wrath of the Sea Queen (49 page)

"
All right, but we
a
re go
ing to
have a serious talk
later
.
"

Vin meant it, too.  If C
a
eli
would have
discussed this with him, he would have found a way to talk her out of it or
devised
a safer alternative
.  At the very least
,
he would have been at her side the entire time
. 
Vin
understood
that was exac
tly why she did
n
o
t consult him. 
He
knocked on the door before stepping back inside the helmsman's room.  Ben and Salma were sitting on
the cot, talking.  Vin grabbed the last
dry blanket from the locker and asked Ben to step out to assist him.  He pleaded with Salma to stay put for a few minutes
longer
.  Vin did not tell Ben what was about to happen, but made sure he understood how important it was that nobody else follow him outside.  When Ben asked more specifically what Vin was doing, Vin shrugged and offered a simple reply.

"
Apparently, I'm going f
ishing.
"
 

Vin was out the door before Ben could
interrogate him
further.  He rushed toward the far end of the ship,
where he attached himself to a safety line,
leaving Ben to watch from the door with a perplexed look on his face.  Salma, being unable to wait any longer, came up beside Ben and asked what was happening
, and he explained
that Vin was helping C
a
eli. 
Learning that
C
a
eli was out on deck, Salma
immediately decided
to go
out and
check on her.  Ben moved to place himself between Salma and the door.

"
Ben, she might need my help,
"
Salma was surprised that Ben stopped her.

"
Sorry,
Love
.  I can't let you go out there yet.  Vin's got it under control,
"
Ben whispered.

As if o
n c
ue, the ship's loud horn bl
asted
three times
in rapid succession
.  The captain shouted over the speaker making everyone aware that they were about to be hit by a fast moving wave that
suddenly
appeared
out of nowhere.  Vin, at the end of the deck, quickly moved to
brace himself
on to
the railing
, desperately looking for C
a
eli as he went
.  He spotted
her kneeling on the deck
just
as the water
engulfed
her. 

The large wave washed across the deck, momentarily covering Vin
, too
. 
W
ater rush
ed
by
as he
clung
to the rail, wondering how he
would
know when to catch C
a
eli. 
All of a sudden, t
he water seemed to move in slow motion around Vin
. 
It
felt
as if the water
tried
to
embrac
e
him.  It was an intoxicating sensation, yet it made Vin very uncomfortable. 
It momentarily reminded him of the incident with Vicki.  Then the feeling changed, and
Vin
had the impression of
being inspected like cattle at
the
auction
. 
It
lasted for
only a m
inute before another rush of water intruded and C
a
eli was
pushed
directly
in front of him.

When the wave cleared
a minute later
, Vin stood against the rail with C
a
eli wrapped tightly in his arms.  He looked down into her
clear
, brown eyes, the odd encounter already forgotten.  She beamed a smile up at him.  Both were drenched and laughing.  This time,
Vin permitted
Ben and Salma to overhear their conversation.

"
That was
overly
dramatic, don't you think?
"
  Vin asked
C
a
eli
, failing to mask the
relief and
amusement in his voice.

"
Well, it was a bit larger than I anticipated, but
it was necessary.  Thank
you
for not missing
!
"
C
a
eli replied with a sparkle in her eyes and a smile on her face that reflected the success of her mission. 

"
I dare Ben to
haul in a better
catch by the end of the week,
"
Vin challenged, laughing even more as he threw off his safety line and twirled C
a
eli around by the arm to show Ben his prize. 

"
I concede. 
I can't outfish you on that. 
The first round of drinks
is
on me when we
get settled
.
"
  Ben
replied through
Salma
as they
walked out on deck to join their friends
;
but Ben stopped
right
outside the door and restrained Salma once again. 
T
his time
,
it was because Vin plant
ed
a kiss on C
a
eli that would have made even the
most
seasoned sailor blush. 

"
That's an embrace
we
don't
dare
interrupt,
"
Ben admonished his wife.

"
Well, after that little stunt you two pulled on me, C
a
eli deserves no less,
"
Salma laughed and smiled at Ben.  They walked over to stand side by side at the railing, looking out across the
dark waters
. 

From the other side of the steering room, Dr. Jacobs and his redheaded nephew
had
returned and
subtly
watched Ben and Salma.  They could not see the other couple further down the deck.  The doctor held a lab report titled
U.S. Coast Guard – DNA Test Results
.  Immediately below the heading
the
patient number, including
the initials SE
and Dr. Jacobs' name as the attending physician
, was listed
.

"
This could be a problem
,
Uncle
Neal
.  He
i
s quite protective of her.
"

"
Well, that's to be expected, given the situation.  Besides, you brought me her DNA directly.  That made it easy enough to compare against records published with her research.  It
i
s definitely not her blood.  The blood she used has higher concentrations and
a lot
more activity.
"

"
What
'
s our next move?  How do we find out whose blood she used?
"
  Scott's impatience was evident
in his jittery
paper shuffling
.

"
She seem
s
quite pleasant, doesn't she?  I believe she will tell me at the seminar.  She seemed more than willing to talk about her work before he
interfered
.
"

"
Uncle, we can't rely on chance.  If he is with her at the conference, we might not get to spend enough time
alone
with her to get her to reveal the donor. 
W
e
definitely
don't want to arouse his suspicion.  He's
not
just
a cop
, but
a detective.  From what I hear
,
he's a darn good one at that
.
"

"
Well, I think we can do something about him when we
reach
port.  The situation brewing there might be
exactly
the diversion we need to nullify his participation without forcing her to leave
.  It will require a small amount of finesse
,
"
Dr. Jacobs replied.

"
What do you mean?
"

"
Haven't you been watching the news, Scott?  You really should pay more attention to current events.  There have been protests surrounding this entire
medical
conference.  The
locals
seem particularly
vocal about
Dr. Erickson's work and are picketing her arrival.  And
, if I'm not mistaken,
your girlfriend has
been the key instigator
. 
I think we can use that to our advantage.  Wouldn't it be aw
ful if one of the
protestor
s got carried away and accidentally harmed her husband, perhaps broke his leg.  An injury like that could force him to be laid up in his hotel room for
a
couple of days.  From what little I've seen of him, I believe he would insist that his wife go ahead with her conference.  After all, a lot of people did travel a long way to hear her talk about her work.
"