On the Hunt - Page 70

It landed with a tremendous splash in the water, almost turning the launch over!

“Get in the water,” Taylor ordered Kira. “I want you on that sled. You said you could run the damn thing. Now show me.”

“I’m going.” She turned around and surreptitiously checked the phone she’d taken from the guard. Still no signal. Damn. She had to do something else.

She slid off the launch into the water and then started to swim toward the diving sled. “Let me get settled on it and then I’ll follow you back to the cruiser.”

He hesitated.

“Move!” she said as she reached the sled. “I know you’d just as soon shoot me as look at me. Do you think I’d try to escape now? I’d pick a better place and time.” She was crawling onto the sled now and found it completely covered in a waterproof tarp. Why? The diving sleds had never been covered in a tarp when she and Harlan had been using them before. She was sure the height from which the sled had been dropped would not have required the additional protection. Those sleds were lightweight but strong as cast iron. And if the tarp wasn’t a safety measure, then it might be a way Harlan had chosen to communicate with her! She’d no sooner had that thought than she was running her fingers along the edge of the zippered closure of the tarp, exploring every inch of it. It appeared to be an ordinary seam…

No! It was doubled in the corner, and the underside was a zipper. She slipped the map of the island from beneath the sleeve of her wet suit and tucked it into the zippered pocket in the tarp.

But there was something else in that compartment! It was only a scrap of paper with a brief message scrawled on it.

I’ll be there for you. Wait for me. H.

Thank God. She felt almost weak with relief. She wasn’t alone any longer. Together. Incredible how those few words made such a difference.

“What are you doing?” Taylor was screaming at her from the launch. “Get that sled moving! We have to get out of here.”

“I’m trying, dammit,” she yelled back at him. “I have to get this blasted tarp off. It won’t do more than crawl across the water if that tarp slows it down. It’s all your fault. Harlan must have actually paid attention to those stupid threats of yours and wanted to avoid annoying you.” She was silent a moment. “But I think I’ve got it off now.” She tossed Harlan’s note into the sea and watched it sink below the surface. Then she made a show of struggling to free the tarp, finally throwing it over the far side of the sled. “That does it.” She was putting her arms into the sleeves of the sled itself. “You can take off now. I’ll follow you.”

“You’d better keep very close,” Taylor said. “I’ll be aiming this rifle at you all the way back to the reef.” He lifted his head and looked up at the helicopter, still lingering near the place the sled had dropped from. “And if he makes any attempt to try to follow us, I’ll blow him out of the sky.”

“It’s pitch dark tonight, not even a moon,” Kira said. “He’s not going to try anything. You’ve gotten what you wanted. He’ll wait until he has a chance to do a lot more damage. Or else he might try to make a deal to keep me alive if he’s feeling generous. I did give him Fiona back.”

“It’s whether or not I feel generous.” Taylor chuckled. “And I never feel generous toward Harlan. There’s been too much between us for too long.”

She was adjusting the engine controls on the sled. It purred like a stalking panther. With the note from Harlan, all signs were good at this moment. “Then maybe your deal will be with me. I have my generous moments and I’m accustomed to taking care of myself.”

“But I don’t need your generosity,” Taylor said. “I’ll have everything I need once I take that treasure you keep waving in front of me.”

“You haven’t seen it yet. You might want more once you do. People like you never have enough.” Kira squeezed the control trigger, and the sled sped around Taylor’s boat.

Taylor gave her an impressed nod.

“You know that Harlan always satisfies his customers,” Kira yelled.

He smiled maliciously. “And this time I’m the customer. After all these years, I think I like it.”

“Of course you do. He said you like the idea of taking everything away from him.” At this particular moment, she couldn’t tolerate him any longer. She was just grateful that she could use his unfamiliarity with the sled to lie to him about its capabilities. “But it’s not easy to run these sleds. I need to concentrate. I have to watch your launch every minute to be sure I won’t run into you.”

“Then be quiet and do your job,” Taylor said with a frown. “I don’t want you cracking up now that we’re on our way to getting what I want. We’re almost back to the reef anyway.”

“Whatever you say,” Kira said. She looked down at the controls. “You’ve made that more than clear to me.”

I’ll be there for you.

They were indeed almost back to the reef. But by the time Harlan got that tarp back out of the sea and checked it for messages, it would probably be almost morning. She doubted Harlan would choose Taylor’s reef hideout to be the site of an attack at that time. He’d probably been talking about the caves, building his plans around them.

And she would build her own plans to coordinate with his.

Together…

ON BOARD THE HELICOPTER

ONE HOUR AND TWENTY MINUTES LATER