Tsunami Blue (8 page)

The boys thudded across the top deck.

Gabriel bent down and brushed his lips on mine. “They won’t be disappointed, Blue. They’ll fall in love.”

As he left the tiny stateroom and slid the door closed behind him I heard him yell, “Get your butts down here for pancakes, ya little gangsters.”

Chapter Ten

I sat across from the twin boys on my little bench and ate pancakes while drinking Starbucks Christmas Blend. With cream. I was on my fifth cup.

The boys hadn’t been able to take their gaze off me and I could see that their curiosity was killing them.

“Better slow down on that coffee, Bambi,” Gabriel said. “Might make you edgy.”

I gave Gabriel the look. The exact same one I’d given him forty-five minutes ago when he first introduced me to the boys. As Bambi. I mean, really. I remembered a small ad on the back of that Thunder Down Under calendar from Las Vegas, the one where Gabriel Black looked like Mr. December.
Come see Bambi and her amazing pole
, it read. Somehow, I didn’t think they were referring to the Disney deer.

“So, um, Bambi. How’d you and Just Gabe hook up?”

The boys, ten-year-old twins named Nick and Alec, had shortened Gabriel to “Just Gabe.” It seemed to be an inside joke between them. According to the boys, Gabriel was quite the mother hen, always giving advice, hovering, worrying, lecturing. The boys had taken to exasperated sighs, eye rolling, and saying in unison their favorite expression, “Don’t worry, that’s Just Gabe.”

I glanced at Gabriel and tried to picture him as Just Gabe. Or maybe Just Good Old Gabe. Nope. It wasn’t workin’ for me. Just Gabe was still just good old pain-in-my-ass Gabriel Black. Kidnapper. Runner. Pirate.

Still, as I watched Gabriel around the boys, dishing up pancakes, making them drink their milk, smoothing their wild hair, I saw something else. I saw the way he looked at them. I saw pride in the way he would pat their shoulders, I saw worry when he examined Alec’s skinned elbow, but mostly I saw love in those dark eyes. These boys were special to him. And honestly? I didn’t know how to process the boy’s version of Just Gabe, with my version of Gabriel the Runner.   

“Hello? Bambi? How’d you hook up?” Nick asked again impatiently.

Hook up?
I tilted my head toward Twin One and thought of the cuffs.
Let’s see, how to answer?
“Well, Nick, I guess you could call it more like a ‘linkup.’”

“A linkup?”

“Yeah. You might say he
captured
my attention.”

“How?” Now it was Alec’s turn to ask questions.

“Well…” I looked at both boys. “It all started with a
bracelet
.”

Gabriel almost dropped his mug and I smiled smugly at him.

“A bracelet?” Nick asked Gabriel. “Where’d you get a girl’s bracelet, Just Gabe?”

“Unisex,” I said.

“Huh?” the boys said in unison.

“What I mean, guys, is that the bracelet is good for a male or a female. Although, I must say, I think it looked way better on his wrist than mine.”

Gabriel gave me a warning shake of his head.

“Can we see it?” Alec chimed in.

Gabriel set his mug on the teak table hard, and I jumped in my seat.

“Sorry, boys,” he said. “It’s gone.”

“Yep,” I joined in, not able to help myself. “Lost overboard. It was all I could do to keep Gabriel from jumping in after it. I mean, he was so attached to it.”

The boys looked genuinely disappointed, and I started to feel guilty for the tall tale. Damn Gabriel and his girlfriend, Bambi. Even if she was me.

We were interrupted by barking.

Barking that sounded just like Max. I couldn’t help myself. I started to jump up, nearly spilling my precious coffee, and yelled, “Max!”

Gabriel placed a hand on my shoulder as the boys hurried to climb the steps leading to the cockpit.

“Bacon, knock it off. We told you to wait!” Nick shouted.

“No barking, Bacon,” Alec yelled after him.

I pushed Gabriel’s hand aside and followed the boys up the ladder and out into the morning sun. Shielding my eyes from the brightness of the winter morning I was met with more than one surprise.

First there was Max, as big as life, sitting in a steel drift boat that had been modified with skids and poles. Second, as far as my eyes could see, the bay, now only mud and sand, was pockmarked with tide pools.

My breath caught.

The tide pools were teeming with box jellyfish; some sporting tentacles as long as fifteen feet. So Gabriel hadn’t been lying. Interesting.

I leaned over the stanchions, looked around, and shuddered at the sight, knowing full well the danger the jellies presented. Even a feather touch of those stinging tentacles would cause paralysis. Then my organs would shut down one by one and, within an hour, death. I was nine when my uncle put a knife through a fellow Runner’s heart after tangling with a jelly left him begging for a quick death. I secretly suspected that Seamus had enjoyed the kill a little too much. Turned out I was right. All the dead man’s belongings ended up in our cabin.

The dog looked ready to jump onto the sailboat to greet me. But if Max missed his mark, there were jellies between us, surrounding the boat, everywhere.

“Max, no!” But I was too late. The giant dog flew into the air. My voice was joined by a chorus of others.

“Dang it, Bacon.”

“Not again, Bacon.”

“How many times have I told you guys? No dogs on board.”

And then, “Duck, Bambi, duck.”

And just like that I was on my back, covered in fur and slobber and dog breath. Tears sprang to my eyes as I hugged Max to me, so glad he had made it on board, so glad he was alive, so glad— But wait. Through my tears and as the boys yelled and tugged I could see the top of Max’s head. Not at all like Max. Too much brown, not enough white, the black markings off. Like a patchwork of soft fur and colors, this dog was beautiful. And the weight, while suffocating, was not as suffocating as Max’s. Not as big as Max. Not my Max. An almost exact copy but not. Not.

I felt my heart break all over again.

Alec was beside me helping me up. “Sorry, Bambi. Bacon just gets excited when she meets someone new. She didn’t mean any harm. Sorry if she hurt you.” He looked down, embarrassed. “We—that is, Nick and me, and Bacon, of course—didn’t mean to make you cry.”

Gabriel was next to me, his arm securely tucking me in next to him.

“She’s okay, boys,” he said before I could find my voice. “Bacon just caught her off guard.”

I nodded, still not trusting my voice. I looked at Bacon, held back in Nick’s arms. This dog was certainly not Max. Could never be Max.

“She’s beautiful, boys,” I said at last, hoping my voice didn’t sound as shaky as I felt.

“Did you have a dog like her, Bambi?” Nick asked as he let Bacon go and she trotted over to my side. “’Cause you called her Max. Just Gabe had one too. Bacon’s brother.”

I knelt and held the dog’s massive head in my arms. “Once,” was all I could get out.

“Hey, Just Gabe,” Alec said. “Maybe Bambi’s dog was related to Bacon and Beans.”

“Beans?” I looked up at Gabriel. “Please don’t tell me you named your dog Beans.” I had a hard time keeping the ice out of my voice. Max was magnificent, not a joke. Not deserving of a name like Beans.

“It wasn’t Just Gabe,” said Nick. “The breeder named them.”

“The breeder?”

“Yeah. They were the second litter, the B litter. Bacon and Beans. Just Gabe took Beans and gave us Bacon.”

“Yeah,” said Alec. “Right after our parents died. Bacon’s been our family ever since.”

“Bacon and Just Gabe,” Nick said, shrugging. “When he’s around.”

“I’m around, boys,” Gabriel said, “even when you don’t realize it.”

I stopped petting Bacon and looked at Gabriel, surprised at the raw honesty in his voice and the intensity of his words. Sadness creased the corners of his eyes and I realized the investment he had in these boys. He loved them. Pure and simple. It was evident in his voice. In the way he looked at them with pride, the way he patted their shoulders, the way he tossed their shaggy hair.

What was it like to be loved like that? My family, now a faint memory, had loved me like that. Hadn’t they? Loneliness and pain filled my heart, and as I gazed upon the boys an awkward silence filled the air around us. A sorry little band of misfits, that was us: a rogue Runner, a freakish captive, orphaned twins, and one huge dog. Sounded like characters in a classic work of fiction. If only we could all have a happy ending. But with a monster wave coming, I knew it wasn’t possible.

I stood and walked to the bow, inching out on the narrow wooden sprit. The tide was closing in and the pools were melting into one another, releasing the jellies to travel on the current, final destination unknown. The air smelled of sulfur and salt, and the winter sun felt warming yet waning, as the sky filled with clouds promising another overcast day.

One of the boys padded up behind me and I turned and looked into the hazel eyes of Nick. I thought of him and his brother, alone after their parents’ deaths, and I couldn’t help myself. I had to ask.

“How did they die, your parents?”

“Wave.”

“Oh,” I said, my voice a whisper. Didn’t I just know how that felt. I turned and faced the boy, so close to being a man, and yet closer still to a child. My heart hurt for them both.

“Tsunami Blue saved us, though.”

Shocked into silence, I didn’t know what to say.

“We heard the warning on the radio. Alec and me, we got to higher ground and got ourselves up a tree. That’s where Just Gabe found us. He’s been looking after us ever since.”

Nick settled on the deck and crossed his legs. “Have you ever heard her, Bambi? Tsunami Blue?”

They can’t know who you are. They can’t know.
Gabriel’s message played in my head. “Can’t say that I have,” I replied, hating the lie and hating Gabriel for making me tell it.

“She saved us. Wish we could meet her someday. That’s what Alec and I want more than anything.”

Anything?
“How come?” I found myself asking.

“’Cause when we hear her voice she makes us feel safe. Kinda like Just Gabe does. We don’t think she’s a witch or anything.”

Well, that was a relief. “You don’t?”

“Naw. She’s probably old. Like a grandma. That’s what we think.”

Great.
“Yeah,” I agreed. “Old like Just Gabe.”

“Yeah.”

The little joke cheered me up.

“Time to go, Nick. Tide’s in.” Gabriel stood at the rail and lowered a large package of supplies to Alec, who was in the skiff with Bacon. I walked along the railing, and Alec scrambled from his steel craft and climbed under the stanchions, flying into my arms for a hug. Surprised, I hugged him back. He bounded back with a, “Nice to meet you, Bambi,” only to be replaced by Nick giving an identical hug.

“Hope to see you soon,” Nick said as he released me and hopped over the rail to join his brother.

I watched the boys deftly push off with poles and the tiny craft floated and gained momentum on the tides. They started to drift away and something squeezed at my heart. What would become of them? How could Tsunami Blue keep them safe this time?

A wave like you have never seen
, the sea whispered at me.

I clutched my stomach in fear.

“Gabriel. We can’t just leave them. A wave is coming. I don’t know when, but they are out here alone and—”

Gabriel put his arms around me and held me to him. “I need to know everything you know about this wave.”

“I only know that it’s coming, soon-”

“And you don’t know where?” His voice was soft, steady, but I could hear the stress in it, the carefully masked fear.

“Not yet.” I wish I did. But this was the sea’s game, and as always it had a head start.

“Look.” He released me and pointed toward the boys as they drifted away. “Look at them, Blue. They are the innocent in all this. Do you want them to die?”

“That’s not fair.” I turned to face him. My anger flared. I carried enough guilt on my shoulders. Guilt for knowing I could always save myself. Guilt for knowing there were people who would never listen to me and die because of it. Guilt for not being able to stop the waves. I would not add the twins to that burden. I would not. But as I looked into Gabriel’s dark eyes and read the worry written there, I knew I was kidding myself. I was fond of those kids. I already felt partly responsible for them.

 “You’re the one leaving them alone. Not me.”  I couldn’t hide the defensiveness from my voice and I tried to step away from him. He stopped me.

“Not alone, Blue. Never alone. Look.” He turned me around. He pointed to the horizon, where the sand spit reached out for miles. A light flickered, a signal in the distance.

Gabriel released my shoulders and, cupping his hands to his mouth, he shouted, “Follow the signal, guys. Stay on course and stay out of trouble.”

“Yeah, we’re on it,” one of them yelled back. “Take care of Bambi. It’s not like you have a choice of girlfriends, ya know.”

“Yeah,” came the second voice, “and you’ll never find a prettier one, that’s for sure.”

I felt myself blush at the backhanded compliment. I shrugged at Gabriel. “Kids,” I said. “What are you gonna do?”

Gabriel looked at me with that dark, intense gaze of his. “I agree,” he said. “I’d never find a prettier one.”

“Bye, Bambi,” I heard the boys yell one last time. “Be careful and have fun.”

Fun? Well, that was new. When had anyone told me to have fun? And with Gabriel, the kidnapper? Yeah, like that was gonna happen. I yelled back, “Bye, guys, and don’t worry about me.” I glared at Gabriel. “Me and Just Gabe? Well, we’re livin’ the dream.”

And with that I pushed past Gabriel and headed down below for cup number six of Christmas Blend. But not before I landed a kick to Gabriel’s shin as I passed.

Chapter Eleven

Through the porthole, I watched the last trace of the boys and their tiny silver boat disappear into the horizon. I heard the last echo of Bacon’s bark and thought of Max. My heart squeezed and I blinked back the tears as I saw the signal flash once more from a distance impossible to judge. Runners?

Were the boys being raised by Runners? Just as I had been. And if they were, didn’t I just want to hate Gabriel Black for that. What kind of life was that for them? What kind of future? That is, if any of us had a future. Still. I finished my coffee and climbed topside once again. If I had a chance to save the boys and anyone else, I had to learn how to sail this boat. With or without Gabriel Black.

We were under sail and I stood at the end of the tiny bowsprit once again, watching the jellies float and scatter and disappear in our wake. Overwhelmed, I felt my shoulders slump in relief. I stared down at my rubber boots and had to admit that even with skulls, the badass feeling I got when I wore them had left me. Let’s face it: The jellies had unnerved me. I’d never seen so many in one place. And my rubber boots and I weren’t about to go wading at New False Bay anytime soon.

I watched an exceptionally large one disappear under the hull. Make that anytime ever.

I had watched every move Gabriel made as he readied the boat for sail. If I wanted something badly enough, I could be a quick study. And I wanted this boat more than badly enough.

The winter breeze turned into a stiff wind, and the boat picked up speed. I knew without turning around that Gabriel was watching me. I ignored him. As much as I could ignore a Runner who looked like a pirate who looked like Mr. December, who looked like…like what? Like sin and danger and sex, and like someone I had recently kissed in a way I had never kissed anyone before. Like someone I wanted to kiss again.
Damn it.

I couldn’t help it. I turned and looked.

Sure enough, his dark gaze was on me. Not on the sails or sky or scenery. On me.

“Just stop,” I shouted at him.

“Stop what?”

“You know damn well, Gabriel. Stop with the staring.”

“I’m not.”

“You are.”

“You’re in my line of vision.”

“Well, not anymore, tough guy.” I couldn’t exactly stomp off to the other side of the boat. My sea legs weren’t working. Okay, I didn’t have sea legs yet. But I would. I worked my way to the port side of the boat, hanging on to the stanchions as I went. Gabriel continued to watch, ready to pounce if I slipped or got tangled up in the lines or tumbled overboard. I scowled at him. He scowled back.

I sat down on the deck and let my legs hang over the edge of the boat, well above the water line. Slipping under the stanchion was a distinct possibility. Not that I would let that happen. Still, it made Gabriel anxious, I could tell. And that made me feel like I had control again. I stretched and let go of my safety rails, watching for his reaction. He paled. So I really could make him nervous. Fearful even. He needed me for something. Or someone. I thought of Indigo. Wow. It was so nice to feel wanted.

We neared the mouth of the bay, and my heart pounded as we headed out to open water. The sky was an endless gray, the sea an endless blue. No land lay before us. Where were we going? And why? And how could I escape?

Before I could muster the nerve to work my way to the cockpit where Gabriel manned the helm, I saw the last remnants of a dead buck being swallowed by a pool of sea and sand. The vacant, lifeless eyes stared into mine before the water rushed over the carcass, sucking the deer from sight in moments. My fist tightened on the railing until my knuckles turned white. The quicksand warning resonated. Gabriel had not lied. False Bay was a death trap lying in wait. And if it weren’t for the boys and Bacon, I’d be glad if I never came again.

“Not pleasant, is it?”

I jumped, not realizing that Gabriel was behind me until he spoke. Damn, but the man moved like a cat on this vessel; a large cat. A jaguar came to mind. I turned and looked up at him. He towered above me, casting a shadow as dark and ominous as the man himself.

He extended his hand. “Come away from the railing, Blue.”

It was a request of sorts. Underscored with a demand. His tone let me know once again who was running this ship, and who was not. I, of course, was the “not.”

I shrugged and grabbed his hand and let him hoist me to my feet. What was I gonna do? Jump? Besides, maybe if I played nice, I’d get some answers. It was worth a try.

As he steered me toward the helm, I jerked from the grip he had on my arm. Clearly a mistake. A sail shifted and I lost what little balance I had. I fell back into Gabriel’s arms, but he too was caught off guard. His arms circled me, cupping my breasts in the process. I struggled to stand, to regain my balance; he struggled to help, tightening his grip. My nipples peaked under his hands. My stomach knotted and thoughts of Gabriel naked on my old futon jumped into my head. Heat climbed into my cheeks as I felt the now too familiar burn of embarrassment once again.

And I felt something else.

Leaning back into Gabriel, I felt the hard, muscular line of his body. And I felt something else decidedly male. An erection.

He wanted me. And my traitorous body wanted him.

The boat lurched into a building swell and the sea laughed, rolling over the bow, covering both of us in salt spray. The cold water caught us by surprise, dousing desire and passion and spontaneity. Replaced with guilt—his. I sensed it in his, “Sorry, Blue.” For me it was embarrassment. Like that was new. And then we both heard it.

The siren.

It shattered the morning silence, the gulls screeched in warning, and my heartbeat jumped; while all along the sea continued to laugh. There could be no mistake: The siren signaled Runners.

“Shit.” Gabriel released me and, just as quickly turned me toward him and swept me up in that damn over-the-shoulder sack-of-potatoes position. My bruised ribs screamed in protest and I yelled, “Hey, tough guy, I’ve been at this rodeo before. I didn’t like it then and I sure as hell don’t like it now.”

Gabriel didn’t answer, just moved.

Once again the man ran on a moving boat with me over his shoulder like he did it every day. Hell. Maybe he did. We sped along the deck, into the cockpit, and down the ladder into the cabin. I was plopped on the hard bench, and now it was my rear end that screamed in protest. I opened my mouth to complain, only to be met with a kneeling Gabriel with a finger to my lips. His eyes had never looked darker; he’d never looked so dangerous.

“Listen, Tsunami Blue, and listen well.” His voice was low, intense, frightening. I wasn’t an idiot: The man had something to say. And as furious as I was, not to mention sore, I was in no position not to listen. The sirens sounded louder. They were almost upon us. And who was I fooling? My heart was now beating out of my chest. Terror didn’t begin to cover the emotions I was feeling.

“You will die at their hands, you know this?”

I nodded.

“I can’t say what will happen or how long it will take to be rid of our company, but if my guess is right, they will be with us all the way through the Canadian Gulf Islands and on to New Vancouver. And there is nothing, and I mean nothing, I can do about that. I have to lead them away from the bay. Away from”— he became deadly serious—“away from Nick and Alec.”

I felt myself pale at the thought of the boys at the hands of the kind of Runners that we left dead on my beach. I hadn’t grasped exactly what kind of Runner Gabriel Black might be, but I’d bet my life he was not one who would toss a kid into a pit of wild dogs and take bets on how long he’d last before he became puppy chow. How I wished that kind of evil didn’t exist. But it did. I had seen it.

“But I can hide you,” Gabriel continued as he grabbed my shoulder and gripped so hard I winced. “Sorry.” Gabriel softened his grip and began to gently rub my arms where bruises were sure to form. “I can save you.” He put his forehead to mine and whispered, “I’m so sorry, Blue. I forget my strength, my passion to keep you safe, to…keep you alive.”

He pulled back and looked at me with desperation in his eyes, something I hadn’t seen before. And that scared me almost as much as the impending Runners.

“Trust me,” he whispered.

“I can’t,” I whispered back.

“Then try. If only for twenty-four hours. Just until we reach land. Try.”

Heavy footsteps echoed above me, thundering through the deck and resonating in the teak floors. They rattled not only the small walls that enclosed me but my nerves as well. Loud voices mingled with Gabriel’s and I knew the boat had been boarded. By how many men was a mystery. By what men was only too evident. If the swearing hadn’t given them away, the sirens certainly had.

Gabriel had hidden me under the floorboards where a now-defunct engine sat. Gas and diesel were nearly impossible to find in today’s world. A boat hauling an engine used it only for ballast or trade for scrap and parts. But leave it to Gabriel Black to make use of his engine for something else entirely.

Camouflage for a shortwave radio.

And not just any shortwave radio. But an elaborate one with more bells and whistles, as they used to say, than I’d ever seen. It made my little hand-cranked jury-rigged units look like children’s toys. It made the midnight deejay in me salivate.

So he’d been listening in. A lot, it would seem. I could tell by the “reading material” he’d inadvertently left me. The walls were plastered with newspaper clippings; old, wrinkled, and yellowed with age, they mapped out the time line leading up to the death and destruction of our world.

My head began to ache with the headlines that surrounded me in my new cramped quarters.

First, the clipping about the tsunami in the Indian Ocean, where it all started. Photos showed the decimated beaches of Phuket. Second, a photo of my family pinned on the teak wall stared back at me. I fought tears as I reached up to touch the faces of my mother and father and, finally, Finn.

My beautiful mother had laughed at the photographer that day and he had captured her radiance—no, her spirit—in the snapshot. Finn and I sat on my father’s lap, two dark-headed kids who looked so much alike. My father was looking at my mother with such love and pride that I choked back the sob that threatened to betray my hiding place. I hadn’t seen the photo since I was nine. It had been lost to me forever when Uncle Seamus, in a fit of drunken temper, burned it in front of me.

A clipping from Thailand reported elephants as far away as Sri Lanka moving away from the ocean before a sound or warning was heard. Another reported waves rising to one hundred feet as they swept ashore and traveled miles inland.

Aftershocks.

Thousands dead.

Billions donated.

Ghosts sighted in Phuket. And so it went. On and on, and on and on.

There were newspaper clippings tracing the origins of the waves. The “how” of it all.

None of us who had survived had been able to answer the “why” of it all.

Why test nuclear weapons? Why the underwater explosions that wiped out reefs and ecosystems and life as we all once knew it? Why global warming and the subsequent earthquakes and landslides and raging infernos of fire? Why did the meteorites fall and the tides turn?

 Why is God punishing us?
read the last clipping, dated around the time that printing presses stopped and the infrastructure crashed.
Why?

 I heard loud footsteps pounding on the small ladder leading down to the galley and living quarters. I heard thunderous voices laughing and swearing. And I heard the sea outside my small prison of hand-polished teak, whispering the headlines that surrounded me.

Freak wave. Rogue wave. Monster wave. Killer wave.
And then…
A wave like no other
. I tried to breathe, knowing it was coming. Knowing I couldn’t stop it.
Coming
, the sea tapped against the hull,
coming, coming, coming for you, Tsunami Blue.

The nausea and bile rose in my throat, and my world started to fade to that shade of gray I knew to dread.

Not now,
I screamed in my head.
Please, God, not now. Not when I need my wits, my skills, my fuc— friggin’ A-game. Please don’t let me pass out into a helpless heap. If they find me, let me go out fighting. Please
, I prayed. I knew it shouldn’t matter—it had to be my ego—but I wanted a little honor in death, a little satisfaction that I might rid the world of at least one bastard Runner. ’Cause if they took me down, I sure as hell would take at least one of them with me. I still had lethal weapons. My hands. My feet. My teeth.

I lay back on the quilt Gabriel had thrown down and closed my eyes against the panic, forcing myself to calm. I focused on each breath. I blocked the sound of the ocean. I shut out the sound of the footsteps above, the sound of voices. I focused on Nick and Alec, and how I needed to stay alive to save them. And Bacon. And I thought of Max.

And then I thought of Gabriel Black.

Why, I don’t know. I just did. Maybe it was because I could hear him above trying to explain the neatness and order of the cabin. I half smiled at the, “What the fuck, Black? This boat is
Better Homes
and
fucking
Gardens
.”

“What’s in the hold, Black?” Another gruffer and meaner voice demanded.

Hold? My eyes shot open. This could be the hold. Right?

“Supplies.” Gabriel answered, as if it were the most boring conversation in the world.

“Supplies, my ass, Black. I saw something over your shoulder through the binoculars. Who ya stashin’ in here?”

“Supplies,” Gabriel answered again. This time with ice in his voice. I sat up, wondering what the hell to do.

“Guess I’ll just check out your supplies then, Black.”

“Suit yourself.”

Suit yourself? Suit yourself? The bastard.