Heads or Tails (46 page)

22.

‘Okay kids-listen up!’ Garridan’s eyes drifted around the theatre room, his lips moving silently as he did a head count. ‘You all know the threat, and I’m going to keep our counterattack simple, and safe.’ He gestured to Ivyanne. ‘At ten o’clock tomorrow night, a boat will appear in the bay. Ardhi is counting on it to distract us and we must appear distracted. Camus will go out in the Zodiac and question them as they anticipate, but the moment he hears the shot from inside the house-Arundel and Ivor will capsize the boat and help him restrain the occupants.’

Arundel and Ivor smiled at each other.

‘What shot?’ Adele asked, looking confused.

‘Mine. Or Garridan’s bullet- plugging Ardhi in the middle of his forehead,’ Tristan said grimly, squeezing Ivyanne’s hand. There was a chorus of cries and murmurs from the gathered mermaids. Ivyanne was seated between Tristan and Lincoln. Each was holding one of her hands-and for once neither seemed to care about the other’s proximity which was odd considering they both bore bruises and scratches from their struggle not long before.

Ivyanne swallowed. She didn’t want to picture what Tristan had said. Or Ardhi’s angular and exotically pretty face shattering, nor Tristan being in close quarters with him. But the guard had been locked away for an hour planning their scheme, and Ivyanne had swore that she wouldn’t get in their way again.

‘And how is that going to happen exactly?’ Lincoln asked.

‘Ardhi is going to try and sneak into Ivyanne’s room at ten and is anticipating both her, and the crown, being there when he does. At 9.30, every non-guard in this house will converge in the theatre room, armed and locked in, to stay safe. At 9.45, Tristan and I will sneak into Ivyanne’s room while the lights are out. I’ll hide in her closet, and Tristan will hide in the closet of the spare room, so we’re laying in wait wherever he ransacks first.’ Garridan paused. ‘When we’re in, Ivyanne will enter, turn on her bedroom light and head straight for the bathroom where she’ll turn on the shower. Then, she’ll exit through the door to the spare room, which will be dark, and back out onto the landing, down the stairs where Lincoln and Sahori will be waiting to escort her to the security room where they’ll all be locked in.’ He glared at Ivyanne. ‘On both sides.’

Me, Lincoln and Sahori...the Court, the turned, and the Marked. Protected and useless.
Ivyanne thought. But she nodded. ‘I’ll stay put.’

‘Good.’ Garridan sighed. ‘I have no doubt that Ardhi will look for the crown first when he sees that Ivyanne is out of sight. But he will find a guard with a gun instead. After that, the rest of his plan is moot. Another distraction is apparently arriving at eleven to cover for him while he escapes, but Lachlan and Price will be down where the escape vehicle will be arriving, hiding in the trees, and will apprehend them too. Including Sherri.’

‘How many of them?’ Sahori asked, frowning.

‘Three. But of them, only Sherri wishes us ill-will.’

‘What if it’s more than a robbery?’ Grace asked.

Garridan glanced at Ivyanne, then Tristan, then away. ‘Well, Callum believes it is.’

‘But Ardhi said he didn’t want to hurt me!’ Ivyanne  protested. ‘He said he was after something worth more, and if it’s money he’s seeking, the crown will do the job! But if it’s a
sentimental
worth he’s eluding to then your plan is serving one of the two things I love the most up on a silver platter by shoving Tristan in a closet like a lightning rod!’

Tristan chuckled. ‘I’m valuable again? I thought you hated me?’

‘Shut up.’ Ivyanne snapped. ‘My point is that he could be hoping to kill whoever he happens upon.’

‘Which won’t happen-because everyone will be locked away.’ Tristan said. ‘And for the record, he’s not after me anymore. Callum told him I bought a restaurant for Pintang, and Ardhi assumes that we’re falling for each other.’ He nodded towards Lincoln. ‘
That’s
the one at risk, who he believes you’re still engaged to. Which is exactly why he’ll be locked up tight.’

‘He can come at me,’ Lincoln muttered.

‘Don’t even think about it.’ Ivyanne said shortly. ‘This guy doesn’t know Ardhi that well, or his secrets.Who knows what secret agenda Ardhi has?’

‘Callum has a theory about that too,’ Garridan said, then cringed. Ivyanne stared at him, waiting for him to elaborate. His grimace wasn’t making her feel better. After a minute, he leaned forward, his eyes tight with anxiety.

‘Look nothing is certain, but Callum is switching teams on instinct-his own. And I agree. Ivyanne, honey...Ardhi plans on sneaking into your bedroom, armed, on a full moon, with an hour to kill, and has apparently been preparing for this by researching sexual intercourse on the-’

‘Oh hell no!’ Lincoln got to his feet. ‘Don’t even say it!’

Ivyanne’s blood drained from her face. ‘He’s expecting to get
laid
?’

‘Yes.’ Tristan said softly. ‘And doing so on a full moon means that his ultimate intention is to impregnate you.’

Ivyanne felt something inside her wither and die, and a moan of despair from across the room told her that Pintang was experiencing the same thing, as their flickering, remaining faith in Ardhi’s soul was snuffed out.

‘But..he knows I’m stronger than he is! How could he expect to overpower me without having to kill me and ruin his fun?’

‘
No
…’ Pintang sobbed from beside Lincoln. He immediately sat and pulled her into his arms, his expression concerned. ‘Oh
god
…Ardhi!’

‘Ssh…’ Lincoln whispered, cradling her, kissing the top of her hair. ‘Come on Tangy…don’t give him any more tears.’

Ivyanne’s heart skipped a beat. She was so used to comforting Lincoln that she hadn’t realized how good he was at offering comfort. Suddenly, she saw Lincoln not just as a husband or king, but as a father. And then she started missing her own father. And then her anger rose once more.

‘He is so dead.’ She muttered.

‘And I’m the one with the heinous sex drive according to Ardhi…’ Tristan remarked, his tone rueful. ‘Hypocrite.’

‘I don’t know how he expects to pull it off.’ Garridan went on. ‘Catching you by surprise, and alone, is probably key, which we’ve eliminated. So don’t lose a moment’s sleep over this, sweetheart. He won’t get near you.’

‘When I spoke to Callum, he told me that his love was gang-raped and murdered years ago.’ Tristan said softly. ‘He’s confessed that he’s been adverse to Ardhi this whole time, but unsure of how to go about it, until he met me, and realized that the bullshit stories Ardhi has spun about being framed were
exactly
that-bullshit. And when he saw Ardhi on the computer yesterday googling how to pleasure a woman, and then received a call from Dallas
today
with the details of the attack happening on the full moon-he knew he had to warn us.’ He scratched his head. ‘Callum thinks Ardhi wants to break in, rape you, steal the crown and then split. Bali is stop one on their escape route.’

‘I can’t believe that there are so many awful humans in such a quaint town,’ Grace said sadly.

‘But they’re not awful.’ Tristan said. ‘The story he’s telling them doesn’t include the rape part and he’s painted
us
as being evil. They’re just eager to start these awesome new lives he’s promised and unaware of the true nature of the guy who’s promised them.’

‘Why this fixation with the crown?’ Joyce asked. ‘Does he want it simply to keep it from Lincoln and Tristan?’

‘Possibly, but Ardhi’s telling them that he has a buyer lined up for it in New Zealand. I doubt that very much-I googled the crown on my phone before and there’s no mention of it’s existence on the internet so there’s no demand or reward in place. Anyone who could know of it’s value would have to be mer, or a thousand years old.’

Ivyanne’s thoughts scattered and re-grouped, then scattered again and regrouped elsewhere. New Zealand again? What was Ardhi’s fixation with that country anchored to? What puzzle piece was she missing? Or was it all just coincidence?

‘Anyway our plan will decimate his, and quickly. We’ll all go out for a swim together early tomorrow afternoon so every one of us is at our strongest, then rest until the late evening. We know Ardhi plans to start watching the house and brewing the storm around six o’clock. But we’ll be expecting it and practice caution.’

‘Whoever pulls the trigger will be knighted.’ Price said with a soft smile. ‘Are you sure you wouldn’t prefer
me
up there? Tristan’s already got millions and I’m the best shot.’

Everyone laughed. Beside her, Lincoln rested his chin against Pintang’s head, his expression pensive, obviously realizing that being knighted was out of his reach now. Ivyanne worried her lip with her teeth, wanting to back Price up but knowing Tristan would never forgive her if she emasculated him again. She’d stuffed up a lot of things that night-she wasn’t going to withdraw her pledge to have more faith in him too.

‘That’s true. But on the off chance that it comes to hand to hand, Tristan will be more likely to survive.’ Garridan pointed out. ‘I don’t like it either, and so I hope it’s my door he comes to first.’

Ivyanne turned to Tristan, realizing that she owed him one, but still too angry with him to go about it nicely. ‘I can’t believe this Callum guy likes you so much after two minutes that he’s determined to betray someone like Ardhi on your behalf! I didn’t realize that your powers work on men as well!’

‘They
don’t
,’ Lachlan and Lincoln said in unison, and not without bitterness. And then all of the mermaids were laughing. Even Tristan. All except Pintang, who continued to cry softly.

Ivyanne’s heart twisted at that and she knew in that moment-she couldn’t mark Pintang for any more pain, or risk a Kayu-Api ever becoming a ruler. Their bloodline was too volatile.
Pintang wasn’t going to have to wait until her fiftieth birthday. Ivyanne was going to release her by bedtime.

*

The midday afternoon sun warmed Ardhi’s back as he knelt in the dense foliage of a mango tree against the innermost wall of Ivyanne’s house, watching the overladen sailboat slap it’s way across the water, heading out to sea.

He couldn’t believe his luck. He’d woken up that morning, his heart racing like he’d run a marathon and known that he wouldn’t be able to just sit around all day, waiting for the best day of his life to start. He’d had to go down to Ivyanne’s house and scope it out-see who was coming and going, try to gauge how many of her houseguests were armed.

Most of his mers had been headed down to Cannonvale for a swim, while Callum had been called out for a charter tour of Hook Island that would keep him detained until near sunset, leaving only Sherri at home. So he’d told her where he was going and warned her that if he didn’t return-to go through with the plan as arranged. He couldn’t chance getting stuck in a tree all day while someone sunbathed beneath him and blow his one shot at the crown and the girl.

And boy was he glad he had come down-because his bird’s eye view afforded him a glimpse of something that could have been detrimental to his plan-Perfects. Ivor and Arulen, whom he’d met a few years before in Indonesia were unmistakable as they flitted back and forth across the bay in front of Ivyanne’s boat. That ruled out a water entry or escape, so he was glad that he’d had a plan B.

Ardhi thought it over as the disfigured mers glide, realizing that they complicated matters more than he’d originally thought. So he pulled out his phone and sent Sherri a quick text: ‘
Have a chance to get in for a quick survey. Leaving phone behind. Keep them on schedule in case I get stuck somewhere until nightfall. But warn Lorens and Jade that there are mers in the water who can read minds so they cannot go in, at any cost!’

His phone beeped almost straight away: ‘
Geez Ardhi I swear you’re trying to fail my heart. I’ll tell them, and I’ll keep watch. Please be careful. I don’t want to lose you.’

Ardhi smiled, touched. It was funny, but in some ways, he could see that if he’d met Sherri before Ivyanne...Then he snorted, realizing that it was a bad day to get sentimental or reflect on what might have been. Especially when he still wasn’t sure what could. Who knew? Maybe he’d find closure from Ivyanne and in time, his bond with Sherri would strengthen in other ways.

‘Be careful what you’re wish for. You might end up stuck with me forever.’
He texted back, then, spotting a shallow knot in a nearby branch, Ardhi wedged his phone inside. Then, he wiped his dirty hands on his shorts, checked that the safety was on the small pistol he’d snagged from Sherri and began to inch over a branch which extended almost to the roof of what looked to be a guest house. When it began to bow, Ardhi took a deep breath, double-checked that he was out of the camera’s sight and leapt-landing in a crouch on the roof of the first building. There was a light ‘whump’ sound and he froze, staring down below, waiting for a cry of recognition, but when none came, he skittered cross the roof and leapt onto the other one, just barely catching himself on the gutter, which sagged considerably under his weight.

Somewhere, he heard a growl, and remembering the dogs, pulled himself up and onto the angled, hot surface of the roof. He bolted forward-spotting the highest point a good thirty feet away.