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She waited until Perry’s thudding footsteps along the planked dock muffled onto the beach before turning to Max. “Wife? I didn’t know he was married.”
Max draped an arm along the steering wheel, his chest gleaming deep bronze in the late afternoon sun. “Going on eight years now.”
“Wow. That’s incredible. Kids?”
“Three.” He frowned.
“Problem?” She edged closer to the dock. “If you don’t want to go, just say so.” Just her luck, the quiet guy would decide he finally wanted a lengthy chat. She needed her farewell. And she needed it uncomplicated.
Darcy dangled the underwater camera between two fingers. “I want us to say our goodbyes with style. Make a cool memory to commemorate a special friendship.”
Max’s eyes stayed pinned on her for the slap of four waves against the dock before he tipped his head to gesture her into the boat. “Sounds like a plan.”
Since the man never said much, she took the sign for an all-out invitation and stepped gingerly onto the nose of the boat. Max reached to brace her, but she kept her feet sure and steady this time.
No wayward body brushes. She had her battle strategy for the day to forget Max Keagan and move on with her life and mission. If only she didn’t want to explore his hidden secrets as much as his muscled chest.
A prospect more dangerous to her peace of mind than the next few hours with a half-naked Max.
* * *
Robin stood on the sunning deck of the cinderblock building, time clock punched for the workday, and watched the bay through binoculars from the higher vantage point. Keagan was nowhere in sight.
But out there. Somewhere.
Anticipation fired. Satisfaction wouldn’t be far behind. Hours perhaps. Visible through the binocular scope, Keagan’s dolphins were making their displeasure known from their bay pen. Their clicking and squawks carried faintly on the breeze as they powered through the clear water in frantic circles.
Did they somehow know the time had come for Keagan to die? Perhaps. Robin lowered the binoculars and returned them to the case. If only Keagan were visible. What a rush to watch him thrash, try to protect his woman, then watch her die before he joined her. The order had been given.
How the dolphins sensed things went beyond human comprehension. All the more reason they had to be contained at the time of Max’s attack. A couple of highly trained dolphins could provide more protection than a pack of police dogs. Even just a single trained Navy dolphin could protect a ship. Robin shuddered at the memory of a past exercise where one of those trained dolphins had rather forcefully prevented thirty Navy divers from reaching their intended target.
A dolphin powering by at thirty miles per hour sure disrupted the water and senses.
Definitely better to implement the attack without Lucy and Ethel on hand. Darcy Renshaw had provided the perfect opportunity with her impromptu dive offer. The attempt to incapacitate the dolphins with tainted fish earlier in the week had only garnered a fifty-percent payoff. Apparently, Ethel had been on a diet.
Thank heaven Max hadn’t located the tap before an alternative plan could be implemented. The guy was so close. Keagan’s swim pattern now ran directly over the tap, even without a helpful nudge to place him in the position to justify eliminating the diver.
Max was too competent for his own good. Not that it would help today with a force of armed attackers against two tourist divers.
Robin dropped into a white deck lounger and readied to watch the sun set on what would be Max Keagan and Darcy Renshaw’s last day in Guam.
CHAPTERNINE
Max staredout over the nose of the boat at the submerged plane wreckage he planned to explore with Darcy. He hadn’t played tourist in…well…never. His and Eva’s dives had always been training and work related. But he suspected Darcy would enjoy it, and he would enjoy watching Darcy enjoy herself. His other plan to hang out on a sandbar had been stalled by her tight-lipped attitude. He’d wanted to talk, odd for him no doubt, but Crusty was right. Darcy needed closure for the time they’d spent together. He needed closure.
No luck so far, though.
The woman was surprisingly reticent today. He could pry information out from the steeliest sources, but couldn’t bring himself to push her. She’d given him space. He would do the same for her.
Heaven knew she deserved something more from him. Of course she would never know that he’d watched over her. She would likely deck him if she knew his real mission. If ever a woman balked at being protected, it was Darcy. Not that she would ever know about his job. Or about the real Max.
But she could, a voice taunted. A reckless voice that would lead him into a nightmarish repeat of the past. Better to exhaust their bodies with exercise. He needed to burn off restless energy, anyway.
Max cut the engine. “Are you ready, mermaid?”
“Mermaid?” Darcy snorted. “Try to be a little more PC, Doc.”
“I stand corrected.” He waited for her to send back a snappy response, anticipated it.
