Part 46 (1/2)

The phone went dead; Dar closed it. ”s.h.i.+t.”

Kerry studied the screen. ”Looks like he's out on the water, Dar,” she said. ”Nearest coordinates are just west of St. Johns.” She tapped a few more keys. ”Jesus, you captured the digitized output?”

”I never do things halfway.” Dar sat down. ”We've got a problem. He wants twenty-five grand.” She studied the phone. ”So now, in addition to a relic I don't have, I also have to turn over a suitcase of cash I don't have. This is getting better and better every d.a.m.n minute.” Her disgust was evident in her expression. ”And to top it all off, a d.a.m.n tropical weather system's headed this way and it might be developing circulation.”

Kerry frowned. ”At this time of year? Dar, it's December!”

”No kidding.” Dar rubbed her eyes. ”All right, let's see where*269 these coordinates are.”

Charlie got up and walked over, leaning on the couch arm to see what Dar was doing. ”Weather means trouble,” he commented.

”But not 'til after this d.a.m.n thing's over.”

Dar typed in the two coordinates DeSalliers had given her and waited for the program to plot them on a map. The grid drew in, then a sketchy outline of the islands, then a blinking crosshair. It was set in the middle of the water, as she'd expected it to be, in a lonely stretch of water south of the islands.

”No-man's-land.” Charlie grunted. ”'Bout two hours run out there. Not much but a hole in the ocean.”

”So he has to get from here...” Kerry put her fingertip on the place where the cell signal had been tracked from, ”...to here. And we have to get from here...” she pointed to where they were in St.

Thomas, ”...to here. Much shorter.”

”We could get there first,” Bob commented. ”You think they'll have your friend in the boat with them? I guess they'd have to, huh?”

Dar studied the screen. ”If they actually intend on making the swap, yeah.” She heard Charlie suck in a breath. ”I figure I need to make him show me he's got Bud before I agree to anything.”

”You think he'd double-cross... Oh, what a stupid question.”

Kerry rubbed her face with one hand. ”Dar, if we don't really have anything to give him, what are we going to do?” she asked. ”You can only bluff him so far.”

Dar folded her hands together and rested her chin against them. ”I know that.” Her pale eyes became hooded, the lids becoming mere slits over icy eyes. ”If it takes us two hours to get out there, we've got until around nine thirty before we have to leave the dock. We've got until then to get something to turn over to him that'll seem real enough to pa.s.s.”

”What about the money?” Charlie asked. ”Got some people I can call.”

”Not that creep from this morning!” Kerry blurted out. ”Christ, I'd rather hock the boat than see his face again.” She reached forward and pulled over the coffee tray, setting up two cups and starting to prepare them.

”No.” Charlie cleared his throat gently. ”Somebody else.” He stood up and took out the cell phone. ”d.a.m.n bill's gonna cost me an arm this month.” He limped toward the door and went outside, closing it behind him.

Kerry and Dar exchanged glances. Dar pulled the laptop over and opened another program. ”I'll get a wire transfer through, but it won't clear until tomorrow. Maybe if he can get something temporary until then...”

”Expensive vacation.” Kerry leaned against her lover's 270*

shoulder. ”Next time, how about we just go do something traditional, like visit Niagara Falls?”

”It'd probably stop while we were there and we'd have to fix that, too.” Dar finished her request and hit enter with an annoyed click. ”Okay.” She examined her other running programs. ”Nothing else yet.”

”You think there will be?” Kerry asked.

Dar shrugged and shook her head. ”I don't know. And you know something? I'm getting pretty tired of saying that I don't know.” She rested her head against her hands again, banging her forehead against her fists lightly as she rocked back and forth.

Kerry put an arm around Dar, rubbing her back with light fingertips. ”Okay, Bob, what specifically did you think you'd find here? Really, I mean.”

Bob had been staring at Dar in fascination. Now he looked at Kerry with startled eyes. ”Um...I dunno, really. I kinda expected...um...well, Tanya thought the old man would maybe work a deal with us if he knew we were trying to rake something up.”

”No, huh?” Kerry's brow creased. ”Somehow, a guy who would steal from his own mother doesn't seem to me to be the type to deal.” She gently moved the laptop away from Dar and cracked her knuckles before opening a database request and starting to type.

”Now, if we a.s.sume Grandpa Wharton wasn't nuts, then he was here for a reason, right?”

”Mm,” Dar grunted.

”Okay. I'm going to search the exports from here during that time period and see what I can find. If he was here, it must have been for something worth his while. Since he was a fisherman, I doubt it was timber.” Kerry typed quickly and accurately. When she felt warmth on her shoulder, she looked up to find Dar's chin resting on it. Her hand stopped moving for an instant, then started up again. She was very aware of Bob's watching eyes, but the comfort of Dar's cheek pressed against her jaw trumped the mild embarra.s.sment at the intimacy, and she leaned her head against Dar's.

”Hey,” Dar breathed into her ear, ”while you're there, do a search in the public archives for smuggling busts during that time period.”

Kerry turned her head slightly and looked into Dar's eyes at very, very close range. ”Smuggling?”

”Smuggling?” Bob asked.

”And do a public records search on him in Maine,” Dar said.

”We're a.s.suming he was here for a reason. Nothing says it had to be a legal one.”

”Hey!” Bob protested. ”He was a good guy.”*271 Kerry nodded slightly as she typed.

Charlie came back in, his face visibly red. He limped over and sat down, juggling the cell phone as though he wanted to chuck it against the cabin wall. ”Waste of a phone call.”

Dar looked up from a conversation on her own cell and shook her head.

Kerry motioned him over to the galley where she was standing.

”Want a beer?” she offered sympathetically.

Charlie sat down on the stool bolted to the deck and rested his arms on the galley counter. He played with the phone, still visibly upset. ”All we done for them, and they tell me to get lost.” He rested his fist against his jaw. ”Thought after all this time, things'd changed. Guess I was wrong. Wait 'til the next time those b.a.s.t.a.r.ds show up with a busted head, wanting Bud...” He stopped suddenly and his eyes blinked a few times. ”d.a.m.n, I hope he's all right.”

Kerry set an opened bottle of beer in front of him and leaned on the counter. ”I'm sure he will be, Charlie. We'll do our best to make sure of that,” she a.s.sured him in a gentle tone.

Charlie looked at her. ”I feel like a first-rate fool. Thinking them people'd gotten to be our friends.”

Dar walked over and leaned next to him. ”All right. I arranged for a draft for tomorrow. When I talk to DeSalliers tonight, I'll have to work a deal with him. I can't get it any sooner. There isn't a big enough supply of cash on the d.a.m.n island. The nearest place I could get it from was one of the cruise s.h.i.+ps, and the closest one isn't due in until tomorrow night.”

Charlie looked at her. ”DeSalliers ain't gonna buy that. He wants to get the h.e.l.l out of here.”

”I know,” Dar agreed. ”So I have to make what I'm gonna give him good enough for him to forget about the cash.”

Kerry tapped her on the arm. ”Dar, we don't have anything.”