Part 50 (1/2)

Up on the bridge, Dar navigated carefully through the storm, edging closer and closer to the meeting point. It was so dark she could barely see past the bow, and she was relying only on her radar and her depth finder to keep her out of trouble. The rain lashed hard against them, moving almost sideways in its intensity.

Charlie was huddled in the seat next to her, also staring out into the darkness. ”Nasty,” Dar murmured.

”Yeah,” the ex-sailor replied softly. ”Listen, Dar-I'm sorry about that mix up before.”

Dar glanced at him. ”It's all right. It's too much stress for all of us right now. I know you're worried about Bud. So am I.” She watched the radar, then pointed at the screen. ”Looks like our friend abandoned us. One less complication.”

Charlie nodded. ”Saw that,” he said. ”I feel a d.a.m.n sight better about the whole thing now that you found that paperwork,” he added. ”Ain't that I didn't trust you to do the right thing, Dar, but-”

”But it's a h.e.l.l of a lot easier when you've got something to bargain with,” Dar finished for him. ”I wasn't feeling any too comfortable, either. There's just so much bulls.h.i.+t I can dish out before I run out of cards.” She made a slight adjustment to their course. ”I'll be glad to give him that d.a.m.n paper, get Bud, and get the h.e.l.l out of this G.o.d d.a.m.ned storm.”

”Doesn't bother you that the bad guys win?” Charlie asked, watching her face.

”Bad guy's a relative term in this viper's nest,” Dar muttered, turning as she heard someone coming up the ladder. ”Ah.” A smile crossed her face as she recognized the st.u.r.dy form in its rain slicker. Kerry, a Thermos jug hanging around her neck by a lanyard, was using both hands to pull herself up the ladder. ”Told you I'd come and get you!” Dar called out.

Kerry steadied her balance and made her way across the pitching bridge. ”Let's just say there's only so much petulant whininess I can take in one sitting, okay?” She thumped down into the third seat, on the other side of Dar. ”Stupid little wuss bag. I*295 almost put him through a porthole.” Her voice sounded exasperated. ”We almost there?”

Dar nodded. ”Almost.”

A crack of thunder made them jump and the entire sky lit with lightning, brus.h.i.+ng the heaving waves with silver incandescence for a brief instant.

”Wow.” Kerry exhaled. ”This is getting pretty bad. What if he doesn't show?”

No one answered or looked at one another.

”He'd better,” Dar finally said. ”If he doesn't, we'll go find him.”

Lightning flashed again and Kerry started, grabbing Dar's arm.

”Dar!” She pointed off the bow. ”There's something out there!” she shouted. ”Someone! I saw a person!”

”What?” Dar barked, incredulous. Immediately, she cut the throttles and slowed the big boat into a wallowing idle. ”Where?”

Charlie half stood and peered. ”Can't be, Kerry. Not in these waters.”

Kerry strained her eyes. ”There was,” she said with utter certainty. ”I swear it.”

Dar checked the time, then looked at Kerry's face. ”Get the spotlight,” she said. ”I'll circle.”

Kerry jumped up and started for the ladder, then froze as a light from the darkness of the waves seemed to ignite, pinning them with its brilliance. ”Oh!”

Dar felt the world going out of balance. ”What the h.e.l.l? Now what?”

”Dar.” Charlie's face had a strange expression. ”That there's a Navy underwater lamp.”

Naval light? A suddenly realized possibility made Dar's heart jump. As she idled the engines, she heard the faint echo of a much smaller craft nearby. ”Kerry, stay up here.” She held on to the railing as she edged around her partner. ”I think we're okay.”

Kerry held onto the rail for dear life as she watched Dar scamper down the ladder to the lower deck. ”I hope she's right.”

Her only answer was thunder rolling ominously overhead.

So close to the water, Dar could see the outline against the waves. It was a low riding boat with a single occupant. The light swept across her and blinded her for a moment, then went out. She opened her eyes and blinked. ”Dad!”

”Hey there, Dardar,” Andrew Robert's voice boomed back.

”Toss me one of them lines.”

With a feeling of relief so profound it almost made her dizzy, Dar lifted one of their dock lines and tossed it over, aiming accurately at the shadowy figure. She felt it go taut. ”Keep it steady, Ker!” she yelled up to her partner. ”It's Dad!”

296*

”Yes!” Kerry hopped up and down a few times. ”Something goes right at last!”

Dar smiled as she caught the words. She leaned over the railing and watched as her father lashed the black rubber boat to the rope.

”Want me to let the ladder down?”

”Yes, ma'am, I would like that,” Andrew shouted back, tying off a second line to his waist, then making a neat dive over the side of the craft into the water.

Dar scrambled across the deck and got to the back ladder, hanging on as the boat pitched wildly in the worsening seas. She unlatched the diving hatch and booted it open, then unhooked the diving ladder and let it down into the sea.

It was only there, it seemed, for a brief moment before its sheen was engulfed by a large, dark figure that rose dripping up out of the water and invaded the deck. Despite the boat's rocking, Andrew easily held his balance as he removed his neoprene headgear. ”'Lo, there.”

”Hi, Daddy.” Dar felt the words emerge before she could censor them. Andrew's grizzled eyebrows lifted in mild surprise, but he acknowledged them by stepping forward and clasping Dar in a brief hug. ”What's a nice guy like you doing out in a storm like this?”

Andrew chuckled. ”Don't you go there, Paladar,” he warned, releasing her just in time to be a.s.saulted by a smaller figure bolting across the rolling deck. ”You prob'ly don't know it, but a storm like this here one's the reason you're standing out in it.”

Without a moment's hesitation, Kerry threw her arms around her father-in-law. ”Whoo!” she gurgled. ”Hi, Dad!”

Andy's voice gentled perceptibly. ”Hey there, Kerry,” he said.

”Ah do thank you for keeping them letters coming.”

Dar's ears p.r.i.c.ked. ”Letters?”

Kerry peeked at her. ”After that initial outline we sent when he called on your birthday, I've been emailing him about all the stuff that's been happening,” she told her lover with a touch of apology in her tone.

”You knew he was coming out here?” Dar asked.

”Naw.” Andrew put a big arm around his daughter. ”Just decided that this here morning. Let's go topside and have us a chat, and get out of these here d.a.m.n swells.” He looked up. ”That Charlie up there?”

”Yeah,” Dar said.

”Got us a regular boatload of trouble, don't we?” Andy commented.

”Where's Mom?” Kerry asked as they started towards the ladder.

”Painting that there dog of yours,” Andrew replied, pausing as*297 the cabin door opened and Bob looked out at him. ”This here that feller that ran out on Bud and Chuck?”

Bob's eyes widened at the growl, and he hastily closed the door again.