Page 137 of Kai
As we entered the narrow channel I’d charted through the reefs and in between sandbanks, I glanced at my electronic chart. As the channel narrowed, it curved to the south in a series of tight bends that required concentration as I maneuvered to navigate the tricky waterway. In the darkness, the starboard hull scraped against the shallows and screeched when it rubbed along the reef’s rocky ledges. The same cringe that hissed through my lips twisted Cece’s mouth.
“Sorry, baby,” I murmured to the boat. “I’ll get you back to perfect when this is done.”
“And I’ll make sure he does,” Cece added, now standing beside me, her face pinched, her shoulders squared with tension.
“You’re going too slow.” A hysterical note sharpened Levine’s whine. “They’ll get here before you clear the reef.”
The fear that shook his voice had me trading worried looks with Cece. We all knew what would happen if Li’s crew caught up with us. Levine clearly understood that, as a traitor, his death would be as painful as ours.
I negotiated the tight turn ahead, even though I had to reverse the engines and engage the thrusters to get through the slim opening between coral outcrops. In the darkness, the reef surroundedSerenity, a massive claw ready to tear us apart. As I turned the wheel with a light touch, beads of sweat gathered at my nape and dripped down between my shoulder blades.
“The water’s too shallow,” Levine droned, as if I didn’tknow shit. “I’ve seen the navigation charts for this area. You’re gonna get us stuck. If we get trapped, we’re all dead.”
“Cut the crap,” I snapped. “I’ve got work to do.”
The merc was a piece of shit and a pain in the ass, but he wasn’t wrong about the dangers of getting stuck tonight. Unless I wanted to maroonSerenity, or worse, sink her, I had to negotiate the narrow channel with absolute precision. If I had a prayer of getting Cece to safety, we had to get out of the reef before the mercs arrived.
Chapter Forty-four
Kai
With a last turn of the wheel, I motoredSerenityinto open waters.
“That was some exceptional sailing, Marine.” Cece blew out a relieved exhale.
I smiled at her briefly. We were not in the clear yet. Far from it. I wondered whether the ocean would be kind or cruel to us. An icy shiver crawled up my spine. We’d been so close to mission success. I couldn’t lose Cece tonight. I just… couldn’t.
Tapping an icon on my Tak, I reactivated the explosive defenses I’d deployed around the cove. To slow down the mercs, improve our odds of escape, and minimize the damage to the island, I engaged the sensor mode for the next four hours. If the charges detected a water displacement equivalent to the weight of an RHIB boat or larger, they would go off. The lure was Levine’s life jacket tracker, twenty-five feet underwater, well inside the cove.
If the fools rushed in, they would die.
As soon as we powered past the reefs,Serenityentered the pitching and rolling swells of deeper waters. A quick check showed me the mercenary boat crews about to round the north end of the island. They would have a much better chance of detecting our escape once they cleared the point.
The wind favored our westerly course, and yet lightning flashed on the horizon, illuminating a roiling mass of gray, brooding clouds. Hoping to outrun the storm, I motored into the wind and accessed the computerized sail management system. I turned off the engines, wrapped the downwind jib sheet twice, and headed downwind before I unfurled the headsail. Then Ireleased the tension on the boom vang, pulled on the outhaul line, and brought the mainsail up along the boom.
The opaque black sheet unfurled like a raven’s wing, invisible against the night. Tugging the controls, I adjusted for the draft. I bore away on my programmed heading and trimmed the mainsail, tightening the outhaul to keep the sail flat.Serenityglided over the water like a ghost ship and picked up speed, making me proud.
“Go, girl,” Cece whispered from her place behind me. “Run.”
As we tackled deeper waters and stronger currents, my radars didn’t detect the enemy deviating from their trajectory to the cove, and yet the further out we went, the more the sea roiled.Serenity’sbow speared through the waves like a champ. Her reinforced hulls thundered against the surf, handling the rough seas with brutal efficiency. We put some distance between the island and us, but I couldn’t lie. We were riding a gnarly sea.
Another half hour went by. Every so often, I checked my radar and cameras to evaluate the mercs’ progress. We faced an hour-long trip to rendezvous with Tracker Team at a pair of coordinates that were in the middle of fucking nowhere.
I had no idea if we could dodge our attackers to make it on time, or if Tracker Team would be in place by then. Li’s crew had the resources to catch up with us if they could locate us, and unless my team was tracking the mercs and moving to intercept, we were on our own.
A mayday was out of the question. It would give away our position and alert our enemies to our whereabouts. My team was sharp, but I had to assume they’d had a hard day fighting Levine’s mercs. Plus, they had to get their asses all the way out to the coordinates.
My surveillance systems on the island alerted. Three seconds later, the roar of a chain of explosions reached my ears.The mercs had fallen into my trap. I turned around and watched the fireworks from a distance.
“That was fast,” Cece said.
“They were in a hurry to get to that signal.” I winched the sails.
“Do you think all three boats are out of commission?”
“Hard to tell.” I quartered the waves to maximize speed and minimize the surf’s impact. “If they’re trained, they would’ve kept at least one boat out of the cove to protect their rear and also for backup.”
The wind allowed us to reach excellent speed, but the surf got rougher. Even at forty-five degrees,Serenity’s hull shuddered as she hit the bottom of a swell. To hear each other, we now had to speak louder, yell a little. A splash of water hit the bow’s windows, then the catamaran climbed onto the next wave.
