Swimming to Catalina (Stone Barrington 4)

“We’ve got to make that door,” Stone said, pointing above them. A round table was a few feet away, apparently bolted to the floor. “I think I can grab the pedestal,” he said. He stood on the banister of the nearly horizontal staircase, got an arm around the pedestal, and hoisted himself onto it.

From somewhere deep in the bowels of the big yacht there came a menacing rumble, and the ship began her final journey to the bottom. Water rushed at them from below as Stone got hold of Arrington’s wrist and pulled her up with him.

“It’s too far to the door,” he said. “We’ll never make that.”

“Look!” she cried. “The window.”

Stone followed her finger and saw a latch on the window a

few feet above her head. “Take my hand and steady me,” he said. “I think I can reach it if I stand on the edge of the tabletop.” He got one foot there and, holding on to Arrington, the other. He flipped the latch and tugged at the window. It slid open about two feet and stopped. The water level was rising fast now; it was up to their necks again, and climbing.

“We’re going to have to rise with the water,” Stone said. “Grab for the window and get yourself out. I’ll be right behind you.”

Then the yacht gave up the ghost and began sliding under the waves. The water engulfed them, but Stone kept the flashlight trained on the open window. Arrington slipped away from him, but he couldn’t see where. Then his shoulders were stuck in the open window. He pushed himself back inside the sinking yacht, stuck one arm through the window, then got his head, shoulder, and the other arm through. As he broke free, he pushed hard off the window sill and made for the air above.

He broke the surface with a shout, expelling all the air he had been saving, and began looking for Arrington.

“Stone, over here!” she called from behind him.

Stone turned and saw her being hauled into a rubber dinghy by two men; one of them was the captain of Contessa. Stone looked around for Dino and the black boat, but saw nothing. He made for the dinghy and grabbed the side.

The yacht’s skipper leaned over and looked at him. “You!” he shouted angrily.

Stone swung the flashlight at him and caught him full on the side of the head. The man fell backward and out the other side of the dinghy. Stone hoisted himself half into the rubber boat and saw the other crew member coming at him with an oar. He pushed himself back into the water, narrowly avoiding the swinging blade. When he broke the surface again, a few feet away, he heard the dinghy’s outboard start up. Arrington was struggling with the man now, as the rubber boat started to move away from Stone.

Then, like the cavalry, Dino showed up. He was drifting toward the dinghy in the black Whaler, and he had his flashlight in his hand. He swung it mightily and made contact with the back of the man’s head. The man fell overboard.

“Help me get them!” Stone yelled. “We can’t just let them drown!” He was already swimming around the dinghy. With Arrington’s and Dino’s help, he got both the unconscious men back into the dinghy. They stank of alcohol.

“Are they hurt badly, do you think?” Arrington asked.

“They’ll live,” Dino said. “What do you want to do with them, Stone?” He was holding the dinghy next to the Whaler.

Stone hoisted himself into the dinghy. “Arrington, get into the boat with Dino,” he said. He began unscrewing the outboard from the dinghy’s plywood transom. “Hurry up!” He got the outboard loose and dropped it overboard, where it joined Contessa, then he flung the oars as far away as he could, hopped into the Whaler, and got the engines started.

From the direction of the shore a large motorboat was headed toward them. “I hope that isn’t a Coast Guard cutter,” Stone said. He switched off the Whaler’s running lights, put the throttles forward a little, and motored slowly for fifty yards as a spotlight played on the water behind them. For another few hundred yards he increased speed slightly, hoping to keep the sound of his engines quieter than those aboard the approaching boat, then he pushed the throttles wide open and roared away toward the mainland. A few seconds later they were doing forty knots through the black night. “Everybody keep a lookout for other boats!” he shouted over the engines.

Dino took off his jacket and helped Arrington into it. “How are you?”

“Don’t ask!” she shouted back.

53

An hour later they had secured the boat, hosed it down with fresh water, and removed the tape from its identifying marks. In the car, Stone sat up front, while Dino drove and Arrington occupied the rear seat.

“You think we got out of there without being seen well enough to identify us?” Dino asked.

“The captain of Contessa recognized me.”

“That’s not good.”

“Somehow, I don’t think he’ll mention it to the police; he knows he’s involved in a kidnapping.”

“He’ll mention it to Ippolito.”

“Good. I don’t think Ippolito will mention it to the cops, either.”

“What about his insurance company? Those guys don’t give up easily.”