“How exactly did that little shit get invited to this cartel soiree?” Bogart asked while indicating Will.
“Good question,” Jackie replied. “What are the chances that some guy from the Colorado sticks just happens to know the same crime families as Pinto’s father?”
“I’d say little to none,” Bogart remarked then eyed her through his dark sunglasses. “Suppose he went to that little hick burg just to weasel his way into Pinto’s life?”
“It’s worth considering.”
“Which means Beck’s onto something,” Bogart continued while raising a dark brow above his sunglasses.
“I hate to admit it, but it looks that way.” She sighed softly. “After my little temper tantrum, I suppose I’ll have to apologize to Beck.”
“No,” Bogart replied without hesitation. “You were in the right. He needed to hear that. His priorities are all over the place right now. If he can’t commit to Pinto then he deserves to lose her.”
Jackie eyed Bogart with some surprise then grinned. “Look at you,” she boldly announced. “I never expected you to be pro-marriage.”
“I’m all for marriage,” he informed her. “Just not for me, at least for now. I haven’t met the right woman.” He frowned and looked around. “I sometimes think I never will. The only women I seem to attract are only interested in meaningless sex. I can’t remember the last time I went on an actual date. Maybe I’m not meant for that lifestyle.”
“Do you want that lifestyle?”
“I thought I did,” he replied. “You know, hanging out with you and Holden for those few months. I liked that. Now that I’ve finally been accepted as one of the team, I don’t think there’s room for that sort of commitment to another person. Beck’s sort of proven that.”
“Ross is making it work,” Jackie announced.
“Yeah, well, Ross’s girlfriend needs her head examined,” Bogart muttered. “He’s gone more than he’s home. She’s left alone with his niece and brother-in-law a lot. Ross’s brother-in-law is a good-looking guy and a widower to boot. That’s a bad scene just waiting to play out.”
“You’re all doom and gloom lately,” Jackie remarked with surprise.
“I’m bugged about Zack’s disappearance,” Bogart informed her then stopped and faced her. He removed his sunglasses and stared into her eyes. “He’s been part of them forever. If they take his absence so lightly, what happens when someone like me goes missing? Just shrug and get on with their lives?” He frowned and returned his sunglasses to his face. “I’ve never much mattered to anyone. I never had a real family. Hanging with you guys is as close as I’ve ever come to having a family.”
Jackie smiled and clung to Bogart’s arm, surprising him. “Even if it turns out you’re not my brother, you’re still my family, Bogart.”
He looked at her and smiled proudly. “You’re an awesome sister.”
“I can’t believe you’re still here,” Pinto scoffed from behind them.
Jackie and Bogart turned and stared at the attractive woman in her colorful bikini and flowered sarong. Pinto folded her arms across her chest and glared at them.
“My father said you were staying until the reception as ‘additional security’,” Pinto huffed. “You can give Beck a message for me--”
Jackie placed her hands firmly on her hips and glared back at Pinto. “You can give Beck your own damned message,” she snapped. “As far as I’m concerned, you two deserve each other. I don’t know how two people who claim to love each other can do so without communicating. Your life may very well be in danger, but all you can do is whine about your boyfriend riding in on a white horse to save your ass.” Jackie raised her brows with hostility. “Zack and two security guards are missing, and Gil dug a slug out of the ship’s railing. Personally, at this point, I don’t give a damn about your relationship with Beck. You both deserve to be alone and miserable. I only care about stopping whatever nightmare is about to unfold on this island. Go cry to someone else. I’ve no more fucks to give right now.”
Jackie grabbed Bogart’s arm and practically pulled him off his feet, forcing him to follow her. He was too stunned to protest, unable even to process what had just happened.
“Don’t you think you were a little hard on her?” Bogart remarked as they walked away. “You’re certainly doing a fine job at pissing people off today.”
“Maybe if they’re all mad at me they’ll have less energy to be mad at each other,” she remarked. “Someone has to open the line of communication between those two.”
They heard a commotion further down the beach, alerting them to something having happened. As a crowd quickly gathered fifty yards away, they heard someone scream, “A body washed ashore!”
Bogart and Jackie ran after the crowd. Jackie couldn’t deny the pang in her heart at the thought of who may have washed onto shore. They pushed their way through the crowd and joined security, having just arrived. Although less than twelve hours in the water, Allen’s body was severely bloated and almost unrecognizable as one of the guards from the ship. He had a bullet hole in his back, but most of the blood washed away in the water. Jackie and Bogart held their breath but were relieved it wasn’t Zack. Just because it wasn’t Zack, that didn’t alter the fact that Zack was still missing. Jackie pulled Bogart aside.
“That guard was shot in the back,” Jackie said to him in a hushed tone. “I’m willing to bet we find the same slug in him as the one Gil found in the railing.”
“I’m guessing it was a 9mm,” a male voice behind them announced.
Jackie and Bogart turned to the familiar voice and saw Zack standing just behind them, straining to see the dead body on shore. He was dressed head to toe in white beachwear and a white straw fedora to complete the ensemble. Jackie cried out when she saw him. She threw her arms around his neck and clung to him while fighting her tears. He eagerly returned the embrace.
“Miss me already?” he teased.
She pulled away and looked at him while grinning. “You look like a Columbian drug lord,” Jackie remarked. “Where’d you get the threads?”
“You don’t want to know,” Zack muttered then eyed Bogart, who just stared at him. Zack’s look was demanding. “Who took my bag? I need to get out of these pretty boy clothes before anyone important sees me like this.”
Bogart didn’t say anything but instead just stared with his mouth hanging open.
Zack glared at him, quickly becoming annoyed. “What’s with you?” he demanded. “Didn’t you ever see anyone back from the dead before?”
Bogart threw his arms around Zack and hugged him, startling the man. “I’m so happy you’re alive!”
Zack pulled away and put some distance between them. “Friendship aside,” he announced firmly. “Do that again, and I’m stabbing your ass.”
Bogart held his hands in the air and grinned boyishly. “Understood.”
“What happened?” Jackie asked while moving further away from the crowd to speak more freely.
“Some fucker shot me twice in the chest,” Zack remarked while gingerly rubbing his chest.
“Who?”
“If I knew, he’d be dead already,” he informed her. “Thankfully my new combat jacket came equipped with a bulletproof lining. A lifesaver but a real bastard to swim in.” He indicated the body. “Is that Allen?”
“It’s one of the guards from the wedding party,” Jackie informed him. “I don’t know his name.”
“Yeah, that’s Allen,” Zack replied while frowning. “We were having some coffee in the lounge. I found the lounge waiter dead in the bathroom. I went to warn Allen, but they’d already gotten to him. Whoever killed them was waiting on deck to ambush me. When I found myself floating in the water, I assumed it wasn’t a hallucination for a change.”
“No, I suppose it wasn’t,” Jackie replied.
“But Katya, your father, and the other dead crewmen--?” Zack asked with a curious look.
“Hallucinations,” Jackie replied.
>
He considered the comment, appeared deep in thought, and then eyed her. “You ravaging me?”
Bogart stared at him with some surprise. Jackie felt her cheeks redden as she fidgeted, uncomfortable by the question. “Definitely a hallucination.”
He sighed and casually waved her off. “It’s probably for the best,” Zack remarked with little emotion. “The last thing this world needs is a bunch of little ass kicking, Jackie-Zack half-breeds running around.”
“I couldn’t even imagine,” Jackie muttered and again fidgeted. She eyed Zack with a serious look. “If they were waiting on deck for you, but you hadn’t seen them initially--”
“Yeah, I know,” Zack reluctantly groaned. “I was a target. At least one of them. They may have thought I was one of the guards.”
“And maybe someone just wanted to kill you,” Jackie informed him.
“I considered that,” Zack replied. “But I’d only met up with the guard a few minutes before that. No one followed me, which means they were following him.”
“I know it may sound irrational--” Jackie began.
Zack cocked his head and smirked. “Whatever it is, I like it already.”
“If you were the intended target or even if someone thinks you’re dead,” Jackie continued, “maybe you should stay dead a while longer.”
“I’m good at playing dead,” Zack replied then gently scratched his body through his excessively white outfit. “Seriously, where is my bag? I need to change. I wouldn’t be caught dead in this outfit.”
Jackie smirked and handed Zack her room key. “Your bag is in my room. Keep out of sight until we can sort this out.”
He took the key then eyed her suspiciously. “We’re sharing a room now? Are you sure we didn’t have a little affair d’amour?”
She glared at him with limited patience. He grinned at the look he’d received then left.
Chapter Twenty-eight
Zack woke with a close-up view of bright, colorful carpet with a tacky design. He suddenly jerked and flipped onto his backside, uncertain where he was or how he’d even gotten there. He looked around the familiar casino from an assignment not so long ago. It was the casino in Sal’s abandoned hotel. As he hesitantly stood, considering how he’d gotten there, he felt a tremendous pain in his side. Zack touched his side and looked down. There was blood covering his hand and shirt. He’d been wounded. Beyond the bloodied torn shirt, he could see the laceration where a bullet grazed him. He struggled to remember what had happened. Was this all another hallucination? Or was everything that had happened on the Andrea Maria actually the fake reality?
As he turned, he saw Ross clinging to a younger woman on the floor alongside one of the blackjack tables. Zack hurried toward them then suddenly stopped when he realized they were dead. By the way Ross held his girlfriend, Lee, against his chest, someone executed them without giving them a chance to fight back. Zack uncertainly backed away with horror on his face. As he turned, he saw Monroe lying face down on the floor with blood surrounding him. Kirk was propped against one of the slot machines, a gun in his bloodied hand and his eyes open as he stared up. Several bullet holes were visible over his heart, clearly precision kill shots by someone highly trained. Zack ran his fingers through his hair as his heart raced.
He scanned the casino and saw Bogart slumped in one of the chairs before a slot machine, blood pouring from his head across the machine and dripping down his arm. Gil and Beck sat back to back with guns limp in their hands and huge chunks of their skulls missing as they made their last stand. There was so much blood they were almost unrecognizable. Zack held his head and looked around with horror as something suddenly occurred to him.
“Jackie!”
There was no response. As he looked around, he saw a woman’s hand sticking out beyond one of the blackjack tables. Zack ran for the woman then slowed as he neared the table. Jackie lay on the floor with her throat torn out as she stared at him with horror in her dead eyes. Zack fell to his knees alongside her and gathered her into his arms while sobbing. He held her to his chest while clinging to her despite her blood soaking into his clothes. He heard the sound of dripping blood then realized someone was standing over him. Zack held back his grief and lifted his head with a psychotic look in his eyes, prepared to meet the person who killed his friends. Holden stood over Zack with a gun clutched in his blood covered hand. Blood ran down his face from a large laceration on his temple. He’d been shot several times with blood seeping from wounds on his side and leg.
“You bastard,” Holden gasped, barely able to speak. “You killed them! You killed Jackie!”
Holden raised the gun level to Zack’s face. Zack stared at Holden with horror and shook his head as tears streaked his face.
“No,” he protested. “I’d never do this. They’re my friends. I’d never kill them--especially Jackie. You have to believe me.”
Holden’s finger tightened on the trigger. Although Zack could have escaped at that moment, he refused to release Jackie. He clung to her, buried his head into her blood-soaked neck, and shut his eyes while waiting for the gunshot. The sound of a gun firing echoed through the empty casino. Zack hesitantly opened his eyes and saw Holden standing motionless a moment. Blood seeped through the bullet wound in the center of his forehead. His eyes rolled back as he sank to his knees, collapsing to the floor. Zack looked down and saw he was holding a semiautomatic in his hand. He suddenly gasped and tossed it aside. He looked for Jackie, but she was gone. Zack sprang to his feet and looked around the casino. They were gone. He clutched his head and cried out in sorrow and rage.
“What are you doing--?” a woman’s voice announced.
Zack lowered his hands from his face and stared across the unfamiliar casino at a face he hadn’t seen in some time. Macbeth, frequently called Mac, was a dark-haired beauty in her mid-thirties. Although her fresh face and athletic frame suggested she was a high maintenance, classy woman, the truth was less flattering.
The moment she saw him, the hostility and hatred showed in her eyes as they widened. “You!” she gasped with surprise and a hint of anger. “What the hell are you doing here?” Her look became more hateful. “Did Sal send you to find me?”
“Mac?” Zack gasped with surprise then looked around the empty casino. He looked back at her then held his head and groaned softly. “Oh, this just keeps getting better and better.”
“Yeah, well, I’m not exactly happy to see you either,” she snarled.
He waved her off and walked past her. “You’re just another hallucination,” he informed her. “I could care less what you think.” Zack looked at his watch. It was after three in the morning. “How the hell did I get here?” he demanded then considered. “Where the hell is here?”
“You’re in the casino, idiot,” Mac scoffed. “What’s this about hallucinations?”
“What would be the point in explaining,” he muttered and headed for the main doors. “I need to find the rest of the team.”
Mac caught up to him and grabbed his arm, causing him to turn defensively. He was prepared to strike but held back. She immediately released his arm.
“What’s this about the rest of the team?” she demanded with concern. “Are they here?”
“Of course they’re here,” he snapped. “You’re not a very informed hallucination. At least Katya was helpful.”
Mac stared at him with her mouth hanging open. She was about to ask but shook her head and dismissed it. “Why are you here?”
“Must I really rehash this with you?” He groaned with annoyance. “Beck thinks Pinto and Sal might be in danger, so he brought us on this trip from hell to fight imaginary bad guys.” He considered the comment. “Even more imaginary for me.”
Her eyes widened with horror. “Sal’s here?” she gasped then looked around while running her fingers through her hair. “He can’t know I’m here. He’ll kill me.”
“Oh relax,” Zack scoffed while waving her off. “You’re just a figment of my i
magination anyway.”
“What is wrong with you?” she demanded. “Have you lost what few marbles you had left?”
“No, it’s the concussion,” he replied without care then rolled his eyes. “Why am I bothering?”
Mac groaned with annoyance and grabbed his crotch, startling him. She raised her brows while smiling slyly. “Is this your imagination?”
He brushed her hand from his crotch and waved her off. “That’s all you imaginary women want,” he remarked. “Enough with the seduction scenes. I have bigger concerns.” As he turned and walked away from her, he mildly adjusted himself and gave the incident a moment of consideration.
Mac stared at him with surprise. “You’re kidding, right?”
As he left the casino, Mac hurried after him. They walked along the unusually quiet corridor. Everyone had gone to bed, leaving the hotel silent.
“You can’t tell anyone I’m here,” she informed him with desperation in her voice.
“They all think I’m nuts already,” he remarked. “I’m certainly not going to mention another delusion. Your imaginary existence is safe with me.”
“You really need your head examined,” she insisted.
“It’s on my to-do list,” he muttered.
Chapter Twenty-nine
Nearly two hundred wedding guests enjoyed a lavish brunch set up on the veranda overlooking the beach. It was late morning Friday, the day before the wedding. Belle and Marco, the bride and groom, greeted their guests. They were a happy, attractive couple with their whole lives ahead of them. Both had the classic Italian look with dark, almost black hair. Belle was somewhat tiny in height and frame. She was possibly an inch or two over five feet while Marco was lean and athletic. His nearly six-foot frame allowed him to tower over his bride-to-be. Both were excessively tan, suggesting they’d spent some time on the island already.
The father of the groom and the island owner, Giovanni, remained close to the outside bar with two guards only arm’s length from him. Giovanni looked like an older version of his son. He had a little more girth to him, yet he somehow looked more imposing. Perhaps it was just his reputation affecting his outward appearance. No one messed with Giovanni or his family. He talked with his son’s future father-in-law, Matt. Luke stood near his father, but his attention was anywhere but on their conversation. Sealy remained a few feet from Matt and resembled a Secret Service agent on guard duty.
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