Ahead, the boardwalk forked into two paths. When Joe bought the orange grove, the wooden walkway was decayed; parts of it had been swallowed entirely by the swamp. Joe trucked in the treated lumber and hired a crew to reconstruct the three-mile walkway that meandered through the cypress.
As the trio passed the fork, Joe’s pace increased. Blake pushed Travis along, but the man was barely able to keep ahead of Blake.
Blake could see the corral about a quarter of a mile ahead. Swallowing, he girded himself as they neared it.
Joe came to a stop next to the raised rails. Metal cow panel fencing lined the hand rails. Joe turned with admiration to look over the fence. In the middle of the corral were over 25 alligators of varying sizes. Blake shivered as he counted at least six that were over 12 feet in length.
Joe and Caleb often brought live animals to feed the congregation of gators. Caleb kept live traps all over the farm, capturing everything from squirrels and raccoons to feral cats. Joe particularly enjoyed the cats. They might get a few scratches past the leather gloves he wore, but he could hurl them into the pen. The poor animals rarely reached the ground before the competition began. The larger crocodilians often snatched the prize first, but sometimes the smaller, quicker ones got there first. Those would swallow down their prey with what Joe thought looked like a self-satisfied grin. On rare occasions, Caleb might pick up a small goat from a nearby farm. The goat’s squeals lasted a few seconds longer as the larger males tore at the poor beast.
Blake stopped Travis with his hand on the beaten man’s shoulder. Joe turned to face Travis, leaning against the wooden railing overlooking the leathery reptiles.
“Travis,” Joe started with a true sense of pride in his voice, “how do you like my swamp?”
Travis didn’t answer. He stared over Joe’s shoulder at the congregation of alligators lying motionless. They almost looked like the artificial ones on the jungle ride in Walt Disney World. Until one blinked, and Travis felt his breath catch in his throat.
“You are tiring me out, Travis,” Joe explained. “I just want to know what you did with my money. I don’t blame you for your greed, but this can all be fixed.”
“You’ll kill me,” Travis uttered in a hoarse voice.
Joe leaned in toward Travis. The man’s smell was revolting after having been subjected to some brutal beatings and left in the shed on the property. The smell of fear wafted off him, disgusting Joe. “I’m going to kill you anyway. The question is, what all can I take from you before I do it.”
Travis shook his head.
Joe pivoted on his right foot and faced the mound of alligators. “You could have just given it back,” Joe explained. “I might have been a little more forgiving, but, instead, you interrupted my business. Made me do things that could be traced back to me. I don’t like to be exposed.”
He glanced over his shoulder at Travis and continued, “You left me exposed. That’s why I’m going to kill you.”
Travis quivered with both fear and pain.
Pulling the plastic grocery bag from under his arm, Joe slowly unrolled the plastic. A small bundle wrapped in butcher paper emerged from the sack. Unfolding the stiff white paper, Joe removed a hand. The fingernails had turned bluish as the blood congealed in the fingertips. The crusted flesh along the wrist was ripped and jagged from the saw blade that removed it. Holding the index and middle fingers of the hand, Joe lifted it up for inspection.
“These babies prefer live meat,” Joe stated, “but they can enjoy a lifeless chunk of meat too.”
He watched Travis’ face as he hurled the severed appendage over the pile of gators. As soon as he let the hand go, the mass of seemingly lifeless reptiles convulsed as large maws filled with razor-sharp teeth opened, and tails and bodies thrashed for the offered treat. A medium-sized gator about eight feet long caught the hand in mid-air, sucking it into its mouth before any of the others could steal the reward.
Travis swallowed hard. He pulled the throbbing stump on the end of his right hand closer into his gut, trying, instinctively, to protect something that was already gone.
“Now, we can do this slowly,” Joe mused, “or you can tell me where my money is. Blake here will put a bullet right through your head, and it will be all over.”
Straightening as much as his body would allow, Travis narrowed his eyes and spat at Joe. “Go to hell,” he crowed.
Joe’s pupils tightened. “Maybe when we start feeding your little girl to my friends here you’ll have a better attitude.”
Travis glared at him. He tried to lunge forward. Blake pulled him back with ease and pushed Travis to his knees.
Joe gave him a smile. “I have a couple of guys getting her now. Since you don’t want to be cooperative, we’ll see how long she screams before they rip her to pieces.”
The corners of Travis’ mouth turned up slyly. “I’ve heard your guys talking,” he commented. “The guys you sent to find her are missing. I hear one was killed.”
Joe scowled before he hit Travis in the face. His fist hammered into the man’s face six or seven times before he stopped. When Joe pulled back, the wounded man fell forward on the boardwalk. Joe nudged him with his toe. Travis stirred but didn’t move.
“You’ll have to carry him back,” Joe told Blake.
Blake nodded.
“I want that girl,” Joe hissed.
“We’re looking for her. There’s been no word from Walter or Todd.”
“This Gordon fellow,” Joe questioned, “what about him?”
“No sign of him since Walter and Todd picked him up.”
“I thought your Rangers could handle him,” Joe accused.
“They can,” Blake stammered. “But Gordon was a Marine. Recon. We weren’t expecting that. Just thought he was a damned beach bum.”
“Apparently not,” Joe claimed as he wiped Travis’ blood from his knuckles. “This one Marine has killed at least two of your guys and opened up the Tampa office to the Feds. I’m guessing he killed Garrett too.”
Blake didn’t answer.
“How is he connected to him?” Joe pointed at the prone figure on the boardwalk.
“I think he was just nearby when we grabbed Travis in the Bahamas.”
“This one guy was just in the wrong place?” Joe exclaimed incredulously. “He’s bulldozing his way through your men. What else does he know?”
Blake shook his head.
“If your guys haven’t killed him, and I’m guessing they haven’t, then I don’t care if you have to blow up a building; I want this bastard dead.”
Blake nodded.
“Pick him up,” Joe demanded.
Hoisting Travis to his feet, Blake held the man up as he began to regain consciousness.
“I’m going to personally carve your little bitch up into pieces,” Joe growled at Travis.
Travis’s eyes stayed locked on Joe.
Blake’s phone buzzed, and the Ranger pushed Travis against the railing. The broken man grabbed the wooden rail with his remaining hand and pushed away from the alligator corral.
“Yeah,” Blake spoke into the phone.
Eventually, he responded, “Good. Do it now.”
He hung up the phone and looked at Joe. “We found the girl.”
Travis’s knees buckled, and he collapsed again onto the boardwalk.
Joe’s smile widened.
24
The sound of metal ripping into metal echoed down the street. I was still on the sidewalk heading toward the Tilly’s entrance; my head jerked around at the sound. An older black Expedition had driven the small Mercedes off the road. Missy’s Mercedes.
The plan was supposed to be simple, and I should have never suggested it.
“Missy, I was out of line,” I said apologetically in the hallway outside of Lily’s room. When I saw her and Paige on the other side of the door, shock and shame hit me. I pushed her out into the hallway, leaving the girls in the room alone.
“Yes,” she responded, �
��you were. However, you might have been right. Driving back to the house, I couldn’t stop thinking about what would happen if Paige were in Lily’s shoes. Her mom is gone, her dad is missing. She has no one to look out for her. Except you, of course.
“I was a little pissed too. Here you are almost getting yourself killed several times over. Hell, you’re still bleeding from earlier. For a girl that you only met a couple of days ago. You’re like a damned knight protecting the princess from the dragons.”
Shaking my head, I tried to disagree. “I’m no one’s knight.”
Missy smiled out of one side of her mouth. “That’s just it, Chase. You are. Lily needed protection, and you didn’t care what it was from. You simply stood between her and the dragons.”
“That doesn’t mean I should sacrifice Paige for her,” I blurted out, louder than I intended.
Missy pulled the door closed, hoping that my voice didn’t carry into the room.
“You aren’t sacrificing Paige,” she explained. “I told her about Lily. When I mentioned your idea to her, she agreed immediately. She volunteered outright. Almost demanded it.”
Rubbing my head with the palm of my hand, I let my brain catch up. The idea wasn’t a bad one. It was a simple switch-out.
“Okay,” I admitted, “we can do this. We just need to be careful.”
Missy examined me, “I think you need some rest first and a good cleaning. That wound needs to be bandaged.”
I was running full speed down the two blocks toward the wreck. There was no feeling in my body except the impact of my soles against the concrete.
A man climbed out of the Expedition and pulled Lily from the passenger seat. Her body was limp and lifeless as he carried her to the SUV and tossed her in the backseat like a forgotten backpack. The tires squealed as it sped away.
“Missy!” I hollered as I rounded the rear of the black Mercedes.
The driver’s side had absorbed the impact. The airbags were still inflated, and Missy was slumped over the middle console. The white of her ulna protruded from her left arm.
“Someone call 9-1-1!” I shouted to the gathering onlookers.
“Missy!” I called to her as I pulled on the door, trying to open it. The normal curve of the door had been inverted upon impact.
She was breathing, but I couldn’t see what other injuries she could have sustained. Her head lolled toward my voice. Her eyes fluttered at me. The skin on her cheeks was slowly turning purple and yellow as the bruising from the air-bag spread out like a cloud across her face.
What went wrong? It was simple. We waited until morning, and Missy and Lily left together. Lily was even wearing Paige’s clothes.
It didn’t matter. The mission went south.
Missy groaned.
“Don’t move, Miss,” I ordered her. “The ambulance is on the way.”
A jumble of sounds came from her, but I didn’t understand what she was saying.
The wail of sirens was echoing along the street. They needed to hurry, I thought.
“Missy, I’m so sorry,” I stammered.
She responded in another groaned syllable that I couldn’t make out.
“What is it?”
“Paige?” she muttered.
“No, they got Lily.”
She shook her head angrily. “No, where’s Paige?”
For a second, my brain answered, Paige was going to the pool. What if that wasn’t the answer? They grabbed both girls. Sort out the real Lily later and ditch Paige. Or more likely Paige’s body.
I straightened up, feeling like something hit me.
In that instance, I should have comforted Missy that Paige was safe, even if I didn’t know. Missy was helpless right now, and she didn’t need the stress of worry.
Unfortunately, my thoughts didn’t even reach that conclusion for another minute. Instead, my feet pounded the sidewalk as I dashed back toward the Tilly. In the distance I could see the ambulance was turning onto the street a quarter of a mile south of the Tilly.
Calvin, the doorman on duty, opened the door for me when he saw me barreling toward it.
“Chase, what happened?” he asked. I ignored him as I raced into the lobby.
The Tilly’s pool area is halfway between the marina and the inn, allowing guests and residents of both to use it. I dodged around the chairs in the lobby until I hit the glass doors leading out onto the patio overlooking the pool. The pool deck was empty except for one lounge chair. The only part of its occupant that I could see was the feet sticking out from behind the large umbrella shading the lounger.
Skipping three steps at a time, I leaped down the stairs toward the pool deck.
“Paige!” I shouted.
The owner of the legs turned toward me. My heart sunk when I didn’t recognize the woman in her late 20s.
“Have you seen a 16-year-old girl come down here?” My tone was laden with desperation.
The woman shook her head. I didn’t pause to thank her as I turned and dashed up the stairs.
Maybe Paige was still in her room. She had said that her plan was to soak up some sun by the pool for a few hours once her mom and Lily had left.
Pushing the button for the elevator, I waited impatiently.
“Mr. Gordon,” a voice startled me. I turned to see the man I suspected last night of being one of Letson’s agents. He pointed out, “You seem frantic.”
“Go away,” I blurted out.
“What happened?” he demanded. “Where’s the girl?”
He hadn’t identified himself yet, and I was already over the edge. Spinning on one foot, I caught him in the solar plexus and sent him slamming into the wall. His hand reached under his jacket instinctively. I didn’t let him say or do anything before I hit him. Hard. In the face. I heard the crack as the back of his head collided with the marble column he was pressed against. His eyes rolled back in his head as he slid down the wall.
“What’s going on?” Todd, the front desk manager, came across the lobby. “Chase, what happened?”
“Too much,” I replied. “This man attacked me. Missy’s been in a wreck, and I have to find her daughter.”
“Paige?” he asked, staring at the unconscious agent.
I was a little taken aback that he knew her name. It was dumb. Paige grew up here, and most of the staff knew her.
“She’s over there,” Todd said, pointing at the coffee stand.
The air in my lungs escaped for what felt like the first time in forever. Paige was stirring sugar into a paper cup. She was wearing a loose cover that barely covered her shoulders, much less the bikini.
“Paige!” I shouted across the lobby as I rushed over to her, leaving Todd squatting over the agent.
“Chase,” she smiled at me.
“Your mom’s hurt!” I exclaimed. “Come with me.”
She grabbed my hand and followed me out the front entrance of the Tilly Inn.
“What?” she uttered when she saw the mangled Mercedes down the street.
She started running but paused to pull her flip-flops off. Barefooted, she almost outran me to the scene of the accident. The word hung in my brain. It wasn’t an accident.
The paramedics were leaning into the window of the car, talking to Missy. A uniformed officer was on the scene, trying to block traffic. His partner was standing back by the Mercedes overseeing the paramedics.
“Stay back,” the officer beside the car ordered us as we drew closer.
“This is her daughter,” I explained, pointing at Missy.
The policeman held up a hand. “Hang here. Let them do their work.”
“Is she okay?” Paige begged.
“She’s stable,” he answered. “They want to get her out before they can determine anything.”
Grabbing Paige’s arm, I said, “Let them work. She’s going to be alright.”
“What about Lily?” Paige asked.
“Is that the girl that was in the car?” the officer asked.
“What girl?” I
responded with a blank face as I pulled Paige back.
“Let us know what’s going on, please,” I urged the officer.
He nodded at me through narrowed eyes before turning back to the car.
“Where’s Lily?” Paige asked again.
“They took her,” I explained. “An SUV hit your mom’s car, and a man dragged Lily out. I couldn’t get down here in time.”
“How did they know?”
“I don’t know,” I answered. “Do you have your phone?”
“Shit,” she muttered, “it’s on the coffee stand.”
Witnesses already told the officers about the kidnapping. It wouldn’t take long for Letson’s men to come along, especially after I knocked one out. It was going to be hard to explain everything without catching an obstruction charge.
Right now, though, I was only concerned about Missy. If I could get Jay, maybe he would run interference with Letson.
“They are pulling her out,” the officer informed us. His eyes directed me to Paige, hinting that I might want to divert her attention.
“Listen, Paige,” I talked softly, “once they get her out, they’ll take her to the hospital. You’ll need to call your dad.”
“My phone?”
“I’ll get it. Todd probably already picked it up. If not, you’ll need to call from the hospital.”
The two paramedics gently slid Missy out of the driver’s seat. The door had been pried open and pushed back past the hinge’s capabilities, giving the EMTs plenty of room. They lifted her onto the gurney and began strapping her down.
“Can her daughter ride with her?” I pleaded to the officer.
He glanced over at Paige’s face and answered, “Let me check.”
A minute after walking away, he returned, saying, “She can ride up front, so long as she stays out of the way.”
“What hospital are they taking her to?”
“St. Mary’s,” he responded.
The paramedics wheeled Missy over to the ambulance, and I escorted Paige to the front.
“I’m so sorry, Paige,” I murmured.
She touched my arm. “She’s going to be alright.”
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