Part 21 (2/2)

”So you can do what?”

”Is my grandfather still alive?”

”Yes.”

”Then I'll make the trade. Amanda will ... will be raised by my grandfather and I'll return to the island.

At least my daughter will be free.”

Blu studied her tear-streaked face. ”You think I'd let you do that?”

She glared at him. ”This is my choice, not yours. You don't even get a vote. I trusted you once, I won't make that mistake again. I'm going through with Salva's demand. And not you or anyone else can stop me.”

She brushed the tears from her cheeks and set her shoulders-proving to Blu that she was stronger than anyone would ever imagine. ”Salva says I'm to be on the wharf at seven tomorrow morning.”

”Angel, I think-”

”No. You don't get to think anymore, Blu Devil. The demand requires that you accompany me to the wharf. I guess we both know why that is, but it makes no difference. Amanda is the important one in this. When the trade is made, I expect you to honor my wishes and get her to my grandfather. Now go away. I want to be alone.”

Chapter 16 ^ The sunlight made Angel's hair look like pure silk as she reached the wharf. Blu kept pace with her, his eyes glued on Salvador Maland at the end of the wharf. He counted six men with him-the man on Maland's right held Mandy.

She looked scared, but unharmed. Blu found himself silently saying a prayer that she would remain that way. ”Not so fast,” he growled at Angel. ”You're walking too d.a.m.n fast.”

His gaze went back to Salva where he stood in his flowing black pajamas like some exalted king. Blu tried to relax, but he was having a hard time breathing.

It was time for Angel to hang back and wait. He said, ”This is as far as you go for now. If Maland's serious about the trade, he's going to have to send Mandy before he gets you.”

Blu's voice was flat, his throat dry. He stopped alongside Angel and scanned the wharf, dissecting the situation. Maland had chosen a congested wharf to make the exchange. The boats going in and out of portwould benefit his escape once he had what he wanted.The trick would be to force him into making a mistake.

”Don't move from here until you hear me call to you,” Blu insisted, then he started walking again. Thirty feet from Maland, he stopped once more. ”I hear Taber's got a new profession in Angola,” he called to Salva. ”All that long hair and those good looks are serving him well.”

He watched Salva's lip curl, watched the man's fist clench. ”You got something of mine, Blu Devil. Did you taste it?”

The question wasn't going to get an answer. Blu said, ”You killed Ben Frank.”

”Can you prove it?” Salva laughed. ”That storm came up quick. Quicker than any of us expected. Ben could swim, all right. I could have helped him more, I suppose. But I had my hands full holding on to what I'd paid for.”

Blu wouldn'tlet his anger allow him to lose control.”I'm offering you a new deal. Me for them. You let them both go, and you get me instead.”

The proposition seemed to surprise Salva at first, then it angered him. ”You messed with her, didn't you? You got her sugar running through your veins.” He was quiet a moment, then he admitted, ”Ain't it arush, having her beneath you? She's heaven and h.e.l.l,Blu Devil. The best there is, and I should know, right? In my profession I'm a connoisseur.”

Blu kept his emotions masked. ”Do we have a deal?”

”No deal. You can have the brat as soon as I get what's mine.”

Blu knew then that he'd been right. Ben Frank wasMandy's father. ”I want the kid on the ground, movingthis way,” Blu insisted, ”or the deal'soff.”

Blu saw Salva s.h.i.+ft his gaze to where Angel stood. He licked his lips, his thoughts obviously putting together a warped fantasy or some gruesome punishment for her. Suddenly he signaled the man holding Mandyto step forward. ”Let's compromise. My man will walk beside her. Keep her in line.”

Blu considered what Maland said. ”All right.”

Salva nodded, then said, ”You're a dead man, duFray. Know that this isn't over after today. We still have a score to settle. Just you and me.”

Blu was in full agreement. ”You're right, Maland. Today is just the beginning of you and me.”

”I'll be waiting on the island. Princess will be waiting, too,” he taunted. ”But you might not recognize her when you get there.”

”Angel,” Blu called. ”Start walking.”

The man who held Mandy set her tiny feet on the wharf. When her bright eyes locked on Angel, then on Blu, she cried,”Da,” and started to run toward him.

Her unexpected actions drew Salva's attention, and as Blu took in his enemy's expression, he knew Salva had just realized his error. ”She's an imposter,” he roared, pointing at Angel.

A half second later Blu hollered, ”Mort, get Mandy.”

The moment the words were out, Mort-wearing a long blond wig-raced to Mandy and scooped her up beneath his arm. As he raced for cover, Salva shouted, ”Kill them. Kill them all.”

As Salva's men produced an a.r.s.enal of weapons, Blu quickly took out the man who had been holding Mandy. A right to his jaw, and the man lay unconscious on the wharf. Then he was calling out to Salva, challenging him in hopes of distracting his men away from Mort and Mandy. His taunts worked and he suddenly found himself dodging bullets as he raced along the wharf in the opposite direction Mort had gone.

Blu heard police sirens moving in fast and knew that Jackson Ward was on top of the situation. His backup squads would be saturating the wharf within minutes, and Maland's yacht had probably already been boarded by the coast guard.

Maland's fury zeroed in on the one man he wanted dead above all else. Half his men had deserted him, but he wasn't retreating himself-his focus was solely on bringing his enemy down.

Blu was in midair, on his way into the water, when he felt the bullets. .h.i.t him. It didn't matter, he thought, already resigned to whatever Fate had planned for him. The impact shook him, took him farther into the air, then dropped him.

The pain was real. Real enough that it should have grabbed his attention, but as Blu hit the water all he was thinking about was that Mandy was safe and that he'd kept his promise to Angel. She was free as a bird now. And he'd accomplished that without putting her anywhere near Salvador Maland.

Kristie Aldwin had watched everything from a distance onboard theNightwing. She was supposed to be safe at Margo's house with Brodie, but she'd insisted that he take hertothe wharf. As she watched the police arrest Salva's men, she recalled the moment she'd seen Mort in hisAngel disguise appear on the dock with Blu.

From a distance Mort had easily pa.s.sed for her in the blond wig. It was amazing, but with makeup and the right clothes he had become her.

Never in herwildestdreams had Kristie imagined Blu's plan would work, but he'd given her no choice last night when she'd attempted to strong-arm him intogoing along with her decision to trade herself for Amanda. Blu had simply swore, then picked her up andhanded her to Brodie Hewitt who had been waiting just outside the door, saying, ”Take her back to Margo's and this time, dammit, tie her up if you have to.”

That was the only time Blu had touched her. Back at his sister's house, he had explained to her that, yes, he'd set it up to have Amanda kidnapped from the shelter. That Mort, dressed in a blond wig earlier in theday, had escorted hertothe shelter for that sole purpose. At that point, Blu told her about her brother, Curt,and how he had sold her to Salva three years ago. Then he'd told her that last night Curt had been the one who had taken Amanda from the shelter and delivered her to Salva. Blu said Curt had actually expected to find her there instead of Amanda because he'd been tricked by Mort's disguise, but when she wasn't there, he had settled for her daughter-as Blu knew he would.

Kristie snapped out of her musing as Brodie hauled back on the throttle and brought theNightwing in close to Mort and Amanda. Through her tears, Kristie knew just what to do to rescue her daughter from the river, and she went to work tossing out the life preserver. Once Mort was in the boat and Amanda in Kristie's arms, Brodie had the engine at full throttle once more, in search of Blu.

Blu...As Amanda clung to her mother, her little teeth chattering, Kristie begantoscan the water. Blu's valiant effort to draw the gunfire away from her daughter flashed before her eyes, and she again found herself crying. Dread swept over her, along with an enormous amount of guilt for the things she'd said to him last night. She wanted to take them all back, to ask him to forgive her. Was it too late?

They neared the wharf. Kristie could see Salva wrestling with two policemen as they cuffed his hands behind his back. As if some powerful force struck him, he stopped his struggle and turned his head toward the water. His furious gaze found her quickly, and for an instant a strange kind of anguish swept his eyes. Anguish over what he'd lost-was that what she was seeing? Kristie believed it was. And it was then she decided, that in a crazy, bizarre way she would never understand, Salvador Maland had loved her.

A violent chill swept over her with the realization, and she hugged Amanda closer. The radio squawked. Kristie turned, watched Brodie pick up the receiver and speak into it. She watched as his face grimaced, watched as he glanced her way. She knew the report was coming from Jackson Ward, that the information was about Blu.

Then theNightwing was moving off, leaving the wharf and heading for River Bay.

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