"Not a word," Mildred told him.
"Well, we have a report that a woman matching her description stole a boat from the marina just after you called us," he informed them.
"Oh, dear," Eileen worried. "She stole it?"
"Borrowed," Mildred improvised. "She was worried about Mr. Steele," Mildred reminded them. "Were you able to track the boat?"
"Not yet." He glanced over at a man who sat huddled over some radio equipment. "Anything yet, Paul?"
Paul looked up from the equipment, shaking his head. "Nothing yet."
"Keep listening. It'll be there. Unless we're on a Russian goose chase, that is."
"You wanna explain that, Jackson," Mildred said, frowning. "What have the Russians got to do with this?"
***
Tony looked behind him, and satisfied that he was far enough from where he had left Steele, he killed the engine and sat there for a moment, enjoying the quiet of the ocean lapping at the side of the boat. He took the small transmitter out of his pocket and pulled the antenna out before pressing the button. A small light began to blink on the box, indicating that it was working. It wouldn't be long now, he told himself, his eyes scanning the sky for sign of his ride out of here.
The boat would be found drifting, and the authorities would no doubt decide that Steele had taken it for some unknown reason, then fell into the ocean and drowned. In a couple of years, Tony would come back to Los Angeles and find Laura again- They could start over, without Steele's interference. He discounted the man's story that Laura was pregnant. Fate hadn't been kind to him, but it would never be that cruel, surely to saddle him with a constant reminder of a man he hated just when it looked like he might stand a chance with Laura.
He sat down, and winced, placing a hand to his chest. It was bleeding again. Damn. Where the hell were they? he wondered.
The sound of an engine sent his gaze up again, but very quickly he realized that the sound wasn't a helicopter, but another boat arriving on the scene. He took a deep breath, preparing to tell the operator of the other craft that he didn't need assistance. He put his hand into his coat pocket, the weight of the gun giving him a sense of security.
And just to make it look good, he grabbed a fishing pole that was lying on the bottom and held it over the side. He smiled, waving at the approaching boat, then narrowed his eyes as the person at the wheel began to look sickeningly familiar.
"Laura?" he muttered, recognizing her. For a moment he considered starting his boat's engine and getting the hell out of there. But the boat she was in would easily have overtaken his smaller one. "Hello, there," he called out as she brought the boat to a stop close to his. "Imagine meeting you here. Small world, isn't it?"
"TOO small," Laura agreed, looking at him. "Where is he, Tony?" she demanded to know.
"Where's who? I don't know what-"
"Remington. My husband, remember?"
"I haven't seen him since yesterday," Tony lied. "Is he missing? Need some help looking for him? I'd be glad to, but I'm under doctor's orders to take it easy for awhile." He placed a hand over the dark stain on his shirt, watching Laura's eyes for any sign of sympathy for his injury.
"You son of a bitch," Laura yelled as she leaned over to pull the boats closer together so that she could cross over into his. "Where is he, Tony?!" she yelled at him, forcing him into a seat.
Tony grinned as if he were enjoying this game of cat and mouse. "Told you. I don't know. Probably ran off. With his history-"
"That's in the PAST!" Laura declared. "He wouldn't just leave without some kind of word!" When Tony didn't respond, she grabbed his collar. "WHERE IS HE?!"
"I wish I could help you, Laura," he said, "but-"
"Tell me where Remington is! NOW!" she yelled as she shook him.
Tony grabbed her wrists and pulled her fingers from his shirt, holding her away from him as he studied her. "I knew he was lying. You wouldn't be risking your life like this if you were really going to have a baby."
Laura went still. "A baby? He told you-about that?" she recovered quickly and tried to pull her wrists out of his grasp. "Then you did see him."
"For a few minutes," Tony admitted finally. "You trying to tell me that it's true? That you really ARE pregnant?"
"Yes," Laura replied firmly. "I am. With Remington's child." She pulled away from his hold. "Remington's and mine," she confirmed, placing a protective hand over her stomach. "And nothing you can do will change that. When did he tell you?"
"I- saw him in passing. When I was on the beach getting this boat. He was passing by- taking a walk, I think. He mentioned it then." He glanced up at the sky. "Look, Laura, as much as I'd like to stay and talk to you, I really have to go."
"Tony," Laura said, her voice cold, "if you've done anything to him, I'll never forgive you."
"I haven't done a thing," Tony insisted. "But if he doesn't come back, maybe- one day, there'll be a chance for us, right? I mean, that's what you told me. Back in Ireland."
Laura watched him for a moment. "All right, Tony, you win."
"What?" he asked, caught off guard by her words.
"Well, anyone who would go to this much trouble must really care about me. I figure I owe you the chance to prove it."
"Oh, Laura," Tony said, grabbing her close and holding her. "You won't regret it. I promise. And I'll be a good father to your baby. You'll see."
"He has a father, Tony," she reminded him, touching his face with her hand. "You don't really want to be saddled with another man's child, do you?"
"I don't-"
"I'll go with you, Tony, - IF you take me to Remington. I couldn't possibly be able to start a new life with you knowing that you were responsible for his death. Once I'm sure he's safe, I'll go away with you. And when my baby is born, I'll give it to him to raise."
Tony's eyes searched hers, looking for any sign of treachery or deceit. He found none, and he nodded toward the other boat. "Okay. Let's tie this boat on the back of that one and we'll go get Steele. Then he can take this one back to shore while we go on." He reached into his pocket and pressed the button on the locator, killing the signal.
The rendezvous could wait until Laura was ready to leave with him.
***
Jackson watched as Paul fiddled with a knob. "What is it?"
"I lost the signal," Paul explained.
"What do you mean you lost the signal?"
"It stopped. Like he turned it off."
Jackson got on the intercom as he sighed in frustration. "Mack, do you have the coordinates of the last signal?"
"Yes, sir."
"Head that way on the double."
"On our way," the pilot assured him.
Mildred smiled at Eileen, wanting to try and reassure the woman. "Jackson, you were going to explain about the Russians?" she prompted.
"When we contacted Moscow about Walters' death, they asked where Tony was. We told them that he'd been wounded by Walters and after he recovered would probably face a pretty stiff penalty for having gone against company orders to help a Russian spy. We didn't expect for them to reveal that Tony's a sleeper agent for them."
"He's what?"
"you mean the Rat's REALLY a turncoat?"
Jackson lifted a hand to quiet them. "He isn't even aware of it. He was brainwashed on an assignment a few years ago, given his commands subconsciously. There was only one Russian agent that could awake his subconscious."
"Walters," Mildred guessed.
"Yes. Walters was Tony's Control. With Walter gone, Tony's a rogue. Add that to the fact that he's more than a little unstable right now- and you have a very dangerous man out there."
"The Russians don't want him back?"
"No. His commands were implanted by Walters, and Tony wasn't important enough for them to consider him high priority. Evidently he doesn't know enough to be a danger to them at the moment."
Eileen shook her head. "Poor Marge. She would be so disappointed. I remember how proud she always was of Antony."
Mildred covered Eileen's hands again. "We're coming up on his last position, sir," Mack announced.
***
Tony's eyes scanned the water around the boat as he steered it as close to where he had left Steele as he could remember. "Where is he, Tony?" Laura asked again, looking at the water herself. She sat down, feeling a wave of nausea overtake her. Strange, she thought to herself, she wasn't prone to seasickness. Had to be the stress, her worry about Remington. "I don't see him."
"This is where I left him," Tony said, looking around again. "I think."
"You THINK? You don't know?"
"I didn't have anything in the boat to give me a fix on the exact location," he reminded her. "I was steering by the sun, kept it at my back. He SHOULD be here!"
"Well he's NOT!" Laura said, and closed her eyes as she felt the bile rise in her throat. "Damn!"
"You okay?" Tony asked.
"I won't be okay until you find Remington, Tony," Laura told him.
"He was supposed to swim back to shore," Tony began.
"Five miles? You expected him to swim FIVE MILES?!" she asked, standing up. She grabbed him. "Tony, there are sharks out here! And who knows WHAT else!"
"We'll start back toward shore. Maybe we'll find him," he said, wincing as she shoved him away. His chest was killing him now. The pain was growing worse by the minute, it was hard to breathe. Probably a collapsed lung or something, he decided.
Laura bent over the side of the boat and Tony forgot all about his pain as he listened to her retching. Taking his handkerchief from his back pocket, he handed it to her. "Here," he said. She took it from him and leaned farther out to dip it into the salt water below to wipe her face. He knelt there for a moment. "You're sure you'll go with me?"
Laura sat back, gulping in air for a moment. "Just as soon as I'm sure Remington is safe," she told him.
Tony returned to the con and started the engine, setting a slow course back to shore…
***
Remington was tired. Damned tired. No matter how hard he tried, it seemed that he hadn't moved from the same spot. He couldn't see any way that he would get back to shore and win Antony's insane wager. "Laura," he muttered, rolling onto his back and looking up at the blue of the sky. "So blue they're like pieces of the sky," he whispered, closing his eyes to rest them for a moment.
He felt the water stir near him and forced himself to remain calm as he turned his head to see the fin of a shark coming ever closer. Dear God, Antony hadn't been lying about that after all. There were sharks in these waters. He tried to remain still, to float, but his tension caused him to sink, and he began to flail before treading water again. Closing his eyes, he braced himself to feel the creature's sharp teeth tear into his flesh…he felt a bump, then the fin veered away.
Remington went still, and started sinking again. He wasn't sure if he wanted to struggle against drowning. It seemed to him that drowning was preferable to becoming a meal for a shark.
Suddenly he felt the bump again, and then felt the animal beneath him, pushing him toward the surface. Once he broke free, he coughed and shook his head to clear his eyes of sea water, and began to laugh.
The "creature" he of which had been afraid wasn't a shark, ready to tear him apart, but a dolphin. "Hello, there, boy," Remington said in a delighted voice, keeping a hand on the animal's fin. "Name wouldn't happen to be 'Flipper', by any chance, would it?" he asked.
As if in answer, the animal began to swim, but at a pace that Remington found he could easily keep up with, allowing himself to be pulled along by his new found friend. He just might make it after all, Remington decided. Things were definitely looking up.
***
"This is where the signal came from, sir," Mack informed Jackson. "Nothing here."
"Okay, start a search pattern. Circular. He can't have gotten far."
"Are you looking for Remington and Laura, Agent Jackson?" Eileen asked. "Or Antony?"
"Both, Mrs. Mitchell. We have to find Tony before he hurts someone else. And I hope we can find your son and daughter in law before he finishes what he came to do."
"I hope so too, Agent Jackson," Eileen said, her blue eyes boring into his. "I hope so."
***
Remington wasn't sure that he heard the sound of a boat for the longest time. It wasn't until he actually saw the craft that he lifted his hand and started to wave, then stopped, and quickly dropped back into the water, holding onto the dolphin. He recognized the small boat tied to the back of the larger one. And even from here, he could see that Antony was behind the wheel of the boat. Where had he gotten it, Remington wondered. And why was he still out here?
Rubbing the dolphin's sleek skin, Remington whispered, "I'm going to need your help, mate. Think you can distract him for me?" he asked, then felt foolish at asking the question. But the dolphin dove deep into the water and raced toward the front of the boat, leaping high into the air, chattering.
Remington's laughter was shortened as he dove toward the back of the boat, planning on untying the smaller boat and taking it back to Catalina. He could see Tony, pointing at the dolphin, calling someone to join him. "You gotta see this!" he was saying.
Remington's blood ran ice cold as he saw Laura slowly join the other man. He watched as his would be killer placed an arm around Laura's shoulders to pull her close to his side. Carefully, Remington made his way to the back of the larger boat and lifted himself onto the ladder, then climbed it. He got up onto the deck and snuck up behind the con. "I thought we were looking for Remington, Tony," Laura said in a tired voice. "Not dolphins." She looked pale, on the verge of exhaustion.
"But he's cute. Don't you think he's cute?" Tony asked as Laura moved away and the dolphin jumped again. Tony laughed at the animal's clown like antics. "How could you not laugh at that, Laura?" he asked.
Maybe she doesn't feel like laughing, Antony," Remington suggested, turning Tony around and bringing his right fist to connect with the other man's jaw.
Tony fell onto the deck, near the edge. The transmitter fell out of his pocket, the flashing light unnoticed as he grabbed for his gun. "No!" Laura cried out. "YOU said you'd let him go, Tony," she said. "Remember?"
"He did?" Remington questioned, not moving as Tony got to his feet, gun in hand.
"Yeah," Tony confirmed. "it was the condition for Laura going away with me," he told Remington.
Remington's blue eyes met Laura's brown ones. "Is that true, Laura?" he asked. "Did you tell him that you'd go with him?"
"In exchange for your life, yes," she said.
"See?" Tony said with a smirk, holding out his hand toward Laura. "Come here, Laura."
Taking a deep breath, Laura went to Tony's side. "Now, Steele. You can get into that other boat and go back home. I'll take care of Laura- and once your kid is born, we'll send him to you."
Remington looked at Laura again, this time questioning. "I see. Well, if this is what you truly want, Laura-"
"It's the only way it can be," she told him.
"She's made her decision, Steele. Just be a good loser and go, will you?"
He gave Laura another look, then turned away, as if he were about to start toward the stern of the boat. "Oh, there is just- one other thing," Remington said.
"What?" Tony asked, watching Laura's reaction to her husband's leaving. He never saw Remington turn and run toward him until his arm was stretched over the water and he was pinned against the railing. The dolphin made a leap and knocked the gun from Tony's hand and it landed directly into Laura's hands.
"I hate to lose," Remington told him, grabbing him and tossing him over the railing and into the water below, where the dolphin circled, chattering. Remington pulled Laura close to his side as they laughed in shared relief. "Thanks, mate," Remington called back to the animal, who chattered again. "We make a good team, don't you think?" he asked Laura.
"Who? You and the fish?"
"He's a dolphin," Remington reminded her. "And he saved my life."
Laura looked over the railing. "Thank you," she called down to him, then froze.
"What is it, love?" Remington asked, looking at the water as well.
"Where's Tony?" Laura asked. There was no sign of Tony anywhere...
To Be Continued---