Finder's Fee (33 page)

“What do you plan to do with us?” Luke asked.

“Ah, the movie question.”

Judith didn't understand. “Movie question?”

“In the movies, the abducted always ask something like, ‘What are you going to do?' Dumb question. No one in that situation really wants to know. They're just buying time. But since you ask: I plan to get rid of you once and for all. When we're out of sight of other vessels, you're going for a swim. Having you around dead or alive is a problem. Dead bodies are annoying in so many ways.”

“You plan to throw us overboard,” Luke said.

“You are bright. Of course, I'll have to weight your bodies. I can't have some current carrying your corpses to shore. If you're nice to me, I might suffocate you before putting you over the edge.” He turned to the gunman. “Take them below and lock them away.”

T
he room reminded Judith of those found on cruise liners, small and packed tight with a single bed, a short dresser, a mirror, and a bathroom. One difference stood out. The lock on the door operated from the outside.

“It's like they were planning for us to be here.” Judith looked at the doorknob.

“Not us, the kids.” Luke worked his way around looking in every drawer, behind anything that would move, even removing the lightbulb from the lamp on the dresser. “This operation
has been planned to the smallest detail. My guess is that some of the kids were supposed to be locked in here. They must have doubled them up in one of the other staterooms.”

“Can this boat really make it all the way across the Pacific? I thought you needed a big ship for that kind of voyage.”

“Much smaller vessels cross the oceans all the time. Columbus's ships were quite a bit smaller than this thing.” Luke stood on the bed and removed the diffuser over the ceiling light and studied the bulbs and wires. Judith didn't need to ask what he was doing. She no longer thought his paranoia was misplaced.

It took another fifteen minutes for Luke to satisfy himself that no listening devices or spy cameras were in the room. “I'm not surprised,” he admitted. “They wouldn't need to listen in on the children and they didn't know that we would be … joining them.”

“How much time do you think we have before … you know?”

“We sleep with the fishes?”

“Not funny.”

“Sorry, humor is my last resort of sanity.” He sat on the edge of the bed. “Not long. The engines don't sound like they're laboring and the boat's motion indicates that they're pulling through the harbor at a leisurely pace. I imagine there's some kind of speed limit for ships entering and leaving port. They're too smart to draw attention to themselves by plowing through the water faster than they should.” He worked his lips as he thought. “Pennington won't do anything until we're well out of port. The boat is pretty stable right now, so we must still be in the calmer waters of the bay. We should be able to tell the difference when we hit open water.”

A long but narrow window was in the outboard bulkhead, the side of the room where the bed sat. Luke stood on the bed and looked out. “I can still see the shore. We can't be more than a mile out yet.”

“But every minute puts us further away.” Judith stepped on the bed and took a look for herself. It brought her no comfort.

Luke sat on the bed again. Judith joined him. “This is as bad as it gets.” He lowered his head into his hands. “I can't think. I'm out of ideas.”

Judith put a hand on Luke's knee and squeezed gently. “We can't give up now, Luke. We've found a way out every time. I thought everything was over when Ida's home went up but you pushed along. We got past Pennington in La Jolla and in the Ridgeline camp. Every time we faced the impossible something right happened. We did what we had to do. Now we have to do it again. The first thing we have to do is get out of here. Everything hinges on that.”

“Easier said than done … What did you say?”

“I said we have to get out of here — ”

Luke's head snapped up. “No, you said everything hinges on us getting out.” He stood. “Morons,” he whispered and stepped to the door. Keeping his voice low he said, “You can reverse a lock on a door, but it's much harder to reverse the hinges. I need something strong and narrow; something like a nail.”

“Where are we going to get a nail?”

“We're not, but we might find something similar. Start looking.”

Judith stood and glanced around the room. The decor was plush but she saw nothing that could be used as a tool. She
had to think outside her normal perceptions.
Stop seeing what is and see what can be.
“The bathroom.”

Judith led the way and the two crammed themselves in the small space. Judith forced her eyes to trace the objects before her: toilet, small shower, lavatory … “The sink.”

“What about it?”

She reached for the rod that worked the sink's stopper. “There's a rod that works a device on plumbing below the sink.” She pulled it up. “It's an old and proven system. We have a line of faucets and we worked hard to move away from this system; it's too old-fashioned for us.”

“Fortunately, these people haven't caught up to you.” Luke dropped to his knees, grunting as he did. The pain on his face reminded Judith that the poor man had taken two beatings. This posture had to set every nerve on fire.

“Let me do it.”

“I'm already here.” He opened the cabinet. “I see the plumbing. Typical P-trap. Almost everything is plastic.”

“PVC,” Judith said. “Can you see the plunger rod?”

“Yeah, but it's not a rod, it's a strap. It won't work. Too wide.”

“Wait a sec. Let me think. It's been over a year since I looked at the designs. I wanted to change everything but my advisors reminded me that below the sink everything works pretty much the same.” She closed her eyes. “Okay, what you're seeing is the adjustment strap. It has a series of holes, right?”

“Right.”

“Okay, the pop-up rod attaches to the strap at the top. You might have to feel for it, but there should be a set screw that holds the rod to the strap.”

Luke grunted. “Man, this hurts.”

“Want me to do it?”

“No. That would get me kicked out of the male chauvinist country club.” He groaned. “My side feels like it's on fire … found it.”

“You'll have to loosen it.”

“The head of the screw is knurled. I was … ow … afraid that it would need a screwdriver of some sort.”

Three painful grunts later, Luke pulled his hand from beneath the counter, a screw in hand. “We got lucky. It wasn't that tight.”

Judith saw blood oozing from Luke's fingers and it shredded her heart. She reached for the plunger rod behind the faucet spout. It came free easily. In her hand she held a chrome rod about six inches long.

Helping Luke up, Judith waited for him to catch his breath and for his pain to settle. Perspiration dotted his forehead. The job might have been easy for a man not beaten into unconsciousness earlier that day.

“I don't know how all this is going to end, Luke, but I want you to know, you're the bravest and noblest man I have ever met.” She kissed him on the cheek. To her surprise, he blushed.

He pushed away from the lavatory and Judith noticed that he carried his arm across his chest. He didn't say so, but she could see that the injured ribs had been damaged even more.

At the door, Luke placed the blunt end of the rod beneath the pin on the top hinge. There were three hinges, smaller than those found in a home but still large enough to require a pin for setting. He paused then stepped away from the door.

“What's wrong?”

“I need a minute.” He looked at the door. His breathing came in gulps. A full minute passed before he spoke again. “There may be a guard on the other side of the door. We're going to have to work quietly and be ready to fight should he come barreling in. I'd feel better if we had some kind of weapon.”

“Like what?”

“Cattle prod, machine gun, bazooka. I'll take anything right now.”

I
don't want to be morose but this is going to be our last chance.” Luke looked into Judith's eyes and for a moment it seemed her insides were trying to rearrange.

“I know.” It took a moment for her to realize it, but Judith worried more for Luke than herself.

“There's a good chance that by breaking out we are going to get ourselves killed.”

Judith pursed her lips. “If we don't get out, Pennington is going to kill us anyway. I think I'd rather die on the boat than under it.”

Luke nodded slowly. “We don't have much time, but maybe I should take a moment to tell you my secret. After what we've been through, you have a right to know.”

Judith raised a finger and put it to his lips, silencing him with a gentle touch. “Not now. It doesn't matter, anyway.”

“It might. I could be a cannibalistic ax murderer.”

“You're not,” Judith said.

“How do you know?”

“Because Abel says there's truth in you and that's good enough for me.”

“Okay, but this is probably the only chance you'll have to hear it.” He stood.

Judith placed a hand on each side of his head. He winced when she touched the knot left by Pennington but didn't pull away. She drew him close and kissed him. Their lips touched for only a second but it seemed to Judith to contain a lifetime of pleasure and an encyclopedia of communication.

He returned the kiss, then turned his face to the door. “I'm ready. If we manage to get out and get past the guard if there is one, we should split up.”

“Is that wise?”

“I don't know how large the crew is. My guess is that it's small. Fewer mouths mean less talking about secrets. I'm hoping that's the case. We have two things to achieve. First, we have to signal for help and I think I know how to do that.”

“Won't the radio be where the people are? You're in no condition to fight your way past them.”

“You're right. I'd have to subdue them; I don't think I'm the man for that job. But I have another idea. When we were looking at the ship, I noticed what looked like a dinghy. That got me thinking. What happens if they have to abandon ship? They won't want to be in a dinghy with an outboard motor. Not in the open ocean. I think ships this size have modern life rafts.”

“I didn't see a life raft.”

“You wouldn't. It's probably in some large container. It would have to be easy to get to and open, as well as launch.
It's probably at the back end of the yacht. A ship this size needs a way to get passengers and crew back and forth to shore in shallow waters — that's what the dinghy is for. Maybe they call it a tender. I don't know. The life raft is meant to keep people alive in rough seas for several days. It must carry some electronic communications and maybe even an emergency beacon.”

“Makes sense. So you're planning to activate the beacon?”

Luke shrugged. “It's the best I can come up with. We can't go toe-to-toe with these guys. If I can get the beacon activated then the Coast Guard will pick up the automated signal. If there's no beacon, maybe I can use the emergency radio. There has to be some electronics on that thing. I wish I knew more about this stuff.”

“What should I do?”

“I'd like to disable the engines, but I don't know if you can do that.”

“I can try. What would I need to do?”

Luke thought. “I'm sure they're diesel engines. The way to kill any engine is to deprive it of fuel, air, or disrupt its electronics.”

“Will there be someone in the engine room?” Judith tried to imagine herself creeping through a massive, oily engine room like those she'd seen in movies.

“I doubt it. This is a superyacht but I doubt they have men stoking boilers or oiling machinery like old ships. My guess is that you'll find a room with a couple of big diesel engines. Everything is controlled from the bridge above.”

She bit her lip. “I'll do what I can.”

“I know. It's all we can do.” Luke started to the door but Judith grabbed his elbow.

“Do you believe what Abel said … back in the hotel, I mean.”

Luke looked puzzled.

“Wait on the Lord and He will save you. Remember. He said it was in the Bible.”

“Are you suggesting that we do nothing?”

“No, he said waiting wasn't doing nothing; it was doing something. I think I have that right. Abel seemed so certain about it. At first, I thought he was just quoting something he read. After all, he said there was a Bible in the room. I assumed he had been reading it, but now I'm wondering if he has more up his sleeve. He is so …”

“Spiritual?”

“That's it,” Judith said. “Terri's tried to talk to me about faith and about Jesus many times, but I keep putting her off. Now, I wished I had listened.”

“Somehow, I think God knows.”

“Do you really think that?”

“I feel it as much as I think it.” He took her in his arms.

“Can we pray?” she asked.

“I don't know how.”

Judith stopped fighting the tears. “Me either, but I feel the need to try.”

She felt his head touch hers. “Okay.”

To Judith's surprise, the hinge pins came out easily. Maybe because the doors were thinner than those in a home, maybe because the superyacht was well taken care of; whatever the reason, Luke had been able to use the metal rod pulled from the sink to push the pins free of the hinges.

After setting the pins aside, Luke pressed the rod into the space between the jamb and the edge of the door and used it
as a lever to pry the door free on one side. The door fit snugly and Luke had to work the rod several times to get the hinge side free. With his right hand on the doorknob he quietly pulled the door free and set it aside.