A Dubious Curse (A Colton Banyon Mystery Book 8) Read online

  “How do you know that?” Loni asked, her suspicions alerted. She quickly realized that Mandy was like a younger version of herself, and in her mind, it meant Colton Banyon was attracted to her. The jealous and competitive Loni leaned back and stared into his eyes.

  “Bart told me,” Banyon lied. Mandy had nearly gotten to Banyon on his last adventure, but he didn’t want Loni to know.

  “There is something you are not telling me,” the suspicious Loni remarked. “I know it.”

  “Not now, Loni,” Banyon pleaded. “Besides, I need you with me for the next part of our plan. We need to head to the back of the boat right now.”

  “Okay,” she acquiesced, feeling needed by her man.

  As Mandy sprinted past Previne and Steve, he yelled, “Get’em, tiger.”

  Mandy took up a position at the edge of the dock. She placed the stand for the rifle on a wooden bulkhead and took aim at the entrance to the marina. It was about a hundred yards away and on an upward slope. She waited.

  Previne and Steve finally reached the houseboat and jumped onboard. Kim cast off the line, and the big boat slowly left the slip. Soon, it was outside the marina and headed for the edge of the cove. They would soon be out-of-range for any machinegun fire.

  hen Loni and Banyon reached the transom at the stern of the houseboat, they found Guido and Heather bent over and pulling on the lines for the speedboat and the jet ski. The water toys were soon bobbing alongside the back of the boat. Banyon and Loni had each grabbed guns on the way—Loni had two.

  Along the way, Loni had deposited Skye with Kim, who quickly suggested they move up to the top deck to talk. She nodded her head, Asian-style, and seemed at easy with him. She smiled as he complimented her gold bathing suit while following her up the spiral staircase.

  “We’ll take it from here,” Banyon assured to Guido.

  “Forget about it,” Guido responded. “The boss wants Heather and me to make the recovery.”

  “They are my people, and Loni and I will make the recovery. Is that clear?” Banyon asked forcefully. Guido immediately backed up with his hands in the air.

  “Bart, Banyon wants to make the recovery. What should I do?” Guido yelled to the captain of the boat.

  “It’s his plan,” Bart yelled back.

  “You’re the what-cha-ma-call-it… client,” Guido conceded. He shrugged and moved away from the boat.

  “Heather is not going, either,” Banyon continued, pointing to her.

  “Heather, we’re not going,” Guido told the startled woman, who now sported a stunning white-and-red-striped, two-piece bathing suit.

  “Colt, are you sure?” Heather questioned with her hands on her shapely hips. Loni was immediately concerned with the familiar tone she used when she addressed Banyon.

  “How do you know her?” Loni inquired.

  “Loni, she is the office manager at Dewey & Beatem. Of course I know her, even Eric knows her,” Banyon replied. He eyed Heather with a look that said ‘don’t say anything else’. Heather immediately backed down and threw her hands into the air. She had also been on Banyon’s last case and had become quite familiar with Eric.

  “Loni, Colt has told me so much about you and how fearless you are. He is very proud of you, you know,” Heather attempted to flatter Loni.

  “Yup,” Banyon added. “She is my number-one fighter and my true love,” Banyon boasted for everyone to hear. Loni seemed satisfied with the answer and grabbed Banyon’s arm possessively.

  “Come on, sweetie,” she gushed. “We have work to do.”

  Loni handed Banyon her guns and jumped onto the jet ski. Banyon lowered himself into the speedboat and put the guns on the seat next to him. He hoped he would not need them. They both cast off and headed for the end of the long dock. Banyon knew Harold could see them and could tell Barry they were going to pick up the stragglers, but he believed there was little Barry could do to stop them, as long as Mandy could do her job properly. Surviving while someone could see your every move was all about speed, deception, and distance.

  Banyon had the speedboat at about three-quarter speed as he watched Loni on the jet ski skim along next to him. The water was as smooth as glass. Banyon had donned a water vest as he drove, but Loni did not have one on. He marveled at her beauty as she swerved near the speedboat and blew a kiss at him. A huge smile was plastered on her Asian face. He realized she was having fun. Her small, lithe body barely filled the seat, her long hair flowed behind her, and her breasts jiggled in the small, white bikini top with each bounce of the jet ski. She noticed him looking at her and stood up in a crouch, waving her fine ass in a suggestive pose. Banyon wondered if she was doing it because she was having so much fun, or if she was tempting him out of jealously.

  Loni pointed ahead. The dock was closing fast. Banyon powered down the speedboat and drifted to a wooden ladder at the end of the looming structure. He was about ten feet below the top of the dock, so he could not see what was happening on top. He quickly looped a mooring line around one of the steps and disengaged the outboard.

  Loni pulled the jet ski up next to the speedboat. He carefully moved from the driver’s seat to the back of the boat as she came alongside. She threw him a short line, and he tied it to a cleat on the boat and pulled the jet ski even with the boat. She held out her arms for him to help her make the transfer.

  As she sprang onboard, he realized she was completely drenched and that the white bathing suit had become almost transparent. She was also very excited. She threw herself at him and kissed him deeply.

  “Take off that stupid vest,” she demanded. “I want to feel your body next to mine.”

  “Loni, there are several people watching from the houseboat, and Maya may be here at any second,” Banyon deflected her.

  “But I’m hot and ready for some action,” she complained, rubbing against him.

  “You need to control yourself right now. Why don’t you climb up the ladder and see what’s happening?” he begged her.

  Loni climbed the ladder towards the deck. She peeked over the edge, with just the top of her head showing. “I see Mandy,” she exclaimed.

  “Anything else?” Banyon yelled up at her.

  “There is a green-colored army car pulling into the parking lot.”

  t the front of the dock, Mandy watched as the green-colored car entered the parking lot from the south. The car headed straight for the dock and skidded to a stop. Two doors flew open, and Eric and Maya, clutching the box with the book, emerged and slammed the car doors. They began jogging towards the end of the long, wooden structure as the military car quickly took off and fishtailed towards the exit. Eric noticed Mandy and called out to her as they passed by.

  “Hey, Mandy. Want me to take the shot for you?” he asked jovially. “I did some sniping when I was a SEAL.”

  “You guys hurry. Run faster. The bad guys will be here in a minute. I’ll be right behind you,” she promised confidently.

  As she looked back towards the marina entrance, she saw the military car turn out of the parking lot and speed off. Within seconds, the three carloads of Effort men reached the entrance coming from the north and turned into the parking lot. Mandy didn’t hesitate. She took careful aim and shot out the left front tire on the first car. The vehicle immediately slowed down and veered off to the left. The second car moved around the wounded vehicle, but Mandy put a bullet in the right front tire. When the third car swerved to avoid the second, she shot out the right front tire of that car. Suddenly, she realized the first car had not stopped. It still kept coming, albeit slower, even on the totally flat front tire.

  When Banyon had planned the ambush, they had expected the men to get out of the disabled cars and run towards the dock. It would have given Mandy the time to get away. As the first car neared the end of the pier, Mandy knew she was in trouble. She snatched up the heavy rifle and began sprinting towards the end of the dock. About a hundred feet from the end, she tossed the rifle into the water. She didn’t want the
Effort men to get it, but it cost her a few precious seconds. She ran, as though her life depended on her speed.

  Loni continued to stand on the ladder and watch from the end of the pier. She relayed what was happening to Banyon as Eric and Maya came closer. She could see Maya was struggling, and Eric had to support her as she ran. She also saw Mandy shoot the tires of the Effort cars and begin running down the long pier. As Eric and Maya neared the end, Loni told Banyon to get prepared.

  Banyon untied the jet ski, started the motor, and let it drift away from the dock. He then started the speedboat and untied it from the ladder. Loni dropped into the boat as nimbly as a cat. She had her arms wrapped around the box.

  “Loni, get in the driver’s seat,” Banyon yelled to her. “Put the box under your feet. I need to help Maya off the ladder.” He reached up and grabbed the panting Maya by the hips and helped her to a seat. Eric was right behind her.

  “Go!” Eric screamed in a loud voice, leaping into the seat next to Loni. Banyon dropped down next to Maya, just as Loni pushed the throttle to the limit. The fast boat responded immediately, and they sped from the dock. The jet ski, with the motor running, was twenty feet from the end of the pier, waiting for Mandy.

  When they were out of range of the machineguns, Loni slowed the speedboat and brought it around to face the pier. They all watched Mandy’s plight. Several Effort men were chasing her up the long dock and firing their machineguns from the hip. She was zigzagging and pouring on as much speed as she could muster, but they knew she couldn’t outrun bullets forever.

  “Come on, Mandy, you can make it!” Loni yelled. They all started cheering Mandy on.

  They gasped as Mandy stumbled and began to fall to the hard wood surface. She tucked into a ball as she went down and rolled right back up onto her feet. She hardly slowed down, but it cost her some more precious seconds. She glanced back to see how far they were behind her and noticed that the men carried AK-47’s, the venerable machinegun toted by terrorists all over the world. She hoped they only had a small, thirty-round clip in the guns. Larger clips meant more firepower.

  The end of the pier was only a few feet away. The Effort men watched her launch herself into the air. Her momentum carried her over the edge. Bullets whizzed past her flying body. She cannonballed into the water about four feet from the jet ski. As soon as she surfaced, she swam to the machine and climbed aboard. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief as they saw a rooster tail of water spray come from the rear of the machine, signaling that she was on the move.

  They could see Mandy trying to present as small of a target as possible as she waited for the powerful machine to pick up speed. She laid flat on the seat and could barely see over the handlebars. Because of the height of the dock and the distance the Effort men had to cover before they reached the edge, the fast-moving toy had covered almost one hundred yards before they could see her.

  Unfortunately, the jet ski wasn’t fast enough, and she had lost too much time getting to the escape vehicle. The Effort men had also gotten too close to the pier on three tires, and seven men now stood on the edge of the pier. Mandy’s luck had run out. The Effort men opened fire.

  he people in the speedboat now saw splashes from the wall of lead moving towards Mandy’s jet ski. The Effort men were zeroing in on her position. She kept the machine in a straight line, trying desperately to exceed the maximum range of the machineguns. She was more than two hundred yards from the pier now and still picking up speed. The problem was that AK-47s have a range of 300 yards.

  Banyon watched in horror as a puff of smoke appeared behind the jet ski. Seconds later, it exploded. No one on the boat could say anything. They just stared in disbelief as a fireball shot into the air. They could hear cheering from the men on the dock and watched as they raised their guns in triumph. To Banyon, it looked like a bunch of terrorists celebrating a killing, which, of course, it was.

  “Oh, God, no,” Banyon heard Maya utter. “She died saving us.”

  “I’m going in,” Loni announced, pushing the throttle forward. The speedy boat immediately shot forward. “Get the guns—we’re going to kill some of them,” she ordered through gritted teeth. This was now about revenge for Loni.

  “The handguns are useless,” Eric screamed. “The handguns don’t have enough range. You’re going to get us all killed and remember, the goal is to protect the Vril book. Mandy was paid to protect us. Don’t make her death be in vain.”

  “Look!” Banyon exclaimed, pointing to the area near the fireball. They all could see a small body pop up in the water and begin rapidly swimming towards them. The burning jet ski was between Mandy and the dock. The men on the dock could not see her. Loni immediately pushed the throttle to the firewall, and they closed in rapidly.

  “Take some shots anyway,” Loni screamed. “We will still be in range of the machineguns and maybe, it will make them miss.” Eric, Maya, and Banyon grabbed the three guns and took up shooting positions.

  “Stay low in the boat!” Banyon yelled. “Don’t stand up.”

  “Wait until we get close enough to pick her up,” Eric, the ex-SEAL, ordered. “Give your shots a 20-percent lift. The bullets will travel farther. When they see bullets splashing in the water near them, they might take cover.”

  “I wish we had a rifle,” Loni muttered. “I’d teach them a lesson,” she vowed as she slammed the steering wheel in frustration. The speedboat was now moving at full speed, slicing through the calm water.

  Fortunately, Mandy was a strong swimmer and had already passed the effective range of the machineguns. Loni smoothly circled the young girl and brought the boat alongside her as she tread water. Maya, Banyon, and Eric opened suppressive fire. The men on the dock seemed unaffected, but they stopped shooting. Suddenly, they turned in unison and ran back down the dock.

  Eric reached down, grabbed Mandy by the arm and literally yanked her into the boat. She came out of the water like a fish on a line and flopped down between the seats. Loni quickly hit the throttle and sped off towards the houseboat. The big boat had just turned the corner outside the cove.

  “Did I do good?” Mandy asked no one in particular between gasps for air as she lay in the bottom of the speedboat.

  “You scared the crap out of us,” Banyon said as he reached down and hauled her on to his lap. There were no more seats available in the boat, and he didn’t want her floundering like a fish in the bottom of the boat. She hugged him tightly, but immediately let go without saying anything. She turned on his lap to face the equally tired Maya. Banyon understood that she was being professional; otherwise, he was pretty sure she would have paid more attention to him.

  “Do you have the book?” Mandy asked Maya breathlessly.

  “Yes, it is under the front seat by Loni. I think you saved our lives. We wouldn’t have been able to outrun the bullets the way you did,” Maya said.

  Mandy thought for a second. “Why is this book so important that people would kill over it?” It was a question none of the other people in the speedboat wanted to answer. It was important to keep the Dewey & Beatem people in the dark.

  “It contains secrets only Lisa can tell you,” Banyon replied to deflect her train of thought. “You’re quite the athlete,” Banyon added, changing the subject. “None of us could have done what you did.”

  Mandy beamed. “That was cutting it a little too close, though,” she admitted.

  “How were you able to escape the explosion?” Maya asked.

  “When I saw splashes from bullets around me, I knew I was out of time. I dove off of the jet ski before it was hit and tried to put it between me and those assholes. I knew you would come and get me,” she replied.

  “Well, thank you,” Maya said seriously.

  “It was my pleasure,” Mandy assured her with a wide grin. She was beginning to enjoy her heroine status.

  “Why did they stop shooting?” Maya asked no one in particular. “They had a good chance of hitting one of us on the boat or even sinking it.”r />
  “I can answer that,” Banyon offered just as Loni passed the cove entrance. They could see the houseboat just ahead, lumbering through the dark waters of the lake.

  “Oh?” Mandy replied.

  “There are two reasons,” Banyon said. “First of all, they didn’t want to risk putting a hole in the book or sinking the boat. If that happened, the book would be lost forever.”

  “So, in a way the book protected us,” Mandy responded.

  “Yes.”

  “What is the other reason?” she asked.

  Banyon turned in the boat and pointed his arm towards the rapidly disappearing marina. “They were told to get into three speedboats.” Mandy could see three fast speedboats leaving the dock and heading right after them.

  “Hope our boat is faster,” she uttered.

  here’s the thing-a-ma-jig little boat,” Guido yelled as Eric threw him the line to moor the speedboat.

  “It was a casualty,” Banyon yelled back as they hauled the speedboat alongside so that everyone could climb onto the houseboat. Banyon noticed Steve and Kim were now in bathing suits. Guido still had on his dress suit.

  When Guido noticed Banyon giving him a strange look, he explained, “I ain’t partial to the water,” with a shrug.

  The loudspeaker on the boat came to life. “It’s going on your bill, Banyon,” he heard Captain Bart bark.

  “But Mandy is okay,” Banyon replied. “We were able to pluck her out of the water after the jet ski exploded.

  “Did you get the book?” Captain Bart inquired.

  “Yes we did,” Banyon confirmed. “And, by the way, we are all safe. Thanks for asking,” he said sarcastically. He turned and saw Loni looking through a pair of binoculars on the stern of the boat.

  “There are three speedboats heading our way with ten men carrying AK-47’s,” Loni screamed. “They’ll be here in about five minutes. They are just leaving the cove,” Loni pointed at the three tiny dots on the horizon. “For God’s sakes, stop bickering you two, and do something.”