The handle stopped moving, and with a clearly audible snort of disgust Shaban walked away. Nina continued her Meg Ryan routine until she was sure he was out of earshot, then jumped off the bed.
‘Fuck me,’ said Eddie, smirking. ‘And I mean that literally. I’m all turned on now!’
‘Hold that thought until we’re back on shore. And in private.’ She went to the door and listened. No sounds outside. ‘I think we’re clear.’
Eddie joined her, opening the door a crack. The passage was empty. ‘Which way?’
‘Go right, then round the first corner. There are some stairs.’
He darted out, gun at the ready. Nobody was there. To the left, smoked glass doors opened on to one of the upper decks; he could see the lights of Monaco through them. He went right, and peered round the corner. Still no one; the promised stairs were some thirty feet away. ‘Okay, clear.’
Nina followed him, acutely aware in the yacht’s insulated quiet that her long dress was rustling with every step. ‘This is why I always wear Dockers,’ she whispered.
‘If you wore miniskirts, like I keep asking . . .’ Eddie paused at the stairs. A faint conversation was audible from the deck above, but it soon became clear that the speakers were not approaching. He descended. ‘Two decks down, you said?’
They heard music when they reached the correct deck, a pop beat coming from a cabin. They crept past and headed for Nina’s room. She had left the door unlocked; they ducked inside.
Nina quickly shed the dress and changed back into her regular clothes, then gathered her few belongings. ‘Should I call Macy?’ she asked, holding up her phone.
‘Let’s get off the ship first,’ said Eddie.
‘How are we going to get back ashore?’
‘Nick a boat.’ He stepped into the corridor. ‘Okay, come on.’
They moved back to the stairs, approaching the cabin where the music was playing. Pass that, up one level, then they would be on the main deck, needing only to keep out of sight to reach the boats. Simple.
Or not.
The door opened, the music jumping in volume as a young blonde woman carrying two empty glasses stepped out - and found the revolver aimed right between her eyes. She screamed and jumped back, a man shouting in surprise.
Nina and Eddie looked at each other. ‘Leg it!’ Eddie yelled.
They ran up the stairs. An alarm bell clamoured as they reached the next deck. Nina heard more voices from above. Osir’s crew had been caught off guard by the unexpected alert, but it would only take them seconds to respond.
Eddie took the lead as they ran down the passage. Another smoked glass door ahead led to the aft deck. Someone behind them shouted.
No time to stop and open the door. Instead, Eddie fired a single shot through it. Glass shattered, dropping in a dark cascade to the floor. They crunched over the debris and ran out on to the deck.
It was empty. Ahead, more stairs led down to the mooring platform. ‘Which boat?’ Nina asked as they raced towards it.
‘Whichever’s got the keys in!’ Eddie replied, glancing back. He saw someone emerging from a door on the deck above, and fired another shot to force him back inside.
Nina hurried down the steep stairs as he crouched and took cover at the top. Not liking the look of the small, exposed jet skis, she went to the boats. The speedboats would be faster, but the Solar Barque’s tender still had its key in the ignition.
She climbed aboard. ‘Eddie, come on!’
Eddie glanced round at the burble of the tender’s engines. ‘Untie it!’ he shouted. His gunshot had made the crew more cautious, nobody wanting to be the first to put himself in harm’s way.
That wouldn’t last. As soon as Shaban or Diamondback arrived, they would order a rush on the boat dock. And with only four bullets remaining, his chances of holding it off were slim.
He looked back at Nina. She was still unravelling the ropes.
Two men ran on to the upper deck and dived in opposite directions to the floor. Eddie shot at one, but missed. Three bullets left.
‘Eddie!’ The tender was free; Nina jumped behind its wheel.
‘Get going!’ he yelled. She shook her head, unwilling to leave him behind. ‘I’ll jump on, just get the bloody thing moving!’
The engine growl rose to a roar. He turned to leap down the stairs—
Diamondback burst from the broken glass door. Eddie snapped off another shot, but it went wide as the American flung himself headlong into cover. Two bullets.
The black barrel of an MP7 poked over the upper deck’s edge, laser sight flicking on. The needle-thin red beam swept towards Eddie - then jittered in a crazy display as he shot the weapon out of the gunman’s hands.
One bullet.
‘Fucking revolvers!’ Eddie spat. Even with its ammo capacity limited by the sheer size of its .50-calibre bullets, his old Wildey handgun had still been able to manage more than a mere six shots. One bullet, and several targets - it was time to go.
He jumped, landing on the dock with a bang. The tender was pulling away, but Nina was still reluctant to gun the throttle until he was aboard. He straightened, turned, launched himself into a sprint to make a running jump—
A searing pain exploded in the side of his head.
The flash of agony was so overwhelming that he fell, crashing down just short of the dock’s edge. He clapped a hand to the wound. It stung viciously, and he felt blood on his palm - but not the torn meat and bone of a direct bullet impact against a human skull. The revolver shot had grazed him, slicing a gash just above his left ear.
If he had started his run on the other foot, if he had thrown his weight left rather than right, he would be dead.
And his wife would be a widow. Eyes tight with pain, he saw Nina looking back at him in horror. He waved desperately at her. ‘Get out of here! Go!’
It took her a moment to fight through her fear for him - a moment too long. A laser spot swept across the boat, zeroing in on her chest.
Very carefully, she moved her hand away from the throttle.
Eddie heard the clip-clop of cowboy boots approaching. He painfully turned his head, seeing that he had dropped the revolver a couple of feet away. A hand reached down to collect it. ‘I think this is mine,’ said Diamondback.
‘You’re welcome to the fuckin’ thing,’ Eddie groaned. ‘There’s only one bullet left.’
‘It’s all I need.’ A faint clicking as the trigger was pulled back, the cylinder rotating to bring the last bullet under the raised hammer . . .
‘No!’ someone almost screamed. Osir. ‘You idiot, people will see!’
Eddie heard Diamondback mutter ‘So? Fuck ’em . . .’ but with a soft clink the hammer lowered back into place. The Solar Barque was not the only expensive craft moored off Monaco; the sound of gunfire had probably already caught the attention of people on other yachts.
‘Get them out of sight. Quickly!’ Osir ordered.
Shaban joined his brother. ‘We have to kill them. You should have listened to me.’
‘I know, I know. We will. But not here. If the Monaco police come to investigate the gunshots, and we have a ship full of corpses . . .’
The boat was quickly secured, and Nina was brought back on to the dock at gunpoint. Osir gave her an especially disgusted look. ‘I didn’t want to do this, but you’ve left me no choice. When this ship leaves Monaco tomorrow, after the race . . . you will both die.’
19
‘You know, mate,’ said Eddie, voice echoing, ‘I really don’t like your hospitality.’