by Melissa Good
“Wharton? DeSalliers here.” The man spoke briskly into the phone. “I’ve got your proof, right in my hand.” His eyes lifted and regarded Dar. “No, I got it out of her. No problem.”
Dar felt a burn start at the back of her neck.
“What?” DeSalliers said. “That wasn’t part of the deal.” He listened again. “Now, look—” He was cut off, and they could hear an angry voice, though not the distinct words. The sound ended abruptly, and he was left looking at the phone with an expressionless face. After a moment, he lifted his eyes and stared at them coldly. “Well, it wasn’t something I really didn’t want to do anyway,” he said.
“He double-cross you?” Dar asked, as a sudden dread filled her gut.
“No. You,” DeSalliers said remotely. “Gregos?” He turned to look at the guard near the door. “Kill them.” He stepped back through a small doorway nearby. “I guess the pirates will get blamed for something else.”
“Yes, sir.” The guard lifted his gun and pointed it. “My pleasure.”
Chapter
Twenty-six
AFTER A BRIEF instant of utter shock, Dar reacted. The muzzle of the rifle had just pointed its deadly bore at her when she moved, grabbing Kerry out of pure instinct and throwing her down to safety. The sound of the shot deafened Dar. She felt a hot scorching across her cheek, then she was diving for the deck herself as she scrambled for something, anything, to put between her and the gun.
Her hands hit the legs of a chair and she rolled over, pulling the chair up and over her head. Another explosion nearly ripped it out of her hands, and splinters of wood flew everywhere. She felt a sting along her neck and she turned, then arced her body up and whipped the remainder of the chair in the direction of the gunfire.
She heard the sound of it hit, then another shot blew through the roof of the cabin. Dar took the chance and got up, focusing her vision on the rest of the room. She spotted the guard brushing the chair fragments off his arms and searching for her, and knew she only had seconds to take advantage of his momentary distraction.
Dar leaped forward and jumped onto the table that was between them, launching herself off it as the guard yanked his gun around in her direction. As his finger curled around the trigger, she let out a yell and he jumped slightly, just enough to give her time to crash full into him.
When Dar had thrown her to the floor, Kerry hit the carpet and rolled, the breath knocked out of her. She heard the gun go off and her guts clenched, until she caught a flash of motion coming from where she’d last seen Dar. Kerry had fallen close to the side door and her eyes suddenly settled on DeSalliers’ face as he watched in puerile fascination, one hand on the door and the other readying his escape.
Anger erupted inside her. She scrambled up and headed for the doorway. He spotted her and turned to escape, but Kerry leaped at him and caught his leg as he almost vanished out the door. Despite his struggling, she got a grip on his calf and whipped her body around, getting her feet against the doorway and pulling him back Terrors of the High Seas 311
with all her strength. “Get back here, you bastard!”
He screamed something at her and kicked hard, but Kerry had her arm wrapped around his leg and she reached up with her other hand and grabbed his belt. She braced her legs and yanked, using her thigh muscles to push with.
With a curse, he stumbled over her and crashed back into the cabin. Kerry rolled over and pounced on him, her temper getting the better of her as she went wild, hitting at whatever bit of flesh she could get a fist on. All the anger that had been building up the last few days poured out, and she ignored his attempts at grabbing her as she struck at him again and again with both fists.
THE GUARD WAS a big man. Dar had her arms around his throat, and she hooked a leg around the arm with which Gregos was holding the gun. Arching her back, she pulled the gun around and released one hand to grab it, twisting sideways as he screamed and cursed at her. Panic drove her. She ripped the gun from his hand and slammed the butt of it against his head, evading the grip he was trying to get on her. He hit her hard in the stomach and she doubled over, but the gun came with her and she slammed it into his legs.
They were too close, and it was too chaotic to even consider using the weapon for its actual purpose. Dar staggered back and caught her balance, then saw Gregos coming at her, and pure instinct gave her the means to keep him away. She lashed out in a roundhouse kick and boxed him right on the side of the head. The jolt traveled all the way down her leg, but her momentum let her drive through the kick. He rocked and staggered back, and then he shoved off the wall and came back at her. Already balanced, Dar drew her knee up, then slammed her leg out straight, and got him in the nose with her full weight behind the kick.
Blood spattered everywhere. His hands clutching his face, Gregos went down. Dar whirled and her eyes frantically scanned the cabin, her ears already picking up more guards headed their way. She heard a commotion near the door and bolted for it, rounding the edge of the couch to find an enraged Kerry sitting on DeSalliers’ chest and beating him to within an inch of his life.
Kerry’s shirt was half ripped off, exposing most of her chest.
She was pinning DeSalliers down with her weight, her knees resting on his biceps as she slugged at him with both fists. After a second of frozen shock, Dar yelled at the top of her lungs, “Kerry!”
“Bastard!” Kerry smacked the man across the chops with her conjoined hands. “You’re an asshole!”
Dar got behind Kerry and slipped her hands under her lover’s arms, physically lifting her up off DeSalliers. “C’mon! Let’s get the 312 Melissa Good hell out of here!”
Kerry was breathing hard, her green eyes almost gray with anger. DeSalliers frantically rolled away from her and started crawling toward the center of the room, and Kerry’s entire body twitched as though she wanted to go after him. A growl erupted from her throat, surprising them both.
“C’mon,” Dar urged. “I hope to hell Dad’s gotten to Bud. We can’t stay here; hear them coming?” She dragged Kerry toward the small door DeSalliers had been attempting to use. A gunshot echoed through the boat again, and Dar could hear screaming. Her jaw tensed, knowing at a gut level it wasn’t her father doing the screaming but he might be causing it.
“Ker?” she murmured in a gentle tone. “C’mon, sweetheart.
Come back to me here,” she urged the still angry woman, whose hands were clenched in balled fists. “It’s over.”
Kerry’s furious eyes tracked to Dar and their gazes locked.
“Oh.” Kerry drew in a shaky breath and found herself abruptly, her entire body shaking in reaction. She clutched Dar’s arms and shivered, her heart beating so fast in her chest she couldn’t count the flutters. “D…” She had to stop and pant. “Shit.”
Dar half led, half carried her to the door and shouldered it open. The boat pitched wildly, and she paused as she figured out what to do next. She felt Kerry slump against her, and she rubbed her lover’s back. “You okay?”
Kerry sucked in a deep breath, and expelled it. “Yeah,” she whispered. “He just really pissed me off, I guess.” She took a moment to collect herself, then peered anxiously past Dar. “Where’s Dad?”
“There.” Dar edged out the door and held on to the railing as the rain pelted them. She spotted her father on the bow with Bud slung across his shoulders. “Dad!” she yelled, hoping he’d hear her above the storm.
His head turned her way and she saw the relief in his eyes.
“Go!” she hollered at him. “Get the hell out of here!”
Two guards were headed toward the bow, struggling against the rain just as they were. Andrew took a step toward them, then shook his head and ran for the edge of the bow, gathering himself and leaping over the railing to plunge feet first into the water. He immediately disappeared beneath the surging waves.
Dar spotted the men dashing for her and Kerry. “Can you swim?” she yelled. “Kerry!”
Kerry hesitated, j
udging the shakiness of her muscles. Her body seemed to have recovered during the brief rest and she took a cautious breath. “Yes,” she answered, knowing she had little choice at any rate. She grabbed the railing and held on, judging the distance to the water as the boat rolled. “I’m okay!”
Terrors of the High Seas 313
Dar held onto her. “Go on. I’ll jump after you when you’re clear.” She grabbed the back of Kerry’s shirt to keep her steady as the boat dipped toward the water, then gently shoved her just as she leaped, pushing her well clear of the boat. Anxiously, she watched the waves, her heart in her throat until she saw a faint, pale blur break the surface.
Just as she readied herself to follow, a hand grabbed her roughly from behind. Dar whirled and found a pistol barrel in her face. Her reflexes saved her life as she twisted and her hand snapped up, smacking the gun to the side just as it went off. The space was too close for fighting, but Dar managed to draw back her arm and punch the guard in the face, somehow evading his grasping hands. It didn’t really stun him, but he blinked and paused long enough for Dar to push free and slam the cabin door in his face.
She grabbed a fending pole clamped next to the door and jammed it sideways, blocking the door shut as the guard inside threw his body against it, trying to get out. Shaken, Dar glanced at the water, the ocean’s savage waves looking more and more friendly to her every single second.
Faintly, over the thunder and slap of the waves, she heard the sound of Andrew’s watercraft engine roar to life. A sweet sound.
She grabbed the railing and prepared to leap overboard, when motion on the bow caught her eye. Two guards were there, one shining a blazing, handheld spotlight into the water. The light pinned Andy’s small boat, and the second guard raised his rifle and aimed.
Dar heard the Dixie’s horn sound a warning. She released the rail and bolted forward toward the bow instead, heading straight for the two guards. With a growl, she dove headlong at the first, hitting him at the knees and taking him down. Together, they crashed into the second and he stumbled backward, falling down and rolling across the pitch of the deck. He slid under the railing and hung there, his light falling down into the water with an unheard splash. Dar found the rifle clattering by her and she kicked it, sending it spinning over the side.
The guard who had held it jumped on top of her, pinning her to the deck and slapping her hard across the side of the head. “You’re dead, bitch.”
Dar felt the truth of that. She gathered her flagging strength and fought him, ripping one hand loose from his grip. Her fingers brushed against something hard and she clutched at it, pulling hard when she recognized the outline of a diver’s knife strapped to his thigh. As he lifted a fist and aimed for her head, Dar pulled the knife free and drew her arm out sideways. Swinging it inward a hair’s breadth before his fist arced for her face, she buried the blade 314 Melissa Good in his side, feeling the harsh, ethereal sensation as the knife penetrated his clothing and entered flesh. His scream was a testament to her accuracy.
Dar arched her body, rolling to one side with all the effort she could muster. She managed to throw him off, and as he rolled one way, she rolled the other. The boat pitched as she was trying to squirm under the rail, she felt him grab her by the back of her jacket, and the next thing she felt was a sudden shock that rattled her whole body. Then it all went dark.
KERRY WATCHED ANXIOUSLY, her eyes widening. “Dad!”
She pointed to where she could see Dar struggling with the thug.
“Oh…oh, my God!” she screamed, seeing her partner go down as the man hit her in the back of the head. “Dar!”
Without the slightest hesitation, Andrew dove overboard, regulator already in his mouth, and mask already settled on his face. He paused to yell back at Kerry, “Take hold of that damn rudder!” before he ducked under the waves and disappeared.
Kerry scrambled back and did as he had ordered, hauling the boat around and heading it back toward DeSalliers’ yacht. “Son of a bitch. Son of a bitch. Son of a bitch!”
Behind her, the Dixie’s horn went off again, three short blasts that sounded urgent. Kerry kept her eyes glued on the yacht in front of her, her heart almost stopped as she heard the yacht’s engines fire. “No!” But as she watched, the big boat turned and started moving, heading away from them. Kerry felt like she was going insane. She gunned the engine of her watercraft, then abruptly slowed as she saw a head poke from the surface. “Dad!”
Andrew waved her on toward him, signaling urgently. “C’mon, girl. Move it!”
Her instincts in conflict, her hand shaking, Kerry directed the boat toward him, panic starting to overtake her. She slowed the raft, and Andrew reached for one of the grips and pulled himself over the gunwales and aboard with seemingly little effort.
He rolled over and came up next to Kerry, taking the tiller from her. “Bastards.” He watched the boat draw away from them. “Ain’t catching them in this thing,” he said, whipping the watercraft around in a tight, vicious circle that nearly swamped the boat in the following waves.
“Dad, they’ve got Dar!” Kerry gasped out. “We’ve got to get her!”
“Ah know that.” Andrew said, setting a course back to the Dixie. “Ah know that.” He looked behind him, tension written clearly etched across his scarred features. “Mah God.”
Kerry could only sit there, clenching and unclenching her Terrors of the High Seas 315
hands, her heart beating so quickly she could barely breathe. Every instinct was pushing her toward simply jumping overboard and swimming after DeSalliers’ yacht; only the fragile remnants of her sanity kept her where she was.
Dar was gone. Helplessly, she started crying, one hand holding on to the boat and the other gripping her hair, wanting nothing else but to scream, and scream, and just keep on screaming.
“GO! MOVE! HURRY!”
Dar heard the noises and felt the motion, alarm sending a shock wave through her as she realized what had happened. She was lying on a hard surface inside the cabin of the boat, and she could feel rug under her fingertips as she started to move.
“Fucking bitch!”
Instinct made Dar roll out of the way, just as something whisked by her head and crunched into the fiberglass wall. She got to her hands and knees, trying to keep her balance as the boat pitched in the waves.
“Ow!” Gregos, who’d missed her and kicked the wall instead, hopped backwards and fell down, unused to the motion of the boat.
“Fucking bitch! Fucking bitch! Bitch!”
Dar shook her head to clear it and looked dazedly around at the cabin. DeSalliers appeared from the steps, staggering up them with an ice pack held to his face. He spotted Dar and stared at her. She stared back.
He dropped the ice and reached for a pool cue, the fury in his eyes showing he was beyond reason. Spittle flying from his bruised mouth, he went after Dar with the stick, swinging it at her head.
Dar really didn’t process what happened next. She knew she was being attacked and her body reacted, ducking under the pool cue and spinning around to land a kick on DeSalliers’ side.
“Bitch!”
“Let me do that, boss.” Gregos, face swollen from her earlier kick to his head, got up and grabbed for Dar. “I’ll break her fucking neck.” The boat lurched and he fell again. “Fuck!”
Dar got to the side of the room and collected herself, a pounding headache causing flashes of light to obscure her vision.
She put her back to the wall and raised her hands in a defensive posture, as DeSalliers held on to a chair while the boat pitched wildly.
“They’re comin’ after us!” a voice crackled from the radio.
“Holy shit!’
Unable to move, DeSalliers stared across the room at Dar. “I’m going to kill you,” he managed to get out. “I don’t care what it takes, if I hafta gut you with a fucking harpoon.”
316 Melissa Good Dar somehow managed to gather her wits. “What does that get you?” she asked, winci
ng at the rasp in her throat.
“Satisfaction,” he spat.
“A prison sentence,” Dar corrected. “Because they all know I’m here.”
DeSalliers looked through the window. “We’ll lose ’em. Then I’ll dump your stinking body overboard. They’ll never find it.”
Dar straightened a little. “You’ll never lose them.”
DeSalliers laughed and spat out a mouthful of blood. “Your fucking girlfriend? Bet she’s crying her eyes out.”
Did she have a chance to talk her way out of this? Dar swallowed. Well, at least she was alive, and she had to do everything she could to stay that way. “What is it you want, money?”
“No.” The man stared at her in utter hatred. “There ain’t enough to keep me from killing you. I’d even take a rap for it.”
Oh crap. Dar started looking for a way out of the cabin. The boat was traveling at high speed, and jumping off would probably kill her, but— Above the sound of the storm, she suddenly heard a booming roar.
“Boss!” the radio screamed. “They’re fucking shooting at us!”
DeSalliers grabbed the radio. “What? Get away from them, jackass!”
“I can’t! One of the god damned engines is blown!”
Another booming roar and suddenly the window beside DeSalliers dissolved into a thousand shards of glass, which went flying across the cabin. Dar pressed her body against the wall and threw her arm up to protect her face.
“Shit!” DeSalliers shoved off from the bar and bounced into Gregos, grabbing the gun from his henchman’s belt and heading in Dar’s direction.
SOMEWHERE BETWEEN GETTING on the Dixie and finding a way not to collapse, Kerry managed to get herself under control and put a screeching halt to her runaway panic. She staggered across the pitching back deck as Andrew threw himself at the ladder, yelling to a very scared-looking Charlie up top.
Bud was lying on the deck, still out cold. Bob was clinging to the railing, his eyes as huge as baseballs. “Oh my God,” he was saying, over and over again. “Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God.”