“I’m going on record to say that I do not think this is a good idea!” Inga yelled at Tor over the noise of the engine. UnlikeNita’s skiff, but like the late lamented Dingboat, the motor was in the stern and the pilot had to sit down to steer.
“We can turn back if you want,” Tor yelled back. “I think we’re all right. You two decide.”
Luke leaned in close to Inga. “Since we’re already doing this, I vote we go ahead if you’re okay with it.”
His hair was slicked down to his face under the hood. Now that rain was falling, along with the spray from the waves, it felt like water was hitting them from all sides; they may as well not have bothered with rain gear.
“I’ll go along with it,” Inga agreed dubiously. “But once again, I do not think this is a good idea.”
She threw Tor a thumbs up. Tor nodded and opened up the throttle.
As soon as they were moving faster, skipping along the tops of the waves, the rolling motion of the boat and the waves breaking over the gunwales ceased to be as much of a problem. It was still a rough, jarring ride, rattling Inga’s bones as they bounced over the storm-tossed sea. Water was streaming into her eyes, and she had to hold up her hand to shield her face so she could see.
At first she thought Tor had steered them wrong. Then suddenly, the ship with all its lights loomed out of the murk in front of them. She hadn’t realized how dismal visibility had become. Rain, fog, and spray kicked up by the waves made it like traveling in twilight.
Her instincts were right about being out here, she thought grimly. They had no lights on their small boat, and while the ship would likely weather the storm in place, any fishing boats still out on the water would currently be headed in. They were behaving like a marine traffic hazard.
Luke touched her arm and leaned forward. “There’s a name on the ship.”
Inga squinted up through the rain and spray. They must have passed it. “Tor!” she yelled. “Can you bring us around again?”
Tor flashed her a thumbs up, and brought the boat around in a wide turn. For a few moments they were hitting the waves broadside, and Inga gasped and clutched at her bench seat as the small skiff heeled so badly that for an instant she feared they were going to capsize.
Definitely a bad idea!
But they were straightening out now, and Tor, with his expert hand on the tiller, brought them around the ship on another pass. This time Inga got a much better look. It was large, with a big deck in the bow where the helicopter had most likely landed. She had thought she knew that ship, and now she knew she was right. There were a lot of marine research vessels that went by, but not too many big ones. She had seen this ship before, and she was sure of it even before she saw the name.
“It’s okay!” she yelled in Luke’s ear. “That’sGlobal Blue.It’s an American deep-water research vessel. They come by here every summer. They’re totally harmless. That must’ve been a different helicopter.”
Luke gave his head a fierce shake and shouted back, “No. That was the same helicopter. I don’t trust this ship.”
“Iknowthis ship!”
“I don’t know what you think you know, but?—”
“Hey!” Tor called, and Inga turned, peering into the back of the boat through the rain. Tor was looking up at the side of the ship. They had come around the bow of the ship again, with the name painted on it, and were now broadside to it.
On the deck, several people had gathered along the railing. They were looking down and pointing. Perhaps they thought Tor and his passengers were in some kind of trouble—no, what she had mistaken for pointing arms were actually—were those?—?
“Get down!” Luke snapped, and Inga was abruptly shoved into the bottom of the boat. “They’ve got guns. Tor, get us out of here!”
Inga registered the crack of a gunshot an instant later. She was in complete shock. It was like having a friendly, familiar pet turn around and bite. This was a research vessel. She had been on it. She had met the crew and the scientists who worked there. If she had pursued her dreams of marine biology, she might have been working on this very ship now, or one like it.
She couldn’t tell if the gunmen were managing to hit anything, especially now that her face was in the bottom of the boat. The small craft bucked on the waves. She heard more gunshots.
“They’re putting a small boat in the water!” Tor yelled. “Some kind of power launch. I think they’re coming after us, and that thing’s going to be way faster.”
Inga pushed herself up, shoving Luke back so she could see. The powerboat was a big thing designed for maneuvering in rough seas. Tor was right; it was going to catch up before they could get back to shore. She glimpsed several figures in dark clothing on it, and she was pretty sure some of them had guns.
But before all of that could become their problem, two things happened. Inga’s attention was caught by a distant outbreak of yelling and more gunshots on the deck of the ship. It was as if they had suddenly started fighting among themselves. Through the rain and spray, with the boat jouncing in every direction, she couldn’t tell what was happening, just that there was some kind of commotion on the deck that apparently was taking their attention off Tor’s skiff.
In the same instant, Luke slumped against her.
Had a bullet hit him? She tried to feel for an injury, but with the boat bucking all over the place on the rough sea, she endedup having to hold on to Luke with one hand and cling to her seat with the other.
“Luke!” she cried, shaking him as his head lolled on her shoulder. “Luke, what’s wrong? What happened? Luke!”
LUKE
