Tsunami Blue (10 page)

My head smacked on the teak deck and once more I saw stars. This was getting really old. I turned my head and was relieved to see that my hair wasn’t lying in a clump.

But something else was. I took a deep breath and tried like hell not to go down for the count.

Charlie’s severed hand was tangled in my long locks, his crimson blood mingling with my midnight hair.

I gave up, closed my eyes, and let the darkness take over. My last words I whispered before I passed out?

“Long sleeve, Charlie boy, long sleeve.”

Chapter Fourteen

I saw Gabriel the moment I opened my eyes. I was confused, and the first words out of my mouth were, “Am I naked again?”

“Only half,” he said, smiling, his dimples making his features soft and inviting and—okay, I admit it—amazingly sexy.

“You should do that more often,” I said.

“What?”

“Smile.”

He frowned and there it was: that familiar scowl of disapproval.
So here we go again.

“You scared me half out of my mind, Blue.”

“Only half?”

“Not funny.”

“Where’s Charlie?” I asked, trying to see past Gabriel.

“You don’t want to know.”

“Oh.”

I tried to sit up and encountered a wave of nausea. The stars, always friendly and inviting, now spun in vicious circles. I gasped and Gabriel caught me in his arms, holding me up like I was made of handblown Chihuly glass.

“I’m small, not breakable,” I said. If I weren’t so weary and sore, I might have launched into that whole tirade about being able to take care of myself, about not being his personal damsel in distress, and not needing anyone. But tonight my heart just wasn’t in it. I had been captured by a Runner. I was now surrounded by them. I didn’t think I’d be convincing with that argument anymore. And how I hated that I was starting to doubt myself.

“You have a concussion,” Gabriel said. “I don’t think you understand yet what a blow you took to your head. Shit. Why in the hell did you come up here?”

Why?
Why?
Was he kidding?

“To save your sorry ass, that’s why. But if you don’t want to thank me, fine. I should know better than to think a Runner might have manners.”

Holding me with one arm, he rubbed a temple. “I had it under control.”

“Charlie had a knee in your throat and a knife in the air. Don’t know how to break it to you, but you weren’t winning, tough guy.”

“Ever hear of playing dead? About the element of surprise?”

That did it. I jerked out of his arms. If I could get up, he wouldn’t have to worry about playing dead. He would be dead. The condescending ass. I tried to sit up. My world swam and faded to gray.

He was saying something about my head. But I was so sick from the motion as he picked me up, I couldn’t focus.

“I’ll be with you, Blue. You have to wake up every hour on the hour. The checkpoints will last all night.”

All night. He was saying something about lasting all night. That was good, right? Most women wanted a man who could last all night. I remember that from Uncle Seamus’s 1-900 hot-girls line.

He wrapped me in sailcloth to disguise me from prying Runner eyes and took me down the stairs, slowly picking his way through scattered debris and splintered wood. He headed straight back into the V-berth and put me down like a china doll.

My head throbbed, and my cheek and eye, which had taken the brunt of Charlie’s punch, were tight with swelling. I didn’t need a mirror to know I’d have one hell of a shiner.

Gabriel covered me with a soft flannel camping blanket, which reminded me of the old threadbare blanket I’d used to cover myself the morning I had woken up with him beside me; which reminded me of my little cabin on the beach; which reminded me of Max; which reminded me that I wasn’t going to cry anymore. At least, that had been the plan.

I put my arm over my eyes and squeezed them shut, fighting off the pain and loneliness and heartbreak. Still, as hard as I tried, one lone, hot tear streamed down my swollen cheek. A gentle thumb brushed it away.

“I’m sorry, Blue. I put us in the thick of things, but I can get us out of this.”

I heard him unwrapping something and I dropped my arm to focus. “My eyes are watering from the dizziness,” I lied.

“Of course,” he said, clearly not believing me.

I hated seeing the pity in his eyes, so I closed mine once more. Something cold and soft touched my cheek and my eyes opened to see Gabriel trying to adjust a raw steak against the side of my face.

“Please tell me that is not prime rib.”

“It’s not.”

“New York?”

“Underwater, I hear.”

“Don’t try to be funny. Comedy is so not your thing.”

He raised an eyebrow.

“Seriously. Do not waste a steak on me.”

“I don’t consider it a waste.”

“It is if you don’t eat it.”

“Not hungry.”

I thought of all the salmon I had consumed in the last, oh, say, million years, and the thought of a perfectly good steak going to waste…“Damn it, Gabriel.” I made the mistake of trying to sit up again. The moment I pushed up from the bunk the tiny cabin swirled and the cold steak slipped from my cheek and eye, the throbbing flaring to a new level.

I dropped back on the bunk. I reached for the raw meat and placed it on my face again. The relief was immediate.

“Let’s not eat the steak and say we did,” I said. “Okay?”

I heard a chuckle and then, “Okay.”

I thought of Snake and Charlie. I chewed my bottom lip. “Um, Gabriel?”

“Yeah.”

“Not that there’s anyone around to tell. Right?”

“Yes, for now. Although I can’t be sure they won’t send another babysitter around for me.”

“They might reconsider. You seem to go through babysitters pretty fast.”

Gabriel laughed, and I couldn’t help smiling as his face softened and the twin dimples danced to the surface. I reached up and traced the dimples, resting my hand on the side of his face. He looked amazing when he smiled, and yeah, he always looked amazing, but when he opened up like this, so warm, so inviting, I almost believed he was so much more than a Runner. Who was this man, really?

Indigo’s favorite
. 

I jerked my hand away, suddenly afraid.

He grabbed my hand back, pulling it to his lips so he could kiss my palm. He placed my hand on his chest. I felt his heartbeat, a beat I’d worked so hard to bring back to life. I wondered again, and not for the first time, whether, knowing what I did now, if I had to do it over, could I let him die? I didn’t want to know. Not really. I didn’t want to know that all my humanity may have slipped away that night.

“This belongs to you now,” Gabriel whispered.

“What?” I whispered back.

“My heart. You saved it. You saved me.”

I looked at him and pulled my hand from his. Not in anger, not in haste. I just couldn’t bear to touch him, this dark angel of mine, not knowing if he was my savior in the midst of all this evil or the root of the evil itself.

Below, the shortwave radio crackled to life. Runners had the best equipment around, and Gabriel’s was no exception. They went to great lengths to tweak and detail and trick out their equipment. It was such a Runner thing. But they also went to great lengths to hide and camouflage their babies from would-be thieves, and, if truth be told, from each other. Paranoid didn’t begin to cover it.   

“Gabriel Black, answer or we board. Your decision.”

Gabriel sighed and looked intently at me. “I’ll buy us some time. For tonight it’s the best I can do.”

“What if your best isn’t good enough?” I whispered.

He didn’t answer, just got up, ran his hand through his thick, dark hair, and made his way down to the hold, where his shortwave radio spun static and noise.

I lay unmoving, listening intently, knowing how shortwave broadcasts were prone to serious interference from the atmosphere, from the season, from the time of day even.

Shortwave signals skipped and bounced in the atmosphere, so the sound was variable. Therefore, when the Runner voice faded and cracked, I wasn’t surprised; still, desperate to hear my fate, I risked the nausea and spinning and sat up on the bunk, straining to hear.

Holding the steak to my eye, I slid to the floor so I could hear better, fighting the rising bile and closing my eyes to the dizziness. I heard Gabriel first, his voice almost unrecognizable with hatred and malice.

“Send anyone else over and they die tonight.”

“Tough words.”

“I’m tired of the bullshit, Trace.”

Trace? Who was Trace?

“How can I trust you?”

“You have me in your sights. I’m surrounded. Where do you think I can go?”

A new voice: “You’ve slipped by us before, Black, you slimy bastard. And now you’ve broken my arm. We aren’t letting you go nowhere. And I’m counting the minutes till we meet up again.”

I knew that voice. Snake.

“You can count?” Gabriel again. I smiled at the crack. Maybe I misjudged him. Maybe he could do comedy.

“Snake, get the fuck off this channel. Now.”

Trace again.

“Tomorrow,” Gabriel continued, “I sail for New Vancouver in the Canadian Gulfs.”

“Your business?”

“What it always is, Trace. Nothing’s changed.”

“The wind says differently.”

“When do you put stock in anything that comes down the wind?”

Silence.

Then the crackle and pop of interference over the airwaves. Trace’s voice moved in and out like a child playing with the volume on a radio.

Then I heard it. My name. There one minute, gone the next. I crawled now, letting the steak drop. I had to hear; I had to. And then, there it was.

“Tsunami Blue.” Interference. Then, “Hunt. Find.” Crackle, static, then, “Indigo.” Fade out. “Proud.” Fade back in. “You’ll be a rich man, Gabriel, if you pull this off.”

Trace was coming in loud and clear again.

“Yeah. And when I do, I just might remember who my friends are. So how about letting me get a decent night’s sleep by not sending me any more losers?”

“Fine. I’m tired of arguing with you. We’re done for the night. And, Gabriel?”

“What?”

“Where’s Charlie?”

“He’s taking swimming lessons from the sharks.”

I heard Trace chuckle. And even though I’d tried to encourage Charlie to take a swim myself, I failed to see the humor in it. And then Trace was back with one more question.

“Short or long sleeve?”

“Long.”

Trace laughed. “My personal favorite. That’s what I like to here, bro.”

I immediately had a vision of Charlie’s hand gripping my hair and how the blood from the severed limb had soaked and matted it into impossible knots.

I couldn’t contain my nausea any longer. I threw up what little I could and continued retching with dry heaves until my body couldn’t take it any longer.

As I laid my bruised and swollen cheek on the cool teak floor, I waited, too weak to move, listening for his familiar catlike footsteps.

He wouldn’t be pleased I’d ventured from the bunk.

Well, to hell with him. I wasn’t pleased that Trace considered him his ‘bro.’  

Gabriel was a monster, albeit a great-looking one, but still a monster. I’d bide my time. Keep my cool. Learn to sail this boat, throw him overboard as I’d originally planned. See how he liked swimming with the sharks. I wouldn’t mention his ‘bro’ relationship with good old Trace.  Nope. I’d just stash that little bit of info away for a rainy day.

“Blue, what the
hell
are you doing off the bunk?”

I couldn’t move my cheek from the cool floorboards. It felt too good. I felt too weak to lift my head. But I could yell. Or at least die trying.

“Well, hello yourself. Tell me, how’s your ‘bro,’ Trace?’

Me and my temper.

Guess that rainy day was now.

Chapter Fifteen

So apparently we were taking a shower.

With the coast clear for the night of unwanted babysitters from hell, Gabriel suggested I—that is,
we
—shower. He said I couldn’t do it on my own. Gee, I wondered what gave it away: the puking, the dizziness, or the just plain passing out.

Long overdue
, he said.

Not a nice thing to say to a girl
, I said.

I said no.

He said yes.

When I still said no, he pointed out that I had blood in my hair and other unknown bits of Charlie yet to be named. I considered all the blood and gore I’d witnessed and worn today, and all of a sudden, I couldn’t get in the shower fast enough.

But not before I reminded him that he was to blame for the mess in my hair and the mess in my life and most likely the mess in the entire world.

He said that part didn’t make sense. How could he be responsible for the waves and the destruction that followed?

Spawn of Satan?
I suggested.

And that was when we stopped talking.

Still, if only I were a better communicator. I had always let my knife do all the talking. And it wasn’t like I ever had a boyfriend or a real relationship. I had Seamus, but I’d done everything in my power not to talk to him. Not to have a relationship. I didn’t want to feel anything when he died. It hadn’t worked.

But then I had Max. I knew how to talk to Max. How to love Max. And the best part? He never, ever in five years, talked back. If only Gabriel Black were that trainable. Then he might make a good boyfriend. Boyfriend? What? Where had that thought come from?
Had
to be head trauma.

“Blue, we’re ready.”

“You are, maybe. Me? Not so much.”

He came into the tiny stateroom where I was lying with a cold cloth over my eyes. Even the tiny candles that had been lit tweaked my vision and made my head swirl.

I opened one eye and saw he had his shirt off and his jeans still on. With his golden skin and the candlelight flickering off him, he looked like Mr. December right off the Vegas stage. And with a stubble of beard that only added to the tall, dark, and dangerous mystique, I had to admit Gabriel was even better.

Better because he was real and standing right in front of me.

I gazed at his lean and muscled torso, the tapering waist and slender hips. I didn’t need to see more. I knew every inch of this man.

I’d rubbed and stroked him, massaged him.

I’d brought him back to life.

And I was ashamed to admit it, but I so wanted to put my hands on him again. I wanted to feel his warmth. His shelter. I needed the power that radiated from him, that made me feel somehow protected, even if we were enemies.

There was no denying it: There was a connection.

I had risked my life for him. It was that undeniable pull that made me charge on deck and take on Charlie, a man a gazillion times my size. And Gabriel had done the same for me on New San Juan, where he was outnumbered and overmatched. And then again with Snake and Charlie.

What was it with us?

“Come on, Blue. You’ll feel so much better after a shower.”

I let him lift me in his arms, and the steak slipped from my fingers on the stand next to the bunk. What a waste of such a good-looking piece of meat. A
New York
. Guess it was nice to know that in his eyes I was worth the price of a premium cut. And in today’s world, I was thinking, that had to be a lot. It wasn’t like we had Safeway and shrink-wrap.

Gabriel had rigged a makeshift chair in the head by padding the toilet seat with a towel. The plan? The two of us would squeeze into the tiny room, and I was to sit on his lap while he handled the portable hose and showerhead. From a holding tank, he would pump the water with his foot into the system, which fed through the hose, and like magic we would have a nice, steamy shower.

In theory.

But first we had to negotiate shower rules.

Number one, he could take off his jeans. It was December, and there was no way they would dry easily. So I’d given in on that. But he would wear underwear. I requested the black number from his washed-up-on-the-beach day. He said I’d get   what he had on: tighty whities.

Number two, I could wear a tank top with my panties. Which he thought was ridiculous, since I’d spent time with him in the hold
  
topless. Not to mention time with Charlie. I pointed out that I’d been wearing a blanket, and Charlie had the whole absinthe-haze thing going on, so technically he didn’t really see me. He saw double-Ds. I won, of course.

And now we were ready.

But the shower wasn’t.

I’d taken so long to negotiate that our hot and steamy was barely lukewarm. Gabriel started over, warming kettle after kettle of water.

I sat on the side bunk in the main cabin with the camp blanket wrapped securely around me. My spinning world had stopped, replaced by a headache of all headaches. Gabriel said that was to be expected and insisted again that I needed to be woken up every hour.
Great.
Because my sore and aching body screamed for sleep. Ten straight years should do it.

I looked around the cabin and marveled at the amazing job Gabriel had done cleaning up after Snake and company while I’d slept. I knew without asking that the blood and hand would be gone from below too. Knowing I might have to spend more time in the deep bowels of the boat, Gabriel had made it tolerable for me. That was the kind of guy my kidnapper was.

Gabriel had brought up the knapsack he’d tossed down below to me earlier and it sat beside me. I was unsure what was to be done with it. It was for me; that much I knew. And the curiosity was killing me.

“Blue.” He walked over and sat beside me on the small bunk. “Open it.”

I placed the small canvas bag in my lap. The blanket slid down, revealing my full tattoo from shoulder to wrist. I knew Gabriel was staring at it. At the name
Finnegan
scrolled through the waves, reaching upward toward my heart. But I ignored him. Some things I never discussed. And Finn was at the top of the list.

I opened the bag and there, gleaming in the candlelight, were three Japanese float balls. I recognized the blown-glass amber and green ones right away, those colors I had seen before. They were like the ones I had lost in the fire. But the third was new.

New, and oh, so amazing.

I fought back a laugh of sheer joy but couldn’t contain my smile as I brought out the rare and much-sought-after cobalt blue one.

“Oh, Gabriel,” I whispered, truly in awe. “It’s beautiful.”

“Like you,” he whispered back.

Not wanting to ruin the moment, I ignored his comment, but as usual, the tingling in my cheeks warned of impending blushing.

“This float is as sought after as…” I trailed off, humiliated at what I was about to say.

“As Tsunami Blue,” he finished for me.

I could only nod, knowing the truth of his words. Everyone had wanted a piece of me since I was a little girl. The Southeast Asian press, Seamus, Runners, and now, most likely, Gabriel Black. I had a very big fan club. And not in a good way.

I held the glass up to a nearby candle and let the blue shine through, beautiful and bold. I’d never been given anything so wonderful before. The feeling was simply overwhelming.

“It matches your eyes.”

I lowered the ball and tucked it safely back with the others. I’d revisit it later, alone, when I wasn’t feeling so raw and exposed. “Thank you.”

“There’s more.”

“There is?” I said, surprised.

My hands shook slightly as I pulled out an envelope. I opened it and saw that it was the clipping of my family. The one he had taped up down in the hold. I guess it was mine now. After nineteen years, my mother’s smile matched my memories perfectly. I touched her face, then my dad’s, and finally, I lingered on Finn, the only other person in this entire world who truly had known me. Had known my soul, my heart. My goodness.

Silent tears traced down my cheeks and I tasted the salt of them on my lips. For once I didn’t wipe them away. I wasn’t ashamed of the tears I’d shed for what had once been the best part of me.

“Thanks,” I breathed into the dark cabin as two of our three candles went out. “I-I don’t know what to say. Just…” My eyes were brimming with tears. “Just thanks.”

“You’re welcome,” he said softly.

I was so grateful for the dark, I almost missed the third and last item in the bag.

Max’s collar.

The one I had made myself out of a series of intricate nautical knots. I gripped the collar to my chest as the pain of losing him slammed into me all over again. The tears I so desperately tried to control tumbled down my cheeks.

Gabriel was at my side and took me in his arms.

“We’ll go back for him, Blue.”

I jerked my head up. “Can he still be alive?” I thought of the hounds of hell, their sheer numbers and size. How was it possible?

“I taught Beans—that is,
Max
—to survive. Without you to protect, or me, he may have just done what I’d trained him to do: run for his life. As soon as we left the beach, the Runners were after us. Why stay just to hunt down one dog?”

“But their dogs, those monsters-”

“Would leave with the rest of the scum. Max has a chance. Please understand that on that day, in that boat, in those waters, we would have been killing him—and us too—to take him with us. There was no choice.”

I nodded, understanding the logic. Still, my heart pounded in my chest.

“But is it really possible he’s still alive?” I reached for Gabriel, dropping the collar and grabbing his shoulders.

Gabriel shrugged. “It’s possible, it is. But in reality probably not likely. I hate to get your hopes up.”

“We still have to go back.”

Gabriel covered my hands with his and pulled my wrists to his lips. He kissed my palms, then looked into my eyes. “We’ll try. If we get out of this mess, we’ll try. I promise.”

I looked back into the darkness of his amazing eyes, searching for answers, for reassurance, for a promise I knew he couldn’t keep. Couldn’t keep because, as I looked past Gabriel’s shoulders at the lights of the Runners’ many ships, I didn’t really believe we could get out of this mess.

The kettle whistled.

Gabriel kissed my forehead and rose to get the last of the hot water.