by Jamie Begley
“Mr. Allerton would like you both to join him in his office.”
The fucker hadn’t lifted the receiver, so how did he know his boss was ready for him?
The answer came to him in a flash. This scenario had been prearranged if Ginny refused to take the polygraph test.
When Ginny rose from her seat, he took her arm. “Can you inform Mr. Allerton that my wife isn’t feeling well and I’m taking her back to our bungalow?” Reaper began propelling Ginny toward the elevator. “We’ll wait by the Moke for Agent Collins. Thank-you.”
Pressing the elevator button, he shuffled Ginny in front of him so she could get on the elevator first.
“Wait! Just give me a minute to let Mr—”
The electronic door slid open, and Reaper didn’t spare a second to explain before pushing her inside.
“Oof,” Ginny exclaimed, looking over her shoulder as he rushed in and pushed the down arrow. “What’s wrong?” she asked as the doors closed.
Inwardly cursing that the elevator wouldn’t stop between floors, Reaper kept Ginny at his back, bracing for the doors to open. “Didn’t like the vibe I was getting. When the door opens, if anyone is there, press the button to close the door and don’t come out until I say it’s clear.”
She began moving to stand next to the control panel. “But—”
“We’ll talk about it when we get to the Moke.”
“Okay.”
The door opened to an empty hallway. Raising his forearms up to cover each side of his head, he stepped out, glancing quickly to each side. “Clear,” he said from over his shoulder.
When Ginny exited the elevator, Reaper took her arm, hurrying her through the hallways. When they turned down the one leading to the front doors, he heard footsteps rushing behind them. Swiveling his head back, he saw four security guards rushing toward them with batons in their hands.
Seeing the batons, Reaper knew instinctively he needed them—or rather Ginny—alive. Slinging the glass door open, he rushed out, propelling them forward so fast that, if any guard was positioned outside, they wouldn’t hesitate at trying to take Ginny from him.
“Halt! Mr. James! Mr. Allerton just wants to talk with you as you requested!” one of the guards coming out of the door yelled out to him.
Reaper didn’t slow until they neared the Moke and saw their driver was holding his baton out.
“Ginny, stop, and I’ll order the guards not to hurt him and take him back to your bungalow.” Looking up toward the voice, Reaper saw Allerton standing on the balcony overhead.
“Don’t listen to him,” Reaper muttered, still moving toward the Moke.
“Ginny!” Allerton barked out.
Both of them looked up to see armed security officers leaning over the balcony with AR-15s, pointing red lasers at Reaper’s forehead.
Seeing his reflection in the window below Allerton, Reaper knew he was fighting a losing battle. Ginny wasn’t going to take a chance with his life.
“I don’t want to kill him, Ginny, but I will.”
Ginny pulled her arm away from Reaper. “Where is Agent Collins?” she called out to him.
Allerton made a movement with his hand, and two men came into view. Collins was pressed against a guard who had his arm around Collins’ neck and a gun to his head.
“You really don’t want to have these men’s death on your conscience, do you?”
“You’re going to kill us anyway,” Reaper yelled, as the guards who had followed them outside began circling them.
“Killing is what you do, Reaper. Unlike you, I don’t have blood on my hands.”
Reaper laughed at him. “No, you just pay someone else to carry the kill out for you.”
“I’m not going to discuss semantics with you. I don’t have all day, Ginny. Make your choice, or I’ll make it for you.”
Ginny’s eyes remained on Reaper’s forehead, and Reaper knew her choice before the words were out of her mouth. “Will you let him go?”
“Yes,” Allerton answered.
“He’s lying, Ginny.”
“If you hurt him, I swear to God I won’t tell you anything. Do you hear me?” she yelled up to Allerton before lowering her gaze back to him.
“At least you’ll have a chance on your own without me. Save yourself.”
“Ginny ….”
Before he could stop her, Ginny jerked out of his grasp and was immediately swallowed within the midst of guards.
“Take him back to the bungalow,” Allerton ordered his men as they ushered Ginny back inside the building.
“You’re a dead man if one hair of hers is hurt.”
Allerton gave him a superior smirk as he withdrew from the balcony.
The driver put his baton under the driver’s seat. “Mr. James, if you get into the Moke, I’ll drive you to your bungalow.”
Weighing his options, Reaper glanced toward the building and saw four of the guards stationed outside the resort. Climbing in the Moke, he got in the front seat beside the driver, giving him a hostile glance when he was about to tell him to get in the back. As they drove toward the bungalow, he wasn’t surprised when the driver the turned off the main road; there was line of guards waiting for them.
Bringing the Moke to an abrupt stop, the driver reached for the keys, but with his forearm, Reaper sliced down on the fucker’s wrist, nearly breaking it. The guy bailed out of the Moke with a howl of pain and took off running.
Reaper threw himself into the empty driver’s seat, realizing he didn’t have enough time to escape. Grabbing the keys and sliding them into his pocket, he was suddenly jerked out of the driver’s seat.
He was outnumbered by fourteen, so Reaper stood stoically to see what their next move would be. It would be a losing battle to take this many on at once; he had to wait until there were less of them before making his move.
“Move.”
Reaper felt a blow on his back when he didn’t move.
“Don’t make me handcuff you.” A guard with a beefy face came near him. “Move.”
Seeing the direction they were indicating, Reaper followed the men, who caged him in as they started walking toward the dock. They brought him to a halt beside a speed boat. Three of the guards got on the boat first. “Step over.”
Reaper didn’t demur. After getting on, one of the guards with the face of a pot roast, shoved him down on a padded metal seat beside the driver.
“Give me your hands.”
Reaper knew they were going to cuff him. Wanting the guards to think they were safe, he reached his arms backward, feeling the metal circle his wrists before the guy reached for the radio clipped to his gun belt.
“James is neutralized. Second phase started. On my way back.”
Allerton’s voice came over the radio. “Stay there until the job is done.”
“Yes, sir.” Clicking his radio back onto his belt, Beef Face moved to his side.
“You know what to do,” he said to the guard in the driver’s seat. “Radio in on your way back.”
“You’re not going?”
“No, Leif and Boom can go with you. That’s one more than you need.”
Beef Face gave Reaper a wistful glance. “I was hoping like hell you would give me some trouble. That sweet piece won’t miss you when I’m done with her.”
Reaper lowered his gaze to the shiny deck, containing the comeback he wanted to give.
“Allerton won’t be happy you didn’t stay,” the other man spoke up as Beef Face jumped back onto the dock.
“I’m not wasting my time here,” Beef Face spouted his opinion to the other men gathered on the boat. “I was paid for a high-risk mission. Damn.” He gave him a disgusted look. “Allerton has more money than brains. I would have done this job for half the pay and the woman. Finish this piece of shit off. Leif, Boom, go with Devlin. Rest of you, come with me.”
Reaper watched the eleven men walk back down the dock as the motor started. Marveling at their stupidity, Reaper used his hands to ho
ld onto the metal bars at his back to keep the cuff from cutting his skin. He knew what fate they had devised for him, and he didn’t want any blood drawing the sharks to him if he managed to jump from the boat when they took his handcuffs off.
The island was barely out of sight before the motor was cut.
“You should go farther out,” one of the guards cautioned the driver.
“Why?” Devlin scoffed, getting off his seat. “It’s not like the cocksucker is going to be in any shape to swim back.”
Taking his gun out of his holster, Devlin pointed the gun at his temple. “Boom is going to take the cuffs off. If you make one move I don’t fucking tell you, I’m going to blow your fucking brains out.”
Reaper felt the cuffs loosen around his wrists.
“Stand up.”
Slowly, Reaper stood.
“Back up.”
Following the order slowly, out of the corner of his eye, he saw Leif reach under a padded bench seat for a roll of duct tape.
“Put your hands behind your back.”
With the gun pressed to his temple, Reaper began calculating his chance of survival if he didn’t do what was being asked of him. Different scenarios went through his mind in flashes.
Feeling the gun pressed harder against his temple, Reaper put his hands behind his back. He could get out of the tape when the time was right; a bullet to his brain was a game ender.
The tape was wrapped around his wrists several times before he heard it being torn. Dumbasses hadn’t even bought a good quality roll to use on him.
“Move to the side,” Devlin ordered.
Reaper did as he was told, seeing Boom reach under another bench seat to take out chains with an anchor attached.
About to break the tape on his wrists by a maneuver he’d had been taught in training, Devlin shoved his face in front of him. “I don’t want to have to clean up the mess your brains would make, but I will.”
Controlling the instinct to fight, Reaper let Leif tape his feet together at the ankles, then let him wind the chain around his neck. One lesson he had learned from the years of being Slate’s captive was to save his strength and wait for the right moment to attack. This wasn’t it. Any sound of bullets being fired would be heard by the guards on the beach.
“Loop the chain around his waist, too. I don’t want him floating to the top.”
Reaper lowered his lashes to hide the deadly intent in his eyes. He kept telling himself to wait, and instead he remembered how Ginny looked at him before she took off with Allerton in an effort to save his life. His girl was too trusting.
“Toss him overboard.”
“Devlin, shoot him first.” Boom hesitated to follow the order.
“You want to spend the afternoon cleaning and have your ass reamed by Allerton? He doesn’t want any bullet holes in him when we come back to get his body. He wants it to look like a drowning—which is the reason we aren’t using the cuffs, so they’re no marks on his body.”
Leif didn’t take his eyes off him, waiting for him move.
“Damn. That’s my worst nightmare. Poor bastard.” Boom gave him a pitying glance before he and Leif each hooked an arm under one of his, then gripped his belt as they shuffled him to the edge of the boat.
“Sorry, dude. If I could, I’d put a bullet in you myself to put you out of your misery, but it’s Allerton’s call, not mine.”
“Hurry up. Jesus, the next thing, you’ll be praying over him.” Devlin gave him a gloating smile. “I want to get back. Guess who gets to go second when Alexei is finished with your little piece? Don’t worry; Allerton made arrangements for us to bring her back to you when we’re done with her. I have the coordinates on my radar; I’ll make sure to drop her next to you. Sayonara, you dumbass bitch. Toss the cocksucker.”
Air met his back as he was thrown off the side of the boat before the cool water surrounded him in its soft embrace. Reaper took a deep breath just before the water swallowed him whole, and the anchor did its job sending him plunging downward. His last sight was the three men hanging off the boat witnessing his descent into a watery grave.
Shutting them out of his mind and any emotions, other than survival, Reaper concentrated on getting loose. They had put too much confidence in the duct tape and the chains with the weighted anchor to do the job of killing him instead of doing it with a bullet. Their amateur mistake was going to be the last one they would ever make. They had underestimated his will to survive. Not only that, but they had underestimated his will for Ginny to survive.
People were going to die today, and it wasn’t going to be Ginny… and it wasn’t going to be him. No, there would be a reckoning today. Before the sun set, they would be begging God for His mercy, and they were going to find out the same fucking thing he had.
Whatever little mercy God had was doled out at the pearly gates, because he’d never seen an ounce of it on Earth. Every single one of those motherfuckers who thought they succeeded in getting rid of him were going to die with only one name on their lips—his.
And when the Reaper came for you, it was already too late to run.
Chapter Twenty-Six
With iron-clad calm, Reaper waited until he reached the ocean floor. Then, opening his eyes, he bent back and dragged his taped hands under his feet before tightening his forearms and used his strength to rip the tape. With his hands free, he then began unwinding the chain from his neck before unhooking his waist. Still holding the chain with the anchor to keep himself from surfacing, he took the key from his pocket to cut the tape at his feet.
Fueled with the need to reach Ginny as fast as possible, Reaper had to put that aside to concentrate on the here and now. Shoving the remains of the tape into his pocket, he released the chain, then swam underwater to glide under the speedboat. Slowly using his feet, he started to swim his way to the water’s surface.
Keeping his movements small and efficient, so they wouldn’t hear him on the other side of the boat, Reaper raised his head ever so slightly, just enough for let his eyes and ears to breach the water’s surface. Hearing them talking on the other side of the boat, he allowed himself to raise his head higher to small breaths to refill his aching lungs.
“How long do we have to wait?”
Recognizing Leif’s voice, he stayed still to figure out their positions on the boat. Leif was at the rear starboard.
“Just a couple more,” Devlin said from mid-starboard side.
“Shouldn’t there be some bubbles coming up?” Boom asked, his voice coming from the same area of the boat as Devlin.
Reaper lowered his head back until only his eyes and ears again were above the water. Then, using the hull as cover, he carefully peeked around the corner. He wanted to confirm Devlin’s exact location and if he still had his gun out.
Devlin and Boom were leaning over the side, the gun still in Devlin’s hand, though he was holding it carelessly downward as both men peered down into the sea.
“How in the fuck would I know? I’ve never drowned anyone before.” Devlin lowered his face closer to the water.
Noiselessly, Reaper swam underneath the boat and then with a powerful kick, he came back up. Devlin didn’t have a chance to react before Reaper jerked the gun out of his hand, pointed it toward Boom and fired, one shot hitting him in his mouth. With his other hand and both feet planted on the side of the boat to give him traction, he sent Devlin flying over the side.
“What the fuck?” Leif yelled from the stern.
In one motion, Reaper pulled himself onto the boat at the same time Leif was trying to get his gun out of the holster. Not wanting to let another gunshot ring out, Reaper threw himself at the stunned man, taking them both down to the deck. Planting one fist with his heavy ring in the fucker’s nose, he brought his other fist down, smashing the butt of the gun down on Leif’s head. He wanted the motherfucker out for the count but didn’t want him dead … yet.
With that target neutralized, he rolled off Leif and raised the gun to see Devli
n heaving himself up to clamber back into the boat. Reaper waited until he was midair before he rolled again, letting the fucker hit the deck.
Raising up into a sitting position before Devlin could lift himself up, Reaper threw himself on Devlin’s back, wrapping his free arm around his neck and putting him in a choke hold, holding him down with the weight of his body.
Laying the gun down on the deck next to him, Reaper paced his hand behind Devlin’s neck. “You should have kept on swimming,” Reaper hissed into his ear. “The name’s Reaper. You’re a dead motherfucker.” With one twisting motion, Reaper broke the fucker’s neck.
Releasing the dead body, Reaper snatched his gun and rose from the deck. Walking over to Boom, he checked his pulse, satisfied he was dead. Then Reaper went to Leif, taking the handcuffs from his belt before dragging the unconscious man to the passenger seat and handcuffing him to the metal bars. The only reason Reaper kept him breathing was in case one of the guards from the island radioed in.
Reaper quickly gathered all the weapons, unhooking Devlin’s gun belt off his dead body and putting it on. After checking the rounds, he placed the gun in the holster. Efficiently shoving what ammunition he found into his pockets and the guns from the other two men in his waistband, he got in the captain’s chair and started the motor. Aiming the boat for Clindale Island, Reaper opened the boat full throttle.
He’d gone no more than a couple of yards before a shining light hit him in the face from the island. Torn at wanting to get back to Ginny, Reaper didn’t change direction to Sherguevil, gunning the motor the boat flew over the ocean. Silas’s voice came out of the rushing wind the boat was generating.
“I’m with Ginny.”
Silas’s reassurance didn’t relieve him that he had made the right decision to head for Clindale.
Slowing the speed as he drew near, he pulled the boat into the dock. Cutting the motor, he stayed on the boat, expecting whoever had flashed the light at him to come out in the open. Another flash from had him checking to see if Leif was still incapacitated. Once confirmed, he removed the key, got out of the boat, and followed the flashes.