Storm
“The quietest man aboard is often the most dangerous when someone he loves is taken.”
— James Sinclair
Nathan drove as if the devil were chasing us.
Maybe he was.
Rain hammered the truck.
The tires slid around the first curve, then caught the wet pavement.
I held the radio in both hands.
Calle’s voice didn’t come through.
Neither did Thomas’s.
Only Ross’s final words remained inside my head.
James Sinclair took my father from me.
I didn’t know what Grandpa had done.
I didn’t care.
Ross had my sister.
He had the eighty-six-year-old man who had helped us.
And six armed men had boarded Sea Whisper.
The tapping continued through the radio.
Five.
One.
Four.
Ivy was still in the engine room.
Another pattern followed.
Two.
Three.
One.
“Willow,” I whispered.
Ward looked at me.
“What did she say?”
“Upper deck storage.”
“And Hazel?”
I waited.
Nothing.
My heart pounded harder.
“Hazel, answer me.”
Static hissed through the speaker.
“Haze, please.”
One faint tap came through.
Then another.
A long pause.
Four taps.
I closed my eyes.
“She’s in Grandpa’s compartment.”
“What compartment?” Ward asked.
“The one beneath the wheelhouse.”
“Is it secure?”
“Grandpa built it.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
“It’s steel-lined and hidden behind the chart cabinet. There’s an emergency release on the inside.”
“Can anyone open it from the outside?”
“Only with a code.”
“Does Ross know it?”
“No.”
I wanted to believe that.
But Ross knew about Blackwater.
He knew about the second gate.
He knew enough about our family to understand Grandpa’s childhood game.
What else did he know?
Ben struck the rear window of the cab.
Nathan glanced in the mirror.
Ben pointed toward the radio.
Ward slid open the small window.
“What?”
“Give it to me.”
“You’re bleeding.”
“I’m aware.”
“Elanore needs to look at your shoulder.”
“I don’t need a doctor. I need to hear what’s happening.”
Ward passed him the radio.
Ben didn’t ask about Ivy.
Or Willow.
Or Hazel.
“Have we heard from Calle?”
His voice was controlled.
Too controlled.
“No,” I said.
“Did Ross say where he was taking her?”
“Blackwater.”
“When?”
“He didn’t say.”
“Vehicle?”
“A white van left the pier.”
“Plate?”
“John didn’t see it.”
“Direction?”
“South.”
Every question came quickly.
Precisely.
As if Ben could build a map from fragments and force it to lead him to my sister.
Ward watched him through the open window.
Something passed between the two men.
Not understanding.
Recognition.
Ward knew.
Maybe he’d known before Ben did.
The road curved around the cliffs.
Lights appeared ahead.
Blue.
Red.
White.
Coast Guard vehicles blocked the road near the marina.
Nathan braked hard.
Before the truck stopped, Ben climbed over the side of the bed.
His boots hit the pavement.
He staggered.
Then kept moving.
“Elanore!” Ward called.
Mom was already opening the door.
“You don’t have to shout.”
She grabbed the medical bag from beneath the seat and followed Ben into the rain.
Nathan caught up with her.
“I’ll carry that.”
“I have it.”
“You’ve been injured.”
“So has Ben.”
“Elanore—”
“If you try to stop me from helping someone who is bleeding, I will injure you too.”
Nathan took the bag from her anyway.
Mom glared at him.
He stayed beside her.
Even with Calle and Thomas missing, some part of me recognized what was happening between them.
Mom didn’t push Nathan away again.
John met us behind the barricade.
Blood covered one sleeve, but it didn’t appear to be his.
“Piers?” Ward asked.
“Stable. Bullet went through the thigh without hitting the artery. He’s on his way to the hospital.”
“Sea Whisper?”
“Drifting half a mile offshore. Both engines are down.”
My knees weakened.
“What about my sisters?”
“We made radio contact with Ivy. She whispered that six men boarded from two boats. Three went below deck. Three stayed topside.”
“Why didn’t the Coast Guard stop them?”
“They arrived wearing Coast Guard uniforms.”
Ward went still.
“Insiders?”
“Stolen uniforms. Their first boat carried identification matching a maintenance crew. By the time our people realized it was false, the attackers had already boarded.”
“Where are Scott and Mark?” Ben asked.
“Approaching Sea Whisper from the east.”
“I’m going with them.”
John glanced at Ben’s shoulder.
“You’ve been shot.”
“Grazed.”
“You’re still bleeding.”
Ben stripped off his wet shirt.
A red furrow cut across the top of his shoulder.
Mom examined it beneath the emergency lights.
“You need stitches.”
“Later.”
“Ben—”
“Calle doesn’t have later.”
The words silenced everyone.
Ben seemed to realize what he had said.
His face closed.
Ward didn’t react.
Neither did John.
But I saw the truth before Ben buried it.
He was terrified for her.
Mom cleaned and bandaged the wound.
Ben didn’t flinch.
He kept his eyes on the dark ocean where Sea Whisper drifted without lights.
“Calle can take care of herself,” I told him.
“I know.”
“She’s observant. She notices things the rest of us miss.”
“I know.”
“She’ll leave us something to follow.”
“I know.”
His answers were quiet.
But his hands were clenched.
I touched his uninjured arm.
“We’ll find her.”
Ben finally looked at me.
“No.”
The word frightened me.
Then he continued.
“I’ll find her.”
Lieutenant Akana approached with two Coast Guard operators.
“We have a boat ready.”
“I’m going,” I said.
Ward answered without looking at me.
“No.”
“It’s my yacht.”
“Which is occupied by armed men.”
“My sisters are aboard.”
“And you’re the fifth person ross needs to open the gate. You stay here with Elanore and Nathan.”
“I know every passage aboard Sea Whisper.”
“So do your sisters.”
“They may need me.”
“I need you alive.”
The words came out hard.
Almost angry.
They didn’t sound like an order.
They sounded like fear.
Everyone heard it.
John suddenly checked his weapon.
Lieutenant Akana studied the ocean.
Nathan looked at Ward.
Mom looked at me.
Ben was the only one who didn’t react.
He understood exactly what Ward was feeling.
Because he was feeling it too.
I stepped closer.
“You don’t get to leave me behind every time something happens.”
“You were inside the cannery.”
“Because I refused to stay behind.”
“And you nearly fell into Blackwater.”
“You caught me.”
“This time I might not.”
The honesty in his voice took the fight out of me.
Ward lowered his head until only I could hear him.
“Ross needs you. If he takes you, he wins.”
“If he takes my sisters, he wins anyway.”
“I won’t let him.”
“You can’t promise that.”
“No.”
Rain ran down his face.
His eyes never left mine.
“But I can promise I’ll die before I stop trying.”
My heart broke open.
Ward seemed to hear what he had admitted.
He stepped back.
“Stay with Nathan.”
Then he turned toward the Coast Guard boat.
Ben followed him.
I caught Ben’s hand as he passed.
“Bring them home.”
His fingers closed around mine.
For one second, the control slipped.
“Calle too,” he said.
“I meant all of them.”
“So did I.”
But his face told me Calle’s name was the one he had heard.
Ward, Ben, John, and Lieutenant Akana boarded the response boat.
Scott and Mark approached Sea Whisper from the opposite side.
Nathan remained with Mom and me near the marina command post.
I watched the response boat disappear into the rain.
Mom wrapped a blanket around my shoulders.
“I’m sorry.”
I looked at her.
“For what?”
“For bringing this here.”
“You didn’t.”
“If I hadn’t come to Hawaii—”
“They would have followed us anyway.”
“I should have told you about the key.”
“Yes.”
My answer surprised her.
I was too tired to soften it.
“You should have told us about Blackwater. Grandpa should have told us. Dad should have told us what he found.”
Pain crossed her face.
“I know.”
“We can’t keep protecting one another with secrets.”
“No.”
“Not anymore.”
Mom looked toward Nathan.
He stood several feet away, speaking with a Coast Guard officer.
“There are some secrets we keep because we’re afraid,” she said.
“Afraid of what?”
“The truth changing everything.”
I followed her gaze.
“You knew Nathan loved you.”
“Yes.”
“Did you love him?”
Her silence answered.
“Mom?”
“I loved your father.”
“That isn’t what I asked.”
“No.”
She closed her eyes.
When she opened them, tears glistened there.
“After Daniel died, Nathan searched for him longer than anyone. He came to the house often. He repaired whatever broke. He brought groceries when I forgot to eat. He sat with you girls when I couldn’t stop crying.”
“I don’t remember that.”
“You were grieving. And Nathan never stayed long enough for you to become attached.”
“Why?”
“Because one night I asked him not to leave.”
I stared at her.
“What happened?”
“He stayed until morning.”
My mouth fell open.
Mom almost laughed.
“Not like that. He slept in the chair beside my bed because I was afraid to be alone.”
“And afterward?”
“I woke up holding his hand.”
My chest tightened.
“He disappeared three days later,” she whispered.
“He thought he was taking advantage of you.”
“I know that now.”
“You didn’t then?”
“I thought he regretted staying.”
Nathan returned before I could answer.
“The Coast Guard found the white van.”
Ben’s promise echoed inside me.
“Was Calle inside?”
Nathan shook his head.
“The van was abandoned near the old sugar road. Blood was found in the back.”
Mom caught my arm.
“Do they know whose?”
“No.”
It had to be Piers’s blood.
Or one of the kidnappers.
Not Calle’s.
I refused to believe it belonged to my sister.
“What about Thomas?” I asked.
“A neighbor saw two men force him into a vehicle at the boathouse.”
“What kind of vehicle?”
“Black SUV.”
“Ross.”
Nathan nodded.
“He must have taken Thomas after he came back to Hawaii.”
“How?”
“There are private airfields. Cargo planes. Boats.”
“He dragged an eighty-six-year-old man out of an old boathouse?”
“Thomas knows more about James than anyone still alive.”
The words settled between us.
Except Nathan.
“Thomas knows more than anyone still alive besides me,” he corrected.
Mom looked at him.
“Then Ross will come for you too.”
“He already tried.”
“What do you mean?”
Nathan stared toward the ocean.
“The night James died, someone boarded my trawler.”
I felt the ground disappear beneath me.
“You told us Grandpa died on board his boat.”
“I said the boat, not whose boat.”
“Then what happened on your trawler?”
Nathan’s jaw tightened.
“I found James there six hours before his death.”
Mom’s face lost all color.
“My father-in-law was with you?”
“Yes.”
“What did he want?”
“He gave me a sealed metal case.”
“Where is it?”
“I hid it.”
“What’s inside?”
“I don’t know.”
I stared at him.
“You’ve had something from Grandpa for three years and never opened it?”
“He made me promise.”
“What did he say?”
Nathan looked at all of us.
“He said the case could only be opened after all five of you discovered Blackwater.”
The ocean suddenly lit behind him.
A flare shot into the sky.
Red fire burned above Sea Whisper.
Then gunfire cracked across the water.
I ran toward the dock.
Nathan caught me around the waist.
“Let me go!”
“You can’t help them from here.”
“That’s my family!”
“I know.”
Another burst of gunfire echoed through the rain.
The radio on the command table came alive.
“Shots fired aboard Sea Whisper.”
Static swallowed the next words.
Then Ward’s voice broke through.
“Storm, if you can hear me, do not come out here.”
An explosion shook the harbor.
Flames rose from Sea Whisper’s stern.
I screamed.
“Ward!”
The radio went silent.
For three terrible seconds, there was nothing.
Then a woman’s voice whispered through the speaker.
“Storm?”
I seized the radio.
“Ivy!”
“We’re in the engine room.”
“Are Willow and Hazel with you?”
“Willow is.”
My blood froze.
“Where is Hazel?”
A man answered for her.
“Captain Sinclair.”
It wasn’t Ross.
The voice was younger.
Crueler.
“We have your little sister.”
A gun fired.
The transmission ended.