The Reef (34 page)

“Tate is quite skilled. She captured the elegance of it, eh?”

“The power,” VanDyke whispered as he skimmed his fingers over the sketch. He could all but feel the texture of the stones. “Even in a drawing you can see it. Feel it. For almost twenty years I've searched for this.”

“And killed for it.”

“Lives are nothing compared to this.” Saliva pooled in his mouth and the champagne was forgotten. “No one who's coveted it understood what it means. What it can do. It took me years to realize it myself.”

LaRue's eyes glinted at the opening. “Not even James Lassiter knew?”

“He was a fool. He thought only of its monetary value, and of the glory he would reap if he could find it. He thought he could outwit me.”

“Instead, you killed him.”

“It was so simple. He trusted his son to check the gear. Oh, and the boy was careful, efficient, even suspicious of
me. But just a boy for all that. It was ridiculously easy to sabotage the tanks, a matter of negating a contract.”

Resisting the urge to glance toward the library, LaRue kept his eyes on VanDyke's face. “He must have known. Lassiter was an experienced diver, eh? When he began to feel the effects of the excess nitrogen, he would have surfaced.”

“I had only to restrain him for a short time. There was no violence in it, none at all. I'm not a violent man. He was confused, even happy. Once the raptures had over-taken him, it was only a matter of enjoyment. He smiled when I took the mouthpiece away. He drowned in ecstasy—my gift to him.”

VanDyke's breath quickened as he stared at the sketch of the necklace, as he steeped himself in it. “But I didn't know then, couldn't be sure then, he died with knowledge.”

As he came out of his own spell, VanDyke reached for his drink. The memory had tripped his heartbeat pleasantly. And the realization that what he had done all those years before hadn't been a mistake after all. Only one of many steps to this point.

“All these years the Lassiters have kept what is mine from me. Now all of them are dead, and the amulet will come home to me.”

“I think you're mistaken,” LaRue murmured. “Matthew, will you join us for a drink?”

As VanDyke gaped in shock, Matthew dropped into a chair. “I could use a beer. Hell of a piece, isn't it?” he commented and lifted the sketch just as VanDyke lurched to his feet.

“I saw your boat go up in flames.”

“Planted the charge myself.” He glanced toward the steward, who had lunged to attention. “You might want to call off your dog, VanDyke. A classy place like this frowns on brawls.”

“I'll kill you myself for this.” To keep from scrambling across the table, VanDyke gripped it until the bones in his fingers ached. “You're a dead man, LaRue.”

“No, I'm a rich man, thanks to you. Mademoiselle.” LaRue smiled at the waitress, who'd hurried up and stared
with anxious eyes. “My companion is a bit overwrought. If you would be so kind as to bring us another round, and a Corona, with lime, for my friend.”

“Do you think you can walk away from this?” Shaking with fury, VanDyke snarled at his bodyguard until the man sat silently on the sofa again. “Do you think you can cheat me, amuse yourselves at my expense, take what belongs to me by blood right? I can crush you.”

He couldn't quite get his breath, could see nothing but Matthew's cold and calm eyes. James Lassiter's eyes.

The dead came back.

“Everything you have can be mine within a week. I've only to whisper the right words in the right ears. And after I have, after you've lost everything you own, I'll have you hunted down, slaughtered like animals.”

“This is as close as you'll ever get to Angelique's Curse.” Matthew folded the sketch, slipped it into his pocket. “And you'll never touch me or mine.”

“I should have killed you when I killed your father.”

“Your mistake.” Matthew could see the boy he had been, sick and trembling with grief, with rage, with helplessness. Now, it seemed the boy was dead as well. “I'm going to make you a proposition, VanDyke.”

“A proposition?” He all but spat it as his head threatened to explode. “You think I would do business with you?”

“I think you will. Come on out, Buck.”

Red-faced from crouching in a jungle of decorative palms beside the breakfront, Buck puffed his way into the clear. “I tell you, Matthew, them Japanese are geniuses.” He grinned at the palm-sized video recorder he held, then flipped out the tiny tape. “I mean to tell you, the clarity's crystal, and the sound? I could almost hear the ice melting in that sissy drink of LaRue's.”

“I really prefer my brand.” Stripping a huge, floppy brimmed hat from her head, Marla strolled to the table. “The zoom is superior. All the way across the lobby, and I could count the pores in his skin.” She too ejected the tape. “I don't think we missed anything, Matthew.”

“Technology.” Matthew bounced the minicassette in
his hand. “It's amazing. On these little tapes we have video and sound recording, from two angles, of you confessing to racketeering. You know what racketeering is, don't you, VanDyke? That's when you pay somebody to do the crime.”

He smiled thinly as he palmed the tapes. “I guess they'd get you for conspiracy to murder along with it.” He considered. “That would be two counts. Then there's murder, that would be the first-degree murder of James Lassiter. Last I heard there was no statute of limitations on murder. Nobody forgets,” he added quietly.

He handed the cassettes to LaRue. “Thanks, partner.”

“My pleasure, I assure you.” Gold flashed in his grin. “My very
rich
pleasure.”

Matthew looked at his uncle. “Buck, you and LaRue go take care of these.”

“On our way.” Buck paused, looked back at VanDyke. “I thought the necklace was evil. I figured it had done in James, and that it hounded me and the boy here all our lives. But it was just you. Now we've done in you, VanDyke, and I gotta figure James is having a good laugh over it.”

“No one will take you or your tapes seriously.” VanDyke blotted his mouth with a handkerchief and sent a subtle signal to his steward.

“I think they will. Hold on a minute.” Wanting the entertainment, Matthew swiveled in his chair. He was in time to see LaRue bend down as if to tie his shoe. He came up like a bullet, directly between the legs of the bodyguard.

Two hundred and sixty-eight pounds of muscle bounced off the glossy floor, with barely a whimper, then curled up like a boiled shrimp.

“That was for Tate,” LaRue told him, then fluttered his hands helplessly as several staff members rushed over. “He just fell over,” LaRue began. “A heart attack perhaps. Someone should call a doctor.”

“You always underestimated the Canuk.” Matthew swiveled back. “Thanks,” Matthew added as the now
visibly nervous waitress brought the drinks. “Marla, looks like you've got a mai tai.”

“Why, I'd love one, honey.” She settled at the table, smoothed the full skirt of her sundress, then aimed her frosty Southern gaze on VanDyke. “I really want you to know this was my idea. The rough idea,” she temporized. “It had to be refined a bit. You're very pale, Mr. VanDyke. You may want some cheese, a quick protein lift.”

“Isn't she terrific?” Madly in love, Matthew snatched Marla's hand and kissed it lavishly. “Now, business. There are going to be copies of those tapes in various safe-deposit boxes, vaults, law firms around the world. With the classic instructions—you know the drill—if anything should happen to me, et cetera. Me includes myself, my gorgeous future mother-in-law.”

“Oh, Matthew.”

“Ray,” Matthew continued after winking at her. “Buck, LaRue, and of course, Tate. Oh, and speaking of Tate.”

Matthew's hand flashed out like a snake, snagged the meticulous Windsor knot of VanDyke's silk tie. With his eyes bullet hot, he twisted it like a noose.

“If you ever go near her again, if you ever have one of your walking dead put a finger on her, I will kill you—after I've broken every bone in your body, and peeled your skin with one of Marla's paring knives.”

“Tate wasn't supposed to tell you about that.” Flushing, Marla sucked mai tai through her straw.

“I think we understand each other.” Finished, if far from satisfied, Matthew loosened his grip.

“How nice. You're still here.” Tate strolled into the lobby. Despite the bruise, her face was glowing. “Hello, lover.” Almost singing it, she bent to kiss Matthew's cheek. “We're a bit late,” she went on. “The plane was delayed. I'd like you to meet my friends and colleagues, Dr. Hayden Deel and Dr. Lorraine Ross.” She beamed at both of them. “Also known as the new Mr. and Mrs. Deel. Dad.” Tate put a restraining hand on her father's arm when she saw him bare his teeth at VanDyke. “Behave.”

“Nice to meet you.” Matthew rose and effectively blocked VanDyke in. “Did you have a good trip?”

“Enjoyed every minute of it,” Lorraine told him. “Jet lag included.”

Tate slipped off her sunglasses. “It's very exciting. The captain of the
Nomad
married them just a few days ago.”

“We're going to combine a honeymoon here with business.” Hayden kept an arm around Lorraine's shoulder as if she might disappear without the contact. “When we got Tate's message we were concerned enough to make the trip immediately.”

“It was great to be able to surprise them at the airport. When I called the university this morning to start the ball rolling on announcing the discovery of the wreck, they told me Hayden and Lorraine were already on their way.”

“Gives us a chance to beat out the others.” Lorraine leaned against Hayden's arm and struggled not to yawn. “Nevis will be lousy with scientists and reporters in a couple of days. We're anxious to examine the relics from the
Isabella
before it gets crowded.”

“That's the plan.” Tate smiled sourly at VanDyke. “I don't believe you've met my associates face-to-face, VanDyke, but you certainly know them by reputation. Oh, and wasn't that your servant I saw being loaded into an ambulance outside? He looked terribly pale.”

White with a choking, smothering fury, VanDyke rose. “This doesn't end here.”

“I agree.” In restraint and unity, Tate laid a hand on Matthew's shoulder. “It's just a beginning. Several very important institutes are sending representatives to observe the rest of our operation, and to examine the artifacts. Of particular interest is a certain amulet known as Angelique's Curse. The
Smithsonian Magazine
is going to do an extensive article on its history, its discovery and its lore. The
National Geographic
is considering a documentary.”

As all the pieces fell neatly into place, she smiled. “It's very much on record now where the amulet was found, by whom, and to whom it belongs. Checkmate, VanDyke.”

“Want a beer, Red?”

“Yeah.” She squeezed Matthew's shoulder. “Love one.”

“Take the rest of mine. I don't think the waitress will be coming back. I think that pretty much concludes our business, VanDyke. Anything else comes to mind, get in touch. Through our lawyer. What was that name again, Red?”

“Winston, Terrance and Blythe, Washington, D.C. You might have heard of them. I believe they're one of the top firms on the East Coast. Oh, and darling, the American consul was very enthusiastic when I spoke with him a couple of hours ago. He'd like to visit the site himself.”

God, Matthew thought, she was something. “We'll have to accommodate him. Now if you'll excuse us, VanDyke, we have a lot of plans to make.”

VanDyke scanned the faces surrounding him. He saw triumph, confusion, challenge. He could meet none of them here, alone. With the sour taste of failure burning his throat, he turned stiffly and left.

He still had control.

“Kiss me,” Tate demanded and dragged Matthew hard against her. “And make it good.”

“Ah . . .” Hayden fiddled with his glasses. “Would someone tell me what's going on?”

“It feels like we walked in on the last act,” Lorraine agreed. “Was that Silas VanDyke, entrepreneur, benefactor and friend to marine scientists?”

“That was Silas VanDyke.” Tate gave Matthew a violent squeeze. “Loser. I'm crazy about you, Lassiter. Let's find that waitress and bring the newlyweds up to date.”

“I
T
'
S A STORY
with everything,” Lorraine mused.

On the deck of the gently rocking boat she studied the stars and the lovely silver moon. It was past midnight, the explanations, exclamations, victory dinner and celebratory toasts were over.

She'd left her new husband poring over treasures with the others and had slipped away for a quiet moment with her former shipmate.

“The ending's the best part.” Content to play truant, Tate lingered over the last glass of the last bottle of champagne.

“I don't know. You've got murder, greed, lust, sacrifice, passion, sex—”

“Okay, maybe the sex is the best part.”

With a chuckle, Lorraine tried to squeeze a few more drops from the bottle standing between their chairs. “I left out witchcraft. Do you think Angelique Maunoir was really a witch?”

“This from a scientist.” But Tate sighed. “I think she was strong and powerful, and that love can work magic of all sorts.”

“Maybe you should worry about owning that amulet, gorgeous as it is.”

“I like to think she would have approved of who found it, and what we intend to do with it. We'll be able to tell her story. And speaking of stories . . .” Generously, Tate poured half her glass of wine into Lorraine's. “What about yours and Hayden's?”

“It's not as legendary, but I like it.” Pursing her lips, Lorraine held up her hand to study her wedding ring. There was just enough starlight to make it glint. “I hooked him on the rebound.”

“Don't be ridiculous.”

“Well, maybe it's not quite like that. You know, when you and I were working together, I never really understood you. There was Hayden, watching your every move with those wonderful cow eyes, and you never blinked. Of course now, meeting Matthew, it all comes clear.” She gave a dreamy little sigh.

“I hope you won't take this the wrong way, but I was thrilled when you were called away from the
Nomad.
Lorraine, I told myself, the coast just cleared.” Gesturing with her glass, she nearly sloshed out champagne. “Get to work.”

“You worked fast.”

“I just love him. I swear, Tate, he made me feel like a clumsy puppy begging for scraps the whole time we were working together. I'd always been in control with men, you know? With Hayden, all bets were off. I finally had to swallow any semblance of pride. I cornered him in the lab one night when he was working late, and seduced him.”

“In the lab?”

“You bet. Actually, I'd made a few moves before, just to get his attention. I told him I loved him, that I was going to dog his heels wherever he went.

“He studied me very seriously before he said that it seemed best if we got married.”

“He said that?”

“Exactly that.” Lorraine sighed over the romance of it. “And then he smiled. And then I cried like a baby.” Lorraine sniffled and tossed back the rest of her champagne. “If I'm not careful, I'll cry again.”

“Don't, you'll set me off. I guess we both got lucky.”

“It's taken me practically my whole life to get lucky. Shit.” With a shrug she slurped more champagne. “I'm just drunk enough to admit it. Forty-three years. I'm a goddamn middle-aged marine chemist who's really in love for the first time. Damn it, I am going to cry.”

“Okay.” Tate sniffled. “Are you up to playing matron of honor in a couple of days?”

“Yeah.” Lorraine blubbered sentimentally into her empty glass. She looked up with a watery smile and misty eyes as Hayden and Matthew came on deck.

“What's going on out here?” Hayden asked.

“We're drunk and happy,” Lorraine told him. “And in love.”

“That's nice.” Hayden patted her on the head. “You be sure to mix yourself up something to fix the hangover you're going to have in the morning. We've got a busy day ahead.”

“He's so . . .” Lorraine rose, rocked and draped herself over him. “Organized. Turns me to mush.”

“Lorraine, there are important people flying in from all over the world in the next day or two. We have to prepare.” When she only continued to beam at him, Hayden glanced at Matthew. “Can I impose on you for a lift back to Nevis? I think Lorraine needs to lie down.”

“Buck and LaRue'll help you pour her into the tender, run you back.” He held out a hand. “It's good to have you on our team.”

When the tender skimmed back toward the island, Tate leaned against Matthew. “They look wonderful together.”

“I guess I can see why you kept tossing his name in my face. He catches on fast and he focuses in on what's most important.”

Resting her head on Matthew's shoulder, she watched the tender's light grow smaller. “He's the best in the field, and his name carries a lot of weight. Lorraine's not small potatoes either. Having the two of them onboard cloaks the whole operation with efficiency and respect, and scientific purpose.” She let out a satisfied breath. “And the more influential people who know about the
Isabella
and the
amulet, the more impossible it is for VanDyke to interfere in any way.”

“Let's not lower our guard just yet. We're a lot better moored here, off island, miles from the site.”

“VanDyke's skulking off with his tail between his legs. He can call out every politician, every institute and official in his pocket. It won't change things now.” Turning, she wrapped her arms around him. “I know you'd rather have handled things differently, but this is the best way for us.”

“Doing it this way was more satisfying than I thought. We win, he loses. All the way around.” He reached in his pocket, took out the amulet. “It's really yours now.”

“Ours.”

“Rules of salvage,” he murmured and slipped it around her neck. “I think when he had it made for her, he chose a ruby as the heart, for passion. The diamonds around it for endurance. The gold for strength.” Gently, he kissed her brows, her cheek, her lips. “Love needs all those things.”

“Matthew.” She closed her hand around the stone. “That's lovely.”

“I thought you might want to wear it for the wedding.”

“I would, yes, if I didn't have something else I treasure even more. It's a little gold locket with a pearl.”

Absurdly touched, he ran a finger down her cheek. He had to clear his throat before he could trust his voice. “You kept that?”

“I tried to throw it away a dozen times, and never could. Nothing I've ever brought up from the sea was more precious to me. Not even this.”

“We're going to make it work.” He kissed her lightly. “You're my luck, Red. Why don't we go in? Hayden's right about that long day coming up.”

“I'll be right along. I want to go over my records, make sure everything's perfect. Shouldn't take more than a half hour.”

“You're going to be practical when I was planning on driving you crazy?”

“Make that twenty minutes.” She laughed and gave him a nudge. “I really need to be sure all my documents
are in order. No way I'm going to look half-baked when the rep from the Cousteau Society shows up.”

“Ambitious and sexy.” He nipped her bottom lip. “I'll wait for you.”

“Fifteen minutes,” she called after him, then hugged herself.

Everything she'd ever wanted was only a step away. The man she loved and a life with him, a career suddenly on fast-forward, the museum that would showcase their work.

She closed her hand around the amulet, shut her eyes. And after four hundred years, perhaps Angelique would finally be at rest.

Nothing, she realized, was impossible.

She walked over to pick up the bottles and glasses she and Lorraine had left behind. The quiet footsteps behind her had her chuckling.

“Fifteen minutes, Lassiter. Maybe ten if you don't distract me.”

The hand that clamped around her mouth was damp and smooth. Her own had jerked up to claw at it even before true alarm registered.

“There's a gun at your back, Tate.” The sharp jab just above her kidneys had her going still. “Silenced. No one will hear if I shoot you right here. If you scream or call out I'll kill you, and anyone who runs to your aid. Do you understand?”

The voice, the threat were sickeningly familiar. She could only nod.

“Be very careful.” VanDyke shifted his rough grip from her mouth to her throat. “You can be dead in an instant.” Perhaps he could just snap her neck. He considered it, toyed with it, discarded it. Murder could wait. “An instant later I'm in the water and away.”

“What do you hope to prove by this?” The words were weak and gasping as he squeezed her throat. “The
Isabella
and everything she held is out of your reach. You can kill me, kill all of us, it won't change that. You'll be hunted down, thrown in prison for the rest of your life.”

“Don't you know that no one will be able to touch me
once I have the amulet? You know the power it holds, you've felt it.”

“You're insane—” Her scream was involuntary and carried no more than a foot when his fingers crushed brutally over her windpipe.

“It's mine. Has always been mine.”

“You'll never get away. They'll know it was you. All your money and all your influence won't be able to protect you this time.” She wheezed out a breath as he loosened his grip.

“The amulet will be enough.”

“You'll have to go into hiding for the rest of your life.”

As she spoke, she shifted her eyes wildly in search of a weapon. The champagne bottle with its thick heavy glass was out of reach.

“We have the tapes, we've announced the find.” She hurried on. “Hayden and Lorraine know, as do dozens of others. You can't kill them all.”

“I can do anything. I can do anything, and there's nothing and no one to touch me. Give me the amulet, Tate, and I'll spare your parents.”

Her head whirled as she remembered. She closed her hand protectively around the stone. It seemed to pulse quietly against her palm.

“I don't believe you. You'll kill me, you'll kill all of us, and for what, some wild notion that a necklace will bring you power and impunity?”

“And perhaps immortality.” Yes, he'd begun to believe that, begun to see the truth of that. “Others have believed it, but they were weak, unable to control what they held in their hands. I'm different, you see. I'm used to command, to harnessing power. That's why it belongs to me. What would it be like to live with every wish, every thought possible? To win everything. To live forever if you wanted it.”

His breath quickened, coming hard against her ear. “Yes, I'll kill you for that. I'll kill all of you for that. Do you want me to make you suffer first?”

“No.” She closed her eyes, straining her ears for the sound of the returning tender. If she could somehow signal
them, or Matthew, there might be a way to stop VanDyke from killing all of them. “I'll give it to you, and pray to God it gives you the life you deserve.”

“Where is the amulet?”

“Here.” She lifted the stone she still held in her hand. “Right here.”

Stunned, he loosened his hold enough for her to jerk away. But she didn't run. There was nowhere to run. Instead she faced him, eyes cold and defiant, her fingers still circling the brilliant center gem. She could see his face go lax, soften like glass heated. But the gun never wavered.

“It's beautiful, isn't it?” she said quietly. She couldn't appeal to his reason. So she would appeal to his madness. Perhaps, just perhaps, she had a weapon after all.

“For centuries it's waited to be held again, worn again, admired again. Do you know there wasn't a mark on it when I took it from the sand?”

She turned the stone so that it caught the white beam of the moon. Light and shadows danced. It was quiet, suddenly so quiet, she could hear each separate whisper of the waves kissing the hull.

“Time, water hadn't touched it. It would have looked just like this, bright and gleaming, the last time she wore it around her neck.”

When he continued to stare, his eyes locked, hypnotized, on the amulet, she inched back, still holding the stone out. “I think she wore it that morning. The morning they came to execute her. And he, the man responsible for condemning her, waited outside the cell, and took it.”

Her voice was quiet, almost soothing. “He couldn't have her, but he could have that last physical link she had to the man she loved. Or so he thought. But he just couldn't break that very intimate connection between them. Neither could death. She spoke his name in her mind as the smoke filled her lungs and the flames licked at her feet. Etienne's name. I can hear her, VanDyke, can't you?”

Caught like a rat by the gaze of a snake, he stared. His tongue darted out to lick his lips. “It's mine.”

“Oh no, it's still hers. It always will be. That's the
secret, VanDyke, that's the magic and the power. The ones who didn't understand that, and coveted it for their own ends are the ones who brought the curse on their own heads. If you take it,” she said softly and with sudden certainty, “you're damned.”

“It's mine,” he repeated. “I'm the only one it was meant for. I've spent a fortune to find it.”

“But I found it. You're only stealing it.” She was nearly at the rail now. Was that a motor? she wondered. Or just her wishing? If she shouted now, would she save the people she loved, or kill them?

VanDyke's eyes snapped back to hers, and her heart sank like a stone in the sea. Those eyes were clear again, calm again, without that thin glaze of madness.

“You think I don't know what you're doing? Stalling for time until your broad-shouldered hero charges to your aid. A pity he hasn't so you could die together, romantically. Now I've indulged you long enough, Tate. Take off the amulet and give it to me or I'll put the first bullet in your gut instead of your heart.”