Chapter 40

Of course, the minute the object of your chase goes all limp and cooperative, you"re gonna get suspicious of the trick. The two guys in the Zodiac didn"t exactly jump at the engraved invitation to haul their big catch onboard.

They studied us all squinty-eyed in the harsh strobing light from the helicopters that kept sweeping over us. We studied them right back.

Their large muscled bodies, bad teeth, missing pinky fingers, and aggressive ink did not inspire confidence. Even the one I"d been calling Shorty was far from short. Height is a relative concept, and Tall was a hulking giant.

I can take him. Guys that big rely too much on their ability to intimidate. They don"t have to learn how to handle themselves in a fight.

Or so I told myself.

"Can we continue the staring contest in the boat?" I asked. "I"m a prune all over."

"We"re not going to try anything," Noah said. "Pinkie swear."

An unfortunate choice of words for two goons lacking the digits in question.

"Not sure I appreciate the attitude," Shorty said.

"We"ve been in the water all day with no sign of land anywhere around," I said. "You try it, and get back to me about the attitude."

"Come on," Noah said. "We"re dying here. You didn"t come all this way to scoop us out of the sea because you need two dead guys. All you had to do to get us dead was leave us out here."

"Get over yourself," said Shorty. "I don"t need you for any little thing."

"The boss needs him," Tall said with a grunt. "Those two better learn to appreciate that fact." With a second and even more expressive grunt, he reached out a thick four-fingered right hand.

I looked at Noah. You first, and don"t argue about it.

Taking a deep breath, he clasped the offered hand. With a jerk, Tall pulled him out of the water and into the Zodiac. Noah promptly began to shake all over like a puppy.

His captors winced. Shorty kicked over a towel. "You can dry off with that."

I was hanging back to see if they"d trank Noah. They didn"t. A trick to get me onboard too? Or was there another reason? Maybe that message they got to stop shooting at us included instructions to leave us awake.

As I knew from humping two knocked-out bad guys down a mountain, the trank put you into a really deep sleep at first. I was right about what I"d said to the Zodiac crew. If the boss needed us conscious enough for immediate questioning, they couldn"t knock us out just yet.

Tall stuck his hand out to me. "Behave yourself when you"re aboard my vessel. You"re hostages, not house guests."

Yeah, yeah. I pretended not to see not to see his thick, ugly hand with its missing digit and its horrendous tats. Instead, I gripped the side of the Zodiac to pole-vault myself over its side—only, of course, without the help of a pole.

I had to use even more power than I"d thought to propel myself out of the water. It was a demonstration of physical strength. Also, it was more of my bad attitude, or at least I hoped they"d interpret it that way.

You guys aren"t so tough. You don"t scare me.

My tumble onto the Zodiac was inelegant, to say the least, but at least I managed to land on all fours on the floor. That kept down the damage to my hands and knees.

I pretended to fumble for my balance as I hurriedly felt around under the benches.

That trank gun should be right down here where I saw Shorty drop it.

Of course, it wasn"t. Nothing"s ever as easy as they make it look in the movies.

Somehow, he"d got the weapon stowed away without me seeing. Not too surprising. It was dark and loud and windy and when the lights came over, they were too bright, and I was physically drained by hours of immersion, and my waterlogged clothes felt dangerously heavy, and...

Don"t spiral. Think.

My body felt so heavy—much heavier than it felt when it was being supported by salt water. Something had been left behind in the ocean.

The mind was screaming, "Do something! Think of something! Fast!"

The physical plant was whimpering, "Just let me die in peace."

Screw that. Nobody"s dying in peace until I have Noah back to safety.

Shorty kicked at me. Helpful guy. I bared my fangs at him as I pushed myself back to my feet. If I stood a little bow-legged, I could brace myself against the rising waves. The ocean had been quiet for most of the day, but now it was getting restless.

Was it stirred up by the wind from the chopper blades? Or was there a new weather system on its way? Who knew, not me.

"Sit down," Tall said.

I didn"t. "Wait. I want to get something straight here."

"I ain"t got time for your..."

"Oh, I think maybe you do. We could settle this right now. A minute ago, didn"t you say, ‘hostages?' I think maybe what we have here is a big fat misunderstanding. You could drop me off at the nearest port of call right now and be on your way."

He snorted. "Dream on."

"No, really. Kidnapping me is a complete waste of time. My people don"t have any money. I"m a scholarship kid. You should have taken somebody who was in the NFL. Those guys have millions."

He snorted again. The hovering helicopters were descending several notches. The resulting wind and noise made further conversation impossible. Hell, it made holding your eyes open impossible.

I wondered why the Zodiac wasn"t moving. It didn"t seem like a great idea to stay parked under this mess. The two helicopters continued to circle each other in a threatening manner. Nobody had opened fire, but it was only a matter of time.

Or so I thought.

Until, quite suddenly, one of them took off like a streak.

What happened? Where was our aerial battle? What had they negotiated?

I did sit down then, hard, almost in Noah"s lap. He curled an arm around me. Whatever this was, he wasn"t alone anymore.

We watched Tall text away on his device.

"What"s going on?" Noah finally shouted over the roar of the remaining chopper. "Somebody mind telling us?"

"You"re our ticket out, buddy," Tall said. "More than that, you don"t need to know."

"Wait," I said. "You"re trading us for a way out of here? What if we don"t agree to be traded away to some unknown clowns we never met before?"

Clowns may not have been the most tactful word. Shorty spat at me. "Looks to me like you"re the clown, smart guy. What made you think you get a vote?"