Contraband (Stone Barrington #50) - Stuart Woods Page 0,1

and his yellow shirt turned out to be a life jacket. Stone got the seat belt unfastened, grabbed the man by his longish hair, pulled him free of his seat, and yanked the CO2 cord on the life jacket. As the vest filled and the pilot began rising, Stone looked into the rear of the airplane for other passengers, but saw only several pieces of black aluminum luggage under a cargo net. He pushed off the bottom as hard as he could and stayed with the pilot.

He was in no more than twelve or fourteen feet of water, but the surface seemed very far away. He held his breath as long as he could, then began to let it out slowly, then he was up and gasping for fresh air. The pilot floated on his back next to him.

Dino jumped into the water beside Stone and helped him hold on to the pilot. The RIB was started and drew up beside them. Hands came to the rescue, and Stone was relieved of the load. He grabbed a rope handhold on the RIB’s float and hugged the rubber, sucking in as much air as he could. Finally, they dragged him aboard, limp and puffing.

“Is he alive?” Stone asked nobody in particular.

“Alive and coughing up seawater,” Todd said.

They pulled the RIB alongside the yacht, hooked up the cables from the double winch, and soon, with six people aboard, were hoisted slowly to the top deck and set gently down into the boat’s cradle.

“Jenny!” Todd yelled at another hand on the stairs. “Call the Coast Guard on channel sixteen and tell them we have a light aircraft down at Fort Jefferson, one survivor with a head wound, and we need a chopper here pronto!”

Jenny turned and ran down the stairs.

The two girls in the RIB, both trained EMTs, started to work on the pilot while Todd brought them a large medical kit.

“He’s going to need half a dozen stitches,” one of them said. “And he’s got a couple of broken ribs. But he’s breathing normally, no sign that the ribs have penetrated anything.”

* * *

—

After what seemed an eternity to Stone, a helicopter appeared, low over the water. It spun around and hovered over the top deck of the yacht and a rescue diver, who had been sitting in the open doorway, his legs dangling, was lowered a dozen feet onto the deck, in a rescue basket.

Dino, Todd, and the two crew lifted the pilot gently into the basket, and it was raised and brought into the copter. As it settled onto the cabin floor there was a puff of smoke from inside the helicopter, accompanied by a screeching noise. The chopper rose and hovered beside the yacht for a moment.

There was the squawk of a voice on the rescue diver’s helmet radio, then the chopper rose and turned east, toward Key West. It made a low pass over the yacht, and a yellow nylon duffel was tossed out and landed on the yacht’s deck. Then the copter turned for Key West, climbing quickly and disappearing. The sun was now half a red ball behind them as it eased its way below the horizon.

The rescue diver unsnapped his chin strap and pulled off his helmet, releasing a cascade of shoulder-length blond hair.

For the first time, Stone realized there were breasts under the jumpsuit.

“Hi,” the diver said. “I’m Max. The chopper has had a winch malfunction and couldn’t get me back aboard. They’re low on fuel, so they beat it back to Key West without me. Can I hitch a ride to wherever you’re going?”

Stone grinned at the sunburned face. “I think we can find room for you,” he said.

“I like your outfit,” she said.

Stone, realizing he was still naked, grabbed a towel and secured it around his waist. “Let me get you a robe,” he said, finding a terry robe and handing it to her.

She glanced at her divers wristwatch. “I’m now off duty,” she said. “Any hope of a drink?”

“Right this way,” Stone said, grabbing her duffel and escorting her to the stairs.

She shucked off the jumpsuit, revealing a tanned, curvy body clad only in a yellow bikini.

Dino turned to Viv. “Look at that,” he said, shaking his head in wonder. “Stone gets dumped a week ago in New York, then he comes down here and another woman falls from the sky.”

2

They descended to the main deck and walked into the saloon, as the British and Stone liked to call it. Dino