Killer Aboard: A John Otter Novel Read online

  “Call me stupid one more time, asshole. One more fucking time Jack and see what happens.”

  Jack cracked an amused, entitled smile. He looked like a zookeeper who pokes a caged animal, already knowing they can’t poke back.

  “Calm down big guy. Let me go and I will help you find them, OK?”

  Greg relented and dropped Jack. Jack gave Jennifer a look and shook his head. Jack followed Greg to the tree and began searching too.

  Jennifer watched Jack and Greg searching, not inclined to help herself. It would solve her problems if they didn’t find the tools. She didn’t notice that Wayland was standing close behind her.

  “Been like that for a bit. Jack teasing him that he’s dumb. I said it before—Jack’s asking for it, and one day, Greg’s going to give it to him,” Wayland whispered.

  “Since when have they been like this?”

  “Since Greg had to work in one of Jack’s dad’s businesses to pay for this trip. Jack ‘worked’ Greg over all summer. Treated him like a dog, and Greg couldn’t do a thing about it. Just bit his tongue.”

  “I had no idea his work-study was at Jack's father’s warehouse,” Jennifer replied shocked. “He never told me.”

  Wayland looked surprised.

  “Interesting! This was all your idea and yet you don’t seem to have a clue what’s going on.”

  Jennifer watched as Greg searched around the bushes for the tools. He was like a wild animal, his eyes panicked as he looked for them. It dawned on her, that finding the treasure would change Greg’s life forever. He would have a fighting chance. This fact had somehow escaped her before. It was so obvious now.

  Without the treasure and money, Greg would work for a Jack or someone worse in a factory somewhere for the rest of his life. His life would be over.

  Looking at him; she knew that he knew that too. She couldn’t help but feel sorry for him. This was his one chance.

  Jennifer also knew if anyone got in between him and his treasure, they would never leave ‘Tomb Road’.

  Chapter 20

  Unfortunately for Jennifer, Greg eventually found the tools. They had rolled halfway down the hill. Or so he claimed. She felt the more likely scenario was that he had forgotten where he had hidden them.

  Jennifer stood on the hill, overlooking the only direct road in and out of the tomb’s glade, while the boys worked below on the tomb itself. Rather, Greg worked while Wayland and Jack supervised. It didn’t matter to Greg; he just wanted to find what they had come for.

  Greg started sawing at the angle bar that reached out the very end of the paver stone which marked the Southwest corner. The hacksaw made barely a sound from Jennifer’s lookout point on the hill. Nobody was coming. It was near three in the morning and the island was fast asleep. Jennifer found herself stifling a yawn in solidarity with the island’s snoozing inhabitants.

  “This is pointless,” Greg grunted after a half hour of effort with the hacksaw. There was barely a scratch etched into the iron bar. His now soaked shirt clung to his bulging chest and his brow was covered in sweat. “Can’t we just dig under it?”

  “We could, but how deep does that stone go? And if we don’t remove the bars that hold, it to the entire fence, we won't be able to pull it up,” Wayland said.

  `

  Greg knew he was right; the entire fence was joined into a solid piece. He had to break the corner section free from the rest if they wanted any hope of moving it. He was surprised at the strength of the bars; they were iron and hard as nails. He would have thought two hundred years on an island with salt air would have weakened them with rust but that wasn’t the case.

  Greg had only managed to make a fingernail-sized gash in the largest bar. He looked at his Casio watch, and realized that they were running out of time.

  Greg knew they would only get this one crack at it. It was a good thing he had a backup plan. Greg pulled the electric battery grinder out of his bag. He had stolen it off Beagle before they had left.

  “What the hell is that?” Jack asked.

  “The only way we are getting through the bars.”

  “It’s going to be too loud,” Wayland whispered.

  Jennifer jumped at the sound of the electric grinder. Shit! It was way too loud! She knew the locals were far away but sound carried and the grinders whine was unmistakable. What the hell was Greg doing?

  Jennifer contemplated leaving her post on the road and making him stop. But she also knew that would leave them exposed if some local came down the road looking for the source of the sound.

  The shower of sparks coming off the grinding bit looked like the sparkler’s that kids set off during fireworks celebrations. The whole glade lit up in a supernatural, golden glow. It would have been beautiful if the consequences of being discovered weren’t so dire.

  On the upside, the grinder cut through the bar like a hot knife through butter. What would have taken hours with the hacksaw was over in less than two minutes.

  Greg moved on from the now broken stanchion to the top connecting bar. The plan was simple--two more cuts one on each side of the corner would make the whole corner stone removable.

  Ten minutes later all of the bars were neatly cut. Greg jumped onto the corner paver stone and tried using his body weight to move the whole corner fence. It didn’t budge. Jack had a look on his face that said everything he was thinking.

  “Oh my simple American friend, do you know how much that corner stone weighs? Or how deep that stone goes? You’re wasting your time.”

  Greg jumped off the stone and stepped up to Jack. He handed Jack a shovel. Wayland also got one.

  “We would not have gotten this far without my bringing the grinder. Now dig.”

  Chapter 21

  Jennifer watched as the boys started digging around the corner stone of the tomb. It didn’t take long for them to be standing in a two-foot trench around the corner rock.

  She was getting agitated. Who had nominated her for lookout? It was her damn idea after all! And she was missing the excitement. How typical of men to make a woman a distant part of her own plan!

  Jennifer glanced back up the empty road and saw nothing. It was nearly 4 in the morning and the sun would be rising in less than 3 hours. They were running of time and she needed to help speed them along.

  Jennifer slid down the soft grassy hill into the glade below and ran over to where the boys were digging. “Anything?”

  “Hey, aren’t you supposed to be our lookout?” Jack asked sweating profusely.

  “Shut up, Jack, the road is empty and nobody’s coming. Greg, did you find anything?”

  “Nothing. This goddamn stone keeps going on forever. I can’t get below it,” Greg said as he dumped another heavy shovelful of dirt onto the grass.

  “What do you think, Wayland?” Jennifer asked.

  “It can’t be that much further down. Stones of this size would have been hard enough to bring this far up the hill back then. If it gets much bigger, it would have been impossible.”

  “Easy for you to say since you’re not doing the shoveling,” Jack retorted.

  Greg said nothing as he grunted and lifted out another shovelful of dirt. Jennifer watched as his arms flexed, and he slammed the shovel home over and over again. He was moving at twice the speed of Jack. Jack was getting bored. He had nothing riding on the discovery. Greg was moving like his life depended on it.

  Jennifer realized she admired Greg in some ways. He was motivated by something different than her. She was motivated by her parents, and not letting them down. It was a familial pressure, the family name, legacy.

  Greg on the other hand, was motivated by hunger. A hunger for more than what he had been dealt with in life. Greg had no safety net. He was not going to cure cancer; he was born a worker. A handsome one, but a worker, none the less and he knew it. If he fell, nobody would be there to catch him.

  Jennifer thought she heard a branch crack behind them. She turned and ran her eyes around the glade, looking for
the source of the sound. There was nothing to see. The glade was empty.

  “Finally!” Greg shouted, which turned Jennifer back around. He had his shovel down and was reaching under the large corner stone, using his hands to scrape out the soft dirt.

  “What is it?” Jennifer could feel her pulse quicken with her excitement. She couldn’t believe they might have actually found something. Greg was now arm deep into the space underneath the stone.

  Jack climbed out of the hole and looked over at Jennifer with an smile. For once, he didn’t look like such a prick. Wayland was swaying again, looking down at Greg making his typical weird noise he always made when excited or scared.

  “It’s just smooth stone under here. Wait, there’s something here, a notch. Give me a flashlight,” Greg ordered.

  Jennifer tossed Greg the light she was holding. She knelt down in the grass trying to see what he was looking at underneath the stone.

  “It’s maybe a small compartment.” Greg dropped the flashlight and reached up even deeper under the stone.

  Greg was looking up at Jennifer, Jack, and Wayland now lying fully on his back. His arm was under the stone up to his shoulder, prying at something. Everyone was looking down at him when his face lit up.

  “I can almost get it,” he said as he strained to force himself deeper under the stone. Jennifer thought she heard something behind them when Greg suddenly pulled it out. In his hand was a small scroll.

  “We’ve got it!” he shouted holding it up.

  Just then Greg saw something behind them, “Watch out!”

  Chapter 22

  Three hours later Jennifer’s bicycle flew down Two Saddle Road. She could hardly see through the tears filling her eyes. Jennifer couldn’t believe what they had done. What she had helped them do.

  Greg peddled hard to keep up with her as Wayland brought up the rear again. He hadn’t said a word since the tomb. The sunrise was beginning to glow behind them. It had taken them all night to get it done.

  Jennifer stifled another sob and wiped the snot away from her nose.

  “Slow down Jennifer!” Greg shouted but she couldn’t hear him over the racing sound of her heartbeat. She was tempted to just peddle off the road and end it. She didn’t want to face what they had done. Couldn’t face it.

  She thought of her father and sobbed again. He would try to get her out of this, but he would never look at her again the same way. Her life was over. And for what? A piece of paper.

  She looked over at Jack. His face was stuck in a stoic look that appeared as if he were carved from stone. He showed nothing.

  Wayland had retreated into his mind as he often did, probably calculating the chances of them getting away with what they had done. He looked like he was in a trance.

  And Greg. His face was earnest, pleading with his eyes for her to calm down, but she could not. What they had done was unforgivable.

  What she saw in Greg, had changed in just a few hours. His face, was no longer handsome to her. It was a wretched, needing face. Now when she looked at him, she saw nothing but his despair. How desperate he had always been. And how willing he had always been to do anything to get what he wanted. She despised him for it.

  She peddled faster trying to give herself even more distance from Greg. She would have come clean; they all should have. But the others had pressured her, and she had been afraid. Looking at Greg she was sure she wouldn’t make it very far if she talked.

  Greg had said as much. He wasn’t going to let what they had done get in the way of his future. The future he wanted so badly that he was willing to do anything to get it.

  The group turned off Two Saddle Road back onto the main street through town. A rooster crowed in the distance and an old lady swept her front porch. She looked at the group as they passed by.

  A witness, Jennifer thought.

  Chapter 23

  The group of 4 flew by on their bicycles past Helen’s house. John didn’t see the group from his vantage point on top of Helen. Helen was on the floor on all fours, and this time John was mounting her from behind. It was their third round of the incredibly exhausting night. He had never met someone so insatiable and so free sexually.

  He doubted he could even orgasm again, but she certainly could. He reached underneath her chest and grabbed two large handfuls of her breasts and squeezed them before he grabbed both of her shoulders, to get a better grip.

  Her entire body was now coated in a sheen of fine sweat, making her black body glisten like a goddess. John shifted his feet halfway up her back in a squatting stance that made his thighs burn. He regretted walking up Jacobs Ladder now, as his sore thighs screamed in protest. But he wouldn’t, couldn’t stop.

  John pulled on Helen’s shoulders forcing her back onto him until he was sure she could take no more. She then pushed forward. John bit her neck as he pulled her back onto his erection. The slow, steady rhythm was excruciatingly pleasurable. Helen moaned so loudly every time he stroked back into her, that he was sure they would wake the entire island.

  Helen turned her face back toward John’s, her eyes completely glazed over in lust.

  “Git on wit it boy. You can fuck harder than that, no?” she said as her long, pink tongue pushed into his mouth.

  John could feel himself swelling even larger as her challenging words ignited his passion. He obliged her and picked up his speed. They were like two wild animals.

  John was as surprised as she was when he came again for the third and hardest time yet. John collapsed on top of her, his thighs burning. He had nothing left.

  “Cooldrink for ya?” she asked getting up from the ground her breasts swaying seductively. John was amazed to feel aroused again at the sight. No way he could go again. It would kill him.

  “Yes, please and an IV,” he whispered. Helen laughed. John showered quickly and grabbed his clothes. He wanted to get back to the ship before Smith was up and able to judge him.

  “Come round gain tonight?” Helen asked.

  “Neither hell nor high water could stop me,” John said smacking her ass and giving her another kiss. He hopped on his bicycle and headed back down to the harbor docks.

  John backed the ship’s rescue boat off the harbor dock and made his way back to Beagle sitting on her mooring. He’d been up all night and was exhausted, but he knew they had a dive scheduled that morning and he would have to push through it. He felt the ache in his groin and knew it was worth it.

  As he neared Beagle, John spotted three kayaks heading back to the Beagle as well. He hadn’t permitted them to go kayaking this early.

  What the hell was going on? John thought as he turned the dingy toward the kayaks and gunned the engine.

  Chapter 24

  Lubanzi got up early on purpose. He opened his cabin door and slipped into the chart room quietly. He opened the ship's Loran C and downloaded the latest weather update.

  The Ocean Exploration School used a meteorology service in Maryland that would send the ship daily updates on the weather forecast for Beagle’s location. It was like having your own personal weatherman and worth every penny.

  The screen showed an endless hourglass as it began downloading the large ocean graph file. A warning was listed in the subject line: “LARGE SUBTROPICAL DEPRESSION-DEPART EARLY”

  Lubanzi would have to wait for the full download to see what the forecast was but the message from their forecaster was unambiguous. He opened the ship's laptop and connected it to the local harbor WIFI. His yahoo account was rarely used, but it was worth checking.

  He watched as the account slowly pulled up. While he waited, he picked up the Sat phone and called home. The phone rang twice before he heard it being picked up. There was only silence.

  “Tanni, how are you?” Lubanzi asked.

  “Lubanzi, you think you can run from me?” Junior's voice broke into the phone. “Bru you have crossed the wrong man.”

  “What have you done?” Lubanzi asked, beginning to sweat.

  “Nothing, ye
t. You can imagine my surprise when the week passes, and you don’t show up as promised. I was very concerned about you. Naturally I stopped by your house to make sure you weren’t under the weather. And my luck has it you called just in time.”

  “Junior, I was going to give you call.”

  “To tell me you were leaving the country? Somehow that must have slipped your mind. You know our mutual friend, James? I happened to find him the other day, selling something that didn’t belong to him. He told me a very interesting story about your job together. He told me what you took. Here I thought you just owed me some money but you owe me much more than that don’t you, boy?”

  Lubanzi cursed James. He could never keep his mouth shut. But he couldn’t blame James either. Lubanzi knew too well that Junior had ways of forcing information out of people.

  It was the main reason Lubanzi had not tried to sell the stolen gems in South Africa; there was no way it would not get back to Junior. He had to smuggle them out of the country and sell them where nobody would care about their origins. A place like Brazil.

  “I don’t know what James said, but I will get you your share of the money. I promise you that.”

  “Lubanzi, that is not enough now. I want my half of everything and extra for this aggravation. Do you think I wanted to drive my BMW down your slum’s streets to find out where you were? Bru your aunt has been very understanding but we can’t all run from our problems. And you my friend have a very big problem.”

  “Don't touch Tannie! If you do, I will kill you.”

  “I wouldn’t dream of harming her. I know who your uncle is, and your Tanni and I have decided it's best he doesn’t find out his adopted son committed a crime. It would be very bad for him. Lubanzi I’m going to ask you a simple question, where are you going?”

  “Brazil.”

  “Brazil is a very big place, exactly where in Brazil? I’m coming to meet you. How long till you arrive?”