Page 79 of Erase Me
As we stood amidst the wreckage, one of the young bruisers groaned and started to sit up.
Reed pushed him back down and placed a forearm on his throat.“Where’s Vaughn?”
The thug’s eyes shifted toward the inert hulk nearby.Fear flickered in them when he looked back at me and then Reed.
“I’m not asking again.Where’s Vaughn?”Reed demanded, his voice edged with impatience.
“On the boat.”
“Still in the marina?”
The young man shook his head.
“What boat?”I asked.
“I know the boat,” Reed replied, glaring at the young thug.“Tell me where it is now.”
ChapterTwenty-Five
Reed
The brightly lit boat—formerlyDel Volpe’s yacht and now, apparently, Vaughn’s—was anchored about a half mile off the San Clemente beaches.The night sky was crystal clear, with only a few patches of clouds to the west.Other than that, it looked like every star in the universe was shining tonight.The pier, just a few hundred yards to the south of us, also glowed with lights from the restaurants on the shore all the way to the bait shack at the end.
I would have preferred a nice thick fog, but that wasn’t in the cards tonight.
By the time Avalie and I left the apartment, police sirens were coming from every direction.Outside, Avenida Victoria was starting to look like a holiday block party, with people filling the street.Even though it was apparently true that folks in this town kept tabs on each other, I was glad that didn’t include any would-be hero coming up and getting into the middle of the fight.
Having grabbed everything I needed, we went down and blended into the crowd.We acted as if the commotion and destruction were the work of the apartment above ours.And as soon as the first Sheriff's Department vehicle rolled in a couple of minutes later, we made our way toward the beach.Our job there was done.The next chapter awaited.
Naturally, Avalie had her own ideas about things.She insisted on making one stop—in case we didn’t make it back.So, we walked through town to the address where Tina lived.I was only teasing her about it up in the apartment, but God forbid that a used copy of Jane Austen’sPride and Prejudiceshould go astray.We left the book on the woman’s front step.
That brought us here, kneeling on paddleboards on an undulating black sea, fifty yards from the yacht.We hoped the boards would make our approach less conspicuous.
Avalie was running one hand through the water, stirring up blue foam.“I’m glad I got a chance to see this bioluminescent phenomenon before...”
“Before we leave?Or before we’re killed.”
“I was going to say, before we get eaten by sharks.Aren’t they out here now?Tiger sharks?Great whites?”
She was joking.I could hear it in her voice.I didn’t want to tell her that a twelve-foot great white shark had been spotted swimming under the pier earlier this year.The surfers were still talking about it.
That news probably wouldn’t make a difference to Avalie.The woman lacked fear.One of a kind, to be sure.
“Keep agitating the water with your hand like that and we’ll find out if there’s any in the neighborhood.”
She reluctantly drew her hand out of the glowing blue froth and watched me finish prepping the drones.They were only the size of dragonflies, but they could be used either to attack or surveil a target.There were only two, and I’d decided it would be best to use them for surveillance of the yacht before we went in.
It took less than a minute to sync them with my phone, and I activated them.The wings spread, and the devices lifted smoothly and quietly off the board.They immediately disappeared into the darkness.
The drones were voice-controlled, and I directed them in a wide arc to the south.I wanted to get a good view of the stern section, where we’d be boarding the vessel.I kept them low to the water, watching their progress on a split screen on my phone.
Avalie was leaning toward me and watching the screen.“Do you think that’s a good idea, having them fly that low?”
“I don’t want them flying higher until they reach the...”
I stopped midsentence.The image of a fish’s open mouth appeared on one of the screens and then that drone went dark.
“Was that what I think it was?”
