“Stupid jerk.”

Dar’s eyebrows lifted. “He’s not that bad.”

“I meant DeSalliers.” Kerry scowled. “Should we go back to Bud and Charlie’s island? What about Rufus?” She eased over onto her side. “Dar, this sucks.”

“I know.” Dar gazed at the ceiling, considering. “We could go back there, but what if they didn’t? It’s a big ocean, and there’s dozens of islands around here.”

Kerry sighed. “No, it sucks because, damn it, I wanted to Terrors of the High Seas 203

celebrate your birthday with you tonight,” she complained, plucking at the fabric underneath her. “God, that sounds so selfish, doesn’t it?” A faint laugh was forced out of her.

Dar reached over and scrubbed Kerry’s back with her fingertips. “Nah.”

“Urmph.” Kerry arched her neck. “Yes, it does,” she grumbled.

“Well,” Dar snuggled closer and nuzzled the side of Kerry’s face, “it’s on my behalf, so you’re excused.”

Kerry slid her arms around Dar’s body and drew her closer, detecting a hint of wood smoke on her clothes. She tucked her head into Dar’s shoulder and exhaled, simply wanting the comfort of her lover’s presence.

Dar was more than glad to oblige. She gently rubbed Kerry’s lower back while she gazed at the ceiling, trying to figure out what to do next. It was almost dark outside, and with only the dim bed light on, the room settled into a peaceful twilight.

So quiet, that Dar’s cell phone going off nearly caused both of them to jump right off the bed. “Shit.” Dar scrabbled for the ringing cell. She flipped it open and held it to her ear. “Yes?”

Kerry put her head back down on Dar’s shoulder, willing her heart to stop trying to climb out her ears. She’d been half asleep, in that hazy place just before you went completely out, and her body was feeling a sense of shock at being jerked so rudely out of it.

“Yes.” Dar’s voice was serious. “All right. We’ll be right over.”

She folded up the phone and set it on the bed, letting out a long breath.

“What is it?” Kerry asked.

“Charlie,” Dar murmured after a moment. “He’s in the hospital, here, on St. Thomas.” She turned her head and looked at Kerry. “It’s not pretty.”

Kerry could easily have lived her entire life without seeing another hospital. She gave Dar’s side a pat and hitched herself up on an elbow. “Let’s get going, then,” she said. “Like it or not, we’re buying into this, aren’t we?”

Dar sat up. “Looks like it. Yeah.” She got up off the bed and clipped the phone to her waistband. “You can stay here if you want, Ker. If you’re not feeling well, no sense in both of… Ah.”

Kerry had gotten up and was running her brush through her hair. “Sweetie, if I can’t spend the night with you in that bed, then I’ll take what I can get.” She tossed the brush to Dar. “Besides, I like Charlie. I hope he’s okay.”

Dar brushed her hair, hoping the very same thing.



Chapter

Nineteen

THE HOSPITAL WAS busy. It was a relatively small group of buildings not far from the town they’d been staying in. Dar led the way inside and they went to the front desk. Giving Charlie’s name, they were directed upstairs.

Exiting onto the third floor, Dar spotted Bud near the end of the hall. She called out in a low voice and he turned, closing his cell phone and walking toward them.

Kerry drew in a breath. Bud’s face was half-covered with an ugly bruise, though he appeared oblivious to it. His shirt was ripped, exposing his shoulder, and the back of one hand was scraped raw.

“What happened?” Dar asked quietly.

Bud looked up and down the corridor, then motioned them over to a bank of chairs. He sat down in one and let his elbows rest on his knees. He studied the floor as Dar took a seat next to him.

“You ever hear of something being too stupid for the Navy?”

Dar stifled a wry chuckle. “Heard that around my house growing up a time or two, yeah.”

“Well,” Bud’s voice was very soft, “I done something too stupid for the Navy.” He glanced at the back of his hand. “I stuck my mug someplace it didn’t belong, and got Charlie hurt for it.”

His pain was evident. Kerry settled in the chair on the other side of him and put a hand on his back, rubbing it sympathetically.

“I’m sorry.”

“Not half as much as I am,” Bud said. “And you know, it kicks my ass to admit being this stupid.” He turned his head and regarded Dar. “Shoulda taken you up on your offer. Worst that’d caused is givin’ me a week’s heartburn.”

Dar managed a relatively sympathetic look. “What’d you get into?”

Bud appeared to struggle with himself for a moment longer, then he shook his head. “That damn kid offered us a chunk of change to go on and dive that site. We did.”

“The wreck?” Kerry asked. “The kid… You mean, Bob?


Terrors of the High Seas 205

Bud nodded. “He approached us the other day when you dropped him off at the island. Said it was a dark dive—get in, get out. Didn’t seem too dangerous to me. No big deal,” he said. “They caught us out there, but we got on the boat and headed out.”

“They followed you?” Dar hazarded.

“Chased our asses all the way back here.” Bud nodded. “We didn’t want to go back home.” He exhaled. “They caught us.” His eyes lifted toward a set of doors. “They had pipes and bats.

Charlie’s got a busted kidney. He couldn’t get away from them,

’cause of his leg, and I—”

“Stayed with him,” Kerry said.

“Something like that, yeah,” Bud admitted. “That piss-ant kid ran. Took the boat and left us there.”

Kerry’s eyes narrowed. “That skunk.”

Dar rubbed her temple. “How much did he offer you?” she asked quietly.

“Doesn’t really matter,” Bud muttered.

“HOW MUCH?” It was amazing how much force Dar could project in her voice without raising its volume.

Bud blinked. “Ten grand. Why?”

“That what the nut is on your place?”

Bud nodded.

Dar checked her watch, then dialed a number on her cell phone.

She waited for it to connect, then she started punching in numbers, leaning back and concentrating on what she was doing.

“So, how is Charlie?” Kerry asked.

Bud turned his eyes from Dar’s simmering form. “He got hit all over. They ripped his prosthesis off. Belted him in the kidney.

That’s the bitch. He’s had problems with that one.”

Dar tapped him on the knee. “This place taken care of?” She indicated the hospital.

Bud straightened. “I ain’t looking for no handout,” he snapped at her. “We’re fine.”

Dar leaned closer to him and narrowed her eyes. “If I have to, I can dial into this place and find out if you’ve got insurance or not, so just answer the damn question and don’t give me a hard time.”

Bud’s eyes dropped.

“That’s what I thought.” Dar stood up. “Okay. I’ve had it. That stupid mother bastard DeSalliers is so damned convinced I’m a part of this, he’s gonna get what he asked for.” She put her hands on her hips. “Can we see Charlie?”

Bud looked like the subject changes were giving him whiplash.

He put his hand on his jaw. “Yeah, I think so.”

“Good,” Dar said. “You got a place to stay out here?”

Bud shook his head.

“Rufus taken care of?”


206 Melissa Good

“Yeah. He’s staying with a buddy.”

Kerry pulled a slip of paper out of her pocket and got up, heading for a nearby pay phone. “I’ll call the hotel,” she told Dar.

“You want me to start calling around to find our friend Bob?”

“Wait until we get back to the room,” Dar instructed. “I need my laptop.”

Bud looked between the two of them, a little taken aback.

“What are you doing?”

“We,” Kerry told him, covering the mouthpiece of the phone,

“are doing what we do.” She glanced at Dar’s fierce expression, then went back to the phone. “Yes? Yes. We have a room, I know.

I’d like a second one.”

Dar waited for Kerry to finish. They entered Charlie’s room, walking quietly into the softly blinking machinery that surrounded him.

Dar closed her eyes. The beating her friend had taken was hideous. DeSalliers, you bastard. You don’t know what you just stirred up. She laid her hands on the iron rails and gazed at Charlie’s battered form. “Hey.”

His eyes were mere slits, but they opened a little wider on seeing Dar.

Bud gently clasped his hands around Charlie’s, chafing them.

“Called in the Marines, Punky.”

A faint hint of a smile pulled at Charlie’s lips. “So I see.”

“Take it easy.” Dar leaned on the rails. “I’m in charge now, and I make the rules,” she said. “They giving you good drugs?”

Charlie nodded slightly.

“Good.” Dar wrote her cell phone number on the pad sitting on the small bedside table. “You need anything, call.” She put the pen down. “I’m going to stop at the desk when I go out. You’ll get taken care of.”

“B…” Bud straightened.

Dar just looked at him, and Bud subsided with a tired sigh.

“I’ve got a wire transfer coming in tomorrow,” Dar went on. “We’ll get your Uncle Guido taken care of, then I’m gonna go after DeSalliers.”

“What are you gonna do?” Bud asked.

“Find out the truth first, then I’m gonna give him exactly what he asked for,” Dar said. “You staying here for a while,” she asked Bud.

Bud nodded.

“Inn at Blackbeard’s Castle. We’ve got a room for you,” Dar told him.

Charlie made a muffled sound that sounded suspiciously like laughter.