Clive Cussler - Wrath of Poseidon

The older man put both dummies into the larger, empty suitcase and lowered it down to him. Sam positioned the dummies on the seats behind the wheel, then opened his backpack.

Zoe’s eyes widened as he took out the block of C-4. “That’s evidence!”

“Which will do us no good if we’re dead.”

“You’re going to blow up my stuff?” Remi said, looking close to jumping over into the smaller boat.

“If I win the lotto, I’ll buy you new everything.”

“Ha! Do you know what the odds of that are?”

“A heck of a lot better than us surviving if they find us sitting in this cove.” He dug into his pocket, pulling out the remote and the detonator. “Probably a bad time to ask, Nikos. What sort of batteries do you have on board? I need a few triple A’s.”

Nikos held up his flashlight. “Sorry. All I have is this and a spare nine volt for the radio.”

“I’ll take one of those.”

Nikos ran into the cabin, retrieved the radio battery, and tossed it to Sam. He used his knife to cut open the casing, revealing six triple A batteries inside. He took those batteries and inserted them into the remote and detonator.

“They’re coming!” Dimitris shouted.

“Let me know when they’re about a minute out!” Sam lashed the dummies in their seats, then set up the detonator and C-4. When Dimitris’s signal came, he set the detonator, shifted the motor to forward, then grabbed the ladder of the Asteri as he pushed the Star Catcher out toward open sea.

The two stuffed jackets looked like a couple of people sitting at the controls. None too soon. The Omega appeared. It kept pace as the Star Catcher continued out to sea. One of the men aimed an automatic weapon at the boat.

Sam, clinging to the ladder of the Asteri , counted the seconds. The gunman fired, the muzzle blast flashing yellow. Several shots hit the boat, ripping through the air tubes and hitting the dummies. When the smaller decoy came loose, flopping over sideways, Sam pressed the remote. A millisecond later, a blinding explosion rocked the air.

CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE

The Asteri pitched from side to side as Sam held on to the ladder. The black speedboat veered away, then idled slowly toward the flotsam and what was left of the Star Catcher ’s hull. It was still floating, upside down, thanks to the air-filled ribs. As the driver circled the capsized boat, his passenger stood, aimed his weapon, peppering the smaller craft and the water around it. Apparently satisfied there were no survivors, he lowered his rifle and the Omega sped off in the opposite direction.

Waiting until the sound of the 1,400-horsepower twin outboard engines faded, Sam boarded the Asteri . He looked up to the top of the cliff, where Dimitris kept watch. Finally, the young man looked over at them. “They’re back at the port.”

They remained where they were another fifteen minutes after the Omega finally took off again, this time toward Patmos. Once Sam gave the okay, Nikos piloted the Asteri out of the inlet, none of them relaxing until they were halfway to Fourni. Sam borrowed Remi’s sat phone and stepped outside the cabin to call Rube and update him.

“We’re back,” Sam said. “I got everyone out of there. In one piece, I might add.”

“Do I want to know?”

“Probably not. But I’m going to tell you anyway.” He gave Rube a quick version of events. While they spoke, Remi walked out onto the deck and started pacing, alternating glances between the inside of the cabin, where Nikos, Dimitris, and Zoe were having a frank conversation, and at Sam. When she noticed him watching her, she moved to the railing, gripping it tightly while her foot tapped relentlessly. Although she’d been through a lot these last few days, this seemed different. No doubt, seeing someone killed for the first time was not something she’d bargained for, and so he kept his voice low while detailing what happened. “The good news is that we found some C-4 you might be able to match to the residue on that ship explosion.”

“Why does it sound like there’s bad news to follow?”

“I had to use it to get away. If someone wants to come collect the capsized Star Catcher , they might be able to get residue from that. I have a feeling the Kyrils might not keep the rest of the C-4 around for anyone to test. On the bright side, we do have a blurry photo of their detonators.”

“Casualties?” Rube asked.

“One.”

He heard Rube drawing in a deep breath, followed by a second or two of silence. Then, “In my experience, I see this going down a couple of ways. They cover up the death, or they report it, and shift the blame to you for breaking into their facility.”

“If they are running drugs, do you really think they’re going to report this?”

“Stranger things have happened. They’ll have to come up with some story once the inquest starts. Let me get with my contact at Interpol and find out how best to proceed.”

Sam glanced at Remi, then lowered his voice even more. “What are the chances we can hop on a plane and get home?”

“You have to ask?”

“Figured it couldn’t hurt.”

“I’ll get back to you once I hear anything.”

Sam disconnected and joined Remi on deck, returning her phone. She didn’t move, just stared out to sea, her eyes bright, whether from the moonlight reflecting in them or a sheen of tears, he couldn’t tell. “Are you okay?” he finally asked.

She gave a noncommittal shrug. “What happens now?”

“We don’t know. Rube thinks there will probably be an inquest into the shooting.”

She turned back toward the water, her mouth clamped shut, her nostrils flaring slightly with every breath. After a short while, she looked over at him, the sheen in her eyes even brighter. Definitely tears. “How is it you know how to do all this? The fighting, the shooting . . . everything else . . . ?”

His gut instinct told him that whatever he said next was going to make or break any chance they might have of a relationship. “Boot camp.”

Her eyes searched his for several long moments. “I have a couple of friends who enlisted right out of college. None of them learned any of this stuff. And I doubt any of them could commandeer a helicopter because their date was going to miss her flight.”

“My training was a little more advanced than the standard.”

“How advanced?”

“Very.”

“I thought you were an engineer.”

“I was. For DARPA.”

“Doing what?”

“I designed military systems. In order to know what works best, DARPA sent me to the same training facility that the CIA uses.”

“Spy camp?”

“That’s probably the easiest explanation.”

“Give me the Reader’s Digest version.”

“That is the Reader’s Digest version. There are things I just can’t talk about.”

CHAPTER FORTY-SIX

Though it wasn’t cold, Remi held her arms protectively across her chest. “Have you ever killed anyone before tonight?” Then, before Sam could answer, she said, “Never mind. Of course you have. You’re far too calm.” She narrowed her eyes. “Are you really a grocery stocker, or is that a cover?”

“I am a grocery stocker, and it pays the rent while I work on my project.”

“The argon laser.”

“Yes.”

She was quiet for so long, he didn’t know what to think.

Finally, he reached out, touched her shoulder. “Remi . . . ?”

She turned away, brushing at her eyes.

All he could do was give her space. He reluctantly left her, and returned inside the cabin.

Nikos, at the helm, looked back at Sam as he entered, then looked at Dimitris.