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After hauling myself aboard I grabbed up a pair of binos and tried to determine who had been in the tender, but it was already too far away for me to find out if Zee was aboard it. Nor did I know who else might be on the yacht. I only knew that I wasn’t leaving until I was certain Zee wasn’t here.
I quickly rummaged in the storage lockers, looking for what I could use as well as what had been taken. Just as the pit in my stomach predicted, several of the firearms and explosive charges were gone. If there were any survivors on the yacht they wouldn’t be alive for long.
I grabbed up an M4 and a couple 9mms, then cased the area for a getaway vehicle. The Zodiac had taken a round of fire and wouldn’t be seaworthy for long. The Sea-Doo wouldn’t get us far, but it was better than swimming. I launched it from the toy garage. With any luck it would get far enough from the yacht to survive whatever might happen.
Entering the engine room, I found the charges, set and counting down. I had less than ten minutes. I took the stairs two at a time and began clearing the ship, looking for Zee.
Evidence of struggles and bloodshed remained in several rooms, but no bodies. Fuck. I kept moving, not knowing if Zee had been taken hostage for collateral or killed. I just knew that if she was still on this yacht, I was going to find her before it was blown to bits.
Flinging doors open, I called out for her. Then moved with speed up to the next deck and the next. The bridge had sustained the worst damage. Blood was smeared over the consoles and broken glass glinted from the floor, but I didn’t stop to investigate. Catching my focus was the sound of the door to the captain’s quarters banging open as the Zamarad rocked from a larger set of waves. I smelled the scene of too many men sleeping in too tight of a space before I pushed the door wide. Littering the floor was three days’ worth of empty MRE wrappers and a dozen or so plastic water bottles recycled into piss containers. The waste suggested multiple men had quietly sequestered themselves right under our noses the whole time.
Whoever they were, they’d come aboard most likely via fast-rope from a helo during the night, a day or two before we’d arrived. Whether Captain Tom had stumbled upon them at the wrong place and time, or his sacrifice had been part of their plan, they’d hunkered down in his room waiting for the emerald to come aboard. At least we’d thwarted their plans to kill us and take the ship with the emerald. But still, I was pissed I’d failed to clear his room.
Why had I trusted the story about Captain Tom’s daughter so much that I hadn’t bothered to even look in his quarters?
Because Scott Hayes had arranged the transfer.
Which meant Hayes had to have known something, been involved. I thought back to the Monaco job, trying to figure out what I’d missed. We’d talked about the South American clinic, he knew I’d taken vacation—had he put two and two together? Known I was going to be out of pocket and planned to pull this shit while he thought I was down periscope?
Even though his original plan had been blown, Hayes would have backups for his backup. Thank God Nik had gone with the helo as Zee had suggested. Hopefully he wouldn’t trust Hayes. I prayed Zee was safe and that she’d gotten away from Hayes’ goon squad. If she hadn’t, she’d be dead as soon as they no longer needed her.
“Where are you, Presh!” I growled. Mere seconds were left before the whole ship was going to explode.
I pushed myself up the last flight of steps to the sun deck. Swinging around the corner, I slipped on fire extinguisher foam and tripped over another dead body. As I scrambled forward, I saw yet another body huddled in the corner. “Zee!”
I nearly fell back to my knees in relief, but we didn’t have time for that. And besides, Zee didn’t look all right. Her eyes regarded me, but her gun remained in her hand.
“You’re not really here,” she seemed to say more to herself as she stared blindly at me. Exhaustion cloaked her folded body. Wet hair stuck to her face and shoulders. Her skin was streaked with blood and her eyes were wide and spooked. “You’re just a ghost.”
“We’re both alive, Zee,” I assured her as I slowly lowered my weapons to the deck.
She kept her Ruger trained on me. “Are we?”
“Yes, Presh, but we won’t be for long.”
“No. Not for long,” she agreed. Her voice, faded and resigned, shattered me.
“We’ve got to go.”
“You don’t understand. We can’t go. I promised Zaki I’d personally put down anyone who betrayed us.”
“I’ve never betrayed you, Zee, not intentionally. I’ll explain about the Amazon and Alvarez, I swear, but we have to get off this yacht. Now. There are explosive charges set in the engine room. We don’t have time. Seconds, if any.”
Her lip quivered and her chin trembled as she tilted her head. The wall in her eyes dropped away and she studied me. “Did you hear what I just said?”
“I heard you. You can kill me, if you need to. Just, please, we gotta jump.” I held my hand out to her.
“I’m so so sorry.” Tears streamed down her cheeks, but instead of pulling the trigger, she handed me her gun. “Please don’t hate me.”
I took the Ruger in one hand and her hand in the other. Pulling her to her feet, I brought her flush against me. “I know you and you know me. You’d never have had to go through with it. I will always have your back. Which is why we’ve got to fly.” I shoved open the railing gate. “You remember how to fly, don’t you, Presh?”
She nodded. With her hand still gripped in mine, we backed up several steps before running and leaping from the ship. Airborne, I hollered at her to cross her legs, before our bodies torpedoed back into the ocean. Then I kept swimming, propelling us farther away, while above us a giant fireball exploded across the surface.
My lungs cramped in pain as we kicked and pushed our way toward air. By some miracle, I’d managed to stay conscious through all of that. Gasping to breathe, we breached as the last remnants of flaming debris splashed down around us.
“I can’t do it… I can’t…I can’t swim anymore,” she cried as she clung to me.
“Can you drive?” I pointed toward the Sea-Doo bobbing opposite of us with the swells. “I would, but I can barely see out of this eye.”
