The Pandora Box (25 page)

“Hawk,” Dee put a hand on his knee. “If we get involved with guns we’re not just innocent travelers anymore. It puts us into the big leagues.”

“We never were innocent travelers, baby.” He lowered the glasses and looked down at her. “You stepped into the big leagues when you felt the urge to leave town in a hurry and gave in to it.”

“You want me to clean the grease out of this thing?” Starr removed the rifle from a large plastic bag inside the case. “Or just wipe off the outside and make it look operational?”

“We’re not playing games, here,” Hawk replied. “So lock and load.”

Dee felt a chill go through her that rivaled any the wind had brought on. She stood still for a moment, looking from one to the other, and realized they were both deadly serious. “I’ll... I’ll fix something hot for us.” She started slowly down the ladder. “Spaghetti or...stew or something.”

Normally, there would have been an enthusiastic vote of choice from both men, but neither of them said anything.

Hawk was looking through the binoculars again, and Starr was already busy wiping the gun barrel off with a flannel rag.

Dee left them to their schemes and headed straight for Marion’s cabin.

“Marion?” she knocked tentatively before going in. “Are you awake?”

“Gads, yes… come on in,” came the reply. “Maybe you can help me.” Marion was seated in the center of her bed dressed in a bright multicolored caftan, trying unsuccessfully to tie a matching scarf over the top of her head. “My arm is so darn sore, I can’t hold it up long enough to tie the knot.”

“Here, let me do it.” Dee sat down beside her and took over.

“I was trying to wash some of that dried blood out of my hair in the shower. But after about two seconds in the bathroom I got so nauseated, I had to give up. Thought I’d try this instead. I sure can’t go around looking like I just stuck my finger in a light socket.”

“You shouldn’t have tried to get up by yourself, Mare. You have a concussion.”

“Nobody told me that! How come nobody told me that?”

“You haven’t exactly given anyone a chance. Starr said you threw a book at him.”

“He walked in right when I was changing. I tried to scream, but it sent a pain through my skull like the next world war. So I threw the book, instead.”

“There. How’s that feel?”

“How’s it look, that’s the important thing. It feels like a cracked watermelon.”

“Better take some more aspirin.” Dee reached for the bottle and shook two out. “I’m sorry I got you into all this, Mare.”

“Well, it wasn’t like you twisted my arm.”

“I’m afraid we’re in way over our heads.”

“What happened?” she asked after she washed down the pills with cold tea. “Did you find out Hawk worked for Wyngate?”

“No, but I don’t care anymore. Oh, Marion, you were right! What good is fifty million dollars if we’re dead? I can just see the headline now: Pandora
Expedition Disappears at Sea, Entire Crew Presumed Dead.”

“Tell them we want off in Tokyo, Dee. It’s the only logical thing to do.”

“They’re beyond logic, and we’re way past Tokyo.”

“They won’t be beyond taking our share of the money. Tell them to drop us off somewhere else, then. Isn’t that what they wanted all along?”

“Yesterday, they might have agreed. Today, there’s another boat out there trying to catch up with us.”

“What?”

“Our partners are setting up a regular arsenal on deck, getting ready for a…a shootout.”

Marion gasped. “Good grief! What are we going to do? We’ll all be killed! Oh, I’ll never see my kids again!”

“Don’t panic yet.” Dee’s voice conveyed more reassurance than she felt. “I’ve got an idea. I just haven’t worked up quite enough nerve to do it.”

“Dee, it scares me when you use that tone. That’s the same way you talked the night you came up with the idea of sneaking Peterson out of Wyngate. Now look where it’s got us!”

“Well, I can’t just stand by and let them shoot somebody can I? Things have gotten way too out of hand.”

“Isn’t there a lifeboat around here? Maybe we could slip away before the shooting starts and wait for a rescue.”

“Are you kidding? We’re hundreds of miles from nowhere, and it’s freezing cold out there! You can’t tell down here with the stove going, but it is. Besides that, who would rescue us?”

“Can’t we call the Coast Guard?”

“There is no Coast Guard this far out. Not ours anyway. But...” She took a deep breath. “I think I can call someone else.”

“Who?”

“Eddington gave me a contact for one of our ships out here, in case we got in trouble. He said we could get help in twenty-four hours.”

“Do it, Dee!” Marion gave her a nudge and then winced. “It’s only sensible.”

“The trouble is, this other boat is going to catch up with us before that. By dark, Starr said.” Dee looked out at the surge of gray sea rushing past the porthole. “If things start going crazy, we could be in more trouble because we called. Hawk would be irate.”

“He’s going to be irate no matter what. At least we could get off the boat. And I’m ready to get off, Dee. This situation has gotten too wild for a woman my age. Look at me! I’m going to have a scar that looks like an ax murderer tried to kill me, right across my forehead! I’ll have to live with it the rest of my life.”

“Maybe if I could do it without Hawk knowing.” She thought about the possibilities. “It might look like a coincidence by the time they get here. Then I wouldn’t have to admit I was the one who called.”

“Who cares what he thinks? If he’s going to start acting crazy and shooting at other boats we don’t have any choice. And Dee...” She lowered her voice to a whisper, “we’ve already seen what happens when he loses control of himself. Would you like to see him in that state with a gun?”

“No, of course not. And that’s the only reason I’m even considering this. Bringing in the guns changes everything. I couldn’t stand it if something happened to him.”

“To him? What about us? Dee, you’re talking crazy! You’re talking like you wouldn’t be relieved to get away and never see him again. This whole thing is turning into one big ghastly nightmare!”

“I can’t help it, Marion. I told you I’m head over heels in love with him. He could be crazy as a loon and I don’t think it would make any difference. Besides that, I...” She looked hesitantly at Marion’s horrified expression and finished, “I married him in San Francisco.”

“You what?”

“I said I married him. In San Francisco.”

Marion blinked twice, as if it took those two seconds for the thought to completely register.

“I can’t believe it! I’m shocked. Why…nice, normal men with good futures ask you out, and you put them off for weeks until they lose interest. Then some over-sexed, manic depressive asks you to marry him on the spur of the moment, and you do?”

“I don’t regret it.”

“Well, I’m absolutely floored! No wonder you can’t think straight. But I’m telling you, Dee, you certainly have a knack for complicating an already complicated situation.”

“You still think I should call?”

“Absolutely, I think you should call. Of course, you should. And under the circumstances, I don’t see how it could make things any worse than they already are.”

“All right.” She sighed. “I’ll do it right now. They’re so busy talking guns and watching that boat up there, they’ll never know.”

Dee went into her cabin, fished the number Eddington had given her out of her canvas bag, and headed for the radio.

Marion shuffled behind in spite of Dee’s warnings and had to sit down before she got halfway to the navigation desk.

“Keep an eye out,” Dee said. The navigation desk, or nav station, was where the charts and sextant were kept, along with all the electronic equipment that aided navigation. A VHF radio and a GPS, a depth sounder, and even a computer that did most of the calculations for them. The HAM radio was on a shelf in the left corner.

Dee got butterflies in her stomach just turning it on. She set the channel to the number her notes indicated, pressed the red button on the mike, and read out the call numbers. Her voice was quavery. Nothing happened, so she tried again.

When a man’s voice finally snapped back, loud and clear, she jumped.

“Turn it down!” whispered Marion. “Or they’ll hear it up there!”

Dee found a knob marked volume and turned it down.

“Acknowledge, sailing vessel
Pandora
.” The voice came softer this time. “What is your position? Over.”

“My position...” Dee faltered. “Marion!” she whispered, “I don’t know our position! What am I…”

“This is
White Fox
to
Pandora
. Do you acknowledge? Over.”

“Yes.” Dee pushed the button again and replied, “We acknowledge,
White Fox
. Uh... over.”

“
White Fox
to
Pandora
, can you put the skipper on, ma’am? Over.”

“Oh, no,” Dee whispered. “I better just…”

“Hang up on them!” Marion urged as if their lives depended on it.

“
White Fox
to
Pandora
, acknowledge please. We have a transmission for Major Wayne Hawkins. Contents classified. Request you put him on. We will stand by. Over.”

“Hang up and say you were disconnected!” Marion pleaded. “Hawk’s liable to kill us both if he finds out!”

“I can’t, Marion, did you hear that? Classified, he said. Oh no, now I have to put him on! If we don’t we could get in trouble for…treason or something!”

31

The Gathering Storm

“Notwithstanding all annoying trifles it was a very happy life we spent in those waters
.” ~
Nellie Bly

Dee climbed halfway up the ladder so that just her head was above deck.

Hawk and Starr were at the starboard rail, intently engaged in a discussion about firearms as they were cleaning the rifle and another handgun.

“Hawk.” Her butterflies turned to trembles that threatened to betray her. “Somebody wants to talk to you.”

“What?” His look was skeptical.

“On the radio,” she explained. “Somebody wants to talk to you.”

“I don’t have the radio on.” He set the hand gun aside and got to his feet. “The last thing I want is a radio audience when we’re on a deal like this. Are you fooling with the radio, sugar?”

“Just come on, they’re waiting.”

“As long as we don’t acknowledge, they won’t know we heard.” He followed her down the ladder. “So just turn it off, and…”

“I already acknowledged.”

He threw her a frustrated glance and picked up the mike. “This is
Pandora
skipper, go ahead.”

“Major Wayne Hawkins?”

“Who is this?”

“This is USS
White Fox
, Major. You are hereby reinstated for special duty.”

“What the…”

“Orders are to change your course heading to zero, three, niner, and wait for intercept. Over.”

He stood in a stunned silence for one long, disbelieving moment before the voice came over the speaker again.

“Standing by
Pandora
. Please acknowledge. Over.”

He brought the mike up slowly, as if in a trance. “Acknowledge
White Fox
. Changing course heading to...zero, three, niner...
Pandora
out.” He replaced the mike and turned off the radio. “How did that happen?” His voice still carried traces of unbelief. “They just pulled me back in! Did you hear that?” A barrage of frustrated profanity followed.

Dee interrupted just to put an end to it.

“Can they do that?” she asked. “Legally, I mean.”

“They can do anything they want.” He swore again and then walked back to his cabin slamming the door.

“Oh, Marion!” Dee felt her emotions churn. “How could I do that to him?”

“You didn’t do it,” she replied. “The government did.”

“This whole thing is my fault, and it just keeps getting worse and worse!” Dee hurried through the passageway and opened his door.

He was standing by the stern windows, looking out, with one hand braced on the bulkhead above him.

“Hawk, I’m so sorry.” She put her arms around him from behind and leaned her head against his back. “I had no idea. I…”

He put a hand over hers but didn’t turn around. “Why did you have to fool with that thing?”

“Eddington told me they could send help in twenty-four hours if we ran into trouble. With that other boat out there…the guns and everything...I thought we might be needing some help.”

“You should have asked me first.”

“I guess I was afraid to.”

“Afraid of what? Me?” He turned around and looked down at her, as if trying to figure her out, then gave up and sat down on the window seat. Resting a forearm across one drawn up knee, he returned his gaze to the cold following sea beyond the stern windows again.

Dee sat down next to him and was quiet.

“I’m the one who ought to be worried. I can’t figure out what kind of a mess we got ourselves into, here. It isn’t just lost diamonds. Not with all this heavyweight stuff around. And I don’t have the kind of job they would call me back in for. Even if I had to testify on some past case, they wouldn’t reinstate me.” He shot her a penetrating glance, as if the realization just came to him. “OK, it’s because of you.”

“Hawk, I said I was sorry. I don’t know what else I could possibly...” Sensing tears coming on, she fumbled in her pocket for a tissue.

“Come here.” He reached out to draw her gently against him. “Lawful, wedded husband, remember? Whatever happens to one happens to both of us. I might be easygoing but I’m no quitter. We stick together, no matter how this thing works out.”

A sense of relief flooded over her, and she leaned her head against his chest, letting the peaceful feeling of those words invade her. “I’d do anything to take back what I did.”

“In the long run, it’s probably best. It was just a shock, that’s all. Special duty...man, I’m not up to it.”

“What do you think it means?”

“It could mean anything from turning all our information over to them to getting hauled off this boat and sent to who knows where. Whatever it is, it’s a lot bigger than us. Your friend Eddington’s little plan for using us as bait must have backfired.”