Dead in the Water by Robin Stevenson

Author:Robin Stevenson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: JUV000000
Publisher: Orca Book Publishers
Published: 2008-04-01T04:00:00+00:00

chapter twelve

As I tied the dinghy’s towrope to Salty Mist’s stern, I was grateful for the wind and the slight swell rolling into the anchorage. On a dead calm night, I wouldn’t even have considered doing this. To be honest, the beer bottles made me feel a bit better too. If they’d drunk all of those tonight, it’d take more than a slight movement of the boat to wake them.

I remembered Olivia’s cat feet and glanced down at my own runners. “We can’t talk once we’re aboard,” I whispered. “Just signal to me if you hear anyone moving, okay? If anyone even stirs, we get the hell out of here and start rowing.”

She nodded. Her eyes looked enormous.

Trying to move as slowly and quietly as possible, we stepped into Salty Mist’s cockpit and stood motionless for a moment, listening. Not a sound. Olivia held up her flashlight and raised her eyebrows questioningly. I shook my head. Not worth risking. Besides, between the full moon and the anchor light hanging over the cockpit, we could see pretty well.

Of course, that meant that anyone looking would see us pretty well too.

I hadn’t been on a cabin cruiser before. It didn’t have a small companionway with steps or a ladder leading down below like a sailboat; instead, it had full-height Plexiglas doors that opened directly into the cabin. I couldn’t see inside—there were no lights on—but if the men woke and looked out, they’d see us right away. It was creepy, knowing that they could see us but we couldn’t see them.

I gestured to Olivia that I was going forward. She nodded and indicated that she’d walk down the other side of the boat. Trying to walk as silently as possible, I crept toward the bow. Olivia was out of sight, on the other side of the cabin, and I had to fight a sudden irrational flood of fear that we shouldn’t have separated. I couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary, just some ropes hanging over the side of the boat and some water jugs strapped to a stainless-steel railing.

Something crunched under my foot. I froze, holding my breath. Nothing happened. Moving carefully, I bent down to pick up what I’d stepped on. A shell with an iridescent pearly sheen, now broken into three sharp-edged pieces. I slipped them in my pocket. Still crouching, I looked over my shoulder nervously. The cabin had large dark tinted windows all the way to the bow, and all it would take would be for one of the men to wake and glance out. Worst of all, the window right by me was open a few inches. I was only a few feet away from where the men were sleeping, without even a sheet of Plexiglas between us.

“Ssss.” Olivia hissed softly, stepping out from behind the tall cabin and reappearing at the bow. She gestured to me to follow her.

I followed her across the wide flat deck at the front of the boat and back down her side of the cabin.

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