Chapter 4 - The Death They Needed Me To Survive

For several seconds, no one spoke.

Then I asked, “What document?”

Fiona looked at the bridge door.

“Not here.”

I laughed.

“You came here voluntarily.”

“I came because they’ll kill me if they know I told you.”

“You were willing to help them do the same to me.”

“No.”

“You toasted to it.”

Her face tightened.

“I played along.”

Nora said, “That defense usually arrives after the plan fails.”

Fiona ignored her.

“The document transfers your voting rights into a private trust.”

“What trust?”

“Mercer Strategic.”

Lydia stared at her.

“That’s your family company.”

“It was.”

“Was?”

“Aidan lost control of it years ago.”

I stepped closer.

“And he wants to use my shares to rebuild it.”

“More than rebuild.”

“How much more?”

Fiona swallowed.

“Enough to take Sterling Consolidated.”

I almost smiled because the idea was absurd.

Then I remembered the power of attorney.

The drugging.

The second boat.

“Explain.”

Fiona pressed both palms against the navigation table.

“Your father’s company is split among several voting classes. Your personal trust holds a controlling block if combined with the shares you inherit from your grandmother’s estate.”

“My grandmother is alive.”

“Yes.”

“So?”

“Aidan believes Charles plans to reorganize the voting structure before she dies.”

Nora said, “He does.”

I turned.

“What?”

Nora looked at me.

“Your father’s board has been discussing governance changes.”

“How do you know?”

“That was part of what I was investigating.”

“You keep knowing parts of my life before I do.”

“I know.”

“Stop saying that like an apology.”

Mateo interrupted.

“EPIRB first. Family war second.”

He was right.

Celeste opened the exterior bridge door.

Rain exploded inside.

Mateo clipped a safety tether around his waist.

“I’ll go.”

“I’m coming,” I said.

“No.”

“This is my emergency beacon.”

“It is also a storm.”

“I am not staying in another locked room while people make decisions for me.”

He looked at me for two seconds.

Then handed me a second tether.

“Clip here. Do exactly what I say.”

We stepped outside.

Wind punched the air from my lungs.

The upper deck pitched beneath us.

We moved toward the emergency locker.

Lightning flashed across black water.

Mateo shouted, “Hold!”

A wave struck the starboard side.

I slammed into the rail.

My tether caught.

For one second I hung above nothing but darkness and spray.

Mateo grabbed my jacket and pulled me upright.

“You okay?”

“Yes.”

“You sure?”

“No.”

“Good enough.”

We reached the locker.

Mateo opened it.

Empty.

He stared.

“No.”

“What?”

“The beacon.”

“Gone?”

He checked the mounting bracket.

Cut clean.

Someone had removed it before departure.

My fear became anger again.

“Was there a second?”

“Liferaft units.”

“Where?”

“Aft exterior.”

“Where Flynn wants me.”

“Yes.”

We returned to the bridge.

Nora took one look at Mateo’s face.

“Missing.”

“Yes.”

Fiona whispered, “Aidan.”

Mateo rounded on her.

“You tampered with emergency equipment?”

“I didn’t.”

“Did you know?”

“No.”

Nora said, “We need that cargo vessel.”

Celeste checked radar.

“Sixteen miles.”

Mateo moved to the lighting controls.

“We can flash deck lights in distress pattern.”

“Will they notice?” Lydia asked.

“If they’re looking.”

“How do we make them look?”

Mateo smiled grimly.

“We do something no captain ignores.”

He sounded the ship’s horn.

Five short blasts.

Again.

Again.

The thunder answered.

Celeste switched all exterior lights to flashing sequence.

Nora said, “They may think we have control failure.”

“That gets attention.”

The radio crackled.

Static.

Then a voice.

“Motor yacht Aurelia, this is merchant vessel Arcturus. Do you require assistance?”

Every person on the bridge froze.

Mateo grabbed the microphone.

“Arcturus, Aurelia. Yes. We have an onboard security emergency and suspected sabotage. Maintain contact.”

Static.

Then:

“Aurelia, confirm security emergency.”

Mateo looked at me.

I nodded.

He pressed transmit.

“Confirmed. Owner is present and requests maritime authorities be notified.”

The bridge door alarm sounded.

Flynn was trying access.

Fiona went pale.

“He knows.”

“How?” Lydia asked.

A voice came from the overhead speakers.

Flynn.

“Evelyn.”

I looked up.

His voice came from every cabin and corridor.

“You are making a mistake.”

Mateo cut the general announcement feed.

Flynn’s voice continued.

“Did you really think your father gave you this yacht without controlling it?”

Mateo frowned.

“He’s using the secondary PA.”

I stepped toward the console.

“Flynn.”

He could hear us through intercom.

“Yes, sweetheart.”

“Tell me what you want.”

“You.”

“That’s romantic.”

“I want to stop this before people die.”

“People already planned to die.”

“Not you.”

I looked at Fiona.

She was shaking.

“So she says.”

Flynn laughed quietly.

“My mother has always been weak.”

Fiona closed her eyes.

“Aidan changed the plan,” she whispered.

I pressed the intercom.

“What did your father change?”

Flynn did not answer.

“Was I supposed to live?”

A pause.

“At first.”

There it was.

Fiona’s knees almost buckled.

I continued.

“And then?”

“Your father accelerated the board restructure.”

Nora whispered, “That’s why.”

Flynn said, “If we kept you alive, Charles could challenge every signature after your recovery. We needed finality.”

“Finality.”

“Yes.”

“You mean a body.”

Silence.

“No,” I said. “You needed no body. Lost at sea was cleaner.”

Flynn’s voice hardened.

“You always were clever when you stopped trying to please everyone.”

“Funny time to compliment me.”

“Open the bridge.”

“No.”

“Evelyn.”

“No.”

“You think that cargo ship saves you?”

Mateo motioned for us to keep him talking.

Flynn continued.

“They are sixteen miles away in a squall. They won’t reach you before the charter boat does.”

Nora checked radar.

“There.”

A second target had appeared.

Nine miles behind.

Moving fast.

Mateo swore.

“Fast motor vessel.”

Fiona whispered, “That’s them.”

“Who is on it?” I asked.

“I don’t know.”

“You expect me to believe that?”

“I never met them.”

Nora turned to Mateo.

“Can Arcturus intercept?”

“Cargo ship can’t chase a fast boat.”

“Authorities?”

“Coast Guard response depends on jurisdiction and nearest asset.”

The radio crackled.

“Arcturus to Aurelia. Authorities notified. We are altering course toward your position.”

Mateo responded.

“Copy. Maintain visual and radio contact.”

Flynn’s voice returned.

“You just made this worse.”

I pressed the intercom.

“For you.”

“For everyone.”

The bridge lights suddenly died.

Celeste shouted.

“Generator switch!”

Mateo ran to the panel.

Emergency red lights came on.

The engine pitch changed.

Nora looked at radar.

“Fast vessel is closing.”

Fiona whispered, “Aidan has people on the lower deck.”

“How many?” I asked.

“Three.”

“We know Eli.”

“Two others boarded in Nassau as maintenance contractors.”

Mateo looked furious.

“They were cleared through Sterling Marine.”

Again.

My father’s office.

“Who approved them?” I asked.

“I don’t know.”

Nora said, “Someone inside your family company is helping.”

Flynn’s voice came through one last time.

“Evelyn, I can still protect you.”

I laughed.

“From whom?”

His answer was immediate.

“Your father.”

Then the intercom cut.

The bridge went completely silent.

I turned to Nora.

“What is he trying to make me believe?”

She looked at me for a long moment.

Then said, “Maybe the same thing I came here to prove.”

My pulse slowed.

“What?”

She took out her phone.

“My father was one of the men who went to prison after Charles Sterling and Aidan Mercer ended their shipping partnership.”

Lydia stared at her.

“You said Charles wasn’t charged.”

“He wasn’t.”

“Was your father guilty?”

Nora’s face hardened.

“He said no until the day he died.”

The storm seemed to recede behind the blood rushing in my ears.

“What was his name?”

“Daniel Bell.”

I knew it.

Not well.

A name in an old newspaper article.

Sterling Maritime accounting scandal.

Two executives convicted.

Millions missing.

Nora continued.

“I accepted Charles’s money to investigate Flynn because I wanted access.”

“To what?”

“Your family archives.”

“You used him.”

“Yes.”

“And me.”

“Yes.”

She did not soften it.

I respected her more for that than I wanted to.

“What did you find?”

“Evidence that Aidan and Charles both lied eighteen years ago.”

Fiona whispered, “No.”

Nora looked at her.

“You know.”

Fiona said nothing.

“What kind of lie?” I asked.

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Nora reached into her jacket and removed a small waterproof drive.

“The kind people kill for.”