Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 86450 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 432(@200wpm)___ 346(@250wpm)___ 288(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 86450 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 432(@200wpm)___ 346(@250wpm)___ 288(@300wpm)
I stand up from the table and square myself up to the Russian. “Anatoli and I have been giving each other wide berths for nine years. I’m not stupid enough to break that arrangement. If I had information for him, he’d have it without you having to ask.”
“He might like to hear that from you directly.”
“I’m a busy man, same as he is. Pass the message on.”
Mikhail’s mouth flattens. He clearly doesn’t like his authority being questioned. He looks at me for one more beat, then turns away, making his way back up on deck. We listen as their footsteps recede and then they’re gone.
The cabin is very quiet.
Marcus exhales slowly through his nose, and Connie says nothing for ten seconds.
Then she says, “Holy fuck.”
“Breathe.”
“Holy fuck, Finn.”
“Breathe, Connie.”
She’s breathing, face pale. “He’ll kill us if he finds out you were there.”
“That’s old news,” I point out.
“No, I’ll tell you what’s news,” Connie says angrily, leaning over the table and slamming her hand on it. “That woman you fished out of the water is bad news.”
“Connie,” I say on a long sigh, turning my gaze toward Marcus to get his read on the situation.
“Should have let her drown,” Connie mutters.
I turn my head and look at her. “Don’t say that.”
“Why? It’s true. They’re not going to give up looking for her. And now they’re coming for us, because somebody fired from a dark boat and they know it wasn’t a cop. It could only be someone like us.”
“They don’t know it was us,” Marcus points out.
“Yet,” she snaps.
“Connie,” I say on a longer sigh.
“They will, Finn,” she exclaims, her cheeks turning red. “Mikhail didn’t come to chat. He came to look at our faces while he asked us questions.”
“I handled it.”
“No, you didn’t. I want to know what you’re going to do about her,” she demands.
“Nothing. We don’t do anything about her. She’s not our problem.”
“She’s the only problem.”
I take a slow breath and look out the small porthole at the dock. Christ, I want a drink.
“You know what would solve it?” Connie says quietly.
I look at her. “Don’t even say it.”
“Anonymous tip,” she says, looking to Marcus with hopeful eyes. “We give them her name and the problem goes away. We go back to working and we’re safe.”
The temperature in my veins drops about thirty degrees and I can see Marcus bowing his head and slowly shaking it.
“What the fuck did you just say?” I growl, fury rippling through me.
“Finn—”
“What the fuck did you just say to me?” I bark at her.
“I’m just—”
“You’re suggesting we hand over a woman to Anatoli Voronin, who will kill her on the spot.”
“I’m—”
“You know what he does to women, Connie. You know exactly what he does to women and now you’re standing in my cabin telling me we should deliver a woman to him.”
“I’m freaked out, Finn, and I’m merely offering options,” she whines.
I move toe to toe with her. “I don’t give a fuck how you feel about this. If I hear you say one more thing like that, ever, to anybody, you take your shit, you walk off this boat, and you don’t come back. Not for work. Not for anything. Do you understand me?”
Marcus’s head whips my way and Connie’s eyes flare with pain. “Finn…”
“Do you understand me, Connie?”
She doesn’t say anything for a second. She looks so wounded, as if I’d driven a knife in her heart. Then, “Yeah… I understand.”
“Good.”
Her capitulation should settle it, but I’m still angry. Pissed as hell she’d even suggest such a thing, and not just that she doesn’t seem to have any regard for an innocent woman dying, but that it’s Josie she would hand over to a monster.
The cabin is suddenly too small for me to be in. I take my jacket off the wall hook and head up the steps to the deck without looking at either of them.
The air outside is cold and clean. I inhale deep breaths to clear my head, wondering if I was too rough on Connie now that there’s a little distance between her words and me.
But fuck that. She’s talking about a death sentence to Josie and…
My hands curl into fists.
I hear Marcus’s footsteps behind me but don’t turn around. Instead, I walk down the gangway, onto the dock and toward the gate. The marina is quiet except for somebody two slips east playing music low through a cracked door.
Marcus catches up to me halfway down the dock and falls into step.
I ignore him as we walk past the end of the slips, past the harbormaster’s office, through the gate and across the gravel lot toward where my truck is parked.
“Talk to me, Finn,” he finally says as I reach in my pocket for the key fob.
I look out past the breakwater and exhale. “I had dinner with her last night.”