Chip understood her anyway. He got up, sat beside her on the lounge chair, and ran a hand over her small body.
“I’m going to do anything I want, and later, I’m going to do it again.”
And when he laughed, the drug swallowed her up, and took her down to darkness.
CHAPTER 30
He fired a shot that missed Boone’s foot, but did tear the heel off his right shoe, and which caused the Cajun to scramble back into the hall, even as Boone shredded the sofa he’d hid behind, while lying flat.
After hitting Boone’s heel, his errant shot had ricocheted and blown out a window, and he rushed to it and stepped out onto the roof that sat over the wraparound porch.
While taking care to be quiet, he made his way over to the windows in the master bedroom, and when he tried the third one, it slid open.
He pulled himself up and into the room, the only room that had no door which led to the others on this level. The door leading in was closed, but he could hear Boone moving about, likely perplexed by his disappearance.
Boone was easier to hear now that his boots only had one heel between them, and the faint clunkety-clunk of his footfalls came near the bedroom door and seemed to pause.
He fired, sending the last round from the Colt Python through the door, and was rewarded by the sound of something falling down the stairs.
Something, but was it Boone?
He moved towards the door, which had a hole the size of a baseball in it thanks to his shot.
He lay down to the left of it, reached up, twisted the knob, and opened the door a crack.
Boone’s shotgun boomed out its final shell, blowing the door to pieces, and before the sound had even ended, the Cajun’s laughter echoed through the halls.
“Got ya!”
“Wrong!” he said, and when he stood, he saw Boone crouched on the third step from the top, while on the landing below lay the chair he’d tossed down the stairs as a decoy. One of its legs had broken off at the middle and its impact had left a divot in the wall.
Boone stood up and smiled.
“I heard a click after that last shot you fired. I might be out of ammo, but so are you.”
He reached into the top drawer of a nearby dresser, and showed Boone one of his own guns, one that he had found earlier and moved, one still loaded.
Boone said, “Shit,” tossed the empty shotgun at his face, and charged up the stairs on a suicide run.
***
Before Grace marched him off into the trees, Jace sent Cassandra a wink, and smiled as she sent one back.
Good. He thought. She’s not intimidated.
Nor was he, Grace had a knife while he was unarmed, that’s true, but he had been trained as a boy on ways to disarm opponents, and hoped that Cassandra had received similar training.
They came to a small clearing about two-hundred yards from the beach and Jace was surprised to see clothes scattered around, but then, he remembered what Autumn had said about finding clothes as she fled, after having escaped from her captors in the nude.
His jaw tightened. This is where they killed their victims, at least some of them, and after stripping them naked, they dragged them to the lagoon and let the tides take the bodies out to sea through that tunnel in the sandbank that Noah mentioned.
Grace laughed.
“Look at your face. You’ve figured it out, haven’t you?”
“You kill people back here, away from the shore just in case someone on a passing ship has a telescope, but why do you take their clothes off first?”
“Oh, these are just the clothes that don’t fit, but I keep all the jewelry, and that blue and white number your girlfriend has on will look good on me... after Noah fucks her and kills her.”
Jace stepped closer.
“Give me the knife now and maybe I’ll let you live.”
“Stay back!”
Grace raised the knife and pointed it at Jace’s face, just as he hoped she would.
He smacked the back of her hand with his left, while simultaneously hitting her wrist with his right, in a motion that resembled a missed clap. The action caused her wrist to bend violently and her fingers to loosen their grip.
The knife went flying from Grace’s hand, and Jace reached out and grabbed her by the hair.
Grace screamed. “Noah!”
***
When Jace was looking at the clothes scattered about the clearing, Cassandra was being shown a different sight, as Noah had stripped off his swim trunks to stand before her naked.
“Get down on your knees and please me, and maybe I won’t kill you.”
Cassandra tilted her head.
“Is that as big as it gets?”
Noah’s face reddened, but then, his features twisted in confusion, as he wondered why Cassandra showed no signs of being afraid.
“You think I won’t cut you, bitch?”
She stepped closer. She was hoping to get the same reaction Jace had gotten, along with the same result, but Noah kept the knife held low.
“How many times have you done this?”
“Shut up and get on your knees.”
“I’d rather suck the knife.”
Noah took a step forward as the knife rose up, but froze, when he heard Grace’s cry.
“Noah!”
He jerked his head around in the direction of the trees, and Cassandra reared back her foot, pivoted, and kicked the naked Noah in the testicles.
The blow was so hard that she felt pain shoot up her leg, but it was nothing compared to the pain Noah felt. He fell to his knees in the sand, while gasping, and Cassandra kicked him twice more, but this time she targeted his eyes with her big toe.
Noah screamed as he dropped the knife and writhed in the sand, with his hands cupping his face.
Cassandra picked up the weapon and called out.
“Jace?”
“Right here,” he answered, and a moment later, he appeared with Grace, and pushed her to lie in the sand beside Noah.
Noah looked up at him with one bloodshot eye, jumped to his feet, and charged.
Jace sidestepped the attack and folded Noah in half with a hard blow to the left kidney, followed by an elbow to the side of his head, and Noah fell face first into the sand and didn’t move.
Grace tried to slip away, but Cassandra tripped her.
When Jace walked over, Cassandra placed a hand on his cheek.
“You weren’t hurt?”
“No, you?”
“No, but we have to get back to the boat and check on Kelly,” Cassandra looked around. “We also need something to tie them up with.”
Jace raced back into the trees.
“I’ll be right back.”
He returned with several pieces of clothing from the clearing, all were tops and bottoms from various bikinis.
“We’ll use these.”
Cassandra stared at the clothing.
“Where did they come from?”
“I’ll explain later, you tie her, I’ll get him.”
Cassandra approached Grace, and the Brazilian held up her hands, fingers curled into claws.
“You’re not touching me!”
Cassandra punched her in the face and Grace fell back atop the sand with a bloody nose, moaning.
Jace laughed.
“Nice punch.”
“Yeah, but I should have kicked her instead, that hurt my hand.”
After tying them up, they dragged them into the trees, and then sprinted back towards the boat.
CHAPTER 31
He let him come.
After ducking the thrown shotgun, he let Boone come.
It was stupid.
Driven by ego,
But he let Boone come without shooting him, because Beck said the man was freakishly strong and he wanted to know, no, he needed to know if he was stronger.
Boone made a grab for the gun in his hand, and he locked his other hand around the man’s wrist, used Boone’s own momentum against him, and sent hi
m sprawling onto the floor.
Boone was up like a cat, his speed catching him by surprise, and trapping his arms at his sides, making his ribs ache, even as Boone’s knuckles dug into his spine.
They were face to face, with Boone an inch taller, and the big man was trying to squeeze him to death, and oh yes, Boone was strong, as strong as two men, but not strong enough.
He pushed back against the arms until the locked hands at his back became unclasped, and after that, it was all but over.
Boone kept squeezing, sounds of strain leaking from his lips like steam from a pipe, as his eyes grew large with astonishment.
“Nooo...”
When his elbows left his sides, he bent his arm and fired, the shot hitting Boone at the left collarbone and filling him with agony. Boone fell to his knees, moaning from the pain as a steady stream of blood ran down his chest, and his left arm hung limp at his side.
He leaned against a dresser as he stared down at Boone. His ribs were on fire, as was the base of his spine, but the pain was easing, and within moments, it was just a dull ache.
“Where is the money you’ve conned over the years? If it’s in a bank, you’ll transfer it, if it’s in cash, you’ll give it up.”
Boone spat at him.
“Fuck you. You’ll never find the money and I won’t talk no matter how many times you shoot me.”
“Drop the gun!”
The voice came from the doorway. It was Angie. She had crept up the stairs in silence and was pointing a shotgun at him. It was the one that Boone kept over the mantle.
Boone sent her a look of disgust.
“I should have known your ass was part of this.”
“Put the gun down, Angie,” he said.
“You might as well,” Boone said. “The son of a bitch emptied all my guns of ammo.”
“Not all of them,” he reminded Boone, as he kept the gun held up and ready.
“I checked,” Angie said. “This shotgun is loaded. He must have missed it because you had it hanging up.”
Boone grinned.
“Angie, he can’t take us both,”
She stepped farther into the room and pointed the gun at him. She was so close that there was no way for her to miss.
He ignored her and spoke to Boone.
“Where’s the money?”
“You ain’t getting that money, it’s mine.”
“And mine,” Angie said.
“Yeah, but I know where it is and you don’t, that means he needs me alive.”
He shook his head.
“I’ll find it without you. It’s here somewhere, isn’t it?”
“It’s probably on that damn boat of his,” Angie said.
He was holding the gun pointed at a spot between Angie and Boone, who was still on his knees, but when Boone stood in a rush, he swiveled the gun his way.
“Shoot ‘em!” Boone said, and Angie pulled the trigger.
CHAPTER 32
Jace and Cassandra viewed the boat from behind the trees that lined the shoreline, where it curved from view.
They saw no one up top, heard no sounds, but they each had a bad feeling.
“Chip could have a gun and all we have are these knives,” Jace said.
Cassandra stared at the boat, and after a few moments, a plan formed in her mind.
“That’s risky,” Jace said.
“There’s a little risk, yes, but I’m willing to take it. Kelly’s my best friend, and we have to know if she’s okay.”
“All right, I’ll get into position, but be careful,”
“I will,” Cassandra said, as Jace moved away, then, she used the knife to open a small cut on her hand, and when it bled, she smeared blood on her face.
***
Inside the boat, Chip lay Kelly atop his bed and stroked her face with the back of his hand.
He gripped the sides of her bikini bottom and was about to slide it off, when he heard Cassandra scream for help.
“Damn it!”
He reached into a drawer and grabbed the .38 revolver he kept there, and after patting Kelly on the thigh, he went up top to see what was happening.
Cassandra was still screaming when he came up on deck, but he ignored her as she came splashing off the shore, to stand waist deep in the water, with her face bloody.
She must have gotten away, but where’s that boyfriend of hers?
When he saw no sign of Jace, Chip called out to Cassandra.
“What’s happened?”
Cassandra was crying, sobbing, and was making wild gestures back towards the beach, but her words were garbled and made little sense.
“Calm down, Cassandra, and just tell me what happened.”
As Chip spoke, he moved towards Cassandra, who was closer to the boat and chest deep in the water, and soon he was standing at the stern, the gun hidden behind his back.
A hand shot up from the water and grabbed Chip by the ankle. It was Jace, and his attack caused Chip to fall back on his ass. When Jace spotted the gun, he scrambled up the hook-on ladder to board the boat, and wrest the weapon from Chip’s hand.
“I got him, Cassandra, go find Kelly.”
Cassandra climbed up into the boat and headed below decks, when she returned a few minutes later, she was crying, but nodding her head.
“She’s okay, but the bastard drugged her.”
Jace had Chip secured to a chair with rope. Cassandra walked over and slapped him across the face with enough force to turn his cheek scarlet.
“Why was she on your bed! A girl you think is fifteen! You perverted piece of shit, she better be all right when she wakes up.”
Chip started crying.
“Where’s Grace? Did you hurt my Grace?”
They ignored him, and went below and into the galley to talk in private.
Jace put an arm around Cassandra as she wiped away tears.
“Are you all right?”
“Yes, but what do we do now?”
“We need to go get Noah and Grace. Once we have them aboard we’ll figure shit out.”
“Do you know how to drive this boat, because I don’t.”
“Yeah, I used to pilot an old boat my uncle had, we even took it to Mexico once.”
Jace carried Kelly into the galley and laid her atop the bench seat. She stirred, took a swipe at him, but grew calm as she heard Cassandra’s voice telling her things were okay.
Afterwards, Jace moved Chip into the big bedroom, but first, he gagged him.
By taking his time and going very slow, Jace managed to ease the boat along the shore and anchored it near the lagoon, where Noah and Grace had struggled, but only managed to move themselves a few yards since being left alone.
Cassandra gave them water, as Jace held the gun on them. The day was hot, and by struggling against their bonds, they had sweated profusely.
“What are you going to do to us?” Noah asked, and one of his eyes had swollen shut from the blow received from her foot.
Cassandra heard the fear in his voice, and smiled.
“Maybe we’ll do to you what you’ve done to others.”
“I didn’t kill anybody, that’s Grace’s thing. I just screwed the girls, me and Chip both, but the killing, that’s all on Grace.”
“Where are the bodies?” Jace said.
Noah tossed his head at the lagoon, but he was gesturing at the ocean beyond it.
“Out there, it’s the perfect dump spot.”
“We’ll keep that in mind,” Cassandra said, and Noah made a whining noise in his throat.
Grace refused to talk, and even to drink, but she stared at Noah as if she could kill him with a dull spoon.
Cassandra cut their bonds loose and told them to swim towards the boat. Once aboard, they were tied, gagged, and blindfolded, then dumped atop their bed.
“I guess we should keep them alive,” Cassandra said. “Especially Noah, he seems to be the weak one,”
Jace held up a satellite phone.
“I’
ll use this to call Lawson and have him send people to the marina to meet us.”
“Do you know how to get back?”
“Yeah, I can read charts.”
“You’re handy to have around,” Cassandra said, and kissed him.
Jace didn’t return the kiss, and even took a step backwards.
“I guess we don’t need to pretend we’re together anymore,” he said.
“You’re right, and I’m sorry... I know you have a girlfriend.”
“Don’t be sorry, I know I ain’t.”
Cassandra lowered her eyes as she asked a question.
“Earlier, on the beach... you felt something, right?”
Jace laughed.
“Felt something? Didn’t you notice the pup tent in my swim trunks?”
She smiled.
“It was hard to miss, but no, that’s not what I meant, I meant, did you feel something, you know, for me?”
Jace reached over and tilted her head until she was looking at him again.
“If I wasn’t already hooked up with someone...”
“But you are, and I guess that’s answer enough.”
Kelly spoke from the bench seat.
“What’s answer enough?”
They walked over and stared down at her. Her eyes were open, but she appeared to be struggling to keep them that way.
“Hey honey,” Cassandra said. “How are you doing?”
“Sleepy, he drugged me... with the ice cubes.”
“They’re all secured and we’re heading back. You should rest, everything’s okay,”
Kelly smiled and faded off again, as Cassandra draped a blanket atop her.
Jace figured out the charts, and after downing a quick meal, he piloted the boat back to the marina they left from.
Cassandra went into the cabin and came back out with Noah. After removing his gag, she asked him questions.
Nothing was his fault, those were the words he said with every other sentence, but the truth emerged anyway.
When she was done with him, he ate, used the bathroom, and then was put back in the cabin under the threat of the gun.
Grace conceded she needed the bathroom but refused to talk or even eat, and when Chip had his turn, he ate, used the toilet, and kept repeating that he wanted a lawyer.
Cassandra pressed the gun against his forehead.
The TAKEN! Series - Books 13-16 (Taken! Box Set Book 4) Page 45