Page 63 of Austen

Then Declan moved over to Austen.He slowly reached out and took her hand.Then he pulled her away as Steinbeck got on the boat.

Stein walked over to Declan.

Austen watched the captain come out of the pilothouse and down the stairs.

“Do not tell him that you were in the military,” Declan said quietly.

Steinbeck frowned.“Okay.Why?”

“Because this ship is on its way to Cuba.”

What?Oh brother.The action movie simply continued.

EIGHT

This didn’t haveto be complicated.All Declan had to do was get alone with whatever immigration official they met in port and ask to talk to the US embassy.And if it got hairy, he could add a few dollar signs to his request.

At least, that was his plan as he stood in the tiny crew cabin looking out the port window, sweat running down the back of his shirt.

Belle—although maybe he should call her Phoenix, because clearly that was the name Stein knew her as—sat on the lower bunk with Austen, who had her legs pulled up, her arms resting on her knees, her head back against the wall.

Phoenix looked as if she’d like to have another go at her attempt to take him out in Barcelona.

Steinbeck held up a wall near the door, his arms folded, stoic.

The entire place swam with the odor of sweat and hot metal saturated in the brine of the sea.

At least they weren’t starving.The captain had had the decency to feed them—a bowl of rice and beans and some hard bread—before locking them in the crew quarters.

Declan had tried to reason with him.Americans.Lost at sea.But apparently his rudimentary Spanish wasn’t enough to convince the captain, especially since they all came minus any identification.So maybe it was up to a stack of promised greenbacks from Declan to keep them out of Cuban custody.

“How long till we get to port?”Phoenix said.

“My guess is midmorning,” Declan answered.

“So we have about four hours to figure out how to get off this boat.”Steinbeck frowned.

“Calm down,” Declan said.“I have a plan.”

“Oh, goody, goody,” Steinbeck snapped.“Because your plans are so fantastic.”

Declan’s mouth gaped.“Listen, Joe Impulsive.I get that it was my fault that my yacht got boarded.I own that.But it’s fate that landed us on this fishing boat.One simple conversation with the right authorities should iron this all out.”

Steinbeck stared at him.“Are you serious?Because theminutethey find out that I was with the teams, everything changes.And your background isn’t stellar either.”He directed that at Phoenix.

“What?”She leaned up.“I’m a ghost.Nobody knows who I am.”

“Exactly.You don’t think that’s going to raise a few red flags?”Steinbeck shook his head.“No, we’re all headed for detention at best.”

“I’ll reason with them,” Declan said.

“Money doesn’t always trump ideology,” said Phoenix.“American–Cuban relations aren’t so great right now, and when they figure out who you are, suddenly this won’t be a diplomatic event.It will be aransom.”Phoenix shook her head and looked at the porthole.“You guys should have just left me floating at sea.”

“You shouldn’t have taken off!”Steinbeck said, glancing at her.

She held up a hand as if to stiff-arm his words.

Austen sighed and lowered her head into her arms.

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