Barker Mysteries Excerpt

Monterey Bay in Calif. (Excerpt from the Barker Mysteries)
In the bowels of the ship, Joe stepped out from the shadows. His eyes were two dark slits as they stared at Barker, who lay with a bloody nose on the grimy engine room floor. 
Barker, with the mayor's assistance, got to his feet and faced his assailant. He wiped the blood from his nose and met the angry captain's gaze.
“You're with those dogs, aren't you?” asked the corpulent man in the green slicker and hat. “The two up on deck. You ain't that guy named Barker, are you? Little Naples talked about a friend of his, a street urchin, who lived with a pack of wild dogs. Is that you?”
“You should never have involved Naples in this,” Barker replied.
“So it was him, huh? That little jerk tell you what was going down? I knew I should have never hired on that little bugger. The kid was good at working the nets, but far too innocent for my tastes. Did he tell you where to find me?”
“No. Your cigars did that.”
The mayor pleaded. “Listen, Joe. We can work something out. You just let me and this guy off the ship...”
“It's too late for that, mayor! I already called in the demands for your release. I did it right when the cops were storming the hotel. Pretty slick, huh?” Joe's bushy white beard curled into a grisly, plump smile. “Soon I'll get word if we got it or not. Then we'll see to your release.”
A clamor on the stairs behind them turned Joe's attention away from the two for a moment. A second man, pale and sweating, ran down the steps with a rifle in his hands. Joe pivoted slightly to face his cohort.
“Boss! Boss! There's trouble up on deck, the dogs attacked us and... Boss! Look out!”
Barker delivered a solid blow to Joe's face. His large head snapped back and the man fell into his companion. Momentarily off balance, the kidnappers struggled to regain their footings as Barker, grabbing the mayor by the arm, dashed in the opposite direction. They made it to a nearby passageway when the first shot came.   The wooden wall near Barker splintered and cracked. A second shot ricocheted, bouncing off the walls of the ship. Barker and the mayor ducked to the floor as the bullet whizzed over their heads. A third shot ricocheted as well. Joe yelled something Barker could not make out.
“Is there an exit this way?” the mayor asked shakily as the two ran through the passageway.
They turned a corner just as the wall before them burst into a million splinters from a fourth gunshot. As the debris fell to the floor, they found a small stairway and charged up it. The stairs stopped at a small hatch which opened out onto the deck. The two hurried through it before another shot was fired.