The Bones of Valhalla (Purge of Babylon, Book 9) (5 page)

Gaby didn’t know if that was true, but Zoe must have sold it well enough, because Bray said, “Let’s keep an eye on her anyway.”

“Yeah,” the other man said.

Nice work, doc.

“You’re making a mistake,” Zoe said. “You shouldn’t be doing this.”

“No,
you
made a mistake when you brought that
thing
onboard,” Bray snapped back.

“Thing?”
Gaby thought.

Will. They’re talking about Will.

How did they know?

“We have to keep this between us,”
Lara had said when she was here earlier.
“Understand? No one can know about what’s down there. Especially Riley’s people.”

So how did these two know? They had to be a part of Riley’s group, because she didn’t recognize either one of them. It didn’t help that there were a lot of new faces onboard the
Trident
these days.

“What now?” she heard Nate asking.

“Sit down,” the one who wasn’t Bray said. There was just enough menace in his voice to let them know he meant business.

“And then what?” Nate asked.

Before someone could answer Nate, a radio squawked and Bray said, “We’ve secured the infirmary.”

“Any trouble?” a voice asked. It was muffled, clearly coming through the radio.

“Nothing we couldn’t handle.”

“Good. Because if this thing goes south, we’re going to need the leverage.”

“So we’re proceeding?”

“Yeah, we’re proceeding,” the new voice said.

Proceeding with what?

Gaby resisted the temptation to move or open her eyes, and it took all of her willpower to keep her arms and legs from making any sudden movements that would draw attention. She continued to breathe, because sleeping people did that. She had to be content to listen and use what she heard to sketch out the room to the best of her ability.

Bray and Zoe were to her left at the wall with the windows, while the second man whose name she didn’t know remained on the right side with Nate. They had smartly split up the room’s two occupants (not counting her) for easier control and had no doubt locked the door as soon as they entered. She expected them to start barricading the door, but maybe they had already done that before she woke up to the sounds of their movements.

“Sit down,” Bray said from her left. Then, a few seconds later,
“Please.”

It almost sounded as if he was really asking Zoe, which didn’t make any sense. Men with guns, especially ones that had taken hostages, didn’t ask—they ordered.

“You’re making a terrible mistake,” Zoe said.

“You already said that,” Bray said. “You should be quiet.”

“Things were going well; we would have taken you straight to the Bengal Islands,” Zoe pressed on. “You shouldn’t have done this.”

“You don’t even know what we’re doing.”

“I don’t have to. I just know what you’ve done. Which is come in here with guns and taken me and my patients hostage. That’s enough.”

“Enough for what?” the second man asked.

“To get you killed,” Zoe said.

Someone snickered. It might have been Bray, but she reconsidered when the second man, on her right, said, “We outnumber you almost five to one on the boat. And half of your number are kids and an old lady. I think we’ll take our chances.”

“This is all your fault anyway,” Bray said.

“What is?” Nate asked.

“Bray, need-to-know,” the second man said.

But Bray ignored him and said, “That
thing
you brought back onboard with you this afternoon. Did you think we wouldn’t find out? Did you really think you could keep it a secret forever?”

There was a brief moment of silence, and she imagined Nate and Zoe trying to come up with a response.

They know about Will. Jesus, how did they know about Will?

“We trusted you,” the second one was saying.

“Says the man with the gun,” Nate said. “Besides, it’s not a threat.”

“What the hell are you talking about, it’s not a threat?” Bray said. “That’s a ghoul
down there, kid.”

“It’s…different,” Nate said. He seemed to be struggling with his words. “You don’t understand—”

“We understand plenty; you brought one of those things into our midst and you didn’t tell us about it,” the second man interrupted. “True or not true?”

Silence again.

“That’s what I thought,” the second man said.

“You can still stop this,” Nate said. “No one’s been hurt yet. Turn around now and leave the room, and—”

“What, you won’t tell anyone?” Bray said, the mocking in his voice clear as day. “Too late for that now, kid.”

“Stop calling me that.”

“What?”

“Kid,” Nate said. “Do I look like I’m a goddamn kid?”

Someone chuckled, before the man who wasn’t Bray said, “Bray’s forty going on sixty. Everyone’s a kid to him.”

“You got a name?” Nate asked.

“Collins,” the second man said.

“Like I said, Collins, this doesn’t have to go any further. We can still salvage this. But that option goes out the window when someone fires the first shot—”

Pop-pop!

Two shots, close together, and it came from below deck.

“Too late for that now,” Bray said, and Gaby thought there was something that almost sounded like regret in his voice.

“This was the plan, remember?” Collins said.

“I know…”

“What’s happening?” Zoe asked.

“We’re doing what you should have done when you found that thing in Texas,” Bray said. “After that, we’re taking over the boat.”

“Over our dead bodies,” Nate said.

“Yeah, well, if it comes to that,” Collins said, and like before with Bray, Gaby thought she could hear the regret in Collins’s voice also.

The two shots were followed by silence—maybe it was ten seconds, or thirty, or possibly even a minute (though she didn’t think that last part could possibly be true).

But it didn’t last, and soon the
pop-pop-pop
of fully automatic rifle fire exploded from below her…before it was joined by gunfire from seemingly all across the boat.

“
N
o wonder
you spend all your time in here,” Bonnie said as she stepped inside the cabin. “Compared to the zoo out there, this is paradise.”

Lara smiled and finished drying her hair with the towel. She couldn’t remember the last time she had a moment to herself where she could take a shower and spend more than just a few perfunctory seconds in front of the mirror. “Is that what you came here for? To make me feel guilty about having this penthouse suite?”

“Well, yeah. That, and Riley requested the presence of your company.”

“He said it just like that, huh?”

“Just abouts.”

“Did he say why?”

“No, but he looked pretty serious.”

“He always looks serious,” Lara said. She took a moment to breathe in the cool air; it was like stepping out onto the exterior deck at night after the scalding hot shower. “And since when did you start doing Riley’s bidding?”

Bonnie shrugged. “Well, he is pretty cute. You could even mistake him for handsome, if you were so inclined.”

“There is that.”

“And oh, word’s getting around. Everyone’s talking about it.”

Lara gave her an alarmed look. “About what?”

“Mercer. People are talking about the radio message that we intercepted earlier.” Bonnie paused and gave her a curious look. “What did you think I was talking about?”

“The chest.”

The other woman shook her head. “As far as I know, that’s still just a secret between us. Danny, Carly, and everyone else I’ve talked to has been driving that point home. I think we’re safe on that front.”

Maybe
, she thought, but said, “I’m sure we are.”

“Have you gone to see him?”

She nodded.

“Talked to him?” Bonnie asked.

No, because I’m afraid. God help me, I’m afraid.

“I will,” she said instead.

“I know it can’t be easy for you. I thought he was gone, and then he shows up…” Bonnie gave her a pursed smile. It was probably meant to be reassuring, but didn’t quite get there. “Not that I know what it’s like for you. None of us really do.”

“It’s okay, Bonnie.”

“I’ll be honest with you, kid…”

“Kid?” Lara said, giving her an amused look.

“Well, you are younger than me.”

“Not by much.”

“Still technically younger.”

Even though I feel like sixty going on ninety.

“You were saying?” Lara said.

“I don’t know how you do it.”

“Do what?”

“Everything.” She shook her head. “It’s like you were born for this.”

Or maybe I’m just a very good liar
, she thought, tossing the towel onto the bed and picking up her gun belt and slipping it on.

Bonnie watched her from across the room. Lara could tell the other woman had something else on her mind, but for whatever reason she was reluctant to say it.

“What is it, Bonnie?” Lara asked.

“If Mercer’s dead, what does that mean for Keo?” Bonnie said.

The question caught her by surprise, and Lara actually had to take a moment to think about it. The truth was, with everything happening today—Danny and Gaby’s return, the chest,
Will
—she hadn’t had time to think about anything else. Or anyone else. Not even Keo, who had gone to Black Tide Island to kill Mercer.

You still alive out there, Keo?

If Mercer was dead—or as Riley hypothesized, somehow incapacitated—then someone would have had to put him that way. Keo had the motive and the skills to be the culprit. So what did that mean for him?

She still remembered the last (the last,
last)
conversation they’d had on the
Ocean Star
:

“Don’t be an asshole, Keo,”
she had told him.
“If you won’t stay with us, if you won’t come back to the
Trident
with me, at least promise me you’re not going out there just to get yourself killed. Tell me you’ll at least try to make it back, and mean it.”

“What if I can’t?”
he had answered.

“You can. You just have to make the choice.”

“Okay.”

“Okay, what?”

“I’ll do my best. How’s that?”

She had nodded, and said,
“Good enough.”

So had it been
good enough
, after all? Had Keo reached Black Tide Island with Erin’s help and done what he had to? Was he on his way back to them right now?

That last part was a stretch because he wouldn’t know their current location. The last time he had seen them was on the oil rig, preparing to leave. But Keo would know not to go there after last night. So where would he go instead? What would he do?

“He hasn’t radioed?” Lara asked.

Bonnie shook her head. “Blaine’s keeping the emergency channel open, but so far there hasn’t been a peep.”

“With Keo, you can never tell. How many times have we given up on him only for him to pop up again? That guy has nine lives.”

“So how many has he used up so far?”

“I don’t know, but let’s hope he has a few left to spare.”

“Hope springs eternal, is that it?”

“Have faith, Bonnie.”

The other woman sighed. “Hey, it’s not like I’m married to the guy or anything. We haven’t even done the horizontal dance. I’m just worried about him, that’s all.”

“We both are. But Keo can take care of himself.” She picked up her Glock from the nightstand and slid it into the holster. “I need volunteers to relieve Benny and Carrie in a few hours.”

“Gwen and Jo have already offered. Though from everything I’ve heard, we could have everyone down there and it still wouldn’t do any good. I’ve never actually seen them in person—one of those blue-eyed types—but I was talking to Nate and…” She actually shivered. “I don’t think I want to, after hearing what they can do.”

“I know,” Lara said, heading for the door. “But the guards aren’t down there to keep him inside the cabin. They’re there to keep people
out.
”

* * *

T
hey found
Riley back on the bridge with Blaine and Hart. Besides her cabin and Zoe’s infirmary, the bridge was the only other place on the yacht that wasn’t constantly filled with people, the din of which faded as soon as Bonnie closed the door after them.

It was already dark on the other side of the wraparound windshield, and the bright floodlights around the boat were the only thing visible for miles around. She might have been slightly alarmed at how lit up they were
(Like a Christmas tree, right, Will?)
if not for the fact that the vessel was still moving. Their speed, just as it had been since they left the
Ocean Star
, was hampered by the refueling ship following closely behind them.

“You wanted to talk to me?” Lara said as Riley and Hart glanced over.

Riley nodded. “We just came from a meeting with our people. We had a long talk about what to do next.”

“That was fast.”

“I didn’t think we had time to waste. We’ll be at the Bengal Islands soon if we keep on this course.”

“Okay,” Lara said, and waited for him to continue.

Riley and Hart exchanged a look. She tried to read their faces, but came up with very little, except that they both seemed uncertain.

“Guys,” Lara said, “you called me up here. Let’s get on with it.”

“We’re leaning toward going back,” Riley said.

“Going back where?”

“Black Tide.”

Bonnie laughed. “You want to go
back?
You’re crazy.”

“Not with Mercer out of the equation,” Riley said.

“You don’t even know what really happened to him, or
if
anything happened at all,” Lara said.

“Rhett wouldn’t have given the stand-down order if everything was status quo.”

“But you don’t know that for sure, Riley. This is all just conjecture.”

“That’s where you’re wrong. I’ve been with him long enough—almost since the beginning—to know how he works. And I’m telling you, the kind of order Rhett gave this morning is something Mercer would never have allowed. Or if there was a reason behind it, Mercer would have given it himself. The fact that he didn’t speaks volumes.”

“You
hope
,” Bonnie said.

“I
know
,” Riley insisted.

Just like you knew Andy was “all-in” with your mutiny?
Lara wanted to ask him, but she refrained for the simple reason she didn’t feel like arguing the point. It was done, in the past, and bringing it up again wouldn’t have helped either one of them.

Besides, she wished she could force herself to care about what happened to Riley and his people once they left the
Trident
, but she couldn’t. She had other things on her mind right now, and the fate of Riley’s group was not at the top of her list of priorities.

Lara looked over at Hart. “You’ve been quiet.”

Hart shrugged, but didn’t say anything right away. He might have been the oldest man on the bridge at the moment, but he looked reinvigorated since the
Ocean Star.
She could almost believe he was in his late thirties, if not for those streaks of gray.

“No opinions?” Lara asked.

“I got lots of opinions,” Hart said.

“So spill it.”

“The honest truth is, I don’t know. But if there’s a chance Mercer could be gone, and Rhett or someone else is now in charge…” He shook his head. “Maybe this is our only chance to go home. It’s not about the island but the people on it. We left a lot of good friends behind. We didn’t agree with them on the war, about Mercer’s plans, but they’re one of the reasons we ran instead of fighting.”

“You didn’t want to have to kill your friends.”

Hart nodded. “If we couldn’t avoid that, I’m not sure how many people Riley could have gotten to sign up for this. I know I wouldn’t have.”

“But people are already dead, Hart,” Lara said. “Did you forget about Andy? What about the group that came through the
Ocean Star
with Erin?”

“And I wish none of those things had happened,” Riley said. “But that’s the past.”

“So what’s the future?”

“I don’t know yet. I guess it’ll depend on what’s waiting for us at Black Tide.” He sighed, the decision clearly weighing heavily on his mind. “I told my people about what’s happened, what we think’s happening right now. But I’m not going to force them to do anything they don’t want to. If the majority of them want to stay on course to the Bengal Islands, then that’s what we’ll do. I’m not Mercer. I’m not going to strong-arm people into doing something they don’t want to. I’ll lay out everything we know—everything we
think
we know—and let them make their own choices.”

“What if the majority wants to head back, but a few wants to stick to the original plan?”

“Then I’ll have to do some begging to get the captain of this boat to let them stay on and help them get to where they want to go.”

“No promises. The deal was to take you all there, not to take one group to Destination A and the rest to Destination B.”

“I understand.”

“Wow, democracy on the high seas,” Bonnie said. “Who would have thunk it?”

“Can I have it?” Riley asked. “Can I get more time?”

“How long is it going to take?”

“A day. Maybe two. This is a big decision. Almost as big as when we decided to mutiny.”

“Two days at the most,” Hart added.

Instead of answering them, Lara turned to Blaine. “Shut her down. There’s no point wasting fuel until they’ve made up their minds.”

“Thank you,” Riley said.

“One day,” Lara said, looking back at him. “I’ll give you one day to decide what you want to do, but that’s it. Make your decision, and this time, stick to it.”

* * *

T
he
Trident
was about half
the length of a football field—not that Lara ever sat down to measure every inch of it or dug out the manual and looked over the specs. The yacht had seemed endless in the beginning, but that distance shrunk as she familiarized herself with its nooks and crannies. Now with Riley’s people onboard the boat felt endless again, mostly because she couldn’t go a couple of steps without almost walking into someone, or had to go around a throng of civilians blocking the narrow hallways.