by Lynsay Sands
Tomasso frowned. He was quite tempted by the thought of skipping out on the rest of this investigation and simply taking Abigail back to Canada to indulge in training laced with a lot of sex. However, he was quite concerned about this Doctor Dressler and what he was up to. Having been captured and stuck, naked, in a cage, he knew what the missing immortals were going through. At least, he knew part of it. He didn't even want to think what might be happening to those who had not escaped before reaching the island Jake and Sully had mentioned. And his conscience was balking at dropping out of the investigation before the other immortals were free. Still, he had Abigail's well-being to worry about too. Lucian was right. He didn't like the idea of exposing her to the danger lurking in Caracas. He doubted Dante would be any more happy at the idea of taking Mary there either.
"What about Jet?" Tomasso asked suddenly, the man's name popping into his head.
"If you choose to return to Canada, Jet will be flying with you. I hired him as a pilot," he added.
Tomasso's eyebrows flew up. "That was . . . kind."
Lucian snorted. "Kind my ass, Marguerite would have made my life miserable if I refused."
"Marguerite?" Tomasso stilled, and then sat back, recalling that Lucian had taken a call from Marguerite just as he had led Abigail away from the table in the Italian restaurant.
"Yes." Lucian nodded. "Jet will be staying with Marguerite while he goes through his training."
"Training for what?" Tomasso asked slowly.
"To fly for us."
"He is already a pilot," Tomasso pointed out.
"Not for us. We have to decide what sorts of flights he can be used for, what knowledge he can be trusted with, and so on."
Tomasso nodded in understanding. There were some mortals who worked for them in capacities that made it necessary to let them in on their secret, some pilots among them. But they were thoroughly vetted first, their minds read and reread until it was quite certain they would never divulge the secret. Tomasso just didn't understand what Marguerite had to do with all of this. The woman was his aunt through marriage to his uncle Julius. She was also known to have a knack for matching immortals with their life mates. If she was showing an interest in Jet . . . But she hadn't met him. Had she?
"Why is he staying with Marguerite?" Tomasso asked now. "And why did she want him hired?"
"I do not know," Lucian said with irritation.
Tomasso frowned, and then asked, "Has she met him?"
"Apparently."
That made his eyebrows rise again. "How? When?"
"She and Julius are in a resort further up the coast having their third makeup honeymoon."
Tomasso nodded. Their adult son and his cousins had invaded Marguerite and Julius's original honeymoon in St. Lucia. It had been at Marguerite's behest. She'd met a woman at their resort who she'd been sure would prove to be Christian's life mate. She'd been right. But Julius had decided that as pleased as he was for his son, he and Marguerite should have another honeymoon, one where they were alone. As Lucian said, this was the third such honeymoon. Not because the second one had been interrupted, but because Julius just liked being alone with his wife.
"Apparently they encountered Jet when he stopped at their resort in his search for Abigail. They had a meal with him before he continued on his way and--knowing we were here--put it into his mind to skip the rest of the places along the coast and come here. Marguerite then called me to let me know he was coming this way." Grimacing, he added, "And to tell me that I should hire him. And that he would be staying with her during his training," he added shortly.
Tomasso smiled slowly. "Marguerite thinks he is a match for someone."
Lucian grunted around a mouthful of egg, not sounding at all pleased.
"It is a small world."
"Getting smaller all the time," Lucian growled.
Tomasso smiled again, and then glanced around as Dante came rushing up to the table.
"Are they here?" Dante asked sharply, glancing around the buffet as if expecting to see Abigail, Mary, and Jet filling plates with food.
"No." Tomasso was on his feet at once. "You did not find them?"
"No," Dante muttered, looking worried.
"Did you check the other stores, or just the one where you left them?" Lucian asked, pushing his plate away.
"I checked them all," Dante assured him. "When I did not find them at the store where I left them, I checked them all."
"Perhaps they returned to the villa," Tomasso suggested, trying not to panic.
"I looked there too. After the stores I went back to the villa, thinking they might have returned," Dante growled. "Nothing."
"Hey, Dante," Justin greeted, returning to the table then with a plate piled high with food. Settling in a chair, he set his plate down and began to cut eagerly into an omelet he'd apparently had prepared at the egg station. "Are the girls up getting their food? Why are you two just standing around? Go get some grub before it's all gone."
"Jet and the girls are missing," Lucian announced, getting to his feet.
Tomasso was already turning away, heading for the entrance, but he heard Justin's groan of disappointment and the scrape of his chair as he stood to follow.
When the van began to slow, Abigail cracked her eyes open to peer toward the window. All she could see at first were trees, but then the white stucco of a building came into view a little distance away just before the van stopped. She heard the front door open, felt the van move slightly, and then the door slammed. A moment later, the side door slid open across from her.
"Don't move," Jake warned, and shifted his legs to the door to slide out. Once standing, he turned back and gestured to her with one hand. "Come on. Get out. Don't worry about them," he added when Abigail glanced to Mary and Jet. "They'll be along soon enough, right now it's you though."
Mouth tightening, Abigail stood up in a hunched position, bent at the waist to cross to the door. She'd nearly reached it when she was struck with the mad idea of grabbing the door as if to get out, but slamming it shut instead and then jumping in the driver's seat and driving away in a mad rush.
There were two problems with that idea. One, she wasn't sure the keys were in the vehicle and she might be left sitting in the seat with no escape. The second problem was that she might get shot as she closed the door, which would not only blow this escape attempt, but any future ones. If she were shot, Jake and Sully would surely realize she was an immortal. Once that happened, they'd no doubt shoot her with one of those darts they'd hit Mary with. Right now she was awake, and even untied. She suspected they'd tie her up or even hit her over the head once inside as they'd done to Jet, but she'd heal quickly from a head wound. At least she hoped she would. And she could probably get free of ropes if they tied her up, but that depended on just how much stronger immortals were than humans.
No. Her best chance right now . . . their best chance right now, Abigail corrected herself, was the fact that these men thought her mortal. It meant they might let their guard down and there might be a better, less risky chance of escape later. One that wasn't likely to get Jet hurt.
"Come on. Out," Jake ordered impatiently.
Abigail got out of the van and winced as Jake caught her arm and jerked her around so she faced him with her back to Sully. She glanced to his face, expecting him to say something, and then glanced around with a start when her hands were tugged behind her back. She saw the rope Sully had, and then felt the gun Jake carried press into her belly, and simply stood still as her wrists were bound behind her back.
The moment Sully finished, Jake started to drag her up the slight incline toward the nearest building.
"Keep an eye on them. I'll be right back," Jake said over his shoulder.
Abigail glanced around as he led her up the short path to the building, and nearly bit her tongue off when she saw that it was one of the four private villas separated from the rest of the resort. It was the last one in the area, on the very edge of the property
, but that still meant they weren't more than two hundred feet from the villa she and the others were staying in.
"Inside," Jake ordered, opening the door and waving her in with his gun.
Abigail stepped inside, her gaze sliding around as she took several steps into a replica of the living/dining area of the villa she'd woken up in just the day before. The only difference was the color scheme. The walls were still white, but the table was wood, the chairs wood with white backing, and the living room was filled with beige-colored furniture. She preferred their villa, Abigail decided as Jake caught her arm again and turned her toward the door that belonged to the master bedroom in their villa.
Her mouth tightened, but Abigail didn't panic. It wasn't like he was going to try to rape her while Sully waited out by the van with two unconscious people who could wake up at any moment. Right?
Abigail glanced around as he led her into the room. It was an exact replica of the master bedroom she and Tomasso shared at their villa. It had the same bed, the same night tables, the same everything. When Jake continued to just stand there, Abigail glanced his way to see that he was looking around the room with a frown as if trying to decide what to do with her. That made her relax a little. He obviously didn't have rape on his mind, she thought, and then her gaze slid past him to the open bathroom. Abigail stilled as she stared at the two bodies inside, lying on the cold tile. They looked dead to her, and any small bit of relaxation she'd enjoyed ended quickly.
"The bed," Jake muttered and began to urge her that way.
Abigail went without fighting, her mind still full of the image of the couple in the bathroom.
"Sit," Jake ordered.
Abigail hesitated, and then turned her back to the bed and sat on the side of it.
"Up against the headboard," Jake instructed.
She glanced at the bed, not sure how she was supposed to do that with her hands tied behind her back, but then turned to swing her legs up on the bed and tried to scooch back. It was a bit of a struggle, though, without her hands to help, and after a moment, Jake lost his patience. Muttering under his breath, he caught her by the upper arms, and moved her himself. He then quickly tied her bound wrists to the bedpost. Once the task was accomplished, Jake left the room without giving her a second glance.
He left the door open, though, Abigail noted. That seemed to her to indicate that she was right and he was just returning outside to help Sully bring in Jet and Mary.
Abigail hesitated, debating what to do. Her instinct was to immediately start trying to break her bindings, but she didn't know if she had the time to do it, or even if she could manage it. Tomasso had said the nanos gave them more strength, but she didn't know how much. He was as strong as a bull, or looked to be, but he was also a big guy. Abigail hadn't come out of the turn with a bodybuilder's bulk. So . . . was she superman strong? Or just stronger than she had been, which really hadn't been that strong at all.
Not that Abigail had been a complete weakling before the turn. She might have been out of shape from sitting around so much, but her arms had maintained their strength. Mostly because at the end her mother had barely been able to lift her head, let alone walk, and Abigail had needed to lift her out of bed and into her wheelchair in the morning, and then lift her out of the wheelchair and back into bed at night. But by that point, her mother had withered away to probably seventy-five pounds.
Sighing, Abigail ignored her instincts and didn't try to get herself untied just yet. She had no idea how much strength or speed she had, and it seemed safer to wait until Mary and Jet had been moved in here to join her and the men went away before she tried anything like that.
Shuffling sounds from outside the room caught her ear and Abigail turned her gaze to the door. A moment later, Sully backed through the doorway holding Mary under the arms. He was followed by Jake who had Mary by the feet as they half carried and half dragged the blonde along the floor to basically drop her against the wall opposite the bed. They then left the room, returning a couple minutes later transporting Jet the same way.
"Get the chain," Jake ordered as they straightened from dropping Jet. "And some rope."
Sully left at once to perform the assigned task and Jake turned to walk to the bed.
Abigail stiffened warily, but he only checked that she was still tied to the bed, and then returned to stand over Mary and Jet, hands on his hips and his gun tucked in the back of his pants.
This would have been a perfect time for her to snap her ties and speed across the room to snatch the dart gun from his jeans and shoot the ugly bastard, Abigail thought grimly. She didn't try it, though. Fear held her back once more. Not knowing how strong or fast she was meant she had no idea how good her chance of success was. She was afraid of getting Jet killed.
It was better to wait, some part of her cautioned.
But if she waited too long, they might all die, another voice pointed out. Or be drugged and stuck in a cage to be shipped off to "the island."
Abigail hesitated, not sure what to do, and then Sully returned to the room carrying chains in one hand and rope in the other.
Sixteen
"So?" Justin asked.
Tomasso turned from frowning out the window at that question. They'd returned to the villa to come up with a plan to find Jet and the women. But while Lucian had pulled out a map of the resort and appeared to be examining it, he'd said nothing yet.
"What are we going to do?" Justin asked when all three men glanced his way without comment.
Silence filled the room. The others were obviously at as much of a loss as he was, Tomasso realized. They'd searched the stores on the way back to the villa, Dante ducking into each store on one side and Tomasso doing the same on the other as Justin and Lucian stood outside, keeping watch to be sure they didn't miss the trio coming from an unchecked store on one side of the boutiques and entering an already checked store on the other.
When that had turned up nothing, they'd returned here to consider their next plan of attack.
A small sigh slid from Lucian's lips and he straightened from the map to peer from Tomasso to Dante. "I suspect your kidnappers have caught up with us and captured them."
That was Tomasso's fear too. Crossing his arms over his chest, he ground his teeth and lifted his chin, growling, "If so they will try to use them as bait."
"Si," Dante said with a nod. "That is what they did in Texas when they took Mary. They were luring us into a trap."
Lucian nodded. "I expect they will try something of that ilk again. Set up a ransom to lure us all to a controlled area where they can take us out with their damned darts," he said shortly, and then added, "Which means we will hear from them eventually."
Tomasso shifted impatiently and growled. "Well, I am not waiting."
"Neither am I," Dante agreed.
Moving to the map Lucian had been scanning, Tomasso held out his hand. Lucian raised his eyebrows, but handed him the pen he'd been using to mark certain areas of the map. Tomasso suspected the spots Lucian had marked were ones he thought would be the most likely places the kidnappers would select for their trap. He ignored all of them and simply drew a line across the middle of the map and tossed the pen aside as he said, "I'll take the area on top of the line, Dante, you take the area under the line."
"Just a minute," Lucian snapped when Dante nodded and they started to head for the door.
Turning back, Tomasso saw Lucian draw another line on the map dividing it into four parts. Raising his head, he looked at Tomasso, Dante and Justin and announced, "Each of us will take a quadrant. Cover every inch of your area. Read the mind of every person you encounter. We will meet back here in three hours."
"Okay," Justin said and when Tomasso and Dante headed for the door again, cried, "But wait!" When they paused once more and turned back, he asked, "Who gets which quadrant?"
Clucking his tongue impatiently, Tomasso moved back to the map and surveyed it briefly before stabbing his finger at one square. "I will be searching
there. The three of you can decide who searches the other areas."
This time he managed to leave the villa without being stopped again. His quadrant included the beach, the open-air restaurant, and the pool. Tomasso suspected he'd picked it because the beach made him think of Abigail. They'd spent most of their time since meeting on a beach, at least the time they'd spent together when she was conscious. It was where he'd got to know her. It was where he wished they were now, on a beach, alone and safe.
Abigail watched the men tie up Jet, noting that they put a lot more rope and effort into it than they'd used on her. They bound his feet and his wrists separately and then tied them together so that he was lying on his side on the floor, arched backward with his hands and feet behind his back. Poor Jet was going to be in agony when he woke up, Abigail thought bleakly. The only bright side was that they didn't gag him.
Shaking her head, Abigail watched them turn their attention to Mary next. She sat still and silent, but utterly amazed as they didn't just chain Mary hand and foot as they had Jet, but then wrapped the chain around the petite blonde's body over and over again, turning her into a mummy of chains. When they finished, Mary was almost completely hidden by the chains from her shoulders to her ankles with just her feet, neck, and head sticking out.
"Don't you think that's a little overkill?" Abigail couldn't resist asking with dismay as they straightened from their task. Good Lord, if she managed to get free, there was no way Abigail could unwrap all that chain without them hearing.
Sully ignored the comment. He didn't even look her way, but turned and left the room. Jake, however, glanced at her, hesitated as if debating just leaving as well, and then crossed the room to peer down at her.
"You'll be grateful for it when she wakes up," he assured her. "She may look sweet and innocent, but she's a vampire."
Abigail raised her eyebrows and pursed her lips dubiously, hoping he'd buy the act. She'd never been any good at lying, and acting to her felt like the same thing, but she was trying to react as someone who didn't know anything about immortals.
"Yeah, I know it sounds crazy," Jake said, apparently buying her reaction. "But it's true. And another truth is that you got lucky we stopped you all when we did. She used some excuse to lure you two back to her villa, right?"