Chapter 38

Imight have abandoned all hope if we"d been hearing the chop of a helicopter"s rotor blades. Fortunately, there was no hovering chopper to direct the action from overhead, just a single small determined boat headed in our direction.

Maybe, just maybe, we were about to get out of this mess.

"Be ready," I said. "You know what we need to do."

"Pretend to cooperate," Noah said. "Let him get us on the boat. Get some hydration, kick some ass. Take over the boat, take off like a bat out of hell before the rest of their navy catches up with us."

He didn"t point out the missing steps in the plan. He didn"t have to.

Him, he"d said. But of course it wasn"t just one guy.

As the lightweight Zodiac glided over the rising waves in our direction, we could see the indistinct dark forms of two men in silhouette. "Not a problem," I said. "I can kick two asses for the price of one."

"A Zodiac is an interesting choice for an escape vehicle."

It wouldn"t have been my first choice, especially when we had no idea which way or how far to go to reach dry land. But it was a logical choice for its owners. The big ship undoubtedly had an entire fleet. The Zodiac"s shallow draft let them pull ashore in places that lacked a harbor.

They were a popular option for cruise ships taking rich tourists ashore in remote areas. Want to see the polar bears eat the penguins? They"re your boat.

But, now that I thought of it, they were a natural choice for the right kind of bad guy too. What pirate or smuggler couldn"t profit from a cheap, easily deployed fleet of boats that didn"t need harbors, marinas, or any other ports of call likely to be inhabited by snoopy customs officials?

"I bet they had a whole fleet onboard that they sent out to find us," I said. "The helicopter must not have provided enough coverage after all."

When I waved, the Zodiac slowed. Did they not want to risk getting too close?

"What"s that about?" Noah asked. "Think they"re calling in the helicopter?"

My shoulders slumped. Yes, of course, they were. Of fucking course. "Give me my shirt," I said. "If I"m getting arrested, I want to be wearing clothes this time."

We passed each other our shirts. Wriggled them back on as best we could, considering we were still in the life rings. Untying the scrub pants I"d been using to tie our inflatables together, I wriggled back into them too.

I"ve never felt more ridiculous.

At least, it was dark enough that they weren"t getting too many cheap thrills from our embarrassment.

I waved more impatiently. Noah began to wave too.

"Water!" I didn"t have to fake the croak in my shout. "We"re dying out here!"

The Zodiac crept up a little more. When they were about ten feet away, they came to a complete stop again. If they"d been carrying lights, they"d turned them off, which struck me as unwise. What if they got run over by their own ship?

Presumably, the Zodiac had a transponder sending little beeps to their radar to prevent that.

"Water!" Noah yelled. "Come on, guys!"

Even this close, the two men were little more than silhouettes. Impossible to read their expressions. After a minute, the taller one bent down and then came back from the crouch with his arm cocked back for a forward pass. I caught the plastic water bottle one-handed, the slap of its arrival making a satisfying sound as it connected with the palm of my hand.

Grinning in spite of myself, I handed it to Noah. Lifting my empty hand, I signaled for the next.

The man threw, and I caught.

I tossed my head back to drink like my gulps were being captured on video for the ultimate sports beverage commercial.

Water had never tasted so good.

The shorter guy in our Zodiac was brandishing a familiar weapon. One of those tranquilizer guns.

But he didn"t move any closer. They just stood there waiting.

We"d somehow made a fool of one team, and they weren"t taking any chances.

Well, that was just too fucking great.

And then, just to make the scene complete, we could hear the familiar chop-chop-chop of a helicopter. Our great escape was officially foiled.