Adam said, "I'll tell ya what, Ali. I ran into a squall on the way over and took on some water. How 'bout I grab the gold and I'll give you the cook's tour back in Aden, once I've got her cleaned up?"

"No, I insist, Adam." He leaned his head in close and lowered his voice to a whisper, "And I have something we must discuss in private." He nudged Adam ahead.

Adam led the way below decks, frantically scanning the salon and galley for any telltale sign of Ava's presence. She had cleaned up after breakfast. He saw nothing that would give her away. Lucky break she had come aboard with nothing more than the clothes on her back, and then had lost even those. And since there would be no possible reason for Ali Khan to enter the sleeping cabin, Adam found himself grasping at a thin thread of hope that maybe this thing was going to work out okay. He told himself, Stay cool.

He said, "Have a seat, Ali. Can I offer you something?"

When he had turned to speak, Adam was surprised to see one of the two armed men had followed them below. He was stationed at the bottom of the companionway steps, his AK-47 held stiffly across his chest, a blank expression carved into the face of the boulder that was his head. Unlike his confreres, this guy was shirtless, scarfless and practically hairless. He looked like the villain out of some video game. Adam addressed him, "You too, Princess, come on in."

Ali said, "Mercifully for your sake, Adam, Hami is a touch dim, and he does not speak English. Moreover, he is forbidden to accept an offer of a... Scotch? I believe that is your beverage of choice?" Ali lifted his nose and made a point of sniffing at the cabin air, frowned.

"Yeah, that's right. D'you want a Scotch, Ali? Do you drink?"

"That would please me abundantly, my good friend; providing you can prepare it discreetly?" Ali discreetly juked his eyebrows in Hami's direction as he said, "Yes, our New York benefactor, Yuri Dostov, has introduced me to the pleasures of spirits. Small transgressions are forgiven, are they not?"

"That's what it says in my book, Ali," Adam replied from the galley, his back strategically blocking Hami's view –though the big man's blank eyes continued to glare straight ahead in any case. "So, tell me. What's up? What's this mysterious matter we need to discuss?"

"Bring the beverages, Adam. We will have a toast before we discuss business."

Adam seated himself across from Ali Khan and raised his plastic tumbler. "Go for it, Ali, you're the guest."

Ali said, "A toast. To a long and fruitful life, for both of us. Inshallah, God willing, Adam East."

"Cheers to that, Ali Khan," Adam returned, and they glued each other with inscrutable stares as they drank the toast. Then Ali's face broke, reflecting the potency of the highball. His pug nose wrinkled and his eyes watered. He dipped his head, swallowed and then let out a hot sigh.

Ali placed his drink on the table between them, cleared his throat. He checked the time on his chunky gold watch, realigned it to the center of his wrist. Then, after resuming the stare, and with his face back under control, he stated with a somewhat croaky voice, "I have been sent here to eliminate you, Adam."