Part 23 (2/2)

Instead of swimming to the aft end of the s.h.i.+p to be hauled out by the crane, she was staying in place, hanging onto the side of the s.h.i.+p. Inside her helmet, her head was tilted up, her face rigid.

A shadow fell over him and he looked up.

Two men in black stood above him, aiming their a.s.sault rifles at him over the gunwale.

Jaz's men.

A thought flashed through his brain: he could fire the thrusters, dropping down into the depths of the sea before the men let loose with a barrage of slugs.

But he stayed frozen in place.

Because Jaz was standing there, too, her mouth split wide by her evil grin.

And she was jamming the barrel of a Colt ACP into Flinders' mouth.

FORTY-SIX.

WITH a s.h.i.+ver of pleasure, Jaz drove the gun barrel deeper down Flinders' throat, causing her to choke and gag.

”You love it, don't you, cutie?” she cooed in her ear.

Flinders squirmed, desperately trying to back her head away from the pistol.

Snarling, Skarda tried to step forward to swing his arm at her, but the heavy suit, no longer buoyed by the water, was almost immobile. Having dragged them out of the water, Jaz's men had removed their helmets, but their bodies were still encased in the bulky ADS suits.

His face purpled in frustration. ”Get your hands off her!”

With a violent wrench, Jaz threw Flinders to the deck. Immediately, rifles covered her. She marched up to Skarda and grinned in his face. ”I've got to say, handsome, you are good! You just keep staying alive. I'm actually impressed.”

Up close, he could see the slabs of muscle bulging on her neck and the black hairs sprouting from her nose and ears. It made his stomach roil.

”You're a freak,” he snarled.

Jaz threw her head back and laughed. ”You better believe it, handsome! Freaky!...freaky!...freaky!” She wiggled her b.u.t.t back and forth. ”Just ask your little girlfriend over there.”

Sprawled on the deck, Flinders stared up at him, close to tears.

His eyes bored holes into Jaz's face. Past her shoulder he could see a Bavaria Yachtbau Sport 33 rocking hove-to on the starboard hull, the pilot still at the wheel. Skarda realized what had happened: Flinders would have thought they were just pleasure boaters. They would have boarded the dive s.h.i.+p completely by surprise.

Jamming the Colt into her waistband, Jaz uncoupled the video camera from Skarda's shoulder, then attached it to a laptop and downloaded the files of the U-boat's interior. When she saw the bars resting inside the open cases, she barked out a triumphant laugh. ”Sweet!”

The sound of an approaching boat engine reached Skarda's ears. He looked north, seeing a big yacht plowing through the light chop toward them, an eighty-foot Feretti, its bright white fibergla.s.s hull gleaming in the suns.h.i.+ne.

As the yacht slowed and drew closer, Skarda could make out the figure of a man, dressed in a business suit, standing on the flying bridge. A moment later he disappeared. Then a black-and-red Hov Pod hovercraft shot out from the stern of the yacht, bouncing over the wavelets towards the dive boat, its polyethylene body gliding effortlessly over the flat surface of the sea. The man sat in its bow section, while a pilot in a white epaulet s.h.i.+rt steered.

Jaz swung around, unperturbed by the approach of the newcomer. Shakily, Flinders climbed to her feet, throwing a fearful glance at Skarda. Then she turned, watching the Hov Pod swing hove-to against the hull of the boat. The man clambered on deck.

Flinders stared, her jaw sagging open. ”Daddy?” She ran toward the man, but a commando grabbed her, throwing an arm around her shoulders and pinning her in place. ”Daddy!”

Paying no attention to her, Jonathan Belisarius strode forward, walking across the deck as though he'd been born on a s.h.i.+p.

”Daddy!” Flinders struggled, but her guard kept her pinned in place. ”I thought you were dead!” Her face was the color of ashes.

Belisarius ignored her. As the man got closer, Skarda could see the horrible red and purple scars that had mutilated his face. The skin on the ends of his fingers was black.

The older man crossed the deck to Jaz, who stuck out her tongue and licked his cheek like a cat. ”h.e.l.lo, lover,” she purred.

”What's going on?” Flinders asked. Her voice was a choked scream. ”Daddy? It's me, Flinders!

”Keep her quiet,” Belisarius ordered.

Jaz sprang at Flinders, grabbing her jaw and forcing her mouth closed. Then again she threw her to the deck.

Belisarius indicated Skarda and April. ”These are the two that have been causing us all the trouble?”

”You got it. But they found the bars. You were right. They're on the U-boat.”

”You have proof?”

She indicated the laptop screen. Belisarius peered at it, then gave a cold nod.

”All right. We have what we want. Get rid of them.”

Jaz jabbed a finger at Flinders. ”What about her?”

”Her, too.”

Flinders gaped. ”Daddy! Daddy! Why are you doing this?”

The older man had moved to the gunwale, looking down at the sea.

”Daddy!”

With sudden fury he whirled on her. ”Shut up!”

She took a step back, the words. .h.i.tting her like a slap.

April spoke up, her voice quiet and level. ”He shot your mother.”

The blood drained from Flinders' face, her expression stunned, incredulous. ”What-?”

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