Oceans of Fire Read Online Free Page A

see blood on the dolphin. The bullet must have skimmed him just as one had sliced across her. She dragged the dead man onto the pier, pulling him back behind her and away from Gene.
    Abigail signed for Kiwi to go out to sea, to head for Sea Lion Cove. More than anything she wanted him safe after all he’d done for her, but she had to try to save Gene. She knew her sisters were out on the captain’s walk. Worried. Waiting. Ready to help.
    “Come on, Mr. Dockins, you can’t die on me,” she whispered. She had no idea how he’d gotten mixed up in this, but she didn’t believe for one moment that he could have done anything illegal. She’d known him most of her life. His wife, Marsha, had often comforted her when other children were afraid to play with her. Gene had taken her out in his boat often and told her tales of the sea.
    She could see where three bullets had torn into his body, one in the shoulder, one in the chest, and one that had shaved skin from his skull. He was bleeding profusely now so she clamped down hard on the two worst wounds.
    The back of her neck prickled in alarm. Somewhere, out at sea, a dolphin squawked a warning. She swung around, reaching for the punch stick, a pitiful weapon against a gun.
    “Don’t you move.” The voice was low and shook with rage and the accent was not as distinct, but it was definitely Russian.
    Abigail froze, her stomach clenching. The dolphins couldn’t help her now. She could only hope that her sisters had sent aid and it was on the way. She sensed movement behind her, but she didn’t hear footsteps. Her entire body tensed. She shifted slowly, enough so when she turned her head, she could see shoes and trousers. He was standing over the dead man.
    A stream of Russian curses burst from his mouth. He stepped forward and grabbed her braid, yanking her head back to press the muzzle of his gun between her eyes hard. Her heart stopped. Her gaze collided with a pair of midnight blue eyes, black with ice cold rage. There was a moment of absolute terror and then recognition fought its way into her brain. Her heart resumed its frantic pounding. She kicked out at him, suddenly furious herself, slapping the gun away from her face. “Get the hell away from me!”
    “Calm down. I’m not going to hurt you.” He tried to fend off the kicks to his shins. “Damn it, Abbey, what the hell are you doing here? Look at me! You know me. You know I would never hurt you. It’s over. You’re safe. I’m not going to let anything happen to you.”
    She choked back a sob and turned away from him, trying to regain control of herself. She hadn’t seen those eyes in four years. Aleksandr Volstov, Interpol agent and heart-breaker extraordinaire. He was the last person she expected to see here. The last person she wanted to confront when she was on the verge of hysteria. Damn him anyway. She had the right to be hysterical after he shoved a gun in her face. Avoiding looking at him, she crawled over to Gene again and pressed her hands to the wounds to try to stop the flow of blood. He was deathly pale, and his lungs were laboring for air.
    “Who did this, Abbey?”
    She didn’t look up. “Two men in a Zodiac. They took off out of the harbor and if you call the sheriff and coast guard, they may be able to catch them.“
    “Did you get a look at them?”
    “I’m trying to keep Gene alive and it takes concentration. I can’t answer your questions right now.”
    “That man lying there dead is my partner, Abbey. Who did this?” There was ice in the voice, a warning.
    She felt a shiver go down her spine but she kept her attention focused on the fisherman. “Call the coast guard, and an ambulance. I doubt if they were stupid enough to take the speedboat out to open sea where they could be caught, but you might get lucky. There are a few caves along the coastline large enough to hide that small of a boat and it’s calm tonight, so if they know what they’re doing that’s where they’ll