JAKrentz - The Pirate, The Adventurer, & The Cowboy (23 page)
"Why should I ask you?" Kate shot back, stung. "Every time I've tried to ask you about what's going on at the castle, you tell me to mind my own business."
"Okay, okay, we'll argue about this later, I can promise you that. Right now I have to know what you saw."
"I got the wall open and I took a quick look inside. I saw some crates and cartons and the wet suit and equipment Jeff uses."
"How do you know it was
"The wet suit was yellow and black. The same colors as the suit he wore diving the other day." Kate frowned. "I suppose it could belong to someone else. Does the resort rent yellow-and-black suits?"
"No." Jared released her and drove a hand through his dark hair. "What the hell is going on?"
"That's what I'd like to know. Jared, if you're involved in something illegal, now is the time to tell me. We've danced around this matter long enough."
"I've already told you, it's not illegal. But it is getting to be a damned nuisance." He stalked to the edge of the veranda and stood gazing out into the darkness for a long moment.
"Please. What is this all about?" Kate asked.
"It's about a favor I was doing for Max Butterfield."
"Max? What kind of favor?"
"It's a long story. The short version is that Max sometimes does odd jobs out here in the Pacific for the government."
"I don't get it. He's a spy or something?"
"Nothing that exciting," Jared said evenly. "Or that formal. He's not exactly on the government payroll. He's what you might call a stringer. He started out selling bits and pieces of information when he realized several years ago that he wasn't ever going to get around to writing the Great American Novel. Over the years he's had his uses, I guess."
"But what was he doing here? Why were you helping him?"
Jared reached for his jeans. "He did me a favor a couple of years back when I needed a little muscle to get rid of some rounders who decided they were going to settle here on Amethyst. He got his buddies in the department to send some professional leaners."
"Leaners?"
"Yeah. Leaners. You know. They lean on people." Jared zipped his jeans and started buttoning his shirt. "They asked a lot of pointed questions about tax-filing status and things like that. Made our unwelcome guests generally uncomfortable. They leaned until the troublemakers decided to go to some other island. The long and short of it is, I owed Max and his friends."
"And he came around to collect?"
"A couple of months ago."
"Well?" Kate followed him as he finished dressing and stepped back into the darkened room. She grabbed her dress and held it in front of her. "What did he want?"
"The guys he sells information to wanted him to set up a trap here on the island." Jared glanced over his shoulder, his mouth twisted wryly. "You should appreciate this part. Seems they were having trouble with some real modern-day pirates. Someone's got a racket going using the cruise ships."
"How?"
"They've been hijacking sophisticated electronics equipment from military and construction sites here in the Pacific. They use a small, fast boat or a plane to bring the stuff to remote islands where it's stored until the guys who are running things arrive to repackage and ship the stuff to a new destination."
"How are the cruise ships involved?"
"Max's friends figured out who was running the first stage of the operations, but they couldn't get a handle on the ringleader. The head man, disguised as an innocent tourist from one of the cruise ships, apparently arrives at the islands where stuff is stored. He takes care of business while everyone is souvenir shopping and then he leaves on the boat. In some cases the equipment is smuggled right on board."
"When a cruise ship arrives, an island like Amethyst is temporarily swamped with strangers," Kate said slowly. "It would be easy for someone to conduct some illegal activity and then leave with no one the wiser."
"Max and his pals arranged to sucker these pirates into using the hidden dock inside the castle as a temporary storage facility for the illegal shipments. They fell for it. Tomorrow when the ship arrives the boss man is supposed to hit the island and head for the castle where Max and some of his buddies are going to be waiting for him." Jared was at the door.
"Wait, where are you going?"
"To find Max. As far as I know the government people are coming in on a private plane tomorrow. There shouldn't be anyone hanging around that castle now. But apparently someone is. Jeff Taylor, if you're right about what you saw."
"You're going to tell Max something's happening there?"
"Right. This is his operation. He should know why
"I know exactly how you feel."
Jared gritted his teeth. "I'm never going to hear the end of this, am I?" He was halfway out the door but he halted abruptly and looked back at her, his eyes intent. "Kate, listen to me. I may be busy for a while. I don't know what's going on or what's going to happen next. But if I'm not back in an hour, I want you to call Sam Finley on Ruby, you understand? The number's in the card file on my desk."
Kate was feeling more uneasy by the second. "It would take him a long time to get here."
"With any luck we won't need him at all. Max probably knows what's going on and has everything under control."
"You don't believe that or you wouldn't be acting like this. Jared, I'm worried."
Jared came swiftly back into the room and caught hold of her arms. He pulled her close and kissed her hard. When he raised his head, his silvery eyes were gleaming. "Just stay put and try not to get into any more trouble, okay? I should be back soon."
"I don't like this. Not one bit."
He flashed her a brief grin. "Look at it this way, if you hadn't gotten so curious, we'd still be out there fooling around on the veranda at this very moment. Any way you slice it, it's all your fault."
"Don't you dare blame this on me."
"Why not? Things were so calm and peaceful around here until you showed up. Nothing's been the same since you hit the island." Jared headed back to the door. "I'll be back as soon as I can."
"Jared, wait, I'm not sure this is the right—"
But it was too late. He was gone, closing the door firmly behind him.
Kate dressed slowly, her mind churning. She didn't like any of this, and most especially she had not cared for the gleam in Jared's eyes as he had walked out the door. There was enough pirate in him to enjoy this whole thing, she decided, even if he was one of the good guys.
And of course he was one of the good guys, she reflected, aware of a definite sense of relief. Her pirates might walk close to the line at times, but they always managed to redeem themselves. They adhered to their own codes of honor. When the chips were down, you could count on them.
When she had pulled on a pair of jeans and a shirt she went to stand out on the veranda. Her insides were knotted with tension. She wondered if Max was in the bar as usual and if Jared was talking to him at that very moment. Would they head for the castle? Would Max try to contact his superiors? Or would he and Jared try to take matters into their own hands?
That last possibility sent a jolt of alarm through Kate. She could just see Jared doing something like that. And if Max was in the business of dealing with modern-day pirates, he'd probably go right along with the whole stupid idea.
At the very least, they'd go up to the castle to check out the diving equipment and see what else they could find.
Kate's uneasiness grew. There was always the possibility that Jeff Taylor was at the castle himself by now. If Max and Jared walked in on him, there could be real trouble. Unless, of course, Jeff, too, was one of the good guys. But who would know until it was too late?
Kate came to a decision and headed for the door. The sensible, logical thing to do was call Sam Finley at once. Just in case.
She made her way quickly through the gardens to Jared's house where she found the lights on and the door unlocked. No one ever bothered to lock doors on Amethyst, she had learned. She let herself into the hall.
"David? Beth? Anybody home?"
"Wanna bet?"
Kate went into the kitchen. "You the only one here, Jolly?"
The bird cracked a sunflower seed and studied her as if she were a specimen under glass. Kate gave his head a quick scratch and headed for Jared's study. The phone numbers were filed on a neat little series of cards, right where he had said they would be. Without hesitation she looked up Sam Finley's number and dialed it.
There was no answer.
Kate slowly replaced the receiver and wondered what to do next. She was getting an unshakable feeling that Jared and Max were walking into trouble. It was ridiculous to allow herself to get too nervous. Max, at least, was supposedly a professional at this sort of thing. And Jared was surely not totally devoid of common sense. But she could still picture the gleam of suppressed excitement in his eyes. Kate found herself staring at the
It occurred to her that Jared had gone merrily off unarmed tonight. The dagger wasn't much of a weapon by contemporary standards, but it would have been better than nothing.
Without giving herself time to think about it, Kate opened the case, picked up the dagger and stuck it into her jeans, under her shirt. The old metal lay cold and hard against her skin. She felt a bit melodramatic, but she didn't hesitate. Her mind was made up now. She had to do something. She went to the desk and rummaged around until she found a small flashlight and then she headed for the door.
Her first stop was the lounge, but as she suspected, neither Max nor Jared was there. That only confirmed her feeling that they had both gone to the castle to see what was happening. She reminded herself that Max was apparently a pro, but that didn't kill the uneasiness she was feeling. The fact that Jeff Taylor was nowhere around did not make her feel the least bit better.
"Evening, Kate. How are you tonight?" The colonel nodded from the bar where he was busy pouring drinks for the throng.
"Fine, Colonel. Seen Jared?"
"He was in here a while ago, looking for Max. Haven't seen him since. Thought he'd be with you."
"He was earlier." Kate debated saying anything else and then decided Jared would not thank her for blabbing to the entire bar about what was supposed to be some sort of top-secret operation. "Tell him I'm looking for him if you see him," she said lamely and hurried back outside.
There was nothing else to do except go on up to the castle herself and see what was happening. If she didn't, she'd go crazy with worry.
The walk along the torch-lit path toward the beach was not too bad. But when she turned off the main trail to follow the dark path to the castle, chills shot all the way down her spine.
It seemed to take forever to reach her destination. When the tower finally loomed into view, a dark mass of stone silhouetted against a dark sky, she breathed a sigh of relief.
There was no sign of light showing through the narrow windows, but that did not tell her much. She walked quickly through the shadowed courtyard and slipped into the main hall.
It was darker than midnight inside. For a moment she stood in the doorway, listening intently. When she detected no sound at all she finally switched on the small flashlight and went over to the circular staircase.
She started down the steps with great caution. The black stairwell seemed bottomless and because of the way it twisted as it wound downward she could not see more than a few paces ahead, even with the light.
She was on the bottom step when she heard the smallest of sounds and then it was too late. A rough male arm coiled around her throat, dragging her off the step and back into the dungeon hallway. The flashlight clattered to the floor.
Frantically Kate lashed back with her foot. She was rewarded by a muffled oath.
"Hell, not again," Jared muttered in her ear. He sounded thoroughly disgusted. "I should have guessed." He relaxed his grip only slightly. "Hush. Not a sound. Not one sound."
Kate nodded quickly, the rush of adrenaline making her stomach queasy. Jared must have felt the motion of her head. Either that or he assumed she had the sense to keep quiet. He grabbed the flashlight and switched it off. Then she felt his hand close tightly around her wrist and she was being dragged deeper into the darkness behind the steps.
Kate stumbled along until Jared stopped without any warning. She immediately collided with him.
"Did you see anything at all when you came in?" Jared's mouth was next to her ear.
"No. Nothing. Can we talk in here?"
"Yes, but keep your voice down."
"I suppose it would be asking too much to turn on the flashlight again?"
"Definitely." He shifted slightly beside her but remained invisible in the pitch darkness. "What the hell are you doing here or is that a dumb question?"
"Why do you think I'm here? I tried to call Sam Finley and there was no answer. I went to the lounge and there was no sign of you, Max or Jeff Taylor. All in all, I figured things might be getting just a teensy bit out of control, so I thought I'd come see what was happening." Kate paused to catch her breath. "Jared, what is happening? This is getting scary."