WARD
“When the enemy divides your family, remember what the sea teaches every sailor—separate currents can still become one powerful tide.”
— James Sinclair
“To collect the other four.”
The guard’s words turned Storm’s face white.
Then something harder replaced the fear.
“No.”
She crossed the chamber and grabbed the front of his shirt before I could stop her.
“Calle isn’t with the others. She’s at Ke Ala Pier.”
The guard’s smile disappeared.
“What?”
“She carried the journal to the exchange.”
He hadn’t known.
That told me two things.
The leader hadn’t shared his entire plan.
And somewhere outside the mountain, two separate teams were closing in on the Sinclair sisters.
I pulled Storm away from him.
“Ben, get us a route to the surface.”
“Already looking.”
He swept his flashlight across the control room walls.
The passage we had entered was partially flooded. Returning through the lava tunnel would take too long.
We had less than fifty-six minutes.
Maybe less than that before Calle and the others were taken.
Nathan stepped in front of the wounded guard.
“How many men went after them?”
“I don’t know.”
Nathan struck him once.
The man’s head snapped back against the stone.
Elanore caught Nathan’s arm.
“Nathan.”
“He knows.”
“He can’t answer if you kill him.”
Nathan looked toward her.
The fury inside him didn’t disappear, but he stepped back.
Elanore’s hand slid down his arm.
She left it there.
“Please,” she whispered.
One word.
Nathan obeyed.
I understood why.
I was beginning to think I would do anything Storm asked of me too.
That realization should have frightened me more than the rising water.
I crouched in front of the guard.
“Listen carefully. You’re trapped beneath a mountain with a flooded exit and an injured side. The men you work for left you here to die.”
“They’ll come back.”
“No, they won’t.”
“You don’t know that.”
“They activated a system that will flood every chamber beneath this mountain in less than an hour. Does that sound like a rescue plan?”
The man glanced at the timer.
00:54:31
For the first time, real fear entered his eyes.
“Tell us where your leader went,” I said.
“He took the eastern passage.”
“Where does it lead?”
“To the cliffs.”
“And from there?”
“There was supposed to be a vehicle.”
“What kind?”
“Black SUV.”
Nathan caught my gaze.
The same SUV was described by the Coast Guard officer who had investigated activity near the cannery earlier.
“How many men are with him?” I asked.
“Three.”
“Who went after Calle?”
“I don’t know.”
I leaned closer.
“Wrong answer.”
“I don’t know their names. They were already positioned near the pier.”
“How many?”
“Four.”
Storm made a sound behind me.
I didn’t turn around.
I couldn’t let her see the same fear in my face.
Calle had one SEAL with her.
Four against one.
Those weren’t impossible odds for one of my men.
But Calle wasn’t trained for a firefight.
And she was exactly the kind of woman who would run toward danger if someone she loved was threatened.
Apparently, that was a family trait.
“What about Sea Whisper?” I asked.
The guard swallowed.
“Six men.”
Storm pulled away from Elanore.
“Ivy, Willow, and Hazel are there.”
“With Coast Guard protection,” I reminded her.
“They got past the Coast Guard before.”
“And they won’t do it again.”
“You can’t promise that.”
She was right.
I hated that she was right.
“No,” I said. “But I can promise we’re going to reach them.”
Ben found a rusted door behind one of the electrical panels.
The hinges had been painted to resemble part of the wall.
He wedged his knife into the seam and pulled.
Nothing.
Nathan joined him.
Together, they forced the panel outward.
Cold wind rushed through the opening.
“Stairs,” Ben said. “They go up.”
“Take Elanore and Storm.”
Storm looked at me.
“What about you?”
“I’m staying with our friend.”
“No.”
“He knows more than he’s telling us.”
“The chamber is going to flood.”
“I’m aware.”
“Then bring him.”
“He’ll slow us down.”
The guard looked between us.
“You’re leaving me?”
“You were willing to help kidnap five women and murder their mother,” Nathan said. “You should be grateful Ward hasn’t shot you.”
“I didn’t touch the mother.”
Nathan took one step toward him.
The man flinched.
“Excellent time to stop talking,” Ben warned.
Storm moved closer to me.
“I’m not leaving without you.”
Her voice was low enough that the others couldn’t hear.
“You’re going up those stairs.”
“So are you.”
“I’ll be right behind you.”
“You told me not to make promises I couldn’t keep.”
“I can keep this one.”
“How?”
“Because nothing in this mountain could make me stay while your sisters are in danger.”
She searched my face.
For one dangerous second, the cavern disappeared.
There was no countdown.
No enemy.
No family secret buried beneath us.
Only Storm.
And the knowledge that if I reached for her, I wouldn’t want to let go.
I stepped back.
“Go.”
She did.
But she looked over her shoulder twice before the darkness swallowed her.
I hauled the guard to his feet.
“You’re coming with us.”
Relief crossed his face.
It didn’t last.
“You’re also going to tell me how the teams at the pier and Sea Whisper plan to approach.”
“I don’t know.”
I tightened my grip on his injured side.
He cried out.
“I only handled the cannery!”
“Who did you report to?”
“Captain Ross.”
Nathan stopped at the stairwell.
The name changed him.
Not subtly.
Completely.
“Ross is alive?”
The guard stared at him.
“You know him?”
Nathan crossed the chamber and caught the man by the throat.
“Where is he?”
“He took the eastern passage.”
“You said your leader took it.”
“He is our leader.”
Nathan shoved him against the wall.
“That’s impossible.”
“Nathan,” Elanore called from the stairs. “Who is Captain Ross?”
He didn’t answer.
The timer continued counting down behind us.
00:49:17
00:49:16
00:49:15
“Nathan,” she repeated.
He slowly released the guard.
“August Ross commanded the Mariner’s Crown the night Daniel disappeared.”
Storm came back down two steps.
“The silver-haired captain?”
Nathan nodded.
“The man Thomas refuses to name?”
“Yes.”
“Why would Thomas be afraid to say his name?”
Nathan looked toward the open passage.
“Because Thomas watched Ross kill a man on the docks in cold blood.”
Elanore gripped the railing.
“My father-in-law knew him?”
“James knew his father.”
“What did they do?”
Nathan stared into the darkness.
“Whatever is beneath Blackwater began with the Ross family.”
“Then why does it require us?” Storm asked.
“I don’t know.”
The wounded guard laughed.
Nathan turned on him.
“What?”
“You still think James Sinclair built that system to protect his family.”
“He did.”
“No. He built it to judge them.”
“What does that mean?”
The guard shook his head.
“Ask Ross.”
“We will,” I said. “After we stop him from taking the sisters.”
We climbed.
The staircase spiraled upward through the volcanic rock.
Ben led.
Elanore followed with Nathan behind her.
Storm stayed between Nathan and me.
I forced the guard ahead of me.
The farther we climbed, the narrower the passage became.
Salt air flowed down from above.
So did rain.
“We’re close,” Ben called.
A rectangle of gray moonlight appeared at the top of the stairs.
Then a shadow crossed it.
Ben froze.
A gun barrel entered the opening.
“Down!”
The shot exploded.
Ben dropped against the wall.
Storm screamed.
Nathan shoved Elanore behind him.
I fired toward the opening.
The shadow disappeared.
“Ben!”
He rolled onto his back.
Blood darkened his shirt near his shoulder.
“I’m fine.”
“You’re hit.”
“Still fine.”
Elanore crouched beside him.
“I need to see it.”
“We don’t have time.”
“You’re bleeding.”
“So is half the group.”
Even injured, Ben managed to sound annoyed.
Elanore opened his jacket.
“The bullet grazed you.”
“That’s what I said.”
“You said you were fine.”
“For a SEAL, that is fine.”
Nathan looked at the wound.
“He’s right.”
Elanore glared at both men.
“Testosterone is not a medical diagnosis.”
Under different circumstances, I might have laughed.
Instead, I watched the opening.
The shooter had withdrawn.
That worried me.
He hadn’t been trying to hold the stairs.
He had been buying time.
We reached the surface.
The passage opened behind a wall of vines halfway up the cliff.
Rain struck my face.
Below us, the abandoned cannery stretched toward the black water.
A set of taillights disappeared along the coastal road.
“The SUV,” Nathan said.
Ross had escaped.
Ben found the vehicle left near the passage.
An old pickup.
The keys were still inside.
“Too easy,” I said.
Nathan inspected beneath the hood.
“No explosive.”
“That doesn’t make it safe.”
“It makes it faster than walking.”
Storm was already helping Elanore into the back seat.
I looked at her.
She lifted one eyebrow.
“I’m following orders. Quickly.”
I put the guard in the truck bed and secured his wrists to the metal frame.
Ben climbed beside him, weapon raised despite the blood covering his shoulder.
Nathan took the wheel.
I sat beside Storm and Elanore.
“Get us somewhere with a signal.”
Nathan started the engine.
“We’ll have one before we reach the highway.”
The radio came alive two minutes later.
Static filled the cab.
Then John’s voice broke through.
“Ward, respond.”
I grabbed the radio.
“I’m here. Status?”
“Exchange compromised.”
Storm seized my arm.
“Calle?”
“Missing.”
The word hollowed out the truck.
“What happened?” I demanded.
“Four men came in from the water. They used smoke and flash devices. Piers took a round in the leg.”
“Is he alive?”
“Yes. Coast Guard medic has him.”
“And Calle?”
“They put her in a white van.”
Storm stopped breathing.
“Direction?”
“South from the pier. Maui police are searching.”
“Listen to me. The leader is August Ross. He left Keawe Cannery in a black SUV. He may be coordinating both teams.”
“Copy.”
“Sea Whisper?”
“No response.”
Storm ripped the radio from my hand.
“Ivy! Answer me!”
Nothing.
“Ivy, it’s Storm. Answer me now!”
Static.
Then three rapid clicks sounded through the radio.
Storm went still.
“What is that?” I asked.
She lifted one finger.
“Wait.”
Three more clicks.
A pause.
Two clicks.
Another pause.
Five.
Storm’s eyes filled with tears.
“It’s Willow.”
“What is she doing?”
“Grandpa taught us to tap against the pipes if the radios failed.”
“Can she hear you?”
“No. It only works one way.”
The tapping continued.
Storm counted beneath her breath.
“Three. Two. Five. One.”
“What does it mean?”
She closed her eyes.
“Grandpa gave every emergency a number.”
Nathan glanced at her in the mirror.
“Which one is that?”
“Boarders.”
I took the radio.
“John, send every available Coast Guard unit to Sea Whisper.”
“Already moving.”
“Tell them there are three women aboard and at least six attackers.”
“Copy.”
Nathan pushed the truck faster.
Rain hammered the windshield.
Elanore held Storm’s hand.
“We’ll reach them.”
Storm stared into the darkness ahead.
“They have Calle.”
“And we’ll get her back,” I said.
She turned toward me.
“How can you know that?”
“Because Ross needs all five of you alive.”
The words offered no comfort.
They weren’t supposed to.
They were the truth.
And right now, the truth was the only weapon we had.
The radio clicked again.
Once.
Four times.
Twice.
Storm’s head snapped up.
“That isn’t Willow.”
“Who is it?”
“Ivy. Willow taps too fast when she’s frightened. Ivy always pauses between numbers.”
“What did she say?”
Storm counted the next sequence.
Her face changed.
“What?”
“Five. One. Four.”
Elanore tightened her grip on Storm’s hand.
“What does that mean?”
“The engine room.”
Nathan looked toward me.
I understood.
“The sisters aren’t hiding together.”
“No,” Storm said. “They split up.”
Pride and terror filled her voice.
“They’re hunting the men who boarded our yacht.”
Another transmission broke through the radio.
This one wasn’t tapping.
A man’s voice spoke calmly.
“Captain Storm Sinclair.”
She reached for the radio.
I held it away from her.
“Who is this?”
A soft laugh answered.
“You must be Ward Allen.”
“Where is Calle?”
“Safe.”
“If you hurt her—”
“I won’t hurt any of James’s granddaughters. I need all five in good health.”
Storm took the radio from me.
“What do you want?”
“Bring your sisters to Blackwater.”
“You already tried that.”
“No. My men were impatient. They thought your mother’s key would be enough.”
“And now you know better.”
“Now I understand James’s final game.”
Storm looked at Nathan.
“Let Calle go.”
“When the five of you open the second gate.”
“And if we refuse?”
“You won’t.”
“What makes you so sure?”
“Because Calle is not the only Sinclair I have.”
Elanore made a broken sound.
Storm’s fingers tightened around the radio.
“My sisters are aboard Sea Whisper.”
“Three of them are.”
The line went silent.
I stared at Storm.
She stared back.
Five sisters.
Storm.
Calle.
Ivy.
Willow.
Hazel.
Three aboard Sea Whisper.
One in the van.
One sitting beside me.
All accounted for.
Unless Ross hadn’t meant one of the sisters.
Nathan slowed the truck.
His face had gone gray.
“Elanore,” he whispered. “Where is Thomas?”
Mom’s eyes widened.
“He was at the boathouse.”
Ross returned to the radio.
“James Sinclair took my father from me. Tonight, his family will return what he stole.”
A second voice sounded in the background.
Old.
Furious.
Unmistakable.
“Don’t give him a damned thing!”
The transmission ended.
Storm pressed the radio to her heart.
Ross had Calle.
He had Thomas.
And six armed men were hunting the remaining sisters aboard Sea Whisper.
Nathan slammed his foot against the accelerator.
“Hold on.”
The truck surged into the darkness.