Beyond Fearless (27 page)

What a time to bring that up! She wanted to talk about the two of them, but Claude was standing in front of her, looking terrified.

“Don't be afraid,” she said, then reached to lay a gentle hand on his arm. “Just tell me who hired you to go out with Zach and look for that wreck.”

As she spoke aloud, she sent the question directly to his mind, urging him to level with her.

“I don't know,” he whispered. “I just got…a letter with instructions and money.”

She sensed that he was speaking the truth. He didn't know who had hired him. But as she touched his sleeve, her old talent surged up. She saw a letter, with a return address—a post office box in Winslow, Montana.

Zach gasped.
It came from Winslow. It must be from my brother.

Claude was standing stock-still. Anna moved her fingers to his hand.

“The letter asked you to look for Zach?”

“To be there when he was looking for crew. That's all.”

You don't know anything else?

“No.”

He seemed to be speaking the truth again. “Thanks for stopping by,” Anna said.

“See you around,” Zach added.

Claude blinked, turned, and hurried to the rail, then climbed back onto the dock. He strode down the dock, and Anna moved closer to Zach as they watched him go.

She reached for Zach's hand. “Your brother wanted you dead?” she whispered. “So he arranged for you to go down with a guy who would freak out? That's kind of a risky way to set up a murder.”

“Maybe he was thinking it wouldn't really be murder. If it happens, it happens.”

“You think there are really two guys named Sanford? Terrance and his brother?”

Zach shrugged. “At least Terrance has an e-mail address.” But it was obvious he was still thinking about his brother. “I knew how badly he wanted me off the ranch. I never dreamed he wanted to make sure I wasn't coming back.”

She turned and wrapped her arms around him. “Your own brother. He must be a monster.”

“He always acted like I didn't belong in the family. His whole life changed when my father married my mother. Then I came along, and from his point of view, things got a lot worse. We never got along. I left because I couldn't stand it anymore.”

“I'm so sorry.”

“But we don't even know if the letter Claude got still exists. Or if we can prove where the money came from,” he muttered.

“And trying to investigate is going to be a problem if we've got to stay hidden.”

“Yes. Did you get any more from Claude?”

“Well, I know what happened to your crew from the States!”

His head shot toward her. “What?”

“Apparently they arrived yesterday. And when they got down to the docks, someone told them you'd left and you weren't coming back.”

“Shit. I guess it was someone working for San Donato who thought I was already dead. Or I was going to be dead soon.” His face turned grim. “Did the crew leave again?”

“Yes.”

“So I left them in the lurch.”

“It's not your fault. And maybe it's better this way. You don't have to face them and make up some story about why you're going out of business.”

“Yeah. And they're good—they'll find other work.”

She cleared her throat. “You're sure this came from your brother, not San Donato?”

“I can't be
sure
. But we hadn't had that daydream where we met. Not yet.”

She nodded. “This island has a long tradition in the Vadiana religion. San Donato didn't have to be the only one using it for less-than-savory purposes.”

He nodded. Suddenly his body jerked and she felt a shock wave coming off of him.

“What?”

He didn't answer, but he had turned to stare down the dock toward the street.

She had been expecting him to make a further comment about Pagor, but when she caught what was in his mind, she followed his gaze, then went stock-still.

Claude had paused under a streetlight, and Anna gasped as she saw that he was talking to a ghost.

THE MAN STANDING
under the streetlight turned toward the dock.

“Wild Bill,” Anna gasped. “I knew you cut a slit in their raft; I thought he drowned.”

“I guess somebody picked them up,” Zach growled. “Lindsay kept saying she didn't think he was dead. I didn't want to believe her, but I guess she was right.”

Bill was huddled at the end of the dock with two other men. Not the guys who had been with him before. Probably they were too smart to get involved with the fugitives again. But these new thugs didn't know anything about what had happened.

“So much for Jordan's assumption that Swift wouldn't come after us until he figured out how to do it more safely.” She made a strangled sound.

“It's not Swift. I mean, I'm picking up that Wild Bill knows him as Jim Stone.”

“Yeah.”

“But Wild Bill also has a private score to settle with us.”

“You mean, like we tried to kill him and now he's back to get revenge?”

“Yeah. And he doesn't know about our special talents. Because his boss didn't tell him. So he thinks he can take us.”

“Maybe he can,” she whispered.

“No,” Zach answered, his voice hard and sure.

As they watched, the man started down the dock, flanked by his hired hands. They were all wearing untucked flowered shirts and she saw a bulge on each man's hip. Handguns.

Feeling trapped, Anna looked around wildly. “What are we going to do?”

He gripped her hand, and the scene he'd conjured in his mind made her gasp.

“Can we do it?” she asked.

“We have to,” he answered, watching the men stroll down the dock like they owned it.

As they drew closer to the boat, Zach hurried to the controls and started the engine. With her heart hammering in her chest, Anna started to cast off, making it look like they were trying to make a hasty getaway.

She didn't have to pretend to look scared; she was.

Wild Bill and his friends leaped onto the boat.

As soon as they were on board, they pulled out the guns that had previously been tucked in their belts.

“Hold it right there,” Bill ordered, his voice sharp and his eyes flat as a smear of mud.

Figuring Bill wasn't going to start shooting in the dock area, Anna whipped the line free. The boat leaped forward as Zach gunned the engine.

“What the hell?” Bill shouted.

There was no time for real preparation. No time to practice what Zach had in mind. And no margin for error, if they wanted to come out of this alive.

She knew Zach planned to jam the throttle in the high position, using his mind to keep it there. But when he gave the mechanism a jolt, the engine sputtered.

Anna gasped, sure the boat was going to leave them sitting in the dock area with Bill and his friends.

Desperately, she funneled mental energy to Zach as he focused on the throttle. When the engine settled down to a steady hum, she breathed out a sigh.

The boat was already moving. Suddenly it leaped forward.

Bill and the other two thugs whirled toward the controls. “What the hell?”

Jump.

Without question, Anna obeyed the order, jumping off the side and hitting the water as the gunmen lost their balance and toppled backward, grabbing frantically at the rail to keep from splatting onto the deck.

Anna went down, then kicked to the surface in time to see the boat bounding across the harbor like a killer whale zooming after prey.

On the deck, Zach lurched to the rail and launched himself into the the water.

If the thugs had been smart, they would have followed. Instead, as Anna looked back, she saw two of them leap toward the throttle.

“Stop this thing!” Wild Bill screamed.

“I'm fucking trying.”

“You idiot. Just turn the key.”

“It doesn't work!”

As Bill wove his way toward his colleague, Anna switched her attention to the water, frantically searching the harbor. When she didn't find Zach, her heart leaped into her throat.

Zach.

He swam to her and came up beside her, treading water. “Are you all right?” he asked anxiously.

“Yes. Are you?”

“A scrape on my arm. That's all.”

From the water, she saw the craft speed across the harbor and almost hit a fishing boat. When she realized where it was heading, she made a strangled sound. Zach hadn't told her that part.

If there had been boats over there, I would have aimed differently.

Seconds later, the cabin cruiser plowed into the fueling station at the harbor mouth, slid up onto the dock like a hippo clambering out of the water, and hit one of the gas pumps—where it burst into flames.

“Oh, Lord.”

“I think that's the end of Wild Bill and his friends.”

“Yes. Why didn't they jump?”

“They thought they could cut the engine. If we hadn't jammed it with our minds, they could have.”

She looked around the harbor. Other boats were in the water, but at this hour, none of them were close enough to be in danger. Thank God.

A crowd had gathered on the dock and along the street that bordered the harbor.

As she and Zach swam toward the pier, Anna heard a silent voice from the street.

Anna? Zach? Are you all right?

Yes,
they both answered.

The mental conversation was punctuated by the sound of fire engines racing along the street toward the conflagration.

What in the name of God happened?
Jordan asked.

You were right, Swift's guy was still out there. Only the man's changed his name to Stone.

Good catch!

His hired killer and two thugs were waiting for us.

And you sent them across the harbor in the boat,
Jordan said.

Yeah.
Zach looked toward the flaming craft.
Sorry. I guess your names are on the rental agreement.

Jordan shook his head.
And I guess some guys stole it and crashed it into the fueling station.

Yeah.

Since you're obviously not on board,
Anna added, then she thought of something.
But Claude saw us here. Can you find him and make him think we were on the
Odysseus
all the time?

Which one is he?

Still in the water, Anna scanned the crowd.
He's standing at the edge of the harbor. Coffee-with-cream skin. Curly hair. About five ten. Wearing a Miami Dolphins T-shirt.

Got it! After we take care of him, we'll talk to the police.

Anna and Zach reached the dock. She climbed up and Zach followed. With everybody's attention focused on the fire, she and Zach were able to hurry down the narrow walkway and climb onto the deck of the
Odysseus
. As far as anybody knew, they'd been on board his craft all along.

Once inside, they went down to the master cabin, where he pulled out dry clothes. Anna was towel drying her hair when Lindsay and Jordan climbed on board.

“You decent?” Jordan called.

“We'll be up in a minute.”

They all gathered in the main cabin.

“Before the action started tonight, I found out something disturbing,” Zach began, then told about the encounter with Claude.

Jordan whistled. “Your brother was the one who set you up on that diving expedition?”

“I may not be able to prove it.”

“But now you know to watch out for him.”

Zach sighed. “Yeah.”

“Right after Claude left us, he bumped into Bill. Then Bill and his guys came after us, and we sent them to hell.”

Jordan gave a harsh laugh. “You've been busy.”

“Unfortunately. But the main point is that despite Bill's best efforts, we're alive.”

“You do see why going into hiding is a good idea?” Lindsay asked softly.

Zach looked around the
Odysseus
. “I hate the idea of selling this boat. Maybe I can take it to a secluded location, repaint the name, and make believe we're somebody else. After I stage my own death,” Zach muttered.

Anna's gaze shot to him. “You've been thinking about that?”

“Yeah. That might eliminate a lot of problems for me. Starting with my brother.”

“Maybe,” Lindsay agreed, but Anna didn't know if she was just trying to let him down easily.

Well, they'd cross that bridge when they had to.

Jordan looked across the deck toward the still-burning fueling station.

“Probably you should move the boat tonight. I hate to be a party crasher, but is there room for us to sleep here?”

“There's another cabin, almost as big as the master cabin. We can motor down the coast a few miles and anchor in one of the coves.”

“Yes.” Jordan turned to Zach. “I'd like to leave Lindsay here while I make a police report and pick up our clothes. So, could you come with me while the women stay here?”

“Yes,” Anna and Zach both said immediately.

“And I'll get Anna's things, too,” Zach said. He paused. “Hell, I don't even know where you're staying.”

“The Palm Court Hotel. But what if they won't give you my stuff?”

“I think Zach and I can persuade them,” Jordan added.

“We'll be back as soon as we can. Then we'll cast off,” Zach said.

The two men exited the boat, and Anna turned to Lindsay. “I wish I knew my way around here better. Let's see where Zach keeps his linens.” As she thought about beds, she flashed on what she and Zach had been doing earlier in the evening.

Lindsay laid a hand on her arm. “You don't have to wonder what I'm thinking about you. I know that you and Zach have a strong sexual relationship—like we do. It's part of the Darien package.”

Anna nodded.

“Sex is a pleasure the two of you share. And it's a means to an end, because it opens your minds to each other.” She laughed. “Jordan and I found you and Zach because we were practicing a new technique—Tantric sex.”

“Oh.” She joined in the laughter. “I guess we'd better not tell Zach, because he'll want to try it tonight.”

Lindsay grinned. “He might not like it because it means postponing orgasm. Sometimes for hours.”

“Impossible.”

“Practice makes perfect.”

Anna grinned.

They descended to the second cabin, and Anna checked the bunk. It had a comforter but no sheets. After opening a few drawers, she found the sheets, and she and Lindsay began to make the bed together.

It was such a normal activity. Yet she felt like everything in her life had changed.

Lindsay caught her mood. “If you and Zach are like me and Jordan, you probably didn't have a lot of close friends—because you had trouble connecting with people. Something was always missing, and it was that psychic component,” she said.

“Yes,” Anna admitted.

“Finding the two of you makes a tremendous difference to us.”

Anna swallowed hard. Probably describing their feelings was never going to be easy for any of the Dariens, but she wanted Lindsay to know what was in her heart, so she laid her palm on top of the other woman's hand, and they stood silently for a moment.

“A friend like I never had before,” Lindsay said.

“Yes.”

They smiled at each other, then finished making the bed.

When Zach and Jordan returned, the women were up in the lounge relaxing over margaritas.

“Looks like we got here just in time for the party,” Zach observed as he set down a bag on the deck, then went to the controls and started the engine.

 

JIM
Stone looked at the news report from Grand Fernandino. He'd been keeping an eye on the island, looking for anything strange. Now he'd found something.

Picking up the phone, he made a call to a man he'd hired on a short-term basis.

“Check on the
Odysseus
,” he said. “I want to know if anybody's aboard. If they are, keep them in port, and I'll give you further instructions.”