Free The Pandora Box by Lilly Maytree Page A

prompted when they were alone again.
    “I just have a bad feeling about it, that’s all. And I would just as soon―”
    “Listen, sweetheart...”
    “Don’t call me that.”
    “No games. Understand? This is a dangerous enough venture we’re in all by itself. So if you gave someone—anyone—the least little inkling something was up, you better tell me. People do crazy things for this kind of money. Secrecy, you got it? Secrecy is our best ally, sugar. Now, what happened?”
    “When I got home, someone had gone through my apartment.”
    “Sure it wasn’t just a routine burglary?”
    “They only took one thing.” The waitress returned and set down a glass of blended strawberries. Dee thanked her and then took a sip. “A chart of the Russian coast Nels marked for me,” she finally admitted.
    Hawk muttered under his breath and got to his feet. He walked a few paces away and then back, giving her the distinct impression he was about to lose his temper. But he didn’t. Instead, he sat down and leveled his gaze on her. “You have a passport?” he asked.
    “Yes.”
    “With you?”
    “Yes.”
    “The papers on Pandora ?”
    She nodded.
    “Let me see them.”
    Dee reached into her canvas bag and handed them over. Better to confront things between them here and now instead of run into problems later on. Especially if he might contest the validity and force her into doing anything legal, just to prove it.
    “Looks official enough,” he pronounced after a moment.
    “They’re official. Signed by Nelson Peterson.” She reached across to tap an insistent finger on the old man’s signature. “Notarized and everything down there on the bottom, see?”
    “I see.”
    “Here come the steaks, Hawk,” some woman called across the room.
    “Be right there, doll.” He got to his feet and handed her the papers. “I’m going to finish eating with these folks so nothing will look hasty. But I want you to go ahead and—where’s your car?”
    “In the parking lot.”
    “You can’t leave it there until we get back. Anybody could trace it.”
    “You mean the police?”
    “I mean anybody. Let me have the keys, and I’ll park it in Starr’s garage.”
    Dee hesitated.
    “Listen, sugar, if you’re having second thoughts, you better quit right now.”
    “Don’t”—she reached for her keys—”call me sugar!” She handed them over.
    “Just settle in on Pandora and get some rest,” he offered with a congenial smile. “You look like you need it. Take any cabin you want.”
    “Maybe I’ll take the captain’s quarters,” she snapped, “as long as you’re feeling so generous.” She expected a complaint, knowing he had already claimed the luxurious main cabin at the back of the yacht as his own.
    Instead, he flashed another one of his winning smiles. “Nicest offer I’ve had all day.”
     
    ****
     
    Back on Pandora , Marion had already moved into the forward cabin. “I hope you don’t mind,”—she called when she heard Dee come in—”but this one has a little desk that’s perfect for my laptop.”
    “I don’t mind. Remember what the book said though.” They had been drilling each other from the new seamanship book on the long drive down. “Forward cabins tend to toss more when under way.”
    “I don’t get seasick,” she replied. “Besides, those cabins in the back are already taken. So I put your things in that one on the right, just across from the bathroom. That’s the cutest little bathroom. It even has a shower!”
    “All the comforts of home.”
    “Speaking of home, where is everybody?”
    Dee stretched out on the wide, comfortable bunk and leaned back on the pillow. “They’re over at the local bar getting totally smashed. After which we are going to”—she fished for the right phrase—”set sail.”
    “What?” Marion stopped laying her papers out on the desk and gave Dee an astonished stare. “It’s getting dark outside. And remember the two red flags we saw hoisted up