Blood Cruise: A Deep Sea Thriller (13 page)

“That’s the booze talking,” Ben said.

“Smart booze,” Tony said. “Your lady is right. Let me do my thing, as she put it, and we will all be good. Try to stop me and my thing will turn ugly pretty fast.”

“I’m guessing your thing is pretty ugly already,” Jessica said. “If your dick matches your face.”

“Jessie,” Nick said. “Tony’s a guest of mine. Let’s be civil and not piss off the guy with the henchmen, okay?”

“I blame you for this, Nicky,” Jessica said as she walked over to the bar and sat down next to Maggie. She tapped at the bar then snapped her fingers at Manny. “I have people waiting back on shore for me to turn up safe and sound. If I have even a scratch on this bod when I get back there, they will take it out on you.”

“Maybe next time you want to sell a boat, you put it in the classifieds, mate,” Lane said.

“It’s a yacht,” Nick replied. “And you don’t put a sixty-five million dollar yacht in the classifieds.”

Tony’s guard cleared his throat.

“This discussion is over,” Tony said. “I will return as soon as possible. Nobody go anywhere.”

He turned and walked out. Two of his guards were waiting for him outside the doors. A third one closed the doors and everyone could see he was taking a position right outside before the doors closed.

“Niya is out there,” Carlos said, glancing at Tony’s guard. “Let’s hope that is not a problem.”

“I will have someone detain her,” the guard said. “For her safety.”

“Downright kind of you,” Lane said and slapped his hands on the table as he stood up. “Manny? Set me up with a row of martinis. Since the night isn’t about poker anymore then I might as well get really drunk.”

“It’ll dull your senses,” Jessica said. “May want to stay sharp if things get dicey.”

“Thanks, Mum, but things have already gotten dicey,” Lane said. “I think some bar therapy is the way to take the edge off the testosterone dump that Tony just took on us.”

“Nice,” Carlos said. “Now I can’t get that image out of my head.”

Ben hurried to Maggie’s side and put his arm around her shoulders.

“Are you okay?” he asked her.

Maggie held up a full glass fast enough that some of the cocktail sloshed out onto the bar.

“I’ve been working on getting to okay as soon as the Italian gorilla arrived and started pushing people around,” Maggie said. Sipping from her drink. “Comfortably numb has been achieved.”

“Sorry about this, guys,” Nick said. “Really, I am.”

No one responded and he shrugged.

“At least I get to sell my boat,” he said then smacked himself on the forehead. “Yacht, I mean. Dammit.”

23.

Ashley kept to the shadows, making sure she was well hidden by corners and blind spots as Tony and his armed entourage made their way from the game room to the sun deck above. She typed a quick message into her phone and sent it to Manny then slid the phone in her pocket, opened her blazer, and pulled out her 9mm pistol.

“Now, what would a hostess need with a Glock?” Niya asked as she came out of the restroom and blocked Ashley’s way. “Or is that a Beretta? Yes, on second examination, I can see the difference. Still…”

“Nothing you need to worry about,” Ashley said, as she held the gun down at her side. “You should go back to the game and join the others.”

“Ms. Romanski?” a man called from the end of the passageway. “I have been asked to escort you back to the others.”

“Have you now?” Niya replied over her shoulder, her body and attention still facing and focused on Ashley. “And who asked you to do this? Our host?”

“Mr. Giraldi has requested it while he attends to some business,” the man said. “He will return to the game as soon as he can, but in the meantime he would prefer no interruptions or possible distractions. It is for your own safety.”

“My own safety?” Niya asked. She glanced down at Ashley’s pistol then turned her back on the woman and faced the guard at the end of the passageway. “And if I do not comply with Mr. Giraldi’s request?”

“Then your safety would be in jeopardy,” the guard said, “and Mr. Giraldi could not be held to blame for anything that might accidentally happen to you.”

“I see,” Niya said.

She started to walk towards the guard, her hips swaying back and forth, making good use of the tight dress she wore. She slowly, almost playfully, unclasped her heels and slid one off then the other. She twirled the shoes by their straps on her index finger as she continued walking towards the guard.

“This accident, you speak of,” Niya said. “Would it involve you? Because I’d hate for a handsome, obviously kind-looking gentleman to get involved in something as nasty as harming a woman.”

“Ma’am, all you are being asked to do is return to the game room,” the guard said. “There is no need to make this difficult.”

“It won’t be difficult at all,” Niya said as she casually tossed her shoes at the man.

He hesitated for a second, unsure of whether to catch the shoes or bring up his semi-automatic. That hesitation was all Niya needed. She leapt to the side, her stockinged feet pushing off the wall and sending her flying at the guard, her left arm raised, fist closed. She came down fast and hard and the man’s head snapped to the side. He wobbled for a moment then fell to his knees.

Niya grabbed him by his lapels before he could fully collapse. His eyes swam in his head and struggled to focus on her. She brought his face down and her knee up at the same moment. The crunch of bone echoed in the passageway and Ashley flinched at the noise as she came hurrying up behind Niya.

“Giraldi will wonder where this guy went,” Ashley said.

“Yes, he probably will,” Niya said, relieving the unconscious man of his weapon. She bounced the pistol in her hand, feeling its heft. “Heckler & Koch .45 auto. I would have expected him to have an Italian pistol like your Berretta, Agent Mulgrew. Surprising he went German.”

Ashley began to raise her 9mm, but Niya beat her to the punch and had the .45 up and aimed at the woman first.

“Tut, tut, Agent Mulgrew,” Niya said. “You can’t be surprised that I know who you are. Do you think a woman would make it this far in the Ukrainian underworld without having friends in high places? I like to keep tabs on those that are keeping tabs on me.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Ashley said. “I’m just a hostess.”

“A hostess that grips her pistol like she knows how to use it,” Niya laughed.

“I’ve had training,” Ashley said. “Every member of the crew has. International waters can be dangerous.”

“Did you really think I would accept an invitation to join a poker party from someone like Nicholas Sheeran?” Niya laughed again. “The man is small time and has a reputation as a flake. Mr. Garfield, Mr. Whittier, and Ms. Holstein have had dealings with Mr. Sheeran in the past. I have not. He is not on my level.”

“Then why accept?” Ashley asked.

“Because my friends in high places let me know that Mr. Giraldi had something in store and maybe it was worth me checking out,” Niya said. “The fact that there’s at least one INTERPOL agent on board tells me that my friends were correct. Of course, they told me to expect you, and that maybe this mission isn’t precisely sanctioned. So many players.”

Ashley didn’t reply, she just stared at the muzzle of the .45.

“Still don’t want to play along?” Niya said. “Then I think we will have a problem here. I certainly know Mr. Sheeran is going to have a problem. Snitches don’t last long in my world. I doubt the man will ever see solid ground again in his soon to be very short life.”

“You have this all wrong,” Ashley said. “I’m not what you—”

The gunshot was exceptionally loud as Niya squeezed the trigger. The .45 bucked, but not much, and Niya turned the pistol back and forth in her hand, admiring the gun.

“Ah, I see why they went for the H&K,” Niya said as she stood over Ashley’s corpse, blood pooling into the carpet from the good sized hole in the woman’s head. “I may have to keep this one.”

She turned and put two rounds in the back of the unconscious guard’s head. The man’s body shook from the impact then went permanently still.

Niya reached up under her dress with the hand not holding the pistol and pulled down the legs of the tights she was wearing underneath. She then grabbed the hem of her dress from behind and yanked it up and over her head, shimmying out of it in record time, all without letting go of the pistol or taking her eyes off the end of the passageway.

She tossed the dress aside and stood there in an athletic top and black tights, her head cocked and listening. When she didn’t hear footsteps coming her way, she knelt by the dead guard and patted him down, removing the two extra magazines from his belt and tucking them into the waistband of her tights before standing up and giving Ashley’s corpse one last look.

“I believe I may have burned a bridge with my friends in high places,” Niya said. “But sometimes you must burn things down before you build them back up.”

She strolled down the passageway, her feet bare, back straight, and pistol out in front.

“Now, let’s see what Mr. Giraldi is up to, shall we?”

24.

The guard by the game room door didn’t even flinch at the far-off sounds of the gunshots. But he did tighten his grip on his pistol and made sure everyone knew he wouldn’t be distracted and that they’d have to get through him if they wanted to try to leave.

“Giraldi’s men are the only ones with firearms, right?” Lane asked. “Sounds as if one of them is having a bad day.”

“More like the person on the receiving end of those shots is having a bad day,” Carlos said.

“You may want to contact your crew and see what’s happening,” Jessica suggested to Nick as the man just stood by the poker table and stared across the room at the guarded doors. “Sheeran? Nicky? Are you listening?”

“He’s still going to buy the yacht even if it has a few bullet holes in it, yeah?” Nick asked no one in particular.

“Nicky,” Ben snapped as he walked over and grabbed the man by the shoulders. “Dude. We are way past you selling this boat.”

“Yacht,” Nick said then cried out as his head rocked back from the slap Ben gave him. “Jesus, Benny! What the hell?”

“You need to get your head in the game!” Ben shouted. “Yacht selling is not our priority! Everything is going down and I need to know you aren’t going to fall apart like that time in Omaha!”

The mention of the Nebraska city got Nick’s attention and he shoved Ben away.

“You don’t get to bring up Omaha,” Nick growled. “That is below the belt, man, and you know it. There was no way any of us could have known what that place was. No way.”

“What happened in Omaha?” Maggie asked, her speech slurred considerably from alcohol and fear.

“Not the time, baby,” Ben said.

“Hold on, now,” Lane said. “You’ve piqued my interest, mate. I kinda want to know what happened in Omaha too.”

“Not the time!” Ben snapped and looked back towards Manny. “We need to get out of this room then get off this ship!”

“None of you are going anywhere,” the guard said then focused on Ben. “Why’d you look at the bartender?”

“What?” Ben replied, his head whipping back around to focus on the man that held the gun on them all. “I didn’t look at him specifically. I was just looking behind me at everyone at the bar.”

“Didn’t seem like that to me,” the guard said. “You had a reason you were looking at the bartender. Why?” The guard nodded in Manny’s direction. “How about you come out from behind there? Nice and slow. Hands where I can see them.”

“I’m just washing glasses back here, sir,” Manny said. “I’d prefer to stay out of all of this. I’m not getting paid to be involved in whatever is going on. I’m getting paid to look the other way and keep my mouth shut. That’s all I want to do.”

“You think I’m asking?” the guard snarled. “Get your ass out from behind that—”

His brains exploded out the back of his head and splattered against the game room doors. There were more than a couple of startled screams from the guests and all eyes whipped about to focus on Manny and the smoking pistol in his hand.

“Mr. Sheeran? Would you please relieve the corpse of its weapon?” Manny asked. “Then bring it to me, if you will.”

“Nicky, Nicky, Nicky,” Lane sighed. “What the bloody hell have you gotten us all mixed up in?”

“I just want to say for the record,” Carlos announced, his voice raised and eyes looking about the room. “To anyone listening right now, that I was only here to play a friendly game of cards and get some free drinks and food. If this yacht is stolen, I had no prior knowledge and would never consider buying anything in an illegal manner.”

“Pussy,” Jessica said, spinning on her barstool to face Manny. “Who are you with, Wyatt Earp?”

“Wyatt Earp?” Manny asked. “Funny. I’m not a US Marshall, I can say that for sure.”

“We’re in international waters,” Lane said. “He’s either INTERPOL or secret intelligence. That it? You NSA, CIA, MI6 or something else?”

“He’s INTERPOL,” Ben said. “They’re after Giraldi, not you guys.”

“Jesus, Benny,” Nick said. “You really weren’t supposed to announce that.”

“Time to put all of our cards on the table,” Ben said. “Manny’s cover is blown.”

“Because you told them,” Manny said.

“Pretty sure you putting a bullet in that guy’s head was the give away,” Ben said. “But that doesn’t matter. What does matter is that Giraldi has zero intention of letting any of us live through tonight. I could see it in his eyes after that last hand. He had the look of a man that can’t lose. Same look some guys get when they are planning on jacking the winnings anyway, no matter how the game turns out. You learn the look on the circuit and you leave the game as early as possible.”

“That what happened in Omaha?” Lane asked. “You didn’t leave the game early enough?”

“We can’t really leave this game,” Jessica said, nodding at Manny. “Not with secret agent man there keeping us covered.”

Ben held up his hands and faced Manny.

“I know you have a job to do and most of these people aren’t exactly the type you fight to protect,” Ben said.

“Oy!” Lane snapped.

“Hey!” Carlos said.

Jessica shrugged. Maggie burped.

“But this has all gone sideways,” Ben continued. “You have to admit that. What you need to do now is get in contact with Ashley and find out what’s going on outside this room. Then you need to tell her to have your guy get my daughter and her girlfriend out of that party and somewhere safe so the Guillotine doesn’t hurt her.”

“Guillotine?” Nick asked. “Party? What’s that about? Why is the Guillotine after Tanni?”

“Because INTERPOL had you invite Giraldi onto this boat,” Ben said and held up his hand.
“
Yach
t
. He sent the killer to watch my daughter in case things went bad and he needed a bargaining chip. I’d like to remove that chip from the table right now.”

“Yeah, and I’d like my cell phone back, mate,” Lane said. “I need to check in with my people and make sure Giraldi hasn’t made any moves against them.”

“Going to have to agree with Lane there,” Jessica said.

“Back away from the body!” Manny shouted as he brought his pistol to bear on Carlos.

But it was too late. Carlos already had the dead man’s gun and was aiming it at Manny.

“Shit,” Nick said. “I was supposed to get that, wasn’t I?”

“Hold on!” Ben yelled. “How about we just set the guns down? Giraldi is the problem, not the people in this room.”

“I have an INTERPOL agent aiming his pistol at me,” Carlos said. “That makes him a problem in this room.”

“I am not setting my weapon down for any reason,” Manny said. “But he will be setting his down or I will fire.”

“No!” Ben shouted. “No firing! We can figure this all out! No firing!”

“Set the gun down!” Manny yelled at Carlos.

“Not happening!” Carlos yelled back.

“Everyone is so loud!” Maggie cried. “Shhhhh!”

The tension in the room was about to break. Ben could feel it building to a crescendo. As soon as that happened then there would be bullets flying and he’d be lucky not to catch one. So he did the dumbest thing he could think of.

“Knock it off,” he snarled as he stepped directly between the two men’s lines of fire.

“Benny Boy, that is not a good move,” Nick hissed.

“Cram it,” Ben responded. “You no longer get a say in any of this.”

“Mr. Clow, please get out of the way,” Manny ordered.

“Yeah, Clow, you best move,” Carlos said. “You are in way over your head right now.”

“No, I’m not,” Ben said. “Just listen. Manny, there are armed men on this ship that will kill you when they find out you are INTERPOL. I don’t know how many agents you have on board, but my guess is that’s it’s just you and Ashley. You need these people to help if we are going to live through this.” He looked at Carlos. “You. Where are you going to go after you kill an INTERPOL agent? You’ll still be on this ship. That helicopter that brought you here? Gone. Not like you can call a water taxi and slip away. You need INTERPOL’s help to get off this ship alive.”

Neither of the men lowered their weapons even a hair.

“What if Manny swears you won’t be prosecuted for anything that happens tonight as long as you promise to help against Giraldi?” Ben asked Carlos.

“I can’t make that deal,” Manny said.

“Dude,” Ben sighed. “Work with me here.”

“I can make a request, but it’s not up to me,” Manny insisted. “But he lowers that gun before I even think of making that call.”

“Carlos? Please?” Ben asked. “I really have to make sure my daughter is safe.”

“Guns down at the same time,” Carlos said. “Only way this will work.”

“Manny? You’re the good guy here,” Ben said. “Guns down at the same time. I’ll stay right where I’m at in case one of you tries to make a move.  You’ll risk hitting me.”

“Benny, that’s not a risk you want to wager on,” Nick said.

“I’m not,” Ben said. “The odds are we all die if we don’t band together. Everyone do a quick calculation in their head and you’ll see I’m right. The only way we live is if you two set your guns down and we come to an understanding.”

Neither man lowered their weapon.

“Son of a bitch,” Ben muttered.