Emerald Fire Read Online Free Page A

marrying her, but Chloe had seen through the fake affection and red-lipped smile. What she didn’t understand was Lisa’s connection to her miserable cousin Owen. Some key factor was missing that she couldn’t nail down.
    Lately, Owen had become a constant shadow. He’d even turned nice. A sure sign of trouble because Owen was more the sulky, rebellious type who used friendly as a way to manipulate. His latest effort had landed her in this mess. Her job frequently required travel, and when a sudden flight to Warsaw, Poland came up, she’d hidden the journal on the Fire. But then Uncle Jon sailed a week early, and now here she was, desperate in St. Lucia and dependent on a bounty hunter’s ability to do his job.
    God, she hoped he was every bit as good as he claimed. Her family legacy depended on it. If the Emerald Fire fell prey to pirates, then all was lost. The very thought made her ill.
    Lunch arrived and, despite her near overwhelming worry, Chloe’s stomach growled at the mouth-watering plate of blackened jackfish and Cajun fries set in front her. She’d had nothing since airport coffee and a stale donut early this morning, and the spicy aroma pulled her in. She grabbed a seasoned fry and stuffed it in her mouth.
    Finn pushed his laptop to the side but continued his scrolling while he ate. He plowed through his plate of food and sat back, looking over his notes. “I doubt Guadeloupe is their destination. It’s fairly clean as far as piracy reports go. The heavy hitters are Haiti, Jamaica, and Puerto Rico.”
    “Surely the bad guys wouldn’t travel that far north,” she replied.
    “Pirates, Chloe. There’s no other word for them.” He snagged one of her fries.
    Her enthusiasm for the remaining jackfish suddenly waned, and she sat back in her canvas chair. It was time for a hard and fast decision. In for a penny, in for a pound her uncle had always said. Besides, she really had no other choice. She had to trust Finnegan Kane, whether she wanted to or not. But she’d do it in baby steps.
    She leaned forward, elbows on the table. “What if I said I had another chance to zero in on the Fire ?”
    He frowned. “I’d say why the hell haven’t you mentioned it by now?”
    “And I’d say because you haven’t agreed to team up with me.”
    He put a hand to the back of his neck and rolled his head. He didn’t want a partner, she knew that, but she also knew he wouldn’t pass on a chance to make that astronomical bounty either. He’d already lost this battle.
    “How about you tell me what you’ve got, and I’ll tell you if it’s worth taking on a persistent pain like you.”
    “How sweet.” She pointed to his laptop. “Pull up SafeSail’s website.”
    He popped another of her fries into in his mouth and tapped on the keyboard. The home page for the security company filled the screen.
    “Go to the page marked GPS hybrid systems.”
    Once displayed on the screen, she pointed to the system her uncle had recently installed. “This is on the Fire .”
    Finn scanned the page. “State of the art GPS…yada…yada…hidden back-up that can be activated via satellite transmission despite the main system being disabled by thieves.” His eyes shot to hers.
    God love modern technology. She just got a partner.
     
     

Chapter 3
     
    Finn couldn’t believe it. She’d been sitting on a gold mine all this time. Half of him wanted to strangle her for withholding something so critical, the other half wanted to kiss her soundly for handing him that ten-percent bounty.
    “How do you activate it?” he asked her.
    “A phone call. I’m on the approved list and have the passcode.”
    Bloody hell. They’d known each other an hour and a half now, plenty long enough for this kind of confession. What was she waiting for?
    He glanced at the sneak system on the webpage. Timing would be crucial. Activate too soon, and they’d tip their hand. Too late, and they’d lose the yacht all together. He deliberated about a