Mako turned his head toward Foster. “Throw some water on his face, will you? The guy can hardly breathe.”
With a lighthearted grunt Foster picked up a bailing bucket, held it over the side until it was half filled, then tossed the contents into Billy’s face. The Carib let out a gasp, spit out some salt water and groaned again. Only Mako knew that groan was a fake.
“Can you do that again for him?”
“Why, what would he care? He won’t be around long enough to enjoy it.” Then the idea suddenly appealed to him. So he let the Carib know what it was really like to swim with the fishes. He’d have a bullet hole in him first to keep him a little quiet while one of those big gray babies took the first bite.
Once more he dipped the pail over and threw its contents at Billy’s face. This time his eyes partially opened. The stars were out, and with the limited light, night vision was sharp and clear, though sharply restricted. A flurry of motion over the surface of the ocean brought a couple dozen flying fish in a frenzied formation passing over the inflatable, and something else touched the bottom; Billy moaned and pushed himself partially erect on his elbows.
“Easy, there, man. You lie down again.”
Billy nodded dreamily, took two long breaths of air, turned his head to one side momentarily and flopped down again.
Once more something touched the bottom of the boat. Gary Foster had his feet up on the rail around the small wheel box and never felt it.
From the bottom, Billy Bright said, “You be one lousy piece of crab bait, you.”
Gary Foster’s teeth clamped together and he looked for something to throw at Billy. He grabbed the pail and reached over the side to scoop it full and smash it into Billy’s face, when the sea erupted into a monstrous terror of bulk and teeth that grabbed Foster’s arm above the elbow and hauled him over the side; the scream he let out was so brief that it was hardly any sound at all.
Mako stood up, the little knife still in his hand. Billy grinned when Mako slipped it back in the holster on his leg. “Sar... what would you do with that small blade?”
“You wouldn’t want me to tell you, my friend.”
Very seriously Billy said, “Yes, sar, I really would.”
Mako nodded. “I would have flipped the blade into his eyeball and he would have died a second later.”
“Sar... you can... throw a knife... like that?”
Mako just smiled his answer back and Billy knew.
“Your Mr. Mako Shark got there first, he did.”
“What?”
“That was your shark, sar.”
“Look...”
“Twice, he touched the bottom of the boat, sar. He was telling you he was coming.”
“Billy, damn it...”
“I could smell he, sar. I saw his tail with the cuts on it.”
There was no sense arguing. Mako went and sat down where Gary had been so recently. On the slanted instrument board he saw the detonator and picked it up. If the boat was still on course that barrel should be straight ahead. He touched the detonate button and a full mile ahead the flare of an orange explosion made a small blossom before the darkness closed in again. Now the sharks out there could revel in their soup of blood and guts.
“Your shark, sar. He be happy,” Billy told him. Mako waited for the rest of the explanation. “You give him his name back now. For sure you be real brothers like we be. He save you, so he be ver’ happy.”
Mako let out a little laugh and hoped Billy was right. Then he spun the inflatable around and headed back to Peolle.
Chapter Seventeen
Two hours before sunup, Hooker and Billy paddled the inflatable up to the stern of the Lotusland. Nobody heard them. Nobody saw them. Hooker tied off the bowline to the landing platform, then they slipped into the water soundlessly, and without making a single splash they breaststroked their way to the shore. When Hooker was sure the area was totally deserted he stood up, motioning for Billy to follow him. They angled southward, heading for the Clamdip, stopping often so that Billy could rest.
The left side of Billy’s face was grotesquely swollen and even the salt water couldn’t dissolve the clotted blood that tangled his hair. A cut behind one ear was still bleeding and every few minutes Billy would hold up his hand to stop and spit out a crimson mess from his split gums.
“You want to stop here?” Mako asked him.
Billy’s head shook adamantly. “No. I be better soon, sar.”
“You need a doctor, pal.”
“Doctor not on Peolle.” He paused and eased himself into a squat. “For a little while we rest, okay?”
“Sure, okay, Billy. Just tell me when you’re ready to walk.” He dropped to his knees in the sand. He never was able to go into that almost double-jointed squat the natives felt so comfortable in. “Think you want to talk about it now?”
“Yes. I can talk.”
“What happened?”
“I was sleeping on the big deck chair. He was very quiet but I heard him and tried to get up.” Billy took a deep breath and his face contorted with a fresh pain. “He hit me with something. I was... on the deck... there was that tape on my mouth and around my feet and hands.”
“Where was he, Billy?”
“Below, sar. I heard him... tearing things apart. I must have made some sounds because... he came up and wanted to know where it was. I made like... my head was all dizzy and didn’t know what he meant.” Once more he paused, wiped the blood from his lips and went on. “Film, sar. He wanted the tape.”
“He was going to make a big hit with his boss,” Mako muttered.
“I didn’t tell, sar,” Billy said simply.
“He could have killed you, pal.”
Billy nodded gravely. “I think, sar, he tried. He took the fire extinguisher and hit me with it. Twice, I remember. I woke up on the inflatable and he hit me again, with the gun this time.”
“He probably thought you were dead then, but he had to get rid of you. And me,” Hooker added.
Billy was ready to get up, but before he did he asked Mako, “Sar, were you... scared?”
“No, that little pissant didn’t scare me. But I was afraid, buddy. I didn’t know what had happened to you, and Judy was by herself in my hooch, and I had to play it right down to the wire.”
Billy didn’t fully understand, but he got the sense of it. “What do we do now, sar?”
“We let the pot boil.”
“What means that?”
“We do nothing for a while and let them sweat. When the time comes, our friend Pell will make his move. He’ll have to. He’s going to see that tied-up inflatable, wonder what the hell happened to Gary Foster and what Marcus Grey and Judy will do, but most of all he’ll be terrified of what his real bosses in the grand offices where the money mob do their business now will say. He’ll go right on their hit list for sure.”
“Sar... but in between...”
“He has to dump me, Billy. I don’t want anything from him except his hide. Anything else he can wiggle out of. His bosses will let him off the hook if he comes up with a great money deal, figuring that everybody can hit a foul ball sometimes. He has paperwork and cash to insure his position with the movie company, and if he gets one big show out of this deal he’s in the big time.”
“Except for you,” Billy said.
Mako’s teeth showed a brief flash of white in his grin. “Right. Except for me.”
With a serious tone Billy said, “Miss Durant... she doesn’t like these terrible things.”
“Billy... if I don’t reach Pell first, she’ll be the next one he’ll kill. He can’t let her stay alive. She knows too much now and she has enough clout to go after him. Trouble is, what law can she use here in these islands? Even the Tellig will be out of here. So will the Sentilla.”