No, I have a better idea.
“Stop!” His voice thundered out.
“Turn the boat around, stop—why don’t you try making up your mind?” Madeline muttered.
His gaze raked over her. She was increasingly getting on his nerves. Maybe she wouldn’t be making it back to the mainland. If the boss weren’t on board, he would go ahead and just shoot the woman. But since the fellow was there, Garrick had to play things a bit more carefully.
Later, he’d kill her.
The captain stopped the boat.
“Shut off the engine,” Garrick ordered. He rubbed his throat. That damn panther had bit him, but luckily, the freak had been stopped before he did any permanent damage. Excitement had Garrick’s heart drumming in his chest. He could still see Mina’s signal, moving fast away from them. But soon enough, she’d be turning around. She’d be coming straight to him. “And bring up the coffin.”
Two men on his right—newer agents—turned and hurried to obey.
Madeline tilted her head. “What are you planning?”
He smiled at her. “I know Mina’s weakness.” And he’d use it against her. “She didn’t have the heart for killing.” That was why she’d run from him. She hadn’t liked doing what needed to be done. She’d been too soft on the inside. “She can’t watch others suffer.”
Understanding lit Madeline’s eyes. “Bait.”
“I do enjoy using it.” His chest puffed out a bit. He was ninety-nine percent sure that his last baited plan had gone off without a hitch. He’d seen Luke Thorne in the security feeds right before that Naval Air Station had been blown to bits. Try to come back from that one, you bastard. His boss was on the radio right then, talking down below as he got his contacts to spread the word that there had just been a training accident at the station. No terrorist attack or anything like that. Nothing for the public to fear. His boss was very good at PR cover-ups.
And I’m good at making traps. This time, he’d use the perfect bait to lure Mina to him.
“Aren’t you a bit curious about how she can swim so fast?” Madeline asked.
He was. He’d learn that secret, once he had her on the boat. But first, he had to get sweet Mina to turn around and swim toward him.
The two agents were returning, a coffin in their hands. It wasn’t a wooden coffin because that would have been too easy for the vamp to break. Like the cell that had housed her in Key West, this coffin was made of very special glass. He could see the battered vamp inside. She was weak, and wounded, but still alive.
For the moment, anyway. He figured it was a good thing that his boss had seemed to lose interest in her of late. This way, the guy wouldn’t mind if she had to endure just a bit more pain.
“Put her down right here.” Garrick pointed to the edge of the boat.
The agents complied, and they held the coffin upright so that he could stare at the vampire’s face. A fairly attractive face, though she was far too thin. Starvation would do that to a woman.
“I need your help,” he said, knowing she could hear him perfectly.
Her eyes narrowed with hate. She was out in the sunlight, but she wasn’t burning or anything, and it wasn’t because of the glass. Since acquiring Rose, he’d learned that old story about sunlight burning vamps? Total myth. And it was actually fairly easy to kill a vamp. The only problem was that they had a tendency to come back from death.
“There’s someone in the water that I need, and you’re going to bring her to me.” He thought it was kind to explain what was happening.
But Rose closed her eyes, effectively trying to shut him out.
He tapped on the glass. “These holes let air in to you.” Because she needed to breathe. He’d learned that when he accidentally suffocated her one day. But then, she’d come back hours later. At first, the boss had been furious about her death. But when the guy had realized that she just came back, he’d stared at her differently. “These same holes will let water in, too,” Garrick added. “Sorry, Rose, but you’re about to drown.”
Her eyes flew open. Terror was in those depths.
“Relax. It’s not as if you won’t wake up again, eventually.” He nodded toward the agents. “Toss her overboard.”
Her mouth opened in a scream.
The coffin flew toward the water.
***
Mina stilled when she heard the splash. She heard it and actually felt the vibration in the water. She turned back and saw that something had fallen over the side of that boat. Something that was slowly sinking down into the water.
She started to swim away but…