“What do you mean?”

“Both were commandos with a Malaysian counter-terrorism unit before I hired them. I’m telling you, they are two guys you would never want to mess with.”

“Why the tough guys? I thought you might have a crew of beautiful women,” joked Jack.

Barfoot’s face remained serious. “To the south of us is the Strait of Malacca. It is notorious for piracy. They put out weekly reports on it. Langkawi is part of an archipelago of over a hundred islands, of which only a handful are inhabited. It is very easy for the pirates to attack and disappear in a hurry.”

“I had forgotten about modern-day piracy. You hear about it off the coast of Somalia, but it’s not something you would think of from where I come from.”

“Piracy in these waters has been going on for centuries.” Barfoot caught the sombre look on Jack’s face and slapped him on the back and said, “Don’t worry, the good news is that most of the scows the pirates have would flip over in the wake that the Princess can leave behind.”

“That’s reassuring,” said Jack.

“You have to admit though, it is beautiful around here, but a guy has to keep his head about him, or he could lose it,” added Barfoot.

Jack thought about the boat ride he was to take with Pike tomorrow over to Hat Yai. Would they stage a piracy attack? Leaving only me dead?

“So, welcome aboard,” said Barfoot, when they reached the yacht.

Jack paused for a moment, shaking his head as he looked at the yacht and said, “You told me when we met that you had a house and a boat in Malaysia, but, man … this is no boat. It is one fine-looking yacht.”

“Yeah, bells and whistles are nice, but they still don’t beat having a family.” Barfoot eyed Jack curiously for a moment and said, “I don’t want to pry, but have there been any steps toward reconciliation for you to get back with your wife and children?”

“Some,” replied Jack, feeling bad that he had to lie.

“Glad to hear it. Watch your step.”

Jack stepped onto the back of the yacht and bent over to take off his running shoes.

“Don’t bother,” said Barfoot. “I leave mine on. I want you to feel comfortable.”

“Thanks,” said Jack, giving a chuckle.

“What’s so funny?”

“Telling me to be comfortable. I don’t know if I could ever get comfortable in surroundings like this.” He paused again to look around. “No matter how hard I worked, I don’t think I would ever end up owning one of these. Maybe the rubber boat hoistened to your stern would be more in line with my budget.”

Barfoot smiled and said, “That’s called a tender. It’s your choice, though. If you want, I could take you out in it instead of the Princess. That tender can do around forty knots. It will give you quite a ride.”

Jack grinned. “Thanks, but I think I’d like the Malaysian Princess better.”

“Sort of what I thought,” replied Barfoot, smiling back.

Two Malaysian men appeared from inside the boat and Barfoot introduced them to Jack as Razak and Khalid. Both men were clean-shaven and wore immaculately pressed white T-shirts over crisply ironed blue cotton pants.

Razak and Khalid’s muscular biceps bulged out from their T-shirts and more muscles rippled across their stomachs. Despite having stylish haircuts that would suit a surfer-type image, their faces had the hardened look of soldiers who were seasoned fighters. Jack knew he didn’t have to worry about Barfoot’s safety today.

Despite Razak and Khalid’s tough appearance, each smiled and flashed a row of white teeth as they nodded politely and shook hands with Jack.

Barfoot glanced at Razak and said, “We’ll cast off in about twenty minutes. First, I want to show my guest around.”

Razak and Khalid disappeared back inside as Barfoot reached for his pocket.

“Hang on, got a call,” he said, taking out his phone. “Go ahead, take a look around. I shouldn’t be long.”

Jack nodded and glanced at the yacht. It consisted of three decks. The lower deck, the main deck, and the fly bridge containing the wheelhouse was at the top. Jack climbed a steep stairwell to the main deck where a glance through a door revealed a large seating area and a huge flat-screen television.

Across the back of the main deck was another steep stairwell leading up to the fly bridge. Jack climbed it and then entered the wheelhouse. The wheelhouse was finished in a rich teak and shiny brass fittings adorned the instruments on the control panel in front of a large wooden steering wheel. Sliding doors on either side of the wheelhouse led out onto the deck to the bow of the yacht.

Jack went out to the bow and stood. For a moment he felt like a king, and it reminded him of a movie he had seen called Titanic. As he smelled the salt air, he tried to forget about what tomorrow would bring and enjoy the moment.

After a few minutes Jack went back and saw that Barfoot was still on the phone, so he returned to the bow and sat with his feet dangling over the edge while grinning to himself. Yup, the life of an undercover cop. Can be pretty tough sometimes …

Forty minutes passed before Barfoot appeared beside him.

“Sorry about that,” he said. “Business. The toys don’t come for free. Come on, I’ll give you a tour.”

Jack followed Barfoot down to the lower deck, but as they reached the bottom, they heard someone yell out.

Jack looked and saw Oskar and Pike approaching.

Damn it! At least Oskar isn’t carrying a briefcase with insurance papers ...

“I think Stew may have taken a turn for the worse,” said Oskar, as he got on board. “I could hardly talk to him. They had two doctors hovering around him the whole time I was there.”

Jack smiled to himself. He had a feeling that at least one of the doctors was one of Ahmad’s men.

“He barely got to say there was no way he would stay, before drifting off,” said Pike. “They must have him on some sort of meds.”

“Do you think he is going to be okay?” asked Barfoot.

“I don’t know,” replied Oskar. “I’m beginning to think he might have something worse than food poisoning. I’ve got the number to the hospital. I’ll give them a call and check on him again later.”

“Too bad,” replied Barfoot, “but at least he’s in the right place. And speaking of right places, how about we head out to sea, drink some beer, and forget about work?”

“Hear, hear,” answered Pike.

Jack glanced down the pier and saw Randy give him a helpless look as Khalid leaped from the yacht to untie the moorings.

Jack felt confident that Oskar and Pike wouldn’t dare try anything with Razak and Khalid around. He wasn’t worried … until he felt his phone vibrate and saw that it was Laura calling.

Chapter Thirty-Eight

“Drop the knife! Now!”

Virgil spun around at the command that had been screamed at him. He stood dumbfounded near the foot of the bed as the room was emblazoned with light.

Two black-clad men had appeared in the doorway and were pointing Heckler & Koch MP5 submachine guns at him. He felt something brush his ankle and glanced back and saw that another member of the Emergency Response Team had rolled out from under the bed and was also pointing a submachine gun up at him.

Virgil’s mouth gaped open as he looked at the woman in the bed. She was fully clothed and was pointing a pistol at him. Another ERT member had appeared on the far side of the bed.

“I said, drop it! Now!” the man screamed again.

From the bed, Constable Sue McCormick stared at him and smiled. “Very good, but he wasn’t talking about your erection, asshole. Drop the knife!”

Minutes later, while handcuffed in the back of a police car heading for the Major Crime Unit office, Virgil had regained enough of his composure and snarled, “I was set up. Taggart set me up!”