rubber tubes of the dinghy were hot to the touch and Julie took a flash of a second to wipe the sweat from her brow. Meiko did the same.
The buzzing outboards sounded like an angry hive of bees swarming above their heads and Julie imagined them up there, with thousands of stingers, ready to attack any second.
“ Harder,” Julie said, and both women pulled with a dogged determination. Julie felt the sweat pouring off her forehead and she could taste the salt of it as it ran into her mouth from her upper lip, but she couldn’t take her hand from the oar to wipe it off now, she needed every ounce of her strength to move the boat.
And the buzzing got closer.
“ We’re close,” Meiko said, “but we’re not gonna make it. They’re gonna be around the island any second and they’ll see us.”
And the buzzing got louder.
“ No,” Julie said, and she pulled her oar out of the water and threw it into the bottom of the boat.
“ Mom!” Meiko said, but Julie pulled the starter cord.
“ Get the oar in,” Julie said. Meiko obeyed as the motor roared to life and Julie gave it the gas.
And they couldn’t hear the buzzing any more. They rounded the back side of the second island scant seconds before the two dinghies from TYS would have come into view. Julie cut the motor as soon as they were safely out of sight.
“ That was close,” Meiko said. “Do you think they heard?”
“ I don’t think so. I think the sound of the big motors on the TYS boats drowned out ours.” A shudder ran through her. A man was dead, most likely murdered, a witness in an assassination, and it looked like Dieter had something to do with it, or at the very least, knew something about it. What kind of man was he? What kind of man had the yachties been doing business with? What kind of man had Hideo invited to their table on numerous occasions?
“ Dad was wrong about him,” Meiko said.
“ He sure was.”
“ What are we going to do now?” Meiko wiped sweat off her brow with the back of her hand.
“ We’re going to wait till they leave, then we’re getting out of Trinidad.”
“ We should’ve left right away.”
“ You’re probably right, but then we wouldn’t have known about Dieter.”
“ Maybe we’d be better off.”
“ Maybe, but we’re in it now.”
“ How do you figure?”
“ We have to tell the police.”
“ Excuse me, Mom, but you’re crazy. We’re going to forget this ever happened. When they leave, we leave. We get on Fallen Angel and we sail out of Trinidad and we don’t come back. And we don’t ever, ever, ever tell a soul.” The fierce look in Meiko’s brown eyes startled Julie and it reminded her of the agreement she’d so recently made with Bill Broxton.
“ What about responsibility? You’ve always raged against women that refuse to testify in their own rape trials.” But she knew, even as the words left her lips, how hollow they sounded.
“ This is different. Trinidad is a major transshipment point for the Colombian drug cartels.”
“ How do you know that?”
“ Come on. They talk about it in the Guardian and the Express all the time. Don’t you read the local papers?”
“ No, sorry.”
“ Like I was saying, Trinidad is a big deal for the Colombians. The attorney general was murdered. I’ll bet you just about anything you want that it was a drug deal. Those kind of people don’t forget. You go to the police, they’ll be after you for the rest of your life. Heck, I’ll bet if they even knew we were here our lives wouldn’t be worth zip.”
“ If everybody felt like that then the criminals would rule the world.”
“ Wake up, Mom. They do.”
“ That’s not a very pretty picture you’re painting.”
“ How come you and Dad bought a boat? I thought it was to get away from all of that.”
“ It was, but—”
“ No buts,” Meiko said. “And think about this, if you go to the police you’ll never get Fallen Angel out of Trinidad. They’ll make you stay
The buzzing outboards sounded like an angry hive of bees swarming above their heads and Julie imagined them up there, with thousands of stingers, ready to attack any second.
“ Harder,” Julie said, and both women pulled with a dogged determination. Julie felt the sweat pouring off her forehead and she could taste the salt of it as it ran into her mouth from her upper lip, but she couldn’t take her hand from the oar to wipe it off now, she needed every ounce of her strength to move the boat.
And the buzzing got closer.
“ We’re close,” Meiko said, “but we’re not gonna make it. They’re gonna be around the island any second and they’ll see us.”
And the buzzing got louder.
“ No,” Julie said, and she pulled her oar out of the water and threw it into the bottom of the boat.
“ Mom!” Meiko said, but Julie pulled the starter cord.
“ Get the oar in,” Julie said. Meiko obeyed as the motor roared to life and Julie gave it the gas.
And they couldn’t hear the buzzing any more. They rounded the back side of the second island scant seconds before the two dinghies from TYS would have come into view. Julie cut the motor as soon as they were safely out of sight.
“ That was close,” Meiko said. “Do you think they heard?”
“ I don’t think so. I think the sound of the big motors on the TYS boats drowned out ours.” A shudder ran through her. A man was dead, most likely murdered, a witness in an assassination, and it looked like Dieter had something to do with it, or at the very least, knew something about it. What kind of man was he? What kind of man had the yachties been doing business with? What kind of man had Hideo invited to their table on numerous occasions?
“ Dad was wrong about him,” Meiko said.
“ He sure was.”
“ What are we going to do now?” Meiko wiped sweat off her brow with the back of her hand.
“ We’re going to wait till they leave, then we’re getting out of Trinidad.”
“ We should’ve left right away.”
“ You’re probably right, but then we wouldn’t have known about Dieter.”
“ Maybe we’d be better off.”
“ Maybe, but we’re in it now.”
“ How do you figure?”
“ We have to tell the police.”
“ Excuse me, Mom, but you’re crazy. We’re going to forget this ever happened. When they leave, we leave. We get on Fallen Angel and we sail out of Trinidad and we don’t come back. And we don’t ever, ever, ever tell a soul.” The fierce look in Meiko’s brown eyes startled Julie and it reminded her of the agreement she’d so recently made with Bill Broxton.
“ What about responsibility? You’ve always raged against women that refuse to testify in their own rape trials.” But she knew, even as the words left her lips, how hollow they sounded.
“ This is different. Trinidad is a major transshipment point for the Colombian drug cartels.”
“ How do you know that?”
“ Come on. They talk about it in the Guardian and the Express all the time. Don’t you read the local papers?”
“ No, sorry.”
“ Like I was saying, Trinidad is a big deal for the Colombians. The attorney general was murdered. I’ll bet you just about anything you want that it was a drug deal. Those kind of people don’t forget. You go to the police, they’ll be after you for the rest of your life. Heck, I’ll bet if they even knew we were here our lives wouldn’t be worth zip.”
“ If everybody felt like that then the criminals would rule the world.”
“ Wake up, Mom. They do.”
“ That’s not a very pretty picture you’re painting.”
“ How come you and Dad bought a boat? I thought it was to get away from all of that.”
“ It was, but—”
“ No buts,” Meiko said. “And think about this, if you go to the police you’ll never get Fallen Angel out of Trinidad. They’ll make you stay
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