Ghost Scarab

Scurvy Curr

Just a heads up that portions of this chapter come almost directly from the Scarab Beetle books.

We took the black truck to the City Marina. I was scared to death that we would lose Coaltar. I was just as scared about what would happen if we found him.

Marc called Raven on our way over to warn him we were coming. I leaped out of the car the moment we arrived, not even waiting for the truck to come to a complete stop. I spotted Raven and Axel standing over by the boathouse and ran over to them.

The two of them stood staring out at the water, shoulder to shoulder. Both of their expressions were grim.

"Where's Silas?" Marc asked, coming up behind me.

"He had to get home," Axel said before turning to face me fully. "This isn't a good idea."

"Don't try to stop me," I said firmly. "That boat," I pointed out to the water in the general direction of where the boat had been when I last saw it, "has lots of drugs on it that could kill people. Coaltar plans to dump them into a well somewhere. He is intentionally hurting people, he could even kill people. Don't you dare stand there and tell me about how this isn't a good idea."

Axel flinched slightly, I would have missed it if I hadn't been watching him so carefully. Without a word he turned his head to stare out at the water as if trying to decide what his next move should be.

"Which boat is his?" Raven asked. I let out a small, involuntary sigh of relief. I may not know what Axel was going to do but it was clear that Raven was behind me on this. I pointed to the sailboat that Coaltar had taken us out on.

"Not that one. It's too slow. We'll never make it." He looked around and pointed at a motorized speedboat that was at the very end of one of the docks. "Let's take that one."

I swallowed nervously; I was thrilled he was going to help, not quite as thrilled at the idea of stealing someone's boat. Sure technically what I had wanted to do with Coaltar's boar was also stealing, but it felt like he had brought that on himself when he decided to poison an entire village.

"We can't steal a boat," Axel said.

"We'll bring it back when we're done. Fill it with gas. Leave some nice flowers. Pay off their docking fees. They'll thank us after. It will be the best boat theft they've ever experienced."

Axel and Marc followed behind Raven as he headed over to the boat and I couldn't help but smile a little at Raven's words. We all boarded the boat, Raven taking over steering. He glanced over the controls and tapped the ignition switch. I had a moment of panic when I realized that the engine wouldn't start without a key, but it was short-lived. Raven reached into his pocket and pulled out a key and a pocket knife. He jammed the key into the ignition and slammed it with the broad side of his pocket knife, turning it at the same time, starting up the engine.

As Raven and Marc worked on untying the boat from the dock, Axel asked me, "What's your brilliant plan?"

"I was planning on catching up to the yacht and boarding it. I'm going to try to talk him out of this."

"And what if he doesn't listen?" Axel asked. He was obviously skeptical of what I wanted to do, but I didn't care because, for all his disapproval, he wasn't trying to stop me. He was even willing to help, and that meant the world to me.

"I'll distract him while Raven gets the drugs and dumps it all overboard." A quick glance at Raven showed that he approved of my plan.

"And then he calls the Coast Guard and we will all be arrested," Axel said.

"If you're going to bitch about it then stay behind and pay our bail," Raven said.

"We are all fucking nuts," Marc said with an eye roll. "Let's get this over with."