Blue Velvet

'Despard is raging like a wild bull; everyone in Mariba has heard about you destroying the coke.' He shook his head. 'Despard doesn't like losing money and he likes being laughed at even less. Using a little muscle to keep Seifert on ice for a while will help him save face.'

Kate bit her lip. 'How long?'

Julio shrugged again. 'Who knows?' His big hand fell comfortingly on her shoulder. 'Don't look so troubled. I told you they're giving them everything they could want or need.'

'Everything but their freedom,' Kate said soberly. For Daniel that reservation would far outweigh any possible indulgence the authorities would offer him. After his experience in Sedikhan even the lightest confinement would grate unbearably on his nerves. 'It's not right they should have to suffer for helping us.'

Julio stiffened. 'It's not as if they're torturing them with cattle prods, Kate,' he said. 'And there's not much we can do. There are two armed guards in the hall outside their bedrooms.'

'You seem very well informed,' Kate said with a grin. 'All this you picked up in a bar?'

'I made it my business to be very thorough,' Julio replied. 'I knew I'd have to have ammunition to convince you how crazy it would be to try to do anything. I know you, Kate.'

'Two men in the hallway?' Kate asked, frowning.

Julio nodded. 'And even if you could find a way of getting the crew out of the inn, there's no way you could get them here to the plane without being recaptured.'

'No, we wouldn't be able to get them to the plane,' she agreed absently. 'We'd have to take the ship.'

He closed his eyes. 'Madre de Dios, why didn't I realize you'd think of that?' His lids flicked open and he shook his head. 'Kate, you can't just hijack a ship and sail it out of the harbor without expecting fireworks from the authorities. You'd never make it out of Castellano territorial waters and they'd charge you with piracy as well as whatever else they've rigged up against you.'

'If I'm caught it won't be any worse for me,' she said somberly. 'You've heard how they treat women prisoners here.'

'Which is why you shouldn't risk getting caught. Look, Kate, why don't we just fly Lantry to Santa Isabella and let him use the pressure of his company to get Seifert and his men released?'

Kate shook her head. 'No telling how long that would take. I can't let them stay in Mariba if there's any chance of getting them out. They're my responsibility now.'

'You can't shoulder the problems of the whole world, Kate.' Julio's dark eyes were gentle. 'You've got to pick and choose. If we go after Seifert and his crew, we'll have to leave the Cessna. Is rescuing Seifert and the crew more important than giving Jeffrey his new start?'

'No, of course not,' Kate said quickly. 'We'll just have to find a way of doing both.'

He was gazing at her with exasperation mixed with resignation. 'What could be simpler?' he asked caustically. 'Are we also going to find another cocaine cache for you to burn up if you get bored?'

She frowned at him impatiently. 'Don't joke, Julio. This is a very serious problem. '

'That's what I'm trying to tell you,' he said. 'Too serious and too dangerous for us to make the attempt.'

She moistened her lips nervously. Julio wasn't going to like this. 'Well, actually I thought it would be better to divide up.' She held up her hand to stop the protest that was sure to come. 'It's the only sensible thing to do, Julio. I'll go to Mariba and work on getting the captain and the crew away from Castellano and you can fly Beau to Santa Isabella and deliver the plane to Jeffrey.'

'No,' Julio said flatly. 'I'm not letting you go to Mariba alone.'

'You've got to,' Kate said persuasively. 'It won't be all that dangerous.' She ignored his snort of disbelief and hurried on. 'I'll go to Consuello and ask to borrow her brother's motorcycle.' She bit her lip thoughtfully. 'In a loose jacket and that visored helmet I'll be almost unrecognizable.'

'And the guards?' Julio asked. 'Are you going to just snap your fingers and make them disappear?'

'I'm not sure. I'll have to think about it. Anyway, after I've released Captain Seifert I'll have him to help me hijack the ship,' she said with a grin. 'I have an idea he'll be very good at piracy. I can almost see him with an eye patch and a curved scimitar clenched in his teeth.'

'If it gets that far,' Julio said. 'The odds are ninety-nine to one that it won't. I can't let you do it, Kate.'

Her smile faded. 'You have no choice, Julio,' she said quietly. 'It's going to be just the way I said. It's the only way we can help the crew and Jeffrey.'

'No,' Julio said firmly.

'Yes,' Kate said just as insistently. 'If you won't do it for any other reason consider it as payment of a debt.' She paused deliberately. 'El Salvador, Julio.'

'Kate, don't do it.' His voice was almost pleading. 'Don't make me let you do this.'

The battle was won. It was there in his face. She only wished she'd been able to convince him some other way. She smiled with an effort. 'Don't worry. Everything is going to work out.'

'Is it? I wish I could be as sure. You're going to do it tonight, then?'

She nodded. 'There's no use waiting. I may even be able to catch them by surprise.'

Julio's curse was very explicit Spanish and rampant with annoyance. 'You speak as if you were a commando troop, not one lone woman. This is crazy. I'm crazy for letting you do it.'

'Let?' Her tone was teasing. 'I thought I'd weaned you away from that type of arrogance.' His worried frown didn't lighten and she felt a pang of remorse. This was as difficult for her old friend to accept as it would be for her under the same circumstances. 'Look, if it will make you feel any better, you can wait until tonight to fly Beau and the plane to Santa Isabella. Once we're on board the Searcher and out to sea I'll use the ship's radio to let you know we're safe.'

'Safe! You mean until the Guardia Costa-'

'Maybe that won't happen,' she interrupted. Now where did you leave Manuel's motorcycle?'

'At the edge of the forest, about a half-mile from the road that leads to Consuello's village,' Julio told her reluctantly. 'At least ask Consuello for any help it's possible for her to give you. She's always liked you.'

'As long as it doesn't put her in any danger,' Kate agreed. She hesitated. 'You'd better wait here until almost sundown before going back to the tree house to pick up Beau and bring him to the plane.' Her shoulders moved uneasily. 'He might be a little difficult about this.'

Because he is a man with all his senses intact,' Julio answered caustically. 'You wouldn't be able to blackmail him into giving in to this craziness. He doesn't owe you any debts to be called in.'

No, it was she who still owed a debt to Beau. A debt he wouldn't let her pay now. He was more:inclined to adopt her than make her his mistress at the moment, she thought bitterly. Who would have believed the cynical Beau Lantry she'd met at Alvarez's bar would react like that? Well, if she could free his crew and give him back his ship, it would be a little compensation toward the debt she owed him before she disappeared from his life.

Sundown,' she repeated. 'By that time he'll have realized it will be too late to stop me. Tell him HI see him on Santa Isabella.'

Julio's eyes were narrowed on her face. 'And will you?'

Where else would I go?' she asked evasively. Anywhere to escape Beau's pity and