From Manhattan With Revenge Boxed Set (9 page)

“The
blood isn’t.”

“Actually,
that could work in our favor.
 
If
they see blood rise to the surface, they might think one of us was hit.
 
Maybe dead.”

Another
harpoon shot through the hut, shattering more glass.

“We’ve
got to get to the boat,” he said.
 
“It’s our only chance.”

“They’ll
run out of harpoons,” she said.
 
“We
could wait them out until nightfall.”

“Carmen,
it’s morning.
 
They’ll find a way to
get out here.
 
We don’t know if they
have guns or rifles.
 
They came here
to kill us, not frighten us.
 
We
can’t stay here.”

“I can’t
believe they’re doing this,” she said.
 
“We warned them that if they came near us, we’d treat them exactly as we
treated Laurent.”

“What if
it’s someone else?
 
Someone you’ve
crossed in the past?”

“It
could be.
 
I don’t know.
 
None of this makes sense.
 
You know how careful I am.
 
I don’t understand how anyone knows I
have a place here.”

“It
doesn’t matter now,” he said.
 
“We get
to the boat, you slip on the other side of it, I remove it from its moorings
and then, once I’m with you, we paddle it out as far as we can.
 
Then, when their harpoons can’t touch
us, we get inside, crank the engine and gun it out of here.”

She knew
they had no choice.
 
“What’s the
shark situation?”

He
lowered his head into the water and came up quickly, spitting out a mouthful of
water.
 
“It’s worse.
 
Now we’ve got hammerheads.”

“I’m
going to be sick.”

“Let’s
move.
 
Get on the other side of the
boat.”

Above
them, a harpoon sounded its warning by sinking into the deck.

Carmen
lowered herself into the water and looked down at the sharks below her.
 
She knew exactly where the boat was and
swam to the other side of it while never taking her eyes off the roaming,
darting swarm.
 

So far,
the sharks didn’t seem to be interested in them.
 
But how long would that last?
 
They were hungry.
 
It was obvious.
 
The blood in the water would only call
for more.
 
Worse for her and Alex is
something she hadn’t told him.
 
She
started her period this morning, which is why she wasn’t fully naked.
 
She’d taken precautions, such as wearing
a black bikini bottom and wearing a tampon, but even a trace of blood in this
environment would only create more interest in them.

She
watched him swim over to the moorings.
 
There were two of them.
 
He’d
need to lift his hands above the dock and untie each.
 
Because they were shielded by the hut,
no one on the shoreline would be able to see him.
 
And they didn’t.
 
Soon, the boat was free and he dove
under it to be next to her.

“Now, we
paddle,” he said.

“How
far?”

“Maybe a
quarter of a mile.”

“Pushing
this boat?
 
With those sharks?
 
Deeper water is out there.
 
Bigger fish.
 
It’s dangerous.
 
We don’t know what we’ll find.”

“It
won’t take as long as you think.
 
We
paddle and paddle hard, but with our feet beneath the surface.
 
Never break the surface.
 
Are we clear on that?
 
If they hear us, they’ll shoot at us.”

“Eventually,
they’ll see the boat, Alex.”

“That’s
right, but at a distance they might not be able to reach us.
 
That’s a chance we’re going to have to
take.
 
Come on,” he said.
 
“Paddle.”

“I need
to tell you something,” she said.
 
“My period started this morning.”
 
She saw the concerned look on his face and didn’t wait for him to speak.
 
“I’m wearing a tampon, but it won’t be
enough.
 
The sharks will still smell
the blood.”

“Then we
hurry.
 
Keep your head lowered.
 
If a shark comes near you, bash it on
top of its head with your fist.
 
If
the situation becomes too dangerous, we hope for the best, get into the boat
and speed away.”

She put
her head in the water and this time, she faced her greatest fright.
 
Far away from them and to the right were
two men in scuba gear.
 
The water
was so clear, she figured they were five hundred yards away, but swimming so
hard, they were quickly closing the distance between them.
 
In their hands were harpoon guns.
 
When she saw one of the men turn to the
other and point at them, she knew they had been spotted.

She
lifted her head.
 
“Two men.
 
To your right.
 
Harpoons.
 
Coming straight at us.
 
Get over here.
 
We paddle from the left-side of the
boat.”

He
looked down, saw them and swam closer to her, lifting himself so his mouth was
just above the surface.
 
“They’re
either going to shoot us or the boat.
 
The harpoons will sink the boat.
 
We need to get in it now and get out of here.
 
There’s no choice.”

She knew
he was right.
 
Together, they
scrambled low into the boat and when they did, another harpoon crashed through
the hut and soared over their heads.
 

Carmen
rushed to the front.
 
This boat was
no ordinary boat.
 
It was
sophisticated and cost her a fortune.
 
A turn of a key would start the engine.
 
But the moment she turned it, the dual
engines were so powerful, all would hear them.
 
She looked at Alex, who was leaning low
against the side of the boat.
 
“Hurry,” he said.

Hunching
down as low as she could, she turned the key, the engines roared to life and
suddenly the air behind them became alive with harpoons and gunfire.
 

She sped
away.

Tried to
speed away.

Below
them, one of the men shot a harpoon.
 
It smashed through the right side of the boat, but instead of shooting
clear through to the other side, the harpoon sank into Alex’s thigh and pinned
him to the boat.
 
She looked over at
him in horror and saw his face twisted in pain while scores of harpoons rained
down on them, some glancing off the boat, most plunging into the water.
 
“Go!” he said through gritted
teeth.
 
“Move before they shoot
again!”

Without
thinking of the consequences or what might happen to Alex given the dire
situation of his wound, she forced herself to focus and roared away as the
onslaught continued.
 

It was a
nightmare.
 
She could hear glass
breaking behind her and then an explosion as one of the harpoons connected with
the propane tank in the kitchen area.
 

She
looked over her shoulder and saw her beloved hut alive and thrashing with
flames.
 
She’d spent so many years
here and now it was gone.
 
She
pressed harder on the throttle and moved faster until they presumably were out
of reach.
 
She sped left and rounded
into an inlet, while warm water leached around her feet.
 
Her boat was going to sink.
 
She pressed the throttle harder and
moved into the inlet, which was miles from her hut and where some of the locals
lived.
 
She knew one of the families
here.
 
They could help them.

“Are you
alright?” she asked.

He
didn’t answer.

“Can you
see them?”

Silence.

She
looked over her shoulder and saw that Alex’s eyes were closed and that he was
oddly pale.
 
She looked down at the
bottom of the boat and saw that the warm water she thought she was standing in
actually was his blood.
 
The harpoon
and his leg had created something of a plug, sealing off the water from the
boat but not the blood from Alex’s leg.
 
The harpoon had struck an artery.
 
He was bleeding out.

Quickly,
she removed her bikini bottom and tied it tight just above the wound.
 
She patted his face and asked him to
speak to her.
 
Nothing.
 
She gently shook him and asked him to
say something.
 
Nothing.
 
She checked for a pulse.
 
Nothing.
 

Panic
rose within her.
 
He had come to
mean everything to her.
 
She
couldn’t lose him.
 
It wasn’t right.
 
She was in love with him.
 
“Don’t leave me,” she said, shaking him
harder.
 
“Please don’t leave me.
 
Please stay.”

She
needed to administer CPR, but she couldn’t move him onto his back because of
how the harpoon had pinned him to the boat.
 
She’d need to improvise.
 

She
pressed her ear to his chest and heard nothing.
 
She checked to see if he was breathing,
but he wasn’t.
 
Immediately, she
wrapped her arm around his back for support and slammed her fist against his
chest in an effort to get his heart beating again.
 
She pressed her mouth against his cool
lips and forced air into his lungs, but there was no response.
 
Again, she slammed her fist against his
chest and gave him more air.
 
She
repeated the procedure four times before she felt for a pulse.
 
But there wasn’t one.

He was
dead.

She
looked up at the distant shoreline and could see nothing but smoke rising into
the air above a hood of trees.
 
She
looked down at Alex and everything within her rejected what she saw.
 
She found a towel at the rear of the
boat and placed it behind his head to make him comfortable.
 
When she touched his cheek with the back
of her hand and bent down to kiss him a final time on the lips, she noticed
that her whole body was trembling with grief and rage.
 
She wanted to go back and kill them all
for what they’d done to him, but it would be suicide if she did so.

She
stepped back into the driver’s seat and sat there.
 
She felt weightless, hopeless,
useless.
 
She looked out at the
ocean as the boat rocked and swayed.
 
Water lapped against the side of it.
 
It was soothing, almost hypnotic.
 
She gave into it.
 
Time passed.
 
The sun moved across the sky.
 
She only came around when something
nudged against the boat.
 
Pushed
it.
 
She looked around her as
something whipped about in the water, startling her into focus.
 
She looked down at the water and saw
that it was boiling.
 
Dozens of
sharks were teeming around the boat, probably drawn by Alex’s blood, which
likely was leaking into the water.

She had
to collect herself.
 
She needed to
save herself.
 
He’d be furious with
her if she didn’t do so.

Think.

The
family she knew within the inlet could help her.
 
Contacts in the States could send her a
new passport.
 
To leave here, she’d
need to change her identity, but those matters could be worked out abroad.
 

When her
passport came, so would supplies to make her look like her new photo.
 
She’d been in this situation before, but
never quite like this.
 
Never in
love.
 
She wanted to scream into the
sun, but instinct kept her silent.
 
She couldn’t give away her location.
 
She’d be damned if they killed each of
them.

She
started the boat again and, with Alex at her back, she crept around the inlet,
her heart turning to ice as she moved forward through the deep.
 
A feast of sharks slapped their tails
against the boat, but she ignored them and kept her eyes on the horizon.
 
Help was ahead.
 
Small huts were behind the swaying
palms.
 
She’d seek out her friends
and then she’d seek out her enemies.