Death Echo

easier to get lost in the tangled waterways of the Inside Passage.
    â€œSlow to a crawl,” Mac said.
    She cut back and went around the point at the slowest speed the dinghy could manage. She could just make out a deserted resort with a single public dock tucked back into a cove at the head of a narrow side channel. At the end of the channel, a stream cascaded in a sheet of froth into the bay, making a rushing sound that rivaled the wind.
    Mac lifted the glasses and examined the area thoroughly.
    â€œYou see Harrow aboard?” she asked.
    â€œThe yacht has Summer Solstice painted on the stern,” Mac said. “Plus a black Zodiac that’s too military looking to be a yacht tender.”
    â€œA SEAL team?”
    â€œOr something like it,” he said. “I can see two ripped dudes in T-shirts, khakis, and Glocks out on the deck of the big boat, another equally ripped dude in the Zodiac wearing a dive suit. Whoa, there’s a big guy in khakis and a wind jacket with what looks like a machinegun underneath.”
    â€œSweet.”
    â€œYeah. I’m touched. They’re all watching the main channel. I guess they’re expecting to see Blackbird. A fifth man just came out on the deck. He’s a good-looking city type in a dress shirt, no tie, expensive slacks, and leather boat shoes.”
    â€œBlond?” she asked. “Short, sleek hair? Mouth like the sharp side of a blade?”
    â€œYeah three times.”
    â€œMeet Tim Harrow.”
    â€œI believe I will. Take us in at about eight knots.”
    Emma powered up on the outboard. The dinghy ran quietly toward the little marina. The men on the big boat glanced in their direction, then turned back to their posts, still watching for Blackbird .
    Or most of them did. The man in the wind jacket kept watching them.
    â€œSo Harrow brought a team with him,” Mac said. “Spec Ops, no doubt.”
    â€œI’m shocked.”
    â€œNo awe?”
    â€œI’m not planning on going mano a mano with them.”
    Mac gave her a dark, sideways glance. “You want to take the lead with Harrow?”
    â€œNo. He could teach slippery to soap. He knows that I’m not good-cop material, and you look like the hard-ass you are. We’ll double-team him.”
    Mac smiled grimly. “Even if I looked like Peter Pan, Harrow likely has my file memorized. He hasn’t gotten so high on the food chain at the tender age of forty-one by being stupid.”
    â€œGood thinking. Which means I don’t have to convince you that a Langley suit is as dangerous as a sack of live grenades with loose pins.”
    â€œYou don’t miss your old work much, do you?”
    â€œDo you?” she retorted.
    â€œNot since I met a certain smart-mouthed brunette.”
    She shot him a look, saw that he meant it—and more—and smiled. “Same goes.”
    The man in the wind jacket was tracking them through binoculars. Harrow came over, took the binoculars, and scanned the little dinghy.
    Emma waved.
    â€œBusted,” she said to Mac.
    She sped up and swiftly approached the public dock. Following Mac’s instructions, she eased way back on the power, turned the wheel, and shifted into neutral for the landing. The dinghy slid in broadside, losing forward momentum just before meeting the dock.
    Emma managed not to look surprised, but she knew she’d just had a serious bout of beginner’s luck.
    He winked at her. Then he swung up onto the aged planks with an ease that told the waiting men Mac’s file hadn’t lied—he would stand toe-to-toe in any fight they offered. If anyone had really studied his file, the men also would know that Mac was too smart to go looking for a brawl.
    Mac tied the dinghy’s bowline and held one of the side straps against the dock so that Emma could simply step up from the dinghy’s gunwale onto the weathered wood planks.
    Tim Harrow vaulted down from the yacht and strode toward them. The man in the wind jacket followed about ten feet to the rear, on Harrow’s left. The other two waited thirty feet back along the dock. The man in the Zodiac stayed put.
    A loose guard, Mac thought. They aren’t expecting us to be violent.
    He agreed with their assessment.
    Mac didn’t fancy the odds of taking on the shadow’s Uzi with only a rigging knife as a weapon. Even without the gun, the man moved like the highly trained fighter he was. The other men