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“Then we’ll know how to do it right,” she’d said.And she’d leaned up and put her arms around his neck.
And it had felt like the first time, when he’d kissed her in Krakow.Surprising and sweet, although this time he’d known her better.Known that he’d started to trust her a little, maybe.And he’d wanted her to trust him too.He’d blamed the fatigue and adrenaline of the last few days for the way he’d stepped up, put his arm around her waist, pulled her to himself, and kissed her back.Maybe put a little more oomph into it than necessary.But she’d asked and he’d wanted to deliver.
She’d tasted sweet and smelled of the salty ocean and felt, well, a little too right in his arms for his own good.
Then she’d let him go, palming her hands on his chest.“I see you’ve upped your game,” she’d said quietly.“You’ve been practicing?”
“It comes naturally.”He’d given her a smile and stepped back, grabbed her hand.
Declan and Austen’s tail had started moving again, and Stein had kept his hand in Phoenix’s again as they followed.They’d stopped at a souvenir shop, and she’d pretended to look at a dress, which he’d suggested might look great on her.
“In your dreams, sailor.”But she’d smiled, as if...
Stop.Not a date.Surveillance.And she was good, very good, at the pretending game.
When Declan and Austen had gone out for dinner, he and Phoenix had a meal on a terrace as if they were actually on vacation.Ceviche and fresh chips and pulled pork, and they’d drunk a couple of lemonades, lingering until Austen and Declan had finally made their way back in.The tail was still on them, so Stein had suggested separating and using himself and Declan as decoys.
Never in his wildest dreams had he thought that that would be the last time he’d see her.
Now, with the darkness bleeding in through the stateroom windows, with Austen sitting on the bed, her jaw tight, well, whatever sacrifice Phoenix had given, he had to make it worthwhile.
He simply wouldn’t think any further than that.
Footsteps finished pounding up the stairs, so Stein got up, held his hand out to his sister.“You ready?”
“Let’s get off this stupid boat,” she said and got up.
He opened the hatch that Declan had pointed out, and sure enough, below was the lower deck.Austen angled herself through and dropped.He followed.
It was almost too easy to scurry along the side of the boat down to the swim deck and unlatch the lifeboat.He flung it out into the ocean, holding on to the attached rope.As it inflated, he reeled it back in, safe in the darkness of the blown stern lights.
“Get in,” he said.
Austen crouched, looking up at the bridge, her expression broken and hollow.
“He’s gonna be okay,” Stein said.
She looked at him then.“Whatever.I don’t care.”
Yeah, that’s what he’d said about Phoenix too.“Move.”
She turned and jumped into the bottom of the life raft.And then he threw the rope in and pushed it off.
“Stein!What do you think you’re doing?”She leaned over the edge, trying to paddle back.
“Trust me.”
Then he turned and made his way back up the deck.Oh, he hoped his gut was right.Because he’d finally figured out exactly the memory that he needed to latch on to.
And he was betting everything he had on the fact that Declan was exactly who he said he was.
ELEVEN
“Let them go,”Declan said quietly, watching as the life raft deployed and then drifted out into the darkness.“Let them go, and we will finish this.”
Sergei looked at him and then barked into his radio.“Leave them.”
Declan released a breath.At least Steinbeck and Austen would be safe.His contact would follow their EPIRB and pick them up, even if they only found a smoking hole where theInvictusonce had been.