Obsidian (25 page)

It was now or never. He gave one last thought to Shelby before sliding off the edge of the boat and into the water.

Caruso stood at the ready with Taimon as they headed the boat out across to the point. The high waves pitched and rolled the boat, tossing it around like a play toy. Better Taimon then him at the wheel. He was green just watching him try to keep the boat on course.

So far this morning they’d seen a couple of the bigger boats out, but nothing to alarm them. Anybody still out after last night’s storm had to be an idiot.

Already, their truck was parked in the bushes on the point. Everything was ready to haul their gear out. Only one more load and they were done. Once they sunk the boat there’d be nothing left to connect them to the guns. The only loose tie was Rivard and the last shipment that had disappeared. With any luck, the lost package was sunk so far below the water line it wouldn’t show up for years. Or at least, until they were long gone.

Normally, the loose ends would’ve bothered Caruso. He prided himself on getting a job done without failure. But Rivard wasn’t his problem anymore. In a couple of hours he’d be on his way out of Maine and back to a warmer climate. With the money they’d made he could sit back for awhile, maybe take an extended vacation on a tropical island with plenty of beautiful women to keep him company. When it was safe, he’d resurface again with a new identity and move on to the next job. He’d done it before—he could do it again.

His only concern about Rivard was whether or not he was on to them, but he doubted it. Other than Taimon’s screw up by shooting at them, there wasn’t a damn thing that could connect him to what they were doing on the island. And in a couple of hours they’d be home free.

A boat was circling around a trap line several hundred feet off the island. He raised his binoculars and focused on the boat as it rocked with the tide. He could see the yellow of their rain gear as the man at the stern fought with the trap line, hoisting it with the winch. The swells were making their work an almost impossible task. Caruso shook his head. Better them than him. He’d had enough of the unpredictable Maine weather. He was no stranger to hurricanes, but he’d much rather have ridden it out on his own home territory then up here in the Godforsaken, cold island.

He set the binoculars on one of the boxes and headed back toward the cottage, humming as he went. Yes, just a few more hours and they were home free.

Shelby looked at her watch for the hundredth time. The hands weren’t moving. They couldn’t be. It had been over an hour and still she hadn’t heard anything. She considered raising them on the radio, but she didn’t want to risk endangering them just to calm her fears. Jamie had told her to wait, but the minutes were passing along in chaotic torpidity.

Fierce white caps pushed at the dock, making it sway and creak. A chill ran up her spine to settle at the base of her neck. She was helpless and alone and she hated it. All her life she’d sat back and let things happen to her. She’d no control over losing her parents or her husband. She didn’t want to sit back and let life happen to her anymore.

If her limited time with Jamie had proven anything, it was that life was too short to take a passive position. The thought of losing him was terrifying, but the thought of having to live with herself if she did nothing about it, was greater. She grabbed the phone off of the barrel next to her and punched in the number from the paper Jamie had given her.

At first, the phone just rang and rang. Shelby held her breath, saying a silent prayer that someone would be there to help. She was about to hang up when the line was picked up. The rough barking voice was a welcome sound.

“I need to speak with McAlvey.” There was a long silence on the other end. For a dreaded moment, she was sure she’d been disconnected.

“And the nature of your business, Ma’am?” The raw growling voice cut across the telephone line.

“I need to speak with him, now. It’s a matter of life and death.” She only hoped she was exaggerating. “I was told I was to contact McAlvey at this number. Is he there?” Again, the silence on the line was deafening.

“Ma’am, I’ll need you to hold the line for a moment.” She hung there on the other end of the line and glanced at her watch again. Now that she’d decided to take action the minutes were beginning to fly by with an alarming speed. Something had to be wrong.

“Ma’am, I’m the Officer in Charge. I must ask what your business is with McAlvey.” Shelby hesitated. Jamie had trusted her to get to McAlvey himself. For whatever reason, it didn’t look like they were going to let her speak to him. The question was now, who could be trusted? And who couldn’t?

“Ma’am? Are you still there?” She could hear the tension crackling across the line.

“Yes, I’m here. Please, I was told only to speak with him.”

“I’m sorry, McAlvey is not here. But if you tell me the nature of the emergency, then I can help you.”

This time the silence came from her end of the phone. She was going to have to make a choice and it had to be fast. Now that she’d decided to take actions, she couldn’t turn back now.

“I’m calling on behalf of Jamie Rivard. He told me to speak with McAlvey. He said that McAlvey was the only one who would know exactly what was going on. I need you to find him,
Now
!” The seriousness in her tone was scaring hers, but she knew of no other way to get the importance of the situation across to the man at the other end of the telephone line.

“You know where Rivard is?” The officer's incredulous tone reverberated across the lines. “Ma’am, I need you to listen to me. If you know where he is then you need to let me know, now. He may be in danger.”

“That’s what I have been trying to tell you, but you aren’t listening. Look, I’m stuck here in Chandler, Maine trying to contact some man who is supposed to be in Florida. But you’re saying he isn’t there. I have to get someone to help them out on that island.” She’d never been this exasperated or this impatient with anyone in her life. “He told me to call McAlvey to get help.”

The voices on the other end of the line were muffled for a moment as if someone had their hand over the receiver, but she could still hear the urgency in their tone. God, even they were scared.

“Ma’am,” The voice on the other end was hesitant. “I’m taking a chance in talking with you about this, but I need your cooperation. McAlvey is no longer with us. He opted for an early retirement and has not been heard from since. If you are aware of the whereabouts of either McAlvey or Rivard, then I need you to tell me where they are.”

“McAlvey is gone?” Desperation rose within her. With McAlvey gone who would help them now?

“That’s it. I’ll call Kearsage. He’ll know what to do.” She hit the button to end the call. Somewhere in Florida, there were some very confused men who were most likely swearing at her lack of cooperation.

She dialed the next number on the line and gave a silent sigh of relief when she heard the male voice answer. “I need to speak with Tom Kearsage. It’s an urgent matter. I’m calling for Jamie Rivard.” By laying her cards on the table up front she hoped she could avoid most of the confusion the other call had generated.

“My God,” the words were followed by a long string of expletives, punctuated with the clunk as the phone was dropped. When the voice came back on the line the words were clipped. “Okay, where the hell is he? I’ve been trying to raise him for hours. Why the hell isn’t he answering?”

“Are you Kearsage?” She wasn’t about to take any chances. She’d taken enough of them already.

“This is Kearsage. You say that Rivard told you to call me? He must have gotten himself into a whole barrel of trouble this time to have someone else calling for him. Has this got to do with McAlvey?”

This time she almost dropped the phone herself. “I tried to reach McAlvey, but . . .” Her words were cut short by another string of expletives on the other end of the line.

“McAlvey has disappeared. He’s got half the United States Coast Guard on his tail looking for him.”

All she could manage was a soft, "Oh”. She had no idea of where to turn now. From the sound of it, it didn’t appear that Kearsage was going to be much help. “What do I do? I was told to call you. He said you owed him one last favor and would help if we needed it.”

There was a rough gush of laughter on the other end of the line. “Well, this must be pretty big if he’s calling in the last of his favors.” There was silence for a moment before he continued. “Whatever Jamie needs, let me know. I’ll take care of it. I owe him that much.”

The tone of his voice was enough to convince her that she was doing the right thing. Jamie had said he could be trusted and she hoped he was right. Time was running out. She glanced out over the water. There was still no sign of the boat, or Jamie.

“He went out toward Hen Island to check out the cottage the smugglers have been staying at out there. He’s convinced that they have my brother on the island.” There was a rustle of paper on the other end of the line.

“The idiot went in alone, without backup?” She thought about her uncle and the risk he was taking by just helping Jamie and Josh and she knew that she couldn’t bring him into it. She owed him so much that she couldn’t bear to put him in anymore danger than he already was in.

She chose to avoid the question and let Kearsage believe what he would. “He was planning on leaving the boat off of the Island and use diving gear to make it to land without being detected. I was told to wait one hour and if I didn’t hear anything, then I was to get a hold of McAlvey first, then you.”

“And you couldn’t get a hold of McAlvey,” he said.

“No, they wouldn’t tell me where he was. They just kept me running around in circles and demanding to know where Jamie was.”

“I’m not surprised. By now, they’re going out of their heads wondering just how deep Rivard is in this. From what I’ve heard things are getting pretty sticky down there right now.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, McAlvey’s hasty retirement brought up a whole lot of unanswered questions. With Jamie’s disappearance, the rumor has been that they’re wondering what he has to do with the missing evidence.”

“They think Jamie is involved with missing evidence? But McAlvey is the one who sent him here. How can they think that he had anything to do with it?”

“Because as far as the U.S. Coast Guard is concerned, Rivard is missing, gone AWOL, and McAlvey has disappeared along with some sensitive material and a sizable amount of confiscated firearms. Now the question is, where is he and how does he fit into it?”

These were her questions, too. She trusted Jamie without a doubt. She trusted him enough to know that he wasn’t involved with the smuggling. But she didn’t know about this McAlvey guy.

She looked out at the harbor. There was still no sign of the boat. She’d hoped that somehow he’d be here by now, joking with her and saying it had all been too easy, but that wasn’t the case.

“I’m sending out the back up he wants. Help is on the way. He’ll have to hold on until we get there. I don’t want to miss any of this.”

“But what can I do?” Helplessness settled in her. She’d followed Jamie’s instructions and done what he asked, and she still felt as though it weren’t enough.

“I’d suggest you sit back and wait. You’ve done everything you can for him by getting a hold of me. Trust me to take care of the rest of it for him.”

Shelby hung up the phone. Nothing left to do but sit and wait, he’d said. Just what she’d been doing all along. But now it wasn’t enough.

Shelby went to stand in the doorway,
watching the rocking and rolling of the boats tied to their moorings. If only there was something else to
do to help them.

She took a few tentative steps toward the path leading to the wharf. The waves pushed and pulled at the heavy docking, buffeting it. It must be horrible out there with the remnants of the storm pushing them all over the place.

A small wooden skiff was tied to the dock.

She’d have to be an idiot to think of doing it. And yet, for over a year she’d lived with an absolute uncontrollable fear of the ocean. Tommy’s death had robbed her of the love for the ocean.

Adrenaline and fear surged through her and she took a hesitant step, then another out onto the rough wooden planking. She had to take control of herself and the fear.

Every nerve ending stiffened and she closed her eyes and prayed, needing the strength to get beyond this.

A break in the wind stopped the constant buffeting pushing at her and she opened her eyes. The metal gray sky was outshone by the clear color of day breaking through the last vestiges of the storm. Whether it was intended as a sign or not, she’d take it as one.

Pushing down at the queasiness filling her, she untied the skiff and moved to the back to prime the engine. It started with the first pull and she moved it away from the dock.

Sharp waves buffeted the boat as she moved out, sticking close to the shoreline. The wind pushed against her and the cold seeped through her fleece jacket. She needed to stay focused and in control of her fear.

She had no choice.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

The cold and wind bruised his face until Jamie was sure he’d never be warm again. They'd made the long swim together, coming up onto shore on the opposite side of the island. Here, the trees hung low over the water and there was a thick stand of pines covering their approach to the house.