Amber Beach (42 page)

“A quart or so. There’s enough plain salmon left for an omelet tomorrow and pasta tomorrow night.”

Mentally Jake went over the supplies in his truck, her kitchen, and already on board the
Tomorrow.
The food probably would last longer than the gas, even in weather like this.

He looked out at the water beyond Amber Beach’s protected shore. Whitecaps leaped on most waves. Streaks of foam had formed. Long, wind-driven swells were humping up in the dark blue water. Small craft warnings would be going out soon, if they weren’t already posted.

He had planned to pull a switch and take his own boat to the last place Kyle had entered into his chart plotter, but the
Better Days
wasn’t as big as the
Tomorrow.
Even though his boat was seaworthy enough to take on near-gale winds, as long as small craft warnings were out the Coast Guard had the right to decide what small craft should be on the ocean and what should stay in port.

The
Tomorrow
was twenty-seven feet long, technically above the size limit of “small craft.” None of the boats following him were that big, except perhaps the elusive Olympic that Conroy had seen. If the rest of the folks kept on following him with their little Tupperware navy, they would be in for a hair-raising ride.

With hidden impatience, Jake reviewed what had to be done before he took to the water
again.
It would be hours until it was dark enough for him to sneak out, put on his diving gear, and go over the hull of the
Tomorrow
for any little presents left behind by Whidbey Island’s navy SEALs. He would rather have spent the time until dark naked with Honor in a bed the size of Texas instead of standing on
one foot and the
n the other. But getting his hands on her sweet body wasn’t real likely right now. Or any time soon.

“To hell with sneaking around”, he muttered. “It’s not like it will come as a big surprise to anyone. They’re probably wondering why I haven’t done it before now.”

“Hello?” Honor said. “Are you talking to me?”

“I’m going diving.”

She looked out the window. Something cold and unpleasant slid down her spine at the thought of being out on the water. Even the little beach was feeling the impact of the wind now. Instead of lapping at the rocky shore, the waves were smacking against stone and exploding into foam that was whipped quickly ashore. Spindrift was sticking to tall rocks. Tall, powerful fir trees were swaying like dancers in the wind.

“You’re diving in that?” Honor asked.

“No. Below that.”

“You’re nuts.”

“Blame yourself. You vetoed a much better idea.”

“What are you talking about? I didn’t veto…”

“Sure you did”, he interrupted. “Remember? Us, in bed, naked?” He smiled at her expression. “Don’t worry, honey. I’ve got a different kind of skin diving in mind at the moment. But hold the good thought.”

“I’d feel better if you smiled with your eyes, too.”

“So would I. But life’s a bitch and…”

“… then you die”, she finished with a catch in her voice. “Jake, don’t go diving. It’s too dangerous.”

Honor knew it was stupid to let him see her worry for him, yet she couldn’t do anything about it. Even though her mind and her instincts were locked in uncivil warfare over what to do about Jake Mallory, the thought of him being hurt made her want to throw herself into his arms and hold him
close.

And then she realized that he was already holding her, rocking her against his chest.

“It’s all right”, Jake said. “I’m only going as far as the dock. I won’t leave you to face the wolves alone.”

She barely kept herself from telling him that she wasn’t worried about herself. Giving that away would have been really stupid. She was in more trouble than he was.

He wasn’t fighting himself along with everyone else.

Honor went down the path to the boat beside Jake, hugging her wind jacket around her. The temperature was over sixty, but the wind made it seem closer to thirty. Jake didn’t seem to notice it. He was wearing a dive suit that fit like skin and a tank of air held on by a harness. Tight black gloves covered his hands. Big flippers and a mask dangled from his right fist. Hoses and a metal gauge lay over his shoulders.

He should have looked awkward, but she kept seeing him as he was beneath the suit – nearly naked and sexy enough to make her forget all the reasons she shouldn’t be thinking about what she couldn’t help thinking about.

“You must be freezing”, she said.

“Not yet. That will come after I’ve been in the water for a while.”

“So don’t go in!”

He didn’t say anything.

“Why do you have to look at the
Tomorrow’s
hull? Has it sprung a leak?”

“Just checking.”

She waited, but he had no more to say on the subject of why he was going for a dive in a gale. It had been the same every time she brought it up in the past hour. Silence or a change of subject.

“Why won’t you tell me?” she asked.

“Because you have enough to worry about.”

“And this is helping me how?”

Jake sighed. “I figure by now the SEALs have used the
Tomorrow
for a training exercise. I’m just going to make sure they haven’t done any
damage.”

It wasn’t the whole truth, but it was as much as he was going to tell her. She was strung tight enough as it was. If she knew he was going to take Kyle’s boat out after dark, it wouldn’t help her nerves at all.

“You think they sabotaged the
Tomorrow?”
Honor asked, suddenly angry.

“No. I’m just being careful.”

“Paranoid.”

“That too.”

A gust of wind made Honor stagger. Jake steadied her
with his free hand.

“Go back to the cottage”, he said. “I’ll be fine.”

“I’ll be fine”, she mimicked savagely. “Like hell. You’re
not supposed to go diving alone.”

Jake knew that, but he was doing it anyway. Sometimes
it was safer to break the rules than to be the only one playing
by them.

He walked out onto the dock. She was right on his heels.

“Go back to the cottage”, he said again. “I won’t be long.”

“Good. I’ll be right here the whole time.”

“We don’t have a second suit. If I get into trouble, what could you do?”

“Dance a jig on the dock.”

“Want to be in on the kill, huh?”

She shivered. The thought of him being hurt was bad enough. The thought of him dying made her cold all the way
to her soul.

“Sorry to disappoint you, buttercup”, he said, “but I
am
going to disappoint you on that one. No victory dance over my dead body.”

“That’s not funny”, she said through her teeth.

“Not for me. But I’m not half as mad at me as you are.”

In a seething kind of silence Honor watched while Jake finished suiting up on the dock. Soon he was turning on the compressed air and checking the flow. Satisfied, he put in the mouthpiece. Moments later he stepped off the deep end of the dock and sank beneath the choppy water.

Honor could barely follow the trail of bubbles for all the wind and froth. Every time she lost all sign of Jake, she thought about what it would be like if he didn’t surface at all, ever.

“Get back up here, Jake Mallory”, she said to the dark water. “I’m not nearly mad enough at you yet!”

By the time he finally surfaced, Honor had thought about many things, none of them guaranteed to make her feel all warm and squishy. Jake’s easy strength as he levered himself from the cold water onto the dock told her that he was doing
o
better than she was. She could barely feel her fingers, and her toes were numb. She wasn’t dressed to be out in this kind of wind.

“Did you find it?” she demanded as soon as he removed his mask.

“Find what?”

“The tracking gizmo”, she said impatiently. “Did the water freeze your brain?”

“I don’t remember mentioning any tracking gizmo.” He sat down and began removing the flippers.

Wind whipped hair across Honor’s mouth and eyes. Impatiently she pushed it away. “Contrary to my performance in the past day or so, I’m not completely stupid. The SEALs aren’t going to blow us up, but they sure might make it easier for Ellen and the boys to track us. So did you find it?”

“Yeah.”

“Where is it now?”

“I attached it to the dock.”

“Well, that should reassure them that we’re not going anywhere.”

“That’s the idea”, he said, standing
again.
“C’mon. Let’s get in out of the wind.”

Frowning, Honor followed Jake up the path, certain she was missing something. She was still trying to figure out what as he went into the bedroom to get out of his dive suit. Though the door to the bedroom stayed open, she didn’t go in. She didn’t trust herself not to offer to help unzip his high-tech skin. Worrying about him under the water had made it nearly impossible to stay mad at him on land.

Jake stepped into the shower and rinsed off the dive suit. He dried it like a second skin, then peeled off the cold water diving hood and went to work on the rest of the suit.

“Don’t they have someone watching the house?” Honor called from the living room. “Whoever the guy was that called and told Mather the ‘primary subjects’ were back together
again?”

“Yeah.”

“Do you think he can see the dock?”

“Probably.”

“Then he’ll know you know about the gizmo.”

Jake decided he should have left Honor out in the wind a little longer. Her mind was still too sharp.

“It’s possible”, he said finally. His voice was muffled because he was peeling off the top half of his wet suit.

“Then what’s to stop them from sticking another one on?”

“Nothing.”

“Then why did you bother to go gizmo-diving in the first
place?”

Jake sighed and told Honor what she really didn’t want
to hear. “Because they won’t come back until well after dark, and by then the
Tomorrow
won’t be here.”

Silence came, followed by, “Where will it be?”

“Out there”, he said, waving in the direction of the
islands.

Honor could see the islands through the bedroom window. They rose above the wild water like distant, blue-black whales.

“You’re kidding, right?” she asked, afraid that he wasn’t.

“Wrong.”

He peeled off the bottom half of the dive suit, went to the shower again, and rinsed off his flippers, dive gloves, and tank harness. He could still hear Honor above the sound of the shower, but he pretended he couldn’t. He already knew that she didn’t think much of going out in rough weather. Normally he didn’t either. Not much had been normal lately.

Honor stalked into the bathroom, hands on hips and flags of anger flying in her cheeks. The sight of him naked but for some kind of diver’s jockstrap didn’t improve her temper one bit.

“Jacob Mallory, look at that ocean!”

“I’ve been out in worse.”

“I haven’t!”

“That’s okay. You aren’t corning with me. You’re going to call Ellen and tell her we had the mother of all fights and you’ve decided to join her team.”

“No”, Honor said flatly.

“That means you’re coming with me.”

“But…”

“There’s no other choice”, Jake said ruthlessly, brushing past her on the way from bathroom to bedroom. “I’m not leaving you alone with the likes of Snake Eyes on the loose.”

Honor followed Jake farther into the bedroom, then wished she hadn’t. The bedroom really had a stunning water view. Up until this moment she had loved it. Now she felt like hiding; the sea was angry and violent, as bad as her nightmares of being scared and wet and facedown in a leaky boat that smelled of fish.

“Call Ellen”, Jake said softly, touching Honor’s suddenly pale cheek. “She’ll take care of you.”

“No.”

“Look at me.”

Honor turned away from the water. Despite Jake’s gentle voice, his gray eyes were no more peaceful than the sea.

“If I find Kyle”, Jake said clearly, “I will do everything I can to bring him back safely to you. I promise you.”

“No”, she whispered.

Anger and impatience and something else, something painful, changed Jake’s features. “You really don’t trust me.”

“That’s not it.”

“The hell it isn’t.” He turned away and grabbed jeans and
underwear from the duffel he had brought. “Well, you’re shit out of luck, buttercup. It’s Ellen or me.” He stripped out of the wet jockstrap and pulled on dry underwear. “No third choice.” He yanked on the jeans. “I don’t have time right now to
arrange
for baggage handlers to take you to Tahiti. Ellen’s boss is getting impatient. They could pull the plug on me, and then I would be shit out of luck right along with you.”