Page 63 of Kai (Alpha Heroes #13)

Kai

With a last turn of the wheel, I motored Serenity into open waters.

“That was some exceptional sailing, Marine.” Cece blew out a relieved exhale.

I smiled at her briefly. We were not in the clear yet. Far from it. I wondered whether the ocean would be kind or cruel to us. An icy shiver crawled up my spine. We’d been so close to mission success. I couldn’t lose Cece tonight. I just… couldn’t.

Tapping an icon on my Tak, I reactivated the explosive defenses I’d deployed around the cove.

To slow down the mercs, improve our odds of escape, and minimize the damage to the island, I engaged the sensor mode for the next four hours.

If the charges detected a water displacement equivalent to the weight of an RHIB boat or larger, they would go off.

The lure was Levine’s life jacket tracker, twenty-five feet underwater, well inside the cove.

If the fools rushed in, they would die.

As soon as we powered past the reefs, Serenity entered the pitching and rolling swells of deeper waters. A quick check showed me the mercenary boat crews about to round the north end of the island. They would have a much better chance of detecting our escape once they cleared the point.

The wind favored our westerly course, and yet lightning flashed on the horizon, illuminating a roiling mass of gray, brooding clouds.

Hoping to outrun the storm, I motored into the wind and accessed the computerized sail management system.

I turned off the engines, wrapped the downwind jib sheet twice, and headed downwind before I unfurled the headsail.

Then I released the tension on the boom vang, pulled on the outhaul line, and brought the mainsail up along the boom.

The opaque black sheet unfurled like a raven’s wing, invisible against the night.

Tugging the controls, I adjusted for the draft.

I bore away on my programmed heading and trimmed the mainsail, tightening the outhaul to keep the sail flat.

Serenity glided over the water like a ghost ship and picked up speed, making me proud.

“Go, girl,” Cece whispered from her place behind me. “Run.”

As we tackled deeper waters and stronger currents, my radars didn’t detect the enemy deviating from their trajectory to the cove, and yet the further out we went, the more the sea roiled.

Serenity’s bow speared through the waves like a champ.

Her reinforced hulls thundered against the surf, handling the rough seas with brutal efficiency.

We put some distance between the island and us, but I couldn’t lie. We were riding a gnarly sea.

Another half hour went by. Every so often, I checked my radar and cameras to evaluate the mercs’ progress. We faced an hour-long trip to rendezvous with Tracker Team at a pair of coordinates that were in the middle of fucking nowhere.

I had no idea if we could dodge our attackers to make it on time, or if Tracker Team would be in place by then. Li’s crew had the resources to catch up with us if they could locate us, and unless my team was tracking the mercs and moving to intercept, we were on our own.

A mayday was out of the question. It would give away our position and alert our enemies to our whereabouts. My team was sharp, but I had to assume they’d had a hard day fighting Levine’s mercs. Plus, they had to get their asses all the way out to the coordinates.

My surveillance systems on the island alerted. Three seconds later, the roar of a chain of explosions reached my ears. The mercs had fallen into my trap. I turned around and watched the fireworks from a distance.

“That was fast,” Cece said.

“They were in a hurry to get to that signal.” I winched the sails.

“Do you think all three boats are out of commission?”

“Hard to tell.” I quartered the waves to maximize speed and minimize the surf’s impact. “If they’re trained, they would’ve kept at least one boat out of the cove to protect their rear and also for backup.”

The wind allowed us to reach excellent speed, but the surf got rougher.

Even at forty-five degrees, Serenity ’s hull shuddered as she hit the bottom of a swell.

To hear each other, we now had to speak louder, yell a little.

A splash of water hit the bow’s windows, then the catamaran climbed onto the next wave.

“Oh, God.” Cece braced herself on the console and slapped her hand over her mouth. “I think I’m about to throw up.”

“No shame in that.” I got a glimpse of the gray hue on her face right before I returned my attention to the waves, preparing to tack.

“I can hold it,” she said bravely, speaking above the noise of the catamaran as it rattled all around us.

A loud belch preceded Levine’s bout of torrential puking.

“Not a sailor, I see.” The stench of bile had me scrunching my nose. “Did you have to throw up all over my deck?”

Levine barfed again.

I patted Serenity ’s wheel. “You’re gonna need a spa day after this.”

Cece gagged. “I’m back at that place.”

“What place?”

“Where I hate the ocean with a passion.”

“I don’t blame you.” I reached out and squeezed her hand.

“Oh, shit!” She turned to the merc. “He’s choking on his own vomit!”

“It could be a trick,” I warned, dividing my attention. “Are you sure?”

“His lips are turning blue.” She bounced from port to starboard as she made her way to the heaving brute.

The thought of Cece near the beast gave me the willies. “Don’t go close to him,” I called out over the roar of the ocean.

“He’s going to die.” She went around sloshing rivulets of puke. “All our work will go to waste. We need his intel. Remember?”

She was right, but, “I’d rather lose the intel and keep you safe.”

“And I’d rather get the intel and save my sisters.” She tucked her gun in the back of her pocket and knelt by the merc’s side. “I’m going to have to lay him on his side.”

“Here.” I unstrapped my holster and offered her my Ka-Bar, knowing I wasn’t gonna change her mind. “Be careful.”

Staggering like a drunken sailor, Cece rushed to me.

She strapped the holster around her hips before she returned to the merc, slid out the knife, and cut the restraints that tied him to the post, leaving his hand and foot zip ties intact.

When she was done, she slid the knife into the holster and rolled him onto his side.

“Come on, asshole.” She pounded him on the back. “Come on.”

The merc coughed, choked, and barfed again before he went still, his chest heaving in ragged breaths.

Cece’s features contorted into a grimace. “Revolting, but at least he’s breathing.”

I was about to tell her to secure the merc when my controls alarmed.

“Shit,” I swore even as I fiddled with the switches. “The shield is down!” I’d known this was a risk, but the timing sucked. Before I could brainstorm a solution, a signal bleeped on my radar. A glance showed a watercraft moving at high speed on our same course as us.

“Dammit.” With the shield down, the fuckers had gotten a bearing on us. “We’ve got a boat in pursuit. Cece, I’m gonna need you to take the helm.”

“I’ve never sailed a boat before,” Cece said, staggering to my side.

“This will be quick.” I transferred the helm. “Just keep the wheel steady and maintain the same heading. Holler if anything changes. I’ll be right back.”

Jumping over Levine’s prone body, I rushed to the back deck. Along the way, I grabbed my Tak and strapped it on. I pulled out a drone out of my weapons locker. I clicked the parts in place, loaded the ammo bay, and transferred the target data from my Tak.

A burst of spray soaked me when I stood up.

I lifted the drone into the air, waiting for it to acquire its target.

When the light went green, I threw it up in the air.

The drone’s engines engaged, and then it was gone, lost in the darkness.

It may not change the course of the battle, but perhaps it could buy us some time.

I stalked back into the cabin and froze at the threshold.

Levine stood at the helm, soiled and almost naked. The plastic cuffs still hung around his wrists and ankles, but they were no longer connected. Cece’s Sig was in his hand, angled against her temple.