wrath of the Sea Queen (134 page)

CHAPTER
31

"
Go on.  You
a
re going to make Salma late if you don't get out of here,
"
C
a
eli n
udged
Vin toward the door
as Apela's truck horn sounded a second time
.  He
had
decided to go to the conference to help Ben look after Salma
, b
ut after finding out about the baby,
C
a
eli
couldn't get two steps away from him. 
Vin
kept placing his hand on her stomach and laughing
,
having
now
explained
about
the sensation
he
experienced each time he did this
. 
C
a
eli
would have preferred to continue
absorbing Vin's
happiness,
but she was also w
orried about Salma.  The threat of the
protestor
s was
immediate,
while
she would still be pregnant when he
returned
.

"
I can't help it.  I'm just so excited…
"

"
I know.  I know.  Now scoot.  Unless you
ha
ve changed your mind and are
letting
me come along
?  I
c
ould
help, too.
"

"
No
.  I'm sorry, Honey.  You are a
bsolutely not
going
.
  If
there is any
trouble, Ben and I will
handle it
.  You are going to stay right here and, for once,
take it easy and
stay out of mischief.  Max promised to keep an eye on you and make
sure that you behave. 
He will tell me if you do anything that you shouldn't while I'm gone."

"Oh
,
Vin!  You
sho
uldn't put that kind of a burden on him
.  He already feels bad because I got sick when he took me to visit the cave
," C
a
eli
said
.

"
Actually
,
Max
insisted
on this assignment
. 
It was
completely
his idea. 
I even had to give him a list of things you are
n
o
t allowed to do. 
T
hat means my pretty, little wife better
be on her best behavior for a
couple of hours
,
"
Vin
teased
with a
nother
laugh
.
 

"
Gee, tell a guy he
i
s go
ing
to
be a dad and
an hour
later he
i
s already setting house rules. 
Go on, then.  I
wi
ll see you later
.  You take care of Salma and remember what I said about Scott. 
Salma said he and his uncle are supposed to be there.  They are both
trouble
, but I think Scott is dangerous
.
"
  C
a
eli became serious as she
escorted
Vin
to the door
.

"
Wait a minute.
"
  Vin stopped
and a
ll traces of
humor left his voice. 

"
What about
him
?  You never did explain that to me.  On the ship, you rushed me out of the steering room when he w
as
in there.  You wouldn't let Salma
seek
help from
Scott or Dr. Jacobs
, and you told me to keep out of their sight. 
There was so much going on at the time that I trusted you
had a
good
reason
. 
I know from the lighthouse that Dr. Jacobs is trouble
, but w
hat
more
do you
know
about Scott
that I don't?
"
  Vin was serious now, realizing the subject required his full attention.

"
Doesn't Scott look familiar to you?
"
  She took his hand and began to walk toward the hotel exit.

Vin thought about it.  He only
caught
a quick glimpse of the redhead on the ship and really hadn't been paying attention at the time. 

"
I really didn't see him all that well.  Should I know him?
"

"
You might remember him
. 
I don’t like the way h
e keeps showing up everywhere Salma goes. 
He ran into
her
twice
at the airport
. 
The second time,
he
even
cut her arm.  Salma thinks it was an accident, but I
don't
.  I think he meant to draw her blood and
used
his
rude
ness
to
mask his intention
.  Then he
coincidentally ends up on our next flight, and, big surprise,
he turns out to
be the nephew of the doctor on
a
government ship that rescues us.  That
i
s
a string of
too many coincidences for me.  I think these two are after something from Salma; something to do with her work
. 
T
hey might even be the ones sending her those official-looking letters
and stirring up the protestors to cover their tracks
.
"

"
C
a
eli,
I agree.  T
hat is a lot of coincidence, sure, but it
i
s still a huge leap to
say they are responsible for or involved with the
protestor
s
. 
And, you
ha
ve left out the part that is supposed to
explain
how I should know
Scott
. 
Tell me the rest of it.
"

"
I remember him, Vin.  It took me a while to figure it out, but I remember him from that compound in Idaho.
"

"
A
re you sure?  Could you be mistaken
,
C
a
eli
?
"
  Vin was shocked.  He
had
tried to put that place out of his mind.  He certainly
never
expected to see anyone from there again
.  Vin
did not like the idea that one of them m
ight
be stalking
his family now
.

"
Vin, think
back
.  He was the one with
Dalla.  I saw them when they brought the
B
ook
of
E
lements
to Antonius.  I
also
saw him on the
practice
field before the final fight.  I know what
shocking
things
he can do. 
I think he
used the elemental skill that Antonius taught him to bring
our plane down
.  I know it wasn't
natural
lightning that hit the engine, at least, not lightning from the storm.
"
  C
a
eli stood in front of Vin
at the front door of the hotel now
.  She hop
ed
he would believe her.  C
a
eli knew she was right, but she also understood how much of a stretch it
must
seem that she made
to reach the conclusion she presented
. 

It was, however, the only explanation that made any sense.  If natural lightning hit the plane
and disabled all of the other electrical systems
,
then
the
lights
should have gone out
at the same time
, but they
did
n
o
t.  The
lights
went out almost as an afterthought.  The
damaged
engine
was
not
completely destroyed.  It
was
hit with
such
precis
ion
as
to
ensure that the pilot could still
control
the plane and the crash would not be erratic
. 
Someone wanted t
o
knock the
little
plane out of the air
, but did not want to kill its passengers.
  Natural lightning would not have been so polite.