“We have little choice,” Pete said gravely. “We have to go to the island ourselves.”
After he was finished with his dinner, Pete flattened a map over the coffee table, his empty dish now sitting on the floor. The map had already been marked up with a red pen, the handwriting Leila recognized to be Soliman’s.
Montu had left, still in a bad mood. Pete shrugged him off and explained that Montu was sleeping in the boat.
Pete tapped a blue area of the map. “There. It is too small to be printed, so we have improvised by drawing it in ourselves. We have had our eye on this island for years, but so far, none of the Medjay who have gone have ever returned. It is well-guarded at all times, and those guards are well paid. They do their job ruthlessly. Any trespassers are thrown into the sea… probably with rocks tied to their feet.”
“And you let Soliman go alone?” Leila snapped.
“We could not both go,” Pete insisted. “If Soliman is in distress, he will reach out. Until I get such a message, I will assume he is all right.”
“That’s not how it works.” Leila crossed her arms. This didn’t bode well at all. “He can’t reach out if he’s imprisoned or dead.”
They fell silent for a moment, each studying the map, lost in their own thoughts. Leila stared at the tiny dot marking the island’s location and her stomach somersaulted. Having been to Faris’s Egyptian villa, she had a good idea at how well-guarded the island would be. This wasn’t going to be easy.
“All right.” Leila sighed. If nobody else would make a plan, she would start. “We’ll need a boat.”
Xander groaned. “Can’t we take a helicopter?”
Leila patted his shoulder. “You’ll be fine. I still have some Dramamine for you.”
Pete folded up the map and stood. “Can either of you scuba dive?”
They shook their heads.
“Then it will be time for you to learn. The most discreet access to the island is underwater, through a pear-shaped opening.”
“How do you know that?” Leila asked.
“We’ve been studying this island for some time, remember?”
Leila bit her lip. She had always wanted to try it, so why not now?
“Tomorrow, we will do lessons in the morning. In the afternoon, we leave,” Pete said with a nod.
“We’ll need more weapons,” Xander said.
Pete waved a hand. “Leave it all to me. I am not Medjay for nothing.”
With their plans settled, they cleared up the living room. It was already nearing one in the morning, and Leila was starting to feel it.
Pete brought out a wad of blankets and tossed them onto the couch. “You can fight over the sofa.”
Xander settled onto the floor beside the couch. Leila didn’t bother arguing with him over it. She knew he wouldn’t budge. So she flopped onto the cushions and curled up underneath a blanket. Despite the smoke-filled room, they both fell asleep quickly.
CHAPTER 27
With a brush tight in her hand, Leila scrubbed furiously at a stubborn spot of algae on the upper deck of River God. All around her, sailboats and small yachts were moored along the docks of the Flisvos marina. Their vessel rocked gently as water, a gorgeous shade of turquoise, lapped at its sides. Leila could see clear to the bottom of the sea floor fifteen feet down, where schools of tiny fish circled beneath the surface, exploring the bottoms of the harbor’s resident boats.
The sun had barely risen when Pete had walked into the living room and announced that they were leaving for the harbor that very second. Leila and Xander had groggily crawled from their spots and into Pete’s truck.
On the boat, Montu sulked somewhere in the cabin, while Leila had been given a bucket and a brush to scrub the deck. Xander had been handed a box of equipment to sort and clean. Not exactly the scuba lesson Pete had spoken of the night before.
Then the motor wouldn’t turn on, so Pete spent the rest of the morning in the engine room. Mid-day neared, and Pete grumbled to himself as climbed up the stairs to the deck, wiping a black streak off his arm. He walked over to one of the heavy white containers next to the wheelhouse and lifted the lid.
“Well,” Pete said, pulling out an oxygen tank, “I’m going to have to go shop for some parts. Montu will give you two your lessons while I’m gone.”
“Oh.” Leila grimaced. That didn’t bode well for them. He’d probably try to drown them while Pete was gone. She took the canister and turned it in her hands, studying the valves and knobs at the top. She didn’t have the slightest idea how this thing worked.
“Montu!” Pete yelled. “Get up here!” A moment later, the brooding Medjay joined the three of them on the deck, arms crossed as usual.
Pete slipped on a pair of round black sunglasses. “Get started with the lessons. I want these two to be expert divers when I get back.”
Montu glowered at them but said nothing as Pete jumped from the boat to the dock.
Silence hung over them like flies over a pile of camel dung.
“Well…” Leila said awkwardly. “Let’s get on with it, shall we?” She stood and held up a canister. She knew it was oxygen, but she had to get the lesson going somehow. “So, this is for… what?”
“I’d rather teach you to drown,” Montu snarled, then he whirled around and headed for the cabin door.
Xander stepped forward and grabbed the man’s upper arm, pulling him back. “Whose side are you on? Do you want to stop Faris or not?”
Montu glared at Xander, his eyes full of hate. A dagger appeared in his hand, and it flashed toward Xander. Xander caught Montu’s wrist with his free hand.
“I am on my side,” Montu spat. “And my side is the Medjay. We don’t need you. We don’t want you.”
“Pete seems to disagree with you,” Xander said in a low voice, matching Montu’s glare. “It looks to me that you’re the only one here with a problem. So enough is enough. If you’re not going to help us, then… Get. Off. This. Boat.”