Douglas Preston - Impact

Jackie gasped. "In the backpack in the stern compartment."

"Shit." Sticking the knife in her belt, Abbey handed the hammer to Jackie. "Take this."

Jackie took the hammer.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Another set of shots from the gun. The splinters of fiberglass ricocheted around the cabin, filling the air with choking, resinous dust. Abbey crawled up to the companionway door, turned the lock, and crawled back.

"We're sinking," Jackie said.

"That's the least of our problems."

She heard the sound of Worth's engine rumbling as he came up alongside their boat. The engine sound went into neutral, then a quick reverse, and a moment later she felt the boat bump up against theirs. His feet landed on their deck with a thump.

"Fuck, fuck ," said Jackie, heaving. "He's boarding."

Abbey tried to stop herself from hyperventilating. They needed a plan. "You lie on the floor," she said. "In the middle. Pretend to be shot. I'll hide in the head. When he busts through that door, I'll jump out and stab him with the knife."

"Are you crazy? He's got a gun !"

"He's all fucked up on drugs. Do as I say and lie down."

Jackie curled up on the floor, helpless and sobbing.

Ducking into the head, Abbey closed the door so that only the barest crack remained, through which she could see the stairs of the companionway. She tensed, ready to spring.

She heard the tump tump of Worth's boots over the deck. "Daddy's home!"

Abbey clutched the knife, peering through the crack.

Slow footfalls moved around the deck and into the pilothouse. He tried the door into the cabin with a shake. "Now you're gonna learn the meaning of deeper , you coon bitch! You and your butch friend. I'm taking your treasure and I'm going to teach you a lesson you'll never forget!"

Treasure ? The moron had believed their story. She could hear his ragged, labored breathing, the unsteady tremor in his voice. It scared her even more than the gunshots.

"We . . . don't have any treasure," Jackie said, curled up on the floor and choking in fear.

A raucous laugh. "You think I'm stupid, you little cunt? Don't fucking lie to me. I'm here to get the treasure--and teach you two a lesson in respect ."

"I swear we don't have--"

She was interrupted by a kick to the flimsy door, which cracked it almost in half. Jackie gave a scream. "No! Don't!"

Abbey tensed.

Another kick and the door parted, hanging in two pieces from the frame. Worth appeared at the top of the stairs, bending over, peering down, a big gun in his hand. " Wendy , I'm home! " He kicked away the two pieces of door and placed a big boot on the top step, another step, and another, until he stood at the bottom of the little stair. Jackie was curled up on the floor, sobbing, He aimed the gun at her, holding it sideways.

"Where's the treasure?"

"Please, I swear it . . . There isn't any treasure . . ." Jackie sobbed, covering her head, curling up. "No treasure . . . please . . . just a crater . . ."

"Bullshit!" he screamed, shaking the gun. "Don't fuck with me!"

One more step.

He took another step.

Abbey burst out of the head and brought the knife down toward his back with all her might. But he heard her and flung up his free arm, smacking her away. The knife flew out of her hand and he fired the gun at her, wildly, the round blasting another hole in the hull well below the waterline.

A jet of seawater came gushing in.

Abbey threw herself at him but he slugged her in the stomach and she fell to her knees, wind knocked out, choking and gasping, trying to get her breath back, icy seawater pouring over her.

"Where's the treasure, bitch!" He grabbed her hair, jerked her head around, and jammed the gun into her ear.

She managed to suck in air, heaving. He pulled her head around, pushed the gun barrel into her mouth. "Hey, Jackie! Tell me where the treasure is or I pull the trigger!"

"The treasure was a lie," gasped Jackie. "Please believe me, just a cover story--"

He thumbed back the action. "Stop lying, bitch, or she's dead! Now where the fuck is it? Go get it, now!"

Abbey tried to say something, but couldn't. The water was coming up fast.

"Last chance!"

"Okay, all right, I'll tell you!" Jackie screamed. "Stop and I'll tell you!"

" Where? " Worth shrieked, his voice cracking into the high register.

"In the stern cockpit under the rear hatch. Taped up underneath the deck, above the rudder box."

"Hurry, go get it! The boat's sinking!"

Jackie climbed to her feet. She was dripping wet. The water was six inches deep already.

"You! Abbey! Go with her." He yanked the gun out of her mouth, breaking one of her teeth, and jerked her up, shoving her up the ladder and manhandling her through the pilothouse to the stern.

"Open it!" Worth yelled at Jackie, still holding Abbey with the gun at her head.

Jackie tried to open the hatch, lifting the lever and twisting it.

"Hurry up or I shoot her!"

She heaved on it, heaved again. "I can't! It's stuck, I need help!"

Worth thrust Abbey to the deck. "Go help her!" His face was contorted, blazing red, the cords in his neck standing out, his greasy hair matted on his skull, mouthful of rotten teeth stinking.

Abbey scrambled across the deck and grabbed one side of the lever, Jackie the other. Their eyes met, and they both made a show of trying to twist open the lever. It still wouldn't release.

"Harder!"

More struggling.

"Get on the other side of the boat," Worth said. "Both of you. Over there." He waggled the gun.

Abbey and Jackie moved to the other side of the boat. They huddled together, and Abbey nudged Jackie, making a movement with her eyes toward the hammer she still had. Jackie slipped the hammer into her hand.

Slowly, keeping an eye on them, Worth laid down the gun, grabbed the handles, and wrenched them around. The hatch unlocked easily.

"Weak-ass bitches," he said, sliding the hatch aside. He hesitated, staring eagerly at the dark opening. He just couldn't help himself: he stuck his head down to peer below the deck.

Abbey leapt across the deck and brought hammer down with both hands just as he was pulling his head back out. It hit the top of his skull with a sickening sound, like a bat hitting a hollow log. Worth slumped forward. Blood welled from the depressed fracture, gushing onto the deck, running and mingling with the rainwater. Worth's little finger twitched grotesquely and went still. Jackie leapt on the backpack and pulled out the Mace, spraying it on his inert form.

There was a long silence and then Jackie said, her voice full of awe, "Oh my God, he's dead."

Abbey stared. It seemed unreal, like a movie. She couldn't move, she couldn't breathe.

"Abbey?" said Jackie. "We're sinking."

Her father's boat was sinking. She dropped the hammer and ran to the engine panel. Both bilge pumps were going full bore, but even as she checked for damage, there was a sizzling sound as the rising water topped the battery cases and shorted them out. The electrical systems went dead, the bilge pumps humming down to silence.

Jackie went into action. She charged down into the cabin, sloshing through the rising water, examined the holes. Then she grabbed a blanket and some loose rope and hauled it on deck. "Abbey! Help me!" She tossed her rope. "Cut the line into four pieces and tie them onto the corners of the blanket!"

Abbey obeyed while Jackie pulled off her shoes, held her breath, and jumped in the water. She surfaced.

"Hand me one end of the blanket! We'll tie it around the boat, cover these holes!"

Abbey tossed the blanket overboard, and Jackie grabbed one end and swam under the boat, wrapping the blanket over the holes, and then came up the other side with the lines in hand. She surfaced, gasping. "Take these!"