“What the-” was all he got out before Carlo stepped in and hit him hard in the face with the buttstock of his AK-47.
“Shut up!” Carlo growled. He turned back and forced the sliding door completely open.
Lee’s shocked expression kept him still just long enough for Carlo to step inside and level the barrel of his gun at Lee’s chest. Outside, at the same time, Josias stepped smoothly over Chris and jammed his muzzle into his back.
Carlo stepped closer to Lee and held a finger over his lips. “How many aboard?” he whispered, in a thick Haitian accent.
Lee stared at him and decided lying was a bad idea. They would probably search the boat anyway. Something told Lee that the beast standing in front of him didn’t like surprises. Without a word, Lee held up four fingers.
41
All four were sprawled on the floor of the cockpit. With hands bound behind their backs, they lay as Carlo and Josias searched the boat for valuables. The two quickly rounded up the jerry cans of fuel and most of the food.
Josias was downstairs, staring at the IMIS servers, when Carlo came in behind him.
“What are those, computers?”
Josias nodded. “Expensive ones.”
“Can we sell them?”
“Yes. My cousin would buy them.”
“Fine.” Carlo quickly scanned the rest of the confined cabin and ducked back out.
Fifteen minutes later, they were back up top and furious. They were expecting much more than a few phones and computer tablets. The diving equipment and computers were the only things of considerable value. For a boat that nice, it was beginning to look like a major bust.
Carlo stood over Alison and the others, fuming. There had to be more. They were hiding something.
He looked at Lee and kicked him hard in the stomach. “Where is it?!” he yelled.
Lee shuddered violently from the pain. He coughed up some spittle and struggled to speak. “Where’s… what?”
“Money! You have some, I know it!”
“We don’t!” cried Alison. “I swear.”
Josias stood off to the side and sneered. “Bullsheet.” His accent was even stronger.
“I swear we don’t. We’re researchers.”
Carlo turned and stared at Josias. There was a brief moment of silence when the satellite phone suddenly rang behind them.
Carlo leaned through the door and spotted the ringing phone on the counter. Its buttons were lit in a bright orange hue while it continued ringing.
He turned and peered back down at Alison. “Who is calling?”
Alison, still partially on her side, twisted around but wasn’t even close to the phone. “I have no idea.”
“Yeah?” Carlo cried. He reached in and grabbed the phone, then stepped back outside. “You don’t know?”
“No,” Alison sighed. “Maybe you should answer it.”
Carlo examined the phone, still ringing. He scoffed and, in an instant, flung it overboard into the ocean.
Steve Caesare finished dinner and returned down the narrow hallway toward their rooms. When he reached the end, he spotted Clay’s open door and peered inside. Clay was sitting on the small bunk with one knee propped up and an arm resting across the top. On the bed next to Clay was the small, flat silver cube.
“Any ideas yet?”
Clay raised an eyebrow at him and looked down at the cube. “Not yet.”
“You’ll get it,” Caesare winked. “You always do.”
Clay reacted as though he might chuckle. “You know this isn’t like a word puzzle.”
“Really? I thought it was a deck of cards.”
Clay smiled. “If it is, then it’s a pain to shuffle.”
“I bet,” Caesare said, with a brief laugh. He motioned to Clay’s dangling hand, which was holding a phone. “Talk to Alison?”
Clay turned back. “No. She’s not answering.”
“Did you tell her to keep it on?”
“I did,” Clay replied, with a slow and deliberate nod.
Caesare looked curiously at the phone again. “How many times did you try?”
“Four.” Clay shook his head. “It’s not like her.”
“Where was their last position?”
“Just a little east of Trinidad.”
“Really?! What are they doing so far south?
Clay stared at the wall in front of him before turning back to Caesare. “Where’s Borger?”
Josias finally dropped the last of the servers onto the cockpit floor with a “clunk.” The pile was nearly waist high with all three servers, the diving gear, the boat’s marine radio that had been ripped out, all navigational instruments, fuel, some food, and several electronic devices. Not a huge bounty, but it turned out not to be a complete loss either. Josias twisted his wrist and glanced at the watch he’d taken off Chris. They had less than four hours before first light, and they were going to need all of it to put as much distance possible between them and the Prowler. He just needed to get Carlo off before things got any worse.
Just then, Carlo stepped back outside behind them. He dropped the boat’s water maker onto the pile in disgust. Four people had to have more than this, but he couldn’t find anything else. He’d beaten the two men, but they revealed nothing more than what they’d already found. But there was still one more thing.
He glanced at Josias standing next to him with his rifle slung loosely over one shoulder. Junior was now on their boat, leaning over the edge with a hand on the side on the Prowler waiting to bring things aboard.
“It’s getting late,” Josias said. “We have to go.”
Carlo checked his own watch. “Not yet.” With a snarl, he looked at the four people still bound and gagged on the floor. The men’s faces were beginning to turn black and blue. One of them looked to be unconscious. He turned to the two women, lying still at his feet.
Josias watched with grim acceptance as Carlo’s face took on a seething, sickening appearance. The women on the floor were both exceptionally attractive, and he was hoping Carlo’s reluctance to harm them was intentional. But now, watching him stare at them on the floor, Josias knew he was wrong.
Carlo’s upper lip seemed to curl up strangely, revealing his mangled teeth. He abruptly reached down, pulled Kelly up off the floor, and flung her over his back. Without a word, he marched back inside and down the stairs to one of the bedrooms. Less than a minute later, he came back for Alison.
He dropped Alison onto the mattress next to Kelly. Both lay on their backs, neither able to move their hands beneath them.
They both watched in horror as Carlo turned and slammed the cabin door shut. When he stepped toward them, he realized why both had remained so calm outside.
Both women were saving their energy, and almost at once, they released it in a torrent. They began kicking Carlo with every ounce of strength they had, beating him in the chest and face, sending him stumbling backward.
Outside, Josias shook his head and set his rifle down. He picked up two of the heavy jerry cans and scurried to the port side.
Junior straightened up and pulled harder on the line to retie the two boats together. A warm wind was picking up and the two vessels were trying to drift away from each other.
It was the wind that helped. That and the struggling women below deck, of course. Together, along with the sound of the waves around them, both Josias and Junior were prevented from hearing the sound until it was almost on top of them.
The sound of helicopter rotor blades.
42
“Carlo!” Josias burst in through the cabin door. “We have trouble!”