"It's just a few feet shorter than Vengeance but all the rounded surfaces really play tricks on your eyes."
"And the colors," Sandrine said. "The colors are making it fade into all of what is behind it, so there is nothing..."
"I never heard it, either," Connie said. "It must not have a big motor. Will it go fast?"
"Fast enough," Liz said.
****
Midnight Thunder skirted the south shore of Martinique, moving at a relatively slow speed. Phillip had called the beach bar before they left to make sure that Rolle's Kate was still in the same place. The bartender had assured him that it was. He reported that there had been no arrivals or departures, at least while there was enough light from him to see.
Dani and Phillip changed into black neoprene wetsuits and smeared black greasepaint on their exposed skin, while Sharktooth laughed at them and honed a wicked-looking 16-inch filet knife. All three carried silenced semiautomatic pistols in waterproof pouches, and Dani and Phillip carried commando knives in place of Sharktooth's filet knife. As Midnight Thunder rounded Pointe Diamant about a mile offshore, they had a clear line of sight to Rolle's Kate.
"Look at all those lights," Dani said. "No chance of going alongside unnoticed, even with Thunder."
"Let's take Thunder in tight to the shore and put the point of Morne Jacqueline between us and them," Phillip suggested. There's a couple of knots of current ripping north along the shore; we'll leave Thunder and drift the last half-mile. Once we've got 'em under control, we'll call Thunder."
"Perfect," Dani said.
Sharktooth nodded, continuing to hone his filet knife, testing the edge periodically and chuckling.
"You're working yourself up for your interrogator's act, Sharktooth," Dani said.
Sharktooth nodded again and raised the filet knife to his face. He licked the blade slowly, his eyes gleaming. He gave a demented cackle. "I ready to ax some question," he agreed.
Phillip and Dani laughed, having seen the big man in action before.
"You an' Phillip going firs', like usual?"
Dani and Phillip exchanged glances. "It's always worked well," Phillip said.
Sharktooth nodded. "I clean up after you; watch the back. Don' worry."
Phillip stepped below and held a whispered conversation with the three crewmen and Paul Russo. Midnight Thunder coasted to a stop about 50 yards from the nearly vertical face of Morne Jacqueline. When Phillip rejoined Sharktooth and Dani on deck, the three of them stood quietly for a moment, watching as the helmsman jockeyed the boat around, holding it in a fixed position against the current. Phillip raised his eyebrows, looking first at Dani and then at Sharktooth. Securing a nod of agreement from each of them, he slipped smoothly into the water. Dani plopped softly into the dark sea a second behind him, and Sharktooth joined them as the current swept them toward their target.
Ten minutes later, the three of them hung onto the edge of the swim platform across the stern of the big motor-yacht. There was no one in sight, and loud rap music and bright light poured from the water-tight door that stood open to provide access to the swim platform. Dani freed her pistol from its waterproof pouch and glanced at Phillip and Sharktooth to verify that they were ready. Satisfied, she catapulted herself onto the swim platform in one smooth motion. Two seconds later, she and Phillip had their backs to the transom, one on either side of the open door. Sharktooth was still in the water, his elbows on the surface of the swim platform and his pistol trained on the doorway. At a sign from Dani, he clambered onto the platform as she and Phillip spun through the door, sweeping the interior with their pistols.
Dani and Phillip began to work their way forward along the passageway, clearing the compartments to either side as they went. Sharktooth stayed a few paces behind them, his pistol at the ready. Within two minutes, they had cleared the lower deck. Dani and Phillip went up the wide stairs to the main deck side by side, with Sharktooth continuing to cover their advance. As they reached the top of the stairs, they heard voices, raised to converse over the rap music, which was nearly deafening. Exchanging glances to confirm their readiness, Phillip and Dani stepped into the main saloon, where seven men were drinking and playing cards so intently that they failed to notice their visitors.
After a quick look around the space, Dani fired a round into the plate glass front of the built-in sound system. The music covered the soft sound of her pistol, but the party ended abruptly as the shattered stereo went silent. The men glanced around in surprise. One of them shoved back his chair and whirled to face the intruders. Phillip shot him in the knee, and he collapsed, screaming, as the others raised their hands.
"Anyone else aboard?" Dani asked. The men glared at her sullenly as the fallen one moaned loudly. When no one spoke after a few seconds, Dani shot the man closest to her in the foot.
He shrieked, and one of the others yelled, "No one! We all here!" as he stared down the barrel of her pistol.
"You lie, you die," she said. "Where are Rolle and Alfieri?"
"They gone," the same man said. "Take the fas' RIB."
"Where are they?" she asked.
"Don' know. Lef' maybe 15 minutes ago."
Sharktooth slipped into the saloon from a forward entrance. "Nobody else," he said.
"Okay, good. Zip-tie these guys, Sharktooth, like usual," Dani said. "Cooperate, and maybe nobody else will get shot," she admonished the forlorn looking bunch as Phillip took a handheld radio from a waterproof pouch and called Paul.
Within a few minutes, they had Rolle's Kate's crew secured, and they were back aboard Midnight Thunder. Rolle's Kate was underway to the rendezvous point in the hands of the extra crewmen from Midnight Thunder. Phillip called the bartender at the beach bar and passed along a description of the fast RIB that Alfieri and Rolle had taken. Five minutes later, Phillip's cell phone rang. He listened for a moment, thanked the man, and hung up.
Turning to his eager audience, he said, "If they went ashore for dinner, nobody's seen them. He called all the usual places. No sign of the fast RIB or two strangers, either."
"May as well call it a night," Dani said, frowning.
"When we get back to Vengeance, I'll ask Sandrine to flag their names in the Douane database, just in case they headed for the airport," Phillip said. "We can put a watch out at the ferry terminals tomorrow. We'll leave Midnight Thunder here in case they come back; Clarence is sending a go-fast boat to pick us up and take us back to Ste. Anne. Once the Coastguard takes over Rolle's Kate, Thunder will go pick up the two crewmen and bring them back."
****
The anchorage at Ste. Anne was crowded as the somewhat dejected group in the brightly painted speedboat worked their way slowly through the dimly lit yachts. They were almost on top of Vengeance when Dani laid a hand on the shoulder of the man at the helm.
"Stop," she said softly, as he looked around at her.
He took the boat out of gear immediately. She ran a finger across her throat from side to side and he switched off the engine. The others gathered at the helm, looking at Dani.
"There's an extra tender trailing behind Vengeance," she murmured, pointing into the darkness.
"That could be Rolle and Alfieri, but how…" Phillip started to say.
"Doesn't matter," Dani interrupted. "We have to assume it is. Let's hit 'em hard and fast. We'll swim it from here. You and Sharktooth board Vengeance's dinghy and then pull it alongside and climb in the cockpit. I'll go up the anchor chain to the foredeck. As soon as you're in position, I'll drop through the forward hatch while you take the companionway. Okay?"
Both men nodded, and all three slipped into the water without a splash. Less than a minute later, Dani stood on Vengeance's foredeck, dripping water as she watched Phillip and Sharktooth silently climb over the lifelines. Once they were both in the cockpit, she waved, watching for their nods. She slit the insect screen in the forward hatch with the commando knife in her left hand and peered below before dropping to a sitting position with her legs
through the opening. Pistol in her right hand, knife in her left, she took her weight on her elbows until she felt the mattress in the berth with her feet.
She dropped through the hatch into a crouch, noticing for the first time that the lights below were dim. There was the flicker of candlelight from the main saloon, and the soft sound of women conversing. Then one of them giggled, and Dani took that as a possible distraction. She stepped smartly through the doorway into the candlelit saloon. A bright light hit her in the eyes and something hard hit her right wrist. As the pistol dropped from her numb fingers, she brought her left hand around with the knife. Before she could strike, she heard Liz yell, "Dani, NO!" right in her face. Then the cabin lights came on as Phillip and Sharktooth stepped forward to find themselves held at gunpoint by Sandrine.
"It is about the time for you to be coming, now that all the work has been made," Sandrine said.
Dani relaxed as Liz disengaged the wristlock that was immobilizing her knife-hand. "Good job, Liz, but…"
"Everyone calm down," Liz said. "Sorry, Dani. We thought maybe you were their friends; that's why we set you up. Everything's all right. Put away the weapons and pour yourselves a glass of wine. I'll explain."
"They boarded us not long after you left," Liz began. "We had just come below to have a little wine. They were expecting three helpless women, and they found us. Connie did her fainting routine and Sandrine turned the air blue, screaming curses in French. Rolle had a pistol, and he was holding it on me for some reason. Alfieri was trying to shut Sandrine up before the whole town of Ste. Anne heard her, and Connie brained him with a full bottle of wine. He still hasn't come around. Rolle was about to shoot Sandrine so I stabbed him in the right kidney with the marlinspike on my rigging knife; stopped him cold, but he died. Don't worry, though. We got towels and trash bags in place before he bled on the teak."
"But where are they?" Phillip asked.
"In the aft cabin. Rolle's wrapped in a tarp, and Alfieri's all trussed up, ready for Paul to haul him away."
Chapter 37
"So what are your plans, Connie? Will you be here for a while?" Phillip asked. They were just finishing a celebratory dinner at Phillip's and Sandrine's after a day spent wrapping up unfinished business.
"Certainly for a few days," Connie said, "but we really didn't see much on the way down here. The sailing was great, but I'd like to go back up to the Virgin Islands and be a tourist, if Dani and Liz are willing."
"Vengeance is yours," Dani said. "Liz and I were talking earlier; you did so much of the sailing we should pay you. Besides, we were pushing so hard that you haven't had much of a holiday. We want to start your whole charter over, if you've got the time. We think you have a full two months in front of you to spend where and how you wish. We'll start in the Virgins and work our way south at least to Grenada, if that suits you."
"That would be wonderful! Thanks, everyone. I've never felt more at ease and welcome," Connie felt a tear trickle down her cheek. "And thanks for your help with the bank this morning, Phillip. I feel better with the diamonds in a safety deposit box."
Phillip nodded. "Sharktooth called a while ago; he's home safely, and he wanted to be sure that you plan a long enough stop in Dominica for him to show you the island."
"I'm looking forward to that; I'm really curious about this Uncle Christian character," Connie said.
"From what my old partner, Luke, told me, I think you'll be surprised," Paul said. "Uncle Christian made a real impression on him; not what he expected at all."
"How so, Paul? There must be more," Liz said. "I've never met Uncle Christian either."
"He was expecting some kind of witch-doctor, or at least a Rasta-man. But when Uncle Christian met the taxi that brought Luke from the airport, he was all tricked out in a starched, short-sleeved white shirt, black slacks, and a dark tie, like a Mormon missionary."
"No kidding?" Connie said. "That's kind of a let-down."
"Well, Luke said it would have been, except for one thing." Paul, an accomplished raconteur, paused.
"What?" Connie asked impatiently.
"Pietro was with him, dressed the same way," Paul said, "except for the leash and the eye-patch. And he was bleating like a goat until Uncle Christian fed him some kind of cookie. Then he sat down in front of the video camera Luke brought and bared his soul."
"So at least Luke deposed him," Phillip said.
"Oh, yeah. No problems there," Paul said. "The only other strange thing was that when they sat down for lunch at Uncle Christian's after the interrogation, Pietro took his shoes off and ate them. But Uncle Christian told Luke not to worry, that it would wear off in a day or so, whatever it was. He gave Luke a little bag of those cookies to keep Pietro docile in the meantime."
Poker-faced, Paul picked up his spoon and attacked his dessert; everyone else had finished while he related Luke's story. The others were lost in thought as they watched Paul eating as if nothing out of the ordinary had transpired.
"Joe Denardo's going to pick Alfano up tomorrow," Paul said as he finished his chocolate mousse and pushed his chair back from the table. "The notion of holding him for entering the country illegally was brilliant, Sandrine; it eliminated nearly all the paperwork. You're deporting him right into Denardo's custody."
"Merci, Paul," Sandrine said, "It is how you say, the frozen part on top of the gateau, is it not so?"
"The gateau?" Paul looked puzzled. As he glanced around at the others for a clue, no one would catch his eye; he saw that they were choking back laughter.
"Cake?" Dani managed to cough.
"Mais oui!" Sandrine said. "Gâteau, cake. It is freezing the top of the cake, to do it this way."
Paul still looked blank, but Liz's eyes flashed as she got it. "Ice!" she said. "It's the icing on the cake."
****
Read an excerpt from Bluewater Betrayal, the next book in the Bluewater Thriller series:
Chapter 1
She didn't notice the stalker while she was shopping. She was placing her groceries on the conveyor belt at the check-out counter when he spoke, startling her.
"Liz? Liz Chirac? Is it you?"
She jumped and glanced over her shoulder, thinking as she did that the voice was familiar. Her eye fell on a tanned, fit young man with an expectant look on his face.
"Robert!" Her mind was racing as she tried to make sense of the emotions that swept over her. Her knees were weak, and she clutched her purse to her chest. "Robert?"
"It is you," the young man said. "Unreal! How are you?"
Liz recovered, her jaw clenching as she remembered the last time she had seen Robert Delorme. "I'm well, thank you. How's your wife?"
"Uhm, she's…"
"Caroline, right? Is she here with you?"
"No. We're, ah, kind of not together anymore."
"I see," Liz said, biting off the words. She stared at him.
"So are you here on holiday?" he asked.
"No." Liz felt a surge of anger. She turned back to the conveyor belt as the cashier began to ring up her purchases. She finished emptying her cart, focusing on the task in an effort to stem her ire.
"Look, Liz, I…"
"Robert, there's nothing left to say." Liz turned to face him, her green eyes flashing. "Your actions said it all back then. I don't want to talk to you." She turned her back on him again and handed her credit card to the cashier, who swiped it through the reader and handed it back. Liz signed the proffered receipt and walked around the end of the counter, where she tipped the young man who had packed her groceries into another cart. She jerked the cart away from the counter and pushed it toward the exit door, giving vent to her feelings in the violence of her movements. She strode to the door with her eyes locked to the front, only glancing over her shoulder once the automatic door closed behind her. Through the glare of the sun on the glass, she could see Robert; he was watching her, his brow scrunched into a frown that was all too familiar to Liz.
She rolled the cart arou
nd the side of the store, heading for Vengeance's dinghy. She maintained an angry stride until the wheels rumbled to the end of the dock. She lined the groceries up on the edge of the dock before stepping down into the RIB. Taking her keys from her pocket, she opened the padlock and dropped the chain and lock into the bottom of the boat. She settled the groceries into the bow, packing the bags in so that they wouldn't spill their contents when she hit the patch of rough water where the Cul-de-Sac Marin opened into the Mouillage de Ste. Anne at the south end of Martinique. When she started the outboard and pulled away from the dock, she didn't notice Robert standing at the far corner of the grocery store building, studying her every move.
To keep from thinking about Robert, she focused on the groceries bouncing in the bow of the dinghy as she sped out to Vengeance. She reviewed her menu plan, worried that she might have over-bought because she wasn't accustomed to shopping for just one charter guest.
She smiled, thinking of how easily Connie Barrera had slipped into the routine of life aboard Vengeance. Connie was the least demanding guest that she and Dani had hosted, especially since Connie had decided that she wanted to buy a yacht of her own and go into the business. Dani had balked at first when Connie wanted to take on the role of deck crew; such behavior from a paying guest was unusual.
Dani didn't mind having Connie as an apprentice, but she told Liz that it felt wrong to charge their normal charter rates when Connie was doing her share of the dirty work. Dani and Liz had discussed that with Connie, offering to take her on as crew at no charge and pick up some paying customers as well, but Connie had insisted that she wanted to pay their rates and have exclusive use of Vengeance. "I'm getting my money's worth," she had said. "You don't have anyone else demanding your attention while you teach me everything. This has to be the quickest way for me to learn the trade. Besides, I owe you two for sticking with me through that trouble over the diamonds."
Bluewater Ice: The Fourth Novel in the Caribbean Mystery and Adventure Series (Bluewater Thrillers Book 4) Page 21