“Still, it’s risky. What if we get caught?”
“I told you, we’re dispensable. Boss didn’t care his own son was killed, he doesn’t care about us.”
Murray looked at Grant, a flash of uncertainty followed by anger. “We’ve got a sweet deal here. Do you want out?”
“No, I’m just saying the boss has lost his focus.” Grant adjusted the hand gun stuck in the back of his pants.
Brandon stiffened and Sam scanned for other weapons. They had brought the Ridge’s rifle, but if Murray was armed as well, they’d be in trouble.
“He’s curious,” Murray defended. “It’s not as if he needs the money.”
“He’s obsessed.” Grant leaned on his shovel. “He’s got half a dozen people working on some translation which is all he cares about.”
It had to be the Dutch captain’s journal they were talking about.
“It’s gotta be important.”
Grant ignored the comment and continued his rant. “He’s forgetting about the big picture. We’ve spent years off anyone’s radar, and now everything is falling apart.”
“Clark got us into this mess, not the boss.” Murray started digging again.
Grant swore. “Let’s get this thing buried and get out of here.” He continued digging.
Sam tapped Brandon and made the sign to fall back. They’d heard and seen enough.
When they were a safe distance away, he checked his phone. No reception.
“Best bet is the radio on the boat,” Brandon said. “But Stonefish monitor those communications. These guys will be long gone by the time Dot gets here.”
“So we just leave?”
“I got some photos. We’ll phone it in when we’ve got reception and she can get someone out here.”
“Those guys went after Penelope,” Sam stated. He didn’t want to let them get away. He’d been having nightmares about what they might have done to her if he hadn’t got there in time. “We can take them.”
“There’s no cover,” Brandon pointed out. “One of them will see us coming and they both have guns. If I shoot first, Dot will have to arrest me, and I’m not doing that to Amy.”
“Give me the gun then.”
Brandon stared at him. “No. I get your frustration, but it’s smarter this way.”
Sam jolted. “You sound like Sherlock.”
Brandon chuckled. “He must have rubbed off on me.”
They fell back and jogged to the tender. They moved quickly to launch and soon they were heading back to the mainland. It would be useful to have Sherlock in town, someone who wasn’t known to Stonefish, someone who could watch them rather than the other way around.
Sam would call Sherlock tomorrow and if that didn’t work, he’d tell Brandon. Sherlock couldn’t refuse the both of them.
Chapter 17
Penelope scanned the streets as she drove to the marina the next day. Grant and Murray should be long gone, but she couldn’t help taking a second look at every dark car. She parked in an area with plenty of free bays so she couldn’t be boxed in and then hurried across the bitumen to the gate into the marina. When the gate clanged shut behind her, she let out a sigh.
What had they been planning to do if they’d caught her?
She had done nothing to them, she hadn’t even fined them.
The PAWS boat was in one of the first pens, but she scanned the luxury boats in the marina to ensure the Joy Ridin’ wasn’t there. Quickly she ran through her checks and then motored into the gulf. Her muscles relaxed when water surrounded her with no boats nearby.
