Seaswept (Seabound Chronicles Book 2)

by Jordan Rivet

  The hulking Sultana was very quiet, with its empty cabins and neglected engines. No one had wanted to move onto her from the warm depths of the Island. Esther didn’t like working here and wished another ship would come back to port. She hadn’t seen very many people around the Island over the past few days, even though she’d been moving back and forth to work on the ships. It didn’t seem like the Island would one day hold so many people that they would need the rooms on this vessel. Everyone must be out on patrol.

  No one would tell her anything about the other ships’ movements, of course. Esther wondered about their communication systems. She had begun to suspect that the Calderon Group had been using the satellites. Perhaps that was how they coordinated their attacks without their victims picking up radio transmissions. She held out hope that David would get her satellite phone back, but it could compromise their position to send a message to the Catalina too soon.

  Esther headed down to the Sultana’s engine room, and Zeke followed. He settled in on a metal catwalk above the engine while she worked on the separator on the bottom level.

  “Want to sink?” Zeke offered her the crumbling substance, wrapped in a piece of old foil.

  “No, thanks,” Esther said. “Gotta focus.”

  “Suit yourself.”

  The narcotic was a weakness for Zeke. Esther wouldn’t tell anyone he chewed on the job—and he knew it. He had explained how it worked, making one mellow and hyper by turns. Esther paid careful attention to how long Zeke was sinking (on a mellow turn) and how long he was floating. Every bit of information could help if Burns reneged on his promise of safe passage.

  It was lunchtime when David finally appeared. He stepped over Zeke snoozing on the catwalk and joined Esther by the separator. She was covered in sweat and had just pulled herself out from under an algae tube. It was difficult work to do by herself. There were never enough Calderon mechanics free to help her. Serves them right if they can’t fix this thing the first time it breaks, she thought.

  David was supposed to help her, but he had been arriving later and later every day. His movements weren’t monitored as closely as hers, and he walked down without a guard today. It was almost like he had become a member of the Calderon family himself. The thought gave Esther a sour feeling in her stomach.

  David wore a new red sweater and carried a metal pail. Steam rose from the top.

  “Brought you some lunch,” he said. “It’s the usual mush, but I’ve got some decent oysters in my pocket. Here.”

  “You’re late,” Esther said as she took the pail full of boiled seaweed.

  David smiled and leaned against one of the six big engines. He looked much healthier than he had when she arrived a week ago. His handsome face had begun to fill out again. She eyed the fresh red yarn of his sweater.

  “The cook was telling me about his room allotment,” David said. “It’s way down on Level 6. I suggested he ask for an upgrade, because he’s responsible for the morale of the island as well as its sustenance.”

  “Good for you,” Esther said shortly.

  David sounded like a Galaxy spokesman again, spinning people’s perceptions to his advantage. Maybe he belongs in a place like this.

  “Anyway,” David continued, “he gave me the oysters as thanks, so I’d say it was worth the delay, wouldn’t you?” He pulled the shells, already partly open, from his pocket and handed half of them to her.

  Yes, he would do well for himself with the Calderon Group. Especially with Chelle around.

  Esther took the oysters. “New sweater?” she asked more sharply than she intended.

  “Huh? Oh yeah.” David’s smooth demeanor wavered.

  “I’m sure Chelle thinks you look very nice,” Esther said, and immediately wished she hadn’t.

  “Chelle?”

  “I assume she gave it to you.” Why can’t I keep my mouth shut? She shouldn’t care who was giving him sweaters.

  David looked at his clean sleeve and then back at Esther’s heat-reddened face. “She did,” he said slowly.

  “Hmm.” Esther cracked open an oyster and averted her eyes.

  Suddenly, David threw an oyster shell to the floor, making Zeke start in his sleep.

  “Damn it, Esther. What’s the matter?” David said.

  “Nothing,” she said around the mouthful of slippery shellfish.

  “You’re terrible at hiding it when you’re mad. You’re pissed at me, and I don’t understand why. Is it because I was late to help out? I just get in your way.”

  Esther didn’t want to answer. It seemed petty.

  “What do you think?” she said.

  He stared at her, incredulous. “I don’t know.” He paused. Zeke snored lightly from his perch above them. Then David threw up his hands. “Is this about Chelle?!”

  Esther stared back at him, still chewing.

  “Come on. That’s not fair,” David said. He glanced up at Zeke and lowered his voice. “I need Chelle to get to the satellite phone.”

  Esther swallowed. “Convenient.”

  “You told me to work out an exit strategy.”

  “And you’re doing such a good job,” Esther said.

  “Where does all this hostility come from?” David began to pace, frustrated. “Seriously, Esther, I’m trying to help both of us. You don’t think I’m selling you out or betraying you somehow, do you?”

  Esther wanted to throw her own oyster shell but resisted. She folded her arms. “After I came halfway across the rusting sea for you, it’s pretty rich of you to act so clueless.”

  “How have I betrayed you?” David said, then whirled to face her. “You mean with Chelle? You haven’t exactly laid a claim on me.”

  “That answers one thing then.” Now Esther did slam the empty oyster shell down on the deck.

  “You’ve barely spoken to me since you got here, Esther! What am I supposed to think?”

  David strode back and forth in front of the engines. His hair stood up from his forehead. He pulled his sleeves up to his elbows, then tugged them back down again. Suddenly, he rounded on Esther.

  “When you turned up in my cell,” he said, “I wanted to hold you and kiss you and never leave your side, but you’ve been completely cold. I thought for a minute you actually came to save me just because you wanted to, not as some sort of payment for my help back on the Galaxy.”

  He seemed to want to say more, but he stopped abruptly and kicked one of the oyster shells across the engine room, breathing hard.

  Esther stood bolted to the deck. David was just out of reach, his face flushed. She had never seen him lose control like this. It nudged something in her, like an odd gear clicking into place.

  Finally, she whispered, “I did.”

  “You did what?”

  “I did come for you, not just to pay back a debt. I was terrified you would be hurt the entire time. It still makes me queasy, thinking about how worried I was.” Her voice faltered. “I would have done anything to get you back, but when I got here you seemed . . . I wasn’t sure if you were happy to see me.”

  In answer, David closed the gap between them and brought his mouth to hers.

  The kiss was insistent at first, desperate. Then their mouths slowed as they held each other close. Esther’s head swirled with heat and vertigo and relief. Gently, David lowered her back down to the ground. She hadn’t even noticed him lifting her into the air. His hands found her waist, her arms. She gripped his shoulders and the smooth planes of his neck. His broken glasses tipped sideways on his face. At some point Esther remembered to breathe. Cold metal touched her back; David had pressed her up against the engine. She twisted her fingers into the knit of his sweater and tugged it upward as he slid his hands beneath her belt.

  A horn blast shattered the air.

  “Huh, what?” Zeke called out from his stupor.

  The horn split through the room again, and Esther pushed David away.

  “We’re under attack!” Zeke shouted, then cursed as he lost hi
s balance and fell heavily on the metal catwalk. “They’ll need me on the Charley. Help me up.”

  David regained his senses a half second faster than Esther did. He straightened his clothing and squeezed her hand. “This might be our opening. Stay close to me.”

  He ran lightly up to the catwalk, where Zeke was struggling to maintain his footing. David steadied the bigger man and turned him toward the door. “I’ll take your charge back to the big house, mate. Go to your ship. Don’t worry about her.”

  “You’re a good man,” Zeke slurred. “She’s a good girl. She won’t cause you any trouble.”

  Zeke lurched along the walkway and out of the engine room.

  Esther, barely daring to breathe, was filling her belt with any tools that could double as weapons.

  Chapter 29—Attack

  Seconds later, Esther and David were running up a metal service stairwell. The emergency horn grew louder. David talked quickly as they climbed.

  “We need to make it look like I’m really taking you back to the workshop, in case anyone sees us. Could be a false alarm.”

  “I can’t believe Zeke. Good thing you’ve been making friends,” Esther said, keeping pace with David easily. She felt foam-light, almost drunk with adrenaline. The feeling of David’s hands was still pressed into her body, bright like an afterimage.

  “Told you I was working on our exit strategy. I scoped out the living quarters of Burns’s inner circle. They have a meeting room on Level 1. I’m almost positive your sat phone ended up in there. We can slip in while everyone’s distracted.”

  “Should we just make a break for it? Jack one of the smaller boats?” Esther said as they dashed out onto the deck of the Sultana.

  The sky was an angry gray, and rain misted down over the Island. Shouts and the roar of engines echoed across the harbor.

  “Depends what’s going on,” David said.

  The steep hillside at the harbor’s edge boiled with activity. Crewmen for the Charley, one of the Calderon attack ships, ran along the concrete pathway and down the steep staircase, some still stuffing the last of their lunches into their mouths. Already more people were on the move than Esther had seen on the Island since the Fourth. Smaller speedboats sputtered toward the mouth of the harbor. A siren blared from the roof of the facility.

  “This way,” David said. “Try not to look like you’re about to kill someone.”

  Esther put the heavy wrench she’d been brandishing back into her belt. They climbed down from the deck of the Sultana and ran along the dock toward the facility. It swayed beneath their feet. Calderon men dashed past, but no one did more than glance at them.

  David caught Harry’s arm as he rushed by. “What’s going on?” David asked.

  “Harvesters attacking!” Harry said, his hazel eyes shining. “They brought reinforcements and snuck around to the north. They’re fighting our patrols.”

  “Where’s Burns?”

  “Out on the Juliet. Why?”

  Harry didn’t wait to hear the answer. He ran out to meet the attack, David and Esther already forgotten.

  “This is it, Esther!” David crowed, reaching down to squeeze her hand. “The perfect opening.”

  She held onto him as they jogged up the stairs and headed toward the compound. Their boots slipped on the steps. The rain fell harder. Esther’s heart and brain were on overdrive. They couldn’t mess this up. This might be their only chance.

  At the doorway to the facility, they stepped aside to let more Calderon men out, keeping their heads down, and then slipped inside. The siren still wailed. David led the way down the corridor.

  “What’s the security like here?” Esther whispered.

  Her boots slipped and squeaked on the linoleum floor. The lights blazed.

  “There are usually people around, but they’re not guarding anything. The Calderon people trust each other. I’d probably have free rein in another week or two if I kept at it.”

  David rounded a corner and arrived at a blue door. The corridor around them was deserted.

  “This is the one.”

  He listened for a moment, then pushed open the door.

  “You’d think a group of pirates would at least keep their doors locked,” Esther said as she followed him inside.

  A big oval table took up most of the room. The walls were unadorned, except for a collection of charts on the right side. Boxes were stacked along the back.

  “They’re not that bad, the Calderon guys. They help each other out, kind of like on the Catalina, and share their spoils equally,” David said. “Let’s check the boxes for Neal’s phone.”

  He moved the top ones down so Esther could reach, and started ripping them open.

  “But they still attack other ships,” Esther said, “and kill anyone who gets in their way.”

  David nodded. “That is probably a deal breaker. It’s too bad. I wouldn’t mind living on an island like this. You’d be happy too with a huge workshop and lots of different ships coming into port. I know you get bored on the Catalina.”

  Esther smiled at him. She liked that he was interested in what would make her happy. It was almost like he’d suggested they could live in a place like this together.

  “Well, my boredom led to the creation of the energy tech in the first place, so it can’t be all bad,” she said.

  “True. Here’s another one.”

  The boxes were filled with miscellaneous flotsam: books, bits of electronics, a pair of heavy-duty storm goggles.

  “These are mine!” Esther said. “This must be stuff they take off their captives.”

  Esther put the goggles around her neck and continued to dig.

  “You have any use for this?” David held up a pink plastic lunchbox with a decal that had faded to splotches of pink and purple.

  “We can carry stuff in it if we need to,” Esther said, setting the box aside and continuing to dig frantically for the phone. “I used to have one like that, but it was blue with superheroes on it.”

  “Why am I not surprised?” David said. “I had a retro lunch pail when I was little, then a real Hugo Boss messenger bag.”

  “I don’t even know what those words mean,” Esther said. “Maybe we can find you some new glasses so you don’t have to look at everything through a crack.”

  “I barely notice it anymore.”

  The facility had grown still. Apart from the distant siren, they couldn’t hear any voices. Everyone must have gone out to meet the attackers. Still, they were running out of time. What if David was wrong about where the satellite phone had been stored?

  Then Esther reached beneath a salt-stained hat and her fingers met a familiar shape. “Got it!”

  Triumphantly, she pulled the contraption out of the box.

  “Does it still work?” David stepped close, resting his hand on the small of her back.

  She straightened out the fat antenna and hit the dial button. The device emitted a cough of static. Right, it won’t work inside.

  Then the door opened.

  “There you are. Salt, rust, and oil dust, man! I been lookin’ everywhere for you.”

  It was Monty, the crab-like guard who had been on cellar duty when Esther first arrived.

  “How are you, Monty?” David stepped forward smoothly, blocking the phone in Esther’s hand from view. “Shouldn’t you be heading for the ships?”

  “Naw, still on probation till I kick the habit. Supposed to be on guard duty now. Lucky I saw you and yer lady friend booking it along the dock. Gotta say, I thought I’d be following you back down to the cellar exit, not into Burns’s war room here.”

  “We’re just exploring,” David said. “I thought I’d take Esther on a tour, as I’m hoping to join the Calderon Group. You know that, right? Your life here is quite civilized. Protected from storms, a strong fleet keeping you supplied with all the oil and sink you need. Speaking of which . . .”

  David drew a packet from his pocket. He was like the magician Esther had watche
d on the boardwalk as a child. Always full of surprises.

  “Didn’t know you touched the stuff, Hawthorne,” Monty said, grinning widely. “Good on you. You need to relax a bit, man.” He started to raise his hand but then dropped it. “Ah, I’d better not. I’m on duty and all, but you go ahead. Your girl won’t mind. Ain’t that right?”

  Monty stepped closer, studying them a little too shrewdly.

  Esther was too far away from the stack of boxes to hide the satellite phone. She tucked it into her belt, hoping he wouldn’t notice, hoping it wouldn’t make any noise.

  “Speaking of which,” Monty continued, “you two are up to somefin’. I’m not stupid when I’m sober.”

  He took another step, his wasted features twisting into a smile that bore no friendship for either of them.

  “We don’t think you’re stupid at all, Monty,” David said. “Truth is we just wanted to talk in private.”

  Monty’s smile didn’t waver. “Whaleshit, Hawthorne,” he said. “This island is half-empty, and you know it. You can talk in private anytime.”

  “Of course. But you know how it is. We were, uh . . . we were . . .”

  David seemed to be at a loss for once. Esther realized he was reaching his hand back toward her. Without stopping to think, she pulled the wrench from her belt and slapped it into his hand. As soon as the metal connected with his palm, David swung the wrench up and lunged toward Monty.

  Metal met skull, but Monty was quick. He ducked, and the blow glanced off his head. David lost his balance for a second. Monty pulled a switchblade from his pocket.

  Time slowed. Esther might have shouted. Electric light glinted on the blade.

  David regained his footing. He raised the wrench again and swung around.

  Monty drove the knife toward David’s stomach.