Free Salt by Colin F. Barnes Page B

belong.”
    Duncan breathed out long and slow before inhaling noisily and letting out another long breath. “I don’t know how you got hold of this, but I know exactly what it is and exactly where it goes.”
    Eva waited, but he didn’t follow up.
    “Well,” Ade prompted, “what is it, man?”
    Staring at Eva with that intense look of his, Duncan said, “It opens the sub.”
    It was Eva’s turn to show surprise. She wasn’t expecting that. “Are you sure? The submarine, as in the nuclear sub, the one here under the flotilla. The one that no one’s been into since the day it arrived?”
    “Yeah, the very same.”
    “No way, man, it can’t be,” Ade said, grinning with surprise and confusion, then lowering his voice. “Why would the kid’s old man want to go in there, eh? I heard the reactor got damaged when it ran aground. Isn’t it full of radiation by now?”
    Eva took the key back before Duncan refused to give it back. He looked irritated.
    “Duncan, I need a favour from you,” Eva said.
    “No, that’s not going to happen.”
    “You didn’t even let me ask you.”
    “I know what you want, and there’s no way Jim would allow it.”
    “I’m sure you could think of something.”
    “You want me to betray my own father?”
    “If it means bringing Jean’s killer to justice, yes.”
    “Why don’t I just ask him first?”
    “He’ll say no.”
    “He might not.”
    Ade was looking confused, his head turning from Eva to Duncan like he was watching a tennis match.
    “Jim doesn’t need to know. You’re wearing your big-boy pants now, Dunc. You don’t need his permission. Besides, you’re doing this as a personal favour to me. The woman who helped you out of a few issues lately. You remember the rigging problem? Who was it who climbed up there in a shitty storm and fixed it before it came away and damaged your little sweetheart’s yacht?”
    “She wasn’t, and isn’t, my sweetheart,” Duncan said. “You volunteered to fix it anyway. I didn’t make you do it against your wishes.”
    “Don’t matter, Dunc. We’re still buds, right? Buds help each other out. You might do things differently back in England, but in America, we help each other, stand up for one another. Think of Jean. Think of Danny.”
    “You sure this has something to do with Jean’s death?” Duncan asked with a whisper.
    “It might do, but I won’t know unless you do me this favour.”
    Having had enough, unable to read between the lines, Ade butted in. “What are you guys talking about? What is it you want, Eva?”
    “Scuba gear,” Duncan said.
    “And you’re gonna get it for me, aren’t you, Duncan?” Eva gave him the sweetest smile she could manage.
    Shaking his head and sighing, Duncan stood up. “Okay, I’ll do it, but if you damage it, you’re the ones to speak to my dad. He’ll hit the roof. We’ve got only three sets left and not a lot of air in the tanks. I won’t take the rap for this, you understand?”
    “It’s all right, Dunc. We won’t need a lot of air to get to the sub and back.”
    “Fine, it’ll have to be later tonight. I won’t be able to get it out of the storage during the day, too many people about, and I’ll need the key from Dad. He won’t just give it to me.”
    “Call Ade on the two-way when you have it. I want to go first thing in the morning and see what Mike was up to.”
    Eva couldn’t imagine what Mike would be doing going to and from the sub. It meant he had his own scuba gear. But why the sub at all? It had been shut up for the last two years. It was then she started to get that sense that something bad was going on. Encrypted documents, memory sticks, murders, and now a US nuclear sub. Plus the stuff with Frank.
    Bad mojo , she thought. This is swimming in bad mojo.

    ***

    Eva woke from her nap and stepped toward the kitchen area. She stubbed her toe against the edge of a cabinet, swore loudly, then remembered Danny and swore under her breath. The room was in