"Give him?" Cindy asked.
"To bring him around. He's still in a stupor."
"Damn," she said. "Not really. It'll just have to wear off. Sorry about that. Shouldn't be too much longer. The upside is, once he wakes up, he's going to be out of it for an hour or so — he'll be conscious but he won't know what's going on. Great time to question him, and he won't remember it afterward. Not clearly, anyway."
"I don't give a shit what he remembers. Once we find the gold, both of them are history."
"What about the bodies?" Cindy asked.
"It gets really deep not far from the wreck site. We'll just weight all four of them down and dump them."
****
Dani and Marie cleared the front door and found the villa's great room empty as Liz came through from the breakfast area off the kitchen. Dani signed that she would take the lead down the hallway to the bedrooms. Marie stayed back a couple of paces and covered her, while Liz stayed in the living area to watch both entrances.
The first two bedrooms were empty but showed signs of recent occupancy. In the third room, they found a shirtless man with a pair of earphones clamped over his head, his back to the door. He was intent on a pornographic video playing on the computer screen in front of him.
Dani stepped to her left and motioned Marie to the right. Dani's reflection in the computer monitor caught the man's attention and he whirled to face her, tearing off the earphones as he lurched from the chair.
She grinned and rammed the muzzle of the pistol into his solar plexus, doubling him over. She pushed him back into his chair. He shook his head and gasped for breath. "Good boy. Put your hands on the arms of the chair, palms down. My friend's going to duct tape you; if you move before she's done, even to blink, I'll kneecap you."
He glared at her, a sullen look on his face, as Marie taped his wrists to the chair arms. She wrapped more tape around his chest, securing him in the chair. She stepped back and studied the room for a moment.
"Where's the other guy?" she asked.
"There's no other guy, bitch."
Dani delivered a swift kick to his left knee with the outer edge of her right foot, driving his kneecap up and out of place. He screamed in pain and surprise.
"Don't worry, shithead. You've still got another kneecap. Now answer her."
"He's g-gone to the grocery store."
"Good," Marie said. She pulled the center desk drawer out and spun the swivel chair around so that he was facing the desk, about three feet away from it. "Raise your right foot and put it on the right side of that drawer," she ordered.
When he complied, she taped it in place, running the tape all the way around the drawer. "Now, since you're handicapped, I will help you. I will pick up your left leg and tape your foot to the left side of the drawer. You may scream if it hurts, but don't struggle or you will be sorry."
As she worked, he gritted his teeth, grimacing in pain, but staying quiet. "Tough guy, eh?" she asked as she put the tape down. "You like to watch tough guys abuse women?"
His eyes shifted to the computer screen, where the video still played silently. He shook his head.
"You lying piece of shit. Where is Yates?" She opened a small lock-blade knife and set it on the desk. She looked away from him as she fished in the small duffle bag that hung from her shoulder.
"I don't know."
She turned off the monitor. "We are making our own show, you and I, but this time, the man is being abused," she said, placing a couple of cable ties next to the knife. "You like that?"
He glared at her. "Fuck you."
"That will not happen," she said, picking up the knife. She made a swift movement toward his exposed groin, cutting away the jogging shorts that were his only garment.
"Amazing," she said, looking at his crotch. "Look at this, Dani." She stepped to the side, allowing Dani to see, and then said, "So perfectly shaped. The ones that are so tiny like his, they are usually malformed, yes?"
Dani laughed. "Want to tell us about Yates?"
"Fuck you, bitch."
Marie laughed and picked up a cable tie, reaching toward his shriveled member.
"W-what are you d-doing?"
"You like it, maybe?" She pulled the cable tie tight and he gasped. "It helps keep you ready, and it controls the bleeding. I learn this from my friend in the Mossad."
"B-bleeding? I ... "
"She is from your state of Colorado, my friend, where she say they cook the mountain oysters. You know the mountain oysters?"
He nodded, wild-eyed, watching her test the edge of her knife with her thumb.
"They are supposed to be from the bull, but we have no bull here. She say that the ones like yours must taste more like the pig. Her Muslim subjects don't like so much. She cook them, one at a time, so they are fresh and hot. Sauté in some little butter with the garlic and herbs, and feed to her client. Ah, the aroma!" She sniffed the imagined cooking odors, an appreciative smile on her face.
"Unfortunately, I am not liking to cook right now. You maybe will like the oysters raw?" She rummaged in the shoulder bag again, coming up with a bottle of hot pepper sauce. She held it toward him, smiling, rotating the bottle for his inspection like a wine steward. "You like? On your oyster?" She put the pepper sauce on the desktop and knelt beside the chair, reaching toward him with her left hand, the knife ready in her right.
"He's on the boat!"
"Who, darling?" she asked, grasping gently with her left hand. She moved her right hand into place with the edge of the knife against his skin, her forearm braced on his thigh to steady her hand.
"S-stop! I'll fucking talk!"
"You are not hungry? Or maybe you like the tiny little sausage first, eh?" She shifted her knife hand slightly.
"They've got Yates on Bond's boat, but I swear I don't know where they're going. They took him there just a little while ago."
"Who has him, my lover boy?" Marie asked in a seductive tone, her left hand stroking him languidly as he tried to pull away from her.
"Meyers and Hart. Cindy is going back."
"Cindy is the redhead?" Dani asked. "The one driving the boat when your buddy came back a while ago?"
"Yeah, that's right. Her and Billy, they took them out there."
"Them, who?" Dani asked.
"The prisoner and Hart and Meyers. Cindy went back after she dropped Billy off here. That's all I know. Honest. I ... "
"You've been a good boy. You are sure you are not hungry?" Marie murmured.
"Yeah. I mean, no, I ... "
"Shh!" she said, reaching into the shoulder bag again and withdrawing a cylinder about the size and shape of a fountain pen. "Because you are a good boy, I give you some little jab. Is for the pain from your knee. You go to sleep, and when you wake up, everything is okay, and we are not here."
She pressed the tip of the cylinder to his heavily muscled thigh. There was a snap, and a second later, his back arched. He threw his head back, making a gagging sound.
"What did you ... " Dani asked.
"He has the heart attack. Too much excited, I think." She reached down and used her knife to clip the cable tie. She cut away the duct tape that bound him to the chair and the desk, carefully removing the scraps and putting them in her bag. Flicking the switch on the computer monitor, she said, "There are no marks for the police, except his knee. But perhaps he just fell earlier, hmm?" She pulled the remains of the jogging shorts from under his body and dropped them in the bag.
"What did you give him?"
"I don't know. Is some enzyme, maybe? It does not show up in any tests for the police. I know this for sure." She put the earphones back on his head. "His friend will find him, and they will think he just enjoy the sick video too much."
"Let's go," Dani said, as Marie gathered up her props and dropped them in her shoulder bag. "You give a convincing performance, madame."
"Yes. Thanks to God, it always work like this. All the times I do this, I do not ever have to cut. Always, they are
as you say, the chicken, yes?"
"Men," Dani said, shaking her head and chuckling. "The weaker sex, indeed."
"The macho ones, they are the easiest. The bigger the muscles, the ..."
"What were you doing back there?" Liz asked, as they joined her in the main living area. "I only heard the one scream."
"Poor boy. He couldn't decide if he was horny or hungry. Marie was going to feed him, but he got so excited he had a heart attack. She'll tell you about it on the way to Pisces of Atë."
"They're on Pisces of Atë? Good thing the tracker ended up aboard."
"The tracker?" Marie asked as they walked back toward the villa Yates had been using.
Liz and Dani explained to Marie what had led up to the recent encounter, and then Dani told Liz what they had learned from the sole occupant of the villa.
"So how did you make him talk?" Liz asked.
"Marie seduced him," Dani said.
"Somehow, I think you are not telling me the truth. What happened, Marie?"
"I ask him some questions. He is, I think you say, reluctant to answer at first, but he decide is better to talk to Dani than to give in to my unusual appetites."
"She ridiculed his manhood. Then she made him think she was going to feed it to him in pieces."
"Sounds like Sharktooth and his filet knife," Liz said.
"Same idea, but more theatrical. She even had condiments to spice it up," Dani added.
"It is sad that we do not have some butter and garlic to sizzle on the stove," Marie said, giggling. "The aroma, it makes it so, how do you say it? Like it is real?"
"Exactly. Real. He thought it was real, anyway," Dani said.
"What about the body?" Liz asked.
"She was brilliant. They'll think he had a heart attack watching porn on the computer, unless his buddies decide to clean up the scene."
"He really had a heart attack?" Liz asked.
Marie explained that she had used a special drug that left no trace. "It is all compounds that occur in the body normally. So yes, he really had the heart attack."
They walked on in silence for a minute.
"We must have just missed them moving Yates from the villa," Liz said.
"Apparently so," Dani agreed. "It'll be dark soon. Marie, can your men bring the boat in and pick us up at the villa in an hour?"
"Yes, certainly. I call them when we get there. You wish to use our boat to approach this Pisces of Atë, no?"
"Yes. Normally, I'd want to wait and hit them in the early morning, but I'm not sure how much time we have before they hurt somebody."
"Or how far they've gone," Liz said. "Let's hope that tracker still works."
As they walked in the front door of Yates's villa, Marilyn greeted them. "Gerald? Where is he?"
Dani filled her in, quickly covering the salient points in an effort to keep down her panic. Marilyn listened with intensity, her eyes shifting from one woman to another as she heard the narrative.
When Dani finished by describing their plan to attack Pisces of Atë, Marilyn set her jaw and slitted her eyes. "I'm coming with you," she said.
Dani and Liz traded looks. Marie spoke first.
"But of course. You must. My men, they do not speak much English, so you can be the big help. You can shoot?"
"No, I ... "
"Is okay, Marilyn. We will need you on my boat. You can listen to the radio if we call and direct the fire of my men by pointing."
Marilyn nodded uncertainly. "Okay. Maybe I ... "
"No," Marie interrupted. "It is to be so. You must come. There is no more to discuss."
"I almost forgot. Samuel called. I hung up from him just before you walked in. A fisherman saw the RIB approach Pisces of Atë not more than an hour ago. They were about a mile off the Jolly Harbour entrance. He said they were headed for the area where Pisces of Atë has been anchoring most days."
"Good. I'll check the tracker, just in case," Dani said.
Chapter 35
Gerald watched as the two men positioned Merrill Bond at the table in the main cabin of Pisces of Atë. One stood back with a pistol pointed at their victim while the other forced him to sit and tied him securely to the bench with several wraps of line over his thighs, pulling the rope so tight that Bond cried out.
"Save your breath, Mr. Bond, unless you want to tell us where the gold is. That would be smart, believe me."
Bond spoke, a tremor in his voice, "But, I told you, there is no gold."
The man who appeared to be in charge shook his head as he taped Bond's wrists securely to the brass stanchion that ran from the center of the table top to the cabin overhead, providing structural support to the large expanse of fiberglass that formed the coachroof. He tugged at Bond's fingers, testing the tape's strength and eliciting a yelp from Bond.
"Cindy! You're on," the man called in a loud voice. "Last chance, Mr. Bond," he said, moving aside as an attractive redhead in her early thirties stepped into view from the forward cabin.
"Good evening, Mr. Bond," the woman said, her voice sultry. "I'm Cindy. Most men like to talk to me. How about you? Would you like to tell me all of your secrets?"
"If I knew what you want, I'd ... "
She gave him a vicious slap on the side of his head, her palm flat as it struck his ear. "I don't like it when men tell me lies. Trust is important if we are to enjoy one another's company, Mr. Bond. My friends have already told you what they want."
"The gold, but I told them there's ... "
She put a hand over his mouth, her touch gentle. She smiled at him. "We know better, so please, Mr. Bond, don't spoil our chances of a nice relationship with more lies." She slowly removed her hand from over his mouth, stroking his cheek. "Please. I won't tempt you to lie by asking any more questions that you don't want to answer, Merrill. Okay?"
Bond nodded. "Okay," he mumbled.
"Good, Merrill. My name is Cindy. Can you say, 'I want to make you happy, Cindy?' for me?"
He nodded.
"Say it, Merrill. Please?" She raised her eyebrows.
"I want to make you happy, Cindy," he parroted.
"That's good, Merrill. I want you to remember that phrase. It's very important. We'll use it like a safe word for the game we're going to play. You know what I mean?"
Bond shook his head. "No, Cindy. I'm sorry."
"It's all right. Everyone has a first time. I'll explain, okay?"
Bond nodded, a nervous grin on his face as he attempted to put up a brave front.
Cindy smiled. "I'm into kinky stuff, Merrill. Mostly, I like to do it, and my friends here, they like to watch, you see?"
"Okay so far, but ... "
"Let me finish, Merrill."
He nodded.
"I'm going to do some things that will hurt you, but I'll enjoy it. I don't want it to hurt you so badly that we can't keep going. It takes me a long time to be satisfied, you see, and you may need a break. When you need a break, all you have to do is say the phrase. Do you understand?"
Bond nodded.
"Say it for me Merrill."
"I want to make you happy, Cindy."
She smiled. "It would make me happy if you tell us where the gold is."
"I told you, there's not ... "
Bond let out a piercing scream, and Gerald saw that Cindy was grasping one of his fingers which protruded from the tape around the brass stanchion. She shifted her hands and Bond gasped for breath. She reached up to the collar of her knit shirt with her right hand and tugged at something, her left hand cradling Bond's fingers.
When her hand came away from her collar, Gerald saw that she held a small sewing needle with a bit of thread which matched her red shirt. He noticed the thimble on her right index finger. He glimpsed another piece of the red thread that appeared to come from under one of Bond's fingernails, and then her hands obscured his view. Bond began shrieking again.
****
The muffled exhaust of the three high-powered, V8 engines burbled softly as the 50-
foot ocean racer slipped through the dark water. One man was at the controls; the other focused on the radar scope. He turned to Marie and spoke in a soft voice. She turned to the other three women and translated his patois for Marilyn's benefit.
"There is a target at the location you found for the tracking device," she said.
"It has to be Pisces of Atë," Liz said. "One thing about hitting them now is that there's no moon; moonrise isn't for several hours."
"How do you wish to do this, Dani?" Marie asked.
"Let's circle to the south and approach on a northerly course. We've got a northeasterly breeze; that'll carry the sound of our approach away from them. We'll get within 50 meters at idle speed and then swim the rest of the way."
Marilyn listened, frowning. The other three were putting on black neoprene wetsuits as they spoke.
"And the current?" Marie asked.
"We'll be up on the shelf. It won't be too bad in the shallows. Figure maybe a quarter to a half a knot coming from about 2 o'clock. We'll be swimming across it, for the most part."
"How do we board?" Liz asked.
"There's a swim platform across the stern. You take the port side and Marie can take the starboard. Once you two are in position and have your weapons out of the dry sacks, I'll go aboard in the center and you can cover me. Samuel said there's a sliding door across the front end of the cockpit that opens on the main cabin. Once I'm up, I'll crouch against the transom and keep watch while you two come up. When you're aboard, I'll vault the transom and rush the sliding door. You two cover me. Liz, you hang back with the assault rifle until Marie and I are inside. Once we're blocking your field of fire, follow us in. Okay?"
Liz and Marie nodded.
"How many aboard?" Marie asked.
"Good question. Bond has two crewmen. He's probably there, and so is Yates. We know the red-haired woman's aboard, and so are Meyers and Hart. You've seen their pictures, and the woman's easy to spot. We'll just have to figure anybody that's not immobilized is an enemy. The only real unknowns are the two crewmen, unless there's an extra bad guy we don't know about. Anybody that's armed is fair game. We want Meyers alive if possible."
"What happens once we've secured the objective?" Marie asked.
Bluewater Bullion: The Seventh Novel in the Caribbean Mystery and Adventure Series (Bluewater Thrillers Book 7) Page 22