ILL FATED

Struggling to control terror and white-hot anger, I fisted my hands in my hair, “I wouldn’t be so upset if you hadn’t thrown our escape plan in the fucking ocean!”

“It was on fire!”

I glared daggers at my sister and previous best friend, Lark, “But why did you have to throw the entire duffel in?”

“Sam, it was on fire! Real fire! What was I going to do, reach through the flames to open it up and take the money out?”

I turned toward the ship’s railing and looked into the deep, dark blue of the Atlantic Ocean. We were on a fast ship that sent up frothy white foam and salty spray as she cut through the shadowy waters like a shark. Shit, that was it, all of the money we had in the world. I swallowed as memories of what we had done for that money welled in my mind. I shut them down hard and focused on the rough wind whipping strands of my hair wildly around my head. The small stinging of the thrashing strands on my face allowed me to rise above my memories.

Lark leaned on the railing next to me, “Sorry.”

“I know. It’s okay, something will come up.”

“No it won’t.”

“I know.”

“I’m trying to quit,” she said softly.

“I know. Do you want to give me the lighter?”

She pulled it out of her pocket and clicked it a few times, then reluctantly placed it in my open palm.

“No more fire, okay?”

“Okay.”

We stood in the stiff breeze, shivering slightly as we stared back at the ocean. I wished it were I instead of the duffel that was flung into those murky depths. The thought of escaping into that dark, cold water was enticing.

“We won’t get him back will we?”

I could hear the barely suppressed tears in Lark’s voice and swallowed the lump in my own throat, “Yes. Yes we will.” I turned to face her, squeezing her shoulders tightly in my hands and forced her large brown eyes to meet mine, “We will get him back. I promise.”

She gave me a watery smile, “What should we do?”

“Well,” I sighed turning back to look across the ocean, “first we need to figure out how to get off this ship when she docks without the captain knowing.”

I felt my sister stiffen next to me. My heart thundering in my chest, I said without turning around, “He’s right behind me isn’t he?”

“Nope.”

“Really?”

“Nope.”

Crap. Plastering a smile on, I turned to face my fate…again.