Severed Threads (32 page)

Blaine flashed a questioning look. Fortunately, it was missed by both of the other men.

“
Si
. That’s what I want to hear,” Marcos said. “I don’t want to kill you. But as for your little friend here – ”

“
You don’t have to kill either one of us,” she insisted. “I’m telling you the God-honest truth. The dragon is down below. You only have to follow me to see for yourself.”

Marcos stared at her for an endless moment then shifted his attention to Blaine. “She better not be lying, amigo…for your sake.”

He lowered the knife and Blaine crumpled to the floor. Marcos’ leering eyes swung back to Rachel.

“
So, you go like
that
?” he asked.

She looked down at her blouse and jeans then scanned the afterdeck for her carry-on. She spotted it near the dive platform, exactly where she’d left it. “I need to put on my suit,” she said with visible tension. She waited for an approving nod of his head before taking steps in the bag’s direction. However, her actions were quickly halted by his Ukrainian counterpart.

“
It’s in my duffel, right there,” she assured him. “Just let me get it.”

Viktor wasted no time in claiming the bag himself. He carried it back to her and was about hand it over when an “ah-ha” look seized his face. Without another word spoken, he immediately set to work unzipping it, rummaging through her clothes, tossing pants, shoes and shirts right and left. After a few minutes, he looked up.

“
Nice,” he said, displaying a pair of white sheer panties.

Marcos’s lips curled. “Throw ‘em here. I’ll keep those.”

Rachel remembered the
Crown Royal
sack still cloaked in the bottom of her bag. She cringed at the thought of him finding it – of how he and his friend would react. She knew her demands would get her nowhere, so she spoke as pleasantly as she could manage. “Please, if you don’t mind, let me do that.”

“
You want
this
?” Viktor asked, dangling her black swimsuit in the air. He tossed it at her before she could answer. “Get ready.”

“
Not here,” she said. “Let me go down below.”

“
You’ve got something to hide?” His greedy eyes slid over her body, assuring her that treasure wasn’t all he was after.

“
Please. I won’t be long.”

Marcos wrinkled his beak. “No need,
socio
. We got her friend, eh?”

Rachel released a closely held breath. She glanced at her carry-on, relieved that her secret trove was still hidden. She hesitated before asking, “Can I have that too?”

Viktor lifted the bag and for a brief moment, he seemed to be weighing his load. He dumped it upside down, emptying its remaining contents. He untied the sleeves of her balled-up windbreaker and exposed the bulging purple sack. “What we have here?”

No, no, no!
Rachel’s hand found her throat.

Viktor loosened the drawstrings. His nimble fingers slid inside. He withdrew a single gold coin and waved it in front of her face. “So…you lie. You have gold and don’t tell us. I knew it!”

She gulped hard then looked down at Blaine. Surprise then disappointment resonated on his face.
I can explain,
she wanted to say.
I had no choice.
But there was no point. The damage had already been done.

Marcos joined his accomplice. He examined her loot – counting then recounting each coin. It didn’t take long for him to lose interest in the tidy sum. “Where’s the rest?” he asked.

“
That’s all the gold we found,” she claimed. “There isn’t any more.”

“
So you say. But I don’t trust you no more.”

“
Please…you have to believe me. I’ll help you find the heart of the dragon. That’s what you came here for, isn’t it?”

“
I hope you’re not lying again, senorita. You
do
know what happens to liars, don’t you?”

She slowly shook her head.

Viktor wagged his tongue back and forth. He looked at his partner with a conspiratorial smile. “We cut tongues out. Feed them to sharks.”

Rachel looked away, shielding her disgust.

“
Search below!” Marcos shouted.

Her plea had proved utterly useless. Blaine was escorted back up the ladder and into the wheelhouse while the bald-headed ferret pushed her in the opposite direction. He followed her down below and scoured the forward cabins. He emptied closets, dumped drawers, cleared tabletops. He filled the large empty basket with iPhones, pilfered watches, computer disks, Blaine’s laptop – whatever seemed to catch his fancy. Fortunately, unbeknownst to him or his partner, the crew’s cache had been stowed in the ship’s belly beneath floor planks in the galley. The secret compartment, which her father had included in the ship’s alterations, had seemed frivolous at the time…until now.

As soon as Viktor left the first cabin, Rachel tore off her clothes and changed quickly into her Speedo suit. She passed through the main salon and was heading toward the ladder leading to the chartroom when a man’s arm circled her waist. He pulled her into a dark alcove and covered her mouth with his meaty palm.

Not again!
She delivered a swift elbow jab to the man’s mid-section, loosening his grip. She twisted free and spun around, primed and ready to deliver a fisted blow. In the nick of time, recognition took hold. “Wade?”

The mountainous man was still grabbing his gut and biting his lip. He nodded his head in affirmation.

“
Sorry,” she whispered. “Some creep grabbed me like that before and – ” His hand sealed her words.

Marcos looked down from the open hatch. He moved to the ladder’s third rung, displaying his newly claimed flare gun. His beady eyes scanned the entire area. After a few minutes, he grunted and climbed back inside.

Wade’s hand fell away. “We saw their boat and dive gear,” he whispered. “Do you know how many divers there are?”

“
Two, maybe more.” With Marcos now controlling the wheelhouse and radio transceiver, there was no telling how many villains would eventually surface.

“
Ian’s waiting for me at the bottom of the dive platform. We’ll swim over to their boat and get some answers. Wait here out of sight until we get back.”

Rachel eagerly agreed. She watched from the back side of the ladder as Wade skirted the afterdeck. He successfully eluded the villain in the wheelhouse and vanished from sight. When he reappeared, his trusty spear gun was back in hand. Without making a sound, he slipped over the side – a warrior on a deadly mission.

Meanwhile, the racket in
Stargazer’s
lower level came to an abrupt halt – a sure sign Viktor had finished ransacking all the cabins and forward storage compartments. He climbed up the ladder and called out to her in a ludicrous singsong voice. “
Kraseevah, w
here
are
you?”

Against her better judgment, she ventured from her safe haven to see what the obstinate thief was up to. He tossed the filled basket overboard then turned to see if she’d been watching.

What was the point of that?
If the man had a half a brain, he would have realized they’d been logging all of their discoveries on the computer he’d just disposed of. With the tap of a few keys, the contents of the load buried in their hull would have been revealed.

“
You forget to tell me something?” he quizzed.

She shook her head, more puzzled than ever.

“
This!”
He held out the jade pendant Chase had given her. The reward she’d left sitting on her nightstand. “Hmm…” he persisted. “Gift from boyfriend, maybe?”

She glared at him. It wasn’t a priceless keepsake, but to Rachel it held sentimental value – something this villain would never understand.

He moved closer to the rail and dangled the pendant over the side. “Maybe you understand now.”

“
Stop it! Give that to me before you drop it.” She ran at him reaching for it, but he instantly whipped around. He held it tight against her chest, pinning her in place, and breathed in her ear, “Tell me…what you do for it?”

“
Dubov!” came from above. “We’re wasting time.”

Viktor slid his wet tongue along her neck, leaving Rachel cringing. “Get treasure, maybe I give back,” he murmured in her ear.

She bit her lip, willing herself to not respond to anything he said – anything he might do.

He released his hold and looked up at Marcos, grinning. “If we no come back, you kill boy.
Poinyal?
”

“
No problem,” he called down.

Rachel scowled as she collected her dive gear. She headed for the dive platform and cast a backward glance. Viktor was tucking the pendant inside his wetsuit, claiming ownership.

Moron.
If all went according to plan, she would never see it again – not in this lifetime.

After donning her equipment, she opened her pack to check her tools: hammer, goodie bag, chisel. Dive knife. It would come in handy when she needed it.

Viktor picked up his mask and tank, and was in the midst of tightening his straps when she slipped the knife into the strap around her leg.

“
Give that to me,” he ordered, pointing at her thigh. The black-hearted pirate had been paying more attention than she realized.

“
What about sharks?” she asked. “I have to protect myself, don’t I?”

“
My job. Take it off!”

She peered up at the helm station, to the place where Blaine now stood watching. She hesitated before obliging. Viktor snatched the knife from her fingers and added it to his arsenal.

Creep.
She glimpsed her wrist. Thanks to Marcos’s stupid cohort, her dive computer was now at the bottom of the ocean. She would have to depend solely on her gauges and years of diving experience. Once she entered the
Wanli’s
hull, she’d have less than fifteen minutes to trap Viktor in the cargo hold and even less time to make it back safely. She looked at the white boat, still bobbing in the distance. Where the hell were Ian and Wade? How could they not know she was about to risk her life?

Viktor tapped her arm. “What’s plan?”

“
We’re making a forty-five-minute dive then stopping for three minutes at five meters before surfacing. Understand?”

“
Yes.”

With her tank and vest fully secured, she pulled the mask down over her face. Though not of any consequence to her, she noticed that Viktor lacked a depth gauge. He hadn’t even bothered to check the air pressure in his used tank. She’d be cleared of all charges should there be an investigation into his self-induced death.

“
Let’s go!” he barked.

She stuck the regulator into her mouth. With one last look around, she dropped over the side and into the ocean’s deep blue coliseum.

Twenty-Seven

Viktor followed Rachel in her rapid descent, hugging the cave’s steep wall. As they approached the
Wanli
, she pointed out the dragon’s gold decapitated figurehead, half buried in rock. She smiled, having delivered exactly what she had promised. But the irony was totally lost on Viktor. He withdrew his knife and motioned her onward.