Page 85 of The Devil's Daughter

“Is that what this blip is? Another boat?” I point at the radar screen where a small dot lights up every time the device cycles.

“Yep. She’s been out there for the past few hours. Same heading as us, it looks like. Might be a cruise liner, which means they’ll likely drop anchor soon for a port stop.”

“Why did you decide to take us north and not south?”

His eyes crinkle and he smiles a little. “Hurricanes.” When I lift my eyebrows, he elaborates. “Calmer waters where it’s cooler. Alaska’s beautiful in May and June.”

“Oh, I didn’t know. For some reason I thought Drake told you about Amador or Delgado. They live in Mexico.”

He gives me a shrewd look, his lips tightening. “He did tell me. That factored in, but I’d have chosen to go north anyway. No sense chasing more trouble than we need to.”

“Makes sense. Thank you for explaining.”

He nods, but his attention is fixed on the other boat. He’s polite, but unsmiling when I excuse myself.

43

Ben

When the captain’s clear,crisp voice wakes me out of a sound sleep, I expect to see him standing over my bed. Instead the sound is coming from a speaker in the wall over the nightstand, and I’m up like a shot when he informs us we’re being boarded and to come to the deck armed.

Baz is right behind me when we head to our rooms for our guns. Elle stands in my doorway, eyes wide, with Drake right behind her.

“You two stay in the room and lock the door,” I command. “Baz and I will sort this out.”

“Is it Corluka? How did they find us?” Elle asks, shoulders hunched and arms wrapped around herself. “Was it the boat Captain Theo saw yesterday? I didn’t believe him when he said it was nothing. He looked worried.”

“Must’ve been,” I mutter, kicking myself for discounting it. The captain pointed it out to us late last night. If it was a cruise liner, it should’ve headed into the Bay, but instead was still keeping pace several miles west of us.

“If it’s Miles, I should try talking to him,” Drake says. “He’s my half-brother, after all. Maybe I can negotiate.”

“Fuck that,” I say. “We know the man wants you dead. The fact that the last guy who tried and failed to kill you committed suicide, rather than face who hired him, suggests he won’t listen to reason.”

“And he’s yourhalf-brother,” Baz adds. “The half that came from a man you were willing to kill to protect innocent lives.”

“Maybe it isn’t him,” Elle offers, making a valiant attempt at optimism. “Maybe it’s the Coast Guard or something.”

Drake shakes his head. “Theo wouldn’t have woken us up for that. He’d be able to handle the Coast Guard. No, this is someone else. If it’s Miles and he has Corluka backing him, he’d have more resources than a typical VP of Typhon. And he did just buy a yacht as fast as theBrizo. It came with a crew and was ready to sail out of the San Diego Harbor Sunday morning. If they were pushing the engines full-tilt, they’d be able to catch up with us. We’ve been taking it relatively slow to conserve power.”

“Well, we’re about to find out who it is. Stay close to an intercom. We’ll let you know when it’s safe,” I say.

Drake nods, pulls Elle back into his bedroom, and closes the door. I wait until I hear the lock engage before meeting my brother’s eyes.

“Take the stairs,” he says. “You head to the forward deck, I’ll go aft.”

With a nod, I jog to the companionway leading to the main deck and head up. The steps stop at a hatch that opens like a big trunk between two seating areas just outside the salon, with a door in front and an upper cover that opens vertically. The hatches themselves are made of tinted glass, so I have a visual of the deck on the other side, but no one can see me.

A shadow moves through the dimly lit salon, and another follows, heading toward the interior of the yacht. I wait a beat before carefully unlatching the front hatch, leaving the upper one secured, and am grateful that the hinges pivot smoothly and silently, a testament to how methodical Theo is about taking care of theBrizo.

Keeping to the shadows, I creep after the intruders, following them through the lounge, then past the dining room. They seem to be looking for a way down, and one finds the elevator, motioning to the other and speaking a language I don’t understand, but sounds vaguely Slavic.

One of the men steps into the elevator when it opens, and I seize the moment to step forward and slam the butt of my gun onto the other man’s head. His friend shouts, but the elevator door closes before he can react. I leave the unconscious body on the ground and sprint back to the companionway, ready to catch the second man the moment he comes out of the elevator.

I’m too late. When I round the corner from the stairwell, a shot rings out, and I curse and step back as the bullet splinters into the wall to the side of the bannister. Back to the wall, I carefully peek past the corner, gun at the ready, and return fire when I see a head poking out of the elevator.

The next time I look, Drake appears at the other end of the hallway, gun in hand. I widen my eyes at him and shake my head, mentally begging him to get back to fucking safety. The idiot just nods, and when the asshole pokes his head back out of the elevator, Drake fires, nailing him in the shoulder. The hit forces the man to drop his own gun and he slams back into the elevator with a yowl.

By the time we both reach it, the doors are closed and it’s rising again.

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