by Stone, M. T.
The boat slows down and comes to rest about a hundred meters out and the captain sets anchor. The small island that Tommy has chosen is only about a half-mile off the coast of Roatan. Bolt, Anthony and Crusher each grab their gear and we transfer to the smaller boat to go ashore. The captain maneuvers up to an old wooden dock that will serve as our entry point to the island.
“I can’t wait to see the look on his face.” I smile at the thought of him being greeted by Crusher. He is looking extra intimidating today in his t-shirt as he is literally bursting out of it.
As soon as the captain gives the all clear, three sets of boots hit the old dock, moving swiftly onto the island. Mandy and I follow behind in silence as they quickly survey the terrain looking for the best place to hide the detonator. Crusher stops at a large boulder that looks it would weigh several hundred pounds. “The three of us will lift and you shove it into the ground,” he instructs me.
I pull the spike shaped detonator from the case and as all three men combine their strength to lift the edge of the rock. I quickly jam it into the sandy soil. “That’s good,” Crusher, grunts as they slowly lower the rock back down, pushing it the rest of the way into the ground.
With the detonator securely hidden, we continue our advance toward the beach where it appears that Tommy is located. “Over there,” Anthony points to a small grouping of shrubs, showing Bolt where he wants him to set up. “I’ll take the crest over here,” he says, pulling out the spiked feet of his sniper rifle before nestling it firmly on the sandy surface. “The sun is to our backs, so this is perfect.” He looks over at Bolt, waiting for the signal that he is situated. Seconds later, Bolt gives him the thumbs up.
“It’s show time,” Anthony declares in a hushed voice while scanning the beach with the scope of his rifle. “There appears to be two men and a woman about one hundred meters out,” he tells us. “The one on the right is definitely Tommy, but I only have a rear view of the others. Proceed with caution. Crusher, you take the lead. Mandy, you stay with me.”
Mandy lets out a sigh, so Anthony removes the binoculars from around his neck and hands them to her. “I guess I’ll watch from here,” she says in a tone of resignation.
I follow Crusher past the trees and over the crest. I can see three beach chairs and two large umbrellas situated about a hundred meters in front of us. “I’m sure he’s got protection,” Crusher says, handing me the black box and pulling a second 9mm pistol from its holster.
We continue to walk undetected and I can feel my heart pounding as the anticipation continues to build with each step. Crusher holds out a hand and slows his pace, walking as softly as possible once we reach the halfway point. I begin to regret that I haven’t been working out as we trudge through the deep sand toward our targets. If I had to run in this shit, I would be screwed. Of course, two expert military snipers are covering us, so there isn’t much to worry about.
Crusher looks back at me, as if he can sense that shit is about to get real. A split second later, a man springs from the chair on the left rolling out onto the sand pointing a pistol in our direction. “Hit the deck!” Crusher yells, both of us diving face first into the sand.
Three shots fire and then all is silent. I raise my head just enough to see what has transpired and Crusher rolls on his side letting out a groan. “Damn, that fucker was fast!” he says looking down at his bleeding forearm. With one swipe he rips off his t-shirt, wraps it around his arm and ties it in a knot, using his teeth to pull it tight.
“There are two snipers on you, Tommy, so don’t even think about it!” I yell as I see him scurrying toward the fallen man. I grab one of Crusher’s guns as we both scramble back to our feet and begin walking toward him. “We‘re not here to kill you!”
“If you pick up that gun, its suicide,” Crusher yells as Tommy reaches for the pistol.
“Don’t Tommy! Please don’t!” a woman screams, pleading with him.
“We don’t want to kill you,” I reiterate. “I just want to talk to you.” We continue walking slowly toward him and it’s obvious that he is torn as to whether or not he should pick up the gun. He looks over at the woman and relents, holding up his hands and lowering his head.
“You got the ankle cuffs?” Crusher asks, looking over at me. I completely forgot about them after the shots were fired. In the moment, I was only focused on self-preservation. “I can handle him with one arm,” Crusher assures me, so I turn back to retrieve the black box.
Chapter 24
Mandy
After watching things go down through the binoculars, I’m glad that Anthony kept me back at a safe distance. I was also glad to see Trey get up after the shots were fired. The man with Tommy was actually The Ghost according to Anthony. I could see that he took the shot left-handed and his right hand was in a cast.
“I wasn’t going to give him a second chance,” Anthony says, jumping up and pulling a handgun from its holster. “Bolt, you cover the buildings, while I go help Crusher and Trey.”
Bolt turns his weapon toward the buildings in the distance, while Anthony and I begin running toward the others on the beach. Crusher is holding Tommy, while Trey is walking toward them with the black box. I can hear the woman sobbing, but it’s hard make out what she is saying.
“I’m not going to hurt him as long as you shut the hell up,” Crusher growls at her as we approach. “Tell her to shut up,” he instructs Tommy.
“Vanessa,” Trey says, shaking his head and setting down the black box on the sand next to the chairs. “You guys had this all worked out from the beginning didn’t you?” The look on Trey’s face lets them know that the gig is up. “So, you and Tommy really are a thing, huh? Now everything is starting to make more sense.”
“No one was supposed to get hurt,” she replies, trying her best to look remorseful. “I didn’t know any of this was going to happen.”
“So, you didn’t have anything to do with Dad’s death?” Trey asks, walking right up to her and looking her straight in the eyes.
“No!” she exclaims. ”I didn’t have anything to do with any of it. Other than Dr. Potaturri erasing Tyler’s memories.” She hangs her head, looking down at the sand. It’s obvious that she realizes that everything is over and Tommy won’t be getting away with his perfectly crafted plan.
“You told me that you don’t make mistakes,” Trey says, turning his attention to Tommy who is still being restrained by Crusher. “Your only mistake was a direct result of your humongous ego.” He glances at his diamond Rolex, but doesn’t give away the secret of how we were able to track him.
“What do you mean my ego?” he asks, still seeming shocked by the fact that we were able to track him down so quickly.
“When you act like a cocky asshole and tell everyone that you are too smart to make a mistake…” Trey pauses and moves right in front of him. “It makes everyone work that much harder to prove you wrong.”
He stares silently at Tommy for a few seconds before turning his focus to the black box that is perched in the sand next to him.
Trey
The moment that I’ve been waiting for has finally arrived. I turn the combination lock and pop the clasps, lifting the lid to reveal four shiny metallic ankle bracelets. I watch Tommy’s pupils dilate as I pull the first one from the box and hold it up in front of him.
“I’ll have you know, these cost me a small fortune,” I tell him, rotating it in my hand to give him a complete view of it. “I simply open it up like this and place it on your ankle.” I bend down and slip it on him. “Now I adjust it for your ankle size, click the latch and pull this little pin to activate it.” A high-pitched sound emanates as the band energizes and the green lights come on along the side of it.
“So, now I’m under house arrest?” he asks, not understanding the full extent of his dilemma.
“Pretty much, you’ll never be leaving this little island again. We dropped a detonator in the water about two hundred meters off-shore and if you ever get more than a mi
le away from it, this little baby will release the toxin inside,” I tell him, not wanting him to know that the detonator was actually hidden on the island.
“The toxin?” he asks, suddenly looking more concerned.
“Polonium 210,” Crusher says with a sneer. “Type it into Google and you can read all about it. Since you’re an obvious fan of Russian agents, we used their favorite poison.”
“It’s 250,000 times more deadly than cyanide and one gram of it can kill as many as ten million people,” I add, causing his eyes to widen dramatically. “If you break the seal or go more than a mile beyond the detonator, the toxin will be released and you will be dead in a matter of minutes.”
“You can’t do that to him!” Vanessa protests. “Tommy didn’t kill your father.” She comes huffing toward me, as if she is planning to hit me. Anthony reaches out and grabs her by the arm, restraining her.
“Don’t worry Vanessa, I have one for you too,” I inform her. “But first, I have to know why my father was killed? I know he was an asshole, but that is no reason to murder him.”
She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. “I only know what Carly told me, but apparently he was going to ruin everything,” she mutters.
“He found out that Tommy’s companies were unprofitable and was going to kill the deal?” I speculate.
“She hated how he always had to be in control,” she says softly. “Once he found the accounting issues, he no longer trusted her and then he drew up a ridiculous prenup. According to her, that was the final straw.”
I reach down into the box, pulling out an ankle bracelet for her. I slip it on her leg and adjust it for size, click the latch and pull the activation pin. “You’re all set,” I tell her, still completely blown away by how far she has fallen.
“I’m really sorry that I didn’t choose you, back when I had the chance,” she adds after hearing the sound of the bracelet activating.
“What’s done is done, right?” I stand up and give her one last hug. “I really hope you guys like this island and can all get along. Otherwise, it’s going to be a long life.”
“You really think this is funny, don’t you?” Tommy growls, narrowing his eyes and lunging toward me.
“You know… my father being killed, Tyler being poisoned, you stealing four hundred million from Bill and then killing him… none of it is funny,” I retaliate, going nose to nose with him. “This fucking bracelet on your ankle and you being stuck on this island for the rest of your life? A lot fucking funnier than any of those other things.”
“If you do this to us, you’ll never recover any of the money,” Tommy says, desperately trying to establish some sort of leverage against us.
“I’m not worried about the money,” I assure him. “I’ve got plans to use the resources at Addison Media to make it a profitable venture while letting the whole world know that you were nothing but a fraud.”
“I see there’s a satellite dish on the house, so at least you’ll be able to watch it on TV,” Mandy adds with a giggle.
“You’ll never get it to work,” he grumbles, cursing under his breath.
“It looks like we won’t be needing a bracelet for him,” Crusher adds, glancing over at The Ghost. “Today he became an actual ghost. I hope he haunts this fucking place.”
I take Mandy by the arm and we turn away, walking back in the direction from which we had come. I can hear chattering behind me as the Tommy and Vanessa drill Anthony and Crusher with question after question. Anthony can answer their questions; I’m done here.
“Are those bracelets really as deadly as you told them?” Mandy asks in a subdued tone once we are out of range. “Is that stuff even legal?”
“Anthony had a connection to get the poison, but no, it wouldn’t have been legal and it would have taken us a month to get the bracelets made,” I confess. “We are having a high definition surveillance camera installed on a cell tower that is straight across on Roatan. We will be able to check in on them at anytime. If they ever tamper with the bracelet or go out of range, we will be instantly notified.”
“What will you do if that happens?” she asks inquisitively.
“I haven’t decided yet,” I admit. “Tommy won’t have the balls to test it anyway and I can’t imagine Vanessa taking that chance either.” I smile and add, “I didn’t tell Tommy about the tracking device on his Rolex, because I wanted to save that as a backup.”
“Do you think Tommy used Carly right from the start?” she asks. “Knowing that she could get your dad or his contacts to buy his company?”
“Anything is possible. I was actually surprised that we didn’t find her here today; I can’t imagine that she is actually dead,” I reply, expressing my beliefs. “Whether or not it was all planned from the beginning doesn’t really matter. I’m just excited to be able to get on with life.” I take Mandy’s hand and as we walk back to the dock I have to wonder where our lives will go from here. Up until now, all we have experienced together is chaos. Hopefully now we can really get to know one another.
“What are you thinking about?” she asks, cocking her head and giving me an uncertain smile.
“I’m thinking about taking the long way home. Do you like the boat?”
“It’s beautiful, but you aren’t thinking about making another impulse purchase are you?” She tilts her head forward, giving me a disapproving look.
“Nah, I was thinking more of an eighteen hundred mile test drive.” I slide my hand down along the curve of her back and pull her close. “Just you and me on the high seas; our own private cruise for a couple of weeks.”
“Now that sounds like a great plan,” Mandy replies with a flirty look in her eyes. “So, we’ll drop the guys off back at the SUV and head out to sea? Hopefully the Captain is up for the road trip.”
“If not, he’ll have to show me how to drive a boat,” I tease, taking her lips in mine and giving her a long sensual kiss. Let the fun begin.
Bonus Epilogue
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