Eyes of Fire (26 page)

Sukee smiled very slowly. “Hi. Did you come to join us?” She looked at Jim, taunting him. “Did you hear the way he threatened you? I really like tough guys!” She sighed, lashes fluttering as she looked at Adam. “But no, he didn't hurt me. Still, if you want to rip his heart out, we can make it into a wild night.”

Yancy had come up behind Adam. He spun around.

“The Emersons?” she said.

He shook his head. “The Shapiros,” he murmured.

“What?” Yancy demanded.

“A very long story,” Adam said, turning to leave Jim Santino's bedroom.

“Hey, wait, what's going on?” Jim yelled after them.

“Sorry we interrupted!” Adam shouted.

With a sense of urgency building inside him, Adam started to run again.

He reached the Emersons' cottage and started to bang on the door.

It swung in at his touch.

He stepped into the living room. It was dark and empty. “Sam!” he cried, moving into the kitchenette, the bedroom, the bathroom.

The cottage was completely empty.

He turned around to leave and slammed into Yancy. “They've taken her,” he said huskily.

“Where?” Yancy demanded.

“Where else do you go when you leave an island?” Adam demanded bitterly. “The water. They've taken her out to sea.”

 

It was amazing how cold the water—the usually wonderful, temperate water—could be in the middle of the night when a storm was approaching.

Sam was a good swimmer. A strong swimmer. The water had been her life. She was almost as comfortable in it as she was on dry land.

Usually.

But then, usually she had the sense to stay out of the water when a storm was nearing the island. And she never swam in these depths in the middle of the night.

In the chill of the wind….

In such unbreakable darkness.

Life. How she wanted to hang on to it.

She wondered now what her father had felt, fighting for his life. Surely it had seemed as precious to him during his last few minutes as it now seemed to her. Had he thought of her? Had he fought against the possibility of going away forever until the very last minute? She was strong, and the flippers helped, but it didn't matter. For every few feet she managed to make toward the island, another swell came by and swept her back. The salt was stinging her eyes. Tears filled them. As afraid as she was for her own life, she suddenly felt her father's suffering.

And if she perished here…

Yancy had Hank and her baby to sustain her. Jem had his family. They would hurt, but they were strong. Then there was Adam. Adam, whom she had thrown away. Adam, who had played his own games of deceit. Adam, who had told her that he loved her.

She had to stop crying, she told herself furiously. She would definitely die.

She was going to die.

No. She could survive in the water for a very long time. She squinted, drawing her wrist above her head, grateful that she wore a diver's watch with a luminous dial.

Nearly five o'clock.

Nearly morning.

How long had she been in the water already? How close was the storm?

The storm that hadn't been due to come near them for at least another twenty-four hours.

The rain hadn't started yet, thank God. Just the wind.

The wind…and the vicious swirl of the water.

She'd shed the remnants of her dress and was swimming in her underwear, nothing restricting her movements. She reminded herself that when she got tired, she only had to float. The current should take her toward the island.

It was just that the current kept changing with the erratic whipping of the wind.

Sharks.

There
were
sharks in these waters. Lots of them. She'd faced them so many times.

Faced them. At their level.

Now her legs were dangling. Temptingly. And she was blind to what lay below her. She'd always had a healthy respect for sharks but never a fear of them. Until now.

Terror suddenly filled her. From below, she would look just like a smorgasbord.

She had to float, rest, relax.

She flipped onto her back, breathing deeply. The sea was rising, the water slapping over her face. She had to take care with every breath. No matter how experienced she was, her muscles were tiring.

Adam had tried to protect her. He had stuck to her like glue. She'd thought herself so much older and wiser than the last time. She'd lost her temper without seeking an explanation again. She'd been hurt. Last time she had forced him away.

This time she had run.

Now she was going to die, and it wasn't going to matter if he did love her or he didn't.

Still, she'd been so close. She'd wanted Adam from the time she had first seen him, and she'd wanted him more with each hour that passed. They'd shared the sea. A knowledge of it, a love for it. The secrets within it. A love for the life around it. Adam loved her island. He'd said that he loved her….

She closed her eyes briefly, trying hard to breathe easily and regain her strength, to keep herself afloat on her back so she wasn't constantly fighting the swell of water into her nose. She sneezed, coughed, choked. The salt water stung through her nostrils to her eyes. Thank God she was so accustomed to it. She would have been dead already if she wasn't. She had to keep going, keep fighting. Fighting until she was dead. Oh, God, though, this was hard. A bullet in the heart would have been an easier way to go.

No, hope was best.

Except she had no more strength.

Adam would come for her, she realized suddenly. He was probably looking for her already, scouring the island. He had undoubtedly dragged everyone on the island out of bed. If he loved her…

He did.

The things people did for love….

She was going to die, Sam thought, and she had just figured out what her father had known about the
Beldona.

If given the opportunity, she could most probably find the ship.

Water lapped over her head again. She turned, trying to swim hard.

She heard the sound of a motor. She flipped over again, blinking against the wind and the rising sea. A boat was coming toward her. A flashlight was seeking her out in the waves.

Adam.

Adam had come at last…. “There she is!”

It was a woman's cry. Sam blinked against the sea and salt. Oh, God. No.

Joey and Sue were standing portside, pointing at her. Joey's little gun was thrust into the waistband of his swim trunks as he leaned over the wooden railing.

“There! There!”

Sue seemed to be reaching toward her.

Had they come to rescue her? Or put that bullet through her heart?

“Get her, Joey!”

She could slip beneath the surface. Let the sea take her.

She was tired. So tired.

Something tugged on her leg. Pulled her down. Oh, God! She panicked, choked.

A shark. That was what survivors said. That there was no pain at first, just a jerk, a sensation of being pulled downward. They'd never known what hit them, just looked down to see a pool of blood spreading around them….

There was no blood that she could see. Just the darkness of the water.

And another jerk. Hard.

Oh, God, so hard! She couldn't possibly fight it. It was like a vise. She was being bitten right in two, and now she could feel the pain as she was tugged, pulled….

Pulled irrevocably downward into the cold, black, swirling void of the sea….

D
own…

A shark.

Not a shark.

Adam.

He was in front of her in complete diving gear, thrusting his regulator into her mouth, drawing her downward. His arms locked around her, and despite the darkness, his silver-gray eyes met hers through the glass of his diving mask. They both kicked the water with their swim fins, moving through the silent, salty darkness of the sea, sharing the air from Adam's tank with slow, practiced breathing. Sam didn't know where he was taking her, and she didn't care. It seemed that they were merely drifting in the chill blackness, but Adam seemed to have a strategy.

She was alive.

She had believed that he would come for her.

And he had.

He lifted a thumb, indicating the surface, then adjusted his buoyancy control vest, filling it with air. They kicked upward from the fifteen to twenty feet to which they had descended. She was grateful to see that they had come up just twenty or thirty feet from the
Sloop Bee.
The dive boat was rocking strenuously in the turbulence of the ocean. Adam pulled off his mask and spat out his mouthpiece.

“Are you all right?”

She nodded, then threw her arms around him. “You found me. Oh, my God, you found me. I didn't think that anyone could find me in the wind, in the darkness…. I thought I was going to die. Oh, Adam, I didn't want to die, but I kept thinking about my father. It must have been so horrible for him—but you came for me.” She clung to him with such energy that his vest couldn't quite maintain them above the surface. She didn't care. If they were to drown now, at least they would go together. She found his lips. They tasted of salt, but they were warm. He kissed her back, and his warmth filled her. She wasn't going to die. She was going to live.

And she was going to love him.

Adam suddenly kicked the water hard, and they broke the surface again.

“You found me,” she whispered.

He smiled, inhaling deeply. “It wasn't difficult. I had Jem head for the Steps. I was sure that was where they'd be.”

“Where did Joey and Sue get that boat?” Sam asked. The last word was a gurgle; she'd been hit by a wave.

“Hank stole it.”

“Hank stole it?” she repeated incredulously.

“He had to—to escape. He'd been kept in the garage of a marine company for a year. When he got out, he didn't know who to trust, so he escaped to the water—and Seafire Isle. He left the boat in the harbor. Joey and Sue must have discovered it, and decided that it would make do for their own use.”

“I still don't understand. Were they keeping Hank prisoner?”

Water slapped her in the face again. She was shivering; her teeth were chattering.

“Let's get out,” Adam advised.

When they made it to the
Sloop Bee,
Yancy and Jerry North were at the ladder to help her out. She was instantly wrapped in a blanket, hugged, handed from person to person. And there were a lot of people—Adam, Yancy, Jerry, Liam Hinnerman, Jim Santino and Sukee. Behind them all, she saw that even Avery Smith was aboard.

Not Avery Smith. James Jay Astin. She had to remember that.

“Where's Hank?” she whispered to Yancy.

Yancy explained softly that Hank was with the baby.

Sam looked around, not seeing Jem and Matt.

Adam read her mind. “They're bringing the Emersons around,” he told her.

A cup of coffee was pressed into her hands. She accepted it gladly, sitting on the starboard side of the boat.

“I'm so grateful to be here, to be alive. To all of you for coming out, but I'm still so confused.”

Adam sat down at her side. “You certainly have every reason to be confused. Because just about everybody is guilty of something.”

Sam arched a brow. James Jay Astin cleared his throat and came around and sat on her other side. “Well, you know who I am,” he said. He looked forward, then at Adam, and then at Sam again. “Lew and Judy Walker have recently resigned from my employ.”

“What?” Sam gasped.

“They were working for Mr. Astin,” Adam explained evenly.

“But they're actually good people, Sam. All they were trying to do was find the
Beldona
for me. They didn't do a thing illegal. And neither one of them would ever harm you in any way.”

“What a relief,” Sam murmured. “So—neither of them knocked me out or killed my father?”

“No, of course not!” Astin told her. “And neither did I,” Astin said grimly. “I was your father's friend, Miss Carlyle. That's the absolute truth. I am sorry for the deceit we practiced. I beg that you forgive me.”

Sam nodded slowly. “You're forgiven. All of you,” Sam said.

Jim Santino cleared his throat. “Sorry, Sam. I guess it's pretty obvious. I've been trying to use you, too, to find the
Beldona.
” He hesitated. “I've been working for my dad, but honestly, I would never have hurt you, either.”

Sam nodded at Jim, then looked at Adam. “Who have
you
been working for?” she demanded.

He smiled. “Myself. Actually, I was using the
Beldona
to find you again. And my brother, naturally.”

She nodded, lowering her eyes, smiling. Then she was jolted, her coffee stingingly warm and yet reassuring as a drop bounced onto her hand. The boat with the Emersons on board was suddenly brought alongside the
Sloop Bee.
Jem and Matt stood grimly behind the Emersons, ready to force them aboard the
Sloop Bee.

Jem had Joey Emerson's little gun in his hands. He dumped the remaining ammunition from the weapon and slid it into the waistband of his pants before he lifted Sue, setting her flatly on board the
Sloop Bee.

“I don't know what the hell you all think you're doing,” Joey protested.

“I imagine Miss Carlyle intends to press charges against you for assault and battery, kidnapping, and maybe even attempted murder,” Adam advised him dryly.

“Oh, don't be silly. I was just trying to scare her,” Joey protested. “And you're not a cop anymore.”

“Think of this as a citizen's arrest,” Adam said. “We can probably also charge you with another case of kidnapping, wrongful imprisonment—and murder.”

“Murder!” Joey said, furious, standing his ground against Adam. “I didn't murder anybody. I just wanted the truth. Nothing but the damned truth. My mother has been sick all these years, wanting to know what's going on.”

“Your mother?” Jem queried skeptically.

“Yes, my mother. I've been working for my mother, trying to find out exactly what happened to my father! Damn! Everyone keeps saying that Sam's father was so wonderful. Well, all right, mine wasn't a saint, but he was murdered. By Sam's father. And I deserve some answers just like everyone else here.”

“Sam's father didn't kill Marcus Shapiro,” Jerry North said suddenly, her voice soft, yet somehow filling the silence that had risen after Joey's words.

“The hell he didn't!” Joey said. “He followed Justin because he had heard that Justin was about to make a deal with James Jay Astin, which meant Justin was pretty sure he had discovered where the ship lay. He knew your father, too, Sam, because SeaLink had been tentatively negotiating with Robert Santino about splitting both the expenses and rewards in bringing up the treasures of the ship.”

“Yes, Justin knew where the ship was, but he didn't kill your father, Joey,” Jerry said.

“How can you know that?” Joey demanded.

Jerry stared at Adam. Sam frowned, watching the strange cry for help that seemed to be in Jerry's gaze.

“How can you know that?” Joey repeated furiously.

“Because she killed him, kid. Jerry killed your old man,” Liam offered suddenly, chuckling.

“That's enough,” Adam said quietly. “We'll get back to the explanations in a minute, Joey. Sam, Jerry, come down to the end of the boat for a minute's privacy, will you?”

“Oh, that will help!” Liam exclaimed dryly.

“You shut up,” Jem warned Liam.

“Or else…?”

Adam had Sam's arm, and Jerry's. Sam had never been more confused. Adam was insisting she needed a private moment with Jerry in the midst of Liam casting murder accusations Jerry's way.

“Wait—” Sam protested.

“This can't wait,” Adam said.

He led them both to the aft of the
Sloop Bee.

“Adam, what's going on?” Sam demanded. “Jerry, did something happen to you?”

“I—” Jerry began.

“Jerry, everything is coming out now. Matters are going to get worse before they get better. This isn't exactly the right way to do this, either, but the best I can do under the circumstances is buy you both a few seconds here.”

“Please, what is going on?” Sam persisted.

Adam walked two steps away, his back to the women. He stood like a bulldog, guarding them from the others.

“I'm—” Jerry began.

“Yes?”

“I'm—your mother, Sam.”

“Mother? My mother's been gone. I don't even remember her. I think she's dead. I—”

“No, Sam. I'm not dead.”

“This can't be.”

“It's the truth.”

“Oh, God!” Sam felt as if she'd been hit.

“I'm so sorry, you deserved so much better. I mean, you deserve to be told in a better way. And you deserved more noble relations. Like your father.”

Sam felt as if she was going to fall. The information was numbing. Jerry, her mother? It explained Jerry's interest in her. Jerry's quiet longing to be with her. It explained the pain in the woman's eyes, and her discomfort now.

Seconds that seemed like hours passed before Sam could feel, think or speak. Then she saw the slow trickle of tears falling silently down Jerry's cheeks. A strange surge of emotion welled within her. Love? She hadn't even known she had a living mother. Love could take time. And understanding. But she realized that Jerry had been hurt. Whatever her actions, she had known pain as well. And Sam realized that she wanted to protect the woman.

“Oh, Sam, I am so sorry—”

“Don't you be sorry!” Sam said fiercely, catching Jerry's hand, squeezing it.

“But—”

“Don't be sorry. Don't you be down on yourself. I don't understand anything anymore—”

“This friggin' family reunion has got to stop!” Liam bellowed.

“Go to hell!” Jerry cried, pulling from Sam and brushing past Adam to come and stand in front of Liam. “You go to hell!” she cried furiously again.

“Tell the Emerson kid—the Shapiro kid!—and your daughter the truth. Tell them that you murdered Shapiro's old man.”

“I don't believe it!” Joey snapped.

“Tell him, Jerry,” Liam insisted.

“Liam, you leave her the hell alone and let her talk in her own time,” Adam warned, stepping forward again.

“Please!” Sam insisted, following him.

Jerry swung back to look sadly at Sam, speaking softly, her words for the two of them alone. “What I've told you is the truth. God forgive me. I left your father right after you were born. I was young and stupid and didn't think that I could bear life on his island. But he was a good man, the best man in the world. He still wrote to me on occasion. When he could find me. He sent me pictures. Years later I had become involved with—with Mr. Santino's father. Oddly enough, I discovered that he was in the process of some business that had to do with Justin. I saw Justin again. We began to talk. I thought that maybe after all that time…But I was just being used against him.” She turned from Sam then and stared at Joey, her voice rising on a strong note. “Your sainted father tricked me. We followed Justin—to the ship. To ‘celebrate' with Justin, so your father told me, Joey. I was there when he slit Justin Carlyle's throat.” She raised her hands, staring at them. “When I saw what he had done to Justin, I stabbed him.”

She looked at Sam. “I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry.”

Sam stared at her, stunned. She felt numb again. Cold. Colder than she had felt in the sea, fearing death.

“I'm sorry about your father,” Jerry whispered painfully. “He was the only truly good person I ever knew. And I'm so sorry that now you know you're related to me.” The last was barely a whisper.

Her father was dead. Definitely dead. She had known it. Of course, Justin wouldn't have left her. The finality hurt. But the pain had been with her for so many years now that this finality was a bearable anguish.