Immortals After Dark 09 - Pleasure of a Dark Prince

busted windows. Rain forest garbage disposal. She hastened to the lead Cromite’s body, maneuvering it to the opening. Then she tossed it over the side.
    Floating, floating.
    Travis began assailing the barricaded door with what sounded like the butt of his shotgun. He’d break through soon.
    Come on, fish!
    She exhaled in relief when the piranhas boiled up in a feeding frenzy to consume the man. Two more Cromites to go. She made fast work of them, carefully extracting the bomb belt from the last one before dumping him to the fish.
    “Clever girl,”
MacRieve rasped, opening one eye.
    She whispered, “So what do I do with the bomb?”
    “Sink it… weigh it down.”
    She peered around for something heavy to tie it to, coming up with nothing… Then she narrowed her eyes on the second busted window, on the air-conditioning unit drooping from it.
    Lucia hauled it back into the salon, then punched the center out. Digging out the guts of the machine, she cautiously buried the bomb inside. Then she lobbed the whole contraption into the river, watching it sink with satisfaction.
    By the time Travis broke down the door shortly after, Lucia was kneeling beside a semi-conscious MacRieve, having just tied the embroidered coffee-station tablecloth around his chest to conceal the worst of his wounds.
    As the captain’s weary gaze took in the scene, Lucia glanced around, trying to see it from his eyes. His late wife’s embroidery now served as a bandage. Air conditioner parts littered the floor. Copious amounts of blood had spurted from the Cromites’ jugulars when MacRieve had attacked. Yet there were no robed men to be found.
    “I think I need a drink,” Travis drawled, sinking down on his stool. “Every damned trip gets weirder than the last.”
    Oh, if he only knew
half
the weirdness aboard his ship.
    “Where the hell did those men go?”
    “They escaped,” she lied baldly. “Darn them!”
    Nodding slowly, he said, “The one without his head—did he make tracks too?”
    “They took him with them. Madcap fanatics!”
    “What did they want?”
    “An artifact we own. It had a religious meaning to them. End of the world, doomsday type of stuff.”
    “I saw MacRieve catch at least two bullets before you shoved me out,” Travis said, “but he looks like he’s just taking a nap.”
    “Scottish men are…
hardy
?”
    The captain rubbed his hand over his face. “See, what I think happened is this—”
    “Travis,” she interrupted in a steely tone. “You’ve got a head wound, you’re a drinker, and if no one ever hears about what you think happened, then I’ll pay for all the repairs to the boat. A lump sum.”
    After a hesitation, he narrowed his eyes, “Quadruple it, and you’ll see my memory go real fast.”
    “Done.”
    “One question though. Damiãno wasn’t with you?”
    She shook her head, giving him the story she and MacRieve had agreed on, amending the identity of the
Barão
’s killers to the robed fanatics.
    When he heard the fate of those passengers, Travis’s pale visage grew leached of even more color. “Are you sure it was those three that did it? It could’ve been Malaquí.”
    “Malaquí was killed, too.” She thought she detected disappointment in him. Which couldn’t be right.
    Izabel ran in then, her eyes going wide at the sight of MacRieve. “
Deus do céu!
Is he going to be all right?”
    Lucia said, “It’s just a flesh wound.”
    She nodded dumbly. “And where’d those creepy men go?”
    “Escaped,” Travis answered. “Long gone.”
    When MacRieve roused once more, Lucia said, “Here, help me get him back to the cabin.”
    With Travis and Lucia’s help, MacRieve was able to make it to his feet. But when he lurched, Travis ducked under his arm, laying it over his shoulders to help him walk. “Big bastard,” he said with a grunt.
    Once they’d navigated MacRieve back to cabin seven and heaved him into the bed, Travis said, “We’ve gotta get underway right now, get him to a hospital.”
    Lucia gazed at the fresh blood seeping from the captain’s head wound.
MacRieve’s not the one who needs to get to a hospital.
    The captain raised his face and called, “Chuck!” He frowned when no reply came, then asked Izabel, “You’ve seen him since last night, right?” Travis seemed genuinely worried.
    Izabel said, “He’s fine.”
    Travis’s concern shifted to ire. “Then where the hell is he?”
    “Charlie’s… he’s…” Izabel trailed off, looking