Redemption Key (A Dani Britton Thriller) (30 page)

“How do you sink a boat?”

3:38pm, 106° F

She swam against the tide. That was good. She ran her instructions over and over in her mind. Choo-Choo had sat in the doorway of
the shack, whispering to her before she snuck through the hedges to the water. He had told her that she wouldn’t need to create any hole. If she managed to disconnect the bilge pump before she unscrewed the clamps on the hoses attached to the metal tubes in the through hull, the boat would sink quickly. Even with his detailed descriptions, she wasn’t sure exactly what these metal tubes were, although the term ‘through hull’ seemed pretty self-explanatory. And she could certainly find a circuit breaker to pull the pump wires. She planned on unplugging and unscrewing anything she could get her hands on.

Once the boat started to sink, the plan was to swim back to the floating kayak dock. If Bermingham watched the boat, he’d see it start to go down and raise the alarm. All eyes would be on the boat and the tide would be in her favor. She could climb out of the water behind the heavy greenery on the far side of the inlet and hurry with Choo-Choo to her car. At least one or two of the men would jump in the dinghy and the sound of its motor would distract them from the sound of the Honda’s engine.

It wasn’t a great plan, but it was a damn sight better than sitting around waiting to die.

Plus Bermingham and the Wheelers would lose all their precious cargo.

Dani didn’t know what the boat held. At first she’d thought drugs but judging from everyone’s nervousness, she had to guess it was something more serious. Something that became delicate in the heat. It had to be weapons. Heat wouldn’t bother guns but it would probably bother explosives, and twenty-five volatile units of deadly explosives didn’t belong in the hands of Bermingham and definitely not in the hands of the Wheelers.

Whatever they were coddling in the hull of this tub was going to find a new home at the bottom of the Spanish Channel. Dani didn’t bother telling herself she was doing this for the good of
mankind. She wished she could see their faces when they watched the boat disappear.

She wished she could see their faces when they realized she too had disappeared.

But first things first. She swam in long, smooth strokes, staying underwater as long as possible to keep the chances of being spotted from shore to a minimum. The lowering sun would only help, shining brilliantly on the water, darkening shadows and throwing a powerful glare. A heavy-duty screwdriver hung from her neck on the orange string from Choo-Choo’s sunglasses. That was all she’d need, he told her. Get below decks and start wreaking havoc.

If she could get on the boat.

She squinted through the water to be sure she didn’t surface in the shadow of the boat. If anyone was watching, she’d be visible against the trawler’s faded red hull. Instead she peeked out at the back of the boat—stern? Aft? She had no idea. There, as Choo-Choo had predicted, was a nice, shiny ladder nearly reaching the water. Choo-Choo had seen enough of Joaquin Wheeler to know the big man wouldn’t be comfortable shimmying down a flimsy ladder to the dinghy. He’d told Dani the odds were excellent the boys would have brought along a new ladder for their own comfort and there it was. It looked out of place against the battered hull and Dani knew she’d have to climb quickly. Her dark skin and black dress would stand out clearly.

The aluminum ladder felt warm to the touch and heat pounded off the side of the boat. She really hoped that whatever the heat would do to the contents of the boat, it wouldn’t do it while she was onboard. Even with the wind off the water, it felt ten degrees hotter on the sticky deck. Dani ducked down, water slicking her way as she crabwalked to the front of the boat where the wheelhouse jutted up under a tattered canopy.

She found the trap door to the hold between a cooler and a pile of ropes. The sight of a padlock made her swear until she saw the lock wasn’t fastened. It was just looped through the hasp to keep the hold door shut. It seemed like a pointless thing to do. The explosives weren’t likely to walk themselves out, were they?

Dani didn’t care why the Wheelers did what they did. This close, all she could think of was how satisfying it would be to see the boat sinking into the channel waters, maybe get a glimpse of the anger and panic on Bermingham’s face as he watched his big deal go down to the deep. Maybe she’d get to flip them all off as she and Choo-Choo drove over the bridge.

The thought made her smile.

Until she opened the hold.

Then all she could do was gag.

The smell was staggering. Ammonia and mildew and some kind of cheesy smell and rust all rising up in an eye-watering funk that made Dani fall back against the deck. She coughed, turning her head for the breeze that did little to dissipate the stench. Good lord, she thought, were these fertilizer bombs?

The heat only intensified the smell but Dani was determined to scuttle this boat. She wished she’d worn a bandanna or something to cover her nose. She held her breath as she climbed down the steps into the hold, feeling around in front of her for a string Choo-Choo had told her would probably be the light switch. Her fingers found the string and she pulled, reminding herself to breathe through her mouth before she fainted.

When the light came on, she forgot the smell.

She forgot to breathe.

Packed into the hold of the
Pied Piper
, covering every square inch of the filthy wet hold, were children. A dozen? More?

Twenty-five prime units.

3:55pm, 106° F

Dani saw nothing but eyes and hands and scabby knees where the boys and girls crouched and lay against each other. None of them could be older than ten. Some of them were naked; all of them were filthy. Not one of them made a sound.

Children. Bermingham was buying children. From the Wheelers.

Her butt hit the stairs as her mind tried to take in what she saw. What could she do? She had no boat, no way to get these kids off the
Pied Piper
.

The Pied Fucking Piper.

It wasn’t the smell that made it hard to breathe now. It was rage. She didn’t care about getting away. She didn’t care about Tom Booker or Mr. Randolph or Bermingham. All that mattered now was finding a way to get these kids off this boat.

And making everybody pay for it.

“I’m going to get you out of here.”

Her voice was loud in the echoing hold but only a few of the children seemed to hear her. Water sloshed against the outside of the
boat, doing nothing to cool the space. They had to move. There was nothing to be done down here. They had to move.

She hurried back up to the wheelhouse. She knew less than nothing about boats, but how much different from cars could they be, right? Steering wheel, motor.

Ignition.

Shit. She had no keys. A quick search over the panels and broken radio and around the sticky floor produced nothing but a splinter in her thumb and something nasty stuck to her arm she wouldn’t investigate. There was no way Dani was stealing this boat.

She pounded her fists against the panel of dials, wanting to scream. What could she do? Nothing from here. She had to get back to shore. And do what?

How about calling the FBI? The Feds were so interested in her, maybe they could actually do some good.

But first she had to tell those kids she was leaving them. She had to tell them she was leaving them in the hands of Juan and Joaquin Wheeler, who had taken them from God knows where to trap them in that filthy stinking hole to face a future in the hands of Bermingham.

Dani steadied herself against the railing of the boat. Her head spun from the heat and the anger and the helplessness of it all. Her thoughts struggled to line up, to make some sense of what came next. She had to get past the Wheelers and Bermingham.

She wanted to kill them. She hated them.

Want and hate. That was all she had.

She didn’t hear the motor of the dinghy until it nearly reached the trawler. Ducking down below the railing, she caught a glimpse of Juan’s greasy head as he steered the little boat toward the ladder. She had to get out unseen. Dani had one foot over the back railing before she realized she’d left the hold open.

He’d know someone had been there. Who knew what he’d do then.

She had to lock the children back in that darkness.

3:30pm, 106° F