Agent 21: Reloaded: Book 2 (22 page)

‘Get to your feet, kid,’ Acosta told Zak. He obeyed.
Seconds later he was rewarded with a cut of his own, but at least his hands were free. It crossed his mind to try and fight Acosta, but the knife was sharp and his enemy was vicious …

‘Sit down. Hold on. Try anything stupid and I won’t bother stabbing you, I’ll just throw you over.’ Acosta looked over at the others. ‘Launch us,’ he instructed as another cloud of spray blinded them and added an extra inch to the pool of water at the bottom of the boat. When Zak regained his vision, he saw that most of the crew had returned inside. Only three men remained. One of them was Karlovic, and he was inserting a key into the lifeboat’s launching mechanism. He twisted it and hit the red button. Immediately, the arm connecting the launch to the main ship juddered into motion and they started to rise up into the air.

Zak felt his stomach go. He remembered a fair-ground ride he’d been on once. He had sat in a spinning capsule attached to an arm much like this one that raised him up and down as he went round. He had screamed with delight then, but any screaming he was likely to do now would be out of fear. When they were five metres above the deck, the ship lurched and he felt as though he was falling through space. The arm moved out and started to lower them down towards the sea. The way the water was ebbing
and flowing, it was impossible to see where sea level was – the top of the bulge or the bottom of the trough. It was a bulge they hit first. Acosta pulled a lever in the centre of the launch and the boat separated from the arm. It spun round – like it had a mind of its own. Zak gripped the edge, ignoring the flow of blood that smeared his hands and the boat itself. He saw the others doing the same as they tumbled from the crest of the wave down into the trough. There was a booming sound. At first Zak thought it was thunder, but then he realized it was just the sound of the hull bouncing on the water.

Zak caught sight of Eduardo’s face. He’d never seen such terror. Bea looked like she was concentrating hard on staying alive. As for Acosta, he appeared grimly determined as he manoeuvred himself to the enormous outboard motor at the back of the launch. Seconds later he had control of the lifeboat, and they were moving through the water, away from the
Mercantile
and towards the mysterious second ship that had come to meet them.

19

FEAR HIM

THE LIFEBOAT WASN’T
built for seas like this. It rocked and swayed like a toy. Zak realized as he gripped the side firmly that they could capsize at any moment. If that happened, death wasn’t a probability. It was a certainty. Acosta, however, knew what he was doing. He directed the boat diagonally up the swell of the waves, avoiding the dangerous crests where the water turned white and curled over into the troughs. All the time, he kept his eyes firmly on the larger vessel up ahead. It was slow going through the wind and rain and battling against the ocean. Gradually, though, the distance between the two ships grew smaller. Within ten minutes, the battleship-grey hull of the new vessel was looming above them. Only when they were almost there did Zak remember the diamonds. Acosta was carrying nothing except his knife, which meant that handing the gemstones over was
not
the purpose of this RV. The thought chilled him even more than
the elements.

Acosta manoeuvred the lifeboat alongside the larger ship. The two hulls crashed together, and the shock of the impact jarred against Zak’s body. In a way he didn’t mind the pain. At least it stopped him thinking about the fear. He looked up to see, about a metre from the stern of the lifeboat, a ladder fixed to the hull of the new vessel. The deck was about ten metres up, but the ladder followed the curved shape of the hull. Anyone using it would be leaning backwards over the ocean while they were climbing the bottom rungs.

Zak and Bea exchanged a nervous glance as the lifeboat bobbed and knocked against the bigger ship. It was Eduardo, however, who got the first instruction. ‘Get up there!’ Acosta barked. ‘Quickly!’

Eduardo swallowed hard and he looked nervously upwards. He didn’t move. Acosta, on the other hand, did. He shuffled along the boat and pressed his knife into the soft jelly just below Eduardo’s right ear. ‘You need me to sort out your hearing?’

‘No,
Capitán
.’ He edged away from his fierce-looking boss, past Zak and Bea towards the stern of the ship. Glancing back over his shoulder, he saw that Acosta was still glaring at him. And so he leaned over the side of the boat, stretched, and with one hand grabbed hold of the second rung up.

Zak found himself holding his breath as he watched Eduardo. It obviously took a great amount of courage for him to throw out his other hand and pull his body from the boat so that he was hanging from the ladder. Zak could almost feel the strain as he hauled himself upwards, feeling with his feet for the bottom rung and moving his arms up so his body was straight – even though it was leaning backwards at an angle of about twenty degrees.

He stopped. Despite everything, Zak was willing him on, but Eduardo appeared frozen with fear. It was difficult to tell with all the movement and rain, but Zak reckoned he could see him shaking. He raised his left leg onto the next rung, but then couldn’t bring himself to continue and lowered it.

And it was just then that the wave hit.

It wasn’t the biggest Zak had seen or felt over the last seventy-two hours, but it was big enough to crash over his head and against the hull of the larger vessel. Zak shouted in alarm as he was knocked down into the keel of the lifeboat. Water flooded up his nose and into the back of his throat. When the wave subsided, he was coughing and retching, so it was at least ten seconds before he looked back towards the ladder.

And saw that it was empty.

Zak rushed to the side again. Bea did the same.
They both looked into the stormy water, trying to see some sign of Eduardo. But there was none.

‘
We’ve got to help him!
’ Zak shouted. He turned to search the interior of the boat – surely there was rescue gear in here somewhere. All he saw, though, was Acosta. He had moved up towards Zak and Bea and was waving his cruel knife towards them.

‘Forget about him,’ he instructed. ‘You next. Go!’

Zak looked at him in horror. ‘He’s drowning!’

‘He’s already dead. Get up the ladder now, otherwise I kill the girl.’

Zak knew he didn’t have a choice. Acosta
would
kill Bea, and he’d probably enjoy it too.

He looked towards the ladder. The lifeboat had drifted slightly further away. He would have to jump to get at it. He looked at Bea. ‘If I don’t make it …’ he started to say.

‘You’ll make it,’ she replied, just a bit too quickly. Zak didn’t know who she was trying to persuade: him or herself. ‘Just be careful. I’ll see you at the top.’

Right
, Zak thought.
And then maybe we’ll find out what this is all about
.

His hand was still bleeding as he stood up on the lifeboat, which wobbled and rocked. He put one foot up onto the very edge of the boat and got the ladder in his sights.

No point waiting
, he told himself. It was waiting
that had been Eduardo’s downfall. Either he was going to do this, or he wasn’t.

He jumped.

The rungs of the ladder were wet and difficult to grip. His stinging, bleeding hand didn’t help either. But the worst of it was the angle. He could feel the sway of the ship, lurching him backwards, closer to the water. His muscles burned with the effort of holding on, and it took all his strength and courage just to move up a single rung.

The wind was screaming around him. But suddenly there was another kind of screaming. Human. It was Bea. ‘
WAVE!
’ she shrieked, and Zak knew he only had a split second before the ocean threw everything it had at him.

He gripped harder and clamped both his eyes and his mouth shut. Then he braced himself and tried not to think of Eduardo, struggling and drowning.

When the wave hit, it was like a sheet of rock, slamming Zak against the ladder. His feet slipped from the bottom rung and his left hand lost its hold. He was hanging on just by the fingertips of his right, desperately scrabbling to get a firmer grip as the water rushed around him, swinging and buffeting his body.

He felt like a feather in the wind.

He couldn’t control his own limbs.

He was going to fall
…

He was going to die
…

The wave subsided just in time. Zak couldn’t have held on with his right hand for a second longer, but now he could move his left and he gripped firmly with that. He looked over his shoulder to see both Bea and Acosta staring at him anxiously. It was no good concentrating on them. Zak knew he wouldn’t survive another wave like that. He had to get to the top. Fast.

He was thankful for his training. Thankful for the punishing fitness regimes Raf had forced him through. Without them, he’d have been just another body at the bottom of the sea. He moved almost robotically. When the next wave hit, he was halfway up the hull, which was now vertical. Another eight rungs and his head emerged above the floor of the deck.

There were four people waiting for him here. They all wore wet-weather gear which included tight hoods, so he couldn’t make out their faces. Two men grabbed his arms and hauled him onto the ship. That was as far as their consideration went, however. They hurled him to the hard, soaking deck. Three of them stood over him, while the fourth started frisking his body, looking for weapons or anything else of interest. They didn’t seem very concerned about helping either Bea or Acosta onto the boat. Zak was the one they were interested in, but he didn’t know why …

The man hadn’t even finished frisking him when
Zak leaped to his feet and threw himself back towards the railings. He looked over the side. Bea was already on the ladder. She was moving quickly. Like a spider up a wall. Zak was impressed by her strength. If she was scared, she didn’t show it. He could tell that both her body and her mind had received training for this kind of situation.

Hands, pulling him back. Zak shook them off and spun round to see himself hemmed in by the four men. He looked at them with contempt. ‘If you think I’m not going to help her up,’ he shouted, ‘think again. What kind of men are you, anyway?’

They were the kind of men, it turned out, not to care if Bea lived or died. One of them stepped forward to grab Zak. It was a big mistake. As soon as he was close enough, Zak yanked his knee up into the man’s groin. He doubled over in agony, which meant that when Zak raised his knee for a second time, he caught his assailant in the lower jaw. He fell backwards into a heap on the floor.

Zak looked at the others. They’d all taken a step back. ‘I’ll come quietly, but not till she’s on board,’ he shouted at them. ‘Try and stop me and you’ll get the same treatment as him.’

The remaining three men looked at each other and nodded. They still stayed close, but Zak was free to lean over the railings again. He thought that maybe
he caught sight of an arm or a leg appearing above the surface of the water. Even if he was right, it disappeared as quickly as it had come. If it was Eduardo, he was a lost cause.

He turned his attention back down to Bea. She was still moving quickly up the ladder. Just a few more rungs now and he’d be able to help …

‘NO!’ he yelled suddenly.

Bea was almost at the top when she lost her footing. ‘Hold on!’ Zak shouted as he saw her slip down several rungs. ‘
Bea! Hold on!
’

There was no reply from the strange girl – or if there was, it was drowned out by the wind. She stopped her unintentional descent about halfway back down and looked up with an expression of fierce concentration. She only took a couple of seconds to catch her breath. Then she started climbing again.

Bea reached the top rung quickly this time, and Zak was there to help her over the railings and onto the deck.

She was out of breath. ‘Acosta’s following,’ she told Zak.

He looked over the side. Sure enough, he saw the
Mercantile
’s skipper climbing up the ladder. He prepared to help Acosta up too, but Bea pulled him away. ‘You know what?’ she said. ‘I reckon he can manage without our help, don’t you?’

Zak’s decision was made for him. The remaining three crew members were closing in. He didn’t fancy taking them all on. He held up his hands. ‘All right,’ he shouted. ‘Don’t get excited. I take it someone’s waiting for us.’

He felt Bea pulling at his arm. ‘Over there,’ she said. She pointed towards the stern of the ship. Zak looked.

All he saw was a single, solitary figure. He – or she, it was impossible to tell – wore black wet-weather gear which included a waterproof hood. It was large and the figure was wearing it pulled all the way over the front of his face. This obscured his features, as did the swirling cloud of grey rain and icy spray between them.

And yet, even though he could not see this figure’s face, Zak felt a prickle of recognition.

Fear him
…

Zak didn’t know why, but for some reason he truly did.

Acosta appeared over the railings. He too had his eyes on the figure, and he looked reluctant to approach. He turned to the others. ‘Stay where you are,’ he told them. He jutted out his chin. It made him look like a man mustering his courage. Then he walked towards the figure. Zak couldn’t help thinking that the man who had seemed so brutal on board the
Mercantile
now looked rather pathetic. Like someone walking to his doom.

Zak, Bea and the crew members watched him silently. The man Zak had floored was on his feet again, but he didn’t try to retaliate. He was too busy watching Acosta approach his boss. The
Mercantile
’s skipper stopped about a metre from the figure. He had his back to them, so Zak was unable to lip-read their conversation. Whatever they said, it was short. Thirty seconds, no longer, before Acosta started walking back along the deck towards them, the hooded figure following a metre behind.