by Wendy Rosnau
“This is Gino, my new man,” he told her. “His job is simple, to keep me happy.”
The big man opened the back door and steered Margo onto the veranda. And that’s when she saw Jackson Ward laying lifeless in the hammock.
Ry managed to get Blu to his feet with Mort’s help. As bad off as Blu’s leg was, Ry realized Margo’s brother wasn’t going to the hospital until he was sure his kids were safe and Denoux was caught.
Ry propped Blu against the wall and had just turned around when he heard a noise overhead.
“Superman…”
Ry watched as Goddard Reese, tripping over his feet, hurried back down the stairs. “What the hell, old man. I thought I told you—”
“We got company,” he interrupted. “There’s two of ’um on the waterfront. They’re packin’ serious noisemakers, too.”
“Did they see you?”
“No.”
Blu swore. “They must have followed you, Ry.”
If that was true, then they had been watching the house, and before that, Margo at the Toucan. For one quick minute Ry wanted to head back and make sure Margo was all right, but then he told himself that the men outside were looking for Blu and the children, not Margo. She was perfectly safe with Jackson watching over her.
He headed for the stairs.
“Where are you going?” Blu asked.
“I’m going to check out the situation.”
“I’m coming with you,” Blu insisted.
“They got us pinned.” Goddard wrapped his coat around himself. “Ain’t no way off this boat. No, sir. Not unless you can swim, and I can’t.”
“I could divert them.” The rough voice came from Mort. He stepped forward. “I come and go. Food runs, mostly, but I know how to get off the boat without anyone seeing me. Once I’m off, I could—”
“No!” Blu shoved away from the wall and stood on his own power for the first time in four days. “You stay with the kids, Mort. If I don’t come back, the old man here,” he grabbed Goddard by the sleeve and shoved him forward, “he’ll make sure you get to the stationhouse.”
“The hell I will.”
Ry turned and nailed Goddard with a hard look. “The hell you won’t.”
Goddard jerked away from Blu. “But, Superman—”
“We’re wasting time,” Blu growled, hobbling toward the stairs. “Me first,” he told Ry. “That way if I lose my balance, you can break my fall.”
Blu’s light banter and his ghost of a smile had Ry taking a second look at Margo’s brother. He decided the Blu Devil even had a sense of humor.
They surfaced from the hold moments later, both belly crawling across the deck. Ry scanned the waterfront and easily spotted the two men. He watched as one of the men played with his automatic weapon, while the other man started onto the pier.
He motioned to Blu, then pointed to the jiggler chains hanging from the nets. Ry let him know what his intentions were, then ordered Blu to stay put. A moment later he was at the nets on the far side of the boat. The chains were sturdy, and he grabbed hold of one of them and, hand-over-hand, lowered himself into the water.
Barely making a ripple in the water, Ry swam to the pier and ducked under it. He could hear the man walking a short distance away. Carefully he positioned himself and waited. The slatted deck boards weren’t wide enough for his hand to slip through, so Ry knew what he would have to do.
When the time came to make his move, Ry did it quickly. He rose out of the water like a dragon in the mist and gripped the man’s leg where he stood gazing at the stars. The man screamed in surprise, but before he could move, Ry was jerking him off balance. The man tumbled into the water with a hard splash. Ry knocked his victim out quickly, then hauled him beneath the pier.
He heard the other man holler, heard him running to see what had happened. Ry rolled over the unconscious man and gave him a solid shove away from the pier. The running overhead stopped suddenly. “Rudy? Rudy, if you’ve went and got yourself killed, I’ll shoot you. Rudy!”
Silence.
“There you are. Stop clowning around, Rudy. Rudy!”
Ry didn’t understand why Blu choose that moment to stand up, but if he was trying to be a diversion, it worked. The man on the pier noticed the movement and spun halfway around and shot at Blu.
Ry saw Blu dive for cover, and as the man drew up to shoot again, he rose out of the water once more and peeled the gunman off the pier quick and easy. A few well-placed punches, and the man was floating beside his unconscious friend.
The sound of a boat moving in fast caught Ry’s attention, and by the time the Nightwing came into sight, Blu was already hobbling off the Dungeress expecting to see his foreman, Brodie Hewitt. But the man who steered the cruiser alongside the pier turned out to be Jackson Ward.
Ry quickly hauled himself onto the pier. “What the hell are you doing here? Where’s Margo?” A quick search of the cruiser told him she wasn’t there. “Is she still at the house? How did you get this boat out of impound?”
“I stole it,” Jackson admitted. “Get in!”
“You what! Holy hell!”
“Just get your ass in the boat. I know what I’m doing.”
“You better know what the hell you’re doing,” Ry warned, “now answer me. Is Margo at home?”
“No, by now she’s probably on Denoux’s yacht.” Jackson pointed to the hole in his shirt. “I’d be a dead man right now if I hadn’t worn my bulletproof vest tonight. It’s a damn good thing that hulk Denoux had with him didn’t aim for my head.”
“Well, that’s where I’m going to be aiming if anything happens to Margo,” Ry warned as he jumped into the cruiser. When he turned around and saw Blu struggling to get into the boat, he reached over and hauled Margo’s brother over the rail. “Let’s go, Jackson!”
Before Jackson could respond, Blu took the wheel and spun the Nightwing away from the pier with one expert flick of his wrist. Then they were streaking across the river, headed for the Gulf.
“Do you know where you’re going?” Ry yelled.
For an answer Blu hauled back on the accelerator and turned up the speed.
Brodie looked awful, but he was alive.
Margo jerked away from Taber Denoux and rushed to her friend’s side and dropped down beside him. “Brodie, it’s me. It’s Margo.”
“Margo?” He opened his swollen eyes, his face a mass of bruises. “Hey, sweet thing, you okay?”
“Don’t worry about me.” She scrambled back to her feet. “I want him untied now! And I want him off this boat.”
Taber Denoux reached out and pulled Margo up against him. It was the first time he had used any kind of physical force with her. “Yacht, Beautiful. They call this a yacht, not a boat. An expensive yacht.”
Margo didn’t give a damn what it was called or how expensive it was. All she knew was that it was leaving port that very minute, and Brodie’s and her escape route would be cut off.
Taber smiled, then glanced down at Brodie. “Are you intending to bargain for this man’s life, too?” He shook his head, pulled her closer. “I’m not surprised. You seem to think you’re responsible for everyone’s well-being.” He released her arm to stroke her bare shoulder. “Very soon the only one you’re going to need to concern yourself with is me.”
Margo knocked his hand away, and he allowed her her freedom. “That won’t happen!”
“Is Hewitt just a friend or a lover like Archard?”
“He’s a friend. An innocent friend who doesn’t deserve to be here.” Margo knelt beside Brodie once more. “I’ll get you out of here,” she promised, wiping the blood out of his eyes and purposely on the white dress she was wearing.
“What he just said about Archard. Is he… Are you back with him?”
Margo hesitated. “Brodie, you know I—”
“Shhh. You could never forget him. I know. It’s all right, sweet thing. I knew what the odds were going in. I’ve always known.”
Margo felt Ta
ber’s hand on her shoulder, and she tried to pull away, but his grip turned to iron, and he hauled her up to face him. “He’s filthy. I don’t want you touching him. He’ll soil your…” He spied the blood. “You’ve ruined the dress.”
“I don’t care about your stupid dress,” Margo spat. “I want Brodie off this boat. I want him unharmed, along with Blu and Ryland Archard. If you agree, I’ll go wherever you want, and I’ll go willingly.”
She heard Brodie protest behind her. Heard him thrash against his ropes. Gino walked past her and gave him several hard kicks to the midsection.
“Stop that!” Margo turned toward Brodie, but Taber jerked her back.
“You have no bargaining power now, my little songbird. You are here, and here is where you’ll stay. But you are right about one thing. Hewitt is no longer of value. Gino, she wants him off the yacht, so give her what she wants.”
To Margo’s horror, she watched Gino and three other men hoist Brodie, tied to a deadhead, up and toss him overboard. “No! No!”
Margo tried to follow Brodie into the water, but she was restrained by Taber’s solid grip. Holding her fast, he said, “I don’t make deals when I’m holding all the cards. Willing or not, you’re mine now.” He turned to the hulk who was grinning stupidly. “Gino, I want her locked in my stateroom. She’s as resourceful as she is beautiful. Remember that.”
The giant nodded, and Margo’s stomach knotted as he hauled her away and forced her below deck. He swung the door open to Taber’s home away from home and shoved her inside. The elaborate stateroom was decorated all in white and polished brass, and as elegant as the white dress he’d insisted she put on a few hours ago.
When Margo heard the door lock behind her, she sagged against the wall. She tried to get past feeling sorry for herself, but she was afraid. They were already miles from shore. She needed a new plan of escape, but she didn’t have one.
Her thoughts turned to Brodie and Jackson, and she started to cry. Minutes later she was wiping her tears and pulling up her chin. She could either fall apart, which she was very close to doing, or she could make use of the time she had alone to look for something that might help her escape when the time came.
Quickly, she began to tear the stateroom apart, searching for something that might prove useful. She found the small porthole windows by accident. They were hidden behind elegant white panels of silk. Small in size, they were too narrow to pass through for a woman with hips, but Margo didn’t have any hips, something she was suddenly thankful for.
She sucked in her breath, as a shred of hope sent her ripping at the silk panels. When she tried the window latch and found it locked, she ripped at another panel of silk and tried another. The fourth window was the prize, or so she thought. Margo flung the window open and was confronted with an endless body of churning blackness.
Oh, God…
She stepped back and squeezed her eyes shut. She hated water, hated the uncertainty. No, this wasn’t an escape route, this was suicide.
She heard a key being inserted in the door and turned to find Taber stepping into the room. When he saw what she was about to do, he rushed at her and half pulled, half tackled her to the floor. Margo went down hard, and for a moment the wind was knocked out of her. It was enough time for Taber to get the upper hand and pin her beneath him.
When she could breathe again, he was straddling her, looming over her with a smile on his face. “No,” she refused when his lips took hers.
“Either way I’m going to have you. Why not make it easier on yourself? Why not learn to like me?”
“Never.” Margo spit in his face and when he lifted his hand to wipe it away, she shot her fist into his abdomen and drove upward. It was a maneuver Blu had taught her to defend herself, and it worked beautifully. It rendered Taber Denoux speechless, then stole his balance. As he fell over and rolled onto his back, Margo scrambled to her feet. She was on her way back to the porthole, when she stopped in midstride and hurried back to Taber where he lay gasping for air. Without hesitation, she hauled back and kicked the man in the groin. “That’s for destroying my plants, you heartless bastard.”
Poised at the porthole once more, Margo started to shake, then her knees turned to putty. On unsteady limbs, she peered through the opening once more. All she had to do was wiggle through the hole and drop twenty feet into the black water of the Gulf while the yacht sped away, leaving her in the middle of nowhere. Simple, right?
It didn’t take Margo long to convince herself it was the craziest idea she’d ever contemplated. Two minutes later, she kicked off her shoes.
“What the hell is that?”
“What?”
Jackson pointed to a log floating in the water.
“Hey, Brodie,” Blu holler, “You alive, mon ami?”
Moments later, Ry was in the water, untying Brodie from the massive deadhead and helping him into the boat. “Denoux’s got Margo,” he puffed breathlessly as he tumbled onto the deck. “He’s taking her with him to some island.” He locked gazes with Ry. “You’re getting a second chance, I hear. Don’t blow it, or it’ll be your last.”
“Take it easy,” Blu said. “Jackson, get Brodie below and—”
“No way, I’m staying up top. Just get moving. That yacht can’t be more than a few miles ahead of us.”
Brodie was right. Minutes later they spotted Taber’s yacht in the moonlight.
“There she is,” Jackson said.
Ry’s eyes locked on the yacht, and a million emotions caught him by the throat. It was as if the past was rising up to taunt him. He felt angry, guilty, most of all, scared. After two years, just when they had managed to put the past behind them, another crazy man was trying to steal his and Margo’s happiness. Well, not this time, Ry promised silently. He wouldn’t let it happen. He wasn’t going to allow anything or anyone to take Margo away from him a second time.
“Call the Coast Guard,” he growled. Then to Brodie he said, “You’re sure she was all right?”
“She’s not hurt,” Brodie confirmed. “At least not yet.”
Once more, Ry scanned the yacht. He wouldn’t be able to board until the Coast Guard showed up. Be patient, he told himself. As long as they had her in sight, they would—
“What’s that?”
Ry jerked his attention in the direction Jackson was pointing. “See it, that streak of white.”
“She wouldn’t,” Ry muttered, suddenly afraid to contemplate what was half hanging out of the porthole of Denoux’s yacht. “She wouldn’t be that reckless.”
“Oh, I don’t know. Chaining you to the bed was pretty gutsy.”
“Shut up, Jackson.”
Blu motioned for Brodie to take over the wheel, then produced a pair of night vision binoculars and zeroed in on the porthole. “Hell, yes, that’s Chili.” He watched a second longer, then shook his head. “She won’t do it. She won’t jump into the water from that height. She hates the water. She won’t jump,” he assured Ry. Then suddenly he knocked Brodie away from the wheel and increased their speed.
“I thought you said she wouldn’t jump,” Ry growled sensing Blu was in a damn big hurry all of a sudden.
“Maybe she’s got more to live for today than she did four days ago. You tell her why you walked out on her?”
Ry jerked his head toward Blu. “You know why?”
“Sure, I know why. You didn’t think I would let you get away with hurting my sister without getting even, did you? I’d have killed you and fed you to the fish if the lie you told her had been the truth. So did you? Did you tell her you still love her? Does she know you walked away to protect her?”
“To protect her?” Brodie was suddenly all ears.
“Are we going to have to share her with a cop again?” Blu pressed. “Are you back in my sister’s life, old man?”
“I bought her a house,” Ry said, as if that explained his intentions, or why Margo would suddenly consider diving out a window headfirst into the Gulf.
�
�Jesus, she’s gonna do it!” Brodie yelled.
“Not gonna,” Jackson amended. “She did it!”
Ry saw Margo disappear into the water headfirst and his heart leaped into his throat. Then he was kicking off his boots and ordering Brodie to turn on the floodlight to search the water.
As Taber Denoux’s yacht sped away, Blu cut the Nightwing’s engine. The minute Ry saw Margo’s head surface, he was in the water, swimming to her like a sprinter in a high-stake race. It seemed like forever before he reached her, but when he did, he pulled her close and squeezed her so tightly he swore he heard her bones protest. Then he said, “Are you all right?”
She pulled away smiling. “Now I am. If you’re here, does that mean Blu’s safe, too?”
“Yes. He’s got a bum leg, but he’s too ornery to let that get him down.”
Margo sobered. “Jackson and Brodie are—”
“All right,” Ry promised. “We picked up Brodie a few minutes ago, and Jackson had a bulletproof vest on. He’ll have a sore chest for a few days but nothing more.”
“Oh, Ry, that’s wonderful!”
“Is it true?”
“Is what true?” She asked, clinging to him.
“Is it true you have more to live for today than you did four days ago? Blu said you wouldn’t jump. Not unless—”
“Do you think after what you told me tonight I was going to let Taber Denoux sail me off to some tropical island and wine and dine me with his fortune and live like a queen when I could have a backyard swing?”
“Margo…”
Laughing, she kissed him. “Oh, I almost forgot the best part, shrimp in bed with the sexiest cop in New Orleans. Ry?”
“Yes.”
“Why is our kitchen all yellow?
“Because it’s your favorite color.”
“Yellow? No, it’s not. It’s blue. It’s always been blue, silly. The color of your eyes.”
For the middle of the night the precinct was still humming with activity. Ry escorted Margo to a chair, and she wrapped the blanket she’d gotten off the Nightwing around her chilled body and gladly sank onto the chair while Blu and Ry headed into Chief Blais’s office.