My elbows barely make contact. I kick backward, trying to land a blow to his knee.
His hot breath touches my ear when he speaks. “The girls that come here, they think they’re better than me. Oh, they’re real nice and they flirt a little, but when I get a little closer, they shy away. I’ve wanted me some American pussy for too fucking long, and I’m not passing up a chance to get a taste of you. You’re gonna be real nice. You’re not gonna fucking scream again, are you? Because I’ll snap your neck at the first fucking squeak.”
Black spots speckle the edges of my vision, and my lungs are on fire. I need air. I shake my head, agreeing to be quiet, even though it’s a lie.
If I can breathe, I can scream.
“Good.” He moves his hand away from where it covers my nose and mouth to wrap around my throat, and I gulp in a breath, my chest heaving. “You’re gonna be real nice to me.”
He yanks me back away from the door, sliding his free hand down to cover my breast, squeezing hard before loosening his grip to pinch the nipple.
Bile rises in my throat, and my skin crawls at his touch and the bulge pressed against my ass.
His lips hit my neck, hot and slimy as he moans. “Gonna make this real good. Gonna eat that pussy better than you’ve ever had, and you’re gonna take my cock everywhere I want.”
He swings me around and with stumbling steps, walks us toward the bed.
No, my brain yells. No.
He shoves me forward, and I fall facedown onto the bed.
No fucking way. I flip onto my back and lift both feet high to catch him in the stomach as he comes toward me. Using every ounce of power I have, I launch him back, and he falls on his ass.
“Oh, you fucking—”
I scream as loud as I can, the earsplitting sound impossible to miss. Someone pounds on the door, and the handle jiggles.
“Open this fucking door!” It’s Vander.
The door flies open moments later and Vander steps into the room, gun in hand. He points it at the man on the floor and squeezes the trigger.
This time, my scream is louder.
Blood and flesh explode as I turn away and shield my face. The man’s body falls to the floor with a thump.
“Shut the fuck up, Kat. You should be thanking me that I didn’t let this piece of shit rape you.”
Chapter 32
Dane
The lights of Sweet Water become larger as we near, and when we’re several hundred yards away, I slow. My unwilling navigator is already pointing off in the distance.
“See the light high in the air there? That’s the tower in Dangriga. We need to bear right and head that way.”
“You sure?”
“Of course I’m fucking sure.”
“You better be. Tell me when you see the lights of Genie Caye.”
I jam the throttle down again and turn right before heading straight toward the light on the tower. About ten minutes later, the man yells, and I slow again.
“What?”
“See the lights? The red one there?”
My eyes search the darkness until I find the red light.
“That’s a buoy. The research station in front of Genie Caye. All those other lights are on the island.”
Now that I know where I’m looking, it’s lit up like the circus is in town. Even more lights than the vacation-home island I plucked this guy from. But I can’t just go driving up to their dock like I did his. I need a plan.
It seems my navigator is of the same opinion.
“You need a distraction. I’m assuming there’s something on that island you want real fucking bad.”
I weigh my options and go with telling the truth. “My wife.”
He releases a breath. “Fuck, man. She run off?”
“Someone took her.”
Both his eyebrows go up. “Shit. Okay. So, you got a plan?”
I think about the guy in front of me, and the fact that I promised I wouldn’t kill him if he helped me. I didn’t promise him he wouldn’t get injured, though. Maybe it makes me an asshole, but I don’t care.
“I might.”
“Good, because you’re gonna need it. That place is lit up.”
“What’s on the other side of the island? Where can I go in without being seen?”
“They cleared most of the mangrove and filled it in with sand so they could build cabanas for the researchers. If I were holding your wife, I’d put her in one of those.”
“Give me the layout.”
“There’s a main house in the middle. Then there are probably six or so cabanas spread out closer to the shore. On the beach near where the buoy sits, there’s an equipment shed. Your best bet is going in near one of the cabanas.”
“So I go in around the back.”
“You only got a few minutes before someone realizes you’re there, because it’s small and open. With all those lights, they’ll see you coming for sure.”
I actually did well with my kidnapping, because this guy knows his shit. “That’s where you come in.”
He gives me a hesitant look. “What the fuck do you mean, me?”
“You’re the diversion.”
“Oh, no, man. I didn’t sign up for this shit. I didn’t sign up for any of it. I don’t need to get dead tonight.”
My expression turns hard, and I hope he realizes just how serious I am. “You don’t help me, you’re definitely getting dead. You do help me, and I’ll find a way to make sure you get compensated.”
His gaze narrows. “You’re fucking crazy. You know that, right?”
I don’t have time to argue with him.
“Which is why you don’t want to piss me off. I’m getting off around the back side of the island. Then you’re gonna take the boat and crash it.”
His eyes bulge. “Crash it? No fucking way!”
“You’ll be fine as long as you dive off before it blows.”
*