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International bestselling author Tess Gerritsen gave up a career as a practising physician to write full time. She draws upon her experiences to bring all the tension and terrors of her thrillers to life. She lives in Camden, Maine, with her physician husband and two sons.
Also available from MIRA® Books and Tess Gerritsen
CALL AFTER MIDNIGHT
UNDER THE KNIFE
IN THEIR FOOTSTEPS
PRESUMED GUILTY
NEVER SAY DIE
MURDER & MAYHEM
Stolen
Tess Gerritsen
This work was first published as Thief of Hearts by Harlequin Enterprises Limited in 1995.
All the characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author, and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all the incidents are pure invention.
All Rights Reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Enterprises II B.V./S.à.r.l. The text of this publication or any part thereof may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, storage in an information retrieval system, or otherwise, without the written permission of the publisher.
This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the prior consent of the publisher in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
MIRA is a registered trademark of Harlequin Enterprises Limited, used under licence.
Published in Great Britain 2009.
MIRA Books, Eton House, 18-24 Paradise Road, Richmond, Surrey, TW9 1SR
© Terry Gerritsen 1995
ISBN: 978-1-4089-2840-0
Version: 2018-07-18
In memory of Jum Heacock
“In thy face I see the map of honour, truth and loyalty.”
—Henry VI, Part III
William Shakespeare
PROLOGUE
SIMON TROTT stood on the rolling deck of the Cosima, and through the velvety blackness of night he saw the flames. They burned just offshore, not a steady fire, but a series of violent bursts of light that cast the distant swells in a hellish glow.
“That’s her,” the Cosima’s captain said to Trott as both men peered across the bow. “The Max Havelaar. Judging by those fireworks, she’ll be going down fast.” He turned and yelled to the helmsman, “Full ahead!”
“Not much chance of survivors,” said Trott.
“They’re sending off a distress call. So someone’s alive.”
“Or was alive.”
As they neared the sinking vessel, the flames suddenly shot up like a fountain, sending out sparks that seemed to ignite the ocean in puddles of liquid fire.
The captain shouted over the roar of the Cosima’s engines, “Slow up! There’s fuel in the water!”
“Throttling down,” said the helmsman.
“Ahead slowly. Watch for survivors.”
Trott moved to the forward rail and stared across the watery inferno. Already the Max Havelaar was sliding backward, her stern nearly submerged, her bow tipping toward the moonless sky. A few minutes more and she’d sink forever into the swells. The water was deep, and salvage impractical. Here, two miles off the Spanish coast, was where the Havelaar would sink to her eternal rest.
Another explosion spewed out a shower of embers, leafing the ripples with gold. In those few seconds before the sunlike brilliance faded, Trott spotted a hint of movement off in the darkness. A good two hundred yards away from the Havelaar, safely beyond the ring of fire, Trott saw a long, low silhouette bobbing in the water. Then he heard the sound of men’s voices, calling.
“Here! We are here!”
“It’s the lifeboat,” said the captain, aiming the searchlight toward the voices. “There, at two o’clock!”
“I see it,” said the helmsman, at once adjusting course. He throttled up, guiding the bow through drifts of burning fuel. As they drew closer, Trott could hear the joyous shouts of the survivors, a confusing babble of Italian. How many in the boat? he wondered, straining to see through the murk. Five. Perhaps six. He could almost count them now, their arms waving in the searchlight’s beam, their heads bobbing in every direction. They were thrilled to be alive. To be in sight of rescue.
“Looks like most of the Havelaar’s crew,” said the captain.
“We’ll need all hands up here.”
The captain turned and barked out the order. Seconds later the Cosima’s crew had assembled on deck. As the bow knifed across the remaining expanse of water, the men stood in silence near the bow rail, all eyes focused on the lifeboat just ahead.
By the searchlight’s glare Trott could now make out the number of survivors: six. He knew the Max Havelaar had sailed from Naples with a crew of eight. Were there two still in the water?
He turned and glanced toward the distant silhouette of shore. With luck and endurance, a man could swim that distance.
The lifeboat was adrift off their starboard side.
Trott shouted, “This is the Cosima! Identify yourselves!”
“Max Havelaar!” shouted one of the men in the lifeboat.
“Is this your entire crew?”
“Two are dead!”
“You’re certain?”
