HIGH TIDE (24 page)

It was worth the risk. Briana rubbed at a cramp in her shoulder and kept her gaze averted from the woman at her side. She spoke quietly into the wind. “They have combed these reefs before based on the very same rumors you’re suggesting now
—and came up with nothing. What has you convinced enough to kill?”

“Chavez appropriated this map from one of the descendants of the crew of the
Francisco
. The genealogy checked out, and this man, down on his luck, settled for a few dollars to make our dreams a reality...well, with some coaxing.  Anyway, the map helped us to narrow down the course of the Francisco. We factored in weather and knew that the search area was broad. That is why we’ve been off this coast for some time—long before your development broke ground. Just recently our sonar picked up on a suspicious shadow and our diving team deemed it worth investigating.  The explosives have been necessary to get at what is hiding beneath the surface.”

Briana studied Joy as the woman calmly jerked the gun, prompting her to stand up. “And you?” she asked. “You don’t approve of th
at, do you, Joy? Well, I don’t approve of you using Naoki. And obviously I don’t approve of you committing murder to get what you want—so I have to repeat,
why did you send me that envelope
?”

A sigh caught on the wind as Joy grabbed Briana’s arm and shoved her forward. Startled by the sudden change in demeanor, Briana understood better as Joy
cast a seductive smile at the man ascending from the deck below. It was Chavez. And he didn’t seem fooled by that false charm.

Stern black eyes contemplated the two women before he pivoted to face the crewman at his rear. Sharp hand gestures and authoritative commands encouraged two men up from the hold. The container they lugged was bulky and Briana recognized it from the shadows of her confinement last night.

Explosives.

“Because,” Joy hissed quietly into her ear. “Chavez has become consumed and careless, and I sense our
endeavor coming to an end.” Her fingers constricted around Briana’s arm. “I found you to be interesting. I thought that if something happened to me, to Chavez, to this operation—I thought that maybe you might—” The nimble fingers dropped to her side. “Well, you struck me as someone who would not let this galleon go undiscovered. The bureaucracy made it impossible for us to approach this legally.  
We had no choice
. Perhaps you have more clout.  Perhaps if something happens to us, you will continue this search.”

Joy prodded Briana with the Uzi and growled, “
But what does it matter, anyway? Forget my rambling—you’ll be dead soon.”

With that admission, Joy motioned two heavyset crewmembers over as they crouched down at Briana’s feet and began to coil rope around her ankles.

Panicked, Briana followed the line and located the other end fastened to the heavy crate.
This could not be happening.

“Joy, don’t let them do this. You’re not a murderer. You weren’t in this for the money.”

Joy snorted and tossed her hair. “Sister, everyone is in it for the money.”

 
 ***

“Forty minutes. I can’t do this—I can’t just stand here anymore.”

Naoki paced, one hand spinning aimless gestures in the air, the other in a death clutch of his cell phone.

“I think we should go after them,” Kathy
offered quietly.

“What?” The pacing stopped.

“I think we should take one of these motorboats and go after them. We’ve got the cell.  They can reach us that way. At least we’ll be
doing
something.”

Naoki was already shaking his head. “
What if Nick needs us on land? What if the damn phone doesn’t get a signal out there, what if—”

“Okay,” Kathy held her hands up. “It was just a suggestion.”

Naoki’s stride resumed, but this time it faltered. A few more steps and he fell still. “Not a bad one, though.” He eyed a rental operation further down shore. “They need a credit card and a driver’s license. I’ve been there before.”

Kathy nodded, following his glance. “Let’s do it.”

  ***

“This is a research vessel, not an arsenal!”

“I’m perfectly aware of that, but if we go in there unarmed, we’re as good as dead.” Nick stalked the narrow confines of the bridge, and paused to calculate their gain on the slow-moving craft.

Puzzled, he called out, “They’ve put down anchor.”

“I don’t like it, Boss Man.” Keo reined in the cutter.

“Neither do I.”

“HPD said they’re on their way. We should wait.”

Wait? When the difference of a second could mean life or death?

“We’re not waiting,” Nick proclaimed.

He
ducked out of the cabin and raised his binoculars. From this distance he could barely distinguish the silhouettes on deck.

A muffled crash from behind made him whirl around. Gripping the doorframe, he lurched inside. “What the—”

Amidst a torrent of deflated life preservers, fish netting, snorkels, and black flippers, Keo peered up at him with a sheepish grin. His puffy hand reached into the melee and emerged with an aluminum cylinder.

“Speargun?”

Nick extended his arms across the chaos to cup Keo’s head in his hands. He stared into the huge dark eyes of a walrus, and in a gruff voice, declared, “I love you, man.”

 
 ***

Two shirtless crewmembers groaned with effort, their
perspired muscles glistening under the sun. Their wet suits were unzipped and hung open at the torso as they stooped to haul the cargo alongside the balustrade. For every inch the cargo moved, Briana felt the ensuing tug on her ankle. She recoiled and jerked ineffectively at the cuffs. Panic made her clench the rail, but the wrench on her leg was relentless.

Then suddenly it ceased.

The task abandoned, or completed, the crewmen stood erect and eyed the horizon. Muscles bunched and tensed as one man stalked away with an annoyed frown slashing his forehead.

“Where are you going?” Joy hissed a
t him. She followed his glance. “Ahh, it looks like your man has come for you, Miss Holt.”

Briana’s wild gaze rushed to the water and felt a bout of lightheadedness when she recognized the
Inquiry’s
surging form. Her eyes slid from that inspiring sight towards the crewmen loading sharpshooters, and bulging automatic weapons. Horrified, she cried out, but her alarm did nothing to sway them.

Nick, no!

In her mind she willed him to turn back. But the methodical approach of the research vessel was undeterred. The deck appeared to be empty as she sought for a way to warn him.

Oh God, please Nick, please turn around
.

Anxious tears began to pool behind her eyes. She swiped at them with the back of her arm. A calloused hand landed on her back and exerted a bit of pressure, enough to push her hips up against the railing and threaten her balance.

“I wouldn’t lean too far. You might fall over, and the rope around your foot is just long enough to submerge your head.”

Chavez’s smile was outwardly sympathetic, but his black eyes glinted off the sun to reveal the ice inside. “At least with the dynamite, I’m offering you a speedier death.”

Briana glared at him with morbid fascination. Somehow she managed a level response. “How long have you been out here trolling and dredging in the ocean? Why did you send your little
spy-
” she cast a suspicious look at Joy as the woman industriously loaded her weapon, “after Naoki?”

“She was bored.”

The look of affront on Joy’s face spurred a low chuckle from Chavez.

“She was growing more and more restless. I don’t know, maybe it was because we weren’t making fast enough progress for her.” His voice turned cold. “I would hate to think it was because she was having second thoughts.”

Under the blazing sun, Briana felt a chill dimple her skin.

“Anyway,” Chavez continued, “I thought it might do us good to get some inside information on the housing development going up. Maybe we could use it as a front. From what I’ve heard—you’ve been accused of the recent tidal disturbances. Too bad we couldn’t pin the loss of sea life on you too.” He read the anger in her eyes. “That was a mistake on our part. Prior to the tuna washing up on shore, no one paid attention to what we were doing out here.
”

“Oh, believe me,” she injected, “they were paying attention.”

“Who?  Your boyfriend?  You? A rather lame cavalry, and you see how it ended up for you. Was it worth sneaking on board last night?” Chavez shrugged. “Probably not. But hindsight is a killer.”

Briana was not about to be badgered by this repulsive man
—not when so much was on the line.

“So what are you going to do, k
ill me? Kill Nick—if you can catch him?  What about the police? Oh, right, you’re just going to blow everyone up.  Seriously, how juvenile, and how futile.”

Chavez’s icy smile persisted, but the glimmer dropped from his eyes. “I didn’t ask for your opinion
. Look at it this way. You’re contributing to history, not to mention my bank account. The explosion I’m planning that will cause your demise is also the last one we need to reach what our sonar indicates is just below the surface.”

“You will
destroy
the coast. You will destroy marine life—you may even set off a tidal wave.”

“That’s a bit melodramatic, don’t you think?”

Briana watched uneasily as two more unidentified men emerged from the bridge, Uzi’s clutched at the ready. A total of five armed goons lined the deck with Joy included. Chavez was unarmed, but he seemed no less dangerous for that fact.

“Melodramatic—
you want melodramatic
?”

Not recognizing her own shrill voice
—thinking that the throws of insanity had finally claimed her, Briana decided that she had to act now. Recklessly, she dropped to execute a box kick with her right leg, just as she had learned in the martial arts class taken over a year ago. The gesture drew the rope taut, which flogged Joy’s calves and toppled her off balance. In that split-second advantage, Briana reached for the woman’s weapon and cried out with relief when she won the struggle for possession. Alarmed as an arsenal of weaponry converged on her, Briana awkwardly swung the Uzi at Chavez’s chest.

He smiled.

“Careful dear, you might hurt someone.”

“Damn right. Guess who’s first on my list?”

Try as she might to control it, Briana knew they detected the quiver in her grip. Her jaw clenched with renewed determination. Thoughts of Nick stabilized her.

“I know your men will shoot me
.  Heck, I’m about to become an archaeological discovery, isn’t that right?” She sounded borderline psychotic, but it kept them at bay for a moment. “Before any of your goons can get to me, though, I
will
shoot you
.
I have nothing to lose.
”

A brief flash of uncertainty penetrated
Chavez’s glare. He sucked in a deep breath. Were it not for the knee-jerk grip she had on the trigger, he would have tipped his head in assent to the men who lie in wait.

“You’re wasting our time,” he huffed. “Joy, get her gun.”

Joy raised a slim eyebrow. First she glanced at the Uzi in Briana’s hands, and then she sliced a skeptical look back at Chavez.

“
Harare,”
Chavez boomed.

A soft hiss sliced through the air as one of the crewmembers dropped to the deck, shrieking while he clawed at his thigh. In a split second his mate joined
him with a guttural moan of agony. Left to spiral on the polished floor were the discarded weapons that Joy now sprang towards, only to freeze and carefully raise her hands as she watched the figure scale over the rail with a spear gun targeted on her chest.

Nick
.

Briana staggered but recovered just in time to raise her weapon and deflect Chavez’s intentions. For a flash she met Nick’s eyes and felt her heart swell at the affection and anxiety
witnessed there. His gaze swept the length of her body in search of injuries, and landed dismally on the shackle that bound her in place.

***
 

Nick forced an encouraging smile on his lips, although they felt numb. In an instant, he summed up the situation and wondered how the hell they were going to get out of this mess. He had debilitated two of the crew, their blood pooling on the deck, where it meandered in rivulets through the cracks. Even as he kicked the discarded weapons overboard, his footprint marred the red trail. Now, two more stood in the ready. Their focus shifted between Briana and him as they cast skeptical glances at their leader.

“Kill them,” Chavez responded to those mute pleas.

Briana jerked her finger and a spray of bullets ricocheted across the deck
. Her arms wrenched from the recoil. Instinctively, she clamped her eyes shut as if that simple defense would protect them from stray fire. Deafened by the discharge, everything came to her in echoes.