“Hands up, Althea,” Luca ordered, his face grim, the gun he was holding in his hand as steady as could be. I held my hands up, dropping my eyes to where Trace lay unconscious under the bench.
“Trace,” I moaned, my heart jumping into my throat. A bead of sweat trickled down my back.
“He's fine. Take your bag off – slowly,” Luca ordered, his eyes holding mine, his meaning clear.
“Okay,” I said, praying that I didn't drop the bag or do something klutzy to set him off. I slipped the straps of the bag from my shoulders quickly, letting the bag fall with a thud behind me. Why wasn't anyone helping us? Couldn't they see what was happening?
“Turn around,” Luca said. “If you say anything – lover boy gets a bullet in the brain.”
I choked back a sob and nodded, turning my back to Luca, saying a silent prayer that this wouldn’t be the end for Trace and I.
The touch of his hands at my wrists made me jump. I closed my eyes as he wrenched my arms back, and I heard the zip of a zip-tie as he bound my wrists together.
I gasped as Luca kicked the backs of my knees, forcing me to the bottom of the boat.
“If you move, one inch, he's done,” Luca ordered and moved to the top of the boat to unloop the line from the deck. I scanned Trace, praying that he would come to soon, noticing that his hands weren't tied.
Oh, this could get ugly.
Unsure if talking would set Luca off, I bit my lip and watched as he stood at the wheel – wearing a blue tracksuit today – with aviators concealing his eyes. I couldn't imagine what had brought him to do this. The man ran a successful business. He had a girlfriend he was going to travel Europe with.
Or did he?
Wondering how much of Luca's life was a lie, I pressed back against the leg of the bench, dully watching the docks grow smaller, wondering just how I was going to get myself out of this. Wouldn't someone at the docks wonder why Luca was driving Trace's boat? I wondered if the large canopy had concealed Luca's activities from the fishermen.
Or maybe they just didn't care.
I squeezed my eyes shut and waited until the boat had moved further down the canal that would lead us out to the ocean. Figuring I could talk now that we were further from the docks, I looked up at Luca.
“Where are we going?”
“To Baker's Island.”
I groaned and all but bit through my bottom lip. Baker's Island was a private island off the coast. Think million-dollar yachts and a private airstrip. I had no idea who owned it and I suspected that I wasn't going to like finding out.
Luca set the GPS and then stepped away from the wheel, bending over Trace, his gun ready in case Trace suddenly moved. I prayed he wouldn't do anything stupid, like trying to lunge at Luca and get the gun.
Luca reached out and flipped Trace around, quickly zip-tying his hands together as well. I cringed as I watched Trace's face being pressed into the rubber dive mats on the floor, a bruise blossoming across his forehead.
“That's just in case lover boy here decides to get any ideas when he wakes up,” Luca said cheerfully.
“He's not my lover,” I said softly, watching Luca.
“He's not? Hmm, I read that situation wrong.”
“Why are you doing this?” I asked, making Luca pause as he checked the GPS again and adjusted the wheel a bit to correct our course. Turning, Luca sat on the bench behind the wheel and crossed his arms over his chest, leaning back thoughtfully. He looked like a grandfather about to tell his grandkids a story.
“Well, I'm not actually too pleased about the two of you but I realized I had to nip this loose end in the bud once you came into the shop yesterday. It was something Mrs. Evanston said about being able to read people's minds that had me thinking it might be best to take care of this situation,” Luca sighed, and shook his head at me. “You had to go and try to solve this, didn't you?”
“She's my best friend,” I protested.
“Yes, that's unfortunate. I've always liked you two. Tip well and don’t leave a mess in my shop. Damn shame,” he sighed again, shaking his head like there was nothing he could do about it.
“So change it,” I begged.
“Sorry, no can do. Luna set herself up perfectly for being the fall guy – or girl, in this instance – by having a little rendezvous with Renaldo the night we decided to off him. Ah love, it'll kill you.” Luca laughed at his joke, bending over to slap his leg like I've seen him do so many times before. Except this time his laugh sounded sinister to me.
“What did Renaldo know that you didn't want him to know?” I asked, trying to keep him talking. Luca shifted slightly to grab the wheel and keep us on course before turning back to me.
“I suppose I can tell you now, as you won't be getting out of this,” Luca mused, running his fingers over his chin thoughtfully.
A wash of ice hit my stomach and I felt my body begin to tremble, adrenalin starting to surge as I began to move into panic mode.
“Renaldo was going to snitch,” Luca said simply.
“Snitch on what exactly?”
“Ah, well, you know, Tequila Key is actually fairly well positioned for a stop on the way up from the islands. It's easy to drop things off and feed them up to Miami from here,” Luca began and I just started shaking my head at him.
“What?”
“Drugs. You're doing this because of drugs.”
“Well, Missy, it's not like I'm on the corner with a dime bag of weed. This is millions of dollars in drugs.”
“How did you get involved in this?” I wondered if Luca had been a drug dealer his whole life. Suddenly his tracksuit and gold chain weren't so charming anymore.
“Ah, well, I was approached by an investment group.”
“S&L?”
“That's the one! See? I told you you shouldn't have gone around asking questions.” Luca shook his head sadly at me.
“Anywho, they approached me and offered me a cold two million for the deli, so long as I disappeared but they could still keep operating it as a deli. They'd run the drugs, and the drug money, through the business. Keep it all very mom and pop – local, you know,” Luca said.
“And you said yes?”
“That's two million dollars, baby! You tell me if you could say no to that?”
I looked at Luca, my eyes wide.
“Yeah, I could. I really could. Studies show you only need about $70,000 a year to be truly happy, you know,” I said, realizing that I was almost babbling.
“You don't say? Huh, never read that one. Anyways, Renaldo was representing S&L in finding them a place.”
“So Renaldo was in on it?”
Luca shook his head.
“Nope. Poor guy found out after they had solicited his help in negotiating a commercial license with me. They hacked his computer and found out he planned to snitch. So…” Luca threw up his hands. “Sleeping with da fishes!”
He grinned like he'd been waiting his entire life to say that phrase.
“So you never were really going off to Europe with a girlfriend then?” I asked.
“Of course I'm going to Europe with a girlfriend. Or several of them. With all this money? See ya later, Tequila Key.” Luca laughed and then straightened as Baker's Island began to come into view. “Ah, we're close now. I'm just the delivery boy. I doubt you'll get out of this one alive, but hey, at least it won't be on my hands.” Luca hummed softly to himself as I looked at him in disbelief. Where was the happy-go-lucky man I had known almost my whole life?
Though, admittedly, he still seemed pretty happy right now – which really creeped me out.
“So that's it? I die, Trace dies, Luna gets life in prison and you go on your merry way?” My voice cracked.
Luca tossed a glance my way. “Sorry, sugar. I'll be long gone by tonight. I hope that I don't have to be the one to kill you. That'd be a crying shame.”
This man was a freaking lunatic.
All I could do was hang my head and wait while he slowed the moto
r and began to putter into the bay of Baker's Island.
Our fate awaited us at the dock.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
I closed my eyes, not wanting to see who the voices belonged to that Luca was cheerfully chatting with as he tied up Trace's boat. Then a moan from across the floor caused my eyes to pop right back open.
“Trace,” I hissed, holding my breath as his eyes began to open.
His eyelashes fluttered and I could see the haze in his eyes clear as he looked around, remembering where he was. His arms jerked as he pulled against his bonds and realized that his hands were bound.
“Luca,” Trace said urgently.
“I know,” I said, grimacing at him.
“Ah, I see sleeping beauty has awoken.” Luca's voice floated down to us from the front of the boat and I turned, gasping as I saw the man next to him.
“Dupree,” I spit out.
“That's Chief Dupree to you, Ms. Rose,” Chief Dupree drawled as he hopped onto the boat. “You seem to have trouble remembering that.”
“How could you? You're a police officer!” I exclaimed, surging up to my feet, rage flitting through me.
Rage because I knew that if Dupree were involved, then somehow they would pin it all on Luna. And my best friend would look like a murderer while we joined Renaldo in a watery grave.
“They were going to bring a lot of money into this town. And a lot of payoff money into my pocket.” Dupree smiled lazily at me. “You think I want to spend the rest of my life on a state salary while writing up loitering tickets to teens skateboarding at the park? I don't think so.”
“You can't do this!” I cried.
“He can, Thea. Just sit down. There's nothing we can do,” Trace said, his voice resigned.
“How can you say that?” I hissed at him, feeling betrayed by his attitude.
Trace just shrugged but wouldn't meet my eyes.
So I sat on the bench and waited to see what they would do next, so furious that I could barely think straight. Dupree and Luca both left the boat and walked down the dock, meeting someone who was strapped with more ammo than Rambo before turning to point at us.
“Pssst,” Trace whispered and I slid a glance across at him.
“Your phone is in your back pocket, I saw it sticking out a bit. Can you pull it out and give it to me?”
My phone. I'd completely forgotten that I had it tucked in my back pocket. With my hands behind my back, it was easy for me to wrap my fingers around.
“Hold up, they're here. Let's just wait until they put us wherever they are going to put us, and then I can reach in your pocket and call.”
I nodded, slipping my phone into my waistband at my back, where my loose tank top would cover it. I prayed they wouldn't frisk us.
“Alright, you two degenerates, let's go,” Dupree called, chuckling at his little joke. Yeah, we all knew who the degenerates here were.
It took everything in my power not to knee him between the legs when he walked past me to grab my arm, but I knew it would only worsen our predicament.
Well, that and the man pointing a high-caliber silencer at my head. Rambo was on the dock, his gun trained on us, his gaze unwavering. I had a very childish urge to push him into the water as I stepped from the boat and walked past him. A giggle bubbled up in my throat and I did my best to suppress it. A small snort escaped anyway.
“Are you laughing?” Dupree asked incredulously.
“Sorry,” I giggled, “nervous laughter. Like in church.” I snorted again and then forced myself to breath.
“You shouldn't be laughing in church. What's wrong with you?” Dupree asked.
“You've got to be kidding me.” I rolled my eyes.
“Probably because you're into all that occult crap. Tequila Key will be better off not having you two Satan worshipers around,” Dupree declared, already fabricating his story.
“Oh, that's rich. Just freaking unbelievable,” I muttered, my nervous laughter gone as cold reality settled onto my shoulders. At the end of the dock, Dupree forced us to walk across a small sand beach. I could barely look up as I was tripping in my flip-flops in the sand, but from what I could see, we were being led towards an almost all-glass compound of sorts.
“Nice place, huh?” Dupree asked.
“Yup, just fabulous. I'm sure with all the money you're making from killing us, you'll be able to set yourself up real nice,” I said and cringed, waiting for a backhand to come.
“Watch your mouth. Keep it up and I just might be the one to kill you after all.” Dupree smirked. I wanted to slam my elbow back into his paunchy gut.
“To the right here,” Dupree called back to Luca, who was presumably leading Trace.
Dupree veered off from the path to the glass house and instead followed a little dirt trail towards a concrete building. Two doors on the front were padlocked closed and I had a pretty good idea where we were ending up.
“We'll keep you here until we can motor out on the water tonight,” Dupree explained, nodding his thanks to Rambo when he unlocked the padlock and opened the door. As the light sliced into the room, I realized it must be some sort of storage for jet skis or kayaks, as there were a few platforms in the back.
No windows. And only one way out.
“Oof.” I glared at Dupree as he pushed me forward, forcing me to duck just a little to get into the concrete shed.
“Sit,” Dupree said.
I turned to sit and then he stopped me.
“Oh, I almost forgot. Gosh, I haven't had to do this in a while in our sleepy little town.” Dupree grimaced and then began to pat me down.
I held my breath, praying that he wouldn't find my phone, unable to look at Trace.
“Ah-ha!” Dupree crowed gleefully, his hand having crossed my phone. “Sorry, dear. You don’t get one phone call from this prison.”
With that, they turned, slamming the door behind them.
The click of the padlock had to be the worst sound that I've ever heard in my life.
Chapter Thirty
“You've got to be kidding me,” I shrieked.
“Calm down, Althea,” Trace ordered.
“Calm down? A week ago the biggest worry I had was what sandwich to order from Luca's. And now my best friend's in jail and we're about to die.” I began to heave as panic ricocheted through me, and I knew I was moments away from a full-blown panic attack.
“Hey, shhh, it's okay,” Trace said. I could see him moving in the dim light that peeked from the line beneath the door. He moved across the floor until his back was on the same wall as mine and bumped shoulders with me.
“How can you say that?” I whispered, turning to look at him even though I could barely see his face.
“Because you're a fighter. It's one of the qualities I love about you.”
And there it was.
The big L word.
I let it hang between us for a moment, testing to see if I felt the same way about him. I loved Trace. But was I in love with him?
“Thea, I…I,” Trace began and I cut him off.
“Trace. Don't,” I whispered, shaking my head back and forth frantically.
“Don't? Why?” Trace said and I could hear the hurt creeping into his voice.
“I don't want you to tell me that under duress. It can't be because you think you're going to die. It has to be like randomly, some Tuesday, when we're getting back from a dive or something. Not like this.”
“Thea, that's not fair.”
“No, it is fair,” I insisted. “People say all sorts of stuff when they think they are about to die. Listen, I love you and you're one of my best friends. And I know you love me too. But the in love part? Let's just leave that for another day.”
I heard a shaky sigh from him and I prayed that I hadn't hurt his feelings too badly.
“See? Now you're talking like we'll live. At least you aren't panicking anymore,” Trace said and I could hear the smile in his voice.
“So help me…if that was
just a ruse to get my mind off of losing it,” I threatened, but found that he was right. My panic had lessened a bit and it seemed like I would be able to think more clearly.
“I'd never joke about something like that,” Trace said, bumping my shoulder again and this time I felt my heart clench a bit in my chest.
“What do we do now?”
“We wait. And think. We have until tonight, right? Isn't that what they said?”
“Yes,I believe so.”
I shivered at the thought of going out on the boat with them, motoring quietly out into dark waters, having a chain wrapped slowly around my ankles.
“Good, that gives us at least the day. Time to be MacGyver,” Trace said and stood, slowly making his way around the small room.
“What are you doing?”
“Looking for a tool to break these bonds on our wrists.”
Bonds.
If my hands were free I would have slapped myself in the forehead.
“Trace!” I said, ecstatic.
“What?”
“The breaking spell! I thought it was maybe something to do with relationships. But it's meant to break physical bonds too!”
Trace hurried back to me and kneeled in front of where I sat. I could just see a gleam in his eyes in the dull light.
“Please tell me you memorized it.”
“I did!”
“I'm not sure how to modify it to do your bonds though,” I said, wondering if the spell would work on both of us.
“That's okay. If you get yours off, we can figure out a way to cut mine open,” Trace said, excitement lacing his voice.
“Okay, hold on. Let me get centered,” I said.
Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath and brought myself back to my kitchen counter. I pictured Hank wiggling with joy under my stool, Beau out on the patio and the spell book in front of me on the counter. In my mind, I read through the words again and, satisfied that I remembered the spell, I began.
Focusing on the zip-tie around my wrists, I spoke with strong intention, my voice ringing clear through the shed.
One Tequila Page 15