“One word,” the man growled in her ear as he pressed a gun painfully into her side, “or if you try anything, you’re a dead woman. Is that perfectly clear?”
She nodded, fighting for calm, even as her blood chilled to ice and her body trembled. As he pushed her into the one-room cabin, she saw two men lying on the floor, guns still in their hands. They weren’t moving.
“f*ck
,” Donovan muttered.
The pilot, whose casual ease with the dangerous situation suggested piloting charter planes was not his usual occupation, said nothing. But he did roll his eyes.
Unsurprisingly, neither man appeared at all happy to see her.
Ford, or she had to assume it was him, since his once handsome face was unrecognizable, was tied, hand and foot, to a wooden chair. What little bit of blue eyes weren’t buried in swollen black-and-blue bruises, were wide with fear, and he’d wet himself.
Not that she blamed him for that.
“Here’s the deal,” the thug who’d grabbed her told Donovan. “First off, unless you want me to shoot the little lady right now, you’re both going to drop your weapons.”
“Are you okay?” Donovan asked her.
“I’m fine.” Liar, liar, pants on fire.
“I don’t remember inviting chatting,” her captor said. “Drop. The. f*ck
ing. Guns. Now.” She couldn’t help a slight cringe as the gun pressed deeper into her side. Toward the back, which she remembered from one of the Jeopardy! answers was not that far from her kidney.
She gave Donovan her most sincere “I’m so sorry,” look, but his face remained expressionless. As did the face of the man who was definitely no mere pilot.
Even as both men dropped their pistols as ordered, Lani felt a spark of encouragement. Ford was obviously going to be no help. The way she saw it, there were three against one. Two of whom were professionals trained to handle situations like this. The odds were in their favor.
“Now, your friend here is going to tell me where the ship’s vault is.”
“You’re taking a big risk for not that much dough,” Donovan said.
“It might be,” the only man left holding a weapon agreed. “But there’s also three million dollars in uncut diamonds in the vault.”
“Which weren’t on the manifest,” Donovan said.
“Oops,” her captor said. “I wonder how those got overlooked.”
“Must’ve been some careless dockworker,” Donovan suggested in a dry tone.
Lani recognized what he was doing. Keeping the bad guy talking while he came up with a plan. The only problem was, if she knew the ploy, the bad guy probably did as well. She might watch bad guys on TV, but the thug with the gun actually played one in real life.
Still, she considered, that didn’t discount the element of surprise.
Fed up with the way these men were ruining Christmas and her plans for the upcoming romantic New Year’s, when, as the clock struck midnight, Lani was going to tell Donovan that she loved him, she shifted her weight and took a deep breath.
Her surprised captor shouted as he slipped through the air, landing with a thud on top of one of his former gang members.
“Damn,” Donovan said, as the pilot retrieved the gun from the guy on the floor, then with one well-placed punch, knocked him out. “You really do know judo.”
“I told you I had a brown belt,” she reminded him. “It may not be a third degree, but this guy was easy. I could’ve handled him back at my green-belt level.”
Now that the excitement was over, a rushing sound was filling Lani’s head, and her knees were suddenly turning as weak as water. As she felt the blood leaving her face, Donovan took her into his arms. “Take a deep breath,” he said. “And sit down.”
She glanced down at the floor that was mostly taken up with two dead and one unconscious bad guy. Which didn’t make his advice the most appealing she’d ever been given.
“I’ll be fine,” she assured him as she shook her head to clear it, then wished she hadn’t.
He’d just picked her up in his arms when three more men came tearing through the open door, guns drawn, faces grim. Would this night never end?
“You guys missed all the fun,” Donovan drawled.
“We thought we’d leave that to you.” A broad grin split Chief Kanualu’s dark face. “Professional courtesy, along with island hospitality, and all that.”
“I appreciate it,” Donovan said. “How’d we do with Capelli?”
“The federal boys took him into custody as soon as his jet touched down.” The police chief shook his head. “Unfortunately he didn’t seem to appreciate our aloha spirit.”
“I can’t understand that,” Donovan said with a smile of his own.