by Cindy Dees
Taking one last, long pull on the regulator tube, he grabbed Sunny’s tanks and shoved her over his head and behind him. He reached for his knife in its calf sheath and prepared to defend the woman he loved. A pair of divers hovered in the cave entrance. One of the silhouettes was fingering the safety line he’d anchored there. Dammit, no chance of hiding now.
He’d get one shot at surprising these guys. And he had only two advantages going for him. He was in the dark and they were clearly visible to him. And he wasn’t wearing air tanks. He would be more nimble than the Russians.
Bracing his feet on an outcropping of rock, he gathered his body and launched himself forward as hard as he could. If he were above water, he’d have shouted a war yell at the top of his lungs. As it was, he shot past the first diver, slashing at the guy’s regulator hoses as he passed by. The guy immediately went into contortions trying to shed the tanks and access his emergency air bottle.
The second man, however, turned to face Aiden. The guy was wielding a knife every bit as big and deadly as his. The diver darted forward and Aiden backpeddled hard. He grabbed the Russian’s wrist and managed to deflect the blade and shove off the guy, gaining a few feet of separation.
As long as he could stay out of the other diver’s grasp, this guy would have a hard time delivering a fatal wound. But that would only last as long as the second diver was tied up trying to get his gear straightened out.
He and the first diver swam at each other, but each time the other was able to avoid the knife. Aiden steadily backed away from the cave entrance. If he could draw the divers off, give Sunny a chance to slip out and escape, she would at least live. And he was okay with that. He’d treated her terribly, and he owed her this. If he died for her today, that would be a fitting thing. His mind calmed. Focused.
When the object was not to win, or even survive, this fight became a relatively simple thing. Feint in, dart back. Draw the other guy a few feet forward. He did the same again and again until he couldn’t make out the cave entrance in the gloom behind the Russian. Where was the second Russian diver? He should be about ready to—
As if on cue, another diver swam at him. The guy was coming in at a high rate of speed. This guy was going to be a problem. With that much momentum, the second diver would be able to grapple with him before he’d have a chance to avoid being caught.
He started to backpeddle, to turn away so he had some small chance of dodging. The move would open up his back to the first diver. But those were the breaks. He was going to lose this fight one way or another. Might as well be this way.
But then the second diver did a strange thing. As his buddy spotted his opening and pulled his knife back to plunge it into Aiden’s kidney, the second diver changed direction slightly and angled right at his companion. Aiden glanced over his shoulder in time to see the first diver slam into the second diver from behind. A bloom of black erupted in the water between the two men.
And then it hit him. Those were striped air tanks. That wasn’t the other Russian. That was Sunny.
What had she done to the other guy? But then he had no more time to ask himself rhetorical questions of strategy. For the diver who’d been attacking him turned and slashed at Sunny.
White-hot rage flashed through Aiden. That was his woman. He arrowed through the water, swimming with every ounce of speed and power he possessed. He shot forward and grabbed the Russian by the throat. To hell with the bastard’s air hoses. He slit the guy’s throat.
Sunny ripped out of the dying Russian’s grasp. The guy struggled for a few more seconds, but bleeding out from the carotid artery was a quick thing. The body went limp and Aiden shoved it away in disgust.
He turned to Sunny and pointed urgently over her shoulder. Where was the other diver?
If he wasn’t mistaken, she smiled a little around her mouthpiece and drew her index finger across her neck. He wasn’t sure she meant she’d actually slit his throat, but it was clear the other Russian diver was no longer a problem.
He was stunned. He didn’t mind at all that she’d killed a man who was attacking her, but he was shocked that she had overcome her fear to act with such decisiveness. He glided forward and wrapped her in his arms. Every time he turned around, she surprised him. He’d known she was a fighter, but he’d never guessed just how much of one.
He supposed he should have known from the very first time he’d seen her drifting down toward death. She’d fought back from that when most people wouldn’t have made it. She’d fought past the death of her parents, fought past being alone in the world, past losing everything she owned, past her fear of drowning.
He’d been a fool to think he would ever win against her. That she would let him walk away from her without putting up the fight of her life for him.
He pushed her back far enough to look into her eyes. He pointed at his heart and then at hers. And then he drifted down until his head was at about the level of her waist while she stared down at him, perplexed. He took her left hand in his and pointed very deliberately at her ring finger and then at his. He looked up at her hopefully.
She stared in disbelief, and he touched her ring finger and then his again.
Tears spilled out of her eyes, pooling in the bottom of her mask. And then, belatedly, she nodded at him.
He surged up, wrapping his arms around her in an exuberant hug. They banged masks and both shook with laughter. A kiss was going to have to wait until they surfaced.
He signaled that they should swim up to shallower water, and she nodded her understanding. He detoured long enough to fetch his air tanks, and then they ascended slowly. While his body adapted rapidly enough to pressure changes to make him immune to the evolved gas disorders deadly to divers who surfaced too fast, he wasn’t about to take any chances with her.
They paused at fifty feet for her to acclimate for a few minutes, and he spent the time running his hands over her face and arms, telling her without words how much he loved her and valued her. For her part, she seemed content to nestle in his arms with her ear pressed to his chest listening to his heartbeat.
They headed up to thirty feet, and then twenty. They probably could have skipped one of those stops, but she was more precious than life to him. It was during the pause at twenty feet that he heard something that made his head jerk up.
That was a ship. Incoming. Fast. Really fast. He’d never heard anything so big move so fast. He grabbed Sunny and took her back down to thirty feet, well clear of the draft and propellers of most ships.
And that was when they saw it. A gray, triangular hull close to four hundred feet long. Twin jets of water roared out of the back of it, propelling it at what looked like close to fifty knots. It could only be one of the U.S. Navy’s new fast ships. They were technically called Littoral Combat Ships and built for shallow-water combat along coasts, but they were also ideal for chasing down pirates and could move like bats out of hell.
The vessel passed, and Aiden signaled for the two of them to surface. Sunny nodded and they finished their ascent in a few seconds. They popped up to the surface, and he put an arm around her waist to support her as he treaded water easily.
“Watch this,” he told her, nodding in the direction of the gray ship.
She turned in his arms and the two of them watched the U.S. vessel barrel toward the Russian ship, which was broadside to them at the moment. The Russian ship was clearly trying to gain a head of steam and turn away from the onrushing warship, but with its bulk, it didn’t stand a chance.
“My God, the Americans are going to ram the Russians!” Sunny gasped.
He had a pretty good inkling of what the Americans intended. He’d heard a few rumors about it. “Just watch,” he murmured.
At the last minute before the flying warship smashed into the Russian spy ship, the American vessel turned. The gray vessel tipped up on edge and pivoted lik
e a ballerina. The speed and violence of the turn was shocking.
As 2,500 tons of steel turned on a dime, it threw up the mother of all wakes. A gigantic wave, easily seventy feet tall, slammed into the Russian ship, swamping its decks and rocking it nearly over on its side. The vessel righted itself, but antennae were hanging off it at weird angles, and two of the big satellite dishes had been completely ripped off. One was hanging by steel cables over the side of the badly damaged ship.
The U.S. ship sailed almost out of sight, maybe a mile off to their right, and turned around. It looked like a bull elephant about to charge.
“Here she comes again,” Aiden announced. He and Sunny watched as the gray ship picked up speed for another pass at the Russian ship.
The Russian ship didn’t bother trying to turn. It sailed straight ahead for all it was worth, clearly giving up and bugging out of the area. The U.S. ship slowed, settling lower in the water and coming to rest almost on top of the spot the Russians had vacated.
“Well, all right, then,” Sunny declared. “I guess we don’t have to wait for the Nymph to get around to coming back for us. We can hitch a ride with Uncle Sam.”
“Have you got an Emergency Locator Beacon in your gear?” he asked her.
“I have no idea. I stole this from one of your divers.”
“Then there’s an ELT in there. He fished around and came up with the palm-size device. He activated it and let it float on the water beside them, safely tethered to her belt.
“Sunny, can you forgive me for how I’ve acted?”
“Of course I forgive you.”
As relief rolled through him like a cool, soothing balm, he realized there was one small part of him the relief didn’t touch. He asked slowly, “Can you forgive me for being such a womanizer before? I swear, I’ll never be that guy again.”
“Aiden, I’m not the one who needs to forgive you. You need to forgive yourself.”
As soon as he heard the words, he knew them to be entirely true. And with that knowing—finally—came the peace he’d sought all these years. That part of his life truly was over. Past. It was high time to let it go and move on with his new life. With Sunny. He felt as if a massive weight had just lifted from his shoulders and he was lighter than air.
“By the way, future Mrs. McKay. I believe you owe me a kiss to seal the deal. Banging masks doesn’t do it for me.”
“Look, Aiden. I know you said you loved me to distract me. To get me to go into that cave. And I really appreciate it. But I’m not going to hold you to anything that got said—or signaled—down there when we thought we might die.”
“Fair enough,” he said evenly. “But I proposed to you well after all the immediate threats were taken care of.”
Her mouth opened. Closed. Opened again.
“If you’re accepting my proposal in fish-speak, I have to tell you I haven’t morphed that far into a fish yet. I can’t tell if that’s a yes or a no.”
“But why?” she spluttered.
“Why what?”
“Why on earth would you propose to me?”
“Well, in the first place, this isn’t earth. In case you hadn’t noticed, we’re surrounded by nothing but water as far as the eye can see. I proposed to you because I realized I was never going to win against what you do to me. What you make me feel. I can’t fight it—fight you—anymore. If you want me, I’m yours. You’re going to have live someplace safe when I’m gone. But I swear, I’ll make sure no harm comes to you. Ever.”
“And I promise I won’t ever let anyone hurt you,” she declared stoutly.
He loved her spunk, and he might just believe her declaration. Lord knew, he wouldn’t want to tangle with her in a dark alley when she was really riled up.
He cleared his throat. “Why you’d want less than a whole man, I have no idea. But I’m not going to talk you out of it.”
“Less than— What are you talking about?” she demanded.
“I’m not...normal. I can’t give you everything you deserve. I’m always going to need to live by water. I may or may not be able to have children safely, and I don’t know if there will be health repercussions for me down the road. I’m not even entirely sure I’m all...human.”
“Good grief, Aiden. You’re more human, more of a man, than anyone I’ve ever met. What you do, the sacrifices you’ve made, are incredibly heroic. I admire you more than anyone I’ve ever known.”
“Is it possible that you could even love me a little?” he asked cautiously.
“No.”
His heart dropped out of his body like a block
of lead.
“I love you more than a little, you wonderful idiot. I love you with all my heart. With every fiber of my being. In case you haven’t figured it out yet, I don’t tend to do things halfway in my life. And that goes for loving you, too.”
There were no words for the joy that exploded in his chest then. He pulled her into his arms and kissed her for all he was worth. He kissed her for all the things she’d lost, for all the pain he’d caused her before she straightened out his head for him. And most of all he kissed her for the future that lay before them, a thing of joy and laughter and sunshine. Lots and lots of sunshine.
“Hey, there, buddy. You need help giving that lady mouth-to-mouth, or is she gonna live?”
He and Sunny looked up, startled, at the navy dinghy floating a few feet away.
“It looks like our ship has come in,” she murmured, smiling against his lips.
She had no idea. He already knew what he was
giving her as a wedding present...after he bought it he was changing its name from the Sea Nymph to the Sunshine Girl.
* * * * *
The Dark Side of Night
This book is for my real-life superhero friends
whose names I cannot print. You know who you are.
And may I just say, you ROCK!
For my mom and mother-in-law,
who in their courageous battles with cancer
have taught me that life’s short, live hard.
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Excerpt
Chapter 1
Smoking gun in hand, Mitch Perovski crouched over the crumpled form of the dead man and swore. One by one, droplets of blood plopped onto the boat’s deck in the charged silence. Glancing furtively around him for watching eyes, he crouched even lower and pulled out his cell phone.
“Go ahead,” a male voice said at the other end.
“Lancer here,” he muttered. “I’ve got a problem. My Plan B is dead, I’m caught out in the open at a damned marina, and I’ve got two, possibly three, gunmen on my tail. I need you guys to pull a rabbit out of your hats and get me the hell out of here.”
“We’ve got you on the satellite map in a marina near the south end of Tortola. The boss man says to stay put for a minute if you can. Meanwhile, say your status.”
For a moment, Mitch allowed himself to register the daggers of pain shooting from his left shoulder. Bad idea. He gritted his teeth, forced the agony back into a mental drawer and slammed it shut. No time for that, yet. “I’m shot,” he ground out. “My left shoulder. I think the bullet passed through but I haven’t had time to stop and take a look. I’m low on ammo and way exposed on this freaking dock.”
“Are you bleeding?” the combat controller asked sharply.
“Hell, yes, I’m
bleeding. I just took a bullet.”
“Apply pressure to the entrance and exit wounds with a clean pad, and hold it until the bleeding stops.”
“Gee, thanks, Doctor Kildaire. I had no idea what to do,” Mitch retorted drily. All the guys in the H.O.T. Watch were qualified EMTs.
“Standard procedure to brief operatives on proper first aid when a wound is reported,” the controller replied, equally as dry. “That way when you die, your family can’t sue us over your sorry ass.”
Mitch snorted. He hadn’t spoken to any member of the Perovski clan in close to ten years and didn’t plan on doing so for at least another ten. The seconds ticked by at half speed while he scanned the area for signs of his pursuers. They weren’t showing themselves at the moment, but he didn’t doubt for an instant that they were out there, waiting. Seconds turned into minutes, and he wondered how much longer his pursuers would sit tight. Eventually, they would run out of patience and come after him. He was dead meat if they caught him out here like this.
A new, deeper voice finally came on the line. “Lancer, this is White Horse.” His temporary boss. Navy Commander Brady Hathaway. “I’ve got a Plan C for you. About a half mile down the beach, Congressman Dick Hollingsworth has a vacation home. He has a fast boat, and I just got off the horn with him. He’s given you permission to use it. The spare ignition key is taped to the back of a painting of a clipper ship in the below-deck cabin. You’ll have to break into the cabin, though. I told him we’ll repair any damage you do to the door.”
A half mile? Damn, that sounded like a long way right now. “What does the boat look like?” Mitch bit out.
“It’s a thirty-eight-foot cigarette. And—” Was that a wince he heard in Lancer’s voice? His boss continued, “It’s pink. Named Baby Doll. But it goes like a bat outta hell, apparently.”