Page 39 of Fearless
“Quit your smoochin’ and let’s get movin’!” Jessie shouts from the back porch. “Time’s a wastin’!”
I grab a short-sleeve button-up shirt from the closet to somewhat conceal my weapon and then head outside. I refuse to look back at Harper because if I do, I might not want to leave.
Jessie and Elijah climb on their jet skis while I start up the speedboat. After unmooring the vessel, I input the coordinates into the onboard GPS and flip the switch to activate the sonar. With the vast number of reefs, I’d prefer to navigate around them and avoid damaging the ecosystem or the boat.
Elijah pulls up next to me and does a quick over-the-shoulder glance toward the cabana. “Things between you and Harper seem to be going swimmingly.”
“She’s not a fan of the water,” I retort dryly.
“Funny. Seriously though, are the two of you planning on staying married when this is all over?” he asks.
“Are you trying to get the inside scoop, Elijah? All bets are off if you cheat!” Jessie says, pulling up to the other side of the boat.
The edges of my mouth turn up at the idea that my love life is the source of yet another bet among my teammates. I shouldn’t have expected anything less. “If the Lord wills it,” I respond, giving an answer without really giving an answer.
I push the throttle forward and slowly move away from the dock. Jessie and Elijah follow close behind me until we’re about a mile out. “Contact at one-nine-zero, approximately a mile out. Slow down and maintain a thousand meters,” I bark out.
“Roger,” Elijah says.
“Yes?” I ask and then realize too late that Elijah was simply acknowledging the order. Jessie seizes the opportunity and giggles. I brace myself for the jokes that are sure to come. They always do.
“I’m going to let that one go, but only because you made it too easy,” Jessie titters.
Harper’s voice resonates in my ear. “I want to be let in on the joke when you all return, but for now, can you identify the number of occupants, Roger?”
“Not yet. I’m about five minutes out.” I pull the throttle back, slowing my approach and taking my time to assess the situation. Once I get within 300 yards, I inform the team, “Ican’t tell who the occupants are, but there are two of them, and they have rifles.”
“Proceed with cau…” Harper says but gets cut off.
“Comms check. Sound off,” I bark, only to be met with silence. I turn the boat around, and two minutes later, I encounter the team talking over one another.
“We knew that two miles would be pushing the comms envelope, Harper. Roger turned around and is fine,” Elijah tells her.
I speak up, “I’m all right. It’s not the distance that’s the issue. Comms would have come through broken and staticky the further we got from shore. No, communications are cut off because they are using a signal jammer, and I entered the bubble.”
“You need to abort,” Harper demands.
“Negative,” I reply. “Jessie and Elijah will still be in range and will have me in sight, Harper. For whatever reason, privacy is warranted. Other than you not being able to hear me, nothing changes.”
“We have your six, Roger,” Jessie adds, more for Harper’s benefit than for mine. “Go.”
I throttle up and turn the boat in the direction of the two men waiting for me. A few minutes later, I pull up next to them and pull the throttles back so that I’m idling. Ackerman has his weapon trained on me and asks, “Are you armed, Cavenaugh?”
“I am. I have a gun on my right hip,” I tell them honestly.
Ackerman moves his rifle to the low-ready position, and Zurkowski does the same. Zurkowski motions for me to lower my hands. “Thank you for your honesty. Finnegan speaks veryhighly of you, but he’s not very pleased with your actions at the moment.Marrying his daughter and bringing her into a dangerous situation?Tsk Tsk.”
“A dangerous situation thathecreated,” I say, a tinge of anger lacing my tone. “Until now, I wasn’t entirely sure whether the four of you were here working for Finnegan or against him.”
Zurkowski smiles. “Oh, we’re workingforFinnegan, and we’re not the only ones. Once he told us why he needed us, there was no way we could refuse him.”
“You couldn’t refuse him? It’s easy enough to say ‘No’ to stealing 40 pounds of uranium or smuggling illegal immigrants into the US. It’s really easy to refuse building a nuclear bomb.”
“You don’t understand now, but you will,” Zurkowski says cryptically. “Finnegan planned on bringing you into the fold, but Harper took it upon herself to hire Shining Knight without having all the information. It’s created a bigger mess than we planned for, but it won’t stop us from achieving our objective.”
“And what’s that objective?” I ask. “If you want to bring me in on your plan, then what’s stopping you?”
Ackerman allows the sling connected to the rifle to bear most of the weight as he uses a pair of high-powered binoculars to scan the open water. He turns back toward Zurkowski and says, “Make it quick; we may have company.”
