Four of Hearts (15 page)

Richard looked him in the eye. “We’re going to give them the god-damned ship. That’s what we’re going to do.”

“Do you think it’s that easy? Will this be the end of it?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, whoever these people are, they want the
Lothario
today. What will they want next time?”

“I don’t give a god-damn what they want. I’ll give them everything I own, if that’s what it takes.”

“Calm down, Richard. I’m on your side. I’ll do whatever it takes to get them back safe and sound, just like you, but there’s a reason they did this on our island instead of somewhere else. They know we’re beyond the scope of the American authorities here. We’re on our own.  So that gives them the upper hand, or so they believe.”

“What are you saying?”

“I’m saying, they don’t know we have a former DIA operative and a former FBI agent onboard. They don’t know we have two more former DIA operatives on the island next door to them.”

“Drew,” Richard said.

“And Sean, Celeste and Bree. Not to mention an arsenal any third world country would like to get their hands on. That alone is reason enough not to give them the ship.”

Color returned to Richard’s face and he straightened. “Fallon and Candace are our first priority. I don’t care what happens to this ship.”

“Agreed,” Ryan said. “Do we call Drew and Bree now?”

“Give me the phone,” Richard said.

“Who the hell are these people?” Drew stared at the photo Ryan printed out and shoved in his hands.

“We have no idea. I don’t care who they are. I just want Candace and Fallon back,” Ryan said.

“I can’t tell anything about this picture. Where are they?”

“They’re at my house. We talked to them on the satellite phone a few minutes ago.”

Drew passed the photo to Bree who examined it as thoroughly as Drew had. “What do they want?” Drew asked.

“The ship,” Richard answered. “They can have it.”

Bree handed the photo back to Ryan. “Details? How? When?”

It took a few minutes to tell what little they knew, but when they were through, Drew and Bree had a million questions.

“Look, shouldn’t we be turning this bucket toward the island?” Richard asked. “The sooner we get there, the sooner we get our wives back.”

“Why did you call us up here?” Drew asked.

Ryan answered, “Don’t misunderstand. Richard and I will do anything to get our wives back safe and sound, including signing over the ship, but we were wondering if there was another way. We don’t want these bastards to get away with this, but we won’t jeopardize Fallon and Candace in any way.”

“There might be a way,” Drew said. “Let’s go to the Bridge. I need to see the RNC’s.”

* * * * *

Captain Whittier was surprised to see the entourage barrel into his domain demanding access to the charts and maps. Drew pointed out that he had been a naval officer, and he knew how to read a chart. “Don’t go far though. I’ll need you to tell me what this particular ship is capable of.”

Drew admired the ship’s state of the art digital navigational system. “Nice setup, Captain.”

“Thanks, but you aren’t here to admire the equipment, are you?”

“No, sir. I need to see the charts around the islands.”

Captain Whittier brought up the charts Drew asked for, then turned to his employers. “What’s this about?”

Ryan handed him the photo. Captain Whittier paled and handed it back. “What do you need me to do?” he asked.

“Just take this bucket where ever Drew needs it to go.”

Drew pointed to a spot on the southern end of the island Richard called home, as well as the one they were currently building the resort on. “Can you put her in here?”

Captain Whittier studied the chart. “I can.”

“When?”

The captain punched some numbers into the computer and said, “Late afternoon today, at the earliest, and that’s if we push the
Lothario
to her limits.”

“Make it after dark, and lets stay as far away from Ryan’s island as we can. I’m sure they have lookouts posted around the island. I don’t want them to see us coming,” Drew said.

“I can do that, but how is that going to help our women?”

Our women
. Ryan liked the sound of that. Everyone onboard knew and liked Candace and Fallon. It shouldn’t come as any surprise that Captain Whittier felt that they belonged. The crew of the
Lothario
was family. A big—dysfunctional at times—family. 

“You won’t need to drop anchor, just get us in close enough for Bree and I to take the Zodiac to the island. As soon as we’re off, take the
Lothario
back out, and bring her into the usual anchorage off Ryan’s island, but I want it to look like you plotted a course straight there from here. Can you do that?”

“Sure.”

“What are we supposed to do?” Richard asked.

“You and Ryan deliver the ship, as promised. If all goes as planned, the passengers will still have their shore day, and we’ll put an end to this before the bastards know we’re there.”

“I’m going with you,” Ryan said.

“No, you’re not. If we can’t get the women out, then you’ll have to deliver the ship as promised. You and Richard have to be on the tender, otherwise, they’ll know we’re up to something. Besides, Sean would kill me if I let his baby brother get involved in something like this.”

“Damnit, Drew! I am involved. Those women. . . .” he choked on the rest of the words.

“I know,” he put a hand on Ryan’s shoulder. “I know. We’ll get them out of there.” He turned to the Captain. “Plot the course.” He turned to Bree. “Get the Zodiac ready. We’ll need scuba equipment for the four of us, and we’ll be going in silent. Knives, anything else in the arsenal you think we can use. We’ll need weapons with some clout once we get in close.”

“I’m on it,” Bree said. Her eyes traveled between Ryan and Richard. “Don’t worry. We’ll get them back.” And then she hustled off the Bridge.

“Come on. Let’s let Captain Whittier do his job. I need you two to tell me everything you can about the island and the house, and we need your satellite connection to call Sean.”

* * * * *

Richard was numb on the inside, but his skin felt like someone was using him as a pin cushion. He guessed his involuntary muscles were still functioning. He was alive. Somehow. It didn’t seem possible when his heart was on the island, and he was stuck on the
Lothario
, impotent in the face of whatever evil could do a thing like this.

He couldn’t stop looking at the photo, or hearing the voices on the phone. They had to get them back. Both of them. Anything less than a one hundred percent success rate was unacceptable.

They went over every detail of the island with Drew, then again when Bree returned after seeing to the supplies they needed. Richard paced, listened, answered when asked a direct question. He’d never prayed harder for anything in his life as he did for the safe return of Fallon and Candace, and somewhere in the waiting and watching silence of early evening as they approached his island, it hit him. He was in love with both of them, had been for sometime.

The realization doubled him over. He’d gone out on the balcony, searching the darkening waters for peace, and he grabbed onto the rail as the pain ripped through him. Christ, how had it happened? How had Candace come to mean as much to him as Fallon did? It was fucking screwed up. He was screwed up. But self-criminations would have to wait. He had to focus on getting them back first, then he’d deal with his fucked up heart.

“It’s going to be all right.” Ryan’s shoes came into focus next to him. “It has to be.”

“Yeah,” he said and forced himself to straighten. “I can’t contemplate any other outcome.”

“Me either,” Ryan said. “Look, Richard, this may not be the time to say this, but I want you to know I want them
both
back.” Richard dared a look at his friend. Shadows hid Ryan’s face, but the pain in his voice was evidence enough of his emotional state. “I mean. . . I can’t. . . I can’t contemplate losing either one of them. I love your wife, Richard. It’s fucked up, I know, but there it is. I love them both.”

Well, shit
. Richard turned back to the black void of open sea. Fucked up didn’t even begin to cover it, in his estimation. How could two men, two very different men, be in love with two women at the same time? It went against everything he’d grown up with, every moral value his straight-laced parents had taught him. Not that they thought any of it had stuck to him anyway. The
Lothario
was proof enough of their failure in that department, but they’d been hopeful for his soul when he married Fallon, even if her career was in Sex Therapy. They saw her as a stabilizing influence in his life, and she was that, and more.

“I don’t know how it happened, but I love Candace, too. I understand if you want to pitch me overboard, but I’d appreciate it if you could wait until we get them back. I’d like to see them one more time.”

Their staterooms were high above the water line, but the silence was broken by the stiff wind whistling and the bow slicing through the dark water as the
Lothario
slid through the night, racing against time.

“What are we going to do?” Ryan asked.

“Get them back. Then we’ll see. One thing at a time.”

“You’ve met my family. I wasn’t raised this way, any more than you were. One man, one woman. That’s the way it’s supposed to be,” Ryan said.

“Adultery. That’s what my family would call it,” Richard said.

“Is it? I’m not so sure anymore. When we first. . . you know. . . well, I thought I was being disloyal to Candace because of my feelings for Fallon, but, as strange as this sounds, I’m not sure of that anymore. Maybe Fallon’s right. Maybe humans are capable of loving more than one person at a time.”

“Maybe. Even if she is right, and maybe we’re living proof of it, society doesn’t see it that way.”

Ryan didn’t respond. Richard supposed they had bigger things to worry about than a future they might not even have. Lights from the lower decks made a weak attempt had holding back the darkness, a darkness Richard felt creeping closer like a smothering blanket over his life.

“We have to get them back.” The words fell from his lips. Shards of broken glass ground under pressure.

“I know. I think Drew’s plan will work. Sean hasn’t ever said much about his work with the DIA, but I do know he trusted Drew and Celeste with his life, and that means something. They have to be good. Bree has a good head on her shoulders too, despite her behavior where Drew is concerned.”

“I hope to God those two don’t get into another shouting match in the middle of this. There’s too much at stake.”

“They won’t. They both know what’s at stake, and they’re professionals at this sort of thing. We’re lucky to have them onboard.”

“You’re right. It’s just hard to sit back and do nothing. I feel like I should. . . .”

“We are doing something. If all else fails, we hand over the ship, and anything else the bastards want.”

“Yeah, I know. I’d rather kill someone though.”

“If there’s any killing to be done, I think we’d better leave that to the people who know how to do it, as scary as that sounds.”

“I don’t care if they kill the lot of them. I know they’re hoping it won’t come to that, but I really don’t care. I’d do it myself if I could.”

“And here I thought all my troubles were over when I married Candace.”

“Candace has been nothing but trouble since you met her,” Richard smirked.

The wind snatched Ryan’s laughter and carried it into the night. “That she has, but it’s all been good trouble. She never ceases to surprise me.”

“Did you tell her we saw them in the hammock?”

“Yeah. The little minx didn’t care. I think she knew we were watching all along.”

“Really?” Richard chuckled. “Damn. I hadn’t thought of that. I wonder if Fallon knew?”

“Probably.”

Richard thought about that for a while, turning it over in his mind. “I think Fallon has a thing for you.” His comment hung in the silence between them. “It’s okay with me. I know she loves me.”