CHAPTER 26
MY KNEES BUCKLED and I sank into the warm sand. Grace's expression remained frozen. Cole moved next to her and whispered something in her ear. She nodded and lowered the gun. Cole teased it out of her grasp and slipped it into his waistband. Then he guided her to where Harv and I were sitting.
He glanced at Frank's lifeless body. “And this is how you end up when you work for Anaya.”
I scanned Grace's face. The entire right side was a battered, bruised mess, and chunks of her hair were gone. Tears welled in my eyes as I took stock of the rest of her and found bruise after dark bruise. I was amazed she was able to hold a gun, much less shoot it. “My god, Grace. Did Frank do this?”
She nodded. “Anaya told him not to kill me, but I wanted him to.”
I rummaged around in my pack for the medical supplies and offered her salve and painkillers. A smile creased the left side of her face.
“I don't need anything for the pain. I want to remember what a bastard he was. It will allow me to justify his death.”
Cole sat beside me. He wrapped his arm around my shoulders and I leaned into him, the weariness of the last few days releasing from my body in waves. It was over. Cole and Harv were safe and Grace was alive. I swore to myself I would never take another cruise again in my life. I would fly to all of my destinations and rent a fucking car.
Cole gave me another squeeze and got up to tend to Harv. Grace sat against the tree trunk, silent tears streaming down her face. I decided human being trumped priestess and I scooted next to her and wrapped her in a gentle hug. She leaned her head on my shoulder and we listened to the rhythmic whisper of the waves attempting to stretch further on shore, as if they wanted to comfort her, too.
“We found the treasure,” I said, softly. She raised her head to see my face.
“The spirits are with you.” She stated it as a fact.
“Well, I wouldn't exactly say that, although I did have this weird-ass dream that involved an old woman and breadfruit.”
Grace's laugh rippled through the humid night.
“But Kate, don't you see? That is how they communicate with us. Through dreams, and by giving us ideas to act on. You have done the thing my sister asked of you?”
I thought for a minute before replying. “It must be the treasure we found on the other island. I'm pretty sure I'd be able to find it again. It wasn't as large an island as this one.”
Another explosion detonated far away. I didn't even wince. Must be getting used to it. I sighed, knowing Anaya was probably long gone, sliding silently past all the big guns in his little submarine, headed for his next home. With a stop in St. Thomas or Havana for supplies, of course.
Grace frowned. “The vision was explicit—only you could return this lost object. Will you be heading back to the other island, or will you give them directions to where you found these things?”
“Grace, the way I'm feeling right now, if I got anywhere near that island, I'd probably shoot myself. No, I'll give them the general idea where the stuff is. Gabe can try and find the cave. I'm done.”
“No. That's not the way she said it would happen.” Confusion flitted across her face. “There is more to be done.”
Groaning, I shook my head. “The only thing I'm going to do is check into a deluxe suite at the nearest resort and soak in a warm bath for a week.” I glanced down at my raggedy-ass shorts and remembered Barbie lying next to Frank's inert body. “Wait a minute.” I stood and walked over to Frank, ignoring his lifeless face as I picked up the statue and shook the sand off. I turned around and held Barbie out to her. “Could this be what you mean?”
Grace came to where I stood and gingerly took the small statue from me. She turned it over in her hand and then shook it like a rattle. Her eyes widened in surprise as she looked at me. “Kate, this is exactly what my sister meant.” Wonder filled her eyes. “The stories are true.”
“What stories?”
“You remember Anaya telling the myth of the Jesuit priest who had written in his journal that he was bringing a great new medicine back to Spain, something that would heal all disease?”
“Yeah, but the operative word here is 'myth', Grace. There's no such thing.”
“This is what Anaya seeks. The seeds of the mother plant are inside this statue.” She clasped Barbie to her chest. “I was able to stop Anaya's plants from bearing seeds in his biosphere. He will never be able to produce a viable plant, not without these.”
“Seriously? That's pretty incredible, Grace. If the plants do what you say, think of all the suffering that will end. They'll have to be studied in a controlled environment and…”
Grace watched me, dark eyes fathomless, waiting for me to finish. At some point, I realized none of what I said could ever happen. If Grace was right and the plant exhibited miraculous healing properties, the folks that would ultimately be in control of this wonder drug would no doubt end up as power hungry as Anaya, possibly worse. Who in this day and profit-oriented age would allow free, unencumbered access to a plant that powerful?
And that's what was needed. I smiled ruefully at Grace and shrugged, embarrassed by my earlier enthusiasm. Her look told me she knew that I understood.
I turned at the sound of a motor. As the boat got closer, floodlights strafed the beach and landed with a glare on our little party.
“You. On the beach, put your hands up where we can see them.” The amplified voice ricocheted across the small expanse of water between us and the approaching boat. We raised our hands and placed them on top of our heads. I closed my eyes against the searing light.
“Harvey?” called the voice from the boat.
I squinted into the glare, but could only see a dark silhouette jump from the side of the boat into the knee-deep water and slosh toward us.
“Thank God you're all right,” the silhouette said.
Harv smiled and held out his hand to the man who now stood in front of him. His shirt had the letters DEA on the back.
“We almost got him, Don.”
I looked from Don to Harv, as I started to piece things together.
“You're DEA?” I asked Harv. He nodded.
Don laughed. “Retired, although he doesn't want to admit it. I should've known you'd be close by. Anaya was involved.”
“How do you know Anaya?”
Harv rolled his eyes and sighed. “You know that bullshit I told you back on the cruise about being in the insurance industry?” I nodded. “Well, it wasn't the whole truth. Anaya's one of the only cases I didn't close. Whenever my old unit receives any information on the bastard they tell me, since I know everything there is to know about him. Except, I wasn't aware of the sub.”
“My guess is he's long gone.”
“I know all about you and what you did to Anaya, Kate. Your reputation precedes you. It was hard for me not to let on, but I didn't want to put you in danger.” Harv sighed. “Lot of good it did.”
Don nodded at Frank's body. “Who's the stiff?”
I glanced at the small crowd that had gathered around Frank. Cole appeared to be explaining something to a tall guy with a tee shirt that read FBI in big block letters on the back.
“An associate of Anaya's out of Canada. Frank Lanzarotti. He'd had a little work done since the last time I saw him, and I didn't recognize him on the ship. Grace shot him before he killed Harv and me.”
“Grace?”
I searched the faces on the beach, but didn't see her anywhere. I turned back to Don.
“Anaya kept her captive on the island, along with some other folks. She was the local medicine woman.”
“Is she still around? I'd like to speak with her. See if she knows anything more about Anaya.”
Grace was gone. She'd disappeared into the island jungle she knew so well, and I doubted I'd ever see her again.
“I hate to tell you this, Don, but I think you're out of luck.”
THE END
This book is dedicated to all who fight back.