Love Me Twice (20 page)

Sean nodded his acknowledgement, then bent his head to the list in his hand.

 Between the four of them, they divided the monumental task of assessing the physical damage to the ship and the host of injuries suffered by their human cargo. After a short discussion, it was decided that the best thing was to get as many able bodied passengers as possible off the ship for their scheduled shore day, and to deal with the injuries onboard, if possible.

As distractions went, Drew couldn’t have asked for a better one. He didn’t have time to think about his fucked up life, and neither did Sean or Celeste. Whatever kind of day they were going to have on the island slid overboard, along with several deck chairs and thankfully, nothing else. It could have been far worse. Most of the passengers and crew had been in their beds, and other than having a rude awakening on the floor, the inconvenience was minor. Injuries varied from cuts and bruises, to the most serious, a broken ankle, suffered by a pastry chef who’d slipped in the remains of his chocolate confection.

* * * * *

The first thing Sean noticed when Celeste stepped on the Bridge was her bare neck. She’d removed his collar. The second thing he noticed was the way her eyes sought out Drew and the pure joy on her face when she realized he was safe. She ran into Drew’s arms, and Sean turned away. His heart was a lead weight in his chest, and melancholia invaded his body with every breath he took.

It was midday before they gathered in the Captain’s office to look over the Engineer’s reports. It soon became clear that someone had hacked into the computer system, someone who knew what they were doing. By shutting off certain pumps at the right time, they had caused the ballast water levels to become uneven, and thus the sudden list to starboard as the ship turned to approach the island. The pumps had resumed normal operation within seconds, correcting the problem as quickly as it had occurred, but by then it didn’t matter to the saboteur. The damage was done.

Now they had to find the person responsible.

“I think I know who could have done this.” Everyone turned to Drew. “We’d already determined it had to be a relatively new employee, or perhaps a passenger, but the passenger idea was less likely. That left a handful of new crew members, and fewer with the knowledge or computer access to do something like this.” He glanced at Celeste before he continued. “I know of one IT guy who is capable of hacking into the system.”

“How do you know this person can hack our system?” Sean asked.

Drew glanced at Celeste again, and Sean wondered what Drew had told her.

“Because I asked him to hack into it for me,” Drew said.

“You what?” Sean shouted.

“I asked him to disable a security camera for me. A particular camera.”

Drew’s eyes never left Sean’s face as he admitted what he’d done. Recognition dawned as Sean came to the conclusion Drew knew he would. Drew knew Sean too well. If Sean had wanted to see what was going on between Drew and Celeste, he wouldn’t have let a little thing like morals stand in his way. Shutting off the security camera in the fetish room was the only way he could insure their privacy. It was a brilliant move, Sean had to give Drew credit for that. It didn’t, however, make it right.

 “You slimy squid.”

Drew shrugged his shoulders. “May be, but I’d be willing to bet he’s our guy.”

“Are we talking about Hunter Collins?” Bree asked, deflecting Sean’s animosity.

“Yeah, that’s the guy,” Drew answered.

“I ordered a background check on him the other day. It came back clean. No known association with PEN, or any other radical group.”

“Our profile indicated our perp would be someone new to the organization. Someone expendable,” Drew offered.

“Drew, you and Bree find Mr. Collins and take him to the security office. Call me here when you have him in custody,” Sean ordered.

He waited until Drew and Bree left before he spoke. He asked Celeste if she was truly unhurt, and they exchanged stories about their experience when the ship had listed twenty degrees to starboard. It didn’t make Sean any more fond of ships than he already was. If he hadn’t promised his brother he’d stay until either he or his partner, returned, he’d be lounging on the sand of Ryan’s private beach right now.

He silently cursed both Richard and Ryan for going off on their separate honeymoons at the same time. The thought brought him back to Celeste, and his certainty that he wasn’t in for such a happy ending.

“You’ve made your choice.”

“I think so.”

“And you’re happy about it?”

“Yes.” She nodded her head. “Yes, I am.”

The lead ball that had been his heart sank to the pit of his stomach. She looked happy, and more beautiful than ever. Sean couldn’t bear to look at her, so close, yet not his to touch. He turned his gaze to the ocean beyond the open balcony door.

 One thing he’d realized when she’d run to Drew after the mornings incident, was that her happiness meant more to him than his own. If Drew was the one she wanted, he didn’t have any right to stand in their way. And no matter what it cost him in the way of pride, or his own happiness, he would endure it, for her.

“Sean?”

He realized he’d been silent far too long. He rose, and crossed to the kitchen. The staff hadn’t yet cleaned away the broken glass in here. They’d worked like dervishes to put the ship back together while most of the passengers were on the island today. He’d told them his stateroom could wait, so now he stepped carefully over the shards of glass as he made his way to the refrigerator.

Luckily, he kept only plastic bottles in the unit. He returned to the living room with two bottles of orange juice and offered one to Celeste. She took it and smiled at him.

“I just want you to be happy, Celeste. If I’m not the man to make you happy, then I won’t stand in your way. I wish you and Drew all the happiness you can find.” He saluted her with his juice bottle. She raised hers and they tapped them together in a toast.

“That’s very big of you, Sean.” She took a drink from her bottle, and her eyes followed him as he moved to the balcony door and stood staring out at the darkening sky and the last twinkling lights on the island. “What makes you think I’ve chosen Drew?”

“I saw the way you ran to him this morning, like you were afraid he’d fallen overboard. You needn’t have worried. Hollow logs float.”

“Hollow logs?”

“So sue me. I think I have a right to be pissed.”

“Maybe. You know I love you. I always have.”

“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but maybe love isn’t enough.”

The phone cut off any remark she might have made to his morose statement. “That was Bree. They have our suspect.”

* * * * *

Celeste had made up her mind, sort of. She knew for certain she and Drew weren’t meant for the long haul, but he was a wonderful lover. She wouldn’t mind spending more time in his bed, but she was certain there would be someone else there soon. Drew just had to own up to his feelings for the woman who had occupied his thoughts last night. Celeste was pretty sure it was the woman he’d spent the first night of this cruise with—the one that had given him the bite mark on his shoulder. That meant it was someone on the ship. Maybe another crew member or possibly one of the passengers.

Her short conversation with Sean, however, had sealed her decision. She knew how deep her feelings for Sean went. She’d do anything to ensure his happiness, and now she knew his feelings for her ran just as deep. As they made their way to the security office, she tried to hide her smile.

Sean believed she’d chosen Drew, and he loved her enough to step aside so she could find happiness with another man. Not just any man. Drew—his best friend. Sure, the two of them got along like oil and water, but in reality, they were as close as two men could get. They’d shared too many life and death situations, and they shared her.

She would always love them both, but in different ways. Drew would have a piece of her heart. But her heart beat for Sean. Knowing he would step aside so Drew could make her happy showed her how deep his love for her was. The knowledge took her breath away, and warmed her all the way to her toes.

Drew and Agent Stanton were waiting for them when they arrived at the security office. A young man in a turquoise crew sarong sat at the computer console, clicking away on a keyboard. Celeste glanced at the empty holding cell. “Well? Where is he?”

Drew spoke to the young man. “Hunter, meet Agent Celeste Hamilton, and my business partner, Sean Callahan.” Hunter grunted something that sounded like a greeting, but didn’t stop what he was doing.

“What the hell?” Sean advanced on the young man. Celeste put her hand on his arm, halting his attack.

“Someone want to tell me why our computer hacker is still on the computer?” Celeste asked.

Agent Stanton stepped into the fray. “I know it’s unusual, but he says he can fix the gap so no one else can repeat what he did. Before you point out the obvious, that he could just do it again, or make it easier for someone else, I think you’d better talk to him. He might be just what we’ve been looking for.”

Celeste had worked several cases with Bree Stanton and trusted her judgment. She saw no reason to stop now. “Okay. Let’s hear what he has to say.”

“Almost done here.”

They gathered around, watching a stream of unintelligible code stream from Hunter’s fingertips to the computer monitor. A few minutes later he sat back, hit the enter key with a flourish, and declared, “Done!” He spun around to face them. “Sorry it took so long, but I fixed it. No one else will be messing with the program.”

“Why did
you
mess with it?” Celeste asked.

“I was hired to. I needed the money. Do you have any idea how hard it is to find a job these days?”

“With your skills, I would think you could easily find a job.”

“You would think, wouldn’t you? But computer programmers are a dime a dozen. A friend hooked me up with this guy from PEN, and they offered me a lot of money to pull this prank.”

“Prank,” Sean seethed. “People could have been killed!”

“Hey, I’m sorry, man. The ship tilted more than I thought it would. Honest, I wasn’t trying to hurt anybody. I’m not a total moron.”

“Depends on your point of view,” Sean glared at the kid.

“How long have you been a member of PEN?” Bree asked.

“I’m not a member. I don’t know anything about that eco-shit. I just know computers.”

“You know, what you did can be considered an act of terrorism. You could go to prison for a very long time,” Celeste added.

“Hey! I’m not a terrorist! I’m a computer geek!”

“Who did you meet at PEN? Who’s paying you? Give us a name.”

The kid rolled his eyes and his shoulders sagged. Celeste waited while he made up his mind whether he was going to cooperate or not.

“It was an old dude. Said his name was Cannon. Dressed like a cowboy, and talked like John Wayne.”

No one said a word, but looks of disbelief flashed from person to person. Of all the names Celeste expected to hear, Vernon Cannon’s was the last. “Are you sure?”

“Well, yeah. I couldn’t forget him. I was expecting some dude with dreadlocks and sandals. I’d even memorized some eco-shit to say to impress him, but all he wanted to know was if I could cripple the ship. When I told him, yeah, I could, he handed me a wad of cash and a ticket. Said I’d get the rest of the money when I got back to Miami.”

“This changes things,” Celeste said. “I don’t see PEN taking money from Cannon, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he worked out a deal with them. He provides the funds, they get to take credit for the incident. All he’s ever wanted was to force Ryan and Richard to sell the
Lothario
to him. It’s a win-win situation for both parties.” She turned to Sean. “I’m sorry. We can’t stop the media circus that’s going to be waiting for us when we get to Miami, there are too many passengers already spreading the word on their phones. I promise we’ll do whatever we can to get Cannon.”

“Now how did the FBI miss Vernon Cannon’s involvement in this?”

“I don’t know, but we’ll find out. No one knows we have Hunter, and I want to keep it that way. If we can bring down PEN, maybe we can bring down Vernon Cannon with them.” She turned to Hunter. “If you’re willing to cut a deal we won’t prosecute you for your terrorist attack on the
Lothario
. We need someone on the inside of the organization. You can be that somebody.” Hunter stared at her like she’d grown two heads. “The FBI pays well.”