Page 149 of Blind Prophet

“Let’s get one of the boats down,” I say, pulling her toward the stern where I spotted the RHIBs earlier.

“You think that’s safer?” She scans the upper deck.

“To your point, we don’t know who else is on board. And Geoffrey’s been threatening bombs. If there’s one on this yacht?—”

“We might not find it until it’s too late,” she finishes. “But I don’t think he ever had a bomb. I never saw one. Luke made the same threats to me about a bomb at Arrow’s offices.”

The yacht remains eerily silent as I activate the davit system, which lowers the dinghy toward the rolling water below. Caroline stands guard, her stolen weapon tracking every shadow while my hands work the controls.

“Do you have Ryan’s number?”

“I know Arrow’s, but I don’t have my phone.”

I hand her mine, taking the gun from her hand while I watch the small boat descend slowly.

Her arm comes around my waist, and I hold her to me, bracing us against the railing. She said there are others on this boat, but I doubt it. If he had firepower on board, I suspect we’d be cowering about right now. He wouldn’t have let us win so easily.

The lifeboat hits with a splash, and I drape a rope ladder with wooden slats over the side and urge Caroline down. She hands me my phone. It has satellite capabilities, and one glance at the screen shows the call is in process.

“This is Ryan,” a deep voice barks.

“Ryan, it’s me. I’ve got Caroline.”

“Are you on a ship?”

“A yacht.”

“We’re on the way. Can you talk?”

“Geoffrey left in his helicopter. Two others are with him.”

“Geoffrey plus two. Copy. We’re tracking it. Didn’t know if you were in on it.”

“Stay on him.”

“Copy. Can you get off that ship?”

“Disembarking into a dinghy.”

Caroline’s almost at the bottom of the ladder; two more rungs and her feet will be in the boat.

“Good. Push away. We believe he may have acquired a bomb. Might be on your ship.”

“That’s my fear. Caroline’s off. I’m climbing down now. Others might be onboard. We haven’t cleared it.”

“Copy. Disembark and push off. Coast Guard is en route. So are we.”

I end the call, and with one last scan of the deck, climb down the ladder to join Caroline.

“What did Ryan say?”

“They’re on the way.”

“Are they tracking Geoffrey?”

“Yep.”

At this point, the Arrow team has pulled in full resources. Geoffrey may believe he’s above the world’s military and intelligence forces, but the world is growing smaller. Even if he changes to a different helicopter before we reach him, we’ll find him. We can find anyone.

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