One good turn deserves another, pal!
He rolled off Erin’s back and scrambled to his knees but didn’t get any farther because the muzzle of a rifle was pointing right in his face from just a foot away. Worse than that, the eye looking at him from behind the iron sight of the weapon was blinking so rapidly Keo was afraid it might explode at any second.
Keo stared back at the man and said, stretching the words out as far as they would go, “Don’t…pull…that…trigger.”
The man kept blinking and a bead of sweat dripped down his forehead despite the cold wind. But he didn’t shoot.
“Jesus Christ,” Hart said from behind him. When Keo looked over his shoulder at the older man, he said, “You almost got yourself killed, you dumb bastard.”
“Yeah, well, it was either that or let her draw,” Keo said.
Hart turned to Erin as two of his men pulled her up from the deck. Her face was flushed red and she blew hair out of her face while they twisted her arms behind her back and zip-tied them.
She looked away from Hart and at Keo and actually snarled at him. “I’m going to fucking kill you.”
“Hey, I saved your life,” Keo said.
“What?”
“I saved your life.”
“You were saving your own hide!”
“You say tomato, I say potato. Same difference.”
“I should have let Troy throw you overboard like he wanted to.”
Keo glanced back at Troy’s lifeless corpse.
Jesus, what a shot.
He turned back to Erin. “Troy and I were best friends; he’d never do that. But let’s not get bogged down with the past, huh? We’re both alive, and that’s all that counts.”
“Who the hell are you, anyway?” Hart said, staring at Keo.
“Keo.”
“Kay?”
“Keo.”
“What, like the car?”
Keo grinned. “I’ve been called worse.”
20
Lara
“Small world,” Keo said when he saw her walking through the door.
“Getting smaller all the time,” she said. “What happened to your face?”
“Ran into a tree.”
“Why didn’t you go around it?”
“It was a very big tree.”
“I’d ask if you’ve ever been in a jail cell before, but I think I already know the answer.”
He grinned at her from the back of the Ocean Star’s brig. Except for the still-fresh bruising around his nose and forehead, he didn’t look any worse than the last time she had seen him on the beach outside of Sunport. She was surprised, though, that the woman sitting on the bench next to him wasn’t Jordan. There were four other men inside the cell with Keo and the woman, but none of them looked familiar, either.
She looked back at Keo. “Wanna tell me what you’re doing here? Besides causing trouble, I mean?”
Keo got up and walked the short distance over, then leaned against the metal bars in front of her. “You know me. Always popping up where you least expect me.”
“Where’s—”
He shook his head before she could say Jordan’s name.
“Bad?” she finished instead.
The grim look on his face was the only answer she needed. Before she could ask any other stupid questions, he said, “I know what I’m doing here — well, sort of — but what are you doing here? I was told this was enemy territory, but here you are, not even in shackles.”
“Long story,” she said.
“Ah, one of those.”
“When is it never one of those?” She glanced back at one of Riley’s men standing guard at the door behind her. “He’s a friend.”
The man took out a key and walked over. “Back,” he said to Mercer’s men. When they had all retreated to the back, the guard opened the cell door with one hand, the other resting on his holstered sidearm.
Keo stepped outside and the man quickly slammed the door shut, locking it again.
“Free at last, free at last,” Keo said. He looked back into the cell at the woman. “Sorry about Troy.”
The woman glared at him but didn’t reply. Not that she had to. Those eyes pretty much said everything she was thinking.
“Her name’s Erin, and she’s one of Mercer’s top guys,” Hart had said while briefing her on what had happened on the platform earlier. “She and Riley were there in the beginning with Mercer. Only Rhett and Benford have been with him longer.”
“Is that why you were trying so hard to keep Peters from shooting her?” Lara had asked.
“Riley and I know her from way back. There was a time when he actually considered bringing her with us, but she’d gone to Texas before he could make the offer.”
Lara looked in at Erin now. Except for the glare she had shot in Keo’s direction, Lara couldn’t really read anything else of note on Erin’s face. She didn’t look angry, exactly, but she wasn’t fine with her current circumstance, either.
“Riley knows her longer than anyone,” Hart had said. “He really thought she might have come with us if he’d gotten the chance to sell her on the idea.”
Riley thought he knew Andy, too, and how did that turn out?
The woman must have sensed her staring, because she looked away from Keo and over at her.
They exchanged a long, silent look before Lara turned back to Keo. “Come on; let’s get you cleaned up.”
“Are you saying I stink?” Keo asked.
“Are you saying you don’t?”
He sniffed himself, then shrugged. “Fair enough.”
She led him to the door, then out into the corridor. Lights perched along the edges of the oil rig had turned on automatically at dusk and were now visible through the small windows along the walls.
“How’s everyone on the tugboat doing?” Keo asked. He was rubbing his wrists as he walked beside her.
“Complicated,” she said. “But we’re dealing with it. Wanna tell me what you were doing with Erin and the others?”
“As soon as you tell me how you got so chummy with these guys. As far as I know, they’re both Mercer’s crew. Only…not, apparently.”
She told him about Riley, about his attempt to hijack the Trident last night, then his plans to detach himself from Mercer’s war and, finally, their agreement.
“He dead?” Keo asked when she was done.
“He’s in sickbay with Zoe now. Hart’s also there. He wants to talk to you.”
“You trust him?”
“He’s in over his head, but he’s willing to listen. What happened earlier with Erin was my idea; he was just going along with it.”
“No. I meant Riley. You trust him?”
“He hasn’t lied to me yet.”
“As far as you know.”
She nodded. “As far as I know. But he hasn’t done anything to make me believe he can’t be trusted. In fact, he’s probably a little too trusting for my liking.”
“The getting shot by his own people thing.”
“Uh huh.”
“That’s gotta sting.” Then, “Where is the Trident, anyway? I didn’t see it when we were pulling in.”
“It’s docked on the other side of the Ocean Star and out of view.”
“Smart.”
“We have our moments.”
They walked in silence for a moment, before Keo said, “Should I even ask if the Ranger made it back yet?”
She shook her head and sighed. “It’s complicated…”
“You wanna do what?” Hart asked.
“Kill Mercer,” Keo said.
“Why the hell would you want to do that?” Hart said. Lara couldn’t tell if he was against the idea or just confused by it.