Page 41

Chapter 41

Radio Signal

Easton

We’re all silent, gathered around the radio. Sam’s sitting in a chair next to Haley. We’re waiting. So far, we haven’t been able to make anything out. If we hadn’t seen what appeared to be pirates... I would have been the first one to grab the mic and let them know we’re here. But we’re sitting on an expensive piece of salvage. That’s without them knowing about the diamonds. It occurred to me once or twice that I could try and leverage myself by giving a finder’s fee reward to them. But there’s so many ways that could go wrong. So many. I shiver internally at the thought of anything happening to Haley.

And then it crackles again. Words with breaks in between them. It’s not a language I know. Something Asian, not Japanese, but that’s the limit of my knowledge. My head snaps to Dante. He was at least able to identify the language on the bottle we found on the derelict.

“I have no idea what they’re saying, but it’s Filipino. The most I can do in Tagalog is hello, goodbye, and bathroom. I was only there for a few weeks.”

The speaker slows and then says, “over.”

Someone else starts, “Kamusta...”

“That’s ‘hello,’” Dante says.

“Great, we can at least be polite,” I say.

Sam’s next to the radio, his hand on the mic, when the second speaker says, “over.”

And another one begins, but this one is throwing in a lot more English words. Cargo, sick, and payment are all mixed into the five minutes of Filipino.

“Fuck,” Calvin says when the radio goes quiet.

Sam crosses his arms over his chest. “We need to keep a log.”

“I’ll grab an empty logbook from the wheelhouse.” Zane takes off down the hall.

“And we need to keep a better watch.” Calvin’s trying not to limp as he moves to the table. “We’re all in agreement—we stay quiet until we know more about them.”

“Fuck, yes,” Dante says.

There’s static on the line again—it’s stronger this time than last time. “Are they getting farther away?”

“Yes and no. Each of the speakers could have different types of equipment, and even just having their antenna pointed in a different direction could increase the static. They could be changing course, moving to a point away from us. But the best equipment out there can give thirty nautical miles, depending on conditions,” Sam says.

“But sitting on the ocean, two to two and a half miles is the farthest you can see,” Zane says.

“I know the answer, but I’m just going to go out on a limb and say we’re not going to risk that they might not be pirates and broadcast. What if they’re actually a hospital ship and they need payment for their sick...?” Stern faces stare back at me. “I’m going to shut up now.”

“No, Easton, you might be right. That’s why we need to keep a log. I definitely saw a pirate ship. That doesn’t mean that these guys are pirates, but let the evidence lead us to the answer,” Sam says.

“Agreed,” Zane and Dante say together.

“Right, Calvin?” Haley touches his arm. “We need to keep an open mind.”

“What we need to do is get the damn boat fixed,” Calvin growls.

Zane cocks his head at Calvin. “True, but we’ve got weeks of work?—”

“Weeks of work if we had power and the right tools. Months without power tools, if ever. And the rainy season’s going to get going soon. It’s going to get a lot harder to get back and forth between the beach and the boat, and a heck of a lot more uncomfortable on the beach.” Calvin straightens his leg under the table.

“Until the rainy season starts, we need to conserve water.” Sam’s still looking at the radio. We all are.

“What about the regular radio—what’s it called again?” I ask.

“The VF radio’s dead. I don’t have the parts to fix it.” Calvin pulls on his foot.

My eyes follow his leg. “You doing okay?”

“Good enough.”

I nod at him. “You should stay on board for a few days. Let your foot stay as clean as possible.”

“That’s a good idea. I’ll need someone else to help monitor the radio at night, and we should keep a lookout too,” Sam says.

“We’ll use the map tree for the lookout. It can see a heck of a lot farther.” Calvin takes my dad’s agenda from in front of Zane and flips through it. From inside, a piece of paper floats to the ground.

I pick it up. My eyes widen.

“What is that?” Zane stands and moves next to me.

“Haley, can you please hand me the note from my dad’s tuxedo pocket?” She does. “Thank you.” I hold up the two pieces of paper, and they fit together.

Haley jumps up. “That’s an exact match.”

I haven’t shown anyone the other side yet. I’m jumping to conclusions, but H could stand for Harding. My dad was doing it? Was he selling the family business to his partner in the finance firm?

“What does it say?” Haley asks, and I put it on the table. She reads, “R. T. to H 3.1 B.”

Dante’s eyes flash to me. “Rockwell Tire to Harding for 3.1 billion?”

I nod. “That would be my take on it too. What does our resident cryptographer think?”

Haley passes the two slips to Zane. “The thing with codes, shorthand, is that it’s usually the simplest answer, except for when it’s not.”

“But why did he rip it?” Haley pushes the two pieces apart. “And why did one end up in his book and the other in his agenda?”

“Sound questions that I don’t have an answer to.” I take the agenda and search the inside folds and cover, but there’s nothing else there.

“Mr. Rockwell is a complex man who has some trust issues.” Zane swallows when I look at him. “I’m not being rude. A man with his wealth has the right to be secretive. He’s got to have some enemies.”

“I’m not offended, Zane. You’re right, my dad did have trust issues. But as far as enemies? I’m not sure. He’s even still friendly with Susan. She made out well in the divorce. Honestly, I don’t know anyone who doesn’t like my dad.” And I’m not just spewing out shit to make Zane feel better. It’s true. My dad might not have been emotionally available to Emily and me, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t go to great lengths to provide us with the best of everything.

“Three billion,” Zane says.

Haley shakes her head. “Three point one billion.”

“Shit, that’s worth killing someone over. Or in this case, a lot of someones,” Dante says.

My stomach turns. Of course this whole thing is happening because of money. My family’s money. I hate it. Emily’s right: money is shit if you don’t have it and a whole lot of shit if you have too much.

I’ve been to Harding’s house. Went to his wedding. Celebrated Christmas with him and his wife. I taught their kids how to swim. What in the ever fuck? It can’t be them. It’s Candy. She’s the one who had the diamond in the bag of her wedding dress. She’s the one who wanted the damn diamond so much. She’s the one who pursued my dad. Not a man who I think of as family.

Fuck it. I need to get off this boat. The heat of the enclosed space is suffocating me. I’m drowning. “Do you have a spare set of binoculars? I’ll take a watch at the top of the tree tonight. It looks like it’s going to be clear.” I have no idea if it’s clear out there, but I need to get away.

“Okay, good. Dante or Zane, which of you want to cover the radio watch?” Sam’s in captain mode.

“What about me? I can take a watch.” The irritation in Haley’s voice rings.

“I thought you would want to take care of Pepper. From what Calvin says, she likes you better than anyone,” Sam says.

“Oh, uh... yeah. I do. I was worried about her all last night. She’s never had to catch her own food. She’s a little teenager cat now, but I still worry about her.”

“I left lots for her, Sassy. She’s going to be angry, but she definitely won’t have starved. But I’d like to go back. I want to take care of the fish weir.”

“I’ll get the tender... Wait, you could use the WaveRunner and we could give the adhesive a little more time to cure. We put three people on WaveRunners all the time.” Zane glances at Haley and Dante. “Do either of you know how to drive one?”

“Zane, I grew up on a lake before we moved to Florida, with a stepmom that I tried to avoid as much as possible. I can drive a WaveRunner, a powerboat, go-cart, four-wheeler—if it had a motor and carried me away from the house, I asked for it and received it. Emily used to say she thought Susan was hoping we’d get injured and be out of her life.”

Dante laughs. But Haley gives me the I’m-sorry-you-had-horrible-adults-in-your-life-growing-up look.

I smile back. “The point is, I can ride it back to the beach.”

It’s a good two hours of getting ready before we’re sitting on the damn machine.

“This is the emergency gas shut off.” Zane’s standing above me.

“He’s got it, Zane.” Dante’s holding on to the back seat, and Haley has her arms wrapped around me. We all have on new life jackets, and Zane has given us the safety briefing twice.

“We’ll see you tomorrow morning,” Calvin says from the top deck.

Sam’s already said goodnight. He’s on radio duty while he’s working on the wiring.

“Okay, we need to go before it’s time to come back,” Dante says.

Zane pushes us away from the yacht.

Haley’s arms are tight around my waist, and her cheek is pushed into my back. I head straight out through the reef to deeper water. Haley’s calves scrape against mine. Her mouth comes to the side of my earlobe. “Can we take a quick swing around to the caves and beach on the other side?” Her voice trails on the wind.

“Do it. Better to ask forgiveness than permission with those protective bastards,” Dante yells.

I glance back at the boat, and what the hell, Zane made it sound like it’s not far. We’ve got the water with the tide for another hour. I’m sure he’ll be watching, but Dante’s right. I turn the WaveRunner toward the caves.

“Is he watching?” I ask Haley over my shoulder.

“Yeah. He’s not happy. We better make it quick.”

The waves aren’t as big as we round the bend away from the Rock Candy. The island juts out in front of us again, just like Calvin said it would. I don’t know why I pictured it as a round island, but it’s not. The wall to the right of us protrudes out into the ocean.

Haley lets go of my waist with her right hand and points at the cliff. “There, it looks like a cave.”

I slow and pull in, and the temperature drops a good ten degrees.

“Whoa,” Dante says. “This is seriously cool. How did Zane even see it? It’s really camouflaged.”

“Can we get out?” Haley asks in a normal voice, but the cave absorbs it to a whisper.

“We’ll have to save exploring for another day. I’m sure Zane’s having a nervous breakdown.” I turn the WaveRunner around and head back out. “Make sure you blow Zane a kiss when we go by the yacht.”

“You think he’ll be watching still?” Haley wraps her arms back around my waist.

“I’ll be shocked if he hasn’t pulled the other WaveRunner off the top of the yacht with his teeth, Sassy.”

“Oh, we should get back.”

As Dante correctly predicted, Zane and Calvin are on the back platform, scowling as we ride past them. Haley lets go of my waist with both hands and waves. The terror on Zane and Calvin’s face is both funny and relatable.

“Sassy,” Dante growls. I’m not looking, but I’m guessing he’s holding on to her.

The waves coming into the shore are bumpy but nothing we can’t handle. Dante helps Haley off, and we all push and pull the machine far above the tide line.

“I’m going to get some palm fronds to cover it,” Dante says.

“I’ll help.” There are old palm fronds from when we slept in the raft nearby, and it doesn’t take long to cover it up. It’s still strange hiding our camp. When we got here, we were doing everything to be seen. Now with the VHF seemingly confirming our theory? We need to be more vigilant.

Dante takes off the backpack he brought—it’s stuffed. “What’s in there?”

“You know, some more things.” Dante pushes some palm fronds around.

From the edge of the forest comes a loud meowing. Pepper runs straight to Haley. “There you are, our little girl.” Haley scoops her up. But Pepper’s not done with her scolding. “I’m going to go get her some food.” They take off.

Dante follows them, but I’m not letting him get away that fast. I put my hand on his shoulder. He stops. His eyes flick back to Haley trailing up the path. “Sam sent the gun with me.”

“The flare gun?”

“No, the pistol from on board. We’re going to keep it with whoever’s with Haley. You know how to fire a gun?”

“I’ve shot but never at a person or even an animal. I’ve gone to the range with friends before.”

“Right, then I’ll be keeping the gun with me.”

Haley has her towel on her lap when Zane and I get back to camp—Pepper sits on top of it. “I thought I was going to go for a dip at the waterfall. Pepper seems to have other ideas.”

Zane sweeps in. “I’ve got you. Hey there Pepper, how about a snack?” Pepper jumps with enough force that the towel flies off Haley’s lap in the other direction. “Problem solved. She didn’t get you?”

“No,” Haley says.

“Give me a minute and I’ll come with you,” I say.

She smiles. “I’ll wait.”

I toss my pack up on the living room platform and grab a towel. Having my own towel will always be a luxury from now on. “Ready.”

We sit on the big rock and take off our shoes. Shoes also aren’t something I’ll always think of as a luxury. Having them for our walks in the forest has been a game changer. I strip my shirt off, and soon as I do, Haley puts her head on my shoulder. Peeking down at her, I see her eyes are closed. Her chest heaves in a light sigh.

I put my arm around her and squeeze.

She looks up at me, and her blue eyes shine in the dappled early evening sunlight. “What do you want from life?”

I run my fingers over her hair. “That’s a big question. For most of my existence, it was to win a gold medal. Then it was to win more gold medals. Now? After this? I think it’s to be normal. Or as ordinary as I can be. Maybe get a dog like Penny.”

“A cat like Pepper,” she adds, and her blue eyes flick up to mine.

“Just like Pepper. What do you want?”

A tear hits my chest. “A family.”

“Haley,” I growl, pulling her up into my lap. “You have us.”

She nods. “Right.”

“You have me.” I lift her chin to mine.

She smiles, but this girl... she doesn’t believe me. I want to tear the men in her past apart, every single one of them who has let her down. Her ex, her father—damn them both.