Burn: A Novel Read online

They made quick plans for the evening, making sure that wherever Larkin was, when not in his suite, one or more of them would be nearby. Each member of the team was equipped with miniature cameras to document who Larkin met with, in case one or more of his contacts was aboard the ship. Odds were that any business done would take place in Larkin’s suite, but they had to be prepared for anything. Bridget or Matt would gain access to the suite’s parlor as soon as possible, and then they’d be set.

  Tiffany made a sour face. “Tonight I’ll get gussied up and try to work my womanly charms on Larkin. God, I hope he doesn’t bite.” She used the term to mean she hoped he didn’t take the bait, but Cael could see the slight movement of her lips as she fought to contain a smile. Faith looked up at the ceiling, pretending she hadn’t heard anything. Ryan grinned outright.

  “Ha, ha,” said Cael. He’d never live it down, that Redwine had managed to sink her teeth into him. If he hadn’t been trying so hard not to hurt her he could have put her down and out in one second flat; this grief was what he got for being a gentleman.

  “He’s creepy,” Tiffany continued. She wasn’t crazy about the idea of spending any time with Larkin, but it was another possible avenue of gathering information. Was he a talker? Did he try to impress women by telling them how important he was, and let tidbits slip? Not likely, but not impossible, either. Cael wouldn’t ask anyone on his team to have sex with anyone they didn’t want to have sex with, but if she could get into Larkin’s suite and plant some backup surveillance, all the better.

  “After watching that fit you threw last night, he’ll probably run far and fast if you come on to him,” Ryan said soothingly, then ruined the effect by grinning again. “I know I would.”

  She merely gave him a “you wanna bet?” smirk. A lot of men would be willing to put up with more than that to spend time with a woman like Tiffany.

  “Bluetooth sniffer?” he prompted, to get the discussion back on track.

  “Working,” replied Faith. “We have him covered as much as possible, short of one of us actually being in the suite with him.”

  They went over the various aspects of their surveillance methods. If Larkin got suspicious and wanted his suite swept for bugs, Cael could use a remote to disconnect the batteries. If the bug wasn’t working, a sweep wouldn’t pick it up. For the hardwired bugs he’d threaded into Larkin’s bedroom, he could simply pull them out. The hardwired stuff was more reliable and harder to detect, but sometimes they had no choice but to go wireless. Most jobs, like this one, he went with a combination of the two.

  He checked his watch; Bridget had been on guard duty for an hour, which was a long time for her not to be taking care of her duties as steward. “I have to relieve Bridget,” he said, wondering what mischief Redwine had gotten up to in that hour. Anything was possible. He might get there to find Bridget had both cuffed and gagged her, something he’d considered doing himself. He wasn’t worried that Redwine had escaped, because Bridget could take her with one hand tied behind her back, but that didn’t mean she hadn’t gotten up to some mischief-making. She was way, way too curious about what they were doing and what was going on, which was understandable, but the less she knew the better, because she couldn’t let slip what she didn’t know.

  When he keyed the door and opened it, he held his breath until he saw Bridget calmly sitting on the couch, laptop on the coffee table in front of her, earbud in place, making use of the time by going through as much of their recorded audio/video as possible, to save him the trouble.

  Redwine was nowhere in sight. Cael felt his testicles draw up, as if she might attack him from behind at any second. “Where is she?” he asked, dread in his tone.

  Bridget looked up. “She’s taking a nap,” she said, as if that were the most normal thing in the world.

  Unbelievable. Cael rolled his eyes upward, ruefully shaking his head. “Why can’t she ever do that when I’m here?” he asked, of no one in particular.

  Right on cue, she appeared in the bedroom doorway, her eyes sleepy-looking and her hair tousled. Her gaze focused on him like a laser. “Oh, it’s you” she said in tones of loathing, before giving him a huge, completely fake smile that looked more like a tiger snarling. “Welcome back, lover.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  LARKIN HAD TO GO TO THE CASINO SOON FOR THE FIRST of the cruise’s organized charity events. All proceeds from the casino—from the entire cruise, actually—were being donated to charity but there were too many passengers for all of them to fit inside the casino at once, so the organizers had divided them into groups, based on their deck name and room number, and a hundred at a time were allowed in the casino for one hour. The person who won the most money in that length of time got a prize; Frank didn’t know what the prize was, and didn’t care. It would be something pricey, of course—this crowd would expect nothing less.

  It occurred to him that this ship, this cruise, would become the stuff of legends, just like the Titanic. Everything the passengers did, the music they listened to, the fashions they wore, would be studied and analyzed as if all of it were important, when in fact none of it was.

  He didn’t have much of an appetite, but when he did eat he preferred to eat alone. On occasion he couldn’t manage to keep down what little he ate, so privacy was important. Dining with the other passengers was out of the question; he didn’t want anyone noticing that he didn’t eat much and that he sometimes gagged on his food. No one knew he was sick, other than his doctor, and he wanted to keep it that way. He’d ordered a sandwich—tuna salad on a croissant, because God forbid anything as simple as regular bread should be served on this ship—some fruit, and a bottle of water, and he’d do what he could to choke down some of it before he was forced to make an appearance in the casino.

  The tumor in his brain had taken away so many of the joys of life. The constant headache made him jumpy, and some days the pain was worse than others. He didn’t dare take more than over-the-counter painkillers, because anything more would cloud his mind. He’d all but lost interest in food, though he knew he needed to eat, and he missed the enjoyment of a good meal. Sex was another appetite he’d lost. His body was rebelling against him, taking away all of life’s pleasures, and it infuriated him. Wasn’t it bad enough that he was going to fucking die? Did the damn cancer have to rob him of every possible bit of enjoyment and satisfaction? He was damned if he’d let it.

  His personal steward, Isaac, took care of most of his needs during the cruise. Larkin didn’t want a stranger in his immediate circle, not when what he was doing was so crucial. Isaac had been a loyal employee for years; he always did whatever was asked of him without complaint, no matter how demeaning it might be. Whenever it looked as if the man had had enough and was about to walk, Larkin would throw him a bone: a raise, a gift, maybe a vacation. Isaac would spend his final days sleeping in cramped crew quarters and doing as he was told. He’d die here, loyal to the end.

  Maybe he should feel sorry for good old Isaac, Larkin thought, then gave a contemptuous laugh. If Isaac had had any balls, he’d have left a long time ago. Why should he feel sorry for a fool?

  Isaac couldn’t handle everything, though. Room service, for instance, would take twice as long if Isaac had to go to the kitchen and fetch the food, so he was relieved of that duty and Larkin tolerated the room service personnel. He was in the suite when he ordered room service, obviously, so it wasn’t as if anyone would be coming in while he wasn’t there.

  A young man—his name tag read “Matt”—delivered Larkin’s dinner. Larkin hated him on sight. Not only was he pretty in a tennis pro, surfer kind of way with curly blond hair and the innocent eyes of the terminally stupid, he looked as healthy and in shape as Larkin himself had always been. He hated the kid for his health, for his complete unawareness of his own mortality. What would it be like to not realize you were dying? Everyone was dying, but most people carried on in blissful ignorance. Larkin no longer had that luxury, and the unfairness of it made him want to slap