As soon as that business was taken care of, Cruz had landed the boat on one of the less tourist-filled islands, sold it to a local fisherman with the stipulation that he hid the speedboat until the name was changed and the boat repainted, then he’d taken off on his own with hardly so much as a goodbye. ‘I’ll be in touch,
Mercedes hadn’t minded. Why would she? She had the money and the ring. Cruz had been too concerned with plotting his getaway to even bother asking her what was in the garbage bag.
After making it to Madrid, where she knew people with connections, she’d gotten in touch with a man who was able to get her a new identity and passport, then she’d flown to Argentina, because it was far enough away, and she’d read about how beautiful it was in a magazine.
Now she was happily ensconced in Buenos Aires, living with a young polo player she’d met while sitting at the bar in one of the big hotels. The boy was twenty-two and his parents were major rich! Naturally they didn’t approve of her.
Did she care? No.
Yes, Mercedes was perfectly content. On her new passport her name was Porsche. She was a girl with a hot boyfriend, some money, and tucked away in a safe-deposit box was the emerald and diamond ring. Her lucky prize. Her annuity.
Mercedes was ready for the next chapter.
Captain Dickson decided that the time had come for him to retire. He did not like the notoriety that now surrounded him, nor did his wife. Much as he’d enjoyed his many years at sea, the events that had taken place on
He settled comfortably in his house in the Cotswolds, and never took to the sea again.
Cashoo, Daleel, Hani, and Galad were arrested and thrown into jail where they were repeatedly questioned through an interpreter.
None of them spoke a word. They upheld the code of silence.
In his heart, Cashoo was convinced that Cruz would come and rescue them.
Three months later, he was still hoping.
Cast out in the middle of the night from the remote villa, with only the clothes on her back, Ina was burning to get her revenge on Sergei. He’d crossed the wrong girl. She wasn’t her brother’s keeper. It wasn’t her fault that Cruz had screwed him.
Freezing cold and soaked by the storm, she’d made it to a narrow road, and huddled under a tree until early in the morning when a gardener’s truck had stopped and picked her up.
She’d lost everything. Her home. Her clothes. Her life.
But Ina was not Cruz’s half-sister for nothing. The vengeful streak Cruz possessed ran in the family.
If she was to end up with nothing, then so was Sergei.
He was a drug lord. She knew plenty of his secrets, and she was prepared to reveal them.
With the one credit card she had concealed on her person, she purchased a ticket to Mexico City and went straight to the police.
There she went into hiding at the expense of the government, waiting to testify at Sergei’s trial.
Unfortunately this never happened, because even though she was in protective custody, an assassin managed to get past her two bodyguards, and shot her to death while she slept.
At least she never knew what hit her.
Guy returned to his hometown of Melbourne and his faithful partner. He’d decided to take a month or two off before going back to work.
Guy was frankly confused. How had Renee been able to change her story and get away with it? She’d quite clearly told him
That’s when the Senator had gotten shot. In the back, no less.
Neither story made sense. And what certainly made no sense at all was Senator Patterson being naked.
Guy realized it was not for him to ask questions. He’d got a right dressing-down from Captain Dickson for hiring Mercedes in the first place. The inside girl. The insolent little twat. Who’d have thought?
Reflecting on all the drama, Guy realized that Mercedes had been a squirrelly piece of work, always skiving off, never around when he needed her.
He’d done nothing about getting his revenge on Jeromy Milton-Gold. Wasn’t it revenge enough that the pervert had gotten himself shot?
Karma was a right old bitch.
Den seized every opportunity he could. Returning to his native Australia, he appeared on countless TV shows, giving interviews and becoming quite a mini-celebrity in the process.
Den revelled in the spotlight. So did his family. Unfortunately it didn’t last. So what next?
He took a chance and sent a letter and resume to Aleksandr Kasianenko, reminding him of his part in
Like Guy and Den, Renee returned to Australia, but unlike Den, she refused to do any interviews. She was still shell-shocked after all that had happened.
Before leaving the yacht, Aleksandr Kasianenko had taken her aside and handed her a cheque for one hundred thousand dollars. ‘It’s best you keep your story to yourself,’ he’d cautioned her. ‘The press have a way of making things up, and you wouldn’t want that, would you, dear?’
No. She wouldn’t want that.
Silence was golden. Especially when it came to protecting a US Senator’s reputation.
Cruz considered going back to his guarded compound in Eyl. Then he reconsidered.
Sergei would know exactly where to find him. And how about the friends and relatives of the missing pirates?
Eight pirates had left. None had returned.
There would be mothers, fathers, wives and other relatives hot to tear him into a thousand little pieces.
Cruz ran to Brazil, planning to lie low for a while. His life was in danger, so, like his daughter, he forged himself a new identity and began scheming about what he would do next.
Whatever it was, he would make money. Cruz always landed the right side up.
Like a snake waiting to pounce, Sergei sat back and bided his time. He could be patient when he had to. He’d waited long enough to track down his brother’s killer. Now he would wait for the pond scum, Cruz, to surface, and only then would justice be done.
Just as he’d dealt with Ina, so Cruz would be next.
And sometime in the future, Aleksandr Kasianenko.
It wasn’t over… Not at all.
Jeromy Milton-Gold eventually returned to London after spending a week in a hospital in Cabo. A week alone. A week during which Luca seemed to think a phone call or two would suffice.
Jeromy could not believe that Luca would dare to treat him in such a cavalier fashion after all he’d been through. Damn the trumped-up pop singer with delusions of super-stardom. Luca was nothing but a lucky boy
