Chapter 5 - An Unlikely Ally
Naomi whipped her elbow back with all the force of her torso, driving it toward the attacker's throat.
A hand caught her forearm mid-strike, absorbing the impact with a muted grunt.
""Quiet, if you want to leave this tub breathing,"" a low voice rasped.
The man who stepped into the dim light of the emergency exit was not Julian or Marcus. It was Mateo, the yacht's chief engineer, his coveralls streaked with black grease, an adjustable pipe wrench hooked into his belt.
""You're the one on the phone,"" Naomi whispered, her heart hammering against her ribs.
""Julian didn't hire me from an agency,"" Mateo whispered back, his eyes darting toward the galley door. ""I was retained by the family of Elena Rossi. The girl he threw off his boat in Sardinia.""
Naomi stared at him, her chest heaving. ""The pelican case under my bunk...""
""Belonged to Elena,"" Mateo said grimly. ""I’ve spent fourteen months tracking Vance, waiting for him to run the exact same play. He rents a vessel, changes the offshore crew, alters the manifests, and stages a tragic loss at sea to cash out life insurance and shell-company assets. But if you pull that fuel lever right now, the bilge pumps die. In these waves, we capsize within eight minutes.""
""Then what do we do?"" she demanded. ""He has the manifests signed in my name. He has a drug in the champagne.""
""The lifeboat on the starboard bridge wing is rigged,"" Mateo said. ""I swapped the GPS transponder for a dead beacon. If you drop it, they won't track you. But I can't leave the engine room until I purge the vessel’s black-box drive, or Vance’s lawyers will scrub the audio.""
From the top of the stairwell, Julian’s voice boomed down the companionway, sharp and stripped of all patience.
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""Naomi! Come out to the deck! Now!""
Heavy footsteps began pounding down the metal steps toward the pantry.
