Chapter 21
“What are you doing?” Ellie asked, as the speedboat gained on them.
Phoenix didn’t reply. He just leaned forward and rustled in the storage compartment, his movements clumsy and uncoordinated.
"Ah-ha!" He sat upright, clutching something in his hand. "A flare gun."
“So what?” What use was a flare gun against automatic firepower? When the Coast Guard got here, they could use it to signal their position, if they were still alive.
Phoenix seemed to be having trouble focusing, his eyes squinting as he tried to position himself in a lying position facing the pursuing vessel.
Two hundred yards.
"They’re gaining on us." She was unable to keep her voice from shaking. "Oh, God. Phoenix, they're going to catch us."
"Don't worry. You just focus on keeping the inflatable moving forward. Leave them up to me," he said, his words slightly slurred.
She stared at him, concerned by his unsteady movements and labored breathing. Gone was the confident private security operative, replaced by a man clearly struggling with the effects of his concussion. How on earth was he going to take care of them with a flare gun when the bad guys were raining bullets on their heads?
"Steady..." he urged, his voice strained. "I've only got one shot at this."
His body swayed, his hands shaking as he tried to grip the flare gun and point it at the pursuers.
This wasn’t looking good. Still, he was right. This was their one shot.
Ellie held her breath, her hands tightening on the tiller. Phoenix pulled the trigger. The canister shot out of the muzzle, flew across the water like a wobbly torpedo, and hit the vessel pursuing them just off-center of the windshield. It exploded into a Catherine wheel of sparks, causing both men to hit the deck and the boat to veer off course. Because it was going so fast, it lurched dangerously before the engine faltered, and it drifted to a halt.
"Yes!" Ellie stared at him. "You did it!"
"It'll buy us some time," he said, his voice weak. "Those guys will be suffering from burns and possibly blunt force trauma from the impact. They won't be going anywhere but to the hospital."
"I had no idea flares were so dangerous," Ellie mused. She felt like hugging Phoenix, she was so relieved, but he was clearly in no shape for any kind of physical contact. How he'd managed to aim well enough to hit the boat, she had no idea. But he had, and they were safe—for now.
“We've got to put some distance between us and them. Where's the nearest island?"
Ellie retrieved her GPS. "Here, let me look," she said, not even bothering to pass it to him. Right now, she didn't even know which direction they were heading in. The only thing on her mind had been to get away from their attackers as fast as possible. She squinted into the distance. Nothing. Not a hazy mountain, a ship, or even a palm tree. The smoke from the oil rig had made everything hazy, so it was difficult to see what was out there.
Ellie took her time with the GPS, studying their location and the surrounding area. "There is a small island about four miles north of our current location. It looks like a protected nature reserve."
"Perfect, we'll head there," Phoenix said.
She glanced doubtfully at the fuel tank. "I don't know if we're going to make it."
He gave her a thin smile. "We don't have much choice."
There was a silence, then Phoenix said quietly, "Did you see Boomer's body?"
A lump formed in her throat. "No, I didn't. Do you think he could have survived the blast?"
Phoenix shook his head, then winced. "No, he was disarming the IED when it went off. He would have gotten the brunt of it."
"God, I'm so sorry," Ellie whispered.
"Yeah, I spotted it climbing back onto the rig. It was strapped underneath the platform." He paused, his eyes drifting shut for a moment before he forced them open again. "It was triggered remotely, Ellie, by someone onboard that rig or within Wi-Fi distance."
"But who could it have been?" she whispered. "Most of the staff took the chopper back to the mainland."
"I don't know. They could have come back to the rig—" he petered off with a shrug, then grimaced, reaching for his head.
Ellie gasped. "I saw a speedboat when I was coming back from the Discoverer.”
"You did?" Phoenix asked, his words coming slowly as if he was having trouble processing the information.
She nodded, her eyes wide. “That must have been the bomber.”
Phoenix confirmed it, his voice strained. "That would have been our perp, all right. The timing fits. Did you see who it was?"
"No." If only she had taken more notice. "The sun was too bright, and I was too far away. It was only one person, though."
Phoenix grimaced, his eyes closing again. “Was it the one following us?”
“It could have been.” She bit her lip. “I don’t really know. The speedboat chasing us had two men on board though, not one.”
“He could have picked someone up. Maybe there’s a control boat nearby. A yacht.”
Ellie nodded. It was possible, although she hadn’t seen anything.
“This is because of me, isn’t it?” she whimpered.
Phoenix opened his eyes. They were still glassy and unfocused. “No, it’s because of what you discovered. Someone is trying to prevent it from getting out.”
"But why?" Ellie asked, her mind racing. "Why would anyone want Xonex to think they'd found a major oil deposit if it wasn't true?"
Phoenix took a deep breath, wincing as he did so. "Think about it. If Xonex believed they were on the verge of a big discovery, what would happen to their stock price?"
Ellie suddenly saw where he was going. "It would soar."
"Exactly. And if someone knew the truth, they could buy a ton of shares before the announcement and then sell them off at the peak, making a fortune."
"Insider trading," Ellie murmured.
"On a massive scale," Phoenix agreed. “But there is another possibility.”
“What?”
“It could be a rival company. Maybe they’re trying to sabotage Xonex, making them pour resources into a dead end. It would cripple them financially."
“The survey company must be involved,” Ellie concluded. “That’s how all this started.”
Phoenix nodded. “For sure, but I doubt they were acting alone. They’d have been paid by someone to create the false reports. It might even be a mole within Xonex.”
“Industrial sabotage.” Ellie shook her head. “I can’t believe this.”
“Whatever the reason, they're desperate to keep the truth from getting out."
Ellie looked out at the vast expanse of ocean, suddenly feeling very small and very vulnerable. "So what do we do now?"
Phoenix turned around, his movements clumsy. "Our first and only priority is to get to that island. When we are safe, we can contact the Coast Guard and let them know where we are."
“Okay.” Ellie was glad they finally had a plan. She looked down and saw that her feet were wet. Water was slopping over them, pooling at her side of the inflatable. "Um, Phoenix. We’re taking on water."
He frowned. "One of their bullets must have hit the inflatable.”
Ellie’s heart sank. “Now what?”
"See if you can find the hole." His words tumbled out, all running together. "I’ll take the tiller. We need to plug it up if we have any hope of making it to the island."
Oh, God. They were going to die. The inflatable would sink, and they’d drown out here, in the middle of nowhere. Ellie tried to focus on her breathing, but the fear kept rising.
“Ellie.”
She began gasping for air.
“Ellie, look at me.”
She turned her head, and focused on his chiseled face, his eyes hazy but still a deep, cobalt blue. “I need you, Ellie. Don’t fall apart on me now. I can’t do this on my own. You have to keep it together.”
She knew he was right. With a concussion, he wouldn’t be much use. She couldn’t freak out now.
I need you.
“I’ll try.”
Concentrate on what he’d said. Find the hole.
She scrambled around the rigid bottom of the boat on her hands and knees, looking for the leak. She felt an area where the water was colder than anywhere else. There was also a gentle pressure against her fingertips under one of the two lightweight aluminum seats that spanned the width of the boat. "Got it!"
"How big is it?”
She traced the bullet hole with her finger. Water was streaming in. “It’s pretty big. I don’t think we can plug it.”
His expression hardened. “Then we have a problem.”
They were going to die. She knew it.
He squinted into the distance. “How far is that island?”
Holy crap. He wasn’t suggesting?—
“It’s too far to swim,” she said, reading his thoughts.
“Get the life jackets.”
Oh, God.
With shaking hands, she rifled in the compartment then pulled out two orange life vests. He kept the boat aimed at the island. “With a bit of luck, we’ll get there before we take on too much water.”
At that moment, the outboard motor coughed, spluttered, then died.