“Did he shoot Sax?” she asked, trying to keep her voice modulated. She knew Reed was going to try to make it look like a hanging. Shooting him would ruin his suicide setup plans. But Darius didn’t know she knew.
“Yes. The bullet went in his shoulder. Nothing serious.”
Her throat tightened painfully. If Reed didn’t bring the gun, then Darius did. And if Reed didn’t shoot Sax, then…But that didn’t make sense. Darius wasn’t involved in the drugging scheme. Why would he have hurt Sax? She had to be overthinking this.
“Where’s Reed now?” she asked.
“In the cell. He’s no longer a threat.”
Why didn’t she feel relief? Because Darius was lying. And maybe she wasn’t overthinking. Her fingers curled around the armrest as they sped down the pathway to his mansion.
“Why didn’t you take Sax to the resort clinic?” she asked as the mansion came into view. “Where it’s sanitary. And equipped.”
“This was closer.”
She surreptitiously searched Darius for a weapon and had to gulp back a gasp. There was blood on his shirt. She studied it, recalling her blood-pattern-analysis training. It wasn’t smeared from a transfer. The growing bloom indicated that it was coming from a wound on Darius’s body. She pretended to scratch an itch on her leg to get a better angle. Now she could see a hole in his shirt. A hole that looked like a bullet had torn through.
She could also see the butt of a gun at his other hip. The gun that shot Sax!
Darius pulled to a stop in front of the mansion. Something inside her screamed to run, even as her heart yelled to go in and find Sax. She stepped out of the cart at the same time Darius did. He winced, but otherwise did not give away his wound. That set off another red flag. Why wouldn’t he tell her? Why had he arranged for Sax to be treated and not himself?
Because he needed to bring you here before you got on that plane. Sax may not even be in that house.
She lagged behind, eyeing the building and environment. Her dad had taught her to always know her surroundings and have an escape plan back when she thought she would be a cop. Once he climbed the steps to the front entrance and opened the door, she said, “Darn. I forgot my phone in the cart. Hold on a second.” Then she hightailed it around the corner of the house and into the jungle.
—
Sax’s chest burned as he reached the resort’s entrance where the driver loaded the last piece of luggage into the storage area of the van. No sign of Jennessy. But he saw silhouettes on the bus. She might be on board.
He was drenched in sweat from fear and exertion. He’d run all the way from the jail through the jungle.
The driver gave him a smile. “You almost missed us.” Then his thick eyebrows knitted together. “No luggage?”
Sax could only huff out bits of words. He launched up the steps into the bus and searched. His heart sank. She wasn’t here.
“Looking for someone?” the driver asked, coming up behind him.
“Woman. Curly blond hair. Beautiful. Tall.” Each word burned as it came out.
“You just missed her,” a woman said. “Ooh, is this some kind of stop-her-before-she-leaves story?”
“What happened to her?” Sax barked.
The woman blinked at his bluntness, or maybe his interruption of her romance novel plot. “Darius Mitchell came for her on his fancy cart. Ooh, it’s a love triangle, isn’t it, between the handsome former football star and…well, a sweaty guy with twigs in his hair.”
His heart sank. She’d gone with him. “Did you see where he took her?”
She pointed toward the gate that led to his mansion. He pulled up a mental picture of the island.
The driver sat down and started the engine. “We gotta go, mon. You coming wit’ or not?”
Sax dropped onto the seat. “Coming.”
Riding to the airport and taking the shorter path to the mansion would be faster than taking the longer, winding path from the resort, especially in his exhausted state. SEALs were trained to work through physical duress, but he had a feeling he needed to preserve his strength for the run to Darius’s house. And whatever might happen once he arrived.
He leaned over to the driver. “Can you go any faster?”
“Not on this road. Don’ worry, mon. You won’t miss your flight.”
“When does the incoming flight arrive?”
He checked the clock. “It gonna be there when we arrive.”
Knox should be there. Sax forced himself to relax and regain his strength. Who here would believe that he’d wrestled for control of the gun that the illustrious Darius was about to use on him? Sax had grabbed his thick wrist just as he’d pulled the trigger. The bullet had barely missed him, plowing into the concrete wall. Then Darius had tried to shove him to the floor. Sax took advantage of his shift in attention and balance, and nearly managed to get the gun away. Darius twisted their clasped hands and started shooting as he tried to wrench the gun to the side. His eyes had widened, and he stared at the wound in his side. The gun clicked, now empty. Sax released it, and the son of a bitch coldcocked him with it. Sax stumbled back, stars flashing in front of him. When his vision cleared, Darius appeared to be reloading the magazine of what he thought was Malcolm’s gun at the cart. Sax ran through the woods toward the resort.
The driver gestured to his temple. “You’re bleedin’, mon.”
Sax touched where the gun had connected and pulled his fingers away. Yep, blood. “Hit a branch running through the woods.”
“You trying to stop your ladylove from leavin’?” he asked with a smile, handing him a tissue from a box on the dash.
Sax dabbed at it. “In a manner of speaking, yes.”
Last night Willie had met the dealer at nine. It was almost seven now. He fingered the patch deep in his pocket. But his first priority was finding Jennessy.
Darius has her. He’s going to kill her. And he has a gun.
He had to swallow down the roar of rage that wanted to erupt. Dammit, he knew better than to get worked up over something he couldn’t do anything about at the moment. He sat on the edge of the seat, gripping the railing in front of him, ready to launch.
The airport came into view after what felt like hours. He shot out the doors the moment the vehicle came to a stop and scanned the people who spilled out the terminal doors.
Knox! Whose eyes widened as he saw Sax barreling toward him. It took Knox half a second to realize something was wrong, and then the SEAL mask slipped into place. He walked to the side where they could talk in private.
Instead of laying out everything in a calm way, Sax blurted out, “The son of a bitch has her. He’s going to kill her if we don’t get to them now.”
Knox slung his backpack over his shoulder as they crossed the road and headed toward the private gate. “Whoa. I thought this was about dealers. Drops.”
“It’s a lot more than that. I don’t suppose you were able to bring any weapons?”
“No, but Chase plans to have a yacht in place by the time the drop goes down. He’s got an arsenal. Fill me in.”
Sax did, and he heard the fear for her in his voice. And something else.
“You have feelings for this woman, don’t you?” Knox asked. Obviously he’d heard it, too.
“She’s become my sort-of partner in crime.”
Risk and Julian had talked about the guts-being-torn-out feeling when they’d been trying to save the women they’d fallen for. Sax thought they were exaggerating. A mission was a mission, after all. You kept your head and wits about you, no room for emotion. But hell, fear ripped through him in a way he’d never felt before. They kept a rapid pace through the woods, without their pounding footsteps giving them away.
“She’s become more than that,” Knox accused. “Man, you did it, too.”
“It’s not like that. She’s been amazing, helping me, picking up my cues. When I needed her to claim my phone as hers, she was able to tell Darius some of the names on the contact list. Because s
he remembered the names I’d said. Wait a minute. She should still have my phone. Give me yours.”
He knew the ringtone was set to low and vibrate. If Darius hadn’t taken the phone, Sax sure didn’t want to alert him to the fact that she had it. He dialed, his heart hammering in his throat. One ring. Two. Three.
“Hello,” she whispered, and he nearly cried out in relief. “Is this Knox?” She’d whispered, which meant she was in a tense situation. But alive.
“It’s Sax. Are you all right?”
She gasped, and her voice sounded thick when she said, “You’re alive.” He heard the same gaping relief he felt. “I thought…thought…”
“It’s okay, I know. Where are you? I heard you rode off with Darius. Knox and I are heading to his house to get you.”
“He told me you’d been hurt and were asking for me. But things didn’t make sense, so I ran. Now I’m somewhere in these woods. And it’s getting dark.” Panic stretched her voice thin.
“You did good, darlin’. Son of a bitch is killing everyone who can spill about the ketamine scheme and ruin his rep.”
“He was going to kill me?”
Dayum, he wished he was with her now. “But he’s not, because I’m going to find you. Hold your position. We can track the phone using GPS.”
“All right. Sax, he said he’d shot you.”
He went into the tracking app Chase had installed, relieved to see a blinking yellow dot on the map. “He tried, but all he managed to do was hit me with the side of the gun. I’m fine. And I have you on my radar. We’ll be there in a few minutes. Stay on the line, but don’t talk anymore.”
She followed his order immediately, only giving him a soft “Mm-hmm” in response.
The light was fading fast. Birds were settling in for the night, some calling out in alarm at the intruders below. “I’m going to whistle when I get close to your location. I want you to whistle back.”
She gave another soft response. He could imagine her crouched in the dark, scared and alone. Dammit, she should have been on that plane.
As the dots on the screen grew close, he let out a soft whistle. His chest leapt when he heard an answering one. Well, an attempt at one that made him actually smile. A shadow shifted in the near distance, and then a familiar silhouette ran toward him. They collided, and he realized only then that he’d been running to her, too. His arms went around her, feeling her as though he needed tactile reassurance that she was there and all right.
He braced her face and kissed her, soaking in the taste of her.
“Get a room,” Knox whispered. “I’ll take care of the drop myself.”
Sax flipped him off, though he didn’t know if Knox could see it. But yeah, no time for losing himself in the relief. And more. He stepped back. “The deal goes down in an hour. Let’s get to the Point.”
He grasped her hand and led her through the maze of trees. As SEALs, they did most of their maneuvers in the dark. It’s where they were most comfortable. But it probably was disconcerting for Jennessy, so he gave her hand an extra squeeze for reassurance. She returned it, and dayum if he didn’t feel a surge in his chest.
Knox’s voice came from behind him, low as a breeze. “Chase, we’re moving to our position. The bird’s free,” he added, looking at Sax. “Where are you?…We’ll look for the signal. I’ll be glad to get my hands on a weapon.” He disconnected. “He had some trouble wrangling a yacht. Once the authorities got a whiff of the potential trafficking situation, they didn’t want us involved. Of course, no way was Chase leaving you here, especially in jail. He’s pushing it full out, thinks he’ll arrive in forty-five minutes.”
“That’s cutting it close.”
“No shit. Either way, we’ll deal.”
They weren’t planning to confront the dealers. They wanted those guys to return to their digs without any idea that something was going down. If Willie stayed ignorant of his phone call to them, he’d have no reason to be at the shore now. Of course, they would call Willie once he didn’t show. Sax needed to have that patch stuck by then. At this point, all they had to deal with for sure was the psycho football gorilla. But as Sax knew well enough, things went to shit, fast and hard. He didn’t like being unarmed, especially with Jennessy in tow.
Bush’s “Machinehead” played in his head, the singer telling him to breathe in, breathe out. Sax took those deep, regulating breaths that brought down his pulse and focused his thoughts.
They broke out of the jungle and walked along the cliffs as Sax searched for the landmarks he knew. The breeze was stiff here, pushing in from the sea. Even with the sound camouflage, none of them spoke. He gestured ahead as he recognized the point of land reaching out toward the water. That’s when they saw the faint flicker of light in the otherwise dark sea.
Knox came up beside him, dropped his backpack, and pulled out binoculars. “Might be Chase.”
“Too early. But it’s early for the dealers, too.”
His phone dinged with the alert that something was going on at Willie’s cottage. He pulled up the software and listened.
“Whaddya mean, you’re here early?” Willie said.
“Has to be the dealers,” Sax said. He shoved the phone at Jennessy and kicked off his shoes. “And they’re about to find out that Willie has no memory of setting this up. Which means the dealers will likely haul ass.” He raced to the edge of the cliff, stopping just short of the edge to scan below. In the moonlight, he could see where the water swirled around rocks. Turning toward the section of ocean that looked smooth, he backed up, ran, and dove.
He hit the water at an angle that lessened the impact, and slowed him the least, then dove back beneath the surface toward the boat. Behind him, the waves hit the rocks on shore, hopefully covering his landing and any splashes he might make as he swam toward the boat. He couldn’t let that boat get away again. After two incidents, they might not come back. Willie wouldn’t be here to set it up, in any case.
As he came up just a couple yards away, he heard a man’s voice. “This is bullshit. Something’s going on again. We’re outta here.”
All Sax could see were a couple of silhouettes and the dim glow of a cell phone. One figure walked to the captain’s chair. Sax dove for the boat. The engine started. He lunged for the side, his fingers barely making contact as the boat started moving. He gripped the edge, hoping the sight of his fingers didn’t give him away. And oh, joy, he was going to have to hold on with one hand while he dug out the patch with the other. All while the boat moved farther from shore.
He drove his hand down into his pocket and grabbed the patch. Using his teeth, he peeled off the backing, shoved it against the hull, and dropped off. Then he plowed through the water back toward the island.
Chapter 20
When Sax dove off into the darkness, Jennessy didn’t realize she’d reached out and gripped Knox’s arm until he patted her hand. They were positioned at the edge of a low cliff, just over the water, watching Sax on his mission.
“He’s fine. I see him swimming out toward the boat.”
He didn’t even indicate that surely her nails were digging into his flesh. She released him and forced herself to breathe. “Is this the kind of thing you did in the SEALs?”
“Yep. But in colder water. And with bad guys shooting at us.”
“Somehow that’s not all that comforting. The boat’s leaving!” She stared but couldn’t see Sax anywhere.
“Son of a bitch,” Knox said, the binoculars to his eyes. “I think he’s hitching a ride, hanging on to the side.”
That wasn’t comforting either. At least he’d made it to the boat. She lifted the phone to her ear. The cottage was quiet. “I don’t hear anything. Which might mean Willie’s coming this way.”
Knox was already scanning the jungle. He was the opposite of Sax in looks, with brown hair and eyes. That’s about as much as she could tell in the two-dimensional moonlight. He had the same protective instinct that Sax did, pushing her behind him when som
eone appeared out of the darkness.
A bedraggled-looking Willie aimed a gun at them, swaying slightly. “You drugged me. You set this up. Now I’m gonna kill you.” He paused, getting a better look at the man hiding her. “Who the hell are you?”
The gun went off. She jerked in reflex, but it was Willie who sagged to the ground. And Darius who stepped from the shadows now. He aimed the gun at her and Knox as he knelt and checked Willie’s pulse. He didn’t move.
Darius pushed the gun farther out as Knox began to inch forward. His brows furrowed. “Yeah, who the hell are you?”
A huge flashlight beam swept across, then zeroed in on them. It wobbled as the man holding the flashlight came closer, until she could see Oscar’s shocked face. “Darius?”
Weariness saturated Darius’s voice. “Oscar. What are you doing out here?”
“I was checking the Point after what happened last night to make sure there was no trouble.” He glanced down at Willie’s body, then at the gun he still gripped. “Have you gone mad?”
“No, not mad. I’m doing what I have to do to protect Decadence. You let a date rape–drugging operation go on here. Did you know about that? No, I see that you did not. Willie and Reed have been bringing dealers here, buying date rape drugs, and selling the opportunity to have sex with drugged guests. And now these people are here to investigate.” He gestured toward her and Knox. “I’ve solved the original problem.” Darius nodded toward Willie.
“And…Reed?” Oscar asked, almost a whisper.
“He’s dead, too. I will take care of everything. All you have to do is walk away and forget what you saw tonight.”
“You’re not protecting the resort; you’re protecting yourself. You’re going to kill these two? And you want me to keep quiet?”
“Yes. Dammit, this is your fault! You have to take some responsibility for this mess. It’s been going on right under your nose.”
“Darius, can’t you see how wrong this is?”
“I will not let this happen again.”
Wild Nights Page 23