According to Jesse, whod spoken to Mrs. Ross when he took the assignment for Cooper Security, Mrs. Ross and her husband, U.S. Army General Edward Ross, had lived there most of their married life, although the general had obviously spent a good deal of time away during his military career. It was his home base, Jesse had told her. He kept all his papers, correspondence and collections there.
Lydia Ross, hed explained, had agreed to the State of Alabamas latest offer to purchase the island as a wildlife preserve, so she needed Cooper Securitys help archiving and securing the generals belongings for the move.
Jesse had tried to make it sound like the best field assignment available, but Shannon knew when someone was throwing her a bone. Clearly her brother was tired of her nagging him to let her out from behind her computer screen and this was his punishment.
You didnt like the accommodations?
Stones voice, closer than expected, made her jump. She gripped the railing, fighting a sudden rush of vertigo as she lost her sense of equilibrium. It returned quickly, however, and the world righted beneath her feet.
Squinting against the bright sunlight, she spotted Gideon Stone at the back edge of the pilothouse, gazing down at her. He loomed there, enormous and imposing.
No, everythings fine. She shielded her eyes with her hand. Is the island in sight yet?
He hesitated before answering. Come up. The views better.
He said no more, turning back to the wheel and sitting in the pilots chair. She scurried up the ladder before he changed his mind and took the seat beside him.
The view from the pilothouse was better, a 360-degree panorama of Gulf water ahead and shoreline disappearing behind them. In the distance, Shannon spotted a speck of dark green on the hazy turquoise horizon. Is that Nightshade Island?
Gideon didnt answer, gazing at the instrument gauges with a frown on his face. This time she sensed his expression had nothing to do with her.
She followed his gaze to the gauges and didnt see anything alarming, but now that she thought about it, their speed had slowed noticeably. Is something wrong?
I dont know. He throttled back until they were just idling, then cut the engine.
She shot him a wary look, beginning to wonder if coming onto a boat with a strange man had been her smartest move. What are you doing?
Fuels not getting to the engine. I need to find out why.
Are we stranded? Should we radio the Coast Guard?
Not yet. It may be something easily fixed. He got up from the pilots chair and headed down the ladder.
Do I need to go get my life jacket now?
He paused, just his head and shoulders visible now. Were not sinking. He kept climbing down.
Yet, she muttered.
She eased over to the pilots seat and found it still warm from Gideons body. An odd tingle of feminine awareness jittered through her, making her feel vulnerable and intrigued at the same time.
She liked big men. Tall men, men with broad shoulders and strong backs. Men with battle-hardened faces and feral intensity. She knew such men were good to have around when the world went crazy.
But she also knew such men could be very, very dangerous.
Which are you, Gideon Stone?
She looked around the pilothouse and spotted a small olive drab canvas bag sitting next to the console. It lay partially open.
Looking inside it would be wrong. She knew that. Gideons private possessions were just thatprivate. And maybe if she werent stranded at the moment on a boat with a man shed met less than an hour earlier, shed mind her own business and let it lie.
But her skin still prickled with wariness, and ignoring her healthy fear would be stupid.
She crouched next to the bag and carefully nudged it open until she could see the contents. Inside were a small first aid kit in a blue canvas pouch marked with a white cross, a couple of protein bars and, in the gloomy depths of the bag, the unmistakable outline of a Walther P99 pistol.
Shannon sat back on her heels, her heart pounding.
* * *
O NE LOOK AT the water trap of the engines water separator filter and Gideons heart sank. It was full.
Sitting back on his heels, he wiped sweat from his forehead with his sleeve. Hed fitted the system with a new water separator filter the evening before. Hed checked the bowl of the water trap, too, and it had been clean of all but a small amount of condensation.
No way had this much water collected overnight from mere condensation.
Think, Stone. Think.
He heard footsteps above, distant enough to reassure him that the woman was still up in the pilothouse, but also a reminder he was about to take a stranger to Nightshade Island, a stranger he wasnt sure he should trust. Shed be sleeping under Mrs. Rosss roof, where he couldnt watch her every second.
Hed heard of Cooper Security, but only in passing from an old Marine Corps buddy whod known the companys CEO. Greg had assured him Jesse Cooper was a good mana good marine. Under any other circumstances, his buddys word might have been enough for Gideon.
But bad things had been going down recently, starting with General Rosss death.
The initial judgment was that the single-car crash just north of Terrebonne that had taken the generals life had been an accident. But the Terrebonne Sheriffs Department had recently assigned a detective to the accident investigation, which suggested that no matter what the official stance was at the moment, local law enforcement thought there might be more to it.
Gideon had thought so from the beginning. Edward Ross had been the most careful, conscientious driver hed ever known. And at seventy years old, hed still had the reflexes and physical stamina of a man twenty years his junior. The idea that the general had misjudged a curve in the middle of the afternoon was entirely unbelievable.
He drained the water from the trap into a bailing bucket. Then, on a hunch, he removed the hose from the electric fuel pump and let the contents of the fuel tank drain slowly into the bucket.
More water, he saw, anger battling dismay. Too much water.
Definitely not just condensation.
The bucket was over half full before the liquid flowing into it switched over from water to fuel. Since water was heavier than diesel, it had poured out first, which meant that most of what remained in the tank should be fuel. More than enough to get them back to the dock to refuel.
He returned the fuel pump hose to its proper position and covered the bucket with a plastic lid to keep the contaminated water from spilling. Still mulling over the implications of the excess water, he removed the saturated water replacement filter and went to the storage bin nearby to get the replacement filter hed stored there a couple of months ago.
It wasnt there.
He knew it had been in the bin last night when he checked the boat for this afternoons planned trip to the mainland. He hadnt checked right before the trip because hed been running hard all morning, helping Mrs. Ross prepare her house for Shannon Coopers arrival.
He left the engine well and climbed the steps to the main cabin, suffering a brief moment of suspense before he found a box of suppliesa few brand-new filters includedwhere hed left them a couple of days ago when hed gone out on a supply run.
As he refitted the engine with a replacement filter, he retraced his steps from the night before. System checks. Checked for life jackets in the benches. Checked oil levels, fuel levels. Hed checked the water trap for condensation, finding damn little even after almost three days of disuse.
As he refitted the engine with a replacement filter, he retraced his steps from the night before. System checks. Checked for life jackets in the benches. Checked oil levels, fuel levels. Hed checked the water trap for condensation, finding damn little even after almost three days of disuse.
Hed checked the supply cabinet to make sure the spare filter was there, damn it. He always made sure he kept spares of anything vital because thats what marines didhoped for the best and prepared for the worst. And if it hadnt been there, hed have grabbed one of the new filters and put it in the cabinet so it would be close at hand.
But clearly, he hadnt prepared well enough. He should have put some sort of early warning system on the boathouse, at the very least, to make sure nobody could tamper with the boat while he wasnt around.
Of course, the more pressing question was, why had someone tampered with the fuel? It wouldnt pose a particularly dangerous situation; the worst it could do was strand him on the water, and even if the radio had been sabotaged, there was enough boat traffic to ensure he wouldnt stay stranded long. Simple vandalism made no sense as an explanationmaybe if the boat were docked somewhere on shore where there was easy access to someone on foot or in a car. But to sabotage the Lorelei docked out on Nightshade Island, someone would have had to take a boat well out from the mainland, make a no-engine approach and sneak into the boathouse.
No vandalism was worth that effort.
Which left...
He checked his cell phone. No bars. With a sigh, he headed upstairs to the cabin and crossed to the satellite phone attached to the wall near the galley. Lydia Ross answered on the second ring. Gideon, I was just thinking of you. I forgot to pick up any cherries when we were in town, and I so wanted to cook a cherry crumble for our guest.
Were already behind schedule, Mrs. Ross, and Im He stopped before he said he was heading back to the dock to refuel. Even considering the bucket of water hed drained from the tank, he had plenty to go back and forth from the island to the dock. Refueling could wait.
He felt the strong urge to head back to the island immediately.
Im already halfway back, he finished. Look out your bedroom window and you should be able to see us coming soon. He paused in the middle of the room, taking a look around. Shannon Coopers suit jacket still lay on the bench where shed apparently discarded it earlier. On the table in the galley sat an empty water bottle.
A couple of feet away sat her duffel bag. His gaze settled there and he moved forward, ducking to keep from bumping his head on the cabins low ceiling.
Oh, I must admit I look forward to having company. Ive let myself become quite the recluse. Lydias soft laugh was rueful. Is she as nice as she sounded on the phone?
She seems very nice, he said carefully, wondering if Shannons innocent face hid a devious mind.
Because there was another possibility he hadnt considered.
What if Shannon had gone below deck after hed left her in the cabin? She could have dumped a few bottles of water in the tank in no time through the access hatch, if she knew anything about boat engines.
Practically grew up in a marina...
Mrs. Ross, why dont you go up to the widows walk? he suggested. From the large railed-in square of space on the roof of the house, shed have a largely unobstructed few of the whole island. You can look for us from there.
Gideon, is something the matter?
He sighed. Despite her gentle manner, Lydia Ross was as savvy as her husband had been, and just as tough in her more refined way. Mrs. Ross, someones sabotaged the boat. Ive fixed the problem for now, but Im worried it may have been an attempt to keep me off the island for a while.
I see. He heard steel in her voice. Shall I get the Remington?
I believe you should, he answered, quietly unzipping the duffel bag. Inside, beneath a tablet computer, he found neatly rolled sets of clothing. Everything inside smelled good, like fresh rain on a hot day. Im on my way, but go to the widows walk and call if you see any boats trying to come ashore.
Will do. Ill call back. As she hung up, Gideon froze, his gaze locked on the sleek, black subcompact GLOCK G26 tucked in the bottom of Shannon Coopers bag.
Shed come aboard armed.
What the hell do you think youre doing?
Shannon Coopers voice, close behind him, made his heart skitter. He dropped the bag and turned toward her. Do you sneak on purpose or does it just come He stopped cold.
She was holding his Walther in her right hand, barrel pointing down.
What are you doing with that?
This? She brought the pistol up, still pointing away from him. As he watched with racing pulse, she checked the chamber with easy skill. I thought Id ask you the same thing.
Chapter Two
Shannons bravado was fading fast, but if there was anything shed learned how to do in a houseful of rough-and-tumble siblings, it was to show no fear. I want to know whats going on. Who were you just talking to?
I beg your pardon?
On the phone, just now. Who were you talking to? You said call me if you see any boats coming ashore. Ashore at Nightshade Island? What are you up to? She nodded toward her duffel bag, lying open on the floor. Why were you going through my bag?
Put the gun down.
She shook her head. Ill keep the Walther. But she lowered her hand again. Im not here to hurt anyone. Im here to do a job. But I dont know you from Adam, and I dont like your snooping through my things.
Back at you.
Your bag was lying open.
Fine. Ill rephrase. I dont like being interrogated at gunpoint.
She laid the Walther on the top of the cabinet nearest her. Better?
I carry a gun for protection. Why do you carry one?
So hed seen the GLOCK. Same reason. I have a license.
So do I.
All her family had concealed carry licenses. She supposed it wouldnt be unusual for a former marine to have one as well. That still doesnt answer my question. Who were you talking to?
Lydia Ross. I asked her to go to the high point of the house and look around to see if there was any unusual boat activity around the island. He took a couple of steps toward her. Slow and steady, as if he were being careful not to spook her.
She was spooked anyway. Why would you think there might be?
He moved closer still, his big body looming in the small cabin. He barely had headroom at all, his hair brushing the top of the cabin. He would have to duck to get through the door, she realized. But he could do a lot of damage to her if he wanted.
Did he want to?
Because someone sabotaged the boat.
A chill washed over her. How?
Dont you know?
The conversation was careening off into unexpected territory. How would I know?
He took another step. A long one, bringing him only a few inches from her. His nearness seemed to steal the air from the boat cabin, leaving her feeling light-headed and sluggish. Someone put at least a half gallon of water in the fuel tank, no doubt in an effort to strand this boat out in the middle of the Gulf. I didnt do it. But I left you in here for several minutes. All youd have had to do is grab some of the bottled water in the fridge, go down to the engine room and add the water to the tank through the access port.