Making Waves (15 page)

“
If
this guy doesn’t stop telling stupid jokes on the radio, I’m going to throw myself overboard,” Juli said, scowling at the controls. “Seriously, blonde jokes in Bajan aren’t any funnier than blonde jokes in English.”

“Just keep listening,” Alex told her. “Tell us what they’re saying.”

“He says the trade winds have been really bad the last two days, so they’ll have to be careful. Now the other guy is saying something about taking care of the details with customs at Bridgetown Harbour so they can make it through without a problem.”

Jake glanced over her shoulder at the notepad where she was jotting all the information.

“Hell,” he said, turning back to Phyllis. “Can we use the same doctored-up paperwork we used before?”

“I think so,” Phyllis said, frowning. “It looks like we can come in either through Bridgetown Harbour or Port St. Charles, but we’ll be required to leave customs through the same port we entered.”

“Something to keep in mind,” Alex murmured.

“So how long until we make it there?” Juli asked, keeping one ear tuned to the radio. The voices had fallen silent, and she wasn’t sure what that meant.

Alex frowned down at the calculations Jake and Phyllis had jotted on a notepad beside their stack of charts. “We’ve got about three hundred miles to cover. Factoring in the windstream and the currents we’re likely to hit along the way, we can make it in about twelve hours if we average twenty knots.”

Juli studied him, noticing dark circles under his eyes. She couldn’t remember the last time Alex had gotten a solid night of sleep, but it hadn’t been in her bed. They’d been much too busy for that. “Maybe you should go sleep for a little while,” she suggested. “You didn’t get a lot of rest last night.”

Alex frowned, his hands still on the controls. “I’m fine.”

Juli rolled her eyes. “Look, I’m no expert, but you’re obviously the most experienced member of the crew. I don’t know much about boating, but it seems like it would be a dumb idea for our captain to be falling asleep at the wheel by the time we arrive.”

Alex seemed to be on the verge of protesting, but Phyllis interrupted. “She’s right, Alex. We’re going to need you when we dock. None of us can get the ship into port without you.”

“I can take the next six hours,” Jake offered. “And Cody and Phyllis can split up the rest. We want you to be sharp for the next part of this mission.”

Alex sighed. “We don’t even know what we’re going to do when we get there. We need to have a plan. We can’t just pull up alongside the cargo ship and ask if they have any Grey Poupon.”

“We have Grey Poupon,” Cody offered helpfully.

“We’ve got twelve hours,” Jake said. “We’ll chew on it while you sleep, and we’ll wake you up with plenty of time to spare so you can help us hammer out the details.”

Alex glanced at his watch. “It’s 10:00 p.m. now. Wake me up at 4:00 a.m., okay? No later. I’ll just rest my eyes.”

“Go,” Juli said. “We’ve got it covered.”

Alex looked at her and shook his head. “Why does that not reassure me?”

“Go!” Juli said again, this time more forcefully. “Are you waiting for someone to tuck you in?”

Alex gave her a tired half smile. “Actually, that’s not a bad idea. There’s a Battleship game we need to finish.”

Juli rolled her eyes. “The moment’s gone, sailor boy.”

“I’m good at creating new moments.”

His tone was playful, but something in his eyes made her go warm all over. Her mind flashed an image of him wearing nothing but his boxer briefs, his body hard and lean and ready to—

She dropped her cookie.

“Got it,” Alex said, stooping to pick it up.

He handed it to her, and Juli was so dizzy at his touch, she shoved the cookie in her mouth without thinking.

“Five second rule.” She flushed and looked down at the radio. “Can I just detach this handheld thingy on the radio here if I need to move around the ship for a second?”

“Sure,” Alex said. “You coming with me?”

“I need my sweater from my room, and I want to get Uncle Frank. I’ll follow you down there, but I’m coming right back. I don’t want to miss anything.”

Alex shrugged. “Mi casa es su casa.”

“It’s
my
room,” Juli pointed out.

“Yeah, but it’s my boat.”

“Technically, isn’t it a rental?”

“Are you going to gab all night, or are you going to get your sweater?”

Juli grinned and pushed past him, making her way toward the master stateroom. Alex followed. In the doorway, they both paused for a moment, surveying the Battleship carnage.

“Quite a game,” Alex said.

“That it was.”

“Tell me again what it was you were hoping to accomplish there?”

Juli moved past him and set the portable radio on the bed. Grabbing her knapsack, she felt the tingling sensation she’d come to recognize as Alex’s eyes on her body. She bent over the bag, pawing through the contents in search of her sweater.

“I was hoping to distract you,” she said, tossing out shorts and shoes and other random articles of clothing. No sweater. “Put you off your game so you wouldn’t notice you were losing the challenge.”

“It’s tough to make a man forget he’s sitting there in his underwear.”

“I didn’t care about the underwear,” she said. “I just wanted to get your defenses down so you’d forget about your plan to cut me out of the heist.”

“You’re right then. I forgot about that part.”

Juli found her sweater and pulled it out of the pack, tugging it over her arms as she avoided his eyes. She felt very naked all of a sudden, even more than she had in her bra.

Naked wasn’t a bad thing, but not what they needed right now.

“Anyway, it’s a moot point now,” she told him. “You’re not going to handcuff me, and I’m going to be a part of the mission one way or another.”

“That you are.”

Juli was quiet a moment, hesitating there at the foot of the bed. Alex moved first, stooping to collect the Battleship pieces. Juli joined him, pulling the little red and white pegs out of the boards and collecting them in little bags. When she finally spoke, her voice sounded small to her.

“Should I be scared?” she asked. “About what’s happening with the mission, I mean.”

“No.”

“Are
you
?”

Alex was quiet for a moment, his expression unreadable. “I’d be an idiot if I pretended this wasn’t risky.”

Juli frowned and rubbed her hands over her arms.

“This mission is personal, Juli,” Alex said, handing her a bag of red pegs. “It’s not about money or power or pirate booty or anything like that.”

“Really?”

“Okay, it’s a little bit about money.”

“Money can be important,” she agreed. “Seems to matter a lot to some people.”

He flinched—just a little, but Juli noticed. She opened her mouth to ask about it, but he cut her off.

“Anyway,” he said, “there’s a lot at stake here. That’s all.”

Juli nodded, not sure they were still talking about money or pirate missions. She waited, wondering if he’d continue. When Alex said nothing, Juli reached for the Battleship box. Her fingers brushed his arm as she leaned across the bed, and she shivered a little at the contact.

Drawing back, she put the box in front of her and began setting the game boards and little bags inside. Alex handed her the bag of gray plastic boats, and Juli dropped them in the box and set the lid in place.

“So one of us will come wake you in six hours,” she told him.

“Feel free to join me if you need a nap.”

Juli rolled her eyes. “If you and I continue sharing a bed, I think the odds are pretty slim we’ll get much sleep.”

“Probably true. Kind of a shame. I’ll miss sleep.”

She giggled. “I thought we agreed we weren’t doing this.”

“That’s right.” He took a step closer, and Juli felt his breath ruffle her hair. “Why was that again?”

“I might be a spy, you might be a criminal, and we’re on a ship with no condoms,” she said, feeling dizzy at his closeness. “Or something like that.”

“Right. Other than that, though—”

Juli lifted the box and smacked him softly over the head with it. “Good night, sailor boy.”

He grinned and grabbed her around the waist, pulling her against him before she had a moment to lower her arms or protest. Then he was kissing her again, his fingers twining in her hair as Juli held the Battleship box awkwardly above them. She whimpered and leaned into his chest, enjoying the kiss, craving his body, wishing she weren’t standing there like a moron with a Milton Bradley box raised over her head.

She wasn’t sure who pulled away first, but they were both breathless. Alex looked down at her, his gaze unfocused at first.

“I didn’t mean to do that,” he said.

“Okay.”

“I’m not sure what came over me.”

“Well—”

He smiled. “Next time, try putting the box down first.”

Juli rolled her eyes and lowered her arms. “Next time, give me a little warning.”

Alex’s smile widened. Juli could feel his breath ruffling the curls around her face. “Funny how we both assume there’ll be a next time.”

By the time Juli returned to the cockpit, the others seemed to have settled into a routine. Jake was steering the boat, his brow furrowed as he checked the compass every few minutes, guiding the ship back toward the Caribbean again. Juli watched him for a moment, noticing the way he stole glances at Phyllis every couple of minutes, the tension in his forehead relaxing each time he did it.

Phyllis was hunched over the laptop, studying something on-screen as she tapped a pencil against the map. She was frowning slightly, but it was obvious she was in her element as she scrolled a page with one hand on the mouse button.

“The weather’s clear, but those guys on the radio were right about the trade winds,” Cody announced, moving past her and setting a coffee urn on the table beside a pile of charts.

Phyllis glanced up just long enough to accept a mug from him, then went back to focusing on her computer. “Direction?” she asked, taking a sip of coffee.

“Prevailing easterly. Sugar?”

“Thanks, Cookie.”

Keeping an ear tuned to the radio, Juli accepted a mug of coffee as well, allowing Cody to add a splash of homemade vanilla-infused creamer. She took a sip, wondering what it meant that there had been no chatter on the radio for several minutes.

“So we promised Alex we’d brainstorm a plan,” Jake said. “Anyone have any ideas?”

Phyllis set down her pencil and looked up. Lifting her mug, she took a long sip of coffee and sighed. “Has anyone ever even
been
to Barbados?”

Jake and Cody shook their heads.

“Nope, sorry,” Juli said. “Want any help researching it?”

Phyllis took another sip of coffee. “I think I’ve got it covered for now. We’re aiming for 13 degrees N Latitude, 59 degrees W Longitude, and that we’ll reach Barbados sometime around 10:00 a.m. local time if the wind and the weather cooperate with us.”

“Have you figured out where we should berth once we get there?” Jake asked.

“Two options,” Phyllis answered. “Either Bridgetown Harbour or Port St. Charles, which is about ten miles north of Bridgetown on the west coast.”

“Which is better?”

Phyllis shrugged. “Clearance is easier up in Port St. Charles, since it’s not a commercial port. That might be our best choice.”

“What about the other boat?” Cody asked. “Will they come in the same way?”

Phyllis shook her head. “They’ll need a lot more room with a cargo ship. There’s Esso Jetty, just outside the breakwater. That can accommodate tankers up to 244 meters long and 11.6 meters draught. That’s the most likely place. There’s also the Arawak Cement Plant—which they mentioned on the radio earlier—or Needham’s Point, which is used for crude oil imports.”

“Can they take a cargo ship like that?”

“Arawak can handle ships 121 meters long, 9.0 draught. And Needham can take them 193 meters long and 11.6 meters draught.”

Jake nodded thoughtfully. “It doesn’t sound like a huge place. No matter where they put the ship, I don’t think we’ll have much trouble keeping them in our sights.”

“True enough.”

“When we get closer, we’ll want to switch over to VHF 12/6.”

“What’s the port call sign?”

“Eight, Papa, Brava.”

Juli listened to the comfortable rhythm of their banter, understanding more of their boat-speak than she would have just a few days ago. She knew the situation was dire, but it was nice to feel like a part of the action. Cody was wiping down the counter with a rag, glancing at his watch every now and then.

“So who will get there first?” Juli asked, taking a sip of her coffee. “Us or them?”

“Hard to say,” Jake answered. “They’re bigger and faster, but we’ve got a head start.”

“We can adjust our speed a little bit, so it’s pretty likely we’ll arrive close to the same time they do,” Phyllis added. “Maybe even an hour or so before them.”

“So are we just better off waiting to form a plan?” Juli asked. “I mean, without knowing who they are or what they’re doing, we can’t narrow things down much.”

Jake shrugged. “Maybe so. We can come up with some elaborate plot to sneak onto their boat and run recognizance, but who knows what’ll happen when they get there? They might have someone waiting to unload the cargo the instant they berth.”

“In which case, we’ll be chasing them across land?”

“Or not,” Phyllis said. “Who knows, maybe they’re just planning a handoff to another ship.”

Jake shrugged. “It’s also possible they don’t have a clue what sort of cargo they’re dealing with. This could be a random thing, right? You hear about pirates stealing boats sometimes just to get their hands on the boat itself.”

“True,” Phyllis agreed. “And there’s still the possibility it’s a mutiny—that it’s the same guys who’ve had the boat all along.

Juli took another sip of coffee, jumping a little as she heard a quick bark of static on the radio. She waited, but no one spoke. For a few more moments, everyone sat in silence, waiting for voices.

“So we wait for another clue on the radio,” Juli said finally. “And if we don’t get one, we stay the course to Barbados.”

“We’ve still got the GPS tracker,” Phyllis added. “Even if these guys don’t say anything else on the radio, we’ll be able to see where they’re headed.”

“Okay,” Juli said, trying to stifle a yawn. Even with the coffee, she was fighting to stay awake. She looked up to see Cody staring at her.

“You should take a nap,” he said.

“Gotta listen to the radio,” Juli said, giving in to the urge to yawn.

Jake glanced up at her and shrugged. “So sit right there. Put your head down on the counter so you hear the radio if anything happens. It’ll wake you up.”

“Oh,” Juli said. “Maybe. I don’t think I could fall asleep, but maybe if I just rest my eyes.”

It was the last thing she said before she trundled off into dreamland.

***

When Alex woke at 4:00 a.m. to the sight of Jake’s bald head, he was admittedly disappointed.

“Where’s Juli?” he asked, blinking against the overhead light Jake had just switched on.

“Napping,” Jake said. “What, I’m not cute enough to wake you up?”

“No, you’re plenty cute. You just don’t fill out your shirt the same way.”

“Few people do,” Jake agreed.

Alex yawned and sat up, swinging his legs out of bed. “Everything go okay?”

“No problems. We should be hitting Bridgetown Port in about six hours.”

“Anything else over the radio?” Alex asked, scrounging on the floor for his T-shirt.

“No word since just before you went to sleep. We’re keeping an eye on them, but they seem to be making a pretty straight line for Barbados.”

“So we guessed right.”

Jake snorted. “Not completely a guess. What the hell would we have done if Juli hadn’t known what they were saying?”

“We would’ve followed the boat anyway.”

“Probably. But we wouldn’t have had a clue how far they were headed or whether we had the fuel to follow them. At least this way we got a chance to plot the route and figure out whether we could make it there.”

Alex tugged his shirt on over his head and smoothed down his hair with his fingers. “So she saved our asses, more or less.”

Jake gave a grudging shrug. “Hate to admit it, but she’s proving to be useful. That’s why I’m not sure what to make of what Phyllis found online just a minute ago.”

Alex looked up at Jake, startled by the sudden grimness in his voice. “What do you mean?”

“Juli wasn’t lying about all the IQ crap,” Jake said, dropping onto the bench beside the bed. “We found a bunch of information about her. She’s pretty damn famous. There have been a lot of scientific studies and articles written about her.”

“So what’s the problem?”

Jake was quiet a minute, toeing a spot on the floor. When he looked up at Alex, his expression was somber. “You know the dead uncle she’s been toting around in that urn? Uncle Frank?”

“Yeah,” Alex said, trying to read Jake’s solemn expression. “What about him?”

“We did some digging online,” Jake said, rubbing his palms against his knees. “Uncle Frank was also known by another name. Frankie-Two-Toes.”

Alex felt a chill run up his arms. “Frankie-Two-Toes the mobster?”

“You know of another Frankie-Two-Toes?”

“Shit,” Alex said as he sat back down on the edge of the bed.

“Yeah.”

Alex was quiet for a long time. He looked up at Jake. “So we’re transporting a notorious mobster’s famous genius niece.”

“Pretty much.”

“Not exactly part of the plan.”

“Nope.”

“It could be a coincidence.”

Jake shrugged. “This trip has been one long string of them, hasn’t it?”

Alex looked around the room. “You notice she took the urn with her?”

Jake nodded. “She even fell asleep with her hand on it. No chance to pry the damn thing away from her and see what’s in it.”

Alex shoved his feet into his shoes and stood up, shaking his head. “I don’t like this.”

Jake grunted. “Me neither.”

Alex pulled the covers up and straightened the pillow, trying not to meet Jake’s eyes. “So we keep holding our cards close to our vest.
No details
. And we watch her. Constantly.”

“Agreed,” Jake said, nodding. “And Alex?”

“Yeah?”

“Don’t get too close.”

With that, Jake turned, patted Alex on the shoulder, and headed toward the door. Alex sighed.

“Too late,” he muttered and followed Jake out the door.

***

Juli was the first to spot land. Of course, it may have been because she’d swiped Alex’s binoculars.

“What do you see?” he asked, trying to wrestle the binoculars away from her.

“Sand,” she said. “Buildings. Trees. Give me a minute. I haven’t seen any of these things for three days. I want to savor it.”

“Savor it later,” Alex said, grabbing the binoculars at last. “I need to see where I’m going.”

All hands were on deck, and Juli watched as the rest of the crew bustled about, preparing for their arrival. For the last twelve hours, they’d been hauling ass—at least three times faster than they’d been going just a day earlier. She had asked Jake about it, but he’d been decidedly vague. She knew the original plan had called for a slower trip out and a fast trip back, but she wasn’t sure if it was a matter of fuel conservation or making a quick getaway.

Now as she watched, she was fascinated by the complexity of the process of bringing a large boat into a small space.

“How big was the entrance channel again?” Alex asked.

“13.5 meters,” Phyllis called.

“Breakwater is 522 meters long,” Jake added.

Juli looked on as Alex performed a series of complicated-looking maneuvers to bring the ship into port. They’d all been oddly hush-hush about the arrangements they were making, so Juli wasn’t sure whether to expect a lei greeting or a hail of gunfire upon their arrival.

One important thing she
had
managed to pick up—they’d beaten the other boat by nearly two hours. Alex seemed pleased about that.

Things seemed to happen fast once they brought the ship in. There was a lot of hasty dialogue among the crew about port-of-clearance and berthing orders, and Juli tried hard to stay out of the way. She held her breath as they cleared customs, more than a little worried about some of the phony paperwork Jake had thrust into her hands just before they docked.

“Don’t ask,” Phyllis had said. So Juli didn’t.

Instead, she beamed at the customs agent, complimented his tie, held her breath as he studied Uncle Frank’s urn, and finally marched right through as though she wasn’t a member of a fearsome pirate crew.

“Ditch the apron, Cody,” she heard Alex whisper behind her.

“
Cookie!
”

“Shit.”

Finally, they were all through customs and standing there on dry land with the Caribbean sun beating down on them and waves of jaunty calypso music bouncing through the air from a nearby ice cream shop. Phyllis fiddled with the handheld GPS, while Jake kept a firm grip on the portable radio.

“Now what?” Jake asked, fastening the radio to his belt and looking at the assembled group.

Alex glanced at his watch. “We should catch a cab over to the port where we think they’re coming in. Find a good spot to watch the harbor, maybe find a cheap room so we can shower and set up our land-based headquarters?”

“A shower?” Juli asked hopefully. “You mean one where I don’t have to prop my foot on the toilet to shave?”

“Says she with the master stateroom,” Jake muttered, though he didn’t sound particularly put out.

“You can have the first shower, Jake,” Juli told him, waving frantically as a cab appeared, then zipped passed them. “I want to take my time anyway.”

Alex cleared his throat. “How do the rest of you guys want to work this when we get to a hotel? It’ll be suspicious if all five of us go marching into some place and ask for a room.”

“Shouldn’t we send in the least memorable person?” Phyllis asked, glancing at the assembled group. “Cody’s too big—people will remember him. And Juli’s too pretty, so they’ll remember her too.”

“Phyllis, why don’t you and Jake go in as a couple?” Juli piped, giving Phyllis a gentle nudge toward Jake.

At least the nudge was supposed to be gentle. Instead, Phyllis went toppling into Jake’s chest, an impact that resulted in an unpleasant “oomph” from their colliding bodies.

To Jake’s credit, he caught Phyllis without wincing. And he immediately fastened his arm around her and returned her to an upright position.

“Um, sorry,” Juli said, watching conflict play over Jake’s features as he decided whether to keep his arm there or not.

“A couple?” Phyllis asked, looking nervous.

“Sure,” Juli said. “You’re illicit lovers here on a secret romantic rendezvous or something.”

At that, Jake grinned. He stole a glimpse down the front of Phyllis’s blouse. She looked up and raised an eyebrow.

“What?” he said. “Just getting into character. I’m a wealthy oil tycoon with a frigid wife who only stays with me for my money and power, while my adoring mistress fulfills all my wildest fantasies and desires.”