“I’d never do that.” He lifted her hand and pressed a kiss against her palm. “Although you’re not allowed to go swimming without me.”
“Should you be doing that? It’s still daylight for another hour and kissing is supposed to be off-limits then.”
“Which is what I wanted to talk to you about earlier.”
“I remember. Losing a client isn’t a good look.” Groaning, she closed her eyes. “It still hurts. Do you think you could run over to the pharmacy and sweet talk one of the staff into handing over my meds now?”
That wasn’t what he’d been about to say, but it could wait. “We’ll talk as soon as I get back.” He locked the door, dashed across to the pharmacy and approached the uniformed saleswoman stocking a shelf. “I’m after Saria Sands’ meds, please. It’s urgent.”
“The pharmacist is still preparing them. I’ll go and tell him to put a hurry on it. Won’t be long.” She walked into the back room.
Anxious to head right back to Saria, he tapped the dark blue countertop next to the till and forced himself to stand and wait. Their current agreement needed a change, one that would give him more time with her and ensure she never got hurt again.
She was his to protect. She always had been, and always would be.
The stinging pain radiated out and throbbed deep down into Saria’s spine. If only that injection had numbed more than the wound’s immediate site. Tangling with a stingray wasn’t something she ever intended to do again, or seeing the pain her injury had caused Ben. His gaze had been haunted, and without a doubt, she knew he blamed himself for what had happened to her.
A knock sounded and relief poured through her. “Coming, Ben.” Trembling, she rose to her feet, fumbled with the lock and opened the door.
“Are you Lydia Sands?” A broad-shouldered man with shaggy brown hair and beady black eyes loomed over her. “Or are you the other twin, Saria Sands?”
“I—I’m Saria.”
He pushed her backward and slammed the door shut. Exposed on his bulky bicep was a large tattoo of a hyena, blood dripping from its sharp-toothed jaws. “About time I found one of you two. Now, I need to stash you somewhere so I can get to your sister. Mia sent me after Lydia, and you’re gonna be my bait. Say nighty-night.” He shoved a rag over her mouth and nose.
She gagged and the room spun. Black dots danced before her yes, then nothing.
Chapter 11
Agonized, Ben strode into the resort’s security control room where Tyler continued to comb through the recorded surveillance. Twenty-four heart-wrenching hours had passed since Saria had been abducted, and they didn’t seem to be any further ahead in their search for her than they’d been in the first hour. “We had so many damn checks in place,” he snapped as he sank into the chair next to Tyler’s. “How the hell did someone sneak onto this island without an alert being raised?”
“With patience and cunning, but we’ll find her.” Tyler kept his gaze on the monitor, not missing a beat. “Where’s Officer Kupita?”
“The wharf, supervising the shift change and ensuring those men he has heading out across the island are all updated. I warned him about the alarmed sensors we have wired around the cove.” He tapped the screen. “Are you looking at the footage out by the main entrance again?”
“Yep. Someone slipped past us both, when you were right next door, and I came through the front foyer only a minute or two after you left her. Whoever took her moved fast. Damn fast. The evidence has to be here somewhere.” Tyler scraped his chair back, grabbed another disk from the overhead shelf and inserted it. “How’s Gilchrist doing? Heard any word from him this afternoon?”
“Not in the past two hours. He’s still working methodically through the resort’s manifest, double checking what I’ve already checked.” No one could make a resort booking without a confirmed passport number, and when visitors arrived, their passports were verified. That included all passengers from the ferry or the moored ships. It was standard practice, and usually sufficient, yet something had gone terribly wrong for someone who should have raised a red flag to sneak in without their knowledge.
Unable to sit still, Ben pushed his chair back and stood. “I’m going to run another perimeter check. Call me if you see anything suspicious, and I don’t care how minor it is.”
“I just wish they had more cameras where it counted.” Tyler jumped forward. “Wait. Take a look at this footage. It doesn’t cover the main building but the staff service area at the rear of the property.”
The image showed a shaggy brown-haired male around his mid-thirties pushing a wheeled laundry basket out of the service elevator. His yellow staff polo pulled tight across his back and sat far too short on his body. In place of yellow uniform shorts, he wore black pants with a triple white side stripe.