Chapter Twenty-Seven

“It’s done,” Ivy said as she leaned back in her chair and stretched her neck. “I’ve isolated every poison tree on the ten islands within the circle of highest probability of being the AUUV’s hiding place, along with the closest five islands outside the circle.”

Dimitri stood behind her and planted his hands on her shoulders. He dug his thumbs into the muscles, and she groaned with pleasure. “Your shoulders are a mess,” he said.

“All this computer time is killing my back.” She tilted her head back and batted her eyes at him. “Maybe before we go find the AUUV, we can spend the day at a spa where I can get a ninety-minute, four-hand massage?”

He dropped a kiss on her lips. “I’m afraid you’ll have to make do with my lousy two hands.” He leaned down and whispered in her ear, “But you’ll get more than ninety minutes of pleasure.”

She laughed. “I’m going to hold you to that promise. And your hands aren’t lousy.” She tapped the mouse and directed his attention to the monitor. “Based on your specs for the AUUV, I think our best shot of finding the little beastie is in one of these seven locations.” She toggled the display, and the seven areas changed from green to red. “They’re large enough, and three of them have the potential for caves under the tree’s root system. I want to send RON to do another flyover of each location before we attempt a physical search. We might be able to find it without leaving this cave, and we don’t want to get up close and personal with poison tree sap unless we have to.”

“As soon as it gets dark, you can send RON.”

“I could do the closest island now. We haven’t seen any boats in the channels in two days.”

“Too risky. We’ll stick to the night flying.”

She flicked the sleep button on the computer. “Well then. For the first time in days, we’ve got hours to kill with no work to do. Did you happen to include a deck of cards in the stash of goodies down below?”

“I don’t think so. Why?”

She stood from the chair and grabbed his T-shirt. “I was going to challenge you to strip poker.”

He grinned and cupped her ass. “How about we just strip instead?”

“You promised me a ninety-minute massage just a few moments ago.”

“Keep in mind, I never promised to massage your back.”

“If Jack Keaton doesn’t want company, then it’s not my place to help you find him,” Ulai Umetaro repeated.

“But he does, Mr. Umetaro. He sent me this card to bring me here.” Luke tapped the card he’d set on the workbench that lined the wall just inside the pilot’s floatplane hangar.

Umetaro flicked the card away. “Rubbish. Anyone could have posted that.”

Luke wasn’t buying his act. He’d seen the man’s eyes widen when he saw the card. Ulai Umetaro knew something.

Ian returned after walking the U-shaped hangar well to admire Umetaro’s de Havilland Beaver seaplane. “She’s a beauty, Captain. Any chance you’d take us for a flight?”

“Charter’s booked for the rest of the week, mate. Sorry.”

“I thought Ivy MacLeod booked you for the whole month?” Luke asked. He was bad cop in this scenario. Palea had opted out of this interview. He’d questioned Umetaro twice already to no avail and believed Ian and Luke would have better luck in their unofficial capacity with the card from Dimitri as their ace in the hole.

Umetaro spit into the water. “Nah. Just two weeks. When she didn’t show for the second week, I had to take what jobs I could to make up for the lost income.”

Ivy had been off the grid for five days. Her friends and family back in DC had passed frantic in their worry.

Luke and Ian had spent the last two days running down leads in Koror with Palea, as they waited for Umetaro to return from a second trip to Kayangel. The only new information that had come their way was forwarded to Palea by the DIA. The real Jack Keaton had been tracked down in Madagascar. The man was happy and healthy, but a dead end as far as information on Dimitri was concerned.

As they waited for the seaplane pilot to return to Koror, Ian and Luke had outfitted a boat for cruising the Rock Islands. If Umetaro hadn’t returned this morning, they’d have set out already.

“We’ll pay you twice the going rate,” Ian said.

Alec Ravissant had given them carte blanche over the budget for this job, and Luke knew that for Ian, the search was more urgent knowing that Zack Barrow was here and on the hunt for Ivy.

“Where do you boys want to go?” Umetaro asked. His thick accent thinned the longer they talked. Umetaro was an interesting man. He seemed like he’d been playing an exaggerated version of himself until Luke presented him with Dimitri’s card.

“Rock Islands,” Ian said.

“That’s a little broad. Have a fancy for a particular island?”

“Wherever it is that Keaton has spent the most time in the last few months,” Luke said.

Umetaro stood. “Tell you wot, if Keaton calls me and says he wants to talk to you, I’ll pass on your number.”

Luke rolled his eyes, while Ian gave the man his Raptor business card and, Luke suspected, at least two hundred dollars. “There’s a sat phone number written on the back, for when we’re out of cell phone range.”

“I’ll let you know if I hear from him.”

They thanked the man and left the enclosed hangar and proceeded down the dock to the yacht they’d rented. Once they were aboard, Luke asked, “Did you plant the tracking device on the plane?”

“Yep. He knows something. Bet he flies out of here in ten minutes.”

“Nice of you to give him gas money,” Luke said.

“If he’s going to lead us to Veselov, I figured it was the least I could do.”

For the third time, they heard a plane pass over their refuge. Ivy glared at the cave ceiling. The solar panels on the hilltop might be missed on a first or even second pass, but a third flyover was a bad sign. “What do we do?”

“I’m going to swim out through the tunnel and see who it is.” Dimitri rolled from their mattress and reached for his Under Armour briefs and shirt.

“With scuba?” Ivy asked as she grabbed her own discarded clothes from the cave floor.

“No time.”

“Dammit, Dimitri, it’s too dangerous!”

“I’ve done it many times.”

“I don’t care. It scares the hell out of me.”

“Scarier than being snuck up upon by one of your ex’s cronies?” He wrapped a hand around her neck and pulled her to him and kissed her, hard and fast. “Do you remember the PIN for the satellite phone?”

“Yes.”

“Good.” He grabbed the neoprene holster with his Sig sealed inside and strapped it on. “If I’m not back in thirty minutes, or if you hear gunfire, use the phone. Call Curt Dominick and give him your coordinates. Then shoot anyone who tries to enter the cave, unless you know it’s someone Dominick sent. It’ll take a team of SEALs at least an hour to mobilize from Guam.”

He turned to the water, then glanced over his shoulder, giving her a meaningful look. “I love you,” he said, then took a deep breath and dove into the pool.

He disappeared in the dark depths, his bubbles lost to the rippling surface.

She hadn’t had a chance to say the words back. She didn’t know if she could, so maybe it was for the best. But now she held her breath in unconscious sympathy, wondering how long it would take him to traverse the tunnel and surface again.

Given the pounding of her heart and panic in her soul, she suspected she did love him.

She should have insisted on exploring the tunnel herself. They had scuba equipment. She might feel better if she knew what he was facing.

Or that might make her feel even worse.

He could drown here. Now. And she wouldn’t know he was in trouble until it was too late to help him.

She ran a hand over her belly and wondered how she’d cope if she never saw Dimitri again.

Relief washed through Dimitri when he recognized the floatplane. Ulai Umetaro’s Beaver. It could only mean one thing: Luke Sevick had arrived and had shown Ulai the card.

Dimitri had stashed a radio in the vegetation for just such an occasion, and made a beeline for it. Ulai knew what frequency Dimitri would use. He hailed the pilot, and a moment later, Ulai responded.

Dimitri told the pilot where to land, then returned the radio to its hiding place and made his way up the hillside to the cave entrance. “It’s safe, Ivy,” he shouted before entering the tunnel. “Ulai is here.” He dropped down to all fours and crawled through the entrance. “Which means we’re going to have more company in a few hours.”

He emerged into the upper chamber, blinded momentarily by sunlight that angled through the skylight. He blinked as he stood upright and realized it wasn’t the sun at all. One of the floodlights had been angled to shine on the tunnel entrance. In the darkness behind the light, he could just make out the face of a man who’d spoken with Ivy at the party in Koror. The man had one hand over Ivy’s mouth, the other hand held a gun to her temple.