Thief: The Scarab Beetle Series: #1 (The Academy) (44 page)

“You might have your hands tied,” I said. I turned zeroing in on the door to the elevator. “But I don’t.”

“Wait,” Marc snatched my arm with a firm grip. “You’re staying here.”

“No, I’m not,” I said. I punched at his arm but he didn’t release me.

“You’re not going out there with him looking for you.”

“What is he going to do?” I asked, squinting against the rising wind and stared him down. “Is he going to kill me? Set me on fire? Break me?”

“Maybe,” he said. “He’s already in with criminals and he’s very good at hiding what he’s doing. I really don’t want to find out how far he’s willing to go.”

“Well, it isn’t your choice, is it?”

He pulled me around, nearly shaking me. “What the hell do you think you’re doing, Kayli?”

“I’m going to go see Coaltar,” I said, as plainly as I could.

“You’re crazy.”

“I’m going to go talk to him,” I said. “So maybe there’s nothing we can do. Maybe there’s nothing anyone can do to get him to back off. Or maybe there is. Maybe I’ll just talk to him. Maybe he’ll change his mind. And I don’t think he’ll kill me. He’s ... I mean he’s interested in keeping himself out of jail, right? Or else I don’t think he’d touch this.”

Marc’s mouth set. He stared at me, as if trying to figure this out.

“Let me go talk to him,” I said. “Have Kevin stay with Wil. I’ll go talk to Coaltar and see if I can’t at least talk him into doing something else. Maybe he didn’t think it through.”

“And what if you can’t?” he asked. “What if he’s just waiting for you to come back so he can do whatever he wants? He could get rid of you if he wanted.”

“Then you’ll have a good reason to bust in with the cops and take him down.” I don’t know what drew me to want to take such a risk. I didn’t know the people in whatever village he was after. All I knew was, someone could die. One kid could drink from that well if no one stopped him, and if I didn’t even try, it would be my fault. I couldn’t live knowing I might have been able to do something.

Marc shook his head. “You can’t do this.”

“You can’t stop me. Last I checked, it wasn’t illegal to go talk to someone.”

“We can’t.”

I turned on him, planting a palm on his chest and shoving. “You can’t,” I barked at him. I pushed again and he released me, looking angry and gritting his teeth but simply stared at me. That set me off worse than ever. “You can’t do a thing because you’re tied to some mysterious weirdo group that won’t let you think for yourself.”

“You don’t understand,” he said.

I shoved again. Each shove did absolutely nothing as he stood firm and didn’t shift but I felt better doing it. “I don’t care. All I know is that every moment I stay here, he’s one step closer to doing this horrible thing and if I’ve got the opportunity to stop him, I will.” I turned, heading for the door. My heart was pounding. My brain wouldn’t stop working out my plan. I’d tell Coaltar I was scared he’d kill kids. That ought to work, right? If he was reasonable? Maybe there was another way. I could convince him...

My train of thought stopped as I stared out into the water. One of the biggest yachts I’d ever seen was making the trek out from the marina on the Ashley River out into the bay. There were three decks, and the second deck was painted blue. The whole thing screamed opulence.

My brain flew into orbit. That was him. I knew it. I don’t know how I knew, but I could tell. Coaltar was leaving. I’d run out of time.

Or had I? A plan formulated, a crazy one.

“We have to go.” I turned, running for the elevator.

“Kayli!”

I didn’t stop, I was running full speed. When I got to the elevator, I had to wait for it to get to the top and for the doors to open.

“Wait,” Marc said.

“That’s him. That’s his boat.”

“Then Raven is probably on to him. We need to step back.”

“You step back. I’m going to stop him.”

Marc reached for me. “Don’t.”

I smacked his hand away. “I’m going,” I said. “You can stay behind if you want. I don’t care. I’m not going to wait.”

He groaned, shifted on his feet, looking out into the water.

“Marc,” I barked at him. I pointed out at the river. “I know that’s him. He’s getting away. We have to hurry.” The doors opened, and I lunged inside.

Marc hesitated only a moment, gazing in after me. He waited until the doors almost closed on him before he wedged himself through and we descended.

“You’re not going to stop me,” I said. “If you try, I’ll scream bloody murder until...”

He grunted. He turned, facing the mirrored doors and stared them down. “I may not be able to stop him. I’m not allowed,” he said. “But there’s nothing to stop me from watching over a crazy girl while she does one of the stupidest stunts ever.”

It took all the strength inside me not to beam with happiness. I’d convinced him. I blinked hard not to let the threat of happy tears ruin this moment.

The wriggly sparks invaded every part of my body.

He shifted on his feet as he stared at the elevator doors, rubbing at the back of his head. “What are we doing, anyway?”

I was piecing it together as we moved. “Ever been sailing?” I asked.

––––––––

W
e took the black truck to City Marina. I sat on the edge of the seat, clutching the middle console and the suicide handle, as if I could will the car to go faster. I bit my tongue to stop myself from barking at the windshield when someone in front of us dared to go only
ten
miles over the speed limit and slowed us down. Coaltar was already well ahead of us, and I was scared to death of losing him, losing our chance.

Marc drove with the phone attached to his ear. He called Raven first to warn him we were coming, and then Kevin to make sure he stayed with Wil.

The moment he stopped the car, I jumped out and slammed the door. I ran ahead of Marc past the boating house.

Raven and Axel stood shoulder to shoulder on the dock. They waited with their arms crossed. Axel’s face was grim.

Raven’s was completely unreadable.

“Where’s Silas?” Marc asked.

“Had to get home,” Axel said. “Family emergency.”

I started forward. I wasn’t going to wait. I knew what I wanted.

Axel held out a hand to stop me as I approached. “This isn’t a good idea,” he said.

“Tell me about it,” Marc said. “You try to stop her.”

“Kayli,” Axel said, turning to me. He used that quiet power of his eyes on me. Every syllable he spoke was severe, threatening to bend me at the knees to do what he ordered. “We need to stop and think. You don’t know what you’re doing.”

“What I know,” I said in a cool voice, drawing up every ounce of strength I had left to fight him off, “is that, that boat,” I pointed out to the water and the last place I spotted the yacht, “has lots of drugs on it that could kill people. He is intentionally going to dump them in into a well somewhere, where who knows how many people, maybe kids, could die. Do you really want to stand in front of me right now?”

Axel flinched. He grunted, looking troubled. Slowly, he lowered his hand, turning his head and staring out at the water, as if trying to figure out his next move.

I took the chance and I side-stepped around him. They could all stay. I’d do it all myself. I’d driven Blake’s boat. I could figure it out and get myself out there.

Raven angled himself to stand in my way, arms crossed, shoulders pulled back. I imagined the fierce bear on his back was snarling. He glared down at me with that stony expression.

“Don’t,” I told him. I drew my hand back, ready to strike. Not that I thought I could knock him out, but I’d at least distract him while I kicked him in the groin. That would at least give me a running start.

He shook his head as if reading my mind and silently telling me that wouldn’t work on him. “Which boat is his?” he asked.

I squared off my shoulders at him.

“Don’t waste time, little thief. Which one? I need to know.”

I pointed to the sailboat. He followed my finger, picking out the one.

“Not that one,” he said.

“Why not?” I asked, slowly realizing he wasn’t trying to stop me.

“It’s too slow. You’ll never make it.” He looked around, pointing to a motorized speed boat at the very end of one of the docks. “Let’s take that one.”

“We can’t steal a boat,” Axel said.

“Who’s we?” I asked. I headed toward the motorboat. “I’ll do it.”

Axel grunted.

“We’ll bring it back,” Raven said, starting off beside me, matching my pace. Axel and Marc followed behind us. “We take it now and we’ll bring it back when we’re done. Fill it with gas. Leave them nice flowers. Pay off their docking fees. They’ll thank us after. It’ll be the best boat theft they’ve ever experienced.”

I glowered at Raven, but he ignored my gaze. I wanted to tell him I’d do it all myself, but I stopped before I let pride ruin this. Raven was willing to break a few rules to make sure the right thing was done. Maybe he understood.

He rushed with me toward the boat, hopping into the back, taking over steering. He glanced over the controls, and then tapped at the ignition switch. I had a moment of panic, realizing the engine wouldn’t start without a key.

I was about to suggest we should go back to the sailboat when Raven reached into his pocket and pulled out a bump key and a pocket knife. He jammed it into the ignition, and then slammed it with the broad side of the pocket knife, at the same time, turning, starting up the engine. I was thoroughly impressed.

Axel and Marc climbed aboard. My heart pounded in my chest, buzzing to life every fiber of nerves inside of me. It was the craziest thing we were doing, but I’d never felt more alive, never so sure.

“What’s your brilliant plan?” Axel asked me as Marc and Raven figured out how to untie the boat from the dock. Axel eased himself until he was standing next to me, looking out at the water. “Are you going to shout at him from this little dingy? That’s a two-ton yacht we’re chasing.”

I gazed out, hoping, crossing my fingers the motorboat had some gas and we weren’t going to be sitting ducks. “I’m going to get on that two-ton thing and I’m going to talk him out of this.”

“And what if he doesn’t listen?”

I stared at him, and then glanced at Raven, asking him if he’d help me. He caught my gaze. He seemed to understand. He nodded and I returned to Axel with more confidence. “I’ll distract him while Raven gets the drugs and dumps it all overboard.”

“And then he calls the Coast Guard,” Axel said. “We’ll all be arrested.”

“Stay behind if you’re going to complain,” Raven said.

I caught Raven’s glance this time, and we shared a secret grin.

Marc rolled his eyes. “We’re all crazy.” He dropped the tie-off rope into the boat and nudged Raven toward the helm. “Let’s get this over with.”

Raven rolled the boat right out of the dock. No one stopped us. We had to pass the Coast Guard station at the end of the peninsula before we headed out to the open bay, but even then, no one seemed to care. My heart was in my throat, worried we’d see helicopters chasing us, but no one stopped us.

I wanted to do something, but there was nothing to do but wait until we caught up to Coaltar’s yacht. Raven drove and I stared off at the distance, willing for us to catch up. I shifted from foot to foot, bracing myself for what I was going to say to Coaltar when I saw him again.

Before, I wanted to stop Coaltar, and maybe I didn’t have a prayer of doing it, but I didn’t want to back down, no matter how impossible it seemed. Now, with the boys beside me, I felt like we stood a slim chance. I hoped it was enough.

Axel sat down next to me and then tugged my arm to get me to sit with him. He gazed out into the water. The motor was pretty loud. For a long time, we sat in silence next to each other. Our last little talk hadn’t gone so well. I don’t know what he was thinking, but I still felt the guilt over running off when he’d asked me to stay.

His mouth twitched after a while. “What if we don’t catch him?” he asked.

“We should.”

“We still might not. He wasn’t headed out very quickly, but he pretty much knew there was nothing we could do about him. He could have sped up by now. I don’t really know if this little boat could outrun him if he put his motor to full haul ass.”

“We’ll do our best.”

“What if it doesn’t work?” he asked. He turned, his face a blank slate. “What happens then? Are we going to chase him forever?”

I didn’t have an answer for him. This could be a mad chase for nothing. “I don’t know.”

“I need you to think very carefully how far you’re willing to take this, Kayli. You’re not just putting yourself at risk any more. Marc and Raven are bull headed enough to follow you wherever you want to lead them on this crazy campaign of yours. But how far will you chase the white whale?”

“How far would you?” I asked quietly. I met his eyes, and while I wasn’t certain how he felt, I hoped I showed I was somewhat confident in my answer. “How far would you go to save a life?”

“What would be the price?” he asked.

I shrugged. “Right now, it’s a few hours of our time, a borrowed boat, and the risk of getting caught and hoping the owners won’t feel too bad if we try to explain why we borrowed it.”

Axel exhaled. “How in the world do you do it?”

“Do what?”

The corner of his mouth lifted, softening his face into something that looked almost like pride. “Less than a week and you’ve got those boys breaking protocol to satisfy your own need to do whatever it takes to do the right thing.”

“I thought you didn’t like this plan.”

“I like the plan. I just don’t want you to go crazy.” He reached behind his body, at his hip holster that I hadn’t noticed before, and pulled out a .38. He knocked back the hammer and turned it over.

“What are you doing?” I asked, a little wary of the gun.

“Making sure this Coaltar doesn’t go crazy,” he said. He stuffed the gun back into the holster and turned to me. “Now listen to me. I hope Coaltar might be reasonable. Maybe he’ll change his mind if you talk to him. Maybe he’ll listen. He seems like a sensible person trying to right a wrong. He helped the Fitzgerald family when they could have suffered. He hid them in a new house, and tried to stop a gang war. I have to admire him for that.”