The Order of the Titans had Alicia.
Rage exploded in his gut. Some asshole had abducted his sister right off her balcony. Alicia must’ve been terrified. He pushed the thoughts away. Anger and fear made you sloppy. For now, he needed to keep a clear head.
He came around the front and ended the timer on his watch, waving Callie forward. She jogged over and followed him to the front door. He knocked, hand resting on the butt of his Glock. Ready.
Curtis opened the door and checked both ways before letting them inside. His eyes were red and swollen. Alicia had been right about one thing: Curtis did love her.
“You have to get her back,” he choked out. “If they hurt her because of me…”
Hunter cut right to the chase. “I know about the Order of the Titans.”
Curtis’s head snapped up. “What? I don’t know—”
“Oh spare me!” Callie stepped up beside Hunter. “Did you know your little Greek history club killed my friend? Nia is dead, and they tried to shoot me last night.” She brandished the stick without pointing it directly at the professor. “Save us all some time and tell us where they are so we can get Alicia out of there.”
Curtis gaped and then stood up, pacing and mumbling, but Hunter was hearing him loud and clear.
Would they have taken her to Crystal Peak? No. It’s too open. So where? The enforcer follows Ted’s orders, maybe he took her to Belkin Oil… But I can’t tell them that. I’d be as good as dead. But if they don’t find Alicia in time…
The house phone rang. Curtis flinched and rushed to answer. “H-hello?”
He frowned, the color draining from his face, and Hunter knew who was on the line. He crossed the room in less than a second and ripped the receiver from Curtis’s hand, growling into the handset. “Where is my sister?”
A muffled voice replied, “Bring us Curtis and the muse, and you can have your sister.”
Hunter ground his teeth. “Where?”
“There’s a boat docked in the harbor, the Tartarus. Your sister is on board.” He paused and added, “Bring Curtis and Dr. O’Connor to us alone or your sister dies. Slowly.”
The line went silent.
Hunter turned around and slammed Curtis into the wall, his battered forearm pressed tight against the professor’s neck. “You stupid prick. If anything happens to Alicia, you won’t have to worry about your Kronos freaks coming after you because I’ll kill you myself.”
Callie came up beside him. “Hunter. We need him.” She squeezed his bicep. “Hunter!”
Her voice snapped him out of the blind rage. He stepped back, leaving Curtis to bend over and gasp for air.
Hunter jerked a chair out from the table, spun it around, and then straddled it. “She’s on a boat, the Tartarus.”
“Like the prison where they locked up the Titans? That Tartarus?” Callie shook her head, glaring at Curtis. “You’ve got bad taste in friends.”
His voice was reduced to a hoarse whisper. “You don’t understand. This is bigger than all of us. The Titans would end all wars. They protect humanity and punish those who don’t.”
Hunter narrowed his eyes. “So your band of murderers should be first on their list.”
Curtis sighed. “Sacrifices have to be made for the greater good.”
Hunter struggled to keep from shaking the man. “Does my sister know about this ‘greater good’ you’re willing to kill for?”
“I haven’t killed anyone.” Curtis shook his head vehemently. “I just donate time and money, and support the cause with my research.”
Hunter grabbed Curtis by the shirt and yanked him in close. “You may not have pulled the trigger, but you told that ‘enforcer’ about me and Callie, and if I hadn’t been there last night, she’d be dead. Don’t think your hands are clean. These aren’t faceless statues of muses. These are living, breathing women. Killing innocents isn’t going to change the world.”
“Just save Alicia. Please.” Curtis gripped his wrists. “I’ll cut my ties to the Order. I swear. Just help her.”
Hunter shoved him back. Fanatics like these Kronos worshippers wouldn’t allow Curtis to just quit and walk away. He knew too much. But Hunter kept that to himself. Curtis had dug his own grave. All Hunter wanted right now was to save his sister.
He turned to Callie. “Our advantage is that she’s on a boat. Underwater tactical is my specialty.”
Callie glanced at Curtis and back to Hunter. “What can you do from the water? You can’t blow up the boat.”
“No, but I can steal their leverage.”
They put Curtis in the back of Hunter’s SUV and Callie pulled out her cell phone. The plan would go better if Curtis wasn’t in on it. They also needed Nate.
Hunter was used to heading into war zones to extricate hostages, but this wasn’t a military-trained team. These were misguided, probably wealthy, fanatical citizens. Callie had no intention of seeing Hunter charged as a murderer.
Nate answered. “Callie? Everything okay?”
“Not exactly.” She stared at the car. “Are you back in Crystal City?”
“Yeah.” Maggie was giggling in the background. “What’s up?”
“The Order has Hunter’s sister. He’s got a plan, but we need your help.”
“If they’ve kidnapped someone, I can make an arrest.”
Callie nodded. “That’s what we’re hoping.”
She laid out the plan. Nate wasn’t a huge fan, but he didn’t have any better ideas.
Callie slid her phone back in her pocket and turned to Hunter. “He’ll be there waiting for us to give him the signal before he comes on board.”
Hunter took her hand. “I don’t want you anywhere near that boat.”
She stared into his eyes, her stomach tied in knots. “They’ll be watching the dock, and if I’m not with Curtis, they’ll hurt Alicia.”
He rubbed his forehead, cursing under his breath. “Nate’s going to be ready, right?”
“He’s set. And he’ll have his sights on me. You just worry about your sister.” She rocked up onto her tiptoes, and he wrapped her in his arms, kissing her as if she were the air in his lungs.
When he stepped back, his voice was barely a whisper. “When this is over, we need to talk.”
She started to ask what he meant, but he was already getting into the driver’s seat.
As they neared the docks, Hunter pulled over and cut the engine. He twisted around to glare at Curtis in the backseat. “You try anything with Callie and you’ll wish you were dead when I get through with you.”
Curtis held his hands up in surrender. “I’m not a violent man.”
“Wish we could say the same about the company you keep.” Callie shook her head and got out.
Hunter handed her the ZAP STICK. “Don’t forget: If Curtis tries anything, you fry his ass.”
She stared up at him. His forearms were battered and scabbed, and his muscles were tensed. If anything happened to him… She didn’t allow herself to finish the thought. In spite of the danger of the past couple of weeks, she’d never felt so alive, so comfortable in her own skin.
It wasn’t therapy that brought on the transformation. It was Hunter.
Could she go back to living her controlled, safe life again?
She gripped his hand. “Be careful, okay?” She swallowed the lump in her throat. “I…” Her voice drifted off, the words not coming.
Hunter nodded slowly, his eyes locked on hers. “Me, too.”
He bent to kiss her and whispered, “Let’s show these assholes epic.”
Her lips curved into a smile as she claimed one last taste of him. “Let’s do it.”
She turned around and waved Curtis over. “Okay, we’re heading to the harbor. Ready?”
He shook his head no but came to her anyway. “You think this will work?”
“It has to.” Her eyes were on Hunter’s back as he jogged into the shadows. She sent up a prayer to the gods and then headed the other direction with Curti
s.
When they neared the docks, she noticed Nate’s unmarked police sedan down the block. She kept walking, the electric stick tucked behind her back for now.
Hunter swam silently like a predator through the anchored yachts and sailboats until he came up next to one with Tartarus painted on the bow. He pulled his knife from his utility belt and clenched the blade between his teeth. He had no eyes on deck so he needed to be ready for anything.
The plan was simple: get on board, grab his sister, and get her back in the water. Without a hostage, they had no leverage. And once they took Callie and Curtis, Nate would move in and make arrests for kidnapping.
According to Curtis, the Order had been around since the rise of Zeus. Family lines passed the mission down to their children and kept the group small; the only way they could remain hidden for centuries.
Hunter’s plan hinged on the only muscle on that boat being the enforcer and the leader. It also depended heavily on Nate getting there before they could hurt Callie.
The only way to find out for sure how many people guarded his sister was to case the ship. He built up momentum in his legs and shot up from the water, catching the anchor line. Walking his hands along the rope, he finally reached the bow. Slowly, he pulled his body weight up, peering from one end of the deck to the other.
Clear.
He quietly climbed over and grasped his knife. Callie’s voice caught his attention at the other side of the boat. “We’re here. Let Alicia go!”
Hunter held his breath as a man’s voice answered. “Where is the Navy SEAL?”
Curtis spoke up. “I knocked him out and brought you the muse. I just want Alicia.”
The other man laughed. “You expect me to believe a history geek took out a SEAL?”
Hunter moved into the cabin of the small yacht.
“I used a Taser, then hit him with his own gun,” Curtis replied.
“I’m impressed, Curtis. You must love this crippled girl. She felt like dead weight to me when I carried her out of her bedroom.”
Hunter ground his jaw but kept searching. He entered the storage pantry, and a gasp came from the floor. He strode forward and pulled back a tarp, finding Alicia, bound and gagged. He cut the bindings and slipped off the gag, signaling her to be quiet.
“We’re getting off the ship,” he whispered.
She frowned, tipping her head toward the voices. Hunter leaned in close. “We’re not taking the front ramp.”
Her eyes widened as he scooped her into his arms and hustled out.
Callie kept her head up while walking onto the boat. As long as she stayed out on the deck, Nate was covering her, and the longer she could keep the man in the Kronos mask out here, the more time she bought for Hunter to rescue his sister.
He grabbed Curtis’s wrists, shaking his head. “Hold still or your girlfriend dies.”
Curtis winced. “You’re hurting me.”
“Good.” The masked man zip-tied Curtis’s wrists together. “You idiot, you’ve put us all at risk.”
“No,” Curtis whined. “I didn’t tell them anything. My loyalty is to the Order.”
Callie tightened her grip on the stick behind her back as the masked man straightened up. “Killing me isn’t going to slow down my sisters.”
“Don’t you bitches see?” He pulled out another plastic zip tie. “The world is getting worse. It’s broken. Your inspiration isn’t helping. There are wars, terrorists, famine. The old gods can cure this world, heal it. But we need more time, more oil, more fracking. We’re going to set them free from their prison.”
“This is insanity,” Callie countered. “We don’t even know if the Titans are really down there. You’re going to destroy the environment and murder people, for what, an old story?”
“It’s not just a story.”
The man in the Kronos mask wheeled around toward Callie, and she lashed out with the ZAP STICK from behind her back. He crumpled onto the deck, trembling. She shocked him once more and dropped the weapon.
She reached for Curtis. “Run.”
They turned around to find another man in a Kronos mask blocking their exit. This one had a gun pointed at her head. “Curtis, please help our enforcer up.”
Curtis grunted. “My hands are tied.”
“My god, you’re useless.” The masked man pointed to his hands. “They work fine. Grab his robe and drag him inside. Now.”
Curtis groaned as he struggled to move the other man’s body with his wrists bound in front of him. Callie raised her arms, wishing she hadn’t dropped the stick. Her heart pounded in her throat. Nate would see the signal. Her hands were up. He’d be here any second.
The masked man shouted, “Now.”
The floor rumbled as the engine fired up. He kicked the boarding ramp off the dock and into the water. In the distance, Nate sprinted toward the boat. He drew his gun, but the man in the mask snatched Callie, holding her in front of himself like a shield.
She struggled, bashing her head back into the mask. Her captor purred near her ear. “That’s it. Keep fighting. You deserve an epic death, don’t you think?”
CHAPTER 17
Hunter’s lungs ached as he pulled his sister through the water. When he could finally stand, his chest heaved for oxygen. He helped Alicia onto the breaker rocks at the edge of the marina.
“Wait here. I’ll be right back.”
She nodded, shivering. Her thin pajamas were soaked and the bite of the cool night air wasn’t helping. He needed to get her dry clothes.
Suddenly, a boat engine turned over.
“No!” He spun around, scanning for movement. “No, no, no. Fuck!”
He left Alicia and dove back into the marina, swimming back toward the Tartarus. He was lighter now without Alicia’s extra weight, but his muscles ached and his lungs were straining.
But none of that mattered. Callie was still on that boat.
He stretched his arms, cupping his fingers to get more power, propelling him through the water. Ahead, the white yacht was on the move, sliding between two docked boats. If they got out to the open ocean, he didn’t stand a chance. He had to stop them. Now.
He needed to kill the engine somehow. But with what? He’d find something. The marina was just over twelve feet deep. He could make that dive in his sleep.
While the boat turned and bobbed through the anchored skiffs, Hunter pushed, digging deeper for one last surge of adrenaline. He sucked in a breath, filling his lungs, and shot down to the rocky bottom of the marina like a torpedo. Feeling around the darkness, he found what he was looking for. He gripped the mossy scrap of wood and pushed up to the surface.
He broke through, gasping for air as he turned to locate the boat. It was still idling through the other vessels anchored in the harbor. This was his chance.
Kicking his legs, he swam closer, still gripping the waterlogged two-by-four. He prayed to whomever might be listening and took another deep breath.
Callie stopped struggling, her gaze locked on the discarded electric stick on the deck. If she could get to the weapon, it might give her an opportunity to escape. Even if she had to dive overboard, her chances of survival were better in the water than on this damned boat.
Another man in a gold mask came out of the cabin. His voice was an octave lower than the one holding her arms behind her back.
“The girl is gone. Search the boat. If the soldier is still on board, shoot on sight. We’ll dump the bodies out in the ocean. There will be no ties to us.”
Callie’s heart banged against her ribs. Hunter had gotten Alicia. But they hadn’t planned on the boat leaving the marina. Nate was still on the dock, and Hunter was in the water. Maybe he was already onshore with his sister. Hopefully.
Either way, she was on her own. A pang of regret bubbled in her stomach. The irony that she hadn’t realized how much Hunter meant to her until it was too late was a bitter pill to swallow. This wasn’t how she’d imagined her life ending. Not by a long shot.
&nbs
p; Her captor and the “enforcer” disappeared into the cabin, leaving her with the deep-voiced masked man and Curtis. Now that Alicia was out of danger, she had no idea if she could trust Curtis. He could be back on team Kronos already, for all she knew.
She stared at the masked man and took a casual step toward the railing. He crossed the deck and wrapped his fingers around her upper arm in a painful vise grip. “It’s much too soon for you to leave us.”
With his other hand, he withdrew a silver pistol, aiming it at Curtis. “And I’m afraid you’ve become a liability, Professor.”
Curtis’s eyes widened. “No. I didn’t tell them anything. I just didn’t want Alicia to be hurt. That’s all…”
The masked man fired a single bullet into Curtis’s chest. The shot stunned Callie, the sound making her ears ring. She closed her eyes, not wanting to see. But the masked man dragged her toward Curtis’s body. She started to struggle, but he turned the gun in her direction.
“We could have a murder suicide,” he warned. “Maybe you two were secret lovers…”
She froze.
“Good girl.” With his gloved hand, he placed the pistol into Curtis’s lifeless one, closing his fingers around it as he admired his work. “I’m sorry it had to end like this, Curtis, but you understand. Sacrifices have to be made for the greater good.” He straightened up with a sigh. “That was my favorite gun, too. Pity.”
Suddenly the boat jerked forward, the motor whining before finally shutting down. Black smoke plumed from the engine room below.
“What’s going on?” the man holding her arm shouted into the cabin.
Another voice answered, “Something’s wrong with the motor. It froze up.”
“Well, fix it. Now! We need to get to the open sea.”
While he was distracted, Callie wrenched her arm free of his grip and darted for the stick. She tumbled onto the deck, snatching the handle in the process. The masked man rushed toward her as she tipped the live end toward him. He couldn’t stop in time, hitting the stick. He moaned as the voltage hit him, collapsing onto the deck, shaking. Callie’s hands trembled, but she got to her feet.
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