Buried At Sea Read Online Free PDF Page B

Moser rubbed his aching eye, concealing his glee at the American's misfortune. " Assume the yacht's making six-seven knots."
    Nickels turned to Greg. "Is that right?"
    "No. If he's sailing the boat we think, it's fast but he's an old guy. And the kid is a novice. Besides, the wind was light all night. They made five knots if they were lucky, maybe six, depending on their heading."
    Nickels nodded for the captain to continue.
    "All right, make it six knots," said Captain Moser. "We know he must have spotted us before dark. After dark he wouldn't have seen us with no lights and we never picked up his radar. So at six knots he'd make seventy-two nautical miles in the past twelve hours. East, west, north, or south."
    Again Nickels looked at Greg, who shook his head. "The wind veered east in the night. I doubt he beat to the east."
    "Could have used his engine," the captain countered. "At any rate, he's somewhere in a circle 144 miles in diameter. That's 450 miles around. And that's an area of sixteen thousand square miles, mate—one big patch of ocean. And getting bigger every minute, assuming the bloke hasn't stopped, which don't seem likely with you lot after him."
    "East!" said Nickels. "He would drop his sails to make a smaller target and motor east. Find him!"
    "Now, hold on, Mr. Nickels."
    Nickels turned beet red. "Hold on?" he roared. "Hold on? Greg! Take everybody up to the bridge."
    "You okay here?"
    "I'll be up in a minute."
    The heavy door sighed shut behind them.
    Andy Nickels stalked to the rail. The sharks had gone. But not far. When he reached down to pick up the shattered heart-rate monitor, the bloodied mate flinched. Nickels tossed it into the water and heaved the empty bucket after it. Instantly the gray shapes razored toward the splash.
    To the Barcelona's captain he said, "It's just you and me, babe, and for the rest of your miserable life, whatever I ask, you will always answer yes." He seized the cringing mate by his belt and shirt collar. Muscles and tendons leaping with the strain, he lifted the man clear off the deck and began to spin in a circle, gathering momentum like an athlete throwing the hammer.
    "You can't do that," cried the captain.
    "The hell I can't. We're in international waters—strongman's land." He whirled, once, twice, three times, accelerating to maximum power, and threw the screaming mate.
    Captain Moser had already closed his eyes. When
    Hoskins's head crashed into his chest, he staggered and fell hard on his butt. Hoskins landed beside him, curled his arms and legs into a tight ball, and wept.
    "Captain?" said Nickels, looming over them.
    Captain Moser sat with his back pressed to the bulkhead, gasping for air, his eyes raised to the pearly sky. He patted Hoskins's shoulder. "Easy, mate. Easy."
    "Captain?"
    "Yes."
    "Less mess this way. For you. Makes no difference to me. But when you get to Spain they're going to be asking, Where's the mate? You know what I'm saying, mate? It can still go the other way. So what do you say you order full speed east!" The captain tugged his handheld off his belt, raised it in a trembling hand, and radioed the helmsman: "Come to zero niner-zero—hook her up!"
    The catamaran squatted on her stern when the helmsman pushed all four engines to full ahead. Then her hulls sprang from the water and she soared east on skirts of spray at eighty miles an hour.
    "Get up to the bridge, both of you."
    Andy Nickels took out his sat phone and punched Redial and Encrypt for a secure line to Lloyd McVay. He hoped Val would answer. Val McVay was no less a ball-buster than her father, but it was the senior McVay whom Nickels owed big-time and dreaded to disappoint. Val answered on the first ring, asking, "Do you have him?"
    "No, ma'am, I—"
    "Save it for my father."
    Lloyd McVay picked up with a cold `What is it, Andy?" and Nickels knew he was in for a real reaming.
    Usually Mr. McVay spoke in sentences that were long and round and full, smacking his lips over