yes. My father told me to run that night in Atlanta, and I did try to get away. That's when I fell down the stairs. I think when I came to I wiped out everything because it was too bizarre and frightening to believe."
"So you've been here all this time putting all these pieces together while sitting in the sun. Is that right?"
Eva sucked on her lower lip. "That's about it."
"Really?"
She could no longer look at him and so she sent her gaze over the water not knowing what to say. She sucked in a breath, hoped he hadn't heard her below deck crying.