The Viking Seal

CHAPTER 29 - Speaking of Things Going South

The motorboat glided quietly alongside the dock and Arny slipped the mooring line over a cleat and both men started out of the boat. The sound of gunfire brought them both up short and they ducked low, Stone quickly lifting his own gun out in front.

"We've got to get in there," Arny whispered harshly.

"I'd better go first." Stone clambered silently up the aft ladder of the boat, keeping low. He peered over the rail and saw the legs of a man protruding from the hatch down to the lounge. He could hear voices inside and he put a finger to his lips and waved for Arny to follow.

Gretta took the few seconds of distraction to shift her hands up to Moira's knife stuck in the table, and in one dangerously quick motion she sliced through the tape on her hand along with a nasty piece of her wrist. Declan turned back from Parker in time to see her lunge at him and he brought his gun around, unable to fire but catching her on the side of the head and sending her crashing into the corner of the lounge. He sneered and took careful aim at her stunned face.

"Hey!" Stone burst through the hatch yelling.

Declan spun around, his gun already firing, and then there was the roar of Stone's big pistol. Declan felt the shock of the bullet hit his shoulder and he flew backwards landing on Kenny's body at the foot of the steps to the bridge. Stone jumped after him, kicking the gun away from him and keeping his pistol aimed right at him. Arny followed, brandishing his knife and looking petrified.

He ran to Gretta and helped her to her feet, touching her all over to make sure she was okay.

"Arny, please. Not now." Her smile made him deflate like a burst balloon and he threw his arms about her possessively.

"Get Mel untied, Arny." Stone called. "You guys can do that on your own time."

Arny hurried to Mel and unfastened her hands and feet and led her over to Gretta. Declan was pulling himself into a sitting position and examining the hole in his shoulder.

"I think I need some medical attention."

"I think the lot of you need mental attention." Arny snarled. He watched as Gretta went to the inert form of Moira and bend down to check her pulse. The move was impossibly fast as she slipped an arm about Gretta's neck and yanked down in front of her. Gretta groaned aloud, more in self-scorn than pain.

"I might have guessed," she grunted through her squashed neck.

"You just aren't in my class, sweetheart." Moira shifted her grip and then heaved them both into a sitting position. "Drop the guns, boys, or the next sound we all hear will be Miss Lawrence's neck snapping."

"Let her go, where do you think you can go from here, Moira?" Stone asked.

"Her funeral if you don't do what I said."

"I could give you a hand if you're willing to call a truce, Moira." Declan sounded like he was relaxing on some patio with a mint julep. His voice gave no indication at all that he was bleeding from a gunshot wound or that he had, moments earlier, tried to kill her.

Moira snorted a laugh and then seemed to be thinking. She ordered Gretta to her feet and then shuffled her over toward Declan. "You hold her while I collect their guns."

"Do we have a deal?"

"Declan, would I trick you?" She stared at his blank face. "Hold her. You and I can settle our thing later . . . away from here."

"Don't let me stand in the way of your little domestic squabble." Gretta wheezed. Moira delivered a painful blow to her kidney, stunning her long enough for Declan to get his good arm about her neck.

"Okay boys." Moira held out her hand and took Stone's gun. "That toy you've got too, sweetie." She took the knife from Arny and then looked about, finding Declan's gun along with Kenny's. "There's another one somewhere. Parker's. No tricks folks. Let's all look together."

"It's next to his leg," Declan called, and Moira quickly retrieved it, shoving one pistol in her belt and holding the others, one in each hand.

"Gosh, I feel like Gretta Lawrence. Take her up on deck, Declan. I'll clean up here." She hefted the guns and then took aim at Arny. "I guess you'll be first sweetie, you're Gretta's beau aren't you?"

****

Declan stumbled along with Gretta in a neck lock and started up the steps to the aft hatch. As they passed in front of Mel, she made a fist with one knuckle protruding and slammed it into Declan's wound. He roared in pain, and his arm dropped from Gretta's neck. Instantly she jammed a foot onto the step and launched herself across the lounge into Moira.

Moira squealed in surprise and bounced back onto the lounge table. Both guns clattered to the deck, and as she rolled off the table she pulled the one from her waist, feeling her wrist clamped in Gretta's. The two women fought their way along the lounge wall, knocking pictures awry, and smashing lamps. Arny grabbed the lost weapons and handed one to Stone, who held the barrel in Delcan's ear, forcing him to stay seated on the step.

"Get on phone and call the cops." Stone said. "We can't walk away from this mess under the shield of the Congress."

Moira clawed at Gretta's face, teeth bared and breath coming hard as they grappled for dominance. Gretta freed one hand and sent a closed fist into the side of Moira's head, stunning her long enough to knock the gun away. Moira's knee came up and caught Gretta in the stomach and she felt a dulling sick feeling that took away her strength for an instant.

When she realized she'd lost her advantage, it was too late to avoid Moira's knife, which appeared from nowhere to bury its blade in her side. Moira let out a victory cry as she tried to press her advantage, but Gretta turned away from the knife and it slipped from her hand. Her next sensation was one of steel fingers gripping her throat. Dark flashes appeared before her eyes and little coloured explosions as she frantically tried to pull the fingers free.

Her throat constricted and she choked weak breaths under the pressure. Her eyes found Gretta's and the two women stared defiantly at one another until Moira saw a different colour behind her eyes, a deep red that seemed to fill her entire mind, and then there was nothing.

Stone was pulling at her arm. "Gretta, no! Stop!" He wrestled her free and felt her collapse into his arms, his hand soaking in the blood from her stab wound. "Mel, quick. Find a first aid kit!"