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The smile of a shark.Emberly wasn’t waiting around any longer.
She took off, running hard for the side of the ship.
“Stop!”
Oof.A body tackled her and she crashed on the deck.She rolled and pushed away from whoever had tackled her.One of the crew.She kicked, landed on his jaw, and he fell back.
She launched to her feet.Steinbeck had taken off after her and now grabbed up the man and flung him away.
Then, “Go, go!”
Okay, so he was in.She headed for the rail and climbed up.The drop looked to be about twenty feet, so not lethal.
There was shouting behind her, and Steinbeck appeared beside her.
“Aw,” he said, “this is a bad idea.”
“I know.”Then she looked at him, grinned, and jumped.
* * *
Austen stood frozen next to Declan as Steinbeck leaped off the railing and vanished over the side of the boat.
She glanced at Declan and back to the space where Steinbeck had been.Don’t panic.He knew what he was doing.
Declan grabbed her hand.Maybe to keep her from running, but her words to him earlier swelled through to her.
“I can guarantee you that God does rescue us.Not always in the way that we want, but definitely according to His great plan for us.”
She dearly hoped God had a great plan in all of this.
“Don’t worry,” the captain said, now in English.“The harbor patrol will find them.”
She glanced at the man.Dark hair, dark eyes, burly, grizzle on his chin—salty, seasoned—and with a couple teeth missing as he smiled at her.
It felt a bit like being smiled at by a crocodile.
Oh, c’mon,she wasn’t in any real danger.They’d done nothing wrong, and besides, she wanted to believe Declan.In fact, every cell of her body wanted to repel Phoenix’s words about him.
“Don’t believe all his good deeds.”
She didn’t know what to believe.Still, she let go of his hand.He looked at her and frowned.
“You’ll see,” he said quietly.
She nodded, because what was she going to do?Throw herself off the boat?She wasn’t a Navy SEAL.And she wasn’t...well, whatever Phoenix was.And sure, Austen could swim, but diesel fuel and other pollutants saturated the water, and besides, she’d done nothing wrong.
So she didn’t follow her brother and his spy gal-pal over the rail.
But an hour later, Austen was rethinking that decision as she sat in the immigration office in the Havana harbor.Detained and questioned by the police.Again.And again.She gave them the truth every time.We were on a boat.It was taken by pirates.We escaped and ran out of gas in the middle of the ocean.The fishing boat picked us up.
Same story, over and over and over.In the lobby, through the glass, Declan paced, holding a cell phone and gesturing with his hand.So maybe it wasn’t as simple as he’d expected either.
Worse, Phoenix’s words simply wouldn’t dissipate.
“Don’t be deceived by his good looks or his money, honey.Rich men only have room for one thing in their heart.Themselves.”
She shivered, feeling a little naked in her swim shorts and top.The office, a small room in a raw cement building, smelled of brine and fish, diesel and cigarette smoke.Her stomach growled, the beans and rice long gone.