Phantom Prospect

“Yeah, you want to put your head in the mouth of every lion you come across while I know that lions aren’t made to have human heads in them. Which one of us is right, huh?”

Hunter stalked out of the wheelhouse. Annja watched him stomp down to the back of the boat. Cole took a breath and sighed. “I’m sorry you had to hear all that, Annja.”

“Forget it. You guys aren’t the first siblings I’ve known who didn’t have the perfect relationship. At least it’s apparent that you guys love each other.”

“I guess.”

Annja put a hand on his shoulder. “Think of it this way. If he didn’t care, he would have encouraged you to jump right in.”

“Yeah.”

Annja shoved him out of the wheelhouse. “Go. Talk to him and try to get some common ground back. You’ve both got objectives here. Maybe you can make some sense out of them.”

“Thanks.”

Annja watched him go. Behind her, she heard a flicking sound. She turned and saw Captain Jax eyeing her while she cleaned her fingernails with a switchblade. “That was smooth,” the captain said.

Annja looked at the long blond hair tied back in a ponytail with a length of hemp. Captain Jax was about Annja’s age, but the crow’s-feet around her eyes belied a lot more years on the ocean than the rest of her appearance suggested.

“How long have you been a captain?” Annja asked.

“Why? You have issues with my skippering so far?”

Annja shook her head. “No. It’s just that most of the captains I’ve ever known have been men. Kinda strange to see a woman in charge. Nice change of pace. That’s all.”

Captain Jax finished cleaning one hand and adroitly flipped the knife around to work the other hand. “Yeah, well, it hasn’t been an easy slog for me to climb the ladder. I did time on tramp steamers and shitty freighters, working the south Atlantic between Africa and South America.”

“What happened?”

“I got tired of turning a blind eye to the crap I used to witness.”

“Like?”

Captain Jax stop cleaning her nails. “You ever seen eight-year-old kids forced to shovel coal into ship boilers for ten hours a day?”

“No.”

“You ever seen teenage girls being sold into sexual slavery?”

Annja frowned. “Heard of it.”

Captain Jax smirked. “Different when it’s right in front of your face, lemme tell you.”

“So you stopped working that route?”

“I came north after the skipper of the ship and I had a disagreement about a particular shipment of kids into the Brazilian brothels.”

“What happened?”

Captain Jax shrugged. “I cut his throat while he slept. And I shoved his bloated carcass overboard where the sharks tore him to bits.”

Annja almost smiled at the candor with which Captain Jax spoke. “You don’t seem particularly upset.”

“I’m not upset at all.” Captain Jax pointed the knife at her. “You, however, don’t seem the least bit fazed by what I just said.”

Annja shrugged. “Let’s just say it sounds like we’ve both left a few bodies in our wakes.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes. It is.”

Captain Jax eyed her for a moment without moving. Annja returned the stare. A heavy silence cloaked the wheelhouse and, in the distance, Annja could hear the breeze coming off the ocean. But nothing moved in the space between her and the captain.

Finally, Jax seemed satisfied. “Just so long as you understand that this is my boat. I have the authority here.”

“I thought this was Hunter’s boat,” Annja said.

“I’m the captain.”

“No one’s trying to steal the job from you.”

Jax nodded. “Good.”

Annja started to leave. She took a step before she heard Captain Jax’s voice. “Annja.”

She turned. She saw the whiz of movement through the air. Annja shifted as the blade flew past her and sank into the wood paneling next to her head. The switchblade was deeply embedded.

Annja glanced back at Captain Jax. “You finished now?”

Jax smiled. “Good reflexes.”

“They’re better than you know.” Annja pulled the knife out of the wood and checked the edge. It was razor sharp. She turned the blade over and then in the next instant sent it flying right back at Jax. Jax recovered quickly and dodged the blade as it shot into the clock next to her head.

“Not bad,” she said.

Annja smirked. “Just remember—you aren’t the only warrior on this boat. Not anymore.”

7

Outside the wheelhouse, Annja ran into Hunter. He looked her over. “Everything okay back there?”

Annja smiled. “Just a couple of dogs having a pissing contest. Nothing to get excited about.”

“If it’s happening on my boat, I want to know about it,” Hunter said. “I’ve already lost one crew member and I don’t want any more going missing. If Jax is giving you shit, you need to tell me. She’s pretty territorial.”

Annja shook her head. “Don’t expect me to come running to you like some lost sheep. I don’t operate that way. If Jax has a problem with me, then we’ll work it out between us. One way or another.”

“As long as there’s not another body to worry about,” Hunter said.