CHAPTER EIGHTY-TWO

The morning broke hazy and warm.

Karen woke early and ate a light breakfast in her room. She sat out on the balcony and sipped her coffee, watching the sun rise over the calm sea. Trying to settle her nerves. A flock of birds circled out by the reef, honking and diving for an early meal.

Around seven-thirty she saw a white launch pull up at the St. James’s dock. A captain jumped off. She stood and tried to relax her restless stomach. Here goes….

She put on a print sundress and a pair of espadrilles. She clipped her hair up off her neck and applied a touch of blush to her cheeks and gloss to her lips, just to make herself look pretty. Then she packed her bag, sun cream, lip balm, a couple of bottles of water. She took along some pictures of the kids she’d brought with her.

Downstairs, Ty was waiting on the walkway to the beach. He gave her a supportive wink. What else was there really to say?

“I have something for you,” he said, taking her under the loggia to a private spot where he sat her down in a wooden beach chair. He pressed a small disk into her palm. “It’s a high-powered GPS receiver. Hide it in your purse. That way I can find you. I want you to call me on the hour. Every hour. Just so I know you’re safe. You promise you’ll do that for me, Karen?”

“Ty, I’ll be fine. It’s Charles.”

“I want you to promise,” he said, not a question this time, more of a command.

“Okay.” She relented and smiled at him. “I promise.”

From his pocket Hauck took out something else—a dark, metal object, small enough to fit into the palm of his hand—that made her shudder. “I want you to take this along, too, Karen.”

“No.”

“I mean it, Karen.” He pressed it into her hand. “Just in case something happens. It’s a Beretta .22. The safety’s off. It may be nothing. But you don’t know what you’re walking into. You said it yourself—people have died. So take it. Please. Just in case.”

Karen gazed at the gun, her heart quickening. She tried to push it back. “Ty, please, it’s Charles…”

“It’s Charles,” he said, “and you have no idea what else you’re walking into. Take it, Karen. It’s not a request, it’s an order. You can give it back to me this afternoon.”

She stared at the gun, and it reminded her that no matter how she tried to play this, he was right—she was a little scared.

“I’m reluctant to bring it, ’cause I just might use it on him,” she chortled. But she tucked it into her bag.

“Karen, listen.” Ty lifted his shades. “I do love you. I think I have from that first day I came to your house. You know that. I don’t know what happens after this, between you and me. We’ll work that out. But now it’s my turn, and I want you to hear me clearly. You be careful, Karen. I want you to stay as public as you can. You don’t go anywhere with him—after. You don’t take any risks, you understand?”

“Yessir.” Karen nodded, a small smile creeping through the nerves.

“What the hell would you want me to say, Karen? I’m a cop.”

The captain of the boat, a black man of about thirty in surf shorts and a baseball cap, jumped off the launch. It was called the Sea Angel. He seemed to be checking his watch.

Karen said, “I think I have to go.”

She leaned close to him, and he hugged her. She gave him a kiss on his cheek and squeezed him tightly. “Don’t worry about me, Ty.” She stood up and did her best to smile. “It’s Charlie. We’ll probably be drinking a beer in some café by ten.”

She hurried toward the dock, turning once and waving, her heart pounding all the same. Ty came out and followed her a few steps over the sand, a wave back. Then she ran up the dock to the Sea Angel’s captain, an affable-looking man. “You’re Neville?”

“Yes, ma’am,” he said. He took her bag from her. “We should be heading out.” He noticed Ty, taking a step or two toward them. “He said just you, ma’am. Just you or we don’t go.”

Karen took his hand and jumped aboard. “It is just me. Go where?”

Neville stepped aboard, tossing the bowline back onto the dock. “He said you would know.”

The Dark Tide
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