I wanted to be the first and only person Antonio saw when he came through the stairway door. I knew he would be stunned when he saw me sitting alone in the middle of the room. And I was counting on the fact that much as Antonio had said, he and his group weren’t murderers but thieves, that he wasn’t lying and wouldn’t barge through the doors and shoot me.
Initially, Captain Byard and Neil thought it was a crazy idea that I position myself as a sitting duck. But since Dede had told the Inspector that we had discovered the Brutus Coin and she no doubt, based upon her irrational outbursts, wouldn’t be the best person to negotiate our release, they agreed to my plan. I reminded myself as I sat on the cold floor and felt my heart racing that we had split the Gang of Eight in two. And that, at the moment, only three of them are out to get us. I imagined the rest of the gang were upstairs, waiting for word we were out of the way and that they could continue their pirate’s crossing, looking forward to a big payday.
My job was to lure them into the center of the gym, where…if all went well…we would surprise them.
The operative term being if—
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Antonio was first through the door. My eyes froze on him, and I counted the steps I knew he needed to take before I could signal the others from their hiding places. If there was any sense of relief, it was that Antonio wasn’t carrying his rifle. But behind him was Sully, who I feared the most and didn’t doubt, given the slightest provocation, would shoot me. Third and last to enter was the Inspector.
“Where is everybody?” Antonio stopped short with Sully and Inspector Garnier directly behind him.
I snarled. “You want them, or do you want the Brutus Coin? I have it. Right here, in my hand.” I extended the palm of my hand, hoping to draw my three assailants steps closer to me.
Another two steps, and Captain Byard would slip from behind them and shut the door. Finn and Marco would then blast cold water from Athena’s high-powered fire hoses mounted on the walls, and, with any luck, all three would slip on the floor and drop their weapons. Elli and Irene would pick them up. Neil and Byard, armed with rifles they had freed from Athena’s arsenal, would stand guard while Tatiana and I secured the rope we would need to tie them up to ensure they wouldn’t escape.
“Where is everybody?” Antonio took another step closer, then, hearing something behind him, turned and—
Woosh! Finn and Marco released a high-powered torrent of water from their firehoses. Sully slipped and fell, his weapon sliding across the gym floor, while the Inspector folded to his knees, his glasses falling from his face, leaving him to pat the ground anxiously in search of them.
I pocketed the lithium battery and went quickly for Sully’s gun, kicking it out of the way. But not fast enough. Antonio grabbed me, twisted my arm behind my back, and, with his free arm around my neck, dragged me away from the force of the water. “Tell your friends to drop the hoses now, or I’ll break your neck.”
Whatever survival instincts I had kicked in. With one arm free, I elbowed Antonio in the ribs and jammed the heel of my shoe down hard on Antonio’s left sandal. Then, with all the force I could muster, I slammed the back of my head against Antonio’s chin. His head snapped back, and he dropped my arm. In an instant, I was free. But not done. To make sure Antonio wasn’t going to be a problem, I turned and kneed him. One quick, swift, very well-placed strike to the groin.
Antonio doubled over, groaned, and crumpled to the floor.
“You okay?” Byard trained his weapon on Antonio.
“I will be. How about you?” I reached for a rope, one of several Camile had used for her highwire practice above the water, and tossed it to Elli.
Byard answered. “Better now that we have these three in our custody.” With the butt of his rifle aimed at Antonio’s kneecap, Byard edged Antonio closer to Sully and the Professor, who sat soaked in the center of the gym.
Neither man had dared to move. Between Neil’s position directly in front of them, with his rifle aimed at their heads, and Tatiana, who had picked up Sully’s gun with its long deadly silencer, and Dede with the Inspector’s pistol in both hands, the two sat silently. Elli and Finn bound their hands behind their backs, then tied their feet.
Byard checked Elli’s knots and nodded to the stairway door. “We still have the guard outside.”
“Let me take care of that.” Neil rested his rifle on his shoulder and went to the door. Seconds later, the young seaman who had stood guard outside walked into the gym with his hands in the air.
“Nice work, Neil.” Byard picked up another rope and tossed it to Elli.
“Yes. Well, it helps when you own the ship.” Neil shoved the young seaman over to where our three would-be assassins sat tied and bound on the floor and told Elli to tie his hands and feet.
“Now what?” Finn kicked the hoses away from the group. “The others are still upstairs, and Captain Rob has command of the ship. “
“Not for long. Finn, you and Marco stay here and keep watch on these four. Neil and I’ll go upstairs.” Byard handed his rifle to Finn. “Elli, you and Tatiana take Irene back to her cabin. Kat and Dede, you should do the same.”
“Not on your life, Captain.” Dede strode toward the door, the inspector’s pistol in her hand. “You’re not leaving me out of the action. You still have Camile and Carlo to deal with, and if I have any say about it, I want to be the one to take the Professor and Greta down. Kat, get some rope. We’re going to need it.”
“Whoa.” Neil stepped in front of Dede and held out his hand. “Not with a gun, you’re not. Give it to me. Nobody needs to get shot. We’ve got Antonio, Sully, and the Inspector right where we want them. I’m not going to be responsible for another murder on board.”
Dede handed Neil the gun. “Alright, but Kat and I aren’t going back to my cabin. We’re coming with you. I want to see the Professor and Greta’s faces when you tell them I still have the Brutus Coin.” She glanced back at me and added, “You do have it, right, Kat?”
I strapped my camera around my neck and patted the side of my backpack. “It’s not getting out of my sight.”
“Okay, but you and Kat, stay behind me. Kat cut some of that rope and put it in your bag. We may need it.” Then, taking the gun from Dede, Neil slipped it into the back of his waistband and handed his rifle to Marco. “You think you and Finn can handle watching these four while we take care of whatever awaits us upstairs?”
Marco took Neil’s rifle from his hands. “You’ve nothing to worry about, Neil. I’ve always had your back. You know that.”
* * *
By the time Neil, Captain Byard, Dede, and I got upstairs to the Ivy Café, it was after seven a.m. Some early morning residents were already enjoying their coffee. Camile, the Professor, Greta, and Doctor Jon were seated in a large corner booth as though they were waiting for their friends to join them.
Their faces fell when we entered. Camile’s eyes darted to the kitchen exit, and she started to get up, but Byard stepped forward and blocked her escape. Greta grabbed her husband’s hand while the Professor leaned back against the booth and, looking up at the ceiling, shook his head.
“Surprised?” Neil stood opposite Byard at the other end of the booth and, placing his hand behind his back, wrapped his fingers around the handle of the pistol he had taken from Dede.
The Professor took his napkin from his lap and wiped his mouth. “Neil, I can explain—”
“I hope you can, Professor.” Neil grabbed the napkin from the Professor’s hand and tossed it on the table. “I would really like to hear why you murdered my aunt and Oleg. What did they do to you?”
“You’ve got it all wrong, Neil.” The Doctor put his fists on the table. “We never murdered anyone. And if this reporter hadn’t come along and gotten us all concerned she was looking into things that weren’t any of her business, none of this would have happened. We never intended anyone to get hurt.”
“Oh really? It’s a little hard to believe that, considering Oleg fell over a five-foot railing, and my aunt’s body was found inside of an immersion tank. In fact, it makes me wonder if you and your friends had anything to do with the previous captain’s fall overboard. It’s all a little too coincidental, don’t you think?”
The Doctor squeezed his eyes shut as if trying to control his temper. Then, he opened his eyes and said, “Oleg was standing in front of the gate we use for the gangway when we dock. He was drunk. His blood alcohol level was so high he would have had trouble walking straight. He must have leaned against the gate, and it came loose. Either that or he jumped. Committed suicide. I don’t know. He might have been worried about a debt he owed to some Russian thug he had hoped to cut in on a deal. Who knows, but to tell you the truth, I don’t care. As for the previous captain, we all knew he was a drunk. We had nothing to do with his death or Oleg’s. But I do know I did you a favor and filled out Oleg’s death certificate to make it look like he had a health issue and save Athena from inspection.
“Neil.” The Professor looked pleadingly into Neil’s eyes. “You know me, this is all a big misunderstanding.”
