Cut and Run 3 - Fish and Chips

equivalent: heading up where they’d be easily trapped if they couldn’t find another way down.
    Looking down at the ocean far below was a dizzying experience from this height. Zane swallowed hard, turned his back to the water, and glanced back the way they came. Hopefully the pursuers would follow through the mechanical room and lose time instead of staying on deck and closing in fast. When he heard loud footfalls, he turned to chase after the others.
    When he made the next turn, Zane skidded to a stop. Bianchi, Norina, and Ty all stood in the middle of an open sitting area sheltered under an overhang, and there was no other exit except the way they had come, the way their pursuers were blocking.
    Bianchi and Norina were holding close to one another, backing toward the railing as Ty stood in front of them holding two alligator skin stilettos, as if he could protect the two people behind them when they were attacked. Zane wouldn’t put it past Ty Grady to be lethal with a pair of high heels in close quarters. But the men chasing them weren’t interested in sparring. They’d shoot first.
    Ty met Zane’s eyes, and it was obvious even before he said anything that they’d finally hit the end of the line. There was nowhere to run.
    Behind him, Zane could hear the men chasing them, shouting and banging around inside the mechanical compartment. They’d blocked the door as best they could, but it wouldn’t hold them long. He hurried over to his partner.
    Ty looked up at the awning, then behind them at the railing. He shook his head. “Only way out is down,” he said breathlessly. He looked at Zane. “We have to jump.”
    “Jump to where ?” Zane asked in disbelief.
    Ty gripped his arm hard and pulled him toward the railing. “The pool is down there. We’re lucky — they have the roof retracted for the warm weather,” he said as he peered over. When Ty spoke again he was yelling, giving orders to Norina and Bianchi. “Gather the cushions off these loungers, toss them over. Try to hit the water,” he barked as he tossed the shoes aside and began doing the very thing he’d told them to.
    Zane watched as Ty yanked the first thick cushion off one of the loungers and tossed it like an over-sized discus over the railing. He didn’t wait to see where it landed but hurried to the next chair. Bianchi soon moved into action to help him, his frightened wife following at his heels.
    “But I do not understand!” she said as she struggled with one of the heavy cushions. “Why must we do this?”
    “You’ve got to disperse the weight when you hit water from this high up, or you’ll go straight to the bottom just as if you were hitting concrete,” Ty answered as he tossed another of the cushions over the railing. He turned to Norina and grabbed her hand, pulling her toward the railing.
    “Wait!” she cried, and she yanked away from him and gathered her heels and her ruined purse. She slid the shoes on and straightened her shoulders. “I will go as a lady should,” she claimed bravely. “In patent leather heels.”
    Ty actually cracked a smile as he pulled her to the railing. “When you jump, make sure you aim for a cushion.”
    She looked over the railing and immediately turned her head and put her fingers over her mouth, closing her eyes. Zane thought his heart might stop. They’d be falling three decks or so down to the pool.
    “Come, Norina. Just think of the cliff diving,” Bianchi said in a shaky voice as he helped her climb up to sit on the railing. He kissed her hard and fast, and as she started to speak rapidly in Italian, he threw her off the side. Ty and Bianchi both watched her fall, making certain she hit the cushions like she was supposed to. Listening to her thin wail and the distant splash that followed, Zane flinched as Bianchi thumped Ty’s shoulder and then leaped off the railing as well.
    Zane heard the next splash and hurried back across the deck to check the walkway. He was just in time to see men bust out of a door and slide into the railing of the side of the ship, almost pitching over. But then they righted themselves and got to moving.
    “Fifty yards and closing,” Zane said, his pulse pounding as he slowly walked backward, watching the hunters approach.
    “Come on, Garrett,” Ty urged in a low, tense voice. When Zane finally looked to him, Ty was straddling the railing, holding his hand out. But Zane couldn’t make himself move. He could already feel himself falling as he