Distress Signal, page 13
She held back the tears. “I understand. You have to find out what happened to Drake on your own.”
“It’s more that I want you to be safe. You have almost lost your life too many times. Use the burner phone I got you and call your sister.”
“But what about you. How will I know you’re okay?”
“I’ll call you when it’s over. When it’s safe.” He walked away, leaving her sitting there.
Cora fought the disappointment that swelled. Everything he said made perfect sense. He was the agent, after all. This was his job. He would be better off if he didn’t have to protect her or worry about her. She’d seen that play out too many times for comfort. This was for the best.
But the feeling dogged her. She couldn’t help but think this was the last time she would see Kirk...
Alive.
* * *
Kirk plopped into the seat in a dark corner of an internet café near the ferry terminal.
He’d crushed his own heart, sending her off like that. He would have no reason to see her again. But it was much more important that she was far from here and safe. He hadn’t wanted to send her away. He would have preferred keeping her with him or better yet, going with her—but he had to finish this. It was better this way.
He set his own burner phone on the small table and spun it. A part of him wished she would call him just so he could hear her voice. Or he could call her—but what would be the point? He would, however, call her in a few hours to make sure she was with one of her sisters. Jonna ran a storm-watching lodge on the coast. She and her husband were former agents with the feds, different divisions, but now together in private security. The two of them would watch out for her. Or her sister Sadie and her husband Gage. He was CGIS. Cora would be safe with them.
Now to get down to business.
Kirk pulled out Drake’s old diary and set it on the table. He needed to skim through it to see if there was any additional incriminating information about who was involved in these nefarious activities. And also hopefully uncover who was responsible for Drake’s death. Although, on that front, he had his suspicions.
One thing he knew for sure, Jackson would be severely disappointed to learn that his son had had any part in this kind of operation. And that’s why Kirk had to have facts before he went marching into the commander’s office to deliver the news. If it affected Kirk this hard, he couldn’t imagine how hard Jackson would take it. The man might prefer to leave Drake’s death a mystery.
The leather peeling and crusty, the diary was something Drake had had since he was a kid. Kirk opened it and began skimming but soon found himself reading it word for word. He read stories of their adventures and harrowing escapes—just two boys getting into mischief, the innocent kind, and having fun.
He laughed. He even cried.
But he wanted, needed this moment, this chance to get back into Drake’s head. As often happens, he and his childhood friend had gone their separate ways, pursuing their careers. He hadn’t talked to Drake much in years.
Kirk wanted to understand his friend’s mindset, if that was possible, by reading his diary. It could hold all the answers he sought.
Some of the more recent entries, well, he did end up skipping them. They were entirely too personal and he didn’t want to invade Drake’s privacy even though he was gone.
Then Kirk came upon the part he was searching for even as the man’s writing style became dark and distressed, which made sense.
I’m gathering evidence against all the players. This has gone on long enough. I’m going to turn them in. I’m going to stop this before it’s too late. I can’t be part of turning over military secrets.
Kirk swallowed hard. Oh, Drake, you didn’t...
He kept reading and learned that Drake had offered them a chance to stop and they hadn’t taken it. Hadn’t he realized that would get him killed? Closing his eyes, Kirk imagined Drake suffering from a fate similar to what someone had tried to inflict on Cora. Someone behind her—the unknown diver. The same diver who had attacked them after they escaped the bombs?
He forced his attention back to the diary and read further.
Lance and Judd were brothers? An incredulous huff escaped him.
His cell vibrated on the table. Cora. The call came from the burner he’d given her. His heart leaped at first. He’d wanted to hear her voice, then panic took hold. He hoped she hadn’t run into trouble.
“Cora,” he answered.
“She isn’t able to answer the phone,” Lance said. “Oh, wait, she didn’t call you. I did.”
“What have you done with her?”
“She’s alive, don’t worry.”
Kirk worked to keep his voice steady. “Please don’t hurt her.”
“What will you do for us?”
“Anything.”
Lance knew that, and that’s why she’d been taken. Kirk had been such a fool. An idiot.
“Just tell me where to meet you.”
“I don’t trust you to meet us anywhere. Judd is waiting for you outside where you can hand over the cell phone. Go with him or I’ll have to hurt her. Again.” The man laughed.
Kirk ground his molars. “Why you—”
“I look forward to the chance to face off with you again, Special Agent Higgins, but I assure you that you’ll definitely be on the losing end this time. I’m just sorry that Cora chose you over me.”
“If you lay another hand on her—”
“You’ll what? You have nothing with which to bargain. Now, do exactly as I say. Remain on the phone with me and walk outside to Judd. Do anything and I promise you’ll hear her scream over the phone.”
His throat constricted. Cora. Oh, Cora. He never should have left her. God, please keep her safe!
Kirk slowly rose from the table. He couldn’t take the files and diary with him—the only real evidence he had. He searched the café. Near the table, a column to support the roof was awkwardly placed. Behind the column, he spotted a crack in the paneling near the floor. Perfect. He tucked the file and the diary in the crack, hoping he could retrieve it later. But at least no one would find the evidence here. Someone would have to know where to look to find it.
Taking a deep breath, he squared his shoulders, then strode through the door and spotted Judd.
“You still with me?” Lance asked over the phone.
“I see Judd. I’m walking toward him now.”
“Good. Now, to make sure you don’t try anything, here is a down payment on my promise.”
Cora screamed.
ELEVEN
Oh, God, help me!
Cora hadn’t wanted to give this man the satisfaction of making her scream. With a fistful of hair, he’d driven her to her knees. Even though she kept her hair short, he’d been able to grab enough to hurt her. Pain erupted from her scalp.
She sucked in a breath and bit her lip to hold back more groans.
Still, she had to warn Kirk. “Don’t do it, Kirk! Don’t—”
Lance smacked her, knocking her to the ground. Her face stung as she shook off the daze. At least she hadn’t screamed again. While he stayed on the phone with Kirk, she crawled away from Lance and over to slump against the decking of the Clara Steele.
Coburn had a nasty bruise on his temple where Cora had hit him with the lamp last night—could it have been just last night when she’d hit him at Drake’s house? So much had happened since then.
He scowled at her.
You deserved it!
He yanked her to her feet and took her belowdecks, then shoved her into a stateroom. She turned around in time to spit in his face.
He slammed the door. She heard a lock click from the outside.
“How is it that you are reduced to nothing more than a drug smuggler? You’re better than this, Coburn!” She banged on the door to no avail.
Why waste her time and energy? Cora huddled on the small twin bed in the corner. She would nurse her wounds for the moment and regroup. Figure a way out of this. She definitely wasn’t climbing through the small porthole. There was no way to escape. She thought back to the events that led to her capture. Mere minutes after Kirk had left her on the ferry, Coburn had appeared at her side and forced her off the ferry with a gun.
She should have screamed. Refused. Something. But he claimed to have Kirk and that he would kill Kirk if she didn’t go with him. It was hard to believe she’d worked alongside these guys and had gotten to know them. It was as if they were strangers. Maybe behind their crazed looks she could see the men she knew were still inside. But once they’d turned to the dark side, it seemed impossible to reason with them. However, she’d never really liked Coburn. Something had always seemed off about him.
To think she might have taken an interest in Lance—it made her skin crawl, especially when she considered that when this was all done her body would be thrown overboard.
There would be no one to find her and tell her story. It would be as if she had gone down with a ship—a shipwreck waiting to be discovered and the passengers’ stories told, only she would be lost forever. Just like her grandfather, whom she’d loved so much.
Maybe that was a fitting end for her.
The door lock clicked again, as if someone was unlocking the door. Cora stirred at the sound and realized that she’d fallen asleep. Heart pounding, she stiffened as fear slithered through her. She’d been exhausted after the long day and night they’d had, so she wouldn’t berate herself. Unfortunately, it hadn’t all been a dream.
She sat up as the door swung open. So much for knocking. Lance leaned into the room. He’d been a looker but now he just looked strange to her. All that handsomeness wrapped around the biggest creep she’d ever met.
“Showtime.”
He left the door open and disappeared.
“What do you mean?” she called after him.
Did he want her to follow? Cora wasn’t a hundred percent sure she wanted to. If he’d left her then maybe she could make a run for it. But that was just it. Where would she go out in the middle of a large body of water? She would jump into the water and die of hypothermia eventually. They would get to her before she could swim away, even if she tried.
Maybe she would prefer to die trying to escape.
Cora eased from the bed and peeked out the door. She made her way down the hallway. What did they want from her? Had Kirk come, as they’d requested?
Of course he had. He was a hero first. He thought he’d been doing the right thing by sending her back to Seattle. She got that. And then things had gone horribly awry. She hadn’t even had the chance to connect with Jonna or Sadie before Coburn nabbed her. And now she could die out here and her sisters would never know what happened. She wasn’t sure her brother Quinn would even care because she hadn’t heard from him in much too long. She understood why—working DEA undercover could take a person to dark places around the world. She feared something had happened to him, like something was about to happen to her.
At the end of the hall she approached the steps that would take her up on deck. She lingered at the bottom. Voices resounded above. Heart hammering, she ascended the stairs, and once she rose above the deck to see what was going on, her gaze immediately connected with Kirk’s.
From his position on his knees, hands bound behind his back, he looked at her, regret and sorrow in his eyes.
Her heart was going to break into a million pieces.
Seeing him like that—driven to the deck like she’d been—tormented her in ways she’d never experienced.
Oh, Kirk...
She hoped he read in her eyes that she didn’t blame him. How much she cared for him—as if it mattered at the moment.
After all they had been through to escape, he was reduced to this? She wanted to run to him, but that could earn the both of them a world of pain. He gave a subtle shake of his head as if he could read her thoughts.
Judd raised his diver’s knife.
Cora stumbled. “Please, no!”
He frowned at her, then bent down to cut away the ties that bound Kirk’s wrists.
“You had us on your boat.” Anger burned in Kirk’s gaze as he stood and rubbed his wrists. “You were with us in Farrow Village. Protected us when someone shot at us. Why didn’t you abduct us then?”
The big man grimaced as if in pain. Crossed his arms in a show of strength. Was that regret in his eyes? Really? “I didn’t want you involved. Okay, man? We were buddies still. I owed you. Lance wanted Cora. She saw something. Eventually she would remember. I had hoped you would lose her and be left to your investigation alone. You wouldn’t have found anything. Cora’s the one who caused all this. She and Trip got nosy. When she showed up to the dead drop unexpectedly, that started the domino effect. But you...you could have survived this and walked away.”
Lance stepped onto the deck, wiping his hands with a towel. His features appeared pale and sweat beaded his brow as he winced. His gunshot wound? “Yeah, well, we obviously didn’t agree on that. I wanted the both of you dead. But since you just wouldn’t die, I have a better use for you.”
Maybe that explained why someone had shot at them while on the island. Lance and Judd disagreed.
“Brothers,” Kirk said. “I learned the truth, but I’m not sure how I missed that to begin with.”
“I’ve never gone by Verone and used the surname Maier, and for good reason, as you can see. Judd and I wouldn’t be tied together so easily.”
“Mind if I ask how a guy working on a research vessel gets involved in something like this and drags his brother down with him?” Kirk eyed Judd. “Because I’m sure Judd wouldn’t stoop to this on his own. I know you too well, buddy.”
Cora grimaced inside. How could he even still use that term when it came to Judd? But then, Kirk could be trying to play on Judd’s sense of right and wrong. Recalibrate his moral compass and then his sympathies. If he had any left.
Judd grunted. “I didn’t have a lot of options left to me after the navy. You made it. You’d found a way to survive. I had a hard time finding a job and making a living. Fishing wasn’t cutting it. Lance, here, he had a decent job and the perfect cover for us to organize the transfer of products and information. As the ROV pilot, Lance can find the box and maneuver without anyone being the wiser.”
“Shut up,” Lance said. “He doesn’t need to know anything.”
“Sure he does. He’s my friend. Or, at least, he was. I don’t deserve his friendship now.”
All his testing and fixing and breaking of the ROV made perfect sense now. All the late nights trying to improve its capabilities.
Lance crossed his arms and stood in a wide stance. “I was in the right position. I’m not an ROV operator anymore. There’s no ROV on this vessel, or hadn’t you noticed? Our connection wants us to up our game and transfer bigger-stakes items now, and doesn’t care that the Sea Dragon is lost to us and that we don’t have all the equipment we need to make it happen smoothly.”
“There are a lot easier ways to do this. You know that, right?” Kirk quirked a brow.
“We used the tools available to us. Answered the proposition when it came.”
“When you say they want you to transfer bigger-stakes items, do you mean military secrets or something else?”
Like they’d read in Drake’s files. Had they already transferred something of that magnitude, or was that what they planned to do—and that kind of devastating data transfer hadn’t been made yet?
“That’s enough.” Lance busied himself preparing scuba equipment. “Who tipped you off to us?”
“You mean why was I on board working undercover? I didn’t know about any of this, but I suspected something. I was here to find out what happened to Drake.”
Lance swore.
Cora faced Lance. “You killed him, didn’t you? Just like you killed Trip.”
“I regret having to get rid of either of them, but they gave me no choice.”
Emboldened by his response, she continued, “And you blew up the Sea Dragon? Why?”
Lance closed in on Cora and ran his hand down her cheek. “So beautiful. Drake ruined everything for us.”
She shuddered.
Kirk grimaced. Why didn’t he say anything? But the look in his eyes told her everything—he didn’t want to push Lance to harm her more because of him.
Lance dropped his hand. “I had to make you and agent man go away. Destroy the evidence so we could start again. The thing is, we still have something to pick up, the delivery already made. We’re behind schedule as it is. And, in case you haven’t noticed, agent man here shot me. Coburn isn’t any good on a dive now. So we need someone to retrieve it.”
Her heart rate jumped. “Are you crazy? I’m not getting drugs for you.”
“You’re right. You’re not.” He zeroed his gaze in on Kirk. “Agent man is. He and Judd will do it together.”
“What makes you think I’ll do it?” Kirk asked.
Lance yanked Cora to him and pointed a pistol at her head.
* * *
As Kirk geared up for the dive, he tried to avoid looking at Cora. But then he couldn’t resist and stopped everything.
He glanced her way, wishing none of this was happening.
Cora stared out across the sea, refusing to even look at him. He didn’t blame her.
Lance kept her close, his gun ready to use. Aim, fire and shoot the woman Kirk could have loved. Might still love. But what was the point now?
He truly was a disappointment, just like he’d believed. No matter how hard he fought to overcome it, the truth was out now.
He’d let her down. Asked her to trust him. Promised to protect her. Jackson had counted on him to find out what happened to Drake, and now the man would never know, because Kirk had failed. He’d managed to disappoint everyone, including himself. He’d wanted Jackson’s approval so badly that he sent Cora on her way by herself, and he’d taken the time to read the diary—sure he had his excuses, his justifications for reading that before accusing Drake of being involved—when all he had to do was go with Cora to Seattle and turn in everything he’d found.
