Storm Surge (23 page)

“Hey,” she
said. “I’m out of cigarettes.”

He reached for
the pack lying on the bedside table and shook one partially out. He held out
the pack. “Two left.”

“Thanks.” She
drew the cigarette out. He took the other and struck a match. He held it out to
her first. She leaned forward and lit her cigarette from the flame. He watched
the way her hair caught the light, almost too long. He had to shake the match
out and light another. She seemed not to notice as she sat on the edge of the
bed. She took a long drag, closed her eyes with the simple pleasure of inhaling
the smoke. When she opened them, she smiled at him ruefully.

“You’re
welcome,” he said finally.

“I want you to
promise me something,” she said.

“What?”

“I want you to
promise me you won’t kill him.”

“
Bohler
?”

She nodded.

“What if he
tries to arrest me?”

“You’re a
smart guy. Think of a way to get away without killing him.”

“Because
he doesn’t need killing.”

“And because I
don’t want to think of you as a cold-blooded killer. I’ve come to terms with
what you did to that man at the other house. Glory’s right. You saved our lives
back there. You risked your own life to do it. And I never thanked you.”

“Don’t mention
it,” Mercer said “He needed…”

“Will you
stop
saying that
!?” she hissed.

“Sharon,”
Mercer said. “You’re trying not to think of me as a killer. But that’s what I
am. It’s what I’ve been since I was old enough to hold a knife. It’s what I
do.”

“But you’re
also a nice guy who pulls a cat out of the water and chews out the kid who
threw him there. You’re also a nice guy who gives a total stranger and her
daughter a ride and spends his evening talking with people that, let’s face it,
neither of us can stand, and then doesn’t expect anything for it. You’re a guy
who saw me and Glory in trouble and did something about it.” She took a drag
off her cigarette and looked him in the eyes for the first time. “I think
you’re a better man than you let yourself admit, Max…I mean, Kyle.”

His voice felt
rough, scratchy. “That’s because you’re a damn fool.”

She laughed
softly. He liked that laugh. “Oh, I’ll admit that’s possible. Lord knows I’ve
been a piss-poor judge when it comes to the men in my life.” She looked away,
then
looked back. “Will you do something else for me?”

He couldn’t
take his eyes off hers. “What?”

“Will you put
your arms round me?”

He hesitated.

“Look,” she
aid
, her voice close to breaking. “I don’t want to make out,
and I don’t want to fuck, especially with my daughter in the next room. I’ve
just been totally goddamn terrified for what seems like a goddamn year and for
some fucked up reason I feel safe with you, and I know it’s stupid and crazy
but I think it’ll make me feel a little better, so will you please stop looking
at me like I just landed here from the moon and put your arms around me before
I go out of my fucking
mind
?!”

“Sure,” he
said. He sat up next to her on the bed and put his arm left arm awkwardly
across her shoulder. She sank into him, her head against his chest. She was
trembling like someone in the grip of a fever.

“I can’t start
crying,” she mumbled. “Glory will notice if my eyes are all red and puffy.
She’ll only get more scared.”

He stroked her
hair gently. “I know,” he said.

“
Ummm
…she whispered. “This would work better if you weren’t
holding a gun in your other hand.”

He realized
that his right hand had instinctively reached out to grip the machine gun lying
on the bed beside him. He laughed once, sharply, and took his hand away,
running it through her hair again.

“We’re going
to have to work on that,” she whispered to him.

“We?”

She sighed.
“God help me, I’m falling for you, Mercer. Can’t you tell?”

Don’t do it
, he wanted to tell her. “Yeah,” he
said.

She pulled
away and looked at him. “This is the part where you say you’re falling for me,
too.”

“Listen,” he
said.

“What?”

“Listen,” he
insisted.

She pulled
away. “The wind’s not as loud.”

“It’s the
eye,” he said. “It’s coming. They’ll be moving.” He stood up and picked up the
machine gun.

“Kyle,” Sharon
said.

He looked at
her. “I’ll keep you safe,” he said, “And I won’t kill him.
Unless
he tries to kill me.”

“Is that a
promise?”

He nodded.
“And I always keep my word.
Always.”

“Okay,” she
said. Her shoulders slumped a bit. She had the look of someone who wasn’t
expecting bad news, but who had seen so much she wasn’t surprised by it. “I
guess that’s all…”

“Sharon,” he
interrupted. “I fell for you a long time ago.”

Her
mouth quirked.
“Is
that Kyle Mercer or Max Chase talking?”

“For once,”
Mercer said, “they’re the same guy.”

Bohler
entered the room. “Mercer…”

“I know,”
Mercer said. “Any idea how long we can expect this to last?”

“Maybe
a half hour.
Maybe a couple of hours.
It’s always different. But Mercer,
when it comes back, the wind will be blowing the other way.”

Mercer
grimaced. “
Which means we’re not on the sheltered side
any more
.
”

Glory came
into the room, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. “What’s going on?” she said.

“We need to
move,” Mercer said.

“Where?”
Sharon asked.

Mercer didn’t
answer. He put the headphones back on and touched the earpiece.
“You there?”

CHAPTER FIFTY-SEVEN

“I’m here,”
Blake replied. He was seated where Montrose had been before, his feet up on the
desk as her had been. “I assume you can hear what’s going on as well as I can.”

“Yeah.
Okay, I’m willing to deal.”

“Excellent,”
Blake said. “You know where to find us.”

“Where’s the
boat?”

“It’ll be
waiting. We already set it up. Oh, and in addition to the sparkplugs, I’ll want
my colleague’s radio back.”

“I don’t know
about that,” Mercer said. “I think I want to be able to keep tabs on you
people.”

“You drive a
hard bargain, Mercer,” Blake said.
“But all right.”

“I’ll be there
in a few minutes. I’ll be alone.”

“What about
your friends?”

“They’ll be in
a safe place where you can’t get to them.”

Doubtful
, Blake thought. “Okay. See you in a
bit.” He took the headset off and picked up the satellite phone from the desk.
He wasn’t looking forward to the call he was about to make. He dialed the
number.

“We’re going
to have to delay pickup,” Blake said when a voice answered. He didn’t need to
ask if the line was secure. He knew it was. They had paid enough for this gear
to make sure of it.

“Our employer
isn’t going to be happy,”
Storch
said on the other
end.

“He’s going to
have to learn to live with it. We ran into some unexpected resistance.”

“Resistance?
How? Everyone’s off the island.”

“Not everyone.
A woman and her kid got left behind. And a guy who’s apparently some sort of
fugitive. Oh, and the goddamn Coast Guard tried to send a chopper after them.”

“And?”

“Not a
problem. But we want to make sure that doesn’t happen again. See if our
employer can do something about that.”

“Got
it.”

“We’ll have to
be picked up after the storm.”

“After the
storm, that place is going to have people all over it.”

“See how long
our employer can put that off.
At least a few hours.
Hell, no one expects anything from FEMA these days anyway.”

“He’s really
not going to like that,”
Storch
warned. “The more
strings he has to pull, the more likely one of
them’s
going to get traced back to him.”

“Can’t
be helped.
We’ll
call when ready for pickup.” He shut off the phone as he heard Moon coming up
the stairs. He entered the room with Montrose right behind him.

“Okay,” Blake
said.
“Back to work.
Montrose, when we get the
generator running, how close
are
you to getting this
thing open?”

She ran a hand
through her straw-colored hair, now damp and dark with sweat and grime.
“Half hour.
Maybe less.”

“Get to it.
Moon, our friend is coming to see us. He’s bringing the plugs he stole. Let’s
make sure we thank him properly.”

“What about the
women?
And the cop?”

Blake rubbed
his chin thoughtfully. “I doubt he’s bringing Barney Fife with him. When we’re
done with Mercer, see if you can find them.”

“That would be
easier if we could get their location out of him.”

Blake shook
his head. “No. Don’t mess around. Just kill him.”

CHAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT

After the
constant noise that had been a part of their lives for so long, the sudden
silence outside was unnerving in its own right. They had waded through waist
deep water to get outside,
then
had to pick their way
through a tangle of half-submerged fallen limbs and debris. Once on the road,
the ground rose steadily. When the water was only ankle deep, they stopped and
looked around.

The sky above
was as clear as if it had never known rain, the stars points of cold white
fire. Off toward shore, however, they saw a curtain wall of towering clouds,
illuminated from within by lightning that flickered and pulsated constantly,
now blue-white, now angry red, now yellow. The air was very still.

“You think
they’ll try to send another helicopter?
Or a boat?”
Sharon asked.

Bohler
shook his head. “They only had the
one. They moved the rest of the choppers inland to protect them. They’ll fly
them back for relief work afterwards.”

“So,” Glory
said, “where are we going?”

“You two are
going to another house.
Above the waterline.
Near the lighthouse.”

“What about
you?” Sharon asked.

“
Bohler
and I are going to take the lighthouse. Then one of
us will come back and get you.”

“Take the
lighthouse?”
Bohler
said. “How do you plan to do
that?”

Mercer
shrugged. “Improvise.”

“Great.”

Mercer handed
Bohler
a pistol. “You’ll need this,” he said.

“Is it
loaded?”
Bohler
asked as he took it. “Does this mean
you trust me now?”

“Not
very far.
But I
figure you know we stand a better chance of getting off this island if we work
together.”

“I can get us
out of here,”
Bohler
insisted.

“Not alive.”

“Now listen…”

“Jesus, cut it
out,” Sharon snapped. “We don’t have much time. We definitely don’t have time
to sit and watch you too snap and snarl about who’s going to be the Alpha dog.”

“She’s right,”
Mercer said. “This calm won’t last for long. And they won’t wait long before
they figure I’m not coming after all. Then they’ll start hunting. When that
happens, I’d rather be nice and snug inside the lighthouse with them outside.”

“We don’t know
how many people are in there,”
Bohler
said.
“Or how heavily armed.”

“We’re not
going to find out standing around here,” Mercer said. “Let’s go.”

CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE

“He’s not
coming,” Moon said from the darkness.

Blake nearly
leapt out of his skin. He had never heard Moon coming.

“Get back in
position,” he snapped.

“If he were
coming,” Moon insisted, “he’d be here by now.”

Blake ground his
teeth in frustration. “Then why did he say he was bringing them? Why not just
keep his mouth shut?”