SeaChange (24 page)

Tugging Heidi by the hand, he smiled tiredly. “Come on,
Freya. Let’s go home.”

They didn’t speak on the trip out to the
Siren
. The
gibbous moon was bright, hanging low in the sky to the west, and the stars
reflected silver sparkles off the water. The inflatable tender was a little
smaller than her research Zodiac, but it was still a familiar feeling, buzzing
through the waves in a tiny craft, feeling the salt spray on her face. She’d
loved the sea from the moment she’d first seen the coastline as a kid on
vacation, and that love had never abated, not even after her near drowning.
Maybe she was just a throwback to her Viking ancestors. Even though she’d grown
up a thousand miles from the coast, the sea still felt like home.

Home. When Jake had absently said, “Let’s go home,” she’d
damn near burst into tears. Already the
Siren
felt more like a home than
any place she’d lived since her parents were alive. Lord, but she was in
trouble. She’d given up trying to fool herself—she was in love with Jake. One
hundred percent, head-over-heels, happy-ever-after in love with a man who would
outlive her by centuries. She’d completely quit caring about the not-quite-human
part. That had dropped to the category of marrying someone of a different
religion or ethnic background. While it might have mattered to her parents or
grandparents if she’d had any living, it didn’t make a bit of difference to
her.

“Let’s sit out here,” she said when Jake moved toward the
cabin after they’d stowed the inflatable. She plopped down on a bench and
patted the spot next to her. “It’s a beautiful night.”

“Almost as beautiful as you,” he murmured huskily.

It should have sounded cheesy, but the emotion filling his
voice made her throat clench. Jake sat beside her and Heidi leaned her head
into his shoulder.

“I’m not going back to San Diego, Jake. You stood by my side
through one of the worst periods of my life. I’m not going to run away and hide
when you need my help. That’s just not who I am.”

“I know.” He squeezed her hand. “You’re my fearless
Valkyrie, and that’s a big part of what I love about you. But I can’t help
wanting you to be safe.”

What he
loved
about her? Holy crap! Heidi was torn between
wanting to make him elaborate on that and needing to know what he meant about
feeling
her get shot.

“In the last few days, have you had any sense that you’re
feeling my emotions?” He shifted a little to face her and used his free hand to
tip her chin up so he could look into her eyes.

At first she wanted to say no, of course not. She couldn’t
see his features too clearly in the moonlight, but she could feel the intensity
in Jake’s dark gaze. Little niggling moments that she’d been writing off as her
imagination had added up, hadn’t they? Biting her lip, she nodded. “Yeah,
maybe.”

Jake nodded. “I thought so. Do you remember a long time ago
when we were talking about dolphins and I said you probably were a little bit
psychic?”

A long time ago—had it really been less than a week? “Yeah.
When I said that as a kid I thought the dolphin at the aquarium was laughing at
the attendant.”

“Well, he probably was. You weren’t imagining it. Some of
them have a wicked sense of humor. Dolphins are every bit as intelligent as
humans, and I’m pretty sure you can pick up some of their thoughts—that’s how
they communicate, by the way. It’s a combination of clicks, whistles and
telepathy.”

“That’s cool.” It was, though she wasn’t sure where he was
going with this. “You’re saying that because I can connect to the dolphins, I’m
somehow also sensitive to what you’re thinking—or feeling, at least?”

His lips tightened and he tipped his head from side to side.
“Sort of. It’s more complicated than that.”

“You mentioned something earlier about couples?”

“Yeah.” He lifted their hands, which were still laced
together and pressed his lips to her knuckles. “Once in a while, with merfolk,
a couple will just—fit together so well, that they connect on a psychic level
as well. It’s not common, but as far as I can tell, it’s happening to us.”

Heidi swallowed hard. “Wow. Impressive stuff.” Her brain
started chewing on the ramifications of the information.

His lips quirked into a rueful grin. “As far as I know, it’s
never, ever happened between a mer and a human. We appear to be unique.”

“So what happens? Once we—split up, does it go away?”

Jake shrugged. “No clue. There are maybe half a dozen
couples I know of who are true mates. And none of them have ever split up.”

“Gee, we’ll get to be a first all the way around.” Didn’t
that just suck?

He shrugged again. “We don’t have to.”

That was hard to misinterpret. “You’re asking me to stay
with you—not to go back to the university or try to find a teaching job.”

“I guess I am. Is that something you’d even consider?” He
looked as unsure as she’d ever seen him—even when he was waiting for his
mother.

And it occurred to her, he’d said he loved her. Her heart
was still singing over that declaration, even though it also scared her
shitless. But she hadn’t said it back. “I love you too, Jake. More than I know
how to deal with.”

The tense line of his shoulders relaxed, and he broke into a
wide grin. “Does that mean you’ll stay?”

Heidi wanted so badly to say yes, but there were still so
many problems standing in their way. Her practical nature kept saying, “But
what about the difference in our life spans? What about my career?” And of
course there was the big one—what about taking on an island full of pirates?
Once they’d both survived that, then they could talk about the next fifty
years.

“It means I’ll definitely be thinking about it.” Yeah, like
she’d be able to
stop
thinking about it, even for a minute.

“I guess that will have to do—for now.” He leaned forward
and kissed her, a sweet kiss with lots of tenderness and just a trace of heat.

“I’ve been alone for so long, Heidi.” His lips were softer
than a feather as they touched her own.

“Me too.” Though of course, their definitions of a really
long time were wildly different.

“I think we should go inside,” he murmured as his lips found
her ear and nibbled gently. “In case any of the partiers decided to swim out
and play in the water.”

“Mmm. Good idea.” She’d resisted the pull of the bacchanalia
on the island. Being watched just wasn’t one of her fantasies, but now that she
and Jake were alone, all the longing had returned, even stronger now that she’d
admitted she loved him and knew he loved her.

For the first time since they’d been together, she wasn’t
hurting at all. Whatever Jake’s aunt had done, it had worked. Every single ache
and pain, the last residual traces of her concussion, they were all completely
gone.

She let Jake draw her down the stairs to the cabin. This
time, she promised herself, they’d take it slow.

“Good morning.”

Heidi jumped at the sound of Leta’s voice when she made her
way out to the galley the next morning. “Uh… Hello.”

Leta was curled up under a blanket on the couch. She yawned
and stretched as she sat up.

“Did you end up sleeping here last night?” Duh. Of course
she had. Heidi shook her head and stumbled toward the galley. Coffee was an
absolute necessity. She and Jake hadn’t slept much the previous night. That
thought brought a smile to her face, which she hid by facing into the cupboard.
She was glad she’d tossed on a pair of shorts and a T-shirt before she’d come
out here for her caffeine fix.

“I came aboard just after dawn,” Leta said. “I hope you don’t
mind. There was a bit of a…disagreement between me and Niko. This was one place
I knew he would not follow me.”

Oookay. Moving right along. “Any idea where your mother is
this morning?” Heidi moved over to the galley area and began the routine task
of making coffee.

Leta shook her head. “I think she and Marcos and Aella
returned to the settlement last night, shortly after you left the party.”

“Good,” Jake said as he came through the door in a pair of
swim trunks, his hair still mussed from sleep. “The atoll was no place for her
by that time.”

Leta laughed. “Not unless she ever pulled the stick out of
her butt and jumped on Marcos. That poor man has been in love with her for
centuries, but neither of them have ever acknowledged it.”

Heidi’s lips twitched at the look of discomfort on Jake’s
face at the idea of his mother having a romantic interest. But why not? His
father had been dead for years—like a hundred?—and Myrrine was still a
relatively young woman. If she were human, Heidi would have taken her for only forty-five
or fifty. There was no reason in the world she shouldn’t find happiness, even
if it was with her bodyguard.

“Any muffins left?” Jake asked, moving over to give Heidi a
long sweet kiss good morning. The scene was so blatantly domestic, Heidi couldn’t
help but grin. Just an ordinary household—yeah, that was them.

She handed Jake the bakery box they’d picked up before
leaving San Diego. “A few. Tomorrow we’ll be back to Pop-Tarts until we get to
Mexico.”

“Which will hopefully be tomorrow night,” Jake agreed. He
held out the muffin box to his sister, then slid into a seat at the table and
turned to Heidi. “What I think we need to do today is research. As our resident
computer genius, you’re the official head of intel for this operation. I want
you to go online and find out everything you can about these pirates. I think I
remember hearing something about them at the marina in Ensenada, so I’m sure
there are some reports.”

“Uh-huh. And we have to email a god.” She shook her head. “Still
can’t wrap my brain around that one. First things first though—I need coffee, a
swim, and some clean clothes. Then we start the cyber hunt.”

“And I need to call Wen and Steve,” Jake said. “Plus we need
to find out just where this island is. I can’t believe there’s a temple to
Dionysus somewhere in the Pacific and the merfolk didn’t know about it. That
strikes me as extremely weird.”

Before Heidi could answer, there were footsteps on the deck
and then clomping down the stairs.

“I’m glad we left a stack of towels on deck,” Heidi observed
as Niko knocked on the cabin door.

Leta went to let him in as Heidi poured four cups of coffee.
Jake’s sister opened the door, but didn’t say a word, spinning on her bare heel
and stalking over to the galley to sit across from Jake. Niko’s eyes followed
her, darkening as they took in the skimpy green nightgown. Heidi was going to
have to have a talk with Leta about teasing tigers.

“Your clothes are in the second drawer, next to the door,”
Jake told the other merman, jerking his thumb toward the bedroom.

Niko nodded his thanks, coolly ignoring Leta then went in to
dress as Heidi joined Jake and Leta at the table. She slid in beside Jake and
grabbed the last chocolate chip muffin. Niko could eat blueberry. Heidi needed
chocolate.

“Might want to get dressed before your mother shows up,” she
said to Leta, who nibbled daintily on a croissant.

Leta frowned and rolled her eyes. “But I am wearing
clothing,” she protested.

“Lesson number one,” Heidi replied. “Nightgowns are for
sleeping in. Not something you wear in public.”

“But it covers more than a swimming suit, and you wear those
in public all the time,” the mermaid said, her eyebrows knitting together. “That
makes no sense.”

Heidi grinned. “Hey, fashion never does, at least not to me.
But that’s the way it works.”

“I will never get used to this need to wear clothing all the
time,” Leta grumbled, but she set her food down and slid out of the booth as
soon as Niko emerged from the bedroom in a pair of khaki shorts and a black
T-shirt.

Niko’s eyes followed Leta’s swaying hips as she moved past,
but his lips remained set in a thin, white line.

Once she’d slammed the bedroom door shut behind her, he
shook his head and slid into the booth across from Heidi, gratefully accepting
the mug of coffee she passed him.

“The queen will be here shortly,” he told the others. He
gulped down a third of the coffee and sighed with pleasure before reaching for
the last blueberry muffin. “She is bringing Marcos and hopefully one of her
other warrior leaders to make the arrangements. Do we know yet where we’re
traveling?”

“Only that it’s somewhere in Mexico,” Jake replied. “We’ll
need to fuel up as soon as we hit the coast. I’d aim for Ensenada, but I don’t
think that’s a good idea at the moment. There are a couple of marinas farther
south on the coast, so I think we’ll head for one of those. From there we can
probably find this island we’re supposed to be liberating.”

“So two days back to the coast?” Heidi tried to remember how
much fresh water the tanks held. She’d planned on bathing in the ocean this
morning, but with all the others arriving so soon, she was rapidly changing her
mind. She loved Jake, and she liked his family, but if they were all going to
move in, they were going to need a bigger boat.

Jake seemed to have the same thought. He drained his coffee
and stood. “Why don’t we all go for a swim while we wait for Mother? Then we
can get to work.”

Leta chose that moment to open the door from the bedroom.
She stood framed in the doorway in a denim miniskirt and a lacy white tank. “You
might have mentioned that before I dressed.” With a scowl at her brother, she
slammed the door again.

Heidi laughed as Jake muttered under his breath, “I need a
bigger boat.”

* * * * *

Feeling greatly refreshed after her swim, Heidi set up her
laptop at the dining table while Jake went to work on his computer in the
forward cabin. Still sulking, Leta lounged up on deck with the fashion
magazines she’d bought in San Diego, while Niko pored over Jake’s collection of
maps of the Mexican coastline.

“It must be somewhere near the Revillagigedo Islands,” Niko
said. “They’re a group of volcanic atolls, south of the Baja peninsula.”

“That would connect with where the pirates are showing up,”
Heidi agreed without looking up from the article she was reading on her screen.
“According to this, they’ve been striking mostly high-end pleasure yachts
traveling across the mouth of the gulf—either boats that just refueled in Cabo
San Lucas heading in to Puerto Vallarta or Mazatlan, or ones just leaving the
mainland to head back to California.”

“So why hasn’t the Mexican government done anything about
them?” Niko wondered.

“I can answer that, I think.” Jake swiveled his chair around
and looked out of the forward cabin. “For one thing, all the actual attacks
have happened well outside the government’s twelve-mile enforcement zone, and
for another, almost all the boats attacked have been American, so the Mexican
authorities haven’t gotten too concerned.”

“And, just like we found with the drug ring, there’s probably
a bit of money changing hands to keep it that way,” Heidi added.

“I wouldn’t be surprised,” Jake nodded. “Wen returned my
email, by the way. He’s going to find out what Miguel knows, and will probably
meet up with us tonight.”

“The attacks are fairly infrequent,” Heidi continued,
scanning more of the article. She was very glad to hear that Wen would be with
them for this. “Only one every two to four weeks have been reported over the
past eight months.”

“Well, some of the very rich may not want to have the cops
look too closely at their boats,” Jake noted. “So there could actually be more
than are reported.”

Heidi nodded. “In about half the cases, the crew and owners
were left unharmed, but the communications equipment is always destroyed. There
have been a number of fatalities and injuries, however.”

“Also, two of the attacks occurred on the same night,
several hundred miles apart.” Heidi clicked on another, more detailed article. “So
either there are two separate groups, or they have more than one crew. That
would tie in with the discrepancy between lethal attacks and just robbery. If
one crew prefers to kill, and one doesn’t. But even the one that usually leaves
the crew and passengers tied up has killed—apparently the crew of one yacht
fought back, after they tried to lock them up. One man survived, though he lost
a leg.”

She bit her lip, then read him the next part. “And in a
couple cases, even small children have been killed, fairly brutally. These guys
are real monsters, Jake. I don’t have any problem at all helping see them get
locked up for life.”

Jake nodded his agreement, just as a chime dinged from his
computer, and he spun his chair around. “I’ve got an e-mail from Dionysus.”

They all waited and watched as he pulled up and read the
message from the god.

“The name of the island is
Isla des Delfínes
, or
Island of the Dolphins. It’s north of the Revillagigedos, south of Cabo San
Lucas by maybe two hundred miles.”

“On it,” said Heidi, her fingers flying on the keyboard as
she typed it into a search engine.

“He also sent a map of the temple grounds, but it’s hand
drawn and pretty old,” Jake continued. “And it looks like there’s an abandoned
town as well.”

“Or perhaps a no-longer-abandoned town,” Niko remarked.

“Exactly.” Jake clicked some keys and the printer whirred.

“Okay, the only references Google has for
Isla des
Delfínes
are old ones. Apparently it shows up on the original maps made by
the conquistadors in the 1500s, but it doesn’t on modern ones, not even the
satellite photos.” She clicked on one of the images and studied the antique
map, then sent the link to Jake in an email so he could print it.

“Which must make it easy for the pirates to hide out there,”
Jake grumbled.

“No shit. I’ve got a diary here—maybe you can translate the
Spanish.” She forwarded that to Jake as well.

“
Isla Socorro
is the biggest of the Revillagigedos,”
Niko put forth, stumbling only a little over the name. “According to this
chart, there is a Mexican naval base there.”

“So the pirates probably stay well clear of that.” Jake
said. “Hey Niko, you want to translate this journal entry?”

“Mother’s here,” called Leta from up on deck. “Marcos and
Chiron are with her.”

“I need to invest in more board shorts,” Jake grumbled.

Niko laughed. “I will take them up some clothing,” he said. “We
can purchase more, perhaps, when we stop for fuel.”

While the printer continued to spool, Jake fetched a couple
of swimsuits for the men and one of the dresses Leta had bought for his mother
and handed them to Niko. A few minutes later Niko had returned, and the queen
and her two soldiers descended into the cabin with Leta trailing close behind.
All three were in their own clothing. Marcos carried a plastic cooler, while
the other man carried a backpack and a large suitcase. Apparently, instead of
swimming, they’d come in a boat.

“The rest of our soldiers will meet us in Mexico,” the queen
said as soon as she’d been seated.

“Ummm, meet us?” Heidi murmured, raising an eyebrow at Jake.
The
Siren
was going to be awfully crowded for the next few days if all
five of the merfolk were traveling on board.

He shrugged. She could feel his confusion—disappointment at
the lack of privacy warring against his inability to tell his mother she had to
swim several hundred miles.

“You know, we could probably stop in San Diego and rent a
bigger boat,” Heidi offered. “Then the merfolk could ride down with us from the
Catalinas. Or they can take turns, to give themselves a break from swimming.”

Jake could have kissed her. Thank the gods for Heidi’s
clever brain. He smiled in relief. “Of course that’s still a two-day trip back
there, but it would be good to have a bigger base of operations.” He did some
mental calculations. “I can raise the cash for a good-sized yacht in a couple
of days.” His net worth ran to eight figures, but a big pleasure boat could
easily cost in the millions and he didn’t keep that much in readily available
cash.

“Chiron, Nikolaos and I will swim alongside the boat so you
will not be overcrowded. Also, cash will not a problem,” Marcos grunted. He
handed Jake the chest then smirked as Jake sagged beneath the weight. He heard
the muted jingle of a large pile of coin. “Her majesty anticipated a need for
currency.”

“Of course she did.” His mother was always one step ahead of
everybody else. He set the chest down on an end table and unlatched the clasp.
He heard Heidi gasp as the lid opened to reveal a big pile of gold, silver, and
gems along with a fat bundle of green. The bottom of the chest was lined with
gold bars. Yeah. This pile was worth several million, if sold properly.

“There is twenty thousand in paper money,” Myrrine confirmed
as Jake rifled the wad of cash. “The rest is salvaged from old shipwrecks. I
assume you can find a way to convert that to modern currency?”