Terrors of the High Seas - DK6 (28 page)

“but I don’t believe you.”

“Why not?” Kerry asked suddenly. “Excuse me, but what the hell would we care about marine salvage? We’re nerd sport divers.”

She stood up and paced. “That’s what I don’t understand about this entire scenario. What makes you think we give a rat’s patootie about whatever junk you’re searching for?”

DeSalliers gazed at her through hooded eyes. “Who are you?”

Dar leaned forward and caught his attention. “What are you looking for?” she asked in a low, vibrant tone. “If it’s what we took from the sea, we’ll tell you.”

His dark eyes bored into hers. They stared at each other for a long moment. “I can’t tell you,” DeSalliers finally said.

Dar started to get up. “Waste of time.”

“Ms. Roberts,” he also stood, and held up a hand, “I mean it. I
can’t
tell you, not
won’t
.”

“You don’t know what it is,” Kerry realized. “You have no idea 158
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what you’re looking for, do you?”

DeSalliers relaxed back into his chair with a disgusted sigh.

Dar settled back and crossed her ankles. “I’m not getting this.”

She shook her head. “How the hell can you stake a salvage claim on an unknown object?” she asked their host.

He rubbed his temples. “Did you ever get hoisted on your own petard, Ms. Roberts?” he inquired. “Hung out to dry by your own reputation?”

Dar considered the question. “No,” she replied. “Not yet, anyway.”

Kerry walked over and knelt next to his chair, resting her arm near his. “Talk to us, Mr. DeSalliers. Tell us what the heck is really going on. Maybe we can help.” She gave him a quiet, sincere look.

“We’re better friends than enemies, believe me.”

He hesitated, then took a breath, as if to speak.

The door slammed open and one of the guards rushed in. “Sir!

Sir! He’s out there! They’re diving the wreck!”

“Shit.” DeSalliers jumped to his feet. “I’ll kill that little bastard.

Cast off!” He started to leave the cabin, then apparently remembered his guests. “Sorry. Hope you enjoy the ride.”

Dar and Kerry were both on their feet and heading for the door.

DeSalliers popped through it before they could reach it, and the guard slammed it shut, facing them with an air of muscular menace.

“You ladies better sit on down,” the guard said gruffly.

Dar handed Kerry her sunglasses. “I suggest you move,” she replied to the guard in an even tone. “We’re leaving.”

“Sit down,” the guard repeated, pointing.

Dar advanced on him. “Move.” She pinned him with an ice-cold gaze.

“Lady or not, I’m gonna break your ass if you don’t sit down,”

the guard told her.

“Try it.” Dar didn’t miss a beat. She felt her body react to the danger, adrenaline kicking in and bringing a surge of blood to her skin as she came up over her center of balance. The guard was twice her size, but in that moment she could have cared less. He was between her, and safety for her and Kerry, and he was moving. The boat engines rumbled to life. Dar’s hands flexed, and she let the dark energy inside her uncoil as she started for the door.

The guard reached for her, cursing. They grappled briefly, then he threw Dar against the wall, coming after her with one hand extended and the other curled into a fist.

Dar grabbed his hand and swiveled, lashing out with a sidekick that caught him right in the jaw. His head snapped back and she jerked him off balance, then whirled and levered him over her shoulder, throwing him to the floor. With a snort, she grabbed the
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door handle and yanked it open, just as Kerry hopped over the stunned man and joined her.

They looked out to see the dock receding, blue water between them and it. Two guards were scrambling toward them. “Feel like a swim?” Dar asked, already starting for the stern railing.

“Anywhere you go, I go.” Kerry dodged an outstretched arm and they both bolted across the deck, hearing DeSalliers’ yell behind them as they leaped to the railing, then dove off together into the churning water.

DAR SURFACED, COUGHING to clear her lungs of a hastily mis-swallowed mouthful of seawater. She swiveled around, shaking the hair out of her eyes as she frantically searched for Kerry. A moment later, the blonde woman popped up nearby. Kerry spotted her and swam over with quick, efficient strokes. The water was choppy, and the downpour made it hard to see, but she made it through the swells to Dar’s side. For a moment, they treaded water and just looked at each other. Dar shook her bangs out of her eyes again and squinted through the rain. “C’mon.” She stifled a cough.

“Let’s get to the boat.”

Between the tide, the rain, and the chop, it was a tough swim.

Kerry found herself really missing her fins as she struggled to make progress. A crawl stroke didn’t do much, so she switched to a frogman style of swimming, keeping just her head above water so she could breathe. Her strength, though, started giving out when they were about three quarters of the way back to the docks, and she slowed to catch her breath.

Dar seemed to sense it. She stopped and turned in the water, then swam back to her. “What’s wrong?”

“Tired,” Kerry admitted. “Give me a minute.”

“Hang on.” Dar offered her arm, her legs moving powerfully under the waves and keeping her upright.

“No, it’s okay.” Kerry felt a little better. She started moving forward again. Dar stayed close by her side as they battled inside the seawall, the rain coming down harder and harder. Kerry felt Dar slow just inside the wall, and she reached out to grab onto the rocks, resisting the waves that were trying to bash her against them.“Not much farther.” Dar pointed to the rocking form of their boat, dimly seen through the rain. “Are you all right?”

Kerry felt her second wind kicking in. She nodded positively.

“Yes. Let’s get over there.” She pushed off the wall and started swimming, feeling the strong current fighting her, pulling out with the waning of the tide. Grimly, she pushed against it and kept at
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Dar’s shoulder with determined effort. The chop washed over her, making her eyes sting, and she tasted salt in the back of her mouth more than once. Her focus narrowed down to the chilling water, the beat of the rain, and the tall body moving just ahead of her.

Something not water brushed against her, and she felt stringy somethings trail over her body. She jerked and twisted, then gasped as a searing pain across her midriff nearly shocked her senseless.

“Damn.” She held still with great effort, and felt the strings drift off, and then she started forward again, grimacing at the jolts going through her body.

Jellyfish
. Kerry cursed under her breath.
Just my luck
. After a moment, though, the pain faded a little, and she pushed it out of her mind as she struggled on. Her breath was coming short and her muscles were burning painfully when she heard the distinctive sound of the waves slapping against fiberglass nearby. Kerry looked up to see a white surface arcing over her head. She reached out and grabbed the barnacled edge of the dock as she watched her companion approach the side of the boat. With a powerful surge, Dar emerged from the water, arms extended toward the railing that ducked toward her at the last moment and obligingly slapped itself into her hands.

Dar grabbed on and hung there for a moment, visibly gathering her strength. Her wet clothing clung to her body, and Kerry saw her chest expand as she took a deep breath. Her upper body contracted, pulling her up to the railing and then over it, but Kerry could see the effort it took, and given how she herself felt at the moment, considered it a testament to Dar’s very sturdy constitution.

She knew she wasn’t going to be able to duplicate Dar’s feat any time soon, so Kerry pushed off again and stroked for the stern, the lowest part of the boat, where the dive ladder was clamped in place. By the time she got there, she heard the clanks as Dar unhooked the hatch and freed the ladder. The next thing she felt was a light sting as the aluminum tubing hit the water next to her and quickly submerged. Gratefully she grabbed onto the steps, riding the ladder in the chop until the boat dipped again, then getting her feet on the bottom step and pushing upward. Dar’s grip suddenly fastened around her arm and she was unceremoniously hauled aboard the boat, landing on the stern deck in a soggy lump as Dar pulled up the ladder and closed the back hatch.

Buh
. Kerry discovered that sitting still was a very good thing.

She didn’t even mind the rain pelting her, rinsing the salt water off her body as she struggled into a cross-legged position. Her arms and legs felt numb and weak; she kept her head down as she rested her elbows on her thighs and simply worked on catching her breath.

Dar dropped down next to her, seemingly just as glad to just sit 162
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still. She extended her long legs out and rested her hands on her knees. “Son of a fucking bitch.”

Kerry’s head lifted and she regarded her lover bemusedly. “Are you thinking maybe next time we should just go to Las Vegas on vacation?”

Blue eyes framed in a mess of dark, wet hair peered at her.

“With my luck, a computer virus would take down the entire city while we were there.” Dar exhaled. “You okay?”

Kerry nodded. “Just wiped. And I think I swallowed half a gallon of salt water. My tongue is pickled.” She raked her hair back out of her face. “Dar, that sucked.”

“Uh huh.” Dar blew out a breath. “Might as well get out of the rain.” With a slight grunt, she pushed herself to her feet and gazed out past the marina entrance. It was hard to fathom what had just happened. One moment they’d been getting somewhere with DeSalliers, the next minute she’d found herself in an almost dangerous situation. Which, she considered thoughtfully, she’d actually handled damn well.

“Dar?”

Dar turned, to find Kerry holding up a hand with a wry expression.

“Mind giving me a tug up?”

Dar clasped her hand and leaned backward, pulling Kerry to her feet. “Wonder who he took off after?” she mused as they moved toward the cabin door and she fished in her pocket for the key.

“Damn, if we’d only had a minute more.”

“Yeah,” Kerry agreed. “We were close. Did you hear what he said, about his reputation? What was that all about, I wonder?”

Dar paused, holding the door open. “Want to go find out?”

Kerry looked up at her. “You mean, go out there after them?”

She watched Dar nod. “That’s totally insane, Dar.” An eyebrow quirked wryly at her. “Let’s do it.”

“Go in and change. I’ll cut us loose.” Dar gave her a pat on the behind, and then disappeared up onto the deck.

“Aye aye, cap’n.” Kerry entered the cabin, shaking her head and chuckling bemusedly. “No one’s gonna believe this,” she told the empty room. They’d brought their things down from the hotel before they’d gone for lunch; their bags and Dar’s laptop were resting on the table where they’d left them.

Kerry stripped off her soaking wet shirt as she continued through the cabin and into the head. She hung it up on the shower rail then added her shorts to it, tossing her sneakers into the shower itself, along with her socks and underwear. The rumble of the engines starting thrumming through her bare feet, and Kerry slipped out of the head and into the bedroom, giving herself a cursory glance in the mirror on her way to the dresser.

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“Wow.” She pointed at her reflection. “Check out the drowned rat.” Her skin showed a few light scrapes and the red mark where she thought she’d been stung by a jellyfish. It still throbbed, and she winced as she pressed lightly against the spot.

The boat moved and she grabbed quickly at the dresser, holding her balance. She waited for the turn to be completed and the bow to straighten out, then she tugged dry clothes from the dresser and slid into them. She grabbed a rain slicker from the closet and pulled it over her head, pausing to chuckle when the garment fell all the way to her knees. “Whoops.” She started to remove it, then stopped in mid motion and resettled the rubberized fabric around her.

Without really stopping to think about why she’d done that, she walked to the galley and grabbed a bottle of water from the small refrigerator. Twisting the top open, she sucked down a few gulps to get the taste of the sea from her mouth, then headed for the door.

Dar settled soggily into the captain’s chair, wincing at the uncomfortable dampness of her clothes. She adjusted the throttles and guided the boat away from the dock, reasoning that she could get Kerry to take the helm long enough for her to change once they were out into open water. The rain beat steadily down on the roof covering her, and Dar leaned forward to see better through the plexiglas as she guided the boat out into the channel. She turned at the buoy and nudged the engines forward, setting off after the disappearing speck that was DeSalliers’ craft.

She’d barely had time to relax when she heard Kerry climbing up the ladder. Dar turned to see her lover appear on the flying bridge, dressed in a blue slicker obviously not her own. “Nice jacket,” she commented as Kerry scooted under the bridge cover and pushed back the hood on her raincoat, exposing disheveled blonde hair.

“You like it?” Kerry presented her with the bottle of water and then draped her arms over Dar’s shoulders. “I think I got stung by a jellyfish, Dar.”

“Yeah?” Dar set their course and then turned her attention to Kerry. “Where?”

Kerry pulled up her overlarge jacket and then her shirt, exposing her belly. “There.”

Dar peered at it, gently touching the angry red mark. “Does it hurt?” She looked up at Kerry’s face. “Not just sting, actually hurt?”

“A little,” Kerry admitted. “It’s sort of throbbing. Otherwise I wouldn’t have even mentioned it, Dar. I mean, I’ve gotten hit by men o’war before.”

“Did you clean it off with anything?”

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Kerry shook her head. “Didn’t think I needed to; do I?”

“I don’t know.” Dar frowned. “Did you see what kind of jellyfish it was?”