At least one other spy must have been watching to make sure the explosion occurred on Minnstray and realized that the mission had failed. Rose had to head off the speedboat before it could warn theEngel. She had no time to enlist help from the British fleet. Not only would it take too long to run to the guard station on Minnstray, but she’d lose even more precious minutes trying to convince them of the peril.
After leaping fromThe Briar, she quickly untied the craft. She vaulted back inside, fired up the engine, and reversed her vessel.
“Wha ...?” Thorfinn came awake with such a violent jerk that he almost toppled overboard.
“We have to stop that speedboat!” Rose cried out.
Without questioning her, Thorfinn instantly straightened. Ahead of them lay two of the many skerries they’d need to navigate around.Rose started to noseThe Briartoward what appeared to be the shorter passage around the obstacle, but Thorfinn stopped her.
“Turn starboard,” Thorfinn shouted. “There’s a rock in the middle of the channel where you’re headed.”
She obeyed without hesitation, steering toward what visually appeared like the longer route. Despite the dangerous shoals of Scapa Flow, Rose gunned the engine and barreled ahead. Flicking her eyes over the surface of the water, she forcibly narrowed her world to nothing but the obstacles ahead of her—just as if this were any other race, any other competition, any other lark.
But it wasn’t.
She wasn’t racing just for herself and certainly not for glory. She was doing this for the people of her island, herlovedones, for the world, for each nation, and for every person who would suffer if peace was lost today.
Rose gave her senses over to the Flow and its tricky currents. The only person—the onlything—that she permitted to enter her sphere of focus was Thorfinn. With a steadiness that mirrored her own, he barked out directions and warnings. He wasted no words, and she wasted not a foot on overdoing any maneuver.
Like the pistons and rods inThe Briar’s motor, Rose and Thorfinn worked seamlessly together as they powered through the water. Their quarry was not so knowledgeable of the Flow. By the time the conspirators reached the open ocean, Rose and Thorfinn were only mere yards behind them.
“Duck!” Rose screamed as she caught the glint of light off a long metal barrel. Thorfinn flopped down just as bullets whizzed over them. Rose scrunched down the best she could.
One slug, then a second, hit and shattered the windshield. More sounds of war boomed at the edge of Rose’s senses. But she gripped the wooden wheel tighter, concentrating on its polished finish made smooth from oil and not from constant use as the one on her ambulancehad been. She was on the sea in the golden light of dawn, not on land motoring through the blackness.
As she forcefully held herself in the present, Thorfinn popped up holding the rifle Myrtle had given him. He fired off his own shots, forcing the conspirators to take cover. Unlike in the war, Rose wasn’t alone on this mission and solely responsible for the wounded men in her care. She had a partner, anally.
“Not bad!” Rose shouted. She still felt the sting of fear, but it was purposefully directed into action.
“I can point and pull the trigger,” Thorfinn yelled back, “but nothing fancy like Myrtle.”
“It’s sufficient for what we need! Just keep their heads down!” Rose was in top racing form now, her body and mind channeling everything inside her into stopping the spies.
The gunman tried raising his head, but Thorfinn sprayed more bullets, working the lever action on the Henry like a machine. After dropping the empty weapon, he grabbed another left on the seat by Myrtle. The helmsman must have realized that he couldn’t outrun them. Sharply, he turned the boat in an attempt to ram.
His mistake.
Rose let the German agent believe that he had them in his sights. Then at the last minute, she jerkedThe Briar, bringing the old girl alongside the other vessel. Thorfinn leaped into the air, and Rose’s heart seemed to fly with him. He pounced onto the other speedboat like a Florida panther and landed directly on top of the armed man. With one terrific blow, Thorfinn knocked the German agent’s long arm into the sea while his other fist smashed out like a howitzer. The fellow’s head snapped back, and he slumped unconscious into the seat well. The panicked helmsman began to reach down for his gun. Before he could even touch it, Thorfinn slammed his fist into the spy’s cheek. The conspirator desperately swung back. Thorfinn easily blocked the blow and then jabbed a left into the man’s solar plexus. As the fellow beganto slump forward, Thorfinn aimed an uppercut at his jaw. The man flew backward and sprawled over the back of the boat. Thorfinn’s fighting style was quick and brutal.
With the conspirators unconscious, Thorfinn reached forward and flipped the ignition switch, bringing the enemy’s motor to a sputtering halt. Triumph and relief pumped through Rose as she pulled even closer to the other boat and cut her own engine to a burbling idle.
“Rope!” Thorfinn called out, as if they were simply working together on the croft and tying up shocks of wheat.
Rose tossed him a coil stowed in the rear seat ofThe Briar.
“We make a good team,” she said as Thorfinn hoisted the gunman from the bottom of the boat and draped him against the side to more easily tie his hands.
“Aye.” Thorfinn grinned as he finished the job quickly and moved on to the last—and hopefully final—conspirator.
“Which do you think we do better together? Spying? Peat cutting? Estate management? Whiskey distilling?”
“You know, lass, there is a thing or two we haven’t tried yet,” Thorfinn said with a naughty wink that sent arousal sparking through Rose’s already charged body.
“Such as?” she asked throatily.
He leaned over the gunwale, as if to plant a kiss on her mouth. “Sheep dipping.”
Laughter bubbled up through Rose, rich and fine. Yes, Thorfinn Sinclair had the most wonderful way of awakening everything that had been dead inside of her. And better yet, she was going to let him.
