She stared out over the railing at the town of Dutch Harbor in the distance. “I really hope it doesn’t come to that.”
Matsuda coughed quietly behind them. Ridley nudged McKenna. “Here it comes.”
McKenna turned. Found Matsuda standing alone, a few feet away, his colleagues watching silently from behind. “Captain Rhodes,” Matsuda said. “Can we discuss?”
McKenna glanced at Ridley, who grinned, sardonic, like, Wait for it. Then she followed Matsuda to the forward lifeboat.
“I wanted to express my apologies again,” Matsuda told her. “I was wrong to underestimate you, Captain Rhodes. You’ve done remarkable work.”
“Thank you,” McKenna said. Now stick the knife in me.
“We have no interest in making enemies of you, Captain, or any of your crew,” Matsuda continued. “And I, personally, have no interest in making this partnership any more adversarial than it already has been.”
“Good,” McKenna said. “Me, neither.”
Matsuda paused. Broke eye contact, and McKenna thought, Here it comes. Then the executive looked at her again. “Our insurance assessment of the value of the ship and its cargo will take some time,” he said. “However, we estimate the total will amount to something more than the hundred and fifty million dollars you and I discussed previously.”
McKenna frowned. “Okay?”
“I’d like to therefore make a proposal,” Matsuda said. “The Japanese Overseas Shipping Company will make Gale Force Marine a good faith payment of twenty million dollars, effective immediately. We can settle the remaining balance when we have processed the assessment, which you of course will be allowed to review.”
He met McKenna’s stare. “You are welcome to propose another arrangement, but I think this is a fair offer.”
McKenna didn’t answer for a beat. Felt her heart pounding. Realized, for all the work, she hadn’t quite been prepared for this moment. “Yes,” she said, and her voice came out strangled. “That’s more than fair.”
“You’ll need to provide the company’s banking information. My colleagues will process the transaction.”
“Of course,” McKenna said.
Matsuda studied her face, the ghost of a smile on his lips. “Will you shake my hand, Captain Rhodes?” he asked. “And accept my friendship, once and for all?”
McKenna blinked her head clear. Looked at the shipping executive, who waited, his hand outstretched. “Damn right, I’ll shake your hand,” she replied, and she did just that. “It’s a pleasure doing business with you.”
85
Through the window of his rented pickup truck, Daishin Sato stared across the pier at the salvage tug, trying to conjure a strategy.
Beyond the Gale Force, the freighter Pacific Lion sat peaceful and upright in the middle of Unalaska Bay, almost close enough to touch. And somewhere onboard, or somewhere nearby, fifty million dollars’ worth of Inagawa-kai bearer bonds waited to be claimed.
The sailor, Okura, claimed the bonds were in a briefcase in the infirmary. If they weren’t there, they were in the hands of the salvage crew already. Dutch Harbor was a small place. There were only so many ways to leave it. Sato was confident he and his colleagues could recover the briefcase. The more pressing concern was that of stealth: How to retrieve the bonds and escape this barren rock without being noticed?
Sato did not want to have to resort to violence. Violence would attract undue attention, but these situations invariably required a strong hand, and Sato was not averse. His job was to recover his employer’s stolen property. There would be no credit given for mercy.
The Lion sat alone in the middle of the bay, visible to all in the tiny town. For all Sato knew, there may still have been men aboard her, Coast Guard men, or salvage men, or shipping company men. But even if the ship were unoccupied, it would be foolish to attempt to gain access during daylight. No matter how stealthy, no one could cross a mile of open water in daytime without being seen.
But it would be dark soon enough. And there was work to be done. From his pocket, Sato produced a satellite phone, and used it to place a call to his colleagues at the Grand Aleutian Hotel.
“We move tonight,” he told the man who answered. “Send one man to the pier to keep watch over the salvage crew. Tell him to report immediately if he sees the stainless-steel briefcase.”
“I’ll send Masao,” his colleague replied. “And what of the rest of us?”
Sato started his engine. “You’ll meet me outside the hotel,” he said, shifting into reverse. “Five minutes. We’ll need to locate some adequate firepower.”
86
McKenna and Ridley delivered Matsuda and the rest of the shipping company executives from the Pacific Lion back to shore. One of Matsuda’s companions, an accountant named Hayata, copied Gale Force Marine’s banking information on the short ride across the harbor. He entered it into a laptop equipped with a satellite transmitter, pressed a few buttons, and then nodded to Matsuda.
“You can call your banker,” Matsuda told McKenna. “You should receive payment within thirty minutes.”
McKenna thanked him, shook his hand again. Shook Hayata’s hand, too, and the rest of the executives’. Ferried them to the pier and helped them off of the tug, wished them all a happy goodbye and a safe return to Japan. Then she called the crew into the wheelhouse.
They gathered, Matt and Stacey, Ridley and the Parents, and Court Harrington.
“The Japanese Overseas men have surveyed the ship,” she told them. “And they’ve accepted delivery. Our job is officially finished.”
The crew cheered. Hugged. High-fived. McKenna shook hands with Al and Jason Parent, hugged Matt and Stacey and Ridley. Hugged Court Harrington, too.
“Ain’t finished until we get paid, though,” Ridley said. “I told Carly we’d redo the kitchen, soon as I finished up here. She wants granite countertops, skipper. Help me out.”
McKenna grinned at him. “You can tell Carly to go ahead and start working,” she said. “Though she might want to look into marble counters, instead. The really expensive stuff.”
She addressed the crew again. “The shipping company figures the Lion’s value at somewhere north of a hundred and fifty million dollars. Based on the contract we signed, which gives us twenty percent of that figure, Mr. Matsuda and his team have offered to make a good faith payment to the Gale Force up front, with the outstanding balance to be worked out once we’ve all had a chance to run the numbers.”
“Okay,” Harrington said. “So what’s the payout?”
“Twenty,” McKenna replied.
A pause. “Twenty what?” Stacey said.
“Twenty million. The money’s in transit as we speak.”
The crew stared at her. Said nothing. McKenna knew they were running the math, calculating their own payouts. Ridley was the first to break the silence.
“Well, thundering Jonas,” he said. “Forget the kitchen. I’ll buy Carly a new house.”
Stacey nudged Matt. “What do you think, honey?” she asked. “Want to take me to Antarctica? Hang out with some penguins?”
“Might need a different plane,” Matt said, kissing her. “But I’m game if you are.”
All eyes turned to Al and Jason Parent. Al shrugged. “Think I’ll finish up that old Mustang in my garage. Finally get her up and running again.”
“What about you, Jay?” McKenna asked.
Jason blushed a little bit, looked down. “Probably put most of my share into Ben’s college fund. Make sure he’s set up really well for the future.”