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Marc reached for me. “Don’t.”
I smacked his hand away. “I’m going,” I said. “You can stay behind if you want. I don’t care. I’m not going to wait.”
He groaned, shifted on his feet, looking out into the water.
“Marc,” I barked at him. I pointed out at the river. “I know that’s him. He’s getting away. We have to hurry.” The doors opened, and I lunged inside.
Marc hesitated only a moment, gazing in after me. He waited until the doors almost closed on him before he wedged himself through and we descended.
“You’re not going to stop me,” I said. “If you try, I’ll scream bloody murder until...”
He grunted. He turned, facing the mirrored doors and stared them down. “I may not be able to stop him. I’m not allowed,” he said. “But there’s nothing to stop me from watching over a crazy girl while she does one of the stupidest stunts ever.”
It took all the strength inside me not to beam with happiness. I’d convinced him. I blinked hard not to let the threat of happy tears ruin this moment.
The wriggly sparks invaded every part of my body.
He shifted on his feet as he stared at the elevator doors, rubbing at the back of his head. “What are we doing, anyway?”
I was piecing it together as we moved. “Ever been sailing?” I asked.
PIRATES
We took the black truck to City Marina. I sat on the edge of the seat, clutching the middle console and the suicide handle, as if I could will the car to go faster. I bit my tongue to stop myself from barking at the windshield when someone in front of us dared to go only ten miles over the speed limit and slowed us down. Coaltar was already well ahead of us, and I was scared to death of losing him, losing our chance.
Marc drove with the phone attached to his ear. He called Raven first to warn him we were coming, and then Kevin to make sure he stayed with Wil.
The moment he stopped the car, I jumped out and slammed the door. I ran ahead of Marc past the boating house.
Raven and Axel stood shoulder to shoulder on the dock. They waited with their arms crossed. Axel’s face was grim.
Raven’s was completely unreadable.
“Where’s Silas?” Marc asked.
“Had to get home,” Axel said. “Family emergency.”
I started forward. I wasn’t going to wait. I knew what I wanted.
Axel held out a hand to stop me as I approached. “This isn’t a good idea,” he said.
“Tell me about it,” Marc said. “You try to stop her.”
“Kayli,” Axel said, turning to me. He used that quiet power of his eyes on me. Every syllable he spoke was severe, threatening to bend me at the knees to do what he ordered. “We need to stop and think. You don’t know what you’re doing.”
“What I know,” I said in a cool voice, drawing up every ounce of strength I had left to fight him off, “is that, that boat,” I pointed out to the water and the last place I spotted the yacht, “has lots of drugs on it that could kill people. He is intentionally going to dump them in into a well somewhere, where who knows how many people, maybe kids, could die. Do you really want to stand in front of me right now?”
Axel flinched. He grunted, looking troubled. Slowly, he lowered his hand, turning his head and staring out at the water, as if trying to figure out his next move.
I took the chance and I side-stepped around him. They could all stay. I’d do it all myself. I’d driven Blake’s boat. I could figure it out and get myself out there.
Raven angled himself to stand in my way, arms crossed, shoulders pulled back. I imagined the fierce bear on his back was snarling. He glared down at me with that stony expression.
“Don’t,” I told him. I drew my hand back, ready to strike. Not that I thought I could knock him out, but I’d at least distract him while I kicked him in the groin. That would at least give me a running start.
He shook his head as if reading my mind and silently telling me that wouldn’t work on him. “Which boat is his?” he asked.
I squared off my shoulders at him.
“Don’t waste time, little thief. Which one? I need to know.”
I pointed to the sailboat. He followed my finger, picking out the one.
“Not that one,” he said.
“Why not?” I asked, slowly realizing he wasn’t trying to stop me.
“It’s too slow. You’ll never make it.” He looked around, pointing to a motorized speed boat at the very end of one of the docks. “Let’s take that one.”
“We can’t steal a boat,” Axel said.
“Who’s we?” I asked. I headed toward the motorboat. “I’ll do it.”
Axel grunted.
“We’ll bring it back,” Raven said, starting off beside me, matching my pace. Axel and Marc followed behind us. “We take it now and we’ll bring it back when we’re done. Fill it with gas. Leave them nice flowers. Pay off their docking fees. They’ll thank us after. It’ll be the best boat theft they’ve ever experienced.”
I glowered at Raven, but he ignored my gaze. I wanted to tell him I’d do it all myself, but I stopped before I let pride ruin this. Raven was willing to break a few rules to make sure the right thing was done. Maybe he understood.
He rushed with me toward the boat, hopping into the back, taking over steering. He glanced over the controls, and then tapped at the ignition switch. I had a moment of panic, realizing the engine wouldn’t start without a key.
I was about to suggest we should go back to the sailboat when Raven reached into his pocket and pulled out a bump key and a pocket knife. He jammed it into the ignition, and then slammed it with the broad side of the pocket knife, at the same time, turning, starting up the engine. I was thoroughly impressed.
Axel and Marc climbed aboard. My heart pounded in my chest, buzzing to life every fiber of nerves inside of me. It was the craziest thing we were doing, but I’d never felt more alive, never so sure.
“What’s your brilliant plan?” Axel asked me as Marc and Raven figured out how to untie the boat from the dock. Axel eased himself until he was standing next to me, looking out at the water. “Are you going to shout at him from this little dingy? That’s a two-ton yacht we’re
chasing.”
I gazed out, hoping, crossing my fingers the motorboat had some gas and we weren’t going to be sitting ducks. “I’m going to get on that two-ton thing and I’m going to talk him out of this.”
“And what if he doesn’t listen?”
I stared at him, and then glanced at Raven, asking him if he’d help me. He caught my gaze. He seemed to understand. He nodded and I returned to Axel with more confidence. “I’ll distract him while Raven gets the drugs and dumps it all overboard.”
“And then he calls the Coast Guard,” Axel said. “We’ll all be arrested.”
“Stay behind if you’re going to complain,” Raven said.
I caught Raven’s glance this time, and we shared a secret grin.
Marc rolled his eyes. “We’re all crazy.” He dropped the tie-off rope into the boat and nudged Raven toward the helm. “Let’s get this over with.”
Raven rolled the boat right out of the dock. No one stopped us. We had to pass the Coast Guard station at the end of the peninsula before we headed out to the open bay, but even then, no one seemed to care. My heart was in my throat, worried we’d see helicopters chasing us, but no one stopped us.
I wanted to do something, but there was nothing to do but wait until we caught up to Coaltar’s yacht. Raven drove and I stared off at the distance, willing for us to catch up. I shifted from foot to foot, bracing myself for what I was going to say to Coaltar when I saw him again.
Before, I wanted to stop Coaltar, and maybe I didn’t have a prayer of doing it, but I didn’t want to back down, no matter how impossible it seemed. Now, with the boys beside me, I felt like we stood a slim chance. I hoped it was enough.
Axel sat down next to me and then tugged my arm to get me to sit with him. He gazed out into the water. The motor was pretty loud. For a long time, we sat in silence next to each other. Our last little talk hadn’t gone so well. I don’t know what he was thinking, but I still felt the guilt over running off when he’d asked me to stay.
His mouth twitched after a while. “What if we don’t catch him?” he asked.
“We should.”
